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BFI's disc of Decameron is as good as can be expected. The print (slightly more severely letterboxed than the 1.66 indicated, but looks accurate) suffers from the problems one would expect from the type of film - cheaply made using mostly hand-helds and cheap filmstock, and natural lighting rendering many scenes overtly dark. The post-dubbed sound is harsh and/or distorted, but ok. Of more concern perhaps is the fact that the subtitles are burnt-in (not digital like on Salo - although even these were not removable for some reason) - and in some of the more troublesome dark scenes the picture becomes so smudgy that it is difficult to know what is going on. This is clearly a fault of the budget, but anamorphic enhancement would have helped.
extras - biography, a link to BFIs site - nothing remarkable (although the liner notes are better than usual, and the packaging is more sturdy than that used for Salo).
But most importantly perhaps - this release marks the first occasion Decameron is availible uncut for home viewing in this country - and so comes highly recommended for fans of Pasolini and off-beat Italian film.
Actors seem to all be amateurs yet adds to the mood of the movie, and captures the spirit of the book quite well - very risqué satire. Gave me a good few laughs over and over again.
Not to watch with the children (some sex scenes and full frontal nudity), but will certainly lift the spirits in a dark wintery night.
If you expect a holywood style production stay clear, if you want something that will make you think a bit while giving a laugh then go for it!
Pasolini provides a cavalcade of tales exploring life and death, lust and sex, the materialism of the peasant world, the carnality of life. If there is a moral it is that sex and lust are blessings. Here, sex is presented as a political act - we all have ultimate political control over our own bodies; and here Pasolini explores the nature of belief, contrasting the real, physical, material world of sex and abandonment with the censorship and authoritarianism of religion. Pasolini was fascinated by the interaction of the Marxist and Catholic traditions within Italy ... and with the world of the traditional peasant before they became anachronisms with the growth of cities and the development of an industrialised economy.
'The Decameron' is set in a medieval world which embodies the traditional values of rough peasant sex, duplicity, and conflict with the moral certainties of the Church. We have nuns forsaking their vows of chastity, cuckolded husbands, a celebration of bodily functions. We have comedy, drama, music. It's lewd, it's bawdy, and there are bodies aplenty.
Here we have life, bounded by rules, but rules which are often pure hypocrisy. Pasolini prefers the vulgarity of peasant life and its flexible violation of rules - rules of law, rules of religion, rules of social structure and hierarchy. Guilt is created by the Church ... but can be exorcised by the simple expedient of confession. Surely the peasants are more honest in their human breaking of rules ... particularly sexual ones? He rejoices in their superstition, their ignorance, their selfishness and materialism.
It's a slow paced but exuberant celebration of life in the raw. The visual style is sumptuous in places, aping the colours of medieval art. Pasolini offers characters in his photography - the beautiful and the ugly people, using amateur actors to emphasise the lack of sophistication of the peasant world. His exploration of the nature of storytelling produces overlapping tableau after tableau, short tales which cut straight into the next and challenge the conventional structure of cinema.
It's engaging, it's entertaining, and it will make you laugh.
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