by Ed Travis
Filled with remarkable imagery and singular, interweaving fairy tales, Tale of Tales is the fabulously weird adult fantasy English language debut of Gommorah writer/director Matteo Garrone, who directs and contributes to the screenplay here. Adapted from what is considered one of the oldest collections of fairy tales in history from Giambattista Basile, Tale of Tales features a variety of tales taking place across three different kingdoms. While the tales occasionally intersect, they have little bearing on one another and feel disparate at best. This lack of connectivity could have been a problem had each individual tale not been so charming, weird, and engrossing that hopping between them never felt disappointing.
One tale follows the Queen of Longtrellis (Salma Hayek) throughout many years as she desperately seeks to conceive and subsequently raise a child. Much magic and sorcery surrounds the birth of her son Elias, including John C. Reilly hunting a sea creature in order to cut out its heart, so Hayek can feast on it and conceive… as one does. Elias more or less has a twin brother, mystically born to a peasant woman on the same night as his conception. And the Queen’s obsession with keeping these two apart throughout the rest of their lives will form the bulk of that particular tale. I never once caught the naming of these various kingdoms, or many of the characters’ names, really. Tale of Tales is more concerned with evocative imagery, lush visuals, and entrancing moments than it is with world building or character development ala Tolkien or Martin.
Another tale chronicles Vincent Cassell (a favorite of mine) as King of Strongcliff, a lust-filled man whose insatiable predilections lead him into a bizarre courtship of a woman whose voice he is entranced with. As an audience, we’re let on to the fact that the King has fallen for one of two elderly sisters, who play many games in order to string along their King, until once again a fantastical element of magic comes into play and miraculous youth is bestowed upon one sister. The most sexually explicit of the tales, this one careens around almost as much as the others, leaving the viewer guessing as to where it is all going to go, and ultimately entering into a bizarre body horror-style finale that is nigh upon unforgettable. Cassell is a perfect fit for the role and while this tale was perhaps the least fantastical, it carried the most emotional resonance.
Finally there is Toby Jones’ tale as the King of Highhills. With the first half of this tale comes the most charming and bizarre element of the whole collection of stories, as Jones’ king becomes entranced by a small flea, which he feeds and trains in secret, and which grows to become a Cronenbergian nightmare of a creature. The king has an innocent love for this disgusting creature, as though it were his pet. The biggest laughs in Tale of Tales come from this throughline, which ultimately goes on to explore this king’s betrothal of his daughter to whomever can guess what animal the flea’s giant hide belongs to. Orges get involved, and there is some princess rescuing and high adventure to be found in this thread.
Lush visuals entrance across all the interwoven tales, with practical creatures and make up used to create many of the more fantastical elements of the story. Garrone has made a stunningly beautiful fantasy tale with a curious target market. Patently adult and filled with brutal violence and sex, the tone of the stories nevertheless retain a whimsical feel and a child-like fairy tale logic which is always endearing but occasionally confusing as well.
The characters aren’t so much complex or engaging as they are plot elements in weird fables. But there’s not much of a cohesive message or connective thematic tissue between the various stories either, so without relatable characters or a thematic resonance, Tale of Tales feels like a film that takes you to another world and entertains you consistently there, but offers little to ruminate on after your trip to that other world comes to an end. This is only partly true as some of the visuals were so stunning and well realized that I’ll be thinking them over and seeing them in my mind for years to come.
There is much to recommend and love in Tale of Tales, and the film would likely benefit from multiple viewings as familiarity with the bizarre stories would allow for further explorations into their connectedness or thematic relevance. But on pure whimsy and splendor (not to mention casting) alone, Tale of Tales comes highly recommended.
And I’m Out.