| Arabian Nights | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Pier Paolo Pasolini |
| Produced by | Alberto Grimaldi |
| Written by | Dacia Maraini Pier Paolo Pasolini |
| Starring | Franco Merli Ines Pellegrini Ninetto Davoli Franco Citti Tessa Bouche Margaret Clementi Francelise Noel Ali Abdulla |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography | Giuseppe Ruzzolini |
| Editing by | Nino Baragli Tatiana Casini Morigi |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | June 20, 1974 |
| Running time | 155 minutes |
| Country | Italy France |
| Language | Italian |
Arabian Nights is a 1974 Italian film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Its original Italian title is Il fiore delle mille e una notte, which means "The Flower of the One Thousand and One Nights".
The film is an adaptation of the ancient Arabic anthology The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, better known as The Arabian Nights. It is the last of Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life", which began with The Decameron and continued with The Canterbury Tales. The lead was played by young Sicilian Franco Merli who was discovered for this film by Pasolini.
Contents |
The main story concerns an innocent young man, Nur-e-Din (Franco Merli), who comes to fall in love with a slave girl, Zumurrud (Ines Pellegrini), who selected him as her master. After a foolish error of his causes her to be abducted, he travels in search of her. Meanwhile Zumurrud manages to escape and, disguised as a man, comes to a far-away kingdom where she becomes king. Various other travellers who recount their own tragic and romantic experiences include stories of a young man who becomes enraptured by a mysterious woman on his wedding day, and a man who is determined to free a woman from a demon (Franco Citti). Interwoven are Nur-e-Din's continuous search for Zumurrud and his - mostly erotic - adventures. In the end he arrives at the far-away kingdom and is finally reunited with Zumurrud. The tales contain abundant nudity, sex, and slapstick humour.
Franco Merli, Ines Pellegrini, Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti, Tessa Bouche, Margaret Clementi, Francelise Noel, Ali Abdulla, Christian Aligny, Jeanne Gauffin Mathieu, Francesco Paolo Governale, Salvatore Sapienza, Zeudi Biasolo, Barbara Grandi, Elisabetta Genovese, Gioacchino Castellini, Abadit Ghidei, Mohamed Ali Zedi, Salvatore Verdetti, Jocelyne Munchenbach, Luigina Rocchi, Alberto Argentino, Luigi Antonio Guerra, Franca Sciutto
The film was entered into the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix Spécial Prize.[1]
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Mother and the Whore |
Grand Prix Spécial du Jury, Cannes 1974 |
Succeeded by The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser |
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