I racconti di Canterbury (The Canterbury Tales). 1972. Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

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I racconti di Canterbury (The Canterbury Tales). 1972. Italy. Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Courtesy Park Circus

I racconti di Canterbury (The Canterbury Tales). 1972. Italy. Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Screenplay by Pasolini, based on a book by Geoffrey Chaucer. With Hugh Griffith, Laura Betti, Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti. 35mm, courtesy Cinecittà. In Italian; English subtitles. 122 min.

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s adaptation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s medieval erotic tales earned the Italian filmmaker a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1972. Released between two other adaptations of erotic literature—The Decameron (1971) and Arabian Nights (1974)—this sexual comedy unites slapstick and references to Italian and Dutch Renaissance art to paint a sardonically blasphemous, grotesque portrait of pleasure, sin, and the oppressive morals and institutions governing them, all through the lens of Medieval life. Carlo Rambaldi’s unforgettable, scatological mechanical devil plays a central role in the Brueghelian depiction of hell that closes the film.

This film accompanies MoMA and Cinecittà Present: Carlo Rambaldi.

Past events

Tue, Dec 23, 2025, 6:30 p.m.

MoMA, Floor T2, Theater 2

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2
Wed, Dec 17, 2025, 6:30 p.m.

MoMA, Floor T2, Theater 2

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2

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