Tale of Tales

Name: Tale of Tales
Genre: History, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Released: April 22, 2016
Duration: 133 min
Rating: 72
Cast: John C. Reilly, Salma Hayek, Shirley Henderson, Toby Jones, Vincent Cassel

2016

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 71 Ratings

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6.5

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6.5	Your Score
6.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 71 Ratings

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Tale Of Tales

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Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date: April 22, 2016 | Not Rated

Starring: John C. Reilly, Salma Hayek, Shirley Henderson, Toby Jones, Vincent Cassel

Summary: Once upon a time there were three neighboring kingdoms each with a magnificent castle, from which ruled kings and queens, princes and princesses. One king was a fornicating libertine, another captivated by a strange animal, while one of the queens was obsessed by her wish for a child. Sorcerers and fairies, fearsome monsters, ogres and oldOnce upon a time there were three neighboring kingdoms each with a magnificent castle, from which ruled kings and queens, princes and princesses. One king was a fornicating libertine, another captivated by a strange animal, while one of the queens was obsessed by her wish for a child. Sorcerers and fairies, fearsome monsters, ogres and old washerwomen, acrobats and courtesans are the protagonists of this loose interpretation of the celebrated tales of Giambattista Basile.… Expand

Director: Matteo Garrone

Genre(s): History, Fantasy, Horror, Romance

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 133 min

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Critic Reviews

100

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

May 18, 2015

It is a masterpiece of black-comic bad taste and a positive carnival of transgression. The secret is the deadpan seriousness with which everything is treated. Read full review

Gregory Ellwood

May 18, 2015

A slightly bumpy two hours of storytelling, but it's peppered with wonder and unexpected humor. Read full review

Time Out London Dave Calhoun

May 18, 2015

Tale of Tales might lack magic in the immediate, flashy sense, but its strange spell is altogether seductive and special. Read full review

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

Apr 27, 2016

This is one of those cases where a movie is ornamented by its defects. Garrone’s undiscriminating direction of the cast, none of whom appear to be acting in the same movie, textures the film with mismatched accents, somehow adding to its macabre humor and overall strangeness. Read full review

Jeannette Catsoulis

Apr 21, 2016

Strip away the smatterings of sex and globs of gore, and children would really get a kick out of Tale of Tales, Matteo Garrone’s colorful and kinky exploration of what women want. And what men will do to give it to them. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Glenn Kenny

Apr 22, 2016

As much candy as the movie encourages the eyes to gorge on, Tale of Tales is 135 pretty minutes of empty calories. Read full review

Kyle Smith

Apr 21, 2016

An English-language film from Italy, Tale of Tales toys with the ogres, princesses and crones of classic fairy tales to almost no dramatic effect, albeit with lots of sex and gore. Imagine the Brothers Grimm’s cousins Tyler and Jake writing for a late-night slot on Cinemax and you’ll get the idea. Read full review

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User Reviews

FrancisDG

Jun 4, 2019

Terric fantasy, maybe the best of the year, directed really well by Garrone

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

ComandanteCobra

Nov 3, 2021

Alternative, baroque fantasy; a twisted and dark fairy tale.
Different short stories with subtle morals that use magic, kings and monsters to talk about obsession, offspring, desire, servitude, madness, beauty...
A film that empatize narration over action scenes and big fx. I liked it,Alternative, baroque fantasy; a twisted and dark fairy tale.
Different short stories with subtle morals that use magic, kings and monsters to talk about obsession, offspring, desire, servitude, madness, beauty...
A film that empatize narration over action scenes and big fx.
I liked it, because it stand out in an ocean of "classic fantasy" (elves and dragons make way to different kind of cratures) ...and because is dedicate to an adult audience without relying on nudity or violence to impress viewers.
Try it, it deserve a better recognition… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

shiftworker

Aug 22, 2016

Neapolitan ice-cream: three flavours of fairy-tales sort of brought together at the end. If the words weird, quirky, eccentric, idiosyncratic, unusual, bizarre, offbeat and different don't put you off, then you'll enjoy this. I told everyone I know well to watch it. Only half of them think I'm mad.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

BrianMcCritic

Sep 14, 2016

A well made fantasy adventure film that can be slow but still very entertaining. This is a three story film in which each story has its strong moments. In the end though I preferred two of the three. B+

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Tyranian

Feb 3, 2020

Somewhat interesting fantasy anthology with excellent visuals though almost uninteligible stories.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

kman5473

Apr 24, 2018

If you're a real film lover, and you love watching obscure and new tellings of visual art, than you'll enjoy this eclectic trio of fairy tales. Having said that, this feature is definitely not for the "mainstream" pallet by any means. The pacing is much slower and meandering compared to whatIf you're a real film lover, and you love watching obscure and new tellings of visual art, than you'll enjoy this eclectic trio of fairy tales. Having said that, this feature is definitely not for the "mainstream" pallet by any means. The pacing is much slower and meandering compared to what is popular right now, but I enjoyed it. The film had great set design and art pieces, but it's not really like a blatantly fantastical fantasy--it is shot and depicted almost like a historical fiction with some bizarre creatures in it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MightyPDK

Apr 24, 2016

It's beautiful, with great costumes and sets. The musical score was good. It's always nice to have a break from pop, and a specially-composed soundtrack is indicative of a work of love. Interesting camera work, too, though pacing suffers in a few spots due to overly ambitious shots (patienceIt's beautiful, with great costumes and sets. The musical score was good. It's always nice to have a break from pop, and a specially-composed soundtrack is indicative of a work of love. Interesting camera work, too, though pacing suffers in a few spots due to overly ambitious shots (patience being a lost knack, and all). This maybe could have been fiddled with a little more in editing, but nothing worth complaining about. Top points on aesthetics.

The storytelling is a bit of a mess, however. Taken individually, a few of the subplots might have made interesting short films, but shoehorning them all together like this didn't really work for me.

Many of the characters are royalty, and I constantly felt myself asking, "Doesn't he/she have someone else who would be better suited for this task?" I am pretty sure that there are servants/soldiers/anybody else who would be more effective and more appropriately dressed for some of this stuff. That can likely be attributed to the source material, and maybe a little to the fantastic costumes. Ladies, I don't know how you ever got around in those outfits. I think you just earned a physical education credit from wherever you went to school. Call the dean and check. Tell her an anonymous stranger from the Internet sent you. We go way back.

Performances occasionally felt quite wooden. At times, it was like watching a marionette show rather than actual people. Impressive when you can plunge the audience into the uncanny valley with real, live actors. That wasn't constant, though. Characters do bizarre, uncomfortable and impossible things, so it's not as though we're thoroughly committed to reality in the first place.

If you enjoy films for the sake of art, or have an interest in folk legends, go for it. If you're looking for a fantastic popcorn adventure, you should maybe look elsewhere. The role of "protagonist" is spread a bit too thin across so many (effectively) unrelated characters. I didn't really get to know any of them in detail and so didn't get emotionally invested.

Throw some money at the people who made this film. Artistic vision means too little these days, and this movie had it by the bushel. Remaking older movies is lazy, and usually unnecessary. The artists here took something they knew and loved from their own cultural experience, and shared it with us.

My number score is not fully reflective of how I feel about this movie. If we're being honest with ourselves, this number stuff is all nonsense, anyhow. The score isn't indicative of quality until years after the marketing efforts end, and even then, each "critic" has his/her/its own scoring philosophy.

"10" ratings and "0" ratings can be fully disregarded. Those are only worth reading if they are less than a full line long, and only because you read them by accident, anyway, as you scrolled past.

"0" means there was no movie. Some dude just loaded a blank VHS tape in a VCR, hit play in a room full of confused art house movie patrons, and walked off to go have a smoke and a bit of a laugh. (They pretentiously discussed his "art" with him at the wine and cheese thing after.)

"10" means that it was perfect. The universe held still in its course at the moment of the cut on the final take, an in-drawn breath, before drifting regretfully back into unstoppable inertia, forever thereafter. If that movie exists, I haven't seen it yet. Maybe it was Pluto Nash... I guess I'll never know. (It was Pluto Nash, wasn't it?)

My 5 means that the combination of flaws dragged on enjoyment, but didn't stop things dead. I don't regret having spent the time. About half of the movies that I have seen are better, and about half are worse. Fair? (Just kidding. I don't care whether you think so, and you absolutely shouldn't care that I don't care. Go spam a few more 9 and 10 scores from your alt accounts, and it'll be like I never even voted *wink*.)

I would see more. The Internet cries out for more! What shall this crew bring for us next?… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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