
Fun fact: Hugh Hefner began production on an abridged, pornographic version of the The Decameron in the1960s. Playboy also financed Roman Polanski’s film adaptation of Macbeth in 1971. Classy move. Anyway, Hefner’s version of the early novel never came to fruition, but—never fear—Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1971 version did! And better yet, it didn’t sacrifice any of the abundant nudity, sexual and slapstick humor of the original.
Released to critical acclaim, Il Decameron illustrates nine stories from Boccaccio’s original. Full of the raunchiness present in the book, Il Decameron is NSFW humor straight out of the Renaissance with a 70’s European twist. Someone should name a drink after it. Philip Brubaker provides an apt summary here:
A young Sicilian is swindled twice, but ends up rich; a man poses as a deaf-mute in a convent of curious nuns; a woman must hide her lover when her husband comes home early; a scoundrel fools a priest on his deathbed; three brothers take revenge on their sister’s lover; a young girl sleeps on the roof to meet her boyfriend at night; a group of painters wait for inspiration; a crafty priest attempts to seduce his friend’s wife; and two friends make a pact to find out what happens after death.
Il Decameron is a part of Vanderbilt’s phenomenal International Lens series, catch the screening at 6pm on Wednesday in the Sarratt Cinema.