The final part of Pasolini's Trilogy of Life series is rich with exotic tales of slaves and kings, potions, betrayals, demons and, most of all, love and lovemaking in all its myriad forms. Mysterious and liberating, this is an exquisitely dreamlike and adult interpretation of the original folk tales.
Flower of the Arabian Nights, A Thousand and One Nights, 阿拉伯之夜, 帕索里尼生命三部曲之一千零一夜, 1001 natt, IL FIORE DELLE MILLE E UNE NOTE, Las mil y una noches, Erotische Geschichten aus 1001 Nacht, Цветок тысяча и одной ночи, As Mil e Uma Noites, 一千零一夜, Les Mille et Une Nuits, Az ezeregyéjszaka virágai, Цветът на 1001 нощ, Tusen och en natt, 아라비안 나이트, Kwiat tysiąca i jednej nocy, Квітка тисячі й однієї ночі, არაბული ღამეები, アラビアンナイト, Floarea din O mie și una de nopți, Kytice z tisíce a jedné noci
Erotic, exotic, explicit, lustful, romantic, taboo, violent, demonic, graphic, fantastic, magical; sex, love, castration, violence, gore, dismemberments, demons, poetry, fire, blood, irresistible cheap visual effects and a lion; extraordinary, visually stunning, Pasolini's fourth best. Orgiastic fusion of styles, a triumph for such a scandalous decade for cinema! 99/100
Pier Paolo Pasolini at last consummates his relationship with love in “Arabian Nights.” Used by the director in motifs of subjugation and control in many of his earlier works, sex in “Nights” becomes the thread woven through a global tapestry of romantic desire. Based loosely on select tales from “One Thousand and One Nights,” Pasolini takes inspiration from the anthology’s narrator, Scheherazade, and is liberated through telling stories on the enchantment of love, rather than being enslaved by the burden of it. The final part of Pasolini’s “Trilogy of Life,” it is as if the director needed the two prior installments to work through his own complicated perception of sexuality. Homosexuality and carnality; grounds for farce in “Decameron,” and eternal…
Yeah, naaah. sorry everyone, I just can't. Passolini isn't for me, and he never will, and that's something we will have to accept. Don't get me wrong: the inventiveness on exhibit is inspiring. In some ways, it reminded me of a more sensual (almost pornographic) and grounded version of Fellini, while the director of La Dolce Vite tends to go for the extravagant, Paolo goes for the almost poetic, all while retaining the characteristic realism of neorealism. Even in what seems to be a fantasy world, the filmmaker manages to give it a touch that even in the most surreal moments, it feels like a plausible world that might happen in our reality. The production design and cinematography are both…
Pasolini's sentiments on life, death and prurience have now reached their peak. Took me until the final installment to get gobsmacked, yet he's finally discovered that extra outlet on searching for deeper, human qualities. Interestingly, the themes remain similar to The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales, as does his dependence on esoteric storytelling to subvert traditional roles. If there's a key difference, though, it's that wonderfully human edge. He's unlocked a magnificent feeling on what it means to be alive—sermonizing that feeling, depicting the capacity of love, and how one is exalted by that love—in ways that I find very poignant. Maybe the ultimate aim of his trilogy all along was to show the essence of who we are, and…
*shovels cursed rice into my mouth*On PPP’s eye for composition. Easily his most resplendent film, and my second favorite after Teorema. Although it is by no means his most important, it may be his most accessible; and, in my opinion, his most aesthetically/literarily prodigious creation* following the sanctified Gospel According to St. Matthew. *The latter is debatable when considering Salò, but at least you can watch this and not feel like you need a shower and a hug when it’s over.
Full review here
pier paolo pasolini: hundreds and hundreds of beautiful, naked, multiracial non-actors fucking in exotic locales me: ah, world cinema
Easier to think of Pasolini as a strategist than as a stylist; the haphazard camerawork, directed-from-just-off-camera performances, and mismatched editing all create the impression that the movie was thrown together on the fly, and might fall apart at any moment -- which, of course, goes hand-in-hand with its stories-within-stories structure.
“Truth lies not in one dream, but many.”
Symmetry and stratified storytelling are the two main things I think of when I revisit this picture. Arabian Nights is a film which its creator would go onto renounce shortly following its release, along with the rest of his Trilogy of Life, but that doesn’t mean I will. Symmetrical compositions, many of which stand out as some of Pasolini’s most breathtakingly beautiful, along with a the handheld camera, front-facing, center-framed characters looking directly into the lens, and a distinct lack of master shots (which was typical of his works) give this film a marvelous visual appeal; it may be Pasolini’s most visually stunning film in terms of cinematographic and aesthetic value, which is saying an…
If God's will must be done then it must also be said that God's will is absolutely bonkers"Allow destiny to take its course, and accept willingly what it brings. Be neither happy nor sad about anything. But if you open the inkwell of power and grace, be certain your ink is that of goodness and generosity." Like The Decameron before it, Pasolini's Arabian Nights reaches for a pure sexuality, not only a desire beyond the confines of normative society but something primordial, pre-symbolic. As if unsatisfied with the classical dichotomy offered by the fall from grace, he searches out a form of sexuality that is both innocent and knowing, a love that has eaten the forbidden fruit and yet retained its immortality. He yearns for something that has not been corrupted by the pervasive, selfish greed that…
