Tale of Tales

Italian director Matteo Garrone's epic English-language anthology of interwoven fairy tales, based on three stories by 17th-century folklorist Giambattista Basile, kicks off in the kingdom of Longtrellis with a morose and barren Queen (Salma Hayek) receiving advice from a sorcerer. To wit: if a sea monster is slain (a duty for the King, played—rather briefly—by John C. Reilly), then a virgin is employed to cook its heart, and the Queen eats that pulmonary mass, she will bear a child. But what happens is that both the Queen and the virgin have babies who grow up to be identical albino twins (Christian and Jonah Lees), leading to Prince and the Pauper-like complications. In the second tale, a monarch (Toby Jones)—who is unaffectionate towards his daughter Violet (Bebe Cave)—showers attention on a flea (that grows bigger than a dog), after which (in an unforeseen turn of events) he winds up marrying Violet off to an ogre who mistreats her. The last and most entertaining story centers on the lothario ruler of Strongcliff (Vincent Cassel), who is struck by the enchanted singing of peasant maid Dora (a heavily made-up Hayley Carmichael), but does not realize that she is actually a haggard old maid, not an apple-cheeked buxom beauty. Hoping to obtain some advantage from this besotted king, Dora and her sister Imma (Shirley Henderson) plot to string him along, initially by promising to share Dora's finger through a hole in the door (with Imma's finger substituting). While beautifully filmed and featuring impressive sets and solid special effects, Tale of Tales is an overlong film, with pointless cross-cutting between unrelated stories that are ambiguously tied together in a closing scene. And the magical quality inherent in the best fairy tales is only sporadically seen here. A strong optional purchase. (R. Pitman)