Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Tale of Tales

Play trailer 2:00 Poster for Tale of Tales R Released Apr 22, 2016 2h 5m Fantasy Adventure History Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
84% Tomatometer 104 Reviews 56% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Three fairy tales revolve around a king (John C. Reilly) who must slay a sea monster, a giant flea and a womanizing ruler (Vincent Cassel) who's in for a surprise.
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

Tale of Tales

Tale of Tales

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Visually splendid and narratively satisfying, Tale of Tales packs an off-kilter wallop for mature viewers in search of something different.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (104) Critics Reviews
Mark Kermode Observer (UK) A timeless portrayal of the bonds of sisterly love, a theme amplified by both the defiance and pathos of Henderson's wonderful performance. Rated: 4/5 Jun 19, 2016 Full Review Kate Muir Times (UK) The adult fairytale is a freakish, hybrid, disturbing creature, mostly forgotten in these days of Disney sanitisation, but Tale of Tales resurrects the genre with surreal humour and gothic horror. Rated: 4/5 Jun 17, 2016 Full Review Geoffrey Macnab Independent (UK) Tale Of Tales is a Felliniesque fantasy drama, distinguished by its lavish production design and very fluid camera work. Rated: 4/5 Jun 17, 2016 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Though the film is decidedly not for children, it remains almost revisionist in its faithfully disturbing origins. Rated: 3.5/4 Apr 15, 2022 Full Review Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com Garrone's accomplishment follows in the footsteps of classic Italian auteurs, a carnivalesque metaphor on a grand scale with superb visual elements we used to see from directors like Federico Fellini and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Rated: 4/5 Sep 30, 2020 Full Review Daniel Barnes Dare Daniel Tale of Tales feels like David Cronenberg hijacked the set of Faerie Tale Theatre with an EXistenZ gristle gun. If only there was some more shape to this thing! Too many scenes struggle on awkwardly, like a slain animal that doesn't know it's dead yet. Rated: 3/5 Apr 5, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (197) audience reviews
Georgan G These overlapping tales are horrific. The fact that the plots are based on the earliest recorded European fairy tales make it all the more unique. The acting is top knotch and the film itself is beautiful. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/24/24 Full Review Bruce L Slow, disjointed, uninteresting characters that I didn't care what happens to them and unfinished storyline. Terrible. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 07/13/24 Full Review Marion W Visually very appealing, and an aspect of gruesome and gothic style horror, but the narrative also left me wanting. A lot of the stories felt disjointed, and loosely chopped together with no one story being long enough to really engage the audience in the way other gothic horror or gothic fantasy does. It left me rather unsatisfied by the plot lines. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 05/21/24 Full Review Rachel I wish they could have spent more time on each individual story, it seemed a bit chopped together and disjointed for me. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it. I do think this idea would have been much more better suited for a TV series. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/07/24 Full Review Logan D A queen that will go to any lengths to have a child, a beloved flea, and a pair of old crones wooing a king. Based on a collection of fairy tales by Italian poet Giambattista Basile, titled Pentamerone, these are from the days when fairy tales were for adults. I found the film far more enjoyable than I predicted. The stories are just so weird and disturbing. There doesn't seem to be an overall point to the film as a whole and I do wonder how it would've appeared if each tale was told and resolved individually. Oftentimes the jumps from one story to another was awkward. If you're looking for something different, here it is. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/24 Full Review Alec B Perhaps one of the few "Fairy Tales for Adults" movies that keeps the whimsy of the source material. Even with the added violence and sexual content it never engages in deconstruction which is quite refreshing. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/10/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Tale of Tales

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Three fairy tales revolve around a king (John C. Reilly) who must slay a sea monster, a giant flea and a womanizing ruler (Vincent Cassel) who's in for a surprise.
Director
Matteo Garrone
Producer
Matteo Garrone, Jeremy Thomas, Jean Labadie, Anne Labadie
Screenwriter
Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso
Distributor
IFC Films
Production Co
RAI Cinema, Archimede, Recorded Pictures Company, Le Pacte
Rating
R (Nudity|Bloody Images|Sexuality|Some Violence)
Genre
Fantasy, Adventure, History, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 22, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 5, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$92.1K
Runtime
2h 5m
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
Most Popular at Home Now