Line #33 Film/TaleOfTales


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bmtg0odq2nde1n15bml5banbnxkftztgwnzaynza1ode_v1_sy1000_cr006751000_al.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Salma Hayek as the Queen of Longtrellis]]
3
4	''Tale of Tales'' is a 2015 dark fantasy film based on the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentamerone Pentamerone]]'', a collection of fairytales written by 17th century poet Giambattista Basile. It features an AllStarCast, with Creator/SalmaHayek, Creator/VincentCassel, Creator/TobyJones, and Creator/JohnCReilly having top billing. It is director Matteo Garrone's first English-speaking film.
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6	Not to be confused with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tale_of_Tales_(1979_film) Russian animated short]] of the same name.
7	----
8	!!This Film provides examples of:
9	* AnachronismStew: The King of Longtrellis goes underwater to slay the aquatic dragon wearing a diving suit, which while having some prototypes made in the 1600s, didn't quite resemble the 1800s "hard-hat" suit he wears, which also lacks an oxygen hose.
10	* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Violet's wonderful crowning ceremony as Queen of Highhill; all the other royal characters from Strongcliff and Longtrellis intervene to pay their respects.
11	* BatOutOfHell: In the climax of ''The Enchanted Doe'' plotline, Elias and Jonah get attacked by a monstrous man-sized bat creature [[spoiler:which turns out to be the OneWingedAngel form of the Queen]].
12	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The necromancer explains to the Queen of Longtrellis that Elias and Jonah are truly inseparable, and that her violent desire to kill Jonah can be achieved only through violence. She accepts to go through with anything, [[spoiler:and ends up getting transformed into a bat-like abomination]].
13	* BloodSplatteredWeddingDress: When Violet comes back to Highhill she still wears the dress she had on the day she was married off to the ogre, now tattered and blood-splattered [[spoiler:as she has just slaughtered her ogre husband.]]
14	* BigCreepyCrawlies: Zigzagged with the king's giant flea. It looks a little intimidating, but behaves very quiet and docile.
15	* BookEnds: The film opens and closes on circus performances.
16	* CloudCuckooLander: The King of Highhill, played by Creator/TobyJones. He appeared to be a little off long before meeting that flea.
17	* DarkerAndEdgier: Yes, the original tales were not aimed at children, but also were much more whimsical and light-hearted, and also not as explicit in their violence and sexuality aspect as the movie is. The original ending of "The Flayed Old Lady" (one of the tales adapted by this movie) was intended to be [[BlackComedy darkly humorous]] while here is PlayedForHorror. As it is mentioned in Death By Adaptation (see below) the circus performers who rescue Violet [[spoiler:are gruesomely killed by the ogre in a sequence which almost seems taken from a SlasherHorror film.]]
18	* DamselOutOfDistress: In the end, Violet has to rescue herself, and does she ever.
19	* DeathByAdaptation: In the source material the circus performers manage to rescue Violet. [[spoiler:Here instead they are gruesomely killed by the ogre, who is in turn killed by Violet herself.]]
20	* DidntThinkThisThrough: Just to get rid of her sister trying to know the secret of her beauty for a moment, in a sarcastic outburst Dora tells Imma that she [Dora] got herself flayed. Imma takes it ''at face value'' [[spoiler:and gets an unscrupulous man to flay her alive]].
21	* EasilyForgiven: Upset because of the BedTrick, the King of Strongcliff has his guards throw Dora out of the castle window. As soon as Dora miraculously regains her youth and beauty, she meets the King in the woods and the two are soon betrothed, apparently without issue on her part about the attempted murder.
22	* EyeOfNewt: The queen of Longtrellis needs to eat a sea monster's heart cooked by a virgin in order to have a child.
23	* EvilRedHead: When Dora is rejuvenated by a generous witch she becomes an attractive red haired maiden, and she cuts all ties with her sister Imma and lies to her about the way she got younger [[spoiler:which leads to Imma skinning herself]].
24	%%* HulkSpeak: The Ogre speaks this way.
25	* HeroOfAnotherStory: After leaving the kingdom [[spoiler:due to the queen's attempted murder of him]], Jonah settles down in another village for at least a few months. Elias arrives and, upon being mistaken for Jonah, receives an extremely warm welcome of ''everyone'' coming out to hug him, with one young woman implied to be Jonah's lover.
26	* IAmAHumanitarian: Some of the bones in the ogre's lair are human. In the source material he is explicitly described as a cannibal.
27	* IdenticalStranger: Elias and Jonah. Amazing, seeing as how they both have unnaturally white hair and eyebrows. [[spoiler:They're actually related through magic, though it's unclear if anyone involved realizes this. You'd think they couldn't help but notice, though]].
28	* ImplacableMan: [[spoiler:The Ogre survives his apparent DisneyVillainDeath during Violet's rescue and catches up to murder the heroic circus troupe with the fury of a SlasherMovie villain]].
29	* ImpossibleTask: The King of Highhills promises his daughter to whoever can guess what animal the giant flea's hide is from, expecting that no-one will be able to guess such a crazy answer.
30	* JabbaTableManners: The Queen of Longtrellis eating a dragon's heart as seen in the page image. It's not like the Necromancer said anything about not using a knife and a fork...
31	* MaritalRapeLicense: The ogre naturally forces himself on Violet shortly after he gets her back to his lair.
32	* MyBelovedSmother: The Queen of Longtrellis is insane about her son.
33	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:The family of circus performers rescue Violet from her abusive husband only to be murdered by said husband shortly after.]]
34	* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:You'd think the ogre would have died falling into the deep chasm, but he just shows up again after a while]].
35	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The "sea monster" the King of Longtrellis has to slay for its heart is a pale, axolotl-inspired water dragon.
36	* OurOgresAreHungrier: The ogre whom Violet is "married" to is a large, bald, brutish, strong man who lives in a cave.
37	* PowerAtAPrice: The Necromancer's advice to the Queen of Longtrellis is made of this. [[spoiler:First he advises the queen to eat a dragon's heart if she wants to get pregnant, and the king dies fighting the dragon. Then he changes the queen into a monster herself to have her kill Jonah in exchange for the safe return of her son Elias, but she's killed by Elias himself.]]
38	* PrinceAndPauper: The son of the Queen of Longtrellis and his identical, low-born counterpart.
39	* ReallyGetsAround: The King of Strongcliff is not only TheCasanova, he often partakes in hedonistic orgies.
40	* RedGreenContrast: Occurs when Dora is rejuvenated, the red blanket (along with her long red hair) contrast the green of the forest and the mossy rocks around her.
41	* ReducedToRatburgers: The Queen of Longtrellis eating a dragon's heart, not from hunger, but for the magic promised her.
42	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The King of Longtrellis himself goes hunting a water dragon in an underwater fight without a second thought and kills it. [[spoiler:He dies because of his wounds, though]].
43	* SacrificialLion: The King of Longtrellis as described above in RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething. The guy had cojones.
44	* SilenceIsGolden: As it happens in this current of Italian filmmaking, most scenes have non-existent dialogue.
45	* SlashedThroat: [[spoiler:Violet kills the Ogre this way, along with some good element of surprise]].
46	* SpoiledSweet: Prince Elias calls his Queen Mother out for threatening to punish Jonah's mother, who had nothing to do with Elias disobeying orders. Then, of course, he thinks of Jonah as a brother and immediately comes to his rescue when alerted that Jonah is in danger.
47	* ThisWasHisTrueForm: The monster killed by Elias turns into [[spoiler:his mother, the Queen of Longtrellis]].
48	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The heart of the sea monster is bigger than a human head and ''still beating'' even after being out of its owner's body for several hours at least. The young woman tasked to cook it for the queen doesn't react as if it's anything other than a normal cut of meat.
49	* UnnervinglyHeartwarming: The film basically runs on being deliberately unsettling. In particular, there are several moments when Princess Viola's husband acts tenderly towards her (as tenderly as he can, at least). He is also a huge, brutish FrazettaMan ogre to whom she is married against her will and who regularly rapes her, not to mention that he makes a bloodbath of [[spoiler:her would-be rescuers]]. The ogre and Viola share one particularly affectionate moment with hand-holding and held gazes right after that bloodbath and right before [[spoiler:Viola manages to kill him.]]
50	* WhiteAndRedAndEerieAllOver: With a dash of DarkIsEvil. The black-dressed Longtrellis sitting on a black chair eats the red and blood-soaked dragon heart in a sterile-looking white room, as shown in the poster too.

Context Film / TaleOfTales