Release Year: 2015

Rating: 6.4/10 ( voted)

Critic's Score: /100

Director: Matteo Garrone

Stars: Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones

Storyline
The film serves as Garrone's English-language debut and will interweave three separate story strands bookended by brief bits in which Italians Alba Rohrwacher and Massimo Ceccherini will play a street circus family. In one tale Salma Hayek will play a jealous queen who forfeits her husband's life. In another, Vincent Cassel plays a king whose passion is stoked by two mysterious sisters.

Writers: Giambattista Basile, Edoardo Albinati, Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, John C. Reilly, Shirley Henderson, Hayley Carmichael, Bebe Cave, Stacy Martin, Christian Lees, Jonah Lees, Laura Pizzirani, Franco Pistoni, Jessie Cave, Alba Rohrwacher, Massimo Ceccherini, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cast:
Salma Hayek - Queen of Longtrellis
Vincent Cassel - King of Strongcliff
Toby Jones - King of Highhills
John C. Reilly - King of Longtrellis
Shirley Henderson - Imma
Hayley Carmichael - Dora
Bebe Cave - Violet
Stacy Martin - Young Dora
Christian Lees - Elias
Jonah Lees - Jonah
Laura Pizzirani - Jonah's Mother
Franco Pistoni - Necromancer
Jessie Cave - Fenizia
Alba Rohrwacher - Circus Owner
Massimo Ceccherini - Circus Owner

Taglines: A feast for the imagination

Official Website: Le Pacte [France] | Official Facebook [UK] |

Country: UK, France, Italy

Language: English, Russian

Release Date: 3 Jan 2015

Filming Locations: Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Box Office Details

Budget: €12,000,000 (estimated)

Runtime: 125 min

Trivia:
This is Matteo Garrone's first English-speaking film. See more »

Goofs:
The renaissance guitar that Princess Violet plays appears that it may have synthetic strings rather than gut strings. See more »

Quotes:

Author:

Rating: 8/10

Using a traditional folklore anthology as guideline (XVII century "Lu cunto de li cunti" by Gian Battista Basile) Garrone puts on screen three gorgeous (loosely) intertwined stories that have for protagonists various Kings and Queens facing huge obsessions. - In one Salma Hayek and John C. Reilly are a royal couple that struggles to get an heir, until a mysterious cloaked man offers them a magical solution. The birth of the child will not be exactly as expected. - In another Vincent Cassel is a sex-maniac king that became obsessed by a mysterious woman with a beautiful voice. Her true identity is, well... complicated; and her desire to became queen will result in a magical help that will be for her both a blessing and a curse. - In the last story Toby Jones is a king so fascinated by a magical animal to neglect her only daughter Viola and her desire to marry. The death of the animal and the desperate need for affection of the king will result in a bizarre challenge that will mark a dire fate for the princess. Every story it's connected by the themes of blood and duplicity: how obsession seems like love and makes you do things without caring for the consequences. All this in a slow paced, softly spoken movie that suddenly outburst in tense scenes of violence, gore and horror; always gorgeous in its unique aesthetic based on the constant opposition between rich baroque splendor and poor barren settings. It may appear "bare" by the current standards of fantasy movies but that's exactly the point: this is not fantasy, it's folklore; even a grand task like slaying a sea dragon became trivial compared to the depths of human relationships.

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