by Mark Murton
Also Known As: The Decameron
Directed by: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains a spoiler for this film!
Synopsis: Based on eight tales by 14th-century Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, Pasolini weaves the stories together into a bawdy tapestry of a medieval Italy populated by artists, priests and magicians.
Purr Blur: In the eighth episode, Heaven and Hell, two characters from Naples named Meuccio and Tingoccio agree to tell each other about the afterlife when they die. Meuccio has been abstaining from sex with his girlfriend in order to save his soul from damnation. One night after Tingoccio has died from too much sex, Meuccio receives the promised visitation in which Tingoccio assures him that sex is not a sin the afterlife is concerned with. Elated, Meuccio runs through the streets to his girlfriend’s home, informing her excitedly that “It is not a sin!” As he runs down an empty cobbled street he heads straight towards a black cat who is minding his own business.
Meuccio almost runs right over the kitty, jumping to one side at the last moment as the cat runs in the other direction with a Poor Cat Screech.
Final Mewsings: Sex out of wedlock might not be a sin but running over cats is!
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