A lyrical celebration of polymorphous sexuality, ARABIAN NIGHTS is the concluding section of the so-called "Trilogy of Life," Pier Paolo Pasolini's series of erotic retellings of classic medieval tales that also includes THE DECAMERON and THE CANTERBURY TALES. The film opens with
Zumurrud (Ines Pellegrini), a slave girl who is sold to handsome young aristocrat Nured-Din (Franco Merli); she falls in love with her master but is kidnapped by a mysterious blue-eyed stranger. Disguised as a man, she escapes, takes a wife, and is declared king of a foreign land. Zumurrud's story
serves as a frame for a number of magical realist narratives loosely adapted from the
The ...
Released:
1974
Rated:
NC-17
Length:
155 mins