This film screened 21st June 2016.

An anthology of fables drawn from a 17th century book of Neapolitan folk tales compiled by the poet Giambattista Basile, Matteo Garrone’s Tale of Tales is a baroque fantasy of three mythical lands and their distressed rulers.

A childless queen (Salma Hayek) sends her husband (John C. Reilly) to battle a sea monster; a king (Toby Jones) becomes obsessed with his pet flea, which has grown to gargantuan proportions; a third philandering monarch (Vincent Cassel) is seduced by the heavenly singing of an unseen maiden. A gloriously realized fantasia featuring a rogue’s gallery of otherworldly grotesques, Tale of Tales sees the director leave the social commentaries of Gomorrah (2008) and Reality (2012) very much behind him. Pitched somewhere between Grimm’s fairytales, Pasolini’s Trilogy of Life with smatterings of Monty Python (and even Shrek), this delightfully imaginative film defies easy categorisation. (Notes by David O’Mahony.)

 MENU 

Polpettone- Tuscan Meatloaf in tomato sauce served on buttered linguini

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Creamy seafood lasagne from mussels and lemon sole

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Pea and goats cheese risotto with fresh thyme and cracked red pepper

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