By giving the 14th century tales from The Decameron a poetic visual form, Pasolini brings us back to a lost and slightly naïve world. He pokes fun at scatological incidents, naked bodies, death’s proximity to life, and physical comedy. Altogether, there will be nine stories – nine testaments of life.

For some time already, we have been living like the protagonists in Giovanni Boccaccio’s novel – during the pandemic we clung to memories of a freer, more carefree life that defied norms. By removing the arrogance towards the unsophisticated mediaeval society that can be found on the pages and by bringing the dialogues to life in a Neapolitan dialect, Pasolini wants to uncover that, which people have in common – the body. Pasolini appears in the film with a stoic expression as the apprentice of Giotto the painter, who has come to Naples to paint a mural. This film is the first part of the director’s Trilogy of Life, which was followed by The Canterbury Tales (1972), and Arabian Nights (1974) and has become his most viewed film.