The Black Decameron


The Black Decameron is a 1972 Italian costume drama comedy film directed by Piero Vivarelli.

Background

An adaptation of five stories from the anthology Der schwarze Dekameron: Belege und Aktenstücke über Liebe, Witz und Heldentum in Innerafrika by ethnologist Leo Frobenius with a short final vignette, The Black Decameron is essentially a cross between Decamerotici films of the early commedia sexy all'italiana genre and Mondo films in featuring gratuitous pseudo-ethnographic nudity.
The Black Decameron was shot in the Province of Matera and in Senegal and it features, besides Beryl Cunningham who was the director's partner at the time, a multinational cast including Senegalese actors such as Djibril Diop Mambéty and Senegal-based Haitian actor couple Jacqueline Scott and Lucien Lemoine.

Synopsis

Each story starts with a griot introduction in the Wolof language by korafola Bana Cissokho.
La regina bella : A queen is single and decides to marry and she puts her suitors on harsh trials of strength and courage. Knowing that all former candidates had perished this way, N'sani plans to win the queen's hand by cunning and trickery.
Guarigione di una pazza per gli uomini : A man is married to a nymphomaniac and asks for his friend's help to solve this problem.
Gli amanti puniti : A fisherman suspects that his wife Adu is cheating on him and pretends to be blind to learn the truth.
Vendetta di prostituta : Elders in a village punish men who sleep with prostitute Mande and she sets a trap for the elders in order to expose their hypocrisy.
Che cosa non ha fatto : Handsome and "well-endowed" Simoa gets drunk on too much toddy and wears women's clothes. He soon contemplates that his drag may also bring some advantages and arrives at the house of a village judge to be his "new wife" but ends up sleeping with all the women of the household.

Cast