So this is a Pier Paolo Pasolini movie (who you will remember, but perhaps not recognize, from The Gospel According to St. Matthew) adapting the Renaissance short story collection by Boccaccio.

In adapting it, he throws away the framing story, and just has the movie shift from one unrelated story to another (there are ten in all), sometimes by having the camera track different people out of a scene, sometimes just by cutting to a new scene with different characters. The effect is something of a themed skit show, like a Monty Python movie.

The stories are all comedic, not to mention earthy — one story involves a nobleman getting dunked in shit, most of the rest of them involve adulterous wives, and one involves a convent full of horny nuns. (Which means that somehow in 2020, I have seen two movies featuring horny nuns, which is not a place I expected to be.)

Because this is an Italian arthouse director adapting a famous Renaissance tale, you get these thoughtful analyses of it, but honestly, it’s also totally valid to look at it as a fun R-rated sex romp comedy.