| Virgin Territory | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | David Leland |
| Written by | David Leland |
| Based on | Decameron byGiovanni Boccaccio |
| Produced by | Tarak Ben Ammar Roberto Cavalli Dino De Laurentiis Martha De Laurentiis |
| Starring | Hayden Christensen Mischa Barton Tim Roth |
| Narrated by | Craig Parkinson |
| Cinematography | Ben Davis |
| Music by | Ilan Eshkeri |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Eagle Pictures (Italy)[1] Quinta Communications (France)[1] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
| Countries | Italy United Kingdom France Luxembourg |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $5.4 million[1] |
Virgin Territory is a 2007romantic comedy film directed byDavid Leland. It was the last film produced byDino De Laurentiis.[2] The film starsHayden Christensen,Mischa Barton,Tim Roth,Rosalind Halstead andKate Groombridge.[3] It is based uponGiovanni Boccaccio's 14th-century taleThe Decameron.[4] The film was released in France on December 12, 2007.
The film is set inFlorence (Republic of Florence) during theBlack Death. As in theDecameron, ten youngFlorentines take refuge from the plague. But instead of telling stories, they have lusty adventures, bawdy exchanges, romance and swordplay. There are randy nuns,Saracen pirates, and a sexy cow.
Pampinea is the daughter of a wealthy merchant who has died moments before the start of the movie. Lorenzo is a young man in town who is exceptionally good at gambling and is charmed by her beauty. Gerbino De Ratta is the head of the local thugs who robs anyone or steals anything that he sees stealable. Count Dzerzhinsky, from the city ofNovgorod inNovgorod Republic now in modernRussia, is Pampinea's fiancé who she has never met. Their fate intertwines after Pampinea's father died and Gerbino robs Pampinea of her fortune, saying her father was in debt. The only way for the merchant's daughter to save her life was to marry him, according to Gerbino himself.
Lorenzo was being chased by Gerbino after he bested him at a gambling table, then took refuge in a convent by posing as a "deaf and dumb" gardener. At this convent, he has sex with all of the horny nuns, but only until Pampinea's arrival. Pampinea—trying to escape from Gerbino's grasp—ran to the convent for shelter. There she witnesses Lorenzo, whom she'd long had feelings for, having sex with the nuns and get jealous. She blindfolds Lorenzo and kisses him passionately out of love. But then, out of jealousy, she informs the convent's abbess of his deception, that he is actually neither deaf nor dumb.
The Count arrives in Florence only to be ambushed by Gerbino's men. All of his companions are killed, but he survives. Receiving a message from Pampinea's servant, Count Dzerzhinsky rides to Pampinea's father's mansion for the wedding, for he has been promised her hand in marriage. On the way, the young Count meets askinny dipping Elissa—Pampinea's best friend, who is on her way to attend the wedding—and the two subsequently fall in love. The Count is led to believe Elissa is Pampinea.
Chased out of the convent, Lorenzo follows Pampinea to her father's mansion. There he confesses to her that he's fallen in love with the nun who kissed him while blindfolded, the woman whose face he never got to see. Later, Gerbino and his men arrive at the mansion and imprison Lorenzo. Pampinea agrees to marry Gerbino right that day to save Lorenzo, and thus Lorenzo is banished to the woods. There he meets Dzerzhinsky who is on his way to the mansion to be married to 'Pampinea' (actually Elissa) and the two team up to take out Gerbino's men. Gerbino himself dies falling into a large deep well inside the mansion.
Pampinea, in love with Lorenzo, refuses to marry Count Dzerzhinsky, only to realise moments later that the Count himself is actually in love with Elissa who has been posing as her. She happily then runs after Lorenzo and kisses him. Lorenzo realises that she is in fact the nun he's in love with and they hold their wedding that very day, with all of their friends attending.
The film was co-produced by Italian producerDino De Laurentiis andhis wife, along with Nigel Green's Entertainment Film Distributors andTarak Ben Ammar's Paris-based La Quinta. It was written and directed by BritDavid Leland. De Laurentiis returned to Italy to film it. The largely British cast includesMischa Barton andHayden Christensen, along withTim Roth playing the villain, "young actresses"Kate Groombridge andRosalind Halstead, and British comedianNigel Planer in a cameo as a nitwit named Uncle Bruno. The film was reportedly budgeted at $38 million.[5]
It was produced under the working titlesThe Decameron,[4]The Decameron: Angels and Virgins,Chasing Temptation,[6] andGuilty Pleasures,[7] before being released under the titleVirgin Territory.
The film was released in France on December 12, 2007, under the titleMedieval Pie: Territoires Vierges.[8] RAI Cinema acquired theatrical and television rights for Italy.[5] It was released directly-to-DVD in the United States on August 26, 2008.[9] The film's Italian title wasDecameron Pie.
The actor will soon shoot "The Decameron," directed by David Leland. The film brings Giovanni Boccaccio's 14th-century tale about storytelling to the bigscreen.