Tale of Tales (Yuri Norshteyn) (1979) poster
1979 · animation

Tale of Tales (Yuri Norshteyn)

Directed by Yuri Norstein29m1979
ElsewhereTMDB7.3147
  • sombre
  • slow-burn
  • surreal
  • signature
  • intimate
Movie DNA

Sombre, slow-burn, gentle animation, surreal in texture. Ambivalent, intimate, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

Distant, well-worn memories of childhood are inhabited by a little gray wolf. Through astonishing imagery, the memory of all of Russia is depicted.

Our read · Tale of Tales (Yuri Norshteyn) (1979) reads as a sombre, slow-burn, surreal animation entry — gentle in intensity, intimate in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

Video previewNo trailer available for this one.
Where the cast leads
Where to watch
StreamKlassiki
All options on JustWatch

Availability in the UK · via JustWatch

More info & search links
Fingerprint

The shape of Tale of Tales

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want poetic, word-rich animation that evokes childhood memory and Russian soul.

ends bittersweetit stays with youmeditativegrips from the openattention 5/5breezes bysubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around

Skip it tonightYou need conventional story, dialogue or fast-moving animation.

If Tale of Tales is your film
The Snowman (1982)
wordless, lyrical animation of memory, flight and loss
The Red Balloon (1956)
simple, poetic fable of a child and fragile wonder
(you prefer animated over live action)
Fantasia (1940)
pure visual and musical imagery over spoken narrative
(you want a single through-line)
DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
Your take
Rate it
star-clip-1-0star-clip-2-0star-clip-3-0star-clip-4-0star-clip-5-0
React
Discussion

Discussion

cmd enter to post

What does your Movie DNA look like?

Rate a few films you've seen. We map your taste across the same twelve axes and find the films you'll actually want to watch tonight.

Calibrate yourself