59 „Декамерон“: Филмова адаптация и стратегии за интерпретация “Decameron”: A Film Adaptation and Strategies for Interpretation Огнян Ковачев СУ „Св. Климент Охридски“ Ognyan Kovachev Sofa University “St. Kliment Ohridski” o_kovachev@yahoo.co.uk The following pages are dedicated to a parallel study of the Decameron, the outstanding literary achievement of Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), and its film adaptation Il Decameron (1971) by the Italian Pier Paolo Pasolini. What drives a filmmaker of such magnitude, with distinctive creative style and peculiar personality, to make a screen variation of such an age-old book? Is the reason in its content and quality and in the simultaneously classic and provocative halo around its name? Or is it hidden in Pasolini’s aesthetic, ideological etc. attitudes? Is he aiming at a contemporary visual reading of a canonical literary work or at it expressing his vision of moder- nity through it? Is the new understanding based on conceptual, aesthetic, and other codes derived from the book or on those that the filmmaker pro- jects onto it? In answering these questions, analyzes of plot structure and narrative techniques are supplemented by observations and commentaries on the use of cinema-specific means of expression such as music and effetti dipinto. Their juxtaposition aims to highlight not only the complexity of the adaptation approach and the creative skill of Pasolini, but also to attract viewer’s attention to less conspicuous film ingredients and effects.