The Perfect Follow-Up Movie To Netflix’s The Decameron Already Released 7 Years Ago

Summary The Decameron (2024) on Netflix explores nobles' antics during the Black Death, with a 66% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

A perfect companion film is The Little Hours (2017), with a stacked cast and a focus on physical and line-based comedy.

Both projects are based on sections of Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron, offering different but complementary plots set in the Middle Ages.

Though The Decameron was released this year in 2024, the show’s perfect follow-up film actually came seven years ago. The Decameron is a Netflix original series set in the era of the Black Death, revealing the antics of a group of nobles who seek refuge in a remote countryside location to avoid death by pestilence. The Decameron’s cast includes Amar Chadha-Patel, Leila Farzad, Lou Gala, Karan Gill, Tony Hale, Zosia Mamet, Tanya Reynolds, and Jessica Plummer.

The Decameron’s reviews on Netflix have been mixed thus far. At the time of writing, the show holds a 66% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes, with a slightly lower 56% audience approval rating. Despite these middling reviews, The Decameron has fared decently in terms of views, making it onto the Netflix Global Top 10 during its first week. While its costume drama and steaminess have led to comparisons with Bridgerton, the better proxy for The Decameron actually came out seven years ago.

Related The Decameron Ending Explained Netflix's The Decameron is a raunchy dark comedy series filled with betrayal and greed that keeps audiences guessing until the very end.

2017's The Little Hours Is Also Based On The Decameron By Giovanni Boccaccio

The Film And TV Show's Plots Are Different

The Decameron’s ideal companion film is the independent movie The Little Hours. Set during the Middle Ages, The Little Hours tells the story of a servant man who finds shelter in a convent full of emotionally dysregulated nuns after fleeing from his master. The man also pretends to be deaf and mute, leaving him in a difficult situation to navigate. The film was directed by Jeff Baena and was released in 2017.

The Decameron and The Little Hours are perfect companion projects because they both are based on sections of the 14th century book The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. The novel is a series of 100 different stories all set during the Black Death, so there is a lot to pull from when it comes to adapting the story. As such, The Decameron and The Little Hours have entirely different plots overall, but both work in the same general time period.

The Little Hours Has A Great Cast Like Netflix's The Decameron

Both Rely On Physical And Line-Based Comedy

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Another thing that makes The Little Hours a great follow-up to The Decameron is its fantastic cast. Boasting an even more stacked set of players than The Decameron, The Little Hours’ main cast includes Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen, and Nick Offerman. As in the case of the Netflix series, these actors are used to deliver both one-liner-based comedy and slapstick. Given these similarities, The Little Hours is a great film to check out for The Decameron fans who are looking for similar content.