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DIVORCE Italian STYLE is a comedy drama about love pains and problems with laws.

An impoverished Sicilian nobleman is married with an unattractive but devoted wife. However, he is in love with his, a much younger and attractive, cousin. He lives, besides his wife, with his elderly parents, his spinster sister and her boyfriend. The divorce was illegal in Italy at that time. He has, unsuccessfully, tried to move away from his wife. Perhaps he will try to kill his wife?! A young cousin is so beautiful. He has a very little time to come up with something. A local story of a woman who killed her husband in a rage of jealousy has gave him a great idea...

This satirical farce, which includes an affair in a marriage, love for a minor girl and a murder of honor is, in spite of moral transgressions, a very interesting film. Mr. Germi has made a series of wonderful plots, in which he has, in a satirical manner, criticized laws in the Italian society. He has, very imaginatively, combined fantasies with reality. Therefore, the malicious actions of the main protagonist seem quite charming. A happy ending is the culmination of irony.

Scenery and music completely correspond with love pains in this film. Characterization is very good.

Marcello Mastroianni as Ferdinando Cefalù is a sympathetic and cunning man at the same time. He, perhaps, goes through a midlife crisis. However, his ambitions and plans, which he has prepared with a large dose of elegance and serenity, are quite childish. His character is filled with pathos, despair and longing. Mr. Mastroianni has offered an excellent performance, which is the foundation of a top class entertainment in this film.

His support are Daniela Rocca (Rosalia Cefalù) as his boring wife, Stefania Sandrelli (Angela) as his passion, lust and love and Leopoldo Trieste as Carmelo Patanè as his "salvation".

This is a very entertaining movie about love torments and...still "natural laws".

This is definitely one of the best Italian comedies ever made, a movie you can watch over and over again, Well paced, beautifully scored, perfectly set and cast but most of all flat out funny "Divorzio all'italiana" clicks on all cylinders from start to finish.

When I first saw Pietro Germi's movies (a long time ago), I thought he was a misogynist who portrayed women as grotesque monsters that make men's lives miserable. Thirty years later, after the women's movement, I have come around 180 degrees, and see him as a feminist before his time--showing how the patriarchal family destroys women (and men)and exposing the absurdity of "family honor"--and doing it with humor. It doesn't just apply to Sicily. The Sicilian setting and ambiance is a big part of this movie, however--watch for all the little details of gestures and interactions, and the great shots of the sunbaked town, baroque churches, and interiors of the decaying houses of the aristocrats. Mastroianni is terrific, and so is the supporting cast.

This movie got an Oscar for the script (among the others, by Pietro Germi, the gifted director). However, the real importance of this movie can be demonstrated by saying that an entire genre, "la commedia all'italiana" (Comedy, Italian style) is named after this movie.

A major issue of this genre is to make fun of our traditions and culture (I am Italian) despite the radical changes our Country was having during those years ('60s, '70s).

The main issue of Neo-realism (Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti) was to describe the tragic reality of miserable lives after the catastrophic WWII. Then the Italian economic boom of the '50s drove Italy into modernity and wellness. Commedia all'italiana wanted to remind us that despite this modernity we are always the same Italians we were before, with all our intelligence but also with all our defects.

"Divorce, Italian Style" is set in the most 'conservative' place of Italy of that time, where traditions like family honor were still predominant despite all modernity. In the first shots of the movie we see an environment suffocated by the heat of the Sicilian climate. People spend part of the day in their apartments waiting for the cool evening. This motionless environment is highly metaphoric, as it shows that nothing really changes in this land, suffocated by the weight of old traditions. Probably this is not so true today, but at that time certainly was.

However, don't be scared by this introduction. The movie is FUN and it turns into a fast-paced rhythm shortly.

The protagonist loves his cousin and wants to marry her, but he is already married. So he plans to murder the wife, pretending to do that for a 'legitimate' defence of honor. What is amazing is that all the village, all the people in the movie support murder for the honor of the family. They even induce him to kill. And what is sad, is that the law at that time was really soft for those types of murders.

To summarize this movie has these characteristics: 1) VERY FUN. You can't stop laughing even if the script is tragic (this is a characteristic of masterpieces) 2) WELL ACTED: Marcello Mastroianni gives one of his best performances. Stefania Sandrelli is beautiful as ever, Marcello's wife is ugly and a nuisance as her role imposes, and Leopoldo Trieste is another great actor of Italian cinema.

3) WONDERFUL STORY: the script won the Oscar and it is truly very intelligent 4) SOCIALLY COMMITTED: it is an accusation of a wrong law that supports a wrong tradition (the law was changed shortly after).

I give this masterpiece a 10 out of 10, and I strongly recommend it to everyone.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)

Divorzio all'italiana is a richly textured satire of Sicilian macho Catholic life styles starring one of Italy's greatest actors, Marcello Mastroianni. He is a bit Chaplinesque in this tongue in cheek exploration of how to dump your wife and marry your 16-year-old cousin. His wide-eyed, dead pan expressions combined with vulnerability and suave, leading-man good looks made him the heart-throb of women for decades. He plays a bored baron stuck with a baroness (played fatuously by Daniela Rocca) that he cannot abide. It should be noted that today it IS possible to get a divorce in Italy, but at the time it was very difficult, perhaps easier to get an annulment, and so we have the premise of the plot.

Stefania Sandrelli, who became one of the great ladies of the Italian cinema, plays the cousin. She was only 15 when the film was shot but could easily pass for, say, 18. She is sensual, sweet and a bit naughty. In the final scene, famous for its fitting irony, the last thing we see are her feet. I won't tell you more, but the movie is almost worth seeing just for that final scene.

Rocca's Rosalia on the other hand is more syrupy than sweet and would qualify as clinging. She could smother a lumberjack, and although it is not polite to comment unfavorably on a lady's looks, I must note that she seemed to be having a bad facial hair day, everyday. Her impersonation of a country baroness nonetheless was unforgettable. I also liked 16-year-old Margherita Girelli as Sisini, the maid. Her coquettish ways helped to lend a French bedroom farce flavor to the film.

But what really makes this one of the great monuments of the Italian cinema is the witty and delightful script by Ennio De Concini (it won an Academy Award in 1962) and the detailed, textured direction by Pietro Germi. The picture that Germi paints of life in a small Sicilian (or southern Italian, for that matter) village is picturesque, much imitated, and indelible. The crowded ornate clutter of the old estate, the sun-drenched streets and the monolithic stone and mason churches haunt our memory. True, the film starts a bit slowly and drags (at least for modern audiences) a bit at times, but don't make the mistake of giving up on this. The latter half of the film is wonderful. And remember, if you had to go to film school, Divorce Italian Style would be on the syllabus.

So see this for Mastroianni of course but also because no film education would be complete without having seen Divorzio all'italiana.

The Criterion Collection DVD includes a second disc with a documentary on Germi's career, an interview with Ennio De Concini, and screen-test footage of Stefania Sandrelli and Daniela Rocca that I just had to see. There is also a booklet with reviews of the film from Stuart Klawans, Andrew Sarris, and Martin Scorsese. Scorsese's review is adoring and nostalgic since he is from Sicily and since the film had made such a lasting impression on him as a 19-year-old. For him the film was not so much a comedy as a true reflection of a life he and his family had known. He writes, "Every detail in Divorce Italian Style is so truthful and right that all Germi had to do was heighten everything a bit to make it funny."

Definitely a classic film, but not just an Italian classic! "Divorzio all'italiana" centers itself around Ferdinando Cefalù (Mastroianni), a 37 year old baron in a small town. Although he's a baron, his life is not completely perfect as his father has squandered much of their money, and his extremely clingy wife Rosalia stands between him and the only thing he loves, his 16 year old cousin Angela. To add salt to the wound, 1960's Italy does not allow couples to divorce, which leads Ferdinando to seek desperate measures. After a town scandal erupts, when a woman murders her cheating husband to protect her honor, Ferdinando is inspired to set up his wife with a lover in order to kill her and "protect his honor." The rest of the movie chronicles Ferdinando's attempts to find someone who would fit the bill.

"Divorzio all'italiana" is a satirical look at Italian society and its seemingly backward laws which force people to do stupid things and its fallibility at justice. In its social commentary of Italian laws/society, Concini, Germi, and Giannetti (the writers) create well fitted, stereotypical characters that are much needed in order for the message of the film to get across. Ferdinando plays the evil nobleman, Rosalia as the annoying wife, Angela as the desirable secret teen lover, etc. The beauty of the story not only lies in it's scathingly funny humor, with Ferdinando's clever plotting and hallucinations of killing his wife, but also in its ability to transcend time. Nowadays there are no laws that forbid divorce in most societies, but even though that crucial point does not relate to modern audiences, the film is still able to conjure emotions for the characters' plight. Another great thing about the film, is the idea of a protagonist character with typically antagonist characteristics. Ferdinando is definitely a bad man, but the story plays with the audience in making them want Ferdinando to succeed in his plot. To add to the underlying theme of the film, the failure of Italian laws, is the theme of "justice" whether it be from the law or from a simple reversal of fate. Definitely watch the film up to the very end, as it closes with an ironic yet justified twist of fate for the characters involved.

This is definitely one of the best Italian comedies ever made, a movie you can watch over and over again... Mastroianni gives an excellent performance as an impoverished Sicilian aristocrat determined to get a divorce from his wife. There is only one complication - divorce is illegal in Italy at the time. However, there is also a law that justifies the killing of a wife if she is caught during an act of adultery. As with most others Germi's films, this one is a unique mix of situational comedy and social drama. Highly recommended.

Let me begin by declaring that I liked "Divorce, Italian Style"...sort of. I come to both bury and praise this movie at the same time, if such a thing is possible.

It's not a bad film, by any means. In fact, it possesses many of the greatest strengths of foreign cinema - it's got plenty of wit, bite, intelligence, and the kind of cold insight into human nature that is often lacking in glamorized Hollywood films. In short, it's well done.

And yet, it annoyed me. Something about the enormously cynical plot - which involves an unhappily married man (Marcello Mastroianni) trying to break free from his clingy wife - bugged me. Perhaps I got just tired of Marcello's world-weary persona after a while; it initially amused me, then started to grate. It's tough to watch such a superficial weed of a character for a whole movie.

And perhaps I also got a little tired of the wife, who is depicted as an endlessly cheerful weirdo with a hideous unibrow and a mustache. Cheerful, and fawning. Extremely fawning. In fact, the film contains innumerable close-ups of her fawning face. But here's the problem - how many shots of a fawning woman with a hideous unibrow does any normal viewer want to see? After a while, it just got too ugly for me to look at.

Perhaps I'm being frivolous. But I'm trying to suggest, in my own clumsy way, that the movie was a little too grotesque for me. The characters were a little too bizarre, the shouting was a little too loud, and the satire narrowly missed the mark. I wanted to like it, really... but it ended up irritating me. Shame, really - but I'm sure that many Italian movie buffs will love it despite my grumblings.

This classic Italian film is a comedy that tells the story of Ferdinando Cefalu who is unhappily married for 15 years, but he falls in love with his wife's niece, and he starts a plan to end his marriage and not be criticized by the old and classy Italian society. In the meantime, in order to complete his plan many things happened including funny moments and some dramatic moments. The movie seems to have been very well directed and very well acted and gives us a little hint about the behavior of the Sicilian society. In order to do his plan, Ferdinando chooses a crazy idea, and takes a long time to plan and detail his plan perfectly having a lot of funny interruptions during the process of his plan. Its refreshing to find movies with good sense of humor, and no use of vulgarities or bad language to make the viewers laugh. I really enjoyed it, and i deeply recommend watching it.

Divorce Italian Style is a pretty good film. It begins kind of slowly, but really picks up towards the end. It is worth seeing for several reasons, foremost among them, to see Marcello Mastrioanni in anything is worthwhile. It is also interesting culturally, although, be warned, this is not meant to be any kind of cultural document from Italy. In fact, I believe the film is taking place in Sicily because of its more conservative nature. I don't think that these customs were common even there, but the Italian public could accept it better if it were happening in Sicily. There is one part of interest to any film enthusiast: the characters in the film go to see La Dolce Vita! Of course, Mastrioanni was the star of that film (they don't show any scene with him in it). We see priests condemning La Dolce Vita and blaming the cuckolding of the main character on it. We also see a woman looking sideways at her boyfriend when his eyes are oggling Anita Eckberg. His response: "No, no, no, I don't like her. She's beautiful, but she has no soul."

An Italian big shot with a nagging wife concocts ways to be rid of her so he can be free to lust after his cousin. Mastroinni, sporting a pencil-thin mustache, seems to be trying very hard to make it funny, but is let down by a witless script. Rocca, also sporting a pencil-thin mustache (no kidding), as well a uni-brow, plays the nagging wife. Sandrelli is the cousin, and nobody makes an issue of cousins having an affair (Oh those Italians!). Everybody overacts and the humor is forced and rather cartoony. Good comedies are marked by two traits - they are funny and they don't overstay their welcome. This one fails on both accounts.

DIVORCE Italian STYLE is one of the funniest films I've ever seen on the subject of how to dissolve a marriage--Italian style, of course. Seems those Italians have a way of forgiving murder if the spouse has cheated and is found in the act--which must give rise to some pretty unsavory stories in real life as well as here.

But however unpleasant the subject matter may seem, this is the merriest romp of a comedy I've come across in a long time. It's so artful in the way it gets inside the mind of the impoverished aristocrat (MARCELLO MASTROIANNI) living in palatial ruins in Sicily and desperately devising a way to get rid of his boring wife. He devises a plan that goes awry when "La Dolce Vita" comes to town and, with all the men in the village attending it, his wife takes that opportunity to run off with her lover.

It's a masterful job that Mastroianni does here, giving little signs of distress with a twitch of his mustache, a frown, a concentrated gaze--in other words, bewitched, bothered and bewildered as he contemplates how to go about getting rid of his freedom so he can pursue a young girl he's enamored of. All the events leading up to the final act are hilariously Italiano in style--those little devils knew how to take advantage of the judicial system.

Summing up: A sheer delight from beginning to end, thanks to a masterful job by Marcello Mastroianni in his Oscar-nominated role.

There's a moment in Pietro Germi's Divorzio all'italiana (aka: Divorce Italian Style) that pretty much defines everything, that sort of defines what a black comedy is all about: a certain woman murders her husband because he had run away with another woman, that certain woman murdered him while he was out with his new love. And that certain woman had something similar with our main character, Marcello Mastroianni's Baron Ferdinando Cefalù, and actually after the murder she crossed path with Ferdinando. The moment that sort of defines everything is when these two, the certain woman and our main character, are together since is Mastroianni delivering a really great laugh, is Ferninando being like "" ...certainly and certainly is the way that Mastroianni delivers the scene that makes it so fantastic and hilarious.

I think Divorzio all'italiana is an all-time masterpiece of movie-making art. It has amazing depth, and an amazing amount of detail. The cinematography, the script, the acting, the music – all wonderful. The thing is just uncanny. Even though my understanding of Italian is limited to maybe a dozen words, I felt drawn to listening to the dialog – listening in order to get whatever meaning I could pick up from the actors' InFlection and InTonation. The actors were just fantastic.

The screenplay is a ruthless skewering of post world war 2 Italy, revealing how Italians were becoming fully aware of the changes that were happening in the rest of the world, revealing how they were being affected by them – appearing eager to adopt them, but at the same time suffering from some kind of insidious stagnation resulting from the Italy's interpretation of the mores imposed by the Roman Catholic church – and revealing the problems that resulted from the conflict between change and stagnation. Some of the changes that were referenced, to hilarious effect as they reached stagnant Italy, were rock and roll, men orbiting the earth, and perhaps the most hilarious, the Italian movie released just a short time earlier: La Dolce Vita.

Divorzio all'italiana's main character, FeFe, to get the changes he wants in his life, he doesn't try to change the system; he works within the system. He carries out what seems like a rather unlikely strategy, however it is a strategy that works, sort of. In the process of carrying it out, the rot within the system gets exposed, and the humor gets created.

In most movies, the music that is used – it is used to tell the audience how the movie makers want the audience to feel about the things that are being said, about the things that are going on, about how the characters must feel. The dialog tells viewers what the the characters Think; the music tells viewers what the movie makers want the characters, and the viewers, to feel about that. It is, in most movies, as if the dialog and the actors need some extra help emoting, so the director calls in the composer to help out. "Now you know how you are supposed to feel about this, audience." This is NOT how the music is used in Divorzio all'italiana. I am not sure I can explain what the music does in Divorzio all'italiana, what it does differently – but the music does something different, and wonderful. I don't think I have ever seen another movie where I enjoyed the music so much, or where it supported the movie and "belonged" to the movie so well. Just another one of the little details that contribute to Divorzio all'italiana being a masterpiece. By the way, for most of the dialog, I needed a translation, but not for the title. I find it hard to believe that there are any speakers of English who couldn't figure out the meaning of "Divorzio all'italiana" without a translation.

It's really a masterpiece but Daniela Rocca is not at all ugly, like another guy wrote, watch her well in the movie. And, she's a great actress. I would have liked to start with Marcello or Stefania, who are more beautiful than ever and do some extraordinary roles. There are no words to express how wonderful they are. Margherita Girelli is really delicious in the role of Sisina. And Angela Cardile, gorgeous in the role of Agnese. Leopoldo Trieste, Lando Buzzanca and everyone else, are not at all inferior. Germi's direction is brilliant. The story is more than captivating. Carlo Rustichelli's music is tremendous. A film worth seeing at any time, is one of the absolute masterpieces of the 7th art. Me, I've seen it so many times that I do not know exactly how many...

Even watching with subtitles, Divorce Italian Style has a very dark, immoral comedy that our inner devils relish in. The film is very very funny, and the plot quite novel, the story and screenplay well written. Marcello Mastroianni is also devilishly funny in the film, and the direction is superb. Despite this, I find the film to be almost painfully slow, and the story not substantial enough to fill two hours of screen time. Sure it is a good story and there are funny moments, but it takes too long to get started for my taste, and too long to get resolved. The basic story of Divorce Italian style may be very interesting and entertaining, but without further embellishments, I find it too slight to sustain my attention throughout.

Baron Ferdinando Cefalu is very much in love with his cousin, Angela, and wishes to marry her. The only problem? He's already married. Since divorce is outlawed the Baron decides to get rid of his wife with a lesser crime: murder. "Divorce, Italian Style" is a pitch black satire of a chauvinist society and Italy's hypocritical judicial system.

Marcello Mastroianni, best known for his starring role in 8 1/2, is delightfully woeful and sarcastic as Baron Cefalu. His expressions and his nervous tics provide several good chuckles. Daniela Rocca is perfectly annoying as Baroness Cefalu, making it quite easy to take delight in her husband's murderous fantasies. Stefania Sandrelli is quite good as Angela. Her scenes with Mastroianni are especially passionate and, since this was one of Sandrelli's earliest films, they show a real talent in the making.

While I did laugh at "Divorce, Italian Style" (as well as that amazing Criterion cover art), don't expect a straight up comedy. It does make a serious point about the failings of Italy's judicial system. I will also admit that watching Baroness Cefalu drown in quicksand was an unpleasant sight, and not funny at all. Watching her get blasted into space = side-splitting laughter. Watching her drown in quicksand = uncomfortable.

However, don't be detered from this film. If you've never seen any of Mastroianni's films this is the one to start with.

Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to see this movie all in one sitting; I'm sure if I had it would have been that much more entertaining. As it stands though, Divorce, Italian Style is at times laugh-out-loud funny. The main character brings a darkness to the film that is sometimes lost on American audiences, but is delightful nonetheless. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, so I won't give any of these moments away. Just know that the humor is artfully accomplished, and with other themes such as possible social commentary on the loose, it provides laughter as well as some food for thought. A great film from abroad, I truly recommend it to anyone who enjoys their chortles with a sly wink.

Marcello Mastroianni is a great actor but who does he want to fool with those little mustaches playing the part of a Sicilian? He doesn't make sense. He isn't credible. With this premise the movie is all downhill. Mastroianni overacts making his part furthermore less credible. All the actors overact and the movie becomes a mess. Pietro Germi lost control. If everyone was a little more serious this could have a been a great comedy.

The director will make a sort of masterpiece with SIGNORE & SIGNORI (Ladies & Gentlemen) but 4 years will have to pass.

The DVD I saw had images of bad quality. Being an Italian movie unfortunately it often happens.