Ces messieurs dames

"The Birds, the Bees and the Italians" is a delightful and enjoyable comedy of manners "Italian Style" with a kitschy and catchy soundtrack that sounds like a combo of Anton Karas 'Third Man' and Nino Rota's '8½' themes, the music gets stuck in your mind like melted cheese on a plate after the pasta's gone, it's both irresistible and irritating but it does serve a purpose: to give a playful resonance to a rather serious subject, too serious to be treated with solemnity, the days of neo-realism were over, comedy became the key. So the music is comedic because there's something tragicomic in the psyche and hubris of Italian society's upper strata... and something cathartic in a film that makes men's flaws laughable, if not forgivable.

Si signor, under their facade of marital respectability, conventions, white coats or gray-flannelled suits, these Italian men want to have fun, they want to have sex and for the most tragic case, they want to find true love. What have all these elements in common? They involve friends and mistresses and activities that generally do without the 'Signora', another social burden to get accommodated with. Indeed, in their ideals of escapism and fun, religion and appearances are like a jail and the wife is the chain with the ball. That the topic is treated in a lighthearted way doesn't deprive the film from the criticism regarding its male-centered version of a hedonistic life as if women didn't want to have fun too.

Still, one shouldn't get the wrong idea about it, the original title "Signore & Signori" is there to show that the film gives an equal weight to both sexes. By an interesting irony, the film will win the Golden Palm that year along with the similarly titled and more celebrated Claude Lelouch's "A Man and a Woman". Once again, the Germi's movie gives more presence to men, maybe because the director has a more acute perception of the weaknesses of his peers, but the fact that men are the main protagonists is not saying much, they all have jobs, good situations, a social importance and the debonair confidence of self-accomplishment in their 40s/50s but they're closer to "Pagliacci" figures than Roman warriors. Their ordeals are all portrayed in a way that makes us laugh with them and at them too.

The film is divided in three acts: in the first one, a man's impotence is treated like a running gag and a deserved subject of mockery (there's a nice twist at the end). Then the second story focuses on a husband who's stopped wearing the pants and endures his wife's insults and condescending comments with stoicism... and ear plugs. Though it's not fair to overlook the other actors but mentioning their names wouldn't ring a bell, they're no Mastroiannis, Tognazzis or Gassmans but their relative anonymousness for the non-expert eye gives the film a subtle touch of authenticity. However, I've got to mention Gastone Moschin who plays the most endearing figure of the film, and the most memorable. This is a tall man built like a Commendatore (he was the intimidating Fanucci in "The Godfather Part II") but who becomes Pinocchio when he's confronted to his nagging wife. The way he falls in love with the little cashier girl is adorable and sweet, almost Comedia Dell'Arte, and resisting the temptation to make the story darker than needed, Germi makes the emotional impact as effective by sticking to comedy.

The wife can be regarded as a villain in the segment but she's only good at using the system as an instrument to avenge her hurt pride, it's fair game in an arena where it's all a matter of saving the appearances, of pride after all. Another wife will punish her husband's infidelity by showing her naked body in a balcony, much to a passing driver's excitement. These outbursts of hysterical (and histrionic) anger highlight a recurring if not defining motif in the film: hypocrisy. Indeed, the worst possible thing that can happen isn't the fault itself but the lack of discretion. It's one thing to fool around, even the Carabineer will understand, but to expose it in front of everyone, in a society still dominated by Catholic Church, is just provocation.

Germi's not just peeking in the keyhole to see what's behind the good society's curtain, he literally kicks the hornet nest and reveal how in fact everything doesn't revolve around morality and principles but sex and money, pride and honor acting as smokescreens between these two worlds. And the film's final act of was the best way to wrap up this social exploration; by showing that even women can be loose-moralled after all, and not just the mistresses, that little twist at the end was the extra spice the film needed, the small revenge from the female side, the perfect device to maintain the film's savor, like when you need to add a little Parmesan cheese in the rest of spaghetti, or a drop of wine to conclude the dinner.

And so the finale takes us back to where (and how) it begun, to music and smiling faces as to reassess the detachment of the director, no hurt feelings, with bravura and a fine comedic instinct, Germi strikes as a great painter of people's morality, but not a moralist! Speaking of Fermi, it seems like there's just enough space in movie lovers' memory to contain names such as Fellini, De Sica, Antonioni, Rossellini or Visconti and it takes that little special gourmet taste to appreciate the likes of Pietro Germi, more craftsmen than artists, but maybe because they never felt overwhelmed with some sense of overly lyrical self-grandeur that they could make such down-to-earth little gems.

And here, I conclude my 1500th IMDb review.

Who knew Treviso was the place to live, if you fancied a bit of good old-fashioned infidelity? The town is positively writhing in pudgy middle-aged gentlemen who drink excessively then routinely cheat on their wives and sweethearts. There are three inter-connected stories here that follow the licentious behaviour of these citizens. The first gent, "Gasparini" (Alberto Lionello) is married to the the somewhat imperious "Ippolita" (Olga Villi) and he has been claiming impotence to avoid fulfilling his conjugal duties. He confides this problem to his doctor "Castellan" (Gigi Ballista) only he doesn't expand upon the fact that this is a feint not only to deter his wife, but also to distract the physician from his interest in that man's wife "Noemi" (Beba Loncar). When "Castellan" goes blabbing about this to his café friends, though, he inadvertently plays into the hands of his rival and ends up with quite a bit of egg on his face. Meantime, henpecked bank clerk "Bisgato" (Gastone Moschin) is constantly being berated by his wife (Nora Ricci) for lacking in ambition and despite her frequent interventions is repeatedly told by his employers - relatives of "Ippolita" - that he's paid what he's worth. He's a bit naive, is poor old "Bisgato" for he has fallen in love with "Milena" (Virna Lisi) and the thrust of the best comedic elements of the film come from this man's determination to escape from what he sees as the martial yoke. Cheating is one thing, moving out - well that's something altogether different. Then finally, we meet the young "Alda" (Patrizia Valturri) whose arrival on the scene sets the cat amongst these elderly pigeons even more. That is until her father (Carlo Bagno) declares that she is but a minor, and that the police are going to be investigating charges of statutory rape. Now these men are going to have to scream for help - but whom can they run to, though? There's a great deal of music throughout this and for the most part it works well in helping to sustain the frenetic pace, the frantically delivered dialogue and the almost slapstick nature of these men"s behaviour, adventures and peccadilloes. Along the way, the storylines shine an humorous light on many of the stereotypical attitudes that prevailed amongst the permanently horny menfolk and amongst their equally stoic, and often quite relieved, spouses. Sex is never far from the plot, neither is jealousy nor pantomime and the dynamic between Moschin and Lisi, supported by the on-form Lionello and Ricci present us with a not so subtle evaluation of the hypocrisies of modern Italian suburban life where the Christian doctrines of marriage and respect are honoured much more in the breach than the observance. There are three distinctly separate episodes here, but by the last half hour they have all melded together into something that rarely comes up for breath, and that I quite enjoyed.

According to the veteran Italian film director Ettore Scola,Italian people have the intrinsic knack of ridiculing themselves long before someone else can dare to point a figure at them.For them there is hardly any human sentiment which cannot be mocked.By doing so they have remained the champions of auto derision in this world.This is one fundamental quality which distinguishes them from the other nationalities of Europe.As far as a discussion on this film goes,its English title "The birds,The bees and The Italians" does perfect justice to the spirit of the film. The entire film is a laugh riot and the best thing about the screenplay is that although the depicted situations might appear common place but they never leave any room for any kind of guess work or speculation.So the end result is an intelligent film which entertains until the maximum possible extent of human enjoyment. Even the black and white photography is advantageous as it alludes to a time when there was too little advancement of technology. Recommended for those people who would like to have a nice laugh but would not dare to copy under any circumstances the actions portrayed in the film.

The entire film had a farcical quality and was generally comical enough to hold my interest, but something deeper in the second vignette began to bubble up to the surface. There was a longing, not quite a sadness, but an extremely emotionally complex situation where you can sympathize with everyone and all points of view. I feel like I was pleasantly fooled. I expected a burger, which would have been fine, but they brought me a steak instead.

Pietro Germi only directed 19 movies, but he was obviously very talented. I've seen a few of his other films and those were satisfyingly complex as well.

The male love interest in the second vignette was played by Gastone Moschin. He didn't strike me at first as the best choice for the role, but he executed it brilliantly. Virna Lisi is always stunning, but I didn't realize what a good actress she was until I saw the extremely sympathetic character she played, and she nailed it perfectly. Nora Ricci was top notch as the wife. She was able to very skillfully balance between an over the top shrew, and as someone the audience can feel for.

There was one other thing in the movie that I thought was great. There was a short running gag regarding the jilted wife that led into a different short running gag regarding boys making prank calls. I don't recall ever seeing anything like that before.

The very last scene with everyone gathered in the town square was quite poignant.

I definitely recommend this movie.

The Italian Comedy of the Sixties has been internationally recognised as one of the most innovative and original cinema genres produced in that decade. This forgotten movie stands as one of the best examples of such genre. Three stories from the same bunch of middle aged guys from the North of Italy (the nice location is Treviso) are portrayed in this very enjoyable comedy. It is an almost Fellinesque movie, in the sense that it is grotesque, funny and clever at the same time. It mainly is a satire on the human relationships and the hypocrisy of people. Obviously all of this is depicted in a totally hilarious "Italian way". The actresses are simply irresistible (Virna Lisi looks awesome!), the actors very convincing, the story simply too good compared to nowadays scripts, while music, photography and direction are almost perfect. It won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival together with "Un homme une famme". To be rediscovered. a convinced 10/10.