La legge

This Jules Dassin movie shot in a fishing village in Southern Italy is breathtakingly beautiful! In terms of casting, this Franco-Italian production shows a very strong palette of incredible actors: Gina Lollobrigida, Marcello Mastroianni, Pierre Brasseur, Yves Montand, without forgetting the sublime Melina Mercouri. The plot is all about power and domination, with an assumed sexual touch, in a still very archaic community dominated by paternalistic and machist characters. The arrival of the northern man, played by Mastroianni foreshadows the end of this system, of this "law" from which the two main female characters interpreted by Gina Lollobrigida and Melina Mercouri each try to escape in their own way. As always with Jules Dassin, the care taken in photography, framing and viewing angles ensure an aesthetic delight bordering on perfection. All the actors are excellent, and Gina Lollobrigida bursts the screen with her talent, her look, her energy. But it is also particularly important to note the very convincing interpretations of Pierre Brasseur, Yves Montant and Melina Mercouri, who is truly overwhelming. This film is an absolute must see!

The director Jules Dassin was able to draw well the reality of a small village in Southern Italy, where the existing rules were applied with a double standard. The priest was very much concerned with the attitude of Marietta (Gina Lollobrigida), but not with other situations affecting the town. The game called "la legge" (the law) was not an entertainment instead it was a weapon of intimidation. It appears to be as the behavior of strong animals showing their powers over weak ones. This is an old film, which could be useful to be shown in Italy again. Dassin was able to show various details and characters of the life in the village: the patriarch (Pierre Brasseur), the "pidgeon" (Yves Montand), the man of well-doing (Mastroianni), plus the lady of the family or la Donna(Melina Mercouri) and Marietta, likely to be a kind of spoiled Cinderella. All these ingredients put coherently in an interesting plot made the film attractive to be seen and not only once.

I saw it and I think that is very good, but my VHS is in English and I would like to get a DVD with Spanish subtitles. Gina Lollobrigida is my favorite actress, so I would like to see this film again ad so to understand like must be. I am sorry because my English is not good. Anothers Gina DVD that I want to get are:Trapeze, The hung back of Notre Dame, Buona Sera, Mrs. Cambel, King, Queen and Valet, Salomon and Sheeba, Beautiful but Dangerous, Fanfan La Tulipe,Come September,Bread, Love and dreams, Bred, love an jealous, Alia, Wife for a night,The Lonely woman. woman of Straw, Go naked in the world and if is possible, a book called Imperial Gina.Thanks you.

I really enjoyed watching The Law. The storyline was great, and I loved the occasional tidbits that were so unexpectedly hilarious. The theme about who was really considered "the law" and the person with all the power was extremely entertaining. Gina Lollabrigida (Marietta) was fantastic! I loved her character's attitude. She knew what she wanted, and she knew how to get what she wanted. The many different plots and characters were all very enjoyable and interesting. And in the end, it is very clear who the person is that has all the power in the city.

I absolutely loved the movie and was highly entertained! I'm so glad that it's finally being distributed for a wide release in the US! There's love, sex, power, drama, and death! with the occasional hilarity and musical number. What more could you ask for in a movie?

In the Italian fishing village of Porto Manacore, the men gather in the local tavern in the night to play a game called "The Law", where one of them is selected as "The Boss" after an allotment and the others are humiliated by him. The real boss of the town is the powerful aristocrat Don Cesare (Pierre Brasseur), an old man in his last days but still in the command. The young and sexy small time crook Marietta (Gina Lollobrigida) is the servant of Don Cesare and sexually disputed by the hoodlum Matteo Brigante (Yves Montand), by her brother-in-law Tonio (Paolo Stoppa) and by the engineer Enrico Tosso (Marcello Mastroianni). Marietta wants to marry Enrico, but she is too poor and does not have a dowry. The local Inspector Attilio (Vittorio Caprioli) is an unfaithful husband and the naughty Giuseppina (Lidia Alfonsi) is his mistress. Donna Lucrezia (Melina Mercouri) is the judge's wife that has a crush on the lawyer student and Matteo's son Francesco (Raf Mattioli). When Marietta steals a large amount of a Swiss tourist, she sees the chance to marry Enrico, but the police are investigating the case.

"La Legge" is a minor movie that recalls a soap-opera of the great director Jules Dassin but it is still enjoyable and entertaining. The story takes place in a small fishing village in the South of Italy, where nothing happens but sex, infidelities and gossips. The real power is in the hands of an old aristocrat, and the dwellers dispute a despicable game of power where most of the participants are humiliated as a sort of compensation. Gina Lollobrigida is extremely sexy, her beauty is amazing and there are many erotic scenes considering that it is a movie released in 1959. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Lei dos Crápulas" ("The Law of the Debaucheries")