Matrimônio à Italiana

"Marriage Italian Style" is not a comedy in my opinion even though it is often billed as such. This surprised me, I was expecting to see a more silly movie and instead got a pretty serious drama which was well acted and interesting. So I will recommend this film as a drama, but not if you're looking for a silly comedy. I did enjoy it though, especially toward the end when it all came together. You can see that there was some real emotion in here about children knowing their fathers and having legitimacy and their mothers being wed and taken care of, an issue Ms. Loren and her mother dealt with in real life I believe from what I read. And Marcello Mastroianni seemed equally fit to his role in this film as well. So in summary, a well acted Italian drama that I rate a 7/10.

Sophia Loren was the greatest actress of her generation when directed by Vittorio De Sica. Watching "Marriage Italian Style" in 2009 confirms that notion, totally. She is mesmerizing in this tragicomic creation by the great Neapolitan author Edoardo De Filippo. We manage to travel away from her external beauty, not an easy thing to do, and dive into her interior beauty and Oh God, how extraordinary! She is beyond truthful, she transforms the most basic element in a woman's heart into pure undiluted art. I was surprised to realize what a villain Domenico Soriano (Marcello Mastroianni) was. And he is the romantic counterpart! Here is where the Italians excel. What a terrifying act of self examination. The Italian male, as written by De Filippo, directed by De Sica and interpreted by the amazing Mastroianni is an everyday, almost acceptable monster in a society that breathes this kind of monster. Strange watching this now, Italy then, as far as women were concerned, were not that far away from a Muslim country. Women's role was basically subservient and a character like Mastroianni's could forge ahead un-accused and unrepentant. Besides the magic of the storytelling and the incredible performance by La Loren, this is is an excruciating document of its day.

When De Sica finally got around to filming Eduardo De Filippo's great play "Filumena" he chose two of Italian cinema's finest actors to play the leads and even if the change of title to "Marriage Italian Style" was something of a sop to commercialism the end result was still hugely satisfying. Sophia Loren, (magnificent), is Filumena, the Neopolitan prostitute, and Marcello Mastroianni, (also superb), the rich patron who strings her along for years, always finding an excuse not to marry her.

It is, of course, a comment on Italian machismo and of the subservient role of women in Italian society so perhaps the comic possibilities of the plot might escape a non-Italian audience, (comedy was never De Sica's strong point). Still, Sophia was never more radiant than she is here, so what's not to love, (she was Oscar-nominated), and De Sica does manage to keep the potential for sentimentality at arm's length. Unfortunately, the film isn't as highly thought of as it once was and isn't much seen today.

Yes, Sophia Loren is breathtakingly beautiful in this movie - at times - but there is much more to it than that.

This movie does a remarkable job of developing two characters, especially Loren's character, over more than 20 years. There are no stereotypes - the warm-hearted prostitute, etc. - here, no facile caricatures. Rather, Loren, directed by di Sica, is able to develop a complex and fascinating character who goes from a 17 year old girl to a woman in her 50s. Loren does this not with fancy make-up, etc., but by ACTING. She is believable as the terrified young girl thrown into prostitution by abject poverty; she is completely believable as the 50+ year old woman defending her three children. (She was 30 when she made this movie.) I couldn't stop watching this movie. Loren is so real in it that you HAVE to find out what will become of her character.

This movie shows you what a good movie can be: something with complex, real characters whom you want to know more about. It is the complete opposite of the caricature-, stereotype-ridden formulaic pictures we get too often.

MARRIAGE Italian STYLE is a glossy rendition of Eduardo De Filippo's Neapolitan play "Filumena Marturano", which he himself had made into a film in 1951. In this 1964 version Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni take the roles previously played by Eduardo and Titina De Filippo. The story deals with the long love affair between a wealthy, arrogant and selfish Neapolitan businessman (Marcello Mastroianni) and the seemingly ignorant ex-prostitute (Loren) who attempts to trick him into marriage by pretending to be dying and then bouncing back to life. She does all this because she wants to guarantee a better life for her three semi-secret children. One of her children is his, she tells him. Which one, she will never say.

To say that Mastroianni and Loren had on-screen chemistry is an enormous understatement. They are both as marvelous together here as is other films together, most notably YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW and A SPECIAL DAY. For me one of the best moments in the film is Loren's walk down a sidewalk in Naples where the men and boys alike gape at her. That always knocks me out. Loren walks marvelously there and does a magnificent acting job elsewhere in this engaging dramatic farce. The film was directed by Vittorio De Sica, who had directed Loren's Academy Award performance in TWO WOMEN (LA CIOCIARA). It is among her most notable roles ever, along with TWO WOMEN, A SPECIAL DAY, THE BLACK ORCHID, and Lina Wertmüller's Saturday, Sunday, AND Monday.