Divorce à l'italienne

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".

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.

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 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 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.