Divorce, Italian Style
Encyclopedia
Divorce, Italian Style is a 1961 Italian comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 directed by Pietro Germi
Pietro Germi
Pietro Germi was an Italian actor, screenwriter, and director. Germi was born in Genoa, Liguria, to a lower-middle class family. He was a messenger and briefly attended nautical school before deciding on a career in acting.He studied acting and directing at Rome's Centro Sperimentale di...

. The screenplay was written by Ennio De Concini
Ennio de Concini
Ennio De Concini was an Italian screenwriter and film director, winning the Academy Award in 1962 for the "Best Original Screenplay" for Divorce, Italian Style.-Life and career:...

, Pietro Germi, Alfredo Giannetti
Alfredo Giannetti
Alfredo Giannetti is an Italian screenwriter and film editor. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1962 for his work in Divorce, Italian Style.-Selected filmography:* Febbre da cavallo * 1870...

, and Agenore Incrocci
Agenore Incrocci
Agenore Incrocci , best known as Age, was an Italian screenwriter, considered one of the fathers of the commedia all'italiana as one of the two members of the duo Age & Scarpelli, together with Furio Scarpelli....

; based on the novel Un delitto d'onore (Crime of Honor) by Giovanni Arpino
Giovanni Arpino
Giovanni Arpino was an Italian writer and journalist.- Life :Born in Pula to Piedmontese parents, Arpino moved to Bra in the Province of Cuneo...

. It stars Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...

, Daniela Rocca
Daniela Rocca
Daniela Rocca was an Italian model and actress.Rocca was born and raised in Acireale, a poor neighborhood in Catania. She became Miss Catania in 1953, and was discovered by talent scouts after competing in a Miss Italy competition...

, Stefania Sandrelli
Stefania Sandrelli
Stefania Sandrelli is an Italian actress, famous for her many roles in the commedia all'Italiana, starting from 1960s. She was 15 years old when she starred in Divorce, Italian Style, as Marcello Mastroianni's cousin, Angela.She was born in Viareggio, Tuscany. She had a long relationship with...

, Lando Buzzanca
Lando Buzzanca
Gerlando Buzzanca is an Italian comedy actor.He left high school in Palermo when he was 16 years old, and moved to Rome to pursue his dream of becoming an actor...

, and Leopoldo Trieste
Leopoldo Trieste
Leopoldo Trieste was an Italian actor, film director and script writer.Trieste was born in Reggio Calabria...

.

Plot

Ferdinando Cefalù (Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...

), an impoverished Sicilian
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 nobleman, is married to Rosalia (Daniela Rocca
Daniela Rocca
Daniela Rocca was an Italian model and actress.Rocca was born and raised in Acireale, a poor neighborhood in Catania. She became Miss Catania in 1953, and was discovered by talent scouts after competing in a Miss Italy competition...

) an unattractive but devoted wife. However, he is in love with his cousin Angela (Stefania Sandrelli
Stefania Sandrelli
Stefania Sandrelli is an Italian actress, famous for her many roles in the commedia all'Italiana, starting from 1960s. She was 15 years old when she starred in Divorce, Italian Style, as Marcello Mastroianni's cousin, Angela.She was born in Viareggio, Tuscany. She had a long relationship with...

), a very much younger and attractive woman that he sees only during the summers because her family sends her away to the city to a nunnery to receive her education. Besides his wife, he shares his life with his elderly parents and his spinster
Spinster
A spinster, or old maid, is an older, childless woman who has never been married.For a woman to be identified as a spinster, age is critical...

 sister and her boyfriend that runs a funeral business; the family share their once stately Palace with his uncles, who are slowly but surely eating away the remainders of the then rich estate of the Baron.

Ferdinando spends his spare time (which is most of it) imagining several ways in which he can do away with his wife
Wife
A wife is a female partner in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the wife regarding her spouse and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time.-Origin and etymology:...

, such as throwing her into a boiling caldron to turn her into soap
Soap
In chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.IUPAC. "" Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. . Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford . XML on-line corrected version: created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN...

 or sending her into space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....

 in a rocket. After a chance encounter with Angela during a family trip, he discovers that she shares his feelings. With this, he resolves carrying out his plans and is inspired by a local story of a woman who killed her husband in a rage of jealousy
Jealousy
Jealousy is a second emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of presenting emotions...

, to make his wife have an affair so that he can catch her in flagrante delicto, murder her, and receive a light sentence for committing an honor killing
Honor killing
An honor killing or honour killing is the homicide of a member of a family or social group by other members, due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family or community...

, studying very carefuly the Criminal Code
Criminal Code
A criminal code is a document which compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law...

. As he goes along fleshing out his plan, he first needs to find a suitable man for his wife, which he finds in the local priest's godson
Godson
Loongson is a family of general-purpose MIPS-compatible CPUs developed at the Institute of Computing Technology , Chinese Academy of Sciences in the People's Republic of China. The chief architect is Professor Hu Weiwu....

, Carmelo Patanè, who has had feelings for Rosalia for years and was presumed dead in Africa during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. He then also lures the State Prosecutor's undying friendship by feeding his love for alcohol
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

. The final stage of his plan is arranging to have Carmelo's constant presence in his house, which is achieved by his interest in having his Palace restored.

The plan takes a while to take off the ground, because Carmelo is very shy and Rosalia is more than a match in conjugal fidelity. Ferdinando is aware of the development of his plan because he has been taping all their conversations and has to ward off the help
Domestic worker
A domestic worker is a man, woman or child who works within the employer's household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping...

's infatuation with Carmelo. During his monitoring of the entire plan, Ferdinando discovers that Carmelo is actually married with three children and a philanderer that could be easily distracted for any other passing skirt. However his plan turns better than expected when Rosalia and Carmelo finally give in to their passion, but as he eavesdrops the tape runs out in the precise moment the adulterers arrange for their next illicit meeting, all Ferdinando knows is that it will take place the next evening.

Rosalia feigns to have a terrible headache
Headache
A headache or cephalalgia is pain anywhere in the region of the head or neck. It can be a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and neck. The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by disturbance of the...

 and remains home while the rest of the family go out to the theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 to see the première of a film so scandalous
La Dolce Vita
La Dolce Vita is a 1960 comedy-drama film written and directed by the critically acclaimed director Federico Fellini. The film is a story of a passive journalist's week in Rome, and his search for both happiness and love that will never come...

 that no one wishes to miss it out. Ferdinando sneaks out of the theatre and goes back to the Palace and arrives just in time to see Rosalia running to the train station, he initially has to run out after her but still has to retrieve the gun to kill the couple and as a result he misses the train and the lovers in it. He revisits his plan and the Criminal Code, which calls for a crime of passion
Crime of passion
A crime of passion, or crime passionnel, in popular usage, refers to a crime in which the perpetrator commits a crime, especially assault or murder, against someone because of sudden strong impulse such as sudden rage or heartbreak rather than as a premeditated crime...

 to be executed in the heat of the moment or in defense of one's honor, this then means changing his plan and pass off as the cuckold
Cuckold
Cuckold is a historically derogatory term for a man who has an unfaithful wife. The word, which has been in recorded use since the 13th century, derives from the cuckoo bird, some varieties of which lay their eggs in other birds' nests...

.

All the while Angela has been writing to Ferdinando to assure her of her undying love no matter what, however one of her letters gets misdelivered to her father who dies of a stroke upon reading it. At the funeral, Ferdinando is approached by Mrs. Patanè who demands to know what he will do to avenge their situation, since Ferdinando is still doing nothing, she spits in his face in front of the entire town, which gives him all that he needed: an open insult to the family's honor due to his wife's elopement. The local mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

 boss offers to find the lovers under 24 hours, which he does, as Ferdinando goes to the lover's hideout, he comes across Mrs. Patanè, who has just shot her husband, which actually leaves him in a worse position than before. As he sees no other choice he follows in Mrs. Patanè's steps and finally kills his wife. During his trial he is actually defended by the State Prosecutor who blames the whole thing on Ferdinando's father and his lack of love when raising him as a boy. He spends no more than three years in jail
Jail
A jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...

 and finally comes back home to find a loving Angela waiting for him.

In the film's epilogue, Ferdinando and Angela are sailing away on a sailboat, happily. Ferdinando states "life begins at 40" as the camera pans down, revealing Angela romantically rubbing her feet against the workman steering the boat, implying that she is having an affair outside of her marriage to Ferdinando.

Awards

This film won the Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen; it was nominated both for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...

 (Marcello Mastroianni) and for Best Director
Academy Award for Directing
The Academy Award for Achievement in Directing , usually known as the Best Director Oscar, is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...

. The film was also entered into the 1962 Cannes Film Festival
1962 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Tetsuro Furukaki *Henry Deutschmeister *Sophie Desmarets *Jean Dutourd *Mel Ferrer *Romain Gary *Jerzy Kawalerowicz *Ernst Krüger...

.

Cast

  • Marcello Mastroianni
    Marcello Mastroianni
    Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...

     as Ferdinando Cefalù
  • Daniela Rocca
    Daniela Rocca
    Daniela Rocca was an Italian model and actress.Rocca was born and raised in Acireale, a poor neighborhood in Catania. She became Miss Catania in 1953, and was discovered by talent scouts after competing in a Miss Italy competition...

     as Rosalia Cefalù
  • Stefania Sandrelli
    Stefania Sandrelli
    Stefania Sandrelli is an Italian actress, famous for her many roles in the commedia all'Italiana, starting from 1960s. She was 15 years old when she starred in Divorce, Italian Style, as Marcello Mastroianni's cousin, Angela.She was born in Viareggio, Tuscany. She had a long relationship with...

     as Angela
  • Leopoldo Trieste
    Leopoldo Trieste
    Leopoldo Trieste was an Italian actor, film director and script writer.Trieste was born in Reggio Calabria...

     as Carmelo Patanè
  • Odoardo Spadaro as Don Gaetano Cefalù
  • Margherita Girelli as Sisina
  • Angela Cardile as Agnese
  • Lando Buzzanca
    Lando Buzzanca
    Gerlando Buzzanca is an Italian comedy actor.He left high school in Palermo when he was 16 years old, and moved to Rome to pursue his dream of becoming an actor...

     as Rosario Mulè
  • Pietro Tordi
    Pietro Tordi
    Pietro Tordi was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 100 films between 1942 and 1988.He was born in Florence, Italy.-Selected filmography:* Quo Vadis * Attention! Bandits! * Rome 11:00...

     as Attorney De Marzi
  • Ugo Torrente as Don Calogero
  • Antonio Acqua
    Antonio Acqua
    Antonio Acqua was an Italian actor of the 1940s , 1950s and 1960s.He made his first appearance in the 1941 film Giuliano de' Medici making some 26 appearances before retiring from cinema in 1966. In 1966 he appeared in Un angelo per Satana a film also starring Mario Brega.-External links:...

     as Priest
  • Bianca Castagnetta as Donna Matilde Cefalù
  • Giovanni Fassiolo
  • Ignazio Roberto Daidone
  • Francesco Nicastro

Adaptations

In 2008 Divorce, Italian Style was turned into an opera by Giorgio Battistelli
Giorgio Battistelli
Giorgio Battistelli is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music. A native of Albano Laziale , he studied at the conservatory in L'Aquila and is a former student of Stockhausen and Kagel, Battistelli has written nearly 20 operas on subjects ranging from Diderot and d'Alembert's...

; as Divorce à l'Italienne, it was premiered by the Opéra national de Lorraine
Opéra national de Lorraine
Opéra national de Lorraine is an opera company and opera house located in the city of Nancy in the French province of Lorraine. Formerly named the Opéra de Nancy et de Lorraine, it was given the status of "national opera" in 2006....

 on September 30 of that year. Tenor Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke took the role created by Mastroianni. Battistelli chose to set every female role, except for Angela, for low male voice; to that end, Bruno Praticò sang the role of Rosalia.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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