Memorable, crazy movie

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

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.

It may sound snobbish to call this a "backwoods" spoof censuring the uncivilised marriage system not that far time ago, but the Sicily populace shouldn't take it too personal since it is a truthful recount of that provincial and religion-brainwashed era, we can only progress when we are not ashamed to face up our own shortcomings. DIVORCE Italian STYLE was a massively successful comedy at its time, with sleek camera-work in monochromatic glamour and an engaging score by Rustichelli, even conquered the demography overseas, and harvested three Oscar nominations (including BEST LEADING ACTOR, BEST DIRECTOR) with one win for its original script, quite a phenomenon for a foreign language picture.A do-nothing baron Ferdinando (Mastroianni) intends to kill his annoying wife Rosalia (Rocca), so that he can marry his young cousin Angela (a fourteen-year-old Sandrelli, it is not just incestuous, also borderline pedophiliac, the noble family's fortune is in decline, however this inglorious bent runs deeply in their blue-blooded genes). Like father like son, the film cunning reveals, his hoary father Don Gaetano (Spadaro), shares the same voyeuristic habit to the same subject within their family. So, what is Fefe's (Ferdinando's nickname in the family) plan when divorce is not an option to get rid of his wife? The only solution is to bloodily murder her during a crime-of-passion for her infidelity, for which he will only serve for some shortened years in prison. This is exactly what the story unwinds when conveniently he finds out Carmelo Patanè (Trieste), a painter recently arrives in the town, is actually an old acquaintance of Rosalia, who admires her as if she is the reincarnation of Madonna. Obviously, Fefe is a morally corrupted person, but in a comical way, viewers cannot help rooting for his murder plan thanks to Mastroianni's first-class force-of-personality, with a hovering doubt of whether he will do it or not. Injecting a sublime likableness into Fefe's stalemate, Mastroianni unleashes a superlative demeanour of drollness, his comedic knack is unparalleled in the film, who would have expect that it was under the hand of Pietro Germi, whose directorial prowess in comedy hadn't been tested at then. One of the takeaways is Fefe's habitual twitch on his left cheek, which I have a personal affinity with.Another functional trickery to render sympathy towards Fefe is Germi's caricatural portrayal of Rosalia, (Rocca, was Germi's lover then, whose career would be truncated after the breakup, which unfortunately would also traumatise her mental state), deliberately uglifies her with a prominent moustache and a manually designed unibrow, she emerges as an insufferable shrew who is also overly love-wanting. Rocca sacrifices her voluptuous appeal for being a generic laughing stock, yet, Germi unexpectedly proffers her with the most meritorious virtue amongst the cast, she is the one who is brave enough to elope with her paramour, in sheer contrast with Fefe's cowardice in nature and subjugation of the small-town's parochiality which overtly he despises. It elevates her as the most integral character, and overshadows all the others in this rotten family. That's why her denouement is rather shocking when the cruelty submerged under the farcical guise finally takes a whoop to generate something other than genuine laughters, in fact it is a scorching social commentary using a jaunty allure as a beguiling front. It is further solidified by the killing ending, literally in the last ten-seconds, utterly outsmarts our trepidation of impending bathos. Truth is, this sterling comedy again is a sound testimony that a film can be wholeheartedly diverting and at the same time, sates audience's intellectual appetite as well, well done, Mr. Germi and his team.

A Sunday afternoon respite from my more usual, of late, darker and edgier, exploitation movies, allows me to watch again, after a gap of many years, this post neo-realist gem from director, Pietro Germi. Still shot in some way as the neo-realist films were, with stunning b/w cinematography, much location shooting and those streets filled with emotionally charged locals, but without the sentimentality that could mar the earlier films. A comic opera of a tale, full of family honour and dishonour, male entitlement and female subservience. Not that light for a Sunday afternoon then! but this is deftly done with light touches and strong sense of humour. The heartfelt traditions and cornerstones of Italian society, or more especially, here Sicilian are bring gently mocked. Marcello Mastroianni is masterful in the lead and Stefania Sandrelli utterly lovely as the young girl of his fancy. This was an early film for her but she is still working and was to star in the same director's later Seduced and Abandoned, Bertolucci's 1970 The Conformist and also appear in a favourite giallo of mine, Black Belly of the Tarantula.

What would you do if you've been married for many years, lost any romantic interest in your less than attractive wife, and fell in love with a beautiful young girl? Divorce, you'd say but there is one thing, you see - in Italy in 1960s there were no divorce. So, once again, what would you do? Made forty five years ago about an old Italian Law that had declared divorce illegal but would give a minimum sentence for killing a cheating spouse, "Divorce, Italian Style" is hilarious, melancholic, biting, clever, and belongs to the best comedies ever. First, Germi was going to make a tragic film and there are many elements of tragedy in "Divorce, Italian Style". After all, two people who are in love and happy together will be killed because of the strict and unforgiving traditions that made their way into the laws of the country. Pietro Germi directed a movie that is saturated with the merciless boredom, suffocating heat and humidity of a small Sicilian town where seemingly nothing ever happens and where Baron Fete Gefalu leads the life of not so quiet desperation with his wife or 13 years, Rosalia who had bored him to death. To make the things worse, his 16 years old angelic cousin Angela (one look at 16 years old Stefania Sandrelli in her early role and you can forgive or at least understand Fete) just returned from the nun school and he is desperately in love with her. As we know, love moves the sun and the planets and it made Fete's mind invent the plan on how to get rid of Rosalia which was deliciously simple and deadly funny. What Fete did was unspeakable but HOW Marcello Mastroianni played it was one of the greatest comedic performances I've ever seen. To watch his face when he was imagining all sorts of creepy accidents to Rosalia and to hear him narrating the movie was Delight from the opening scene to the incredible and brilliant in its irony final.