“Kate” Pulzone’s critique on “Divorce Italian Style”. 1962 (Italian with English subtitles). I recommend this version – do not get English voice-over.

I saw “Divorce Italian Style” before seeing “Marriage Italian Style” and it didn’t matter. Both movies are hilarious and unforgettable. I have enjoyed them a few more times when I have had overnight guests with an Italian background. The star of course is Marcello Mastroianni as Baron Don Ferdinando Cefalù, who is suffering from loss of family wealth due to his squandering alcoholic father (Odoardo Spadaro) and undergoing a midlife crisis. The Baron feels put upon by his unattractive (she's mustached) nagging wife Rosalia (Daniela Rocca), who craves constant attention, sex and love. She’s constantly crying out to the Baron to kiss her, to hold her, to make love to her. Marcello’s face starts twitching when he’s forced to accommodate her, and most of the time finds excuses to avoid her requests. Italian families are usually in close proximity so he’s always hiding from prying eyes and ears, especially when he’s trying to hide in the bathroom when everyone has supposedly retired for the night. He thinks of himself, even though middle-aged, a desirable catch. In the middle of all this crisis at home, he discovers his cousin has grown into a beautiful, and still pure teenager, and he wants her. He must think up a scheme to dump his wife to gain the hand of his cousin Angela (Stefania Sandrelli). The problem is you can't divorce in Sicily, but there's a loophole in the law that says you can murder your wife and get away with it if you catch her in the act with another man. He can’t sleep trying to think of a man he can set up to lure his wife into adultery and plots his course by bringing an artist named Carmelo who was his wife’s former lover, but now married with three children. Carmelo is paid to restore a fresco in Marcello’s palace and doesn’t realize that a tape recorder has been hidden by the desperate Baron. Everything is set in place.

I won’t spoil it for you and tell you the ending because it’s a huge surprise. You will just have to watch the movie. After that, I guarantee you will watch “Marriage Italian Style”. If you can, buy this movie because it is an Italian classic and you’ll want to show it to the adults in your family.

The film was a box office smash and received much critical acclaim (Mastroianni got an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, which was the first time in Academy Award history that the lead in a foreign language film received such an honor).