Divorce Italian Style

Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli, Leopardo Trieste, Lando Buzzanca
Directed by: Pietro Germi
Rating: Approved
Genre: Comedy, Drama
1962

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An Italian nobleman (Marcello Mastroianni) falls in love with her younger cousin (Stefania Sandrelli), but with divorce being illegal, contemplates murdering his wife.

Review:

Tim: Divorce Italian Style is a fairly fascinating film- it's an Italian movie that managed to achieve a high level of success here in the United States. It's a black comedy that feels unlike anything else coming out of America during the early 1960s, but it's also an arthouse film. It deals with themes of infidelity, murder, legality, but in a humorous way. The central plot is troublesome- a grown man falls in love (maybe seduces?) his 16 (!) year-old cousin. But, the whole thing is told in such a way that pokes fun at the characters, verses overly sympathizes with them. It's certainly a movie unlike any other.

I found myself intrigued by the story, even when I was troubled by it. I recognize that being an Italian man and falling in love with your 16 year-old cousin was perhaps more socially acceptable in 1961? It's absolutely creepy and wrong. The movie never overtly praises this, although it doesn't fully condemn it, either. Pietro Germi does a nice job of keeping the characters and the plot in the middle area, the gray. He leaves some of the judgment up to the audience, which I appreciated. If you can go with this plot, it does spur up a fairly humorous story. This man wants to marry his cousin, so he must first kill his wife (because divorce is illegal in Italy). The whole story spins from this- his many misadventures, mistakes, unlucky moments in this pursuit. We also get a number of funny fantasy scenes, that show us the inner workings of his mind. I really liked these sequences- we sometimes forget that adults can fantasize as much as youths. I enjoyed these dark looks into the main character's mind. They're all told from a place of comedy. When you think of a dark comedy, this is absolutely a great example of one.

It helps immensely that Marcello Mastroianni gives a masterful performance in the lead role. His baron is a shattered nobleman, a farce hanging onto an aristocratic past. Mastroianni perfectly delivers his false nobility while showing us the dark, broken pieces of this man. He's never a person we should applaud- the film is clear on that. However, Mastroianni makes sure that we can never fully dismiss him, either. Despite his awfulness, we kind of like him. His Quixotic quest creates a ton of stress and turmoil on him. He seems bent on a path of personal destruction, yet is oblivious to how his actions hurt himself and everyone around him. It's a brilliant performance, showstopping. The whole movie works because we can't quite figure out this character. We don't like him, but we can't quite loathe him, either. Mastroianni is excellent, and his performance resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. This is noteworthy because no international actor had ever grabbed a nomination while appearing in a foreign language film before. That's a stunning first and Mastroianni absolutely deserves that distinction for this dark, hilarious, unforgettable performance.

Daniela Rocca is critical to this film, because she plays his wife- this was not an easy role. Rocca is definitely over-the-top, cartoonish at times. However, it's critical because the audience needs to maintain distance from her. If we sympathize with her too much, the whole affair stops being humorous and becomes a real tragedy. We need to cringe a bit seeing her. Her ridiculous performance is grating and it lends credibility to her husband (of course, his actions are misguided and evil). The script is brilliant in identifying that the wife isn't totally innocent herself, although she's absolutely the victim of her husband's scheming. Rocca sells all this with a flourish. Stefania Sandrelli gives a good performance, too. It's interesting to see how she approaches this- never as the victim, but a willing participant. You could easily argue that no 16 year-old has the life experience, mental maturity, or emotional depth to be a willing participant in awfulness such as this. You'd be right. But, in the context of this film, we don't focus on her as a victim. Her performance is solid- she's a bit more restrained than I would have expected. This isn't a Lolita situation- you feel for this girl, even though she might be misguided in her actions. Sandrelli tries to couch her character in reality.

Now, the film works so well because Germi keeps the action moving. The 1 hour, 45 minute film flies by- there's so much that happens here, between the comedy of error scenes, the over-the-top fantasies, the romantic (ugh) moments. There's multiple plots happening at the same time, fate seems to play a hand at certain moments. The script is excellent- to balance all these various items, to weave this unique story. The film did win an Academy Award- Best Original Screenplay. Again, for an Italian film to win this in the early 1960s is an impressive achievement. You can easily see how this was well-deserved. The script is expertly written. Germi does a fantastic job of creating this world and telling the story- he received the third nomination, for Best Director. Again, quite impressive.

I really enjoyed Divorce Italian Style. It's an exceptionally well-made movie. It deals with a dark and problematic subject in a lighthearted and comedic way. You certainly didn't see many movies like this at this time period. It features some strong performances and a memorable story. I'm not sure all these elements add up to greatness- I'd put it just below that threshold. However, this is absolutely a film worth seeing, a vivid example of Italian cinema at this time.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Facts of Murder, 8 1/2, The Queens, Lolita