Divorce Italian Style (1961)
"Divorzio all'italiana" (original title)

A married Sicilian baron falls in love with his cousin and vows to wed her, but with divorce illegal he must concoct a crime of passion to do away with his wife.

Director:

Pietro Germi

Writers:

Ennio De Concini (story), Pietro Germi (story),

Stars:

Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli

Won 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marcello Mastroianni	...	Ferdinando Cefalù
Daniela Rocca	...	Rosalia Cefalù
Stefania Sandrelli	...	Angela
Leopoldo Trieste	...	Carmelo Patanè
Odoardo Spadaro	...	Don Gaetano Cefalù
Margherita Girelli	...	Sisina
Angela Cardile	...	Agnese
Lando Buzzanca	...	Rosario Mulè
Pietro Tordi	...	Attorney De Marzi
Ugo Torrente	...	Don Calogero
Antonio Acqua	...	Priest
Bianca Castagnetta	...	Donna Matilde Cefalù
Giovanni Fassiolo
Ignazio Roberto Daidone
Francesco Nicastro

Storyline

Baron Fefé Cefalù is a Sicilian nobleman bored of life and of wife Rosalia: he falls in love with young and beautiful cousin Angela, who spends summers in the same palace. Since divorce is impossible in Italy in the 1960s, he decides to kill the wife, knowing that sentence would be very light if he proved that he committed murder for a matter of honour, i.e. when he found the wife together with another man. Therefore, he starts finding a lover for Rosalia, using Carmelo Patané, a painter well-known by her.

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Plot Keywords:

divorce | sicilian | murder | italy | painter | 

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Taglines:

A delightfully daring plan to give marriage a surprise ending!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

17 September 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

Divorce Italian Style

Filming Locations:

Catania, Sicily, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lux Film, Vides Cinematografica, Galatea Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Co. System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film the villagers crowd into the cinema to see, La Dolce Vita, was released the year before this film and also starred Marcello Mastroianni.

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Goofs

When Ferdinando gets in bed with Rosalia after their fight, Rosalia's head facings change significantly between shots.

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Connections

Featured in Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember (1997)

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Soundtracks

"Ave Maria"
Music by Charles Gounod

User Reviews

Mastroianni is, simply, golden and as a whole this is a fine little piece of Italian cinema

There's a moment in Pietro Germi's Divorzio all'italiana (aka: Divorce Italian Style) that pretty much defines everything, that sort of defines what a black comedy is all about: a certain woman murders her husband because he had run away with another woman, that certain woman murdered him while he was out with his new love. And that certain woman had something similar with our main character, Marcello Mastroianni's Baron Ferdinando Cefalù, and actually after the murder she crossed path with Ferdinando. The moment that sort of defines everything is when these two, the certain woman and our main character, are together since is Mastroianni delivering a really great laugh, is Ferninando being like "" ...certainly and certainly is the way that Mastroianni delivers the scene that makes it so fantastic and hilarious.