Seduced and Abandoned (1964)

A desperate Sicilian man, whose 15 year old daughter was seduced and impregnated by his older daughter's fiancé, tries to find a way to save the family's honor.

Director:

Pietro Germi

Writers:

Pietro Germi (story), Luciano Vincenzoni (story)

Stars:

Saro Urzì, Stefania Sandrelli, Aldo Puglisi

9 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stefania Sandrelli	...	Agnese Ascalone
Saro Urzì	...	Don Vincenzo Ascalone
Aldo Puglisi	...	Peppino Califano
Lando Buzzanca	...	Antonio Ascalone
Lola Braccini	...	Amalia Califano
Leopoldo Trieste	...	Il barone Rizieri Zappalà
Umberto Spadaro	...	L'avvocato Ascalone
Paola Biggio	...	Matilde Ascalone
Rocco D'Assunta	...	Orlando Califano
Oreste Palella	...	Il maresciallo Polenza
Lina Lagalla	...	Francesca Ascalone (as Lina La Galla)
Gustavo D'Arpe	...	L'avvocato Ciarpetta
Rosetta Urzì	...	Consolata - la serva
Roberta Narbonne	...	Rosaura Ascalone
Vincenzo Licata	...	Pasquale Profumo - l'impresario di pompe funebri

Storyline

Agnese, a 15-year-old Sicilian girl is seduced and impregnated by Peppino, her sister Matilde's fiancé. Soon Vincenzo, Agnese's father, discovers everything. He wants to force Peppino to marry the dishonored Agnese, but Peppino runs away and Vincenzo sends his son Antonio to kill him. At this point, Agnese goes to the police to try to stop events. They're all taken to court. But events can't be stopped, there's still time for a fake kidnapping. A happy end is still possible.

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Plot Keywords:

carnal sin | confession | catholic church | reading someone else's mail | fiance | 

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Taglines:

RUN! Do Not Walk! See the Comedy Hit of the Year - TODAY!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

15 July 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

Seduced and Abandoned

Filming Locations:

Santa Margherita di Belice, Agrigento, Sicily, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lux Film, Ultra Film, Vides Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In salient moments of the film, the soundtrack is a very close imitation, both in the melody and in the performance of Dimitri Tiomkin's "Deguello" previously used in the soundtrack of the movies "The Alamo" and "Rio Bravo". The composition is so effective in underling moments of tension that Italian director Sergio Leone wanted to use it in his movie "Fistful of Dollars."

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Quotes

Il maresciallo Polenza: [looks at a map of Italy, then covers Sicily with his hands] Better! Much better!

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Connections

Referenced in L'uomo dal sigaro in bocca (1997)

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Soundtracks

Guarda come dondolo
Written by Carlo Rossi & Edoardo Vianello
Performed by Edoardo Vianello

User Reviews

Germi!

Criterion Collection was generous enough to introduce me to Germi's works, first starting with Divorce, Italian Style. It was only natural that I followed up with Seduced and Abandoned, since I was blown away by Divorced, and had a newfound love of contemporary European cinema, especially from French and Italian filmmakers. I know it's relatively simple to find out about little gems of work from foreign directors (using IMDb, for example), but I'm grateful for a company like Criterion to steer me in the direction of fantastic films and the visionaries that create them. Saves me a lot of time and effort, haha.

Now, I'm just some random nobody in his early 20's, born and raised on the prairie of Western Canada. In a sense, I may not be as "culturally perceptive" as someone hailing from a direct Old-World European background. But to discover a film such as Seduced and Abandoned, it was a guaranteed shock to see the enormity of differences between the values, traditions, and customs of Sicily compared to what I grew up in, astonishing since these worlds are separated only by a couple generations! Then again, forced marriage might be as frowned upon nowadays as if someone from that era might look into the future and see the overwhelming divorce rate of ours! It's really a subjectivity of time, where a brilliant, neorealist director, not unlike Germi, of our time will be able to capture a kind of absurdity in the way we deal with (or possibly lack thereof) now common principles and practices, such as infidelity, polygamy, same-sex unions, etc.

I'm rambling. Seduced was a depressingly good movie. Sardonic and whimsical at the same time, this one had the ability to leave a bittersweet taste with me afterward, to not dismiss the ideals held in Sicilian culture a couple generations ago, but to ponder them, to compare them to the beliefs and mores of our generation.

Sandrelli was phenomenal, as always. And I'm glad Germi cast Saro Urzi as the father instead of some North American counterpart, like Borgnine... Added to a certain authenticity that I wouldn't find if that'd been the case.

Lando Buzzanca as Antonio, and Leopoldo Triste as the Baron were amazing as the kind of actors that kept the comedic ball rolling in this type of film; although Seduced is known as a key player in the Comedia d'all Italiano, without these laugh-out-loud performances, the film would be a depressing portrayal of old Italian values and nothing but.

I look forward to the day when a company like Criterion will release more of Pietro Germi's film works (undoubtedly his 1950's dramatic working class oeuvre), to an international audience...

Until then.