The Birds, the Bees and the Italians

"Ma'am, you forgot your hat...", the excellent reply of the peasant who runs to give the bra to the "distinguished" lady who had to pay something extra besides the 5 million Italian lire, to shut his mouth and convince him to withdraw his complaint about his minor daughter. It's in episode 3 of the movie which is the best. The second best is the one with Gastone Moschin's extramarital affair with the beautiful Virna Lisi. The first episode is neither great nor bad. A bunch of exceptional actors, apart from the two already named: Franco Fabrizi, Alberto Lionello, Gigi Ballista, Beba Loncar, Nora Ricci, Patrizia Valturri. Pietro Germi, great master!

It might take an Italian background to appreciate this film. As a non-Italian viewer I found the humour (high farce) rather dull.

The film had almost no characterization, a rather muddy plot line and absolutely no emotional interest. I tuned out constantly, and was glad for distractions.

The third line of the anthology, about the sexual interest of a group of men in a young girl was particularly uncomfortable, with its pedophile themes, which Germi unpleasantly treated as though only humorous, not at all troubling.

The overall perspective was purely male — the women in the film were simply either objects of desire or impediments to desire's fulfillment.

I wouldn't bother watching this film again.

First of all, thumbs up to the restoration of this movie, which happened in 1997/98. Secondly, though, shame on the media who didn't flag this operation as it usually does when a masterpiece movie is finally restored. And this is a masterpiece.

Then, there is no real "Rezega", the small town in which this movie is set. This movie was shot in Treviso, the place were I was born and lived for 20 years, and my father can recall the shooting taking place in his youth. This because, like in every other small town in the world, nothing ever happens in Rezega/Treviso, and whatever may happen can't be made public, but should be spread by word of mouth.

All sort of things happen: marriage, betrayal, births and deaths, the fabric of every town's life. But decency is more important, and so "si fa ma non si dice" (everybody does it, nobody tells about it) is the law. Great performances from Gastone Moschin, Virna Lisi and Alberto Lionello, very good scriptwriting and magnificent direction by a true master like Pietro Germi make this a pleasure to watch, whether you want to understand provincial Italy or not. Oh, and if you do want to, this movie contains all you need to know about the dynamics that regulate the life of 80% of Italy's population, all those who live in towns of that size: I went to a movie screening a few years ago, and my acquaintances in the cinema were all related by stories similar to those in the movie (mind you, they are just in their 20s!).

Go see it, ask for it, let the world know about this great little movie!

Officially this movie contains three comic episodes, but in my opinion this is nonsense.

There are three dramatic episodes, the second in particular is of absolute sadness, while the third is deplorable.

People's lives are being destroyed by a heartless society that puts appearance first, regardless of the happiness of individuals.

The only thing you can do is surrender to this overwhelming force and accept your place in a society of falsehoods and masks.

The entire film had a farcical quality and was generally comical enough to hold my interest, but something deeper in the second vignette began to bubble up to the surface. There was a longing, not quite a sadness, but an extremely emotionally complex situation where you can sympathize with everyone and all points of view. I feel like I was pleasantly fooled. I expected a burger, which would have been fine, but they brought me a steak instead.

Pietro Germi only directed 19 movies, but he was obviously very talented. I've seen a few of his other films and those were satisfyingly complex as well.

The male love interest in the second vignette was played by Gastone Moschin. He didn't strike me at first as the best choice for the role, but he executed it brilliantly. Virna Lisi is always stunning, but I didn't realize what a good actress she was until I saw the extremely sympathetic character she played, and she nailed it perfectly. Nora Ricci was top notch as the wife. She was able to very skillfully balance between an over the top shrew, and as someone the audience can feel for.

There was one other thing in the movie that I thought was great. There was a short running gag regarding the jilted wife that led into a different short running gag regarding boys making prank calls. I don't recall ever seeing anything like that before.

The very last scene with everyone gathered in the town square was quite poignant.

I definitely recommend this movie.