Credited cast: | |||
Laura Antonelli | ... | Eugenia di Maqueda | |
Alberto Lionello | ... | Raimondo Corrao | |
Michele Placido | ... | Silvanno Pennacchini | |
Jean Rochefort | ... | Barone Henri de Sarcey | |
Ugo Pagliai | ... | Ruggero di Maqueda | |
Rosemary Dexter | ... | Floidia di Maqueda (as Rosemarie Dexter) | |
Karin Schubert | ... | Evelyn | |
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Michele Abruzzo | ... | Monsignor Pacifico |
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Sebastiano Indelicato | ||
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Clemente Cipa | ||
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Maria Sciacca | ||
Carla Mancini | |||
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Lorenzo Piani | ||
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Giuseppe Caracciolo | ||
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
Toni Luigi Arceri | ... | Soldato Siciliano |
The Marquise Eugenia di Maqueda, an orphan raised by the nuns, marries Raimondo Corrao, but on their wedding night she finds out that he is her brother. The piece of news is in a letter written from Paris by their father, a womaniser who lives and hides from them in the French headtown. The pair decide, to avoid the scandal, to live as brother and sister. He will later leave for the war in Lybia, she will find solace and sexual satisfaction in the arms of the family chauffeur. Written by Salvatore Santangelo <pappagone2@libero.it>
Laura Antonelli brings whole new dimensions to the word "luscious" in this movie. She makes the seemingly stock character of the barely-reluctant virgin come alive in her scenes with Placido, thanks to her big eyes and adorably trembling lower lip. And then there's that body...
In addition, "Marriage" has a lot of wry commentary on Italy of the early 1900s. The upper class were a ragingly nationalist bunch not unlike some sectors of the U.S. populace today. (It helps the enjoyment of the film if one knows who Gabriele d'Annunzio was.) A conscript's baleful response to a officer's 'fire them up' speech is the funniest line of the film, one I haven't forgotten.
I saw this in a little independent theatre, and went back for a second helping. If you can find this one on video, rent it!