DIVORCE—ITALIAN STYLE Movie Review

Divorzio All'Italiana

Marcello Mastroianni dazzled audiences worldwide with his impeccable, deadpan comic timing in Pietro Germi's brutally funny 1962 black comedy. The title refers to the quickest and cleanest method of separating from one's spouse in Italy, which isn't divorce, exactly; it's murder. (Crimes of passion are permitted; divorce is not.) Marcello's demanding wife (Daniela Rocca) has driven him to the breaking point, and the beautiful young girl—his cousin—he'd like to replace her with (Stefania Sandrelli) won't wait forever. Taking matters into his own hands proves tricky, however, and director Germi provides suspense and comedy in equal, generous measure. Mastroianni received the first of his three Academy Award nominations for his performance here as the frustrated, hilariously desperate Ferdinando; it came as a double honor since comic performances—not to mention foreign language performances—are notoriously snubbed by the Oscars. Germi was nominated for Best Director as well, and his ingenious screenplay, written in collaboration with Ennio de Concini and Alfredo Gianetti, won the 1962 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

NEXT STOP … Seduced and Abandoned, Alfredo, Alfredo, Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember

1962 104m/B IT Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Leopoldo Trieste, Stefania Sandrelli; D: Pietro Germi; W: Pietro Germi, Ennio de Concini, Alfredo Giannetti; C: Leonida Barboni; M: Carlo Rustichelli. Academy Awards '62: Best Story & Screenplay; British Academy Awards '63: Best Actor (Mastroianni); Golden Globe Awards '63: Best Actor—Musical/Comedy (Mastroianni), Best Foreign Film; Nominations: Academy Awards '62: Best Actor (Mastroianni), Best Director (Germi). VHS HTV