Divorce, Italian Style

Released Sep 17, 1962

1h 44m

Comedy

List

100%

Tomatometer

17 Reviews

93%

Audience Score

2,500+ Ratings

Ferdinando Cefalù (Marcello Mastroianni) is desperate to marry his cousin, Angela (Stefania Sandrelli), but he is married to Rosalia (Daniela Rocca) and divorce is illegal in Italy. To get around the law, he tries to trick his wife into having an affair so he can catch her and murder her, as he knows he would be given a light sentence for killing an adulterous woman. He persuades a painter to lure his wife into an affair, but Rosalia proves to be more faithful than he expected.

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David Fear

Time Out

Rated: 5/5

Nov 16, 2011

Full Review

Andrew O'Hehir

Salon.com

Years ahead of its time.

Nov 8, 2007

Full Review

Nick Pinkerton

Village Voice

[A] deeply amoral morality tale.

Nov 6, 2007

Full Review

Isabel Quigly

The Spectator

Germi's film makes brilliant dark-grey comedy of many aspects of Sicilian life outside the strictly sexual, honour- able or murderous

Jul 13, 2018

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Mastroianni, who was Oscar-nominated, truly shines in this wildly funny, darkly humorous Italian comedy, which was a huge international hit.

Rated: A

Apr 17, 2011

Full Review

Loey Lockerby

Kansas City Star

If you're in the mood for a cynical, time-traveling Italian vacation, you couldn't do much better than this.

Rated: 3/4

Nov 7, 2008

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Gracie C

As of this review, the current Internet trend is girl math vs. boy math. This film is an exceptional example of boy math.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/18/23

Full Review

laurent b

Mastroianni is so funny and inventive. This comedy is pure joy !

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

steve d

A really unpleasant film.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Marcello Mastroianni virtually disappears into the character of a Sicilian Don/Baron who wants to escape his cloying wife in order to pursue his teenage cousin (bear with me, as this is satire) - however, Italian law does not allow divorce (in 1961). The law does allow a husband who discovers his wife in flagrante delicto to kill her. So, the Baron embarks on a campaign to find his wife an illicit lover (after fantasizing about other ways she might die). Of course, things do not go entirely to plan. Yes, this is a very black comedy and perhaps a distasteful one in this day-and-age; however, the Baron is far from a hero and the aging Lothario that he (and other Sicilian elders) imagines himself to be is ridiculed here. Along the way, director Pietro Germi takes pot-shots at Italian society and norms (for example, the prohibition on sex before marriage). There is a great nearly self-referential moment when the Baron finds that his wife is going to have her tryst during the opening of Fellini's La Dolce Vita which was then scandalizing Italy with its sexual frankness (of course, it starred Mastroianni). The film dazzles in its cinematography and production design - sharp black-and-white and beautiful Sicilian locales. Did I mention that the entire plot appears to be a flashback (with flashbacks within the flashback)? Really this is a masterpiece of comic timing and characterizations.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

You know how in America, divorce is a mutual agreement to dissolve a contract of cohabitation? Well in Italy, divorce is deciding that you'd rather be with your sixteen year old cousin instead of the woman you spent the last fifteen years married to, so you trick your wife into cheating on you so the judge will be more lenient with your sentencing after you shoot her to death.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

As a bizarre tribute to my mom on her 75th birthday and her 46-year-marriage to her only love, my father, who died in 2011, and to her subsequent loyalty and devotion, with stubborn refusal to even contemplate having another relationship, I decided to watch 'Divorce Italian Style'. It was hilarious and highly enjoyable. It certainly deserved its Oscar win for Best Screenplay, as well as its nominations that year both for Best Actor (Marcello Mastroianni) and Best Director (Pietro Germi). The latter tends to get thrown under the bus and ignored altogether when it comes to mentioning pivotal Italian directors of the period. Not so. Though this is thus far the only film of his I have seen, the guy--both in terms of script writing this comedy and behind the camera--is a sheer genius. Do yourself a favour and watch it today!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

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Pietro Germi

Director

Marcello Mastroianni

Ferdinando Cefalù

Daniela Rocca

Rosalia Cefalù

Stefania Sandrelli

Angela

Leopoldo Trieste

Carmelo

Odoardo Spadaro

Don Gaetano

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Synopsis

Ferdinando Cefalù (Marcello Mastroianni) is desperate to marry his cousin, Angela (Stefania Sandrelli), but he is married to Rosalia (Daniela Rocca) and divorce is illegal in Italy. To get around the law, he tries to trick his wife into having an affair so he can catch her and murder her, as he knows he would be given a light sentence for killing an adulterous woman. He persuades a painter to lure his wife into an affair, but Rosalia proves to be more faithful than he expected.

Director: Pietro Germi
Distributor: Embassy Pictures
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 17, 1962, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 15, 2020
Runtime: 1h 44m

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