Divorzio All’Italiana (1961)

Italy 108m, B&W
Director: Pietro Germi; Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli, Leopoldo Trieste, Odoardo Spadaro

Divorce Italian Style is a black comedy about a Sicilian aristocrat who hatches a plot to murder his wife to free himself from marriage in a country where divorce is illegal. Encouraging a philandering artist to befriend his wife, Ferdinando hopes to kindle an affair that would, at his trial, justify his murderous intent as a crime of passion. Despite the seemingly unsavory plot, the film’s exaggerated characters, satirical narration and bitterly ironic ending are just outrageous enough to keep this from getting too serious (Klaus Ming January 2015).

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