Starting with "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" in 1963, Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren began a series of films together that were the comic equivalents of the series of movies made by Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in the 1940s to 1966. The comparison is an apt one, surprisingly, because the two sets of performers perfectly complemented each other in their films together and literally examined the relationship of man and woman in these films beyond most of their contemporaries. If the Italians were able to be more explicit about sexual relations than the Americans were, I remind the reader that in "Sea of Grass" the paternity of Tracy and Hepburn's son Robert Walker becomes a questionable matter to the former, and in "Adam's Rib" Hepburn's last comments about the similarities of man and women boil down to only one major difference (a small one - she does not say a penis but it is hinted). Tracy's response is to say "Vivre la difference! - Well hooray for that difference!"
"Matrimonio all'italiana" ("Marriage, Italian Style") is based on a play by writer and actor Eduardo de Filippo, and is not a sequel to Mastroianni's great international breakthrough comedy "Divorce, Italian Style". The latter had dealt with a Sicilian baron manipulating events and people to set up an unwanted wife into the position of being adulterous so that he could "legally" kill her and be free to marry a younger female cousin. "Marriage, Italian Style" deals with responsibility and growing old. It's a serious theme actually, and there are moments when the film turns serious with stunning effect (when Loren confronts Mastroianni on his suspicions and behavior towards her and her sons). The conclusion is not funny but given the antics of the entire film understandable and true.
Loren is Filumena Maturiano, a young woman who became a prostitute towards the end of World War II. She meets Domenico Soriano (Mastroianni), a hard headed businessman in a brothel in 1945 and a long term sexual relationship develops (though there is a two year gap at the start). Domenico treats Filumena as a sex object, but she is a smart woman and soon rises to be his business assistant, helping him run a series of stores (several of them bakeries or coffee shops). After twenty two years he tells her he is planning to settle down and marry a younger employee. But Domenico is informed by another employee, Alfredo (Aldo Puglesi) that Filumena is dying. Domenico runs to her bedside, and agrees to her dying wish to marry. But as soon as the ceremony is over Filumena rises from the bed and tells Domenico that she isn't dying, but now they are finally married. Furious Domenico tells her he will get the marriage annulled as it was under false pretenses.
She has her options - Alfredo has known her as long as Domenico, and offers to marry her if she wishes. She thanks her friend but she explains that she has another real secret to unload on Domenico. Eventually she explains to him that she had three sons, and one of them is Domenico's. The boys have been brought up separately, and she is now getting them together for the first time. Domenico is naturally quite interested in this situation, but when he asks which of the three boys is his Filumena acts quite coy, and later more belligerent.
She finally explodes, pointing out to Domenico that if she ever tells him which of the boys is his, the two half-brothers who are not Domenico's will grow up to hate the third half-brother. This doesn't register at first, so Domenico tries to find out by himself, with some very comic results (in trying to compare his hand with one of the boys, all he ends up doing is overhearing the boy tell a co-worker that Donenico must be a homosexual). Gradually it does sink in that he has no right to put the three boys and Filumena through the ringer trying to pick out his actual son. In the end Domenico remarries Filumena, but one sees after the ceremony that while it is her victory it is not a complete one - Domenico is far from totally pleased that he has had to accept a situation that he never had any control over. Our last sight of them is of Domenico looking exhausted and old, and Filumena crying - possibly for joy at her victory, but just as likely out of realization that this is going to be a difficult marriage.
Believe it or not "Marriage, Italian Style" is a comedy but one that is grown up in it's sensibilities. There are no quick remedies here - just like Domenico could not find a quick solution as to which of the three sons was his real son. One likes the final result of the film, as it is a realistic result of the battle of the sexes waged by the two protagonists, but the final results are funny only in the most extreme cynical way. It is hardly a merry ending. Still for a solid entertainment "Marriage, Italian Style" is hard to beat.
"Matrimonio all'italiana" ("Marriage, Italian Style") is based on a play by writer and actor Eduardo de Filippo, and is not a sequel to Mastroianni's great international breakthrough comedy "Divorce, Italian Style". The latter had dealt with a Sicilian baron manipulating events and people to set up an unwanted wife into the position of being adulterous so that he could "legally" kill her and be free to marry a younger female cousin. "Marriage, Italian Style" deals with responsibility and growing old. It's a serious theme actually, and there are moments when the film turns serious with stunning effect (when Loren confronts Mastroianni on his suspicions and behavior towards her and her sons). The conclusion is not funny but given the antics of the entire film understandable and true.
Loren is Filumena Maturiano, a young woman who became a prostitute towards the end of World War II. She meets Domenico Soriano (Mastroianni), a hard headed businessman in a brothel in 1945 and a long term sexual relationship develops (though there is a two year gap at the start). Domenico treats Filumena as a sex object, but she is a smart woman and soon rises to be his business assistant, helping him run a series of stores (several of them bakeries or coffee shops). After twenty two years he tells her he is planning to settle down and marry a younger employee. But Domenico is informed by another employee, Alfredo (Aldo Puglesi) that Filumena is dying. Domenico runs to her bedside, and agrees to her dying wish to marry. But as soon as the ceremony is over Filumena rises from the bed and tells Domenico that she isn't dying, but now they are finally married. Furious Domenico tells her he will get the marriage annulled as it was under false pretenses.
She has her options - Alfredo has known her as long as Domenico, and offers to marry her if she wishes. She thanks her friend but she explains that she has another real secret to unload on Domenico. Eventually she explains to him that she had three sons, and one of them is Domenico's. The boys have been brought up separately, and she is now getting them together for the first time. Domenico is naturally quite interested in this situation, but when he asks which of the three boys is his Filumena acts quite coy, and later more belligerent.
She finally explodes, pointing out to Domenico that if she ever tells him which of the boys is his, the two half-brothers who are not Domenico's will grow up to hate the third half-brother. This doesn't register at first, so Domenico tries to find out by himself, with some very comic results (in trying to compare his hand with one of the boys, all he ends up doing is overhearing the boy tell a co-worker that Donenico must be a homosexual). Gradually it does sink in that he has no right to put the three boys and Filumena through the ringer trying to pick out his actual son. In the end Domenico remarries Filumena, but one sees after the ceremony that while it is her victory it is not a complete one - Domenico is far from totally pleased that he has had to accept a situation that he never had any control over. Our last sight of them is of Domenico looking exhausted and old, and Filumena crying - possibly for joy at her victory, but just as likely out of realization that this is going to be a difficult marriage.
Believe it or not "Marriage, Italian Style" is a comedy but one that is grown up in it's sensibilities. There are no quick remedies here - just like Domenico could not find a quick solution as to which of the three sons was his real son. One likes the final result of the film, as it is a realistic result of the battle of the sexes waged by the two protagonists, but the final results are funny only in the most extreme cynical way. It is hardly a merry ending. Still for a solid entertainment "Marriage, Italian Style" is hard to beat.