Reviews of Divorce Italian Style
Displaying all 2 reviews
Chuck Vollers
26Feb11
Marcello Mastroianni plays a married Sicilian who falls in love with his young cousin. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to get divorced in 1960s Italy. But, he discovers that the law practically allows a man to kill his wife, provided he catches her in the arms of her lover. So he sets about finding her one… Outstanding comedy from Pietro Germi, who much like Kubrick and Dr. Strangelove, originally planned on making a serious film but the more he considered his subject, the more he couldn’t ignore the absurdity of it all. Rather reminded me of Kind Hearts and Coronets, although D-IS’s humor is more overt.
bogdan
9Jan09
The casting is pitch perfect, Mastroianni is outstanding and the movie has a beautiful, detached perspective. However, precisely because it is detached, it looks at love rather from a ‘patriarchical perspective’ rather than engaging in a strong critique of it. The scene describing the communist activist trying to educate the ‘masses’ to accept women’s equality is memorable and funny, yet again it feels ‘detached’…