Le Cocu magnifique is a Belgian play by Fernand Crommelynck. It was first published in 1921.
14:51, 21 November 2011 (UTC)The play was performed in the Netherlands for the first time on November 15, 1956 by the Utrecht Student Theatre Association (Utrechtse Studenten Toneel Vereniging). The translation was by Krijn Prince, the play was directed by Jack Dixon, a professional director.14:51, 21 November 2011 (UTC)~
Bruno, the village scribe, is married to a beautiful and utterly devoted young woman named Stella. He makes a good living composing love letters for the uneducated villagers, many of which are addressed to his wife. He is also the kind of man whose eloquence can lift him off into rhapsodies of brilliant exaggeration. As a character verging on the manic, his paranoia is easily excited. Bruno convinces himself that his fear of being cuckolded can be appeased only by the certainty of knowing he is a cuckold. Therefore, he offers his wife first to his best friend and then, when that fails to appease him, to all the young men of the village. This demented decision disrupts village life: the town turns violently against him and the women of the village with torture, degradation and expulsion threaten Stella.
The Magnificent Cuckold or Il magnifico cornuto is a 1965 Italian film directed by Antonio Pietrangeli and adapted from the 1921 Belgian play with the same name.