| Matrimonio all'italiana | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Vittorio De Sica |
| Produced by | Carlo Ponti |
| Written by | Eduardo De Filippo Renato Castellani Tonino Guerra Leo Benvenuti Piero De Bernardi |
| Starring | Sophia Loren Marcello Mastroianni Aldo Puglisi Tecla Scarano |
| Music by | Armando Trovajoli |
| Cinematography | Roberto Gerardi |
| Editing by | Adriana Novelli |
| Release date(s) | 1964 |
| Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
Marriage Italian-Style (Italian: Matrimonio all'italiana) is a 1964 film which tells the story of a cynical, successful businessman who, after meeting with a naive country girl (Filomena) one night in a neapolitan brothel (during World War II) kept frequenting her for years in an on-off relationship (while she kept working as a prostitute) and finally took her in his house as a semi-official mistress with the excuse of her taking care of his ailing, senile mother. After having fallen for a younger, prettier girl and having planned to marry her he finds himself cornered when the woman feigns illness and asks to be married to him "on the deathbed". He agrees, thinking she'll be dead in a matter of hours and that the 'marriage' won't even be registered but, after having been proclaimed his legal bride, the shrewd and resourceful Filomena drops the charade and reveals to have put the show up for the one child she bore from him (she gave birth to three sons during her years as a prostitute, but the man always mantained to have fathered none). The man tries to cajole her into telling him which one is his son but the stalwartly refuses, telling him that sons can't be picked and chosen and that he has to be the father of all three. It stars Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni and Vito Moricone.[1]
One of the movie's most memorable moments is when the Mastroianni character is speaking on the phone with his new flame, shortly after having married the "moribund" Filomena. As he reassures his fiancee that death is near, a wild-eyed and vengeful Filomena emerges from the shadows behind him and exclaims in Neapolitan that she is in fact alive and well, the Madonna having taken pity on her.
The movie was adapted by Leonardo Benvenuti, Renato Castellani, Piero De Bernardi and Tonino Guerra from the play Filumena Marturano by Eduardo De Filippo. It was directed by Vittorio De Sica.
It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film in 1966,[2] and for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 1965.
Filomena Marturano had already been adapted as a film in 1950 in Argentina.
Contents |
|
||||||||||||||