Divorce, Italian Style (original title: Divorzio all’italiana) is a satirical comedy about a Sicilian nobleman, who wants to kill his wife so he can marry his beautiful 16 year old cousin.

It is a great movie portraying the society of a town of Southern Italy and exploring different themes: marriage and betrayal, laws about divorce and honor killing, small town society relations, influence of the Catholic religion, traditional family values, political environment split between Communist Party and Christian Democracy, social classes differences (nobles, bourgeois, pesants).  

It is useful to remind that when the film was released in 1962, divorce was illegal in Italy (the possibility of divorce was not introduced until 1970) and the honor killing law was in vigor, stating a lighter sentence for the killing of a wife, daughter or sister caught in betrayal (the same applied to the killing of the man with whom the betrayal was done). The law regulating the honor killing was cancelled in 1981.

Divorce Italian Style is a fun movie to watch and shows another great performace by Marcello Mastroianni (La dolce vita, 81/2, Matrimonio all’italiana), one of the greatest Italian actors of all times. It is also the movie of the first success for Stefania Sandrelli (Io la conoscevo bene, La terrazza, C’eravamo tanto amati) who was 16 years old at that time.  Also beautiful to see the photography of the Sicilian towns of Ispica and Ragusa where the film was shot.

“Divorzio all'italiana is a richly textured satire of Sicilian macho Catholic life styles starring one of Italy's greatest actors, Marcello Mastroianni. He is a bit Chaplinesque in this tongue in cheek exploration of how to dump your wife and marry your 16-year-old cousin. His wide-eyed, dead pan expressions combined with vulnerability and suave, leading-man good looks made him the heart-throb of women for decades …

But what really makes this one of the great monuments of the Italian cinema is the witty and delightful script by Ennio De Concini (it won an Academy Award in 1962) and the detailed, textured direction by Pietro Germi. The picture that Germi paints of life in a small Sicilian (or southern Italian, for that matter) village is picturesque, much imitated, and indelible. The crowded ornate clutter of the old estate, the sun-drenched streets and the monolithic stone and mason churches haunt our memory. True, the film starts a bit slowly and drags (at least for modern audiences) a bit at times, but don't make the mistake of giving up on this. The latter half of the film is wonderful” (1)

Director: Pietro Germi
Written by: Ennio De Concini, Pietro Germi, Alfredo Giannetti, Agenore Incrocci
Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Stefania Sandrelli, Daniela Rocca, Lando Buzzanca, Leopoldo Trieste
Music by: Carlo Rustichelli
Produced by: Franco Cristaldi
Country: Italy
Year: 1962
Running time: 108 min
Filming locations: filmed in Sicily at Ispica, Ragusa and Catania
IMDB rating: 8.2/10
Romaround Editor’s rating: 3.5/4

Awards: Oscar for best writing, story and screenplay and nomination for best director (Pietro Germi) and best actor (Marcello Mastroianni). Best comedy award at Cannes Film Festival, BAFTA award for best foreign actor (Marcello Mastroianni)

(1) Dennis Littrell IMDB