Divorzio All'Italiana (1961)
- General info
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- Synopsis:
- Baron Fefé Cefalù (Marcello Mastroianni) is a Sicilian nobleman bored of life and of wife Rosalia (Daniela Rocca): he falls in love with young and beautiful cousin Angela (Stefania Sandrelli), who spends summers in the same palace. Since divorce is impossible in Italy in the 1960s, he decides to kill the wife, knowing that sentence would be very light if he proved that he committed murder for a matter of honour, i.e. when he found the wife together with another man. Therefore, he starts finding a lover for Rosalia, using Carmelo Patané (Leopoldo Trieste), a painter well-known by her.
- Actors:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli, Leopoldo Trieste, Odoardo Spadaro, Margherita Girelli, Angela Cardile, Lando Buzzanca, Pietro Tordi, Ugo Torrente, Antonio Acqua, Bianca Castagnetta, Giovanni Fassiolo, Ignazio Roberto Daidone, Francesco Nicastro
- Directors:
- Pietro Germi
- Producers:
- Franco Cristaldi
- Writers:
- Ennio De Concini, Pietro Germi, Alfredo Giannetti, Agenore Incrocci
- Others:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Alfredo Giannetti
- Aka:
- Divorce Italian Style
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Collections:
- Award Winners, Cinema Paradiso's 2025 Centenary Club: April - June, Oscar Nominations Competition 2026, A Brief History of Film...
- Countries:
- Italy
- Awards:
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Reviews (1) of Divorzio All'Italiana
Moral Rot, Elegantly Tailored - Divorzio All'Italiana review by griggs
A few weeks back, Big Deal on Madonna Street had me thinking how easily Italian comedy could slip into Ealing territory. Pietro Germi’s 1961 farce goes even further: relocate it to post-war South London, drop in Alec Guinness or Peter Sellers, and barely a beat would be lost.
The premise is wonderfully warped. Divorce being illegal, our Sicilian baron lands on murder as the rational workaround — ideally the kind that earns a short sentence and a fresh start with his young cousin. Divorce Italian Style plays like Ealing with a properly nasty streak, skewering mid-century Catholic hypocrisy and its baked-in double standards with real bite.
Mastroianni is perfectly cast. All languid charm on top, something distinctly oily underneath, with the murder fantasies and droll narration catching every laugh slightly in the throat. It’s the sort of comedy that makes moral rot look absurdly elegant — which is entirely the point.