Divorzio all’italiana: 1961Divorce Italian Style directed by Pietro Germi as many of you know won an oscar for best Original Screenplay in 1963 and several international awards among which an oscar nomination for Marcello Mastroianni as best actor and another one for Pietro Germi as best director.
The movie tells the story of Fefè Cefalù (Marcello Mastroianni), a married man who falls in love with his gorgeous young cousin Angela (Stefania Sandrelli).
The poor man is in a quandary, divorce is not legal (the story is set In Italy more than 40 years ago) and he doesn’t know how to get rid of his ungainly wife (Daniela Rocca) and marry the girl of his dreams.
He then plans to make her wife fall for another man, catch her red-handed and kill her in a desperate attempt to save his honour, knowing that the law will be lenient towards him.
The film genre ” Commedia all’italiana” derives its name from this movie directed by Pietro Germi.
Divorce Italian Style: NY Times review, Amazon dvd and Soundtrackcollector