DIVORCE—ITALIAN STYLE previously at Film Forum in New York City

Divorzio all’italiana (1961) Problem: cigarette planted in holder, facial tic regularly kicking in, hair slicked back, his mustache asrounded off as a society lady’s eyebrows, his eyelids perpetually at half mast, down at the heels baron Marcello Mastroianni, fed up with plump, fuzzy-lipped wife Daniela Rocca, has eyes only for his passionate teenage cousin Stefania Sandrelli, smoldering away just across the courtyard. Solution: while divorce is an embarrassing impossibility in Sicilian society, and outright murder gets you twenty to life, crimes of “honor” garner a three-to-seven slap on the wrist and admiration from your peers. So obviously it’s time to invite Rocca’s old flame Leopoldo Trieste in for a little fresco touchup, and who knows what else? — even as Mastroianni gets out the concealed microphones and tape recorder. Germi’s hilarious satire of Sicilian mores was a smash around the world, cementing Mastroianni’s stardom by highlighting his comedy prowess after the impact of Fellinian angst, winning a Best Comedy award at Cannes, and an Oscar for the Original Screenplay by Germi and the legendary writing team “Age-Scarpelli” (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly; Seduced and Abandoned; Mafioso, etc., etc.), plus two other nominations, for Germi’s directing and Mastroianni’s acting. All the more ironic that Mastroianni was not on the original eleven-name wish list for the baron; the first private showing, to film people like Visconti and Francesco Rosi, didn’t get a single laugh; and the story was originally conceived as intense drama — which, sometimes, is not really so far from farce.
A JANUS FILMS RELEASE.

“One of the greatest films about Sicily. Ferdinando remains one of the great icons of my movie-going memory. Has some of the richest, most beautiful black and white photography ever put on film and, sensual atmosphere, where lust and passion become almost aromatic. Very inventive, it really moves, as few films do, with a deftness and the driest, most cutting wit... It’s a film that truly haunts me. As funny as it is, the emotions that Germi was dealing with were primal, savage, and most disturbingly of all, eternal.”
– Martin Scorsese

“With DIVORCE—ITALIAN STYLE, Germi gave a new impetus to Italian comedy: he nudged the genre from farce to satire, from the comedy of hysterical overplaying to the wit of underreaction. It remains a terrific entertainment, a European corollary to Preston Sturges.”
– Dave Kehr

PREVIOUSLY AT FILM FORUM
“ONE OF THE MOST PERFECT COMEDIES EVER FILMED!” – A. O. Scott, The New York Times. Click here to read review “WILD AND WONDERFUL! Germi’s visual and storytelling style is fluid, bold, and full of contrast, and Mastroianni is marvellous!” – Michael Sragow, The New Yorker “Slices through Sicilian culture like a razor through carpaccio! Few films have balanced sly social satire and broad, mugging caricatures with such grace... It’s hard to think of an actor besides Mastroianni who could have pulled off such a wonderfully pathetic Mediterranean schlub." – David Fear, Time Out New York "Mastroianni, fresh from his somber triumph as the decadent self-loathing journalist in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, demonstrates a brilliant comedy style as a down-at-the-heels Sicilian baron… hilarious [and] getting most of the laughs all the way to the film’s richly ironic ending." – Andrew Sarris, The New York Observer. Click here to read review *“Unhappiness makes for great comedy, and Divorce—Italian Style* is exactly that: a great comedy!”** – Grady Hendrix, The New York Sun “To die laughing for... A brilliant comic performance from Mastroianni which has been compared to the deadpan style of Keaton” – James Monaco “This classic tickler is the driest and blackest of dry, black comedies.” – Gregory Kirschling, Entertainment Weekly "Germi's bedrooom farce has it all: lust murder and great facial hair!" – Time Out New York “Mastroianni gives one of the most detailed and amusing performances of his career.” – Tim Lucas, Sight and Sound

Divorzio all’italiana (1961) Problem: cigarette planted in holder, facial tic regularly kicking in, hair slicked back, his mustache asrounded off as a society lady’s eyebrows, his eyelids perpetually at half mast, down at the heels baron Marcello Mastroianni, fed up with plump, fuzzy-lipped wife Daniela Rocca, has eyes only for his passionate teenage cousin Stefania Sandrelli, smoldering away just across the courtyard. Solution: while divorce is an embarrassing impossibility in Sicilian society, and outright murder gets you twenty to life, crimes of “honor” garner a three-to-seven slap on the wrist and admiration from your peers. So obviously it’s time to invite Rocca’s old flame Leopoldo Trieste in for a little fresco touchup, and who knows what else? — even as Mastroianni gets out the concealed microphones and tape recorder. Germi’s hilarious satire of Sicilian mores was a smash around the world, cementing Mastroianni’s stardom by highlighting his comedy prowess after the impact of Fellinian angst, winning a Best Comedy award at Cannes, and an Oscar for the Original Screenplay by Germi and the legendary writing team “Age-Scarpelli” (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly; Seduced and Abandoned; Mafioso, etc., etc.), plus two other nominations, for Germi’s directing and Mastroianni’s acting. All the more ironic that Mastroianni was not on the original eleven-name wish list for the baron; the first private showing, to film people like Visconti and Francesco Rosi, didn’t get a single laugh; and the story was originally conceived as intense drama — which, sometimes, is not really so far from farce. A JANUS FILMS RELEASE. “One of the greatest films about Sicily. Ferdinando remains one of the great icons of my movie-going memory. Has some of the richest, most beautiful black and white photography ever put on film and, sensual atmosphere, where lust and passion become almost aromatic. Very inventive, it really moves, as few films do, with a deftness and the driest, most cutting wit... It’s a film that truly haunts me. As funny as it is, the emotions that Germi was dealing with were primal, savage, and most disturbingly of all, eternal.” – Martin Scorsese “With DIVORCE—ITALIAN STYLE, Germi gave a new impetus to Italian comedy: he nudged the genre from farce to satire, from the comedy of hysterical overplaying to the wit of underreaction. It remains a terrific entertainment, a European corollary to Preston Sturges.” – Dave Kehr