User Reviews

In Naples, in the Second World War, the wolf businessman Domenico Soriano (Marcello Mastroianni) meets the seventeen years old whore Filumena Marturano (Sophia Loren) in a brothel during an allied bombing. Two years later, in the post-war, they meet each other by chance and begin a long affair. For twenty-two years, Filumena is his mistress and administrates his shops in Naples while Domenico is traveling. When Domenico decides to marry the young cashier of his bakery, Filumena lures him as if she were near to death and he marries her. Later he annuls their matrimony, and she tells him that she has three sons that she raised secretly, one of them is his legitimate son but she does not disclose his identity. The middle-age Domenico uses the most different subterfuges trying to find which teenager might be his son. "Matrimonio all'Italiana" is a delightful and dramatic romantic comedy. Sophia Loren is awesome in the role of a loving woman and protective mother. Marcello Mastroianni is magnificent performing a wolf that sees that the time has passed and he has a son, making his middle-age crisis become an obsessive attempt to disclose the identity of his biological son in the funniest moments of this film. The direction of Vittorio De Sica is fantastic, developing the dramatic situation and the romance with touches of comedy, but never falling in the easiest way of transforming the theme in a corny melodrama. The last scene is beautiful and touching. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Matrimônio à Italiano" ("Matrimony a la Italian")

... although there are occasional screwball elements. I was most struck in the first half how the Mastroianni character is constantly dashing Loren's dreams and expectations of how events are going to go - taking her to the races, getting her her own place, taking her to meet his mother. The (spoiler alert!) introduction of the children in the second half makes her motivations more palatable to me. She seems less pathetically clingy to this awful man because she wants legitimacy and security for her children. I saw the plot twist about how they initially get married coming from a mile away, but thankfully the whole movie doesn't hinge on that little bit of trickery. I thought Ms. Loren was masterful at playing her character at different ages and emotional states, yet always we felt like it was the same person.

"Marriage Italian Style" is director Vittorio De Sica's fourth collaboration with the actress Sophia Loren. Loren's sensual exiting beauty, fine comic timing, combined with a brilliant script and the rare chemistry with the co-star Marcello Mastroianni makes the film an excellent combination of a sparkling and amusing farce and a poignant drama of one woman's life and struggles in the post-war Italy. As Domenico Soriano, a wealthy, arrogant and selfish Neapolitan businessman, Mastroianni is on the verge of marrying a younger woman when he hears that his long time mistress, ex-prostitute Filomena, is on her deathbed. He rushes to her side and agrees to marry Filomena in hopes to soon become a widower but when she recovers "miraculously" he recognizes that her illness was only a trick. Then, in her flashbacks, we learn that she did it for the sake of her three children of whom Domenico knew nothing about and one of them (or maybe all) could be his... Mastroianni and Loren had perhaps the best on-screen chemistry ever; it is delight to see them together in this film as well as in "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" and "The Sunflowers" - little known but wonderful Soviet - Italian film, both by Vittorio De Sica. I also liked them together in Altman's "Prêt-à-Porter" (1994) aka "Ready to Wear". One scene in Marriage Italian Style should be on the list of the best ever filmed - young Filomena walks down a sidewalk in Naples to meet with Dominico and every man, regardless of his age stares at her with desire. I am a woman but I could not take my eyes off her - Cleopatra or Nefertity could've walked like that. My verdict - they don't make comedies like that anymore. 9.5/10

Starting with "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" in 1963, Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren began a series of films together that were the comic equivalents of the series of movies made by Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in the 1940s to 1966. The comparison is an apt one, surprisingly, because the two sets of performers perfectly complemented each other in their films together and literally examined the relationship of man and woman in these films beyond most of their contemporaries. If the Italians were able to be more explicit about sexual relations than the Americans were, I remind the reader that in "Sea of Grass" the paternity of Tracy and Hepburn's son Robert Walker becomes a questionable matter to the former, and in "Adam's Rib" Hepburn's last comments about the similarities of man and women boil down to only one major difference (a small one - she does not say a penis but it is hinted). Tracy's response is to say "Vivre la difference! - Well hooray for that difference!"

"Matrimonio all'italiana" ("Marriage, Italian Style") is based on a play by writer and actor Eduardo de Filippo, and is not a sequel to Mastroianni's great international breakthrough comedy "Divorce, Italian Style". The latter had dealt with a Sicilian baron manipulating events and people to set up an unwanted wife into the position of being adulterous so that he could "legally" kill her and be free to marry a younger female cousin. "Marriage, Italian Style" deals with responsibility and growing old. It's a serious theme actually, and there are moments when the film turns serious with stunning effect (when Loren confronts Mastroianni on his suspicions and behavior towards her and her sons). The conclusion is not funny but given the antics of the entire film understandable and true.

Loren is Filumena Maturiano, a young woman who became a prostitute towards the end of World War II. She meets Domenico Soriano (Mastroianni), a hard headed businessman in a brothel in 1945 and a long term sexual relationship develops (though there is a two year gap at the start). Domenico treats Filumena as a sex object, but she is a smart woman and soon rises to be his business assistant, helping him run a series of stores (several of them bakeries or coffee shops). After twenty two years he tells her he is planning to settle down and marry a younger employee. But Domenico is informed by another employee, Alfredo (Aldo Puglesi) that Filumena is dying. Domenico runs to her bedside, and agrees to her dying wish to marry. But as soon as the ceremony is over Filumena rises from the bed and tells Domenico that she isn't dying, but now they are finally married. Furious Domenico tells her he will get the marriage annulled as it was under false pretenses.

She has her options - Alfredo has known her as long as Domenico, and offers to marry her if she wishes. She thanks her friend but she explains that she has another real secret to unload on Domenico. Eventually she explains to him that she had three sons, and one of them is Domenico's. The boys have been brought up separately, and she is now getting them together for the first time. Domenico is naturally quite interested in this situation, but when he asks which of the three boys is his Filumena acts quite coy, and later more belligerent.

She finally explodes, pointing out to Domenico that if she ever tells him which of the boys is his, the two half-brothers who are not Domenico's will grow up to hate the third half-brother. This doesn't register at first, so Domenico tries to find out by himself, with some very comic results (in trying to compare his hand with one of the boys, all he ends up doing is overhearing the boy tell a co-worker that Donenico must be a homosexual). Gradually it does sink in that he has no right to put the three boys and Filumena through the ringer trying to pick out his actual son. In the end Domenico remarries Filumena, but one sees after the ceremony that while it is her victory it is not a complete one - Domenico is far from totally pleased that he has had to accept a situation that he never had any control over. Our last sight of them is of Domenico looking exhausted and old, and Filumena crying - possibly for joy at her victory, but just as likely out of realization that this is going to be a difficult marriage.

Believe it or not "Marriage, Italian Style" is a comedy but one that is grown up in it's sensibilities. There are no quick remedies here - just like Domenico could not find a quick solution as to which of the three sons was his real son. One likes the final result of the film, as it is a realistic result of the battle of the sexes waged by the two protagonists, but the final results are funny only in the most extreme cynical way. It is hardly a merry ending. Still for a solid entertainment "Marriage, Italian Style" is hard to beat.

This film was done because Sophia Loren wanted to do an interpretation of Eduardo De Filippo's play. The movie lacks the proletariat and cultured feel of the play, but rather offers a stylized interpretation of a great comedy. Loren is a fine passive aggressive actress, who portrays a woman in love and a woman in love 20 years down the line. She has great comedic timing in this role, though she doesn't have the same grit as the theatrical character is meant to. The chemistry between Loren and Mastroianni has great tension. He straddles a line between slick and comically confused. The actors and director capture the madness of love in real life. The flashbacks of their love life is captivating and builds very well. As the secrets and emotions unfold, you are drawn into the romance and tension of it all. They do not write stories like this anymore. This is original, it has heart and comedy. It is a great film to let you laugh and reflect on life.

Forget Hepburn and Tracy. This is one of cinema's finest romantic duos ever. I've seen MARRIAGE Italian STYLE many, many times and I never get tired of its richness and complexity. I don't think of it as romantic at all. Domenico is quite the bastard. He cheats on Filumena, barely hiding his entitlement as a wealthy and spoiled Neopolitan man about town. He manipulates Filumena cruelly, turning her into his poorly paid bakery manager, housekeeper, and surrogate wife, abandoning her for the pleasures of out-of-town conquests, staying away for months at a time. He won't acknowledge her existence to his mother--god forbid. All the classic elements of the Italian male ego are in display and Mastroiani captures them all superbly. He also is a subtle and masterful comic and his exasperation with Filumena whenever he doesn't get his way is as funny as it is obvious. But it Sophia Loren at the peak of her physical and acting powers who is the center of his wonderful film. Filumena is tragically in love with Domenico and no matter how much he humiliates her, she cannot be free of him. Most women would have given up, not Filumena. And when Domenco is caught with the cashier of one of his cafés, Filumena devises a plan to trap him into marriage. The plan, executed with precision and the considerable personality of her household staff is a failure, but not before Filumena reveals that has three sons, which she has kept from him. Refusing to tell Domenico which of the young men is his son, Filumena eventually guarantees that he will remain with her for good. At the same time, he also realizes his days as a lady's man are numbered. He cannot completely give up the woman who has loved him unconditionally for twenty two years. Will their future be happily assured? I think Vittorio De Sica brilliantly leaves you wondering.

MARRIAGE Italian STYLE is a classic--a brilliant observation of a relationship between strong and willful people. Filumena's selfless devotion to Domenico is fun to watch, but it's even more fun when she explodes, matching her conniving lover negotiation for negotiation. Unlike many beautiful leading ladies, Loren is not afraid to deglamorize her utter gorgeousness in search of character. It's more than an Oscar-worthy performance. De Sica perfectly captures the quirks of the household staff--you never are in doubt about who's side they are on, the sharply telling personality of Domenico's whiny, dying mama, and the three boys are all perfectly cast. Mastroiani is superb. But it is Loren's film and you can't take your eyes off of her. The famous walk as every man's eyes turn on her magnificence, is riveting. Very few women have so gracefully projected sexiness as she does here. I'm sure I'l watch it ten more times!

I thing that during the last 40 years, I watched "Matrimonio all'Italiana" at least six or seven time, the last (but probably not the least) being a few days ago and, guess what, it gets better every time! The majority of the viewers and critics call it an "Italian comedy". I have to disagree. I consider it a "Love Story" and a "Neapolitan true life drama". The Neapolitans were (and to a certain extent still are) "a bread apart". Their unique philosophy, religious believes heavily mixed-up with superstition ("San Gennarí, pienzace tu..!" = Little San Gennaro, you solve it..!), their concepts of life, death, love, honor, pride, family, motherhood, their unique sense of humor and their ability to go around the obstacles, are all part of a cultural heritage, product of centuries of almost uninterrupted foreign domination, which sank them more and more into poverty. WW2 was the most severe blow, which hit Naples and the whole region very hard. The weakest and poorest learned the hard way how to bend, if necessary, without breaking, becoming a race of survivors, struggling on a daily basis to satisfy their more basic needs. They developed the so called "Arte di arrangiarsi" which can be loosely translated as "Art of finding the way...to get away with it", which was used to "steal" from the rich and powerful minority, by means of mostly illegal but very imaginative subterfuges, their little share of wellbeing. This movie is an enjoyable colorful portrait of this "world apart", beautifully directed by Vittorio De Sica and wonderfully acted by one of the best teaming-up of Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, joined by a strong group of supporting actors, lead by veteran Neapolitan actress Tecla Scarano. It is full of outbursts of typical lively Neapolitan hot and loud temperament and, a mixture of joy and sorrow, humor and drama, will take you on a roller-coaster ride of emotions and will make you laugh and cry. One of the two main characters, Filomena Marturano, gives us a perfect example of how "L'arte di arrangiarsi" can be fruitfully implemented. Filomena is an extremely poor young woman (born and grown up in a "basso napoletano" = one room living place occupied by one or more families). Luckily she is very beautiful (Sophia Loren is stunning in this part of the movie) and the circumstances offer her no better alternative then become a prostitute at 17 and the whorehouse's main attraction at 20. Sophia/Filomena is gorgeous, seductive and hilarious as she traps into marriage, faking imminent death, the flamboyant, egoistic and vain longtime lover Marcello/Don Mimí. He can save her from her miserable life and provide a better future for her and for her three children. When her game plan is discovered and she has to accept the cancellation of the marriage or go to jail, she changes strategy, implying that Mimí is father of one of her three sons, without telling however which one. This new situation provides, for both actors, the opportunity for another series of "head to head" confrontations, which are hilarious and sentimental at the same time. Filomena always loved Mimí and at the end, also Mimí realizes that Filomena, in spite of everything that happened, was and still is the best woman of his whole life. He has to admit that he also loves her, although in his own way. They get married again and, this time, both willingly. It looks like that, at this point, we have been served a sweet "Happy Ending" but it isn't so. Watch carefully the expressions of both characters during the closing sequence when, finally back from church and the colorful noise of the ceremony, they are resting in their newly-wed bedroom. Filomena, has crashed on a small sofa. Her face expresses the satisfaction of "mission accomplished" but also the overwhelming exhaustion after a lifetime battle against destiny. Don Mimí is sitting behind her on the bed, his eyes staring at the vacuum, guessing what the future will now have in store for them... Vittorio De Sica ends his wonderful movie whit this unusual twist, which leaves us also wondering... If you have a close understanding of the Italian language, as well as of Italian society and character, you will enormously enjoy this one. Unfortunately, even the best dubbing (I stumbled into a atrocious German version and even a Russian, where a guy with an extremely loud voice, shouts a translation on top of the original soundtrack...really nightmarish!) will not be able to convey to non-Italian speaking viewers, the true meaning and the little precious details of the story. I would like to recommend this movie especially to younger film fans, which have missed this wonderful season of Italian Cinema. Don't miss also De Sica's '63 "Ieri, oggi, domani" (another earlier Loren/Mastroianni great teaming-up) and '54 "L'oro di Napoli" (This one makes you really understand the true spirit of Naples, moreover you get the chance to enjoy the acting of unforgettable Eduardo de Filippo, play writer of the original "Filomena Marturano" stage-play). If you wonder how Sophia could manage a highly dramatic character and story, then '60 "La Ciociara" is the movie for you. I give this one an enthusiastic 9 out of 10.

This is a great film. With deeper content then is first evident. The Neapolitan atmosphere adds charm and humor to the treatment. The beautiful Neapolitan songs are delightful to listen to. Unless you're Italian from the post war era or grew up in a first generation Italian American home, as I did, you may not understand the reference to the post WW2 classic Neapoitan song "Munasterio Santa Chiara" a sad and beautiful tune that deals with the changes that afflicted Neapolitan society after the War. However, the theme of the movie, the exploitation of the poor especially poor women by the wealthier, specifically in prostitution and the keeping of a mistresses could and does occur in every society. Loren plays Filomena a poor girl who chooses to use her beauty to escape crushing poverty. The Neapolitan background adds a specific texture to the film. Her Catholic background leads her to hide from her lover the fact that she was pregnant with his child. The reason being that he would then pressure her into an abortion which would violate her whole being. Her desire for respectability leads her to not to disclose to any of her three sons that she is their mother. But Naples is more than just a background for the film. It serves to humanize the characters Mastroiani is not simply a cad. He really loves Loren though he is reluctant to admit it. The tacit acceptance of unconventional circumstance with an underlying tolerance and humor is a hallmark of the Neapolitan character. and gives added credibility to the ending. In the hands of say Ingmar Bergman the film could be a stark tragedy. DeSica, Loren, and Mastroianni turn it into a comic masterpiece.