Matrimónio à Italiana

They met during the war during the bombing of Naples. He is a successful businessman from a well-off family and he has a soft spot for her, but he can’t and doesn’t want to give up his other amorous adventures just because of her. She is significantly younger, illiterate but with common sense and loose woman in a higher league. She loves him, but... Alternative title: how time passes in one passionate relationship full of intrigue and hypocrisy from both sides, where life is one big rollercoaster. But if you think that it is something out of a cheap romance novel, check out the director’s name. Got that? Then perhaps everything is clear... It may not be De Sica's best film, but it’s probably the best-acted one, as the proverbial chemistry between the central Loren/Mastroianni duo is something rarely seen on screen. (18/11/2007)

I was expecting less drama and more comedy, because I was in the mood for comedy. Unfortunately, there is not much humor in Marriage Italian Style, and when it does appear, it's more in the kind of gentle form, no attacks on the diaphragm like Bankers Also Have Souls with Claudia Cardinale. In my opinion, the film was also harmed by the Czech version, in which Marcello Mastroianni was voiced by Vladimir Brabec, but he came across as tired, and the other voices were bland. Three and a half stars. (31/12/2015)

One of the fourteen derbies between AS Mastroianni and Lazio Loren, referred to by journalists from Corriere dello Sport as "The Shabby Drama from Beneath Vesuvius." I would compare it to a situation where, after a light contact on the field, a player begins writhing as if he had an open fracture. Then suddenly, he springs to his feet, signals to the referee to give a card, yells something at the fouling player, and gestures furiously. The other player motions with his finger over his mouth for him to be quiet, they bring their foreheads together, and after a hint of a headbutt, one collapses to the ground while the other theatrically feigns surprise and throws up his hands to signal his innocence. The referee rewards them both with yellow cards, and after the match, the two greet each other and exchange friendly pats between the locker rooms, because it ended 1:1. And the enthusiastic spectators will come again. (12/09/2024)

This is all about Italian smallness delivered with grace on the big screen by an established couple who have become Italy above all else. (30/07/2009)

I think Sophia Loren is highly overrated. In this movie she just turned thirty and she looked like a decent fifty year old Czech woman. On one hand, that is a criticism, on the other hand also a compliment. Nevertheless, I would expect a different comparison for Sophia, who is considered the Actress of 20th century. She did not dazzle me. Nor did the crazy Italian Marcello Mastroianni, who plays a character who is afraid to accept reality. Anybody can flatter and lie to the society but facing it is a form of art. Add in the classic Italian wannabe funny household and you have a movie that I really did not enjoy at all. (22/09/2014)