armando_mariani Review of Marriage Italian Style

Marriage Italian Style (1964)

A temperamental love story and an emotional portrait of Neapolitan true life will make you cry and laugh!

[9/10 · 1 April 2005]

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.