Marriage Italian Style
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Vittorio De Sica
Sophia Loren
Marcello Mastroianni
Aldo Puglisi
Tecla Scarano
Marilù Tolo
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Filomena Marturano meets Domenico Soriano in a Neapolitan brothel in 1943 when she is 17. She meets him again after the war, and, after a suitable courtship, he moves her into her own apartment as his exclusive mistress and, later, into his family house. For years Filomena manages Domenico's pastry shop, runs his household, and cares for his senile mother, until the woman's death. Learning that Domenico plans to marry a young girl, Filomena pretends to be dying, and Domenico, believing her, weds her. When he learns that he has been tricked, he has the marriage annulled. Filomena then informs him that her purpose was to legalize her three sons, whose existence Domenico has not suspected (she has them in foster homes). She also reveals that one is Domenico's but refuses to say which. Domenico becomes obsessed with the identification of his son and threatens Filomena to no avail until finally, after a battle with her that ends in love-making, he realizes that he loves her. In the presence of the three boys, Filomena and Domenico are married again, and after the ceremony each of the boys addresses Domenico as "Papa." He still does not know, however, which is his own.
Director
Vittorio De Sica
Cast
Sophia Loren
Marcello Mastroianni
Aldo Puglisi
Tecla Scarano
Marilù Tolo
Pia Lindstrom
Giovanni Ridolfi
Vito Moriconi
Generoso Cortini
Raffaello Rossi Bussola
Vincenza Di Capua
Vincenzo Aita
Crew
Luisa Alessandri
Annamode
Giuseppe Annunziata
Giuseppe Banchelli
Leo Benvenuti
Renato Castellani
Piero De Bernardi
Eduardo De Filippo
Carlo Egidi
Roberto Gerardi
Tonino Guerra
Franco Indovina
Joseph E. Levine
Joseph E. Levine
Vera Marzot
Dario Micheli
Adriana Novelli
Carlo Ponti
Ennio Sensi
Piero Tosi
Armando Trovajoli
Ione Tuzi
Photo Collections
Videos
Movie Clip
Hosted Intro
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Nominations
Best Actress
Best Foreign Language Film
Articles
Marriage Italian Style - Marriage--Italian Style
Although Vittorio De Sica became known around the world for his seminal works in Italian neo-realism with Shoeshine and Bicycle Thieves, he was quite adept at directing lighthearted fare as well and Marriage, Italian Style, coming on the heels of his Oscar winning comedy, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, proved again what a deft hand he had with romantic comedy. The story of businessman Domenico (Mastroianni) and his on again/off again romance with Filumena (Loren) is one of deception and love, with a surprisingly touching and heartfelt ending. The internationally renowned beauty and charisma of Mastroianni and Loren guaranteed the film would be a hit no matter what language market it played in, and so it was.
The producer of the film, Sophia Loren's husband, Carlo Ponti, had worked with both De Sica and Loren for years and their most notable effort together, Two Women, won Loren an Oscar for Best Actress. It was the first, and for years the only, Oscar ever awarded for a non-English speaking role. Marriage, Italian Style brought Loren her second Oscar nomination, again for a non-English speaking role. With an Oscar and box office success even in foreign markets, Sophia Loren was making movies in both Italian and English with stars ranging from Cary Grant and Charlton Heston to Peter Sellers and Marlon Brando. But with no other costar did she ever have better chemistry than Marcello Mastroiannni.
Marcello Mastroianni came to international attention as the stand-in for Federico Fellini's id in both La Dolce Vita and 8 ½ but it was non-Fellini films that earned him his three Oscar nominations for Best Actor, including his first nomination for a comedy with a curiously similar title to this one, Divorce, Italian Style, and no, the two film plots are not related. Mastroianni did great work with every costar he ever had but his work with Loren was special. In both Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow and Marriage, Italian Style, there is a chemistry unlike any other Mastroiannia ever enjoyed on the screen with another actress. His scenes with Loren here, especially during the climax, have a touching warmth to them, even if his character is a little bewildered by what just happened.
Vittoria De Sica would have great success throughout the sixties, something he needed thanks to a gambling habit that kept losing him money. He wasn't embarrassed about it and never felt ashamed. He loved gambling. He just wished he could have won a little more often. Nonetheless, he kept putting out one hit after another and his films weren't just popular with audiences but with critics and award societies as well. No less than four of De Sica's films were honored with Academy Awards and many others, including Marriage, Italian Style, were nominated.
Marriage, Italian Style was adapted from the 1946 play Filumena Marturano , written by by Eduardo De Filippo. De Filippo acted as well and indeed had worked with De Sica before, starring in his 1954 anthology film, The Gold of Naples, which was also produced by Carlo Ponti and also starred Sophia Loren.
De Sica, Loren, and Mastroianni continued to succeed at the box office and with the critics for years to come. They even worked together again, most notably with Sunflower in 1970, but they never achieved the kind of success they did with the two comedies, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow and Marriage, Italian Style. Those two remain the one-two punch of the trio that took them all the way to the top. Maybe they never got up there again, but looking back must have felt pretty sweet and movie audiences will always have these classic works to return to again and again.
By Greg Ferrara
Marriage Italian Style - Marriage--Italian Style
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Location scenes filmed in Naples. Opened in Rome in December 1964 as Matrimonia all'italiana; in Paris in December 1964 as Mariage à l'italienne; running time: 100 min.
Miscellaneous Notes
Voted One of the Year's Ten Best Films by the 1964 New York Times Film Critics.
Released in United States 2014
Released in United States 2014 (Tribute)
Released in United States Winter December 20, 1964
Released in United States Winter December 20, 1964