The Conjugal Bed
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Marco Ferreri
Ugo Tognazzi
Marina Vlady
Walter Giller
Linda Sini
Riccardo Fellini
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
At the age of 40, Alfonso, a partner in a successful automobile dealership, decides that the time has come to take a wife. Rejecting the female companions of his single days, he is assisted by a school friend, Father Mariano, in meeting Regina, a virginal, middle-class young woman. Following their wedding, Alfonso moves into his bride's home, a beehive of widowed aunts and cousins who anxiously await word of Regina's pregnancy. Regina's belief that a woman's function is to bear children leads her to make enormous physical demands upon her husband. His heart weakening under the strain, Alfonso appeals to Father Mariano, who assures him that Regina is a model wife. Alfonso is forced to submit to a painful series of hormone injections aimed at enhancing his virility. Finally he collapses and goes to the seashore to recuperate. Regina visits him periodically, and after a violent lovemaking session, Alfonso suffers a heart seizure. At last he learns that he has fulfilled his function and will become a father. Regina henceforth denies herself to her husband, and while Alfonso, now an invalid, is relegated to a maid's room, Regina consults with his partner at the automobile agency. Left alone to enjoy a short period of happy independence, Alfonso dies before the baby's birth.
Director
Marco Ferreri
Cast
Ugo Tognazzi
Marina Vlady
Walter Giller
Linda Sini
Riccardo Fellini
Achille Maieroni
Pietro Tattanelli
Jusupoff Ragazzi
Igi Polidoro
Melissa Drake
Sandrino Pinelli
Mario Giussani
Polidor
Jacqueline Perrier
Nino Vingelli
Crew
Misha Asherov
Rafael Azcona
Massimiliano Capriccioli
Henryk Chroscicki
Francesco Degli Espinosa
Danilo Desideri
Diego Fabbri
Marco Ferreri
Pasquale Festa Campanile
Massimo Franciosa
Marcella Giovanetti
Ennio Guarnieri
Nilo Jacoponi
Joseph E. Levine
Franco Maciocia
Franco Marino
Luciana Marinucci
Lionello Massobrio
Antonio Negri
Goffredo Parise
Goffredo Parise
Ezio Ranzini
Illio Rovelli
Alfonso Sansone
Rosa Sansone
Giancarlo Santi
Teo Usuelli
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Opened in Rome in April 1963 as Una storia moderna (L'ape regina); running time 105 min; in Paris in June 1963 as Le lit conjugal; running time: 95 min. Alernative Italian title: L'ape regina. U. S. prerelease title: Queen Bee.
Miscellaneous Notes
Winner of the Best Actress Prize (Vlady) at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival.
Released in United States Fall September 16, 1963
Released in United States Fall September 16, 1963
