In the first of eight starring feature film roles he would appear in for Scola, Mastroianni stars here as Oreste, a Marxist bricklayer who falls hard for flower shop saleswoman Adelaide, played by Monica Vitti, his leading lady from Michelangelo Antonioni's 1961 classic, La Notte. However, she is also courted by pizza maker Nello (Giancarlo Giannini), which sets off a rivalry set against the brewing '70s Communist movement in Rome.
A mixture of sexy farce, broad melodrama and surprising tragedy, Scola's film came during a rush of productivity from the Campania-born filmmaker as he was enjoying his first taste of major international recognition with Il commissario Pepe (1969). His often disorienting blend of comedy and drama was firmly established here, setting the table for what would come with his major breakthrough film, We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974). That film's writers, the legendary Age & Scarpelli (the screen name for writers Agenore Incrocci and Furio Scarpelli), first worked with Scola on The Pizza Triangle, a show of confidence for the duo behind classics ranging from Seduced and Abandoned (1964) to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and one of Italy's biggest epic comedies, L'armata Brancaleone (1966). Their working relationship proved so productive that they would team up again for subsequent films including La terrazza (1980), Le Bal (1983) and Macaroni (1985). Another longtime Scola veteran here is composer Armando Trovajoli, who had supplied an infectious, dancefloor-worthy score for Scola's colorful comic fantasy, The Devil in Love (1966), and would go on to score nearly all of the director's subsequent films including an iconic theme for his recently rediscovered masterwork, Ugly, Dirty & Bad (1976).
Despite its titling difficulties, Scola's film found a warm critical reception when it played in major American cities in autumn of 1970. "The film, though a winner primarily because of its performances, has the fun air of some of the earlier postwar Italian comedies," remarked Cue magazine, while The New Yorker called it "a genial mutt of a movie - a comic-strip parody of operatic passion." However, it later fell into neglect with only sparse TV airings (often in dubbed form) and occasional revival screenings, most notably at 1984's Chicago International Film Festival, allowing it to find the new audiences it so richly deserved.
By Nathaniel Thompson
