Divorce Italian Style Italian Divorzio allitaliana is a 1961 Italian comedy film directed by Pietro Germi. The screenplay was written by Ennio De Concini, Pietro Germi, Alfredo Giannetti, and Agenore Incrocci based on the novel Un delitto donore Crime of Honor by Giovanni Arpino. It stars Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli, Lando Buzzanca, and Leopoldo Trieste.
Aware that divorce is illegal in the country, Ferdinando spends his spare time which is most of it imagining several ways in which he can do away with his wife, such as throwing her into a boiling caldron to turn her into soap or sending her into space in a rocket. At a beach, he has a daydream of his wife in quicksand and she is pulled under. After a chance encounter with Angela during a family trip, he discovers that she shares his feelings. With this, he resolves to carry out his plans and is inspired by a local story of a woman who killed her husband in a rage of jealousy to make his wife have an affair so that he can catch her in flagrante delicto, murder her, and receive a light sentence for committing an honor killing, studying very carefully the Criminal Code. As he goes along fleshing out his plan, he first needs to find a suitable man for his wife, which he finds in the local priests godson, Carmelo Patan, who has had feelings for Rosalia for years and was presumed dead in Africa during World War II. He then also procures the State Prosecutors friendship with small favors. The final stage of his plan is arranging to have Carmelos constant presence in his house, which is achieved by his interest in having his palace frescoes restored.The plan takes a while to get off the ground, because Carmelo is very shy and Rosalia is more than a match in conjugal fidelity. Ferdinando is aware of the development of his plan because he has been taping all their conversations and has to ward off the helps infatuation with Carmelo. During his monitoring of the entire plan, Ferdinando discovers that Carmelo is actually married with three children and a philanderer who could be easily distracted by any other passing skirt. However, his plan turns out better than expected when Rosalia and Carmelo finally give in to their passion but as he eavesdrops the tape runs out at the precise moment the adulterers arrange for their next illicit meeting. All Ferdinando knows is that it w
Source: Wikipedia