1964 - MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE, a classic Italian film from Vittorio De Sica

A classic Italian comedy/drama from a director considerably less flamboyant than Fellini but no less important, Vittorio De Sica.  Marriage Italian Style stars larger than life personalities Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.  The story features Loren as the mistress of Mastroianni over a 20 year period.  A spouse in every way but legally Loren finally resorts to some drastic measures in their relationship.

This is Loren in her prime sex goddess period and frankly when the film started I was expecting the worst and for a while I got it.  But  De Sica was one of the few directors who could actually get a real performance out of her.  She even credibly ages without the benefit of using her looks or her bosom.  Mastroianni plays the usual excitable Italian who is somewhat of an ass. 

Mastroianni, Loren and Vittorio De Sica

The film is supposedly a comedy, but frankly there is more drama than comedy in it.  De Sica focuses on the exploitation of Italian women in a culture that is absolutely oozing with male chauvinism.

Vittorio De Sica was a  meticulous craftsman.  The film is extremely well directed with excellent color photography.

102 minutes

1963 - YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW, DeSica's trilogy

Three short stories directed by Vittorio De Sica with two of the stories written by Cesare Zavattini. These two gentlemen were part of the neo-realistic movement of Italian cinema. That movement primarily consisted of showing real people in real situations. Those films were made on location using non-actors when possible. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, is not one of those films. By the 1960's the Neo-realistic movement had pretty much ended and directors like De Sica were filming more commercial types of pictures. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow stars Sophia Loren with support from her frequent costar Marcello Mastroianni. The two of them each play three different parts in three different stories set throughout Italy.

1. "Adelina". In Naples Loren plays a woman supporting her family by selling black market cigarettes. The police attempt to arrest her but due to a loophole in the law she finds out that she can't serve time in jail as long as she is pregnant.

2. "Anna". In Milan, Loren plays a woman on a drive with her lover. She complains about her shallow, materialistic lifestyle to him as they race around the city in her Rolls Royce.

 

3. "Mara". In Rome, Loren is a prostitute who finds she is living next door to a would be priest in training. Mastroianni is one of her customers. Loren appears to be enjoying herself, particularly in the first and third stories. This shouldn't be too surprising. Sophia Loren had a tough childhood and could probably relate to the first story. Considering how long she stayed on top as an international star, she probably knew a thing or two about prostituting herself for the third story.

Mastroianni is pretty passive throughout most of the movie. He's smart enough to realize that the film belongs to Loren. He is funny in the third story as a "horn-dog" trying to get sex out of Loren and failing a lot. Vittorio De Sica does a decent job moving the film along, and he makes some small points about class, and sex in society.  De Sica knows he's not filming a masterpiece here, he puts in a professional job on the film, the long shots of Naples are particularly beautiful.

118 minutes.