Marriage Italian Style (1964)
I bought a boxset with four Sophia Loren films, not really knowing anything about them or her, other than she is a high profile beautiful Italian actress. The film opened up a new chapter for me in my continuous exploration of Italian cinema, with what is best described as more normal drama films - at least compared to all the genre heavy ones.
Sophia Loren is really what you notice at first and she keeps the attention for the entire film, putting everyone else in the background. People are also literally turning their heads when she walks down the street in the film. She is tall as well, close to Mastroianni, which was a refreshing thing to see as women are very often at least a head shorter than their male romantic counterpart. Both now and then. Loren really shines in every scene and steals the focus, not just from her natural beauty and attractiveness, but also her whole confident demeanor. She comes with a commanding presence. An interesting contrast to Mastroianni’s more restrained acting here, compared to how he was in La Dolce Vita. Which fits their characters well, as Filumena clearly comes from a background where she has to fight for herself, where Domineco has had a more comfortable life.
While the narrative does take form of a sort of romantic comedy, and it is indeed quite funny, there is some depth here with its social commentary on women’s status and class differences at the time. Filumena is a fighter, doing what she can to get ahead and keep in control, but even with her extremely good looks and some power over men, she still doesn’t really have the upper hand.
It still has elements that reflects its time, so it may be a stretch to call it super progressive, but I still enjoyed for its view of gender dynamics in Italian society. What stands out is the whole Italianess with its very flamboyant depiction of relationships, compared to the often more introverted depiction in other European films.
Rating: 4