To fully appreciate the international box-office bonanza Divorce, Italian Style (Divorzio All'Italiana), one must remember that back in 1962, divorce was illegal in Italy. Ferdinando Cefalú(Marcello Mastroianni) would love to unload his demanding, sex-starved, monumentally unappealing wife, Rosalia (Daniela Rocca), but he can't take the legal means open to his American counterparts. Ferdinando can, however, kill off his wife and receive a light sentence...provided he catches the lady committing adultery. The trick now is to make his plate-of-potatoes spouse attractive enough so that some other man will accommodate Ferdinando by cuckolding him. Divorce, Italian Style not only cleaned up financially, but also won several international film awards, as well as an Oscar nomination for Marcello Mastroianni. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Angela Cardile - Agnese; Antoni Acqua - the Priest; Lando Buzzanca - Rosario Mule; Bianca Castagnetta - Donna Matilde; Laura Tomiselli - Zia Fifidda; Pietro Tordi - Attorney DeMarzi; Ugo Torrente - Don Calogero
Credit
Dina de Bari - Costume Designer, Pietro Germi - Director, Roberto Cinquini - Editor, Carlo Rustichelli - Composer (Music Score), Carlo Egidi - Production Designer, Leonida Barboni - Cinematographer, Franco Cristaldi - Producer, Ennio de Concini - Screenwriter, Pietro Germi - Screenwriter, Alfredo Giannetti - Screenwriter
Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (September 2009)
Divorce, Italian Style is a satire, telling the story of a Sicilian nobleman, Ferdinando Cefalù (Marcello Mastroianni) who wants to marry his cousin Angela (Stefania Sandrelli). Since divorce was illegal in Italy at the time, he has to try to make his current wife Rosalia Cefalù (Daniela Rocca) have an affair so that he can catch her in flagrante delicto, murder her, and receive a light sentence for committing an honour killing.
In 2008 Divorce, Italian Style was turned into an opera by Giorgio Battistelli; as Divorce à l'Italienne, it was premiered by the Opéra National de Lorraine on September 30 of that year. Tenor Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke took the role created by Mastroianni. Battistelli chose to set every female role, except for Angela, for low male voice; to that end, Bruno Praticò sang the role of Rosalia[2].
