Word: germi
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...reasons: 1) divorce is illegal in Catholic Italy; 2) the penalty for a "crime of honor" (the murder of a mate discovered in adultery) is light-with plenty of time-off for good behavior. The situation horrifies modern-minded Italians, but what can they do about it? Director Pietro Germi has done something wildly, wickedly, wonderfully funny about it. In one of the cleverest comedies ever made in Italy, he has applied a cunning hotfoot to the world's biggest boot...
Actor Mastroianni is uniformly marvelous, a perfect parody of a small-town smoothie. And Director Germi, who at 44 is one of the least known but one of the most talented (The Straw Man, An Ugly Mess) of the major Italian directors, shows a flair for deadly fun that few of his rivals can rival. Sicilian customs, Latin lovers, political priests, legal shenanigans-his targets are whale-sized and he sinks a keen lampoon...
...Pietro Germi, who directed Mlle. Gobette, shuffles his characters around the screen with the dexterity of a skilled poker player, bluffing for the fun of it, but keeping all the high cards. His intrigues are helped by the apt dialogue which is, surprisingly, translated into fairly literate subtitles. Mr. Germi has succeeded where most others have succeeded. A French farce is a French farce...