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Divorce Italian Style

Original title: Divorzio all'italiana · Turkish title: Italyan Nikahi

“He ordered marriage on the rocks with a twist... Italian Style!”

1961 · 1 h 45 min
Directed by Pietro Germi
ComedyDramaRomance

Cast

Marcello Mastroianni Daniela Rocca Stefania Sandrelli

Credits

Written by: Alfredo Giannetti

Plot

In a Sicilian town, Baron Fefè Cefalù is bored with his wife and in love with his young cousin. Divorce is illegal in Italy, so he plots to have his wife caught with a lover, so that he can kill her and receive only a light sentence under the country's law on crimes of honour. Pietro Germi's 1961 film uses a deadpan comic style, with Marcello Mastroianni in a superb performance as the baron, to mock a society's codes. It won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Sinekatalog’s take

Pietro Germi's Sicilian black comedy has Marcello Mastroianni scheming to murder his wife. Sharp, funny and sardonic, it won an Oscar for its screenplay and mocked honour codes with glee.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 7.9 / 10 (16,001 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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