Divorce Italian Style

Ferdinando Cefalù, a Sicilian baron nearing forty, has grown tired of Rosalia, his wife of twelve years, and has fallen for his young cousin Angela, who returns his feelings. Divorce is not an option in Italy at the time, so he settles on a different route: he will push Rosalia into taking a lover, catch the pair together and kill her, counting on the lenient treatment Italian courts gave crimes committed over wounded honour. Finding her a suitor proves difficult, since Rosalia is a faithful wife, and the scheme only gains momentum when a former admirer of hers, Carmelino Patanè, comes back to town.

Pietro Germi directed and co-wrote the film with Ennio De Concini and Alfredo Giannetti, and Franco Cristaldi produced it. It followed The Railroad Man in Germi's filmography and came before Serafino. Marcello Mastroianni plays Ferdinando, with Daniela Rocca as Rosalia, Stefania Sandrelli as Angela, Leopoldo Trieste as Carmelo Patanè, Odoardo Spadaro as Don Gaetano Cefalù and Margherita Girelli as Sisina.

The comedy was released in December 1961 and runs 104 minutes. On IMDb it holds 7.9 out of 10 from around 16,000 votes, and on TMDB it also sits at 7.9 from roughly 552 votes. A critics' score of 8.6 from 18 reviews places it above those audience figures.