director
Pietro Germi
screenplay
Alfredo Giannetti
Ennio De Concini
Pietro Germi
cinematography
Leonida Barboni
Carlo Di Palma
editing
Roberto Cinquini
music
Carlo Rustichelli
cast
Marcello Mastroianni, Stefania Sandrelli, Daniele Rocca, Leopoldo Trieste, Umberto Spadaro, Angela Cardile, Margherita Girelli, Lando Buzzanca
production
Franco Cristaldi per la Vides Cinematografica, Lux Film, Galatea
country
Italia, 1961
format
35mm, b/w
lenght
101 min
synopsis
Ferdinando Cefalù, a Sicilian baron, falls in lover with his coquettish sixteen year old cousin and is a changed man. The only obstacle to their union is the fact that Ferdinando has a wife, Rosalia, a plain and overbearing woman. A solution to the problem appears with the arrival of Carmelo Patanè, a humble painter who had previously been the great love of Rosalia. Ferdinando deftly engineers the rekindling of the relationship between his wife and the painter. The hoped-for adultery takes place; Ferdinando surprises wife and painter in flagrante and kills his wife in defence of his wounded honour. Thanks to the ‘crime of passion' clause of the Italian penal code, Ferdinand serves a light sentence and upon his release marries his beloved Angela, to the delight and admiration of his co-citizens.
