Commedia all’italiana is a film genre that characterizes the style of film that began in Italy in the late 1950s. This era of Italian film, though categorized broadly as comedy, rarely aims for obvious laughs and simplistic themes; alternately cutting, satirical, flirtatious, and tragic, the films from this time tend to defy typical genre lines, and are infused with a sense of conflict and a zest for life that could only be Italian.
If you’re looking for a film that engages in humor and penetrating social commentary all in the same move, commedia all’italiana is where you’ll find it. Read below for our selections of where to start with this distinctive and eye-opening genre.
1. I Knew Her Well (1965)
I Knew Her Well follows the story of Adriana, played by a young Stefania Sandrelli, as she moves from her lifelong home in the country to pursue acting amid the flashiness of 1960s Rome. Toeing the line between a comedic film and a more serious drama, it explores Adriana’s naivety and enthusiasm set against the backdrop of the illusionistic and corrupt sphere of Italian cinema, looking critically both at the supposed innocence of the countryside and the shallowness of the celebrity world.
2. Amarcord (1973)
A film that intertwines romantic nostalgia with a wicked satire, Amarcord follows Titta, a young boy growing up in a small coastal town in Italy during the 1930s. With a title playing on the Italian for “I remember”, it forms a series of episodes in Titta’s life that are based loosely on filmmaker Federico Fellini’s childhood. Skewering Fascist and Catholic ideologies alike, the film explores a wide cast of characters who engage in antics ranging from bawdy to touching.
3. Marriage Italian Style (1964)
This classic Italian romance traces a marriage with a rather, let’s say, unconventional path.
Domenico, a cynical businessman, meets Filumena, a former prostitute, when she is only seventeen, and promptly makes her his mistress. Years later when Domenico finally decides to settle down with another woman, however, Filumena harnesses all her wit in the service of making him her husband instead. The mercurial emotions and extreme scenarios of this film will have you chuckling, but it’s also a tale of genuine passion and the dangers of misconceptions.
4. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963)
Reflecting its tripartite title, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow is a comedy anthology of three parts, each focusing on the story of a different woman. The first follows working-class Adelina in Naples, who is arrested on a minor offense and hatches a plan to remain pregnant to stay out of jail. The second jumps to the other side of the social sphere, as millionairess Anna takes a drive with her lover Renzo through Milan, and ends up crashing her husband’s Rolls-Royce. For the third, Mara in Rome straddles social classes as a high-end escort, and takes on the task of convincing a young man who has fallen in love with her to return to his intended life as a priest. Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni play the main couple of each short film, providing a sense of continuity and sustaining the plot with truly superb acting.
5. Il Sorpasso (1962)
This cult comedy film traces the chance meeting of Roberto, a quiet young law student, and Bruno, an older man with a brash and rather loose approach to life. When Bruno misses a meeting with his friends, he invites Roberto along instead, and the two embark on a days-long road trip across the coast, with each coming to learn more about the past of the other. As the two men become closer, however, and edge nearer and nearer to their own instabilities, they learn the danger of ‘il sorpasso’ – or ‘overtaking’.
6. Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)
Widely considered to be one of the first films to define the style of commedia all’italiana, Big Deal on Madonna Street is the story of a pawn shop robbery gone wrong. A gang of five small-time burglars encounters a seemingly endless series of mishaps and misdirections in their attempt to pull-off the perfect crime. The film pokes holes in the tropes of robber stories that made heists appear more glamorous and gritty than they often are, but its humor remains understated enough to still be endearing and convey the humanity in its characters.
7. Divorce Italian Style (1961)
The film which the title of Marriage Italian Style (1964) pays reference to, Divorce Italian Style is as emotionally unhinged and comically dark as they come. In the 60s, divorce was illegal in Italy – so Ferdinando Cefalù, a middle-aged husband in love with his 16-year-old cousin, hatches a plan to do away with his wife for good. Hoping to entangle her in her own affair so he can claim a crime of passion in killing her, his plan begins to get away from him as the film progresses. Handling a touchy subject with a sharp, deft sense of humor, director Pietro Germi has crafted a classic film that will continue to amaze audiences for years to come.