A beautiful sixteen year old girl is seduced by her older sister's fiancée, a conniving would-be bureaucrat. How far will the tradition-bound paterfamilias go to restore the family's lost honor? Well, if you're writer/director Pietro Germi, the answer is pretty darn farincluding perjury, kidnapping, murder, and bribing an eccentric baron with a new set of false teeth. Rarely has male hypocrisy and sexual double standards been so thoroughly lampooned. The film walks a fine line between comedy and tragedy, as the more and more traumatized sixteen year old girl is passed back and forth like damaged goods. Shot in beautiful black and white, on location. If you liked MAFIOSO, last year's great Italian rediscovery, you'll like this.
25 Reviews
Lampoons macho morality and hypocrisy
howard.schumann12 September 2005
Warning: Spoilers
When Agnese (Stefania Sandrelli), a fifteen-year old girl, is seduced and impregnated by her older sister's fiancé, the stage is set for a series of events that involve an attempted murder, an abortive suicide attempt, a protracted court battle, and a fake kidnapping. A wicked satire from Pietro Germi, Seduced and Abandoned lampoons the macho morality, legal system, and hypocrisy of Sicily in the early 1960s. Though it seems a bit overlong, it is a very funny film that shows how outmoded codes of honor can stifle individuality, and the consequences that result when a family's reputation becomes more important than their happiness.
Saro Urzi won the award for Best Actor at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival and he turns in a dominating performance as Vincenzo Ascalone, the ebullient patriarch who is determined to preserve the family honor at any cost. After discovering that his young daughter Agnese has been seduced by Peppino Califano (Aldo Puglisi), daughter Mathilde's (Paola Biggio) fiancé, he goes into a rage, first against Agnese than against the cowardly Peppino, assaulting him in front of his parents. He demands that Peppino break off the engagement with Mathilde and marry Agnese, but Peppino hypocritically proclaims that he will not married a defiled woman though in fact he was the defiler.
When Peppino hightails it out of town and hides in a monastery, Vincenzo persuades his son Antonio to hunt him down and kill him but the murder plot turns into another farce after Agnese informs the police (who are about as competent as the lawmen on The Dukes of Hazzard TV series). The bumpy affair finally ends up in court where the only thing that can prevent Peppino from jail is marriage but the proud papa refuses his daughter's hand. This forces Peppino to stage a false kidnapping and it goes on from there, full of twists and turns that left me a bit worn out but full of smiles.
Saro Urzi won the award for Best Actor at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival and he turns in a dominating performance as Vincenzo Ascalone, the ebullient patriarch who is determined to preserve the family honor at any cost. After discovering that his young daughter Agnese has been seduced by Peppino Califano (Aldo Puglisi), daughter Mathilde's (Paola Biggio) fiancé, he goes into a rage, first against Agnese than against the cowardly Peppino, assaulting him in front of his parents. He demands that Peppino break off the engagement with Mathilde and marry Agnese, but Peppino hypocritically proclaims that he will not married a defiled woman though in fact he was the defiler.
When Peppino hightails it out of town and hides in a monastery, Vincenzo persuades his son Antonio to hunt him down and kill him but the murder plot turns into another farce after Agnese informs the police (who are about as competent as the lawmen on The Dukes of Hazzard TV series). The bumpy affair finally ends up in court where the only thing that can prevent Peppino from jail is marriage but the proud papa refuses his daughter's hand. This forces Peppino to stage a false kidnapping and it goes on from there, full of twists and turns that left me a bit worn out but full of smiles.
Germi's gems!
Manicheus21 January 2003
Granted, it's not as polished or swanky as "Divorce". No dashing Marcello, no Sophia's curves. Perhaps it dabs in paint too close to that of his more famous predecessor. Yet, what delightful film! The comedy of manners and mores can rarely get any better. And then the cutting, darker, a bit menacing undertones that reveal that fascinating Sicilia of times now lost forever: wow! I love both of Germi's gems but if I could take only one with me it would be "Sedotta e abbandonata". I also marvel at how well Germi, himself un Genovese, understood the very heart and soul of that lovely island off the boot of Italy. Almost perfect: who cares for perfection anyway?
A Brilliant Cultural Self Parody
littlemartinarocena9 April 2007
The Italians are masters at laughing at themselves. I wonder if Iraq had developed that kind of self parody the world wouldn't have turned a much different place. I mention Iraq because, based on the tale told in "Seduced and Abandoned", the only difference between Sicily and Iraq is the name of their God. The great Pietro Germi designs a grotesquely comic masterpiece of such ferocity that the line between comedy and tragedy is indeed very thin. As is typical in a Germi film, the cast is uniformly sensational. Here, besides a very young and extraordinary Stefania Sandrelli, there is a superlative performance by Saro Urzi, the head of the family threatened by a devastating scandal. Ignorance and hypocrisy dissected with a refined, elegant hand. Observed with the acute, unsentimental eye of an outsider and yet, Pietro Germi, was an Italian who looked with affectionate horror at the cultural ties that kept his Country trailing behind the rest of the western world. Not to be missed.
Honor and family in Sicily.
ItalianGerry2 August 2001
The late Pietro Germi was one of the most gifted comic directors of the post-50s period. He is the man behind such wonderful movies like DIVORCE, ITALIAN STYLE; ALFREDO ALFREDO; SERAFINO; THE CLIMAX; THE BIRDS, THE BEES, AND THE ITALIANS. This hilarious movie, which may be his very best, is a loving yet deadly satire of Sicilian customs. The dejected heroine Agnese (played by Stefania Sandrelli) is seduced by her sister's fiance while she is chaperoning her snoozing sister during the sultry Sicilian siesta hours. She becomes pregnant and must succumb to a shotgun marriage demanded by her father. Problem: Sicilian seducers do not accept unchaste wives. It does not matter that HE seduced the girl. He has his honor. The father has honor too. This corpulent apoplectic domestic tyrant must also protect his family's "onore". For Verdi's Falstaff honor is a mere word. For this proud Sicilian father it is the foundation of our lives. Saro Urzi's performance as the father must be seen to be believed. Everyone else in the cast of this brilliant film is unforgettable as well. Carlo Rustichelli's musical score, like the one he provided for DIVORCE,ITALIAN STYLE is fabulous.
Commedia all'italiana, Pietro Germi style
agboone726 June 2015
Pietro Germi is probably my favorite director of commedia all'italiana films, but to understand him, we have to understand commedia all'italiana, and to do that, we have to examine its roots, which lie in the Italian neorealist movement.
Italian neorealism was forged out of the ashes of World War II. After suffering Mussolini's dictatorship and Italian Fascism, followed by Nazi occupation, followed by American occupation, Italy's identity as a nation had been decimated. The new identity it would build in the postwar years would be defined in every way by the war. In cinema, directors began shooting low-budget, inexpensive films with a realistic aesthetic. This was, on one hand, a product of necessity, due to the economic impact of the war, and, on the other hand, it was an artistic choice, since the neorealists believed in a cinema that echoed reality, which meant natural lighting, nonprofessional actors, and on-location shooting. In terms of the films' content, they often featured a deep sympathy with the working class, which was the hallmark of the Marxist school of thought that was quickly beginning to dominate Italian cinema. Having recently seen the other end of the political spectrum (i.e. fascism) up close and personal, the shift leftward to communism was virtually inevitable. The other notable aspect of these neorealist films is their highly melancholic tone and grim portraits of human despair. This, too, of course, was a result of the horrors seen during the war.
Time heals all wounds, however, and by the mid-'50s, Italians were ready to wake from their doldrums and shake off the depression that had marked the years immediately following the war. Italian cinema would have to adapt. For a nation that was finally ready to laugh again, the influx of comedy into Italian films was only natural. And so the '50s saw the rise of a very unique brand of comedy that would come to be called commedia all'italiana ("comedy Italian style", borrowing its name from Germi's own 1961 film, "Divorce Italian Style").
Italian cinema now had the money and the motivation to make more commercial, more traditionally entertaining films, and while the neorealist mode of filmmaking had largely vanished by the mid-'50s, it survived through commedia all'italiana, which can best be described as an amalgam of the social realism that dominated the neorealist movement and a more conventional comedy. Commedia all'italiana, in a way, can be seen as half comedy, half neorealism, and while infusing neorealism with comedy may not sound like a good mixture, this blend of styles actually created some of the most enjoyable films in Italian cinematic history.
The directors who made films during the era of commedia all'italiana, for the most part, had apprenticed under the neorealists, and as a result much of the neorealist approach permeated their films. While the films they made were certainly comedies, they retained a poignancy, and an element of pathos, that was characteristic of Italian neorealism, and which transcended the conventions of comedic filmmaking. These filmmakers, like many of the neorealists before them, were largely communists, although it's been suggested that many only joined the party in an effort to further their careers.
And this, at last, brings us to Germi. Unlike fellow commedia all'italiana filmmaker Mario Monicelli, who was a committed, lifelong communist, Germi considered himself a social democrat. In other words, he believed in social equality, as did the left, but refused to subscribe to any specific political ideology. Germi and Monicelli both delivered indictments of society in their films, but unlike Monicelli's films, which operate on a sympathy with the working class, Germi's films are an attack on traditional, conservative values in Italian culture, specifically in the south.
While Monicelli's films tend to take place in Rome or northern cities like Turin, the films I've seen by Germi are set in Sicily, where conservative values regarding female chastity and familial honor were, certainly at the time of the film's release, at a maximum. Germi's films seem to revolve around individuals who are compelled toward unscrupulous choices and ultimately cast into a state of chaos by the rigid values of the society they live in. In "Divorce Italian Style", the protagonist lives in a Sicilian society that will not allow him to divorce (not without losing his honor and shaming himself as a cuckold), and so the only course of action left to him is to murder his wife (a comic premise, of course). In "Seduced and Abandoned", the patriarchal head of a family goes to absurd lengths to try to preserve his family's good name by covering up the corruption of his daughter's virtue at any and all costs.
In both films, we have a scenario in which completely normal, or at least non-calamitous events (the failure of a marriage, consensual sex between a fairly young man and a girl on the verge of adulthood) are elevated to a state of complete catastrophe by what Germi sees as society's ridiculous values and mores. "Seduced and Abandoned" is a scathing assault on these kinds of social mores, and despite Germi's refusal to engage a specific political doctrine, it is very much a political film. What makes it so successful, like "Divorce Italian Style", is the way Germi is able to execute his films in such a way as to make them enjoyable on two levels: as a meaningful reflection on the flaws and shortcomings of Italian society, and as pure, lighthearted, comedic entertainment. As the viewer, we have the prerogative of choosing which level to absorb. I recommend both.
RATING: 8.33 out of 10 stars
Italian neorealism was forged out of the ashes of World War II. After suffering Mussolini's dictatorship and Italian Fascism, followed by Nazi occupation, followed by American occupation, Italy's identity as a nation had been decimated. The new identity it would build in the postwar years would be defined in every way by the war. In cinema, directors began shooting low-budget, inexpensive films with a realistic aesthetic. This was, on one hand, a product of necessity, due to the economic impact of the war, and, on the other hand, it was an artistic choice, since the neorealists believed in a cinema that echoed reality, which meant natural lighting, nonprofessional actors, and on-location shooting. In terms of the films' content, they often featured a deep sympathy with the working class, which was the hallmark of the Marxist school of thought that was quickly beginning to dominate Italian cinema. Having recently seen the other end of the political spectrum (i.e. fascism) up close and personal, the shift leftward to communism was virtually inevitable. The other notable aspect of these neorealist films is their highly melancholic tone and grim portraits of human despair. This, too, of course, was a result of the horrors seen during the war.
Time heals all wounds, however, and by the mid-'50s, Italians were ready to wake from their doldrums and shake off the depression that had marked the years immediately following the war. Italian cinema would have to adapt. For a nation that was finally ready to laugh again, the influx of comedy into Italian films was only natural. And so the '50s saw the rise of a very unique brand of comedy that would come to be called commedia all'italiana ("comedy Italian style", borrowing its name from Germi's own 1961 film, "Divorce Italian Style").
Italian cinema now had the money and the motivation to make more commercial, more traditionally entertaining films, and while the neorealist mode of filmmaking had largely vanished by the mid-'50s, it survived through commedia all'italiana, which can best be described as an amalgam of the social realism that dominated the neorealist movement and a more conventional comedy. Commedia all'italiana, in a way, can be seen as half comedy, half neorealism, and while infusing neorealism with comedy may not sound like a good mixture, this blend of styles actually created some of the most enjoyable films in Italian cinematic history.
The directors who made films during the era of commedia all'italiana, for the most part, had apprenticed under the neorealists, and as a result much of the neorealist approach permeated their films. While the films they made were certainly comedies, they retained a poignancy, and an element of pathos, that was characteristic of Italian neorealism, and which transcended the conventions of comedic filmmaking. These filmmakers, like many of the neorealists before them, were largely communists, although it's been suggested that many only joined the party in an effort to further their careers.
And this, at last, brings us to Germi. Unlike fellow commedia all'italiana filmmaker Mario Monicelli, who was a committed, lifelong communist, Germi considered himself a social democrat. In other words, he believed in social equality, as did the left, but refused to subscribe to any specific political ideology. Germi and Monicelli both delivered indictments of society in their films, but unlike Monicelli's films, which operate on a sympathy with the working class, Germi's films are an attack on traditional, conservative values in Italian culture, specifically in the south.
While Monicelli's films tend to take place in Rome or northern cities like Turin, the films I've seen by Germi are set in Sicily, where conservative values regarding female chastity and familial honor were, certainly at the time of the film's release, at a maximum. Germi's films seem to revolve around individuals who are compelled toward unscrupulous choices and ultimately cast into a state of chaos by the rigid values of the society they live in. In "Divorce Italian Style", the protagonist lives in a Sicilian society that will not allow him to divorce (not without losing his honor and shaming himself as a cuckold), and so the only course of action left to him is to murder his wife (a comic premise, of course). In "Seduced and Abandoned", the patriarchal head of a family goes to absurd lengths to try to preserve his family's good name by covering up the corruption of his daughter's virtue at any and all costs.
In both films, we have a scenario in which completely normal, or at least non-calamitous events (the failure of a marriage, consensual sex between a fairly young man and a girl on the verge of adulthood) are elevated to a state of complete catastrophe by what Germi sees as society's ridiculous values and mores. "Seduced and Abandoned" is a scathing assault on these kinds of social mores, and despite Germi's refusal to engage a specific political doctrine, it is very much a political film. What makes it so successful, like "Divorce Italian Style", is the way Germi is able to execute his films in such a way as to make them enjoyable on two levels: as a meaningful reflection on the flaws and shortcomings of Italian society, and as pure, lighthearted, comedic entertainment. As the viewer, we have the prerogative of choosing which level to absorb. I recommend both.
RATING: 8.33 out of 10 stars
Honor and Family in Sicily
claudio_carvalho5 April 2013
In Sicily, the fifteen year-old Agnese Ascalone (Stefania Sandrelli) is seduced by the youngster Peppino Califano (Aldo Puglisi), who is the fiancé of her older sister Matilde (Paola Biggio). When her father, Don Vincenzo Ascalone (Saro Urzì), discovers that Agnese is not pure anymore and is pregnant of Peppino, he visits his parents to arrange the marriage between Peppino and Agnese. Further, he makes arrangement with the decadent Baron Rizieri Zappalà (Leopoldo Trieste) to be Matilde's new fiancé. But Peppino refuses to marry Agnese and flees to a hideout in a convent. Don Ascalone seeks out his cousin that is a lawyer and they plot a scheme to kill Peppino. Don Ascalone sends his stupid son Antonio Ascalone (Lando Buzzanca) to gun down Peppino, but Agnese leaves home and tells the Police Chief Polenza (Oreste Palella) that Peppino will be murdered because she had been seduced by him. Now Peppino must marry Agnese otherwise he will go to prison. But Agnese does not want to marry him anymore.
"Sedotta e Abbandonata", a.k.a. "Seduced and Abandoned", is a tragicomic comedy about honor and family in Sicily. The Sicilians probably do not like this bitter movie since the story shows a hypocrite and retrograde society in the 60's, with gossipers and people interested in keep up appearances despite the feelings of the next of kin. Unfortunately the conclusion is quite disappointing. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Seduzida & Abandonada" ("Seduced and Abandoned")
"Sedotta e Abbandonata", a.k.a. "Seduced and Abandoned", is a tragicomic comedy about honor and family in Sicily. The Sicilians probably do not like this bitter movie since the story shows a hypocrite and retrograde society in the 60's, with gossipers and people interested in keep up appearances despite the feelings of the next of kin. Unfortunately the conclusion is quite disappointing. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Seduzida & Abandonada" ("Seduced and Abandoned")
Germi!
Jinzo_Hydra21 March 2007
Criterion Collection was generous enough to introduce me to Germi's works, first starting with Divorce, Italian Style. It was only natural that I followed up with Seduced and Abandoned, since I was blown away by Divorced, and had a newfound love of contemporary European cinema, especially from French and Italian filmmakers. I know it's relatively simple to find out about little gems of work from foreign directors (using IMDb, for example), but I'm grateful for a company like Criterion to steer me in the direction of fantastic films and the visionaries that create them. Saves me a lot of time and effort, haha.
Now, I'm just some random nobody in his early 20's, born and raised on the prairie of Western Canada. In a sense, I may not be as "culturally perceptive" as someone hailing from a direct Old-World European background. But to discover a film such as Seduced and Abandoned, it was a guaranteed shock to see the enormity of differences between the values, traditions, and customs of Sicily compared to what I grew up in, astonishing since these worlds are separated only by a couple generations! Then again, forced marriage might be as frowned upon nowadays as if someone from that era might look into the future and see the overwhelming divorce rate of ours! It's really a subjectivity of time, where a brilliant, neorealist director, not unlike Germi, of our time will be able to capture a kind of absurdity in the way we deal with (or possibly lack thereof) now common principles and practices, such as infidelity, polygamy, same-sex unions, etc.
I'm rambling. Seduced was a depressingly good movie. Sardonic and whimsical at the same time, this one had the ability to leave a bittersweet taste with me afterward, to not dismiss the ideals held in Sicilian culture a couple generations ago, but to ponder them, to compare them to the beliefs and mores of our generation.
Sandrelli was phenomenal, as always. And I'm glad Germi cast Saro Urzi as the father instead of some North American counterpart, like Borgnine... Added to a certain authenticity that I wouldn't find if that'd been the case.
Lando Buzzanca as Antonio, and Leopoldo Triste as the Baron were amazing as the kind of actors that kept the comedic ball rolling in this type of film; although Seduced is known as a key player in the Comedia d'all Italiano, without these laugh-out-loud performances, the film would be a depressing portrayal of old Italian values and nothing but.
I look forward to the day when a company like Criterion will release more of Pietro Germi's film works (undoubtedly his 1950's dramatic working class oeuvre), to an international audience...
Until then.
Now, I'm just some random nobody in his early 20's, born and raised on the prairie of Western Canada. In a sense, I may not be as "culturally perceptive" as someone hailing from a direct Old-World European background. But to discover a film such as Seduced and Abandoned, it was a guaranteed shock to see the enormity of differences between the values, traditions, and customs of Sicily compared to what I grew up in, astonishing since these worlds are separated only by a couple generations! Then again, forced marriage might be as frowned upon nowadays as if someone from that era might look into the future and see the overwhelming divorce rate of ours! It's really a subjectivity of time, where a brilliant, neorealist director, not unlike Germi, of our time will be able to capture a kind of absurdity in the way we deal with (or possibly lack thereof) now common principles and practices, such as infidelity, polygamy, same-sex unions, etc.
I'm rambling. Seduced was a depressingly good movie. Sardonic and whimsical at the same time, this one had the ability to leave a bittersweet taste with me afterward, to not dismiss the ideals held in Sicilian culture a couple generations ago, but to ponder them, to compare them to the beliefs and mores of our generation.
Sandrelli was phenomenal, as always. And I'm glad Germi cast Saro Urzi as the father instead of some North American counterpart, like Borgnine... Added to a certain authenticity that I wouldn't find if that'd been the case.
Lando Buzzanca as Antonio, and Leopoldo Triste as the Baron were amazing as the kind of actors that kept the comedic ball rolling in this type of film; although Seduced is known as a key player in the Comedia d'all Italiano, without these laugh-out-loud performances, the film would be a depressing portrayal of old Italian values and nothing but.
I look forward to the day when a company like Criterion will release more of Pietro Germi's film works (undoubtedly his 1950's dramatic working class oeuvre), to an international audience...
Until then.
Walks a fine line between comedy and realism, until the muddled end.
Felonious-Punk18 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The photography, direction, acting, music, all is surprisingly flawless for a comedy. It's the story that trips this movie up, but even that is strong for the first two thirds. For the first two-thirds, the movie reaches for the best and achieves what the greatest comedies have achieved. But somewhere towards the end, the plot turned unrealistic to me. Things just got a little more complicated than I felt was believable. I felt as if the director had taken us out for a lovely outing and then he suddenly began to freak out because he couldn't find the way back home. By the time, the word "FINE," appeared on the screen, I had lost all sympathy and amusement for the characters. Argh, it feels like a wasted opportunity! But give it a shot, and see what you think. At least, the first half was a treat, and Stefania Sandrelli's performance is a nice consolation throughout.
Better! Much better!
petra_ste29 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
The title quote is uttered by an hilariously sarcastic police officer as he gazes at a map of Italy and covers Sicily with a hand.
The whole movie, another comedic masterpiece by Pietro Germi after Divorzio all'Italiana, is not so much bittersweet as dripping acid: a ferocious satire if ever there was one, tearing apart a traditional, phoney notion of honor.
A small Sicilian town: young Agnese is pregnant, and her father, "uomo d'onore" Vincenzo Ascalone, craves revenge against her seducer (the boyfriend of Agnese' sister), with a devastating domino effect involving Agnese's idiot brother, a lawyer cousin, a disgraced baron and many others.
Memorable characters, mercilessly funny writing and perfect casting from the leads (Stefania Sandrelli as Agnese and Saro Urzì in a tour-de-force performance as her father) to the smallest roles make this movie a true gem.
9/10
The whole movie, another comedic masterpiece by Pietro Germi after Divorzio all'Italiana, is not so much bittersweet as dripping acid: a ferocious satire if ever there was one, tearing apart a traditional, phoney notion of honor.
A small Sicilian town: young Agnese is pregnant, and her father, "uomo d'onore" Vincenzo Ascalone, craves revenge against her seducer (the boyfriend of Agnese' sister), with a devastating domino effect involving Agnese's idiot brother, a lawyer cousin, a disgraced baron and many others.
Memorable characters, mercilessly funny writing and perfect casting from the leads (Stefania Sandrelli as Agnese and Saro Urzì in a tour-de-force performance as her father) to the smallest roles make this movie a true gem.
9/10
Very good, but not nearly the quality of Pietro Germi's last film
planktonrules17 May 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Three years before SEDUCED AND ABANDONED, Pietro Germi made the wonderful DIVORCE, Italian STYLE. It was a truly amazing film that poked fun at the machismo of Italian men and posed the silly question "Maybe it's better for a man to kill his wife instead of divorcing her"! Despite the film's popularity, Germi's next film didn't come out until SEDUCED AND ABANDONED in 1964. While it's a very good film, it doesn't seem nearly as original as the last one and could easily have been entitled "Divorce, Italian Style Part 2". That's because the plot once again is about machismo and the notion that a "real man" is most concerned about keeping up appearances--just like in the previous film. Because of that, the film seemed much less fresh and more a continuation of the last movie.
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED begins with the troll, Peppino, seducing his fiancée's very young sister, Agnese (aged 15). To make things worse, the girl becomes pregnant. The family is naturally furious and most of what the crazed father is concerned about is what the people in their town will think. So, he decides to concoct a rather elaborate plot to force Peppino into marrying Agnese. The trouble is, Peppino now says he won't marry ANY girl who isn't a virgin--even though HE was the one responsible for this! There's a lot more to the film than this and it is a satire on Italian morality. Very funny and the father (Saro Urzì) did a great job as the befuddled and angry man, but as I said above, it all seems so familiar.
Overall, a good film and one I would have enjoyed more had I not seen DIVORCE, Italian STYLE. However, the two films have such a similar spirit and cover so much of the same material, I can only mildly recommend SEDUCED AND ABANDONED.
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED begins with the troll, Peppino, seducing his fiancée's very young sister, Agnese (aged 15). To make things worse, the girl becomes pregnant. The family is naturally furious and most of what the crazed father is concerned about is what the people in their town will think. So, he decides to concoct a rather elaborate plot to force Peppino into marrying Agnese. The trouble is, Peppino now says he won't marry ANY girl who isn't a virgin--even though HE was the one responsible for this! There's a lot more to the film than this and it is a satire on Italian morality. Very funny and the father (Saro Urzì) did a great job as the befuddled and angry man, but as I said above, it all seems so familiar.
Overall, a good film and one I would have enjoyed more had I not seen DIVORCE, Italian STYLE. However, the two films have such a similar spirit and cover so much of the same material, I can only mildly recommend SEDUCED AND ABANDONED.
A Miracle of a Movie.
davidtraversa-126 September 2016
I don't have the necessary English vocabulary to praise this jewel of a film. But no matter how wide the knowledge of a language can be, one will always fall short when praising this remarkable creation.
Simply amazing: Director (Pietro Germi), actors, camera, script... Perfection, absolute perfection. Every single situation is played with amazing vitality and bubbling gags are practically in every scene in this bittersweet story.
One hopes Sicilians have changed their "morals" from the 1950s to today, because nowadays the conflict depicted here seems unreal and preposterous: A guy (Peppino Califano) refuses to marry the girl (Stefania Sandrelli) (15 going to 16) because, "since she gave in to his sexual advances", now she's considered a "Puttana" and men require to marry virgins, otherwise he'll be the laughing stock in the village (a Cornuto).
The central character of the story is the father of this girl, the "offended" party, and the fireworks displayed by this actor (Saro Urzi) are just out of this world. The beauty of Stefania Sandrelli was also out of this world, as she looks like a Madonna painted by a Rinascimento master.
And she breaks our hearts finding herself in that tremendous conflict that will take her to an inevitable nervous breakdown. Again, women's position in Sicily was very close to total servitude to the dominant male in the family.
Lightweight comedy for a wrenching situation until the very bitter ending. Try watching this impossibly wonderful movie, a gift from the Gods of Cinecittà.
Simply amazing: Director (Pietro Germi), actors, camera, script... Perfection, absolute perfection. Every single situation is played with amazing vitality and bubbling gags are practically in every scene in this bittersweet story.
One hopes Sicilians have changed their "morals" from the 1950s to today, because nowadays the conflict depicted here seems unreal and preposterous: A guy (Peppino Califano) refuses to marry the girl (Stefania Sandrelli) (15 going to 16) because, "since she gave in to his sexual advances", now she's considered a "Puttana" and men require to marry virgins, otherwise he'll be the laughing stock in the village (a Cornuto).
The central character of the story is the father of this girl, the "offended" party, and the fireworks displayed by this actor (Saro Urzi) are just out of this world. The beauty of Stefania Sandrelli was also out of this world, as she looks like a Madonna painted by a Rinascimento master.
And she breaks our hearts finding herself in that tremendous conflict that will take her to an inevitable nervous breakdown. Again, women's position in Sicily was very close to total servitude to the dominant male in the family.
Lightweight comedy for a wrenching situation until the very bitter ending. Try watching this impossibly wonderful movie, a gift from the Gods of Cinecittà.
This story is set in that sinister part of the world . . .
tadpole-596-91825619 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
. . . where even in this, our Modern 21st Century, when someone gets sick, there's a 50-50 chance that they will recover, but equal odds that BOTH they and their attending physician will croak! The lawyers and legal statutes in this nefarious region are just as backwards, faulty and flawed as the inadequately trained quacks practicing Medieval "Medicine," SEDUCED AND ABANDONED illustrates. This, of course, is the same benighted system that railroaded and convicted a Real Life American exchange wench of murdering her roommate--and then spent billions of "lira" trying to keep her locked up in one of their Stone Age dungeons even AFTER the Real Killer confessed!
satire of 50's Sicily
madrig8024 January 2004
It is so rare to watch a funny masterpiece with so many insights! Sicily in the 50's appears obsessed with a twisted concept of honor, or, better, of an impeccable APPARENT reputation. No other movie I have seen is able to give such a vivid idea of the double morality for men and women that ails the "cultura machista". The character I love most in the movie is the extremely naive sister of the protagonist, who lives in her romantic world and does not realize what kind of tragicomic events are happening around her. In a word, truly a masterpiece.
Not only in Sicily.
sb-47-6087374 January 2019
This is a story, almost similar to what could be seen in any orthodox society, i.e. where casual relationship isn't a too welcome thing, and would ring a bell at many places, not limited to only Sicily. Of course the limits one would go through is different at different places.
The plot is simple - but extremely complex - and thankfully presented in a somewhat light manner.
Agnes (Stefania Sandrelli), a girl, just in her mid-teens (she in real life too just a couple of year older at that time) is seduced by her sister's fiancee, and when the parents guess and then confirm it, to their horror, she is incinta. There is only one way to save family honour, make the seducer to break the engagement to elder sister, and marry the victim. For him too there is a threat otherwise - having relation with a minor would put him behind bar and also naturally spoil his future - the career he is looking at - unless he marries her. Then all the charges get dropped (thankfully this escape route doesn't exist any more). The parents first agree - but then the mother and son has a re-think - about the virginity of the bride (it doesn't matter that the son was cause), and go underground. Traced, there is only one way for the girl's family, and the brother goes with the gun. But the girl manages to escape from her house-arrest and inform the cops' who swing into action and before anything could happen, get the two combatants in safe custody. They are brought to magistrate where the Boy claims innocence averring the girl to have seduced him. However later, the threat becomes clear to them too, and to avoid the gaol, they, with the connivance of the girl's parents arrange an elaborate plan, to kidnap the girl and then marry her (and thereby in eyes of society, it would be alright, and both the honours would be saved). The plan was perfect - only there was a hitch - the girl. She did get kidnapped, being unaware of the plot, unwillingly. But then when they were brought to the magistrate, she went against the wish of all, and refused to marry. The end is a bit hurried, in fact blurred - between the real and her visions in delirium - in which the essence was a bit lost - or may be I couldn't get it, and had to imagine (not too difficult through).
Said to be a comedy, the two major protagonists had been superb, and made an equally serious story from it - Stefania Sandrelli (Agnes) and Saro Urzì (the father). One could empathise with the fate of the girl as well as the strain that the father had to go through, with the family honour going on tatters.
Stefania especially had been excellent - as the victim - who had been accused to be the seducer by the actual perpetrator. Naturally, and she portrayed it, she had lost all her affections for him, and he didn't try enough, or she understood it was just play-acting, to regain it.
Even at the cost of her honour, now everything openly known to the gleeful public - she refused to marry the man. And that where the movie stands shoulders above the fairy-tale endings - where the heroine happily accepts the man who had been treating not only her, but women in general as play-things. The last segment in fact rises much above ordinary - and it is worth looking at the expressions of these two - the father and the daughter - and realise how the circumstances dictate the terms - and I may say - this is what is likely to happen in real life too.
In the whole cast - the weakest link was the girl's brother (Antonio), he seemed to be too girlish - I won't really expect that from someone whose kid sister had been compromised. Aldo Puglisi (as Peppino) was just OK, there wasn't much of remorse in him - but may be the character wasn't supposed to have (which made Agnes fall out of love and reject him).
Beautiful movie- story told in a light manner, but if one goes in the skin, it's not as light as it looks.
Said to be a comedy, the two major protagonists had been superb, and made an equally serious story from it - Stefania Sandrelli (Agnes) and Saro Urzì (the father). One could empathise with the fate of the girl as well as the strain that the father had to go through, with the family honour going on tatters.
Stefania especially had been excellent - as the victim - who had been accused to be the seducer by the actual perpetrator. Naturally, and she portrayed it, she had lost all her affections for him, and he didn't try enough, or she understood it was just play-acting, to regain it.
Even at the cost of her honour, now everything openly known to the gleeful public - she refused to marry the man. And that where the movie stands shoulders above the fairy-tale endings - where the heroine happily accepts the man who had been treating not only her, but women in general as play-things. The last segment in fact rises much above ordinary - and it is worth looking at the expressions of these two - the father and the daughter - and realise how the circumstances dictate the terms - and I may say - this is what is likely to happen in real life too.
In the whole cast - the weakest link was the girl's brother (Antonio), he seemed to be too girlish - I won't really expect that from someone whose kid sister had been compromised. Aldo Puglisi (as Peppino) was just OK, there wasn't much of remorse in him - but may be the character wasn't supposed to have (which made Agnes fall out of love and reject him).
Beautiful movie- story told in a light manner, but if one goes in the skin, it's not as light as it looks.
Hard to beat! Only...a little too long.
andrea-prodan27 August 2021
As an Italian,and a film buff, I can't believe I missed this absolute masterpiece!
It is so joyfully satirical, so bitterly funny, so terribly accurate in it's merciless study of Southern Italian mores...that even an Italian will HAVE to admit that it's not a film catering for foreign audiences (like 90% of such 'genre' films), and instead is a distorted cinematic mirror of Sicilian reality.
Firstly: the Photography! Aiace Parolin is responsible for the most striking black and white visuals we are likely to ever see. On a par with the great Gianni DiVenanzio.
But here everything is superlative. Sets, wardrobe, editing. The music (by veteran master Carlo Rustichelli) is dinamic and Witty... and even anticipates the 'western' themes Morricone later used for Sergio Leone's masterworks.
Actors...ALL OF THEM... are simply perfect. Never unfocused or bland...always razor sharp and present in the fickle twists and turns of the plot.
And so we come to Germi.
If this had been his one and only film, he would be in the gotha of Italy's already superlative heaven (so to speak) of Directors. Above Risi, above Commencini, above Scola even.
Everything is laser-sharp, slick, uncanny in it's intuition and psychology.
I just HAD to give this film 10 out of 10 points.
Putting less would have been, quite frankly, miserly.
It's only fault is, maybe, its length.
The story is tortuous and we... along with poor Agnese (Stefania Sandrelli, GORGEOUS here) ... have to go through all the 'stations of the cross' of Catholic hipocrisy.
Quite honestly, however, when everything is so unbearable you just have to applaud...sit back...and ENJOY!
It is so joyfully satirical, so bitterly funny, so terribly accurate in it's merciless study of Southern Italian mores...that even an Italian will HAVE to admit that it's not a film catering for foreign audiences (like 90% of such 'genre' films), and instead is a distorted cinematic mirror of Sicilian reality.
Firstly: the Photography! Aiace Parolin is responsible for the most striking black and white visuals we are likely to ever see. On a par with the great Gianni DiVenanzio.
But here everything is superlative. Sets, wardrobe, editing. The music (by veteran master Carlo Rustichelli) is dinamic and Witty... and even anticipates the 'western' themes Morricone later used for Sergio Leone's masterworks.
Actors...ALL OF THEM... are simply perfect. Never unfocused or bland...always razor sharp and present in the fickle twists and turns of the plot.
And so we come to Germi.
If this had been his one and only film, he would be in the gotha of Italy's already superlative heaven (so to speak) of Directors. Above Risi, above Commencini, above Scola even.
Everything is laser-sharp, slick, uncanny in it's intuition and psychology.
I just HAD to give this film 10 out of 10 points.
Putting less would have been, quite frankly, miserly.
It's only fault is, maybe, its length.
The story is tortuous and we... along with poor Agnese (Stefania Sandrelli, GORGEOUS here) ... have to go through all the 'stations of the cross' of Catholic hipocrisy.
Quite honestly, however, when everything is so unbearable you just have to applaud...sit back...and ENJOY!
Brilliant
gbill-7487715 March 2021
In one moment, the father of this Sicilian family is with his buddies and computing the number of times a "real man" will ejaculate in his life (once per day between 18 and 60, so that's 42 years * 365 days, he reasons...), and in the next, he's calling his 16-year-old daughter a whore for even the idea that she's been with a man. The 1964 is a landmark film in calling out the double standard, especially when you consider the attitudes shown by real Italians in Pasolini's documentary from the same year, Love Meetings. It goes much further than that though, setting its sights on the shocking law that absolved a rapist of his crime provided he married his victim. In this case it's statutory and the girl has feelings for the fiance of her sister who aggressively came on to her until she gave in, but it's still very dark stuff.
Ironically the young girl is the one who feels guilty, not him, and she's berated by her priest and her father. As someone puts it, "It's a man's right to ask, a woman's duty to refuse," and the fact that she's not a virgin now makes her spoiled and unsuitable even in the eyes of the young man. It's a film that will probably make you pretty angry, and more than once. The father is sensitive in the extreme to what this does to his family's honor, and what the gossiping townspeople will say about them. The images that director Pietro Germi puts up on the screen of their leering, ugly faces, often shot in closeup or sullenly staring at a distance, make this a broader critique of Sicilian culture. Through zany action and humorous moments, he manages to make it feel not heavy though, which was a feat in itself. Great film.
Ironically the young girl is the one who feels guilty, not him, and she's berated by her priest and her father. As someone puts it, "It's a man's right to ask, a woman's duty to refuse," and the fact that she's not a virgin now makes her spoiled and unsuitable even in the eyes of the young man. It's a film that will probably make you pretty angry, and more than once. The father is sensitive in the extreme to what this does to his family's honor, and what the gossiping townspeople will say about them. The images that director Pietro Germi puts up on the screen of their leering, ugly faces, often shot in closeup or sullenly staring at a distance, make this a broader critique of Sicilian culture. Through zany action and humorous moments, he manages to make it feel not heavy though, which was a feat in itself. Great film.
Truly Funny (one of my top comedies)
truemythmedia19 August 2019
The best comedies, this film included, do more than simply crack jokes. They highlight the worst qualities of humanity for the ridiculous things they are and reveal the hidden idiosyncrasies in our assumptions.
The situation presented in the film is the a thing of overwrought dramatic soap operas and reality TV. A 15 year old girl falls for her older sister's finance and gets pregnant. What is unique about the humor in this film is the rest of the family's reactions. The father, Don Vincenzo is incensed, of course and demands that Peppino marry Aganese. To do this however, Vincenzo must chase him down and convince him to marry her and Peppino just doesn't want to marry a girl who might not be faithful since she has already demonstrated that she is susceptible to seduction, even if he was the seducer.
Convincing him might be easier if it wasn't for he fact that Don Vincenzo, while caring very much whether or not his daughter is wed, cares even more that all of this remain on the hush hush. He simply will not have the family name be dragged through the dirt, even if he has to lie, cheat, steal, or murder, to keep people from thinking the family is a bunch of degenerates.
This tug of war between people's conflicting desires is what makes this film so delightfully funny. I have no doubt that this film will join films like "Tampopo" and "Death of Stalin" in my regular rotation of films I enjoy showing people when we are all in the mood for a laugh.
The situation presented in the film is the a thing of overwrought dramatic soap operas and reality TV. A 15 year old girl falls for her older sister's finance and gets pregnant. What is unique about the humor in this film is the rest of the family's reactions. The father, Don Vincenzo is incensed, of course and demands that Peppino marry Aganese. To do this however, Vincenzo must chase him down and convince him to marry her and Peppino just doesn't want to marry a girl who might not be faithful since she has already demonstrated that she is susceptible to seduction, even if he was the seducer.
Convincing him might be easier if it wasn't for he fact that Don Vincenzo, while caring very much whether or not his daughter is wed, cares even more that all of this remain on the hush hush. He simply will not have the family name be dragged through the dirt, even if he has to lie, cheat, steal, or murder, to keep people from thinking the family is a bunch of degenerates.
This tug of war between people's conflicting desires is what makes this film so delightfully funny. I have no doubt that this film will join films like "Tampopo" and "Death of Stalin" in my regular rotation of films I enjoy showing people when we are all in the mood for a laugh.
The title sounds tragic, but overall it is more about the fun
Horst_In_Translation15 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
"Sedotta e abbandonata" or "Seduced and Abandoned" or "A Matter of Honor" is a French/Italian co-production with the focus clearly being on the second as you may have seen from the title already too because this film plays in Sicily and is in the Italian language from beginning to end. The director of this almost 2-hour movie and at the same time one of several writers here is Pietro Germi and this is already from the latter stages of his career, not final stages though. If you take a look at the cast, you will find more actors than expected still alive today because this being a film from way over half a century already means that it is definitely very old and all the young actors in here are in their 70s and 80s now. One who is sadly not alive anymore today is lead actor Saro Urzì, otherwise he would be way past 100. Today he is probably most known for his supporting role in The Godfather from almost a decade after this black-and-white film here, but this one we got here comes right after I suppose. He also won a shared Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival I see and that surprised me a bit as I would not necessarily have thought this is the film and role Cannes would go for. But they did and that was not a bad decision because I think he played his part well and is a definite contender for being heart and soul of the film. But it is not just him, most of the character are fairly memorable here, be it the slightly dim-witted son, who all of a sudden starts speaking very quickly and surprisingly wittily on one occasion in the film's second half, or the character of Peppino who has interest in more than one of Don Vincenzo's daughters. I guess the male characters here are more memorable than the females as honestly even the baron has more to him than the protagonist's wife for example and the baron was honestly a character who brought nothing except entertainment purpose on one or two occasions. Also the older more chubby daughter is relatively forgettable and the only slightly memorable moment is near the end when she still thinks Peppino wants her for whatever reason. There must be something about him because otherwise why would all these ladies go crazy about him. But what is it exactly? Maybe ask the character of Agnese (played by Stefania Sandrelli) and boy did I fall in love with her watching this movie. I watched another film form that era called Divorce Italian Style (with Mastroianni), in which she played a young character that ended up seducing the much older protagonist, so this innocent seductive component seems to be her thing kind of because the description fits here as well. And I mean she was fairly attractive in that film too, but really in this one here she is a perfect 10 out of 10, more like an eleven really.
So it would have been far easier for everybody involved with Peppino taking the path that I would and that I would have expected, namely being eager to marry her from the very beginning. Also an interesting elaboration though. Today if your daughter's fiancé ends up in bed with another daughter of you, you probably would not be very amused at all. Back then, in Sicily with all its traditions, you don't chase the man away violently, but instead you try your best to make sure he marries the daughter whose virginity he took. This really ends up being Don Vincenzo's big challenge from beginning to end and as it goes on, we are well entertained here. This is of course another film from the prime age of Italian comedy, that always included drama as well. There is for example a murder plot, there is a main character dying from respiratory struggles, maybe heart disease too, there is of course a grown-up man sexually abusing a minor, even if it is not against her will and there are other of these more dramatic plot references as well. In the second half at times, it almost feels like a legal drama when we have all the scenes with the prosecutor, who can actually prosecute everybody as everybody is somewhat crooked here really, well except Agnese I suppose. But it is interesting how even she is depicted as somewhat guilty and carrying her own responsibility of how things turned out the way they did. Today, female justice warriors would be all up in arms if the character had been written like that today. But back then, not so much and honestly less political correctness is a very good thing in this case. There are other moments like the main character constantly slapping people around him almost Three Stooges style at times. And yes this also involves his daughter(s). Despite these acts of violence, he is depicted as a caring father for whom there is nothing more important really than honor. The concept of honor in this film here is also one of the more dramatic aspects. Sadly, this was one area that did not work really too well for me. You can see from my rating that I am not as convinced by the film as a whole as I am by Agnese's beauty and I will give you some specific moments that felt a bit weak to me. Early on, this would include how the father realizes who is the one that slept with his younger daughter. I think it was a bit far-fetched really that he found out so easily out of nowhere. The kidnapping scene also did not do a whole lot for me near the end. I know it is tradition and also hadto do with the concept of honor again, but somehow I was not buying it. And there were probably 2 or 3 other scenes I would have preferred to be left out (also the death near the end that honestly came out of nowhere), but that is entirely subjective perception I suppose. Luckily, the very entertaining scenes are more frequent in total. I cannot deny I enjoyed this film more as a comedy than as a drama and I think that is also what Germi wanted it to be seen for the most part. For example the scenes with the cousin who gets the murder plan going only are always fun. Or my very favorite scene and moment is probably when the main character arrives at Peppino's home to confront him about what he did. Man that was hilarious, already starting with him so delicately eating the pasta and we knew moments later hell would break loose. After initial struggles with the brother character in the second half, I also warmed up to him and found his simplicity pretty funny. Or how Agnese has to speak through that tube to be heard. Or the reenactment scene with Agnese being the one who does the seducing. Again here, this is subjective perception all in all. Maybe you will wonder why I picked exactly these scenes here and you will like others a lot more, but that is perfectly fine. The only thing that would surprise me is if you said none of these scenes did it for you at all because I think in general looking at the rating here on imdb and also what critics say people love this film even more than I did. I would not say it was a great watch in its entirety or one of the best films of 1964, but it has some truly great scenes that eventually make this a pretty good watch and there is no hesitation for me in giving this one a thumbs-up and positive recommendation. I think you should watch this one and if you are as lucky as myself and get a chance to see this on the big screen, then I say go for it. It is definitely worth the entrance fee, Sanndrelli's beauty alone is. I know I know I am repeating myself, but trust me I am not exaggerating. If you are into brunettes, that is.
So it would have been far easier for everybody involved with Peppino taking the path that I would and that I would have expected, namely being eager to marry her from the very beginning. Also an interesting elaboration though. Today if your daughter's fiancé ends up in bed with another daughter of you, you probably would not be very amused at all. Back then, in Sicily with all its traditions, you don't chase the man away violently, but instead you try your best to make sure he marries the daughter whose virginity he took. This really ends up being Don Vincenzo's big challenge from beginning to end and as it goes on, we are well entertained here. This is of course another film from the prime age of Italian comedy, that always included drama as well. There is for example a murder plot, there is a main character dying from respiratory struggles, maybe heart disease too, there is of course a grown-up man sexually abusing a minor, even if it is not against her will and there are other of these more dramatic plot references as well. In the second half at times, it almost feels like a legal drama when we have all the scenes with the prosecutor, who can actually prosecute everybody as everybody is somewhat crooked here really, well except Agnese I suppose. But it is interesting how even she is depicted as somewhat guilty and carrying her own responsibility of how things turned out the way they did. Today, female justice warriors would be all up in arms if the character had been written like that today. But back then, not so much and honestly less political correctness is a very good thing in this case. There are other moments like the main character constantly slapping people around him almost Three Stooges style at times. And yes this also involves his daughter(s). Despite these acts of violence, he is depicted as a caring father for whom there is nothing more important really than honor. The concept of honor in this film here is also one of the more dramatic aspects. Sadly, this was one area that did not work really too well for me. You can see from my rating that I am not as convinced by the film as a whole as I am by Agnese's beauty and I will give you some specific moments that felt a bit weak to me. Early on, this would include how the father realizes who is the one that slept with his younger daughter. I think it was a bit far-fetched really that he found out so easily out of nowhere. The kidnapping scene also did not do a whole lot for me near the end. I know it is tradition and also hadto do with the concept of honor again, but somehow I was not buying it. And there were probably 2 or 3 other scenes I would have preferred to be left out (also the death near the end that honestly came out of nowhere), but that is entirely subjective perception I suppose. Luckily, the very entertaining scenes are more frequent in total. I cannot deny I enjoyed this film more as a comedy than as a drama and I think that is also what Germi wanted it to be seen for the most part. For example the scenes with the cousin who gets the murder plan going only are always fun. Or my very favorite scene and moment is probably when the main character arrives at Peppino's home to confront him about what he did. Man that was hilarious, already starting with him so delicately eating the pasta and we knew moments later hell would break loose. After initial struggles with the brother character in the second half, I also warmed up to him and found his simplicity pretty funny. Or how Agnese has to speak through that tube to be heard. Or the reenactment scene with Agnese being the one who does the seducing. Again here, this is subjective perception all in all. Maybe you will wonder why I picked exactly these scenes here and you will like others a lot more, but that is perfectly fine. The only thing that would surprise me is if you said none of these scenes did it for you at all because I think in general looking at the rating here on imdb and also what critics say people love this film even more than I did. I would not say it was a great watch in its entirety or one of the best films of 1964, but it has some truly great scenes that eventually make this a pretty good watch and there is no hesitation for me in giving this one a thumbs-up and positive recommendation. I think you should watch this one and if you are as lucky as myself and get a chance to see this on the big screen, then I say go for it. It is definitely worth the entrance fee, Sanndrelli's beauty alone is. I know I know I am repeating myself, but trust me I am not exaggerating. If you are into brunettes, that is.
Hilarious and deadly serious at the same time.
gkeith_122 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Agnese. No wonder the wedding ring would not go on her finger. Her fingers were swollen from enlarged tissues due to her pregnancy. Nowadays, Peppino could get her a stretch-band ring, albeit from the discount store, lol. Vincenzo. Reminds one of S. Berlusconi -- rotund, blow-hard, bragging, obnoxious, thinks he is handsome and charming. Baron. Goofy, bad hair and teeth, stupid, broke, bungles his own hanging several times. Matilde. Cutting off hair to marry Mother Church. Any normal mother would like their daughters to have nice hairstyles, but of course with Mother Church the hair 'i capelli' had to be hidden behind those heavy veils.
Women in black. Mourning forever? Mourning that they had no rights nor respect? Vincenzo in white 'bianco', perfect for hot summer days, but mamas in 'nero' would surely swelter in the sun. Vincenzo swaggering and leader of the pack, while traditional women have to be victims, have no birth control, and spend their lives in those days washing clothes by hand outside and hanging them up on the line to dry. Women home-caretakers; men spewing out sex and violence and mafia-esque orders to kill enemies and those who mess with stupid oldtime dumb honor codes.
Divorce I think became legal later in Italy than in the time frame of this film. Of course, Mother Church was not happy. Birth control may be readily available now there, too, so today's Agneses would not have to be bothered by 'getting knocked up' especially by someone else's main squeeze. Mother Church always wanted more parishioners, for moolah to be put into those coffers. Birth control cuts the number of churchgoers way down.
Did the nuns sell Matilde's hair for more cash to put in those coffers?
Women in black. Mourning forever? Mourning that they had no rights nor respect? Vincenzo in white 'bianco', perfect for hot summer days, but mamas in 'nero' would surely swelter in the sun. Vincenzo swaggering and leader of the pack, while traditional women have to be victims, have no birth control, and spend their lives in those days washing clothes by hand outside and hanging them up on the line to dry. Women home-caretakers; men spewing out sex and violence and mafia-esque orders to kill enemies and those who mess with stupid oldtime dumb honor codes.
Divorce I think became legal later in Italy than in the time frame of this film. Of course, Mother Church was not happy. Birth control may be readily available now there, too, so today's Agneses would not have to be bothered by 'getting knocked up' especially by someone else's main squeeze. Mother Church always wanted more parishioners, for moolah to be put into those coffers. Birth control cuts the number of churchgoers way down.
Did the nuns sell Matilde's hair for more cash to put in those coffers?
Family and Honor
boblipton16 June 2020
Fifteen-year-old Stefania Sandrelli is seduced by her sister's fiance, and all hell breaks loose..... for her.
Pietro Germi's satire of Sicilian sex , mores and family honor, like his better remembered DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE is one that will make people gape at its view of a hypocritical society, and people who are so much a part of it, that they don't notice the irony. Saro Urzì gives a performance beautifully balanced between bewildered tragedy and blustering comedy. Everyone except Sandrelli is reduced to a stooge as he wanders are, shouting, pleading and bribing.
For some reason, this movie did not do well in southern Italy. The law that permitted seducers and kidnappers to escape prison by marrying their victims was abolished in 1981.
Pietro Germi's satire of Sicilian sex , mores and family honor, like his better remembered DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE is one that will make people gape at its view of a hypocritical society, and people who are so much a part of it, that they don't notice the irony. Saro Urzì gives a performance beautifully balanced between bewildered tragedy and blustering comedy. Everyone except Sandrelli is reduced to a stooge as he wanders are, shouting, pleading and bribing.
For some reason, this movie did not do well in southern Italy. The law that permitted seducers and kidnappers to escape prison by marrying their victims was abolished in 1981.
Excellent Germi film
EdgarST2 May 2024
If you liked "Divorzio all'italiana" you will probably enjoy this comedy as well, but there are a few of us who rate this one higher than Pietro Germi's 1961 film: perhaps it is because this time Germi (and clever screenwriters Age & Scarpelli) painted a vivid fresco of a Sicilian town, and the fight for "honor" reaches a powerful combination of personal drama, lunacy and irony. With an outstanding performance by Saro Urzì as the seduced girl's father, the tale unfolds with impetus and involves girls in heat, selfish consorts, corrupt politicians, ruined aristocrats, and an entire moralistic town responsible for the tragicomedy. An outstanding comedy that tells many dramatic truths.
Awesome movie.
VaykokTimur7 January 2018
Awesome movie. Actors play perfectly, and the songs are just super.
I was looking for original lyrics "L'onuri Di L'ascaluni - Sedotta e Abbandonata", but, unfortunately, I did not find them.
Who can put them in the review?
civilian life in small Italian towns
g-8962221 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
1964 black and white, shades of light, layered shots of civilian life in small Italian towns.
Read the dignity is more important than the life of the father, was sister fiance temptation of underage girls, crafty lure of weakness of man, slow is easy to fall in love's sister, who lost the baron, sharp-eyed judges, the sheriff of the accident, and police department clerks, familiar with the terms of the lawyer, I even like rock carving out the group portrait pose town residents, It was a marriage farce.
At the time, Italian rules stipulated that if a man raped a girl, he must go to prison, but if he married her, he would not be imprisoned. The existence of this provision is stupid and outdated. But what is more important is not the existence of the clause, but the willingness of most women to accept such marriages.
A man has the right to ask, a woman the duty to refuse. But she didn't say no, so she's a bitch.
Read the dignity is more important than the life of the father, was sister fiance temptation of underage girls, crafty lure of weakness of man, slow is easy to fall in love's sister, who lost the baron, sharp-eyed judges, the sheriff of the accident, and police department clerks, familiar with the terms of the lawyer, I even like rock carving out the group portrait pose town residents, It was a marriage farce.
At the time, Italian rules stipulated that if a man raped a girl, he must go to prison, but if he married her, he would not be imprisoned. The existence of this provision is stupid and outdated. But what is more important is not the existence of the clause, but the willingness of most women to accept such marriages.
A man has the right to ask, a woman the duty to refuse. But she didn't say no, so she's a bitch.
Biting black comedy Italian Style
gortx20 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Pietro Germi's follow-up to DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE is an acrid black comedy that exposes archaic laws and social norms in Sicily. Saro Urzi plays Don Vincenzo who will stop at nothing when he finds out that his underage daughter Agnese (Stefania Sandrelli) has had her virtue taken by a local scamp, Peppino (Aldo Puglisi).At first, the 'shotgun wedding' solution appears to be an easy out for all involved, but, Germi and his writers keep the twists and events escalating in a boiling stew of dark humor. Just about every character has an angle or an input on the situation. Lawyers, police, scheming relatives, a gap-toothed destitute Baron all get entangled, but the Patriarch, Don Vincenzo, is always at the center.
Don Vincenzo, a local businessman, is above else interested in maintaining his good family name - more so, in fact, than the welfare of his own daughter. Kill Peppino or make him Marry Agnese? Same difference.
If SEDUCED & ABANDONED was a straight drama it would be a harsh pill to take. Fortunately, Germi and cast make it a highly enjoyable romp (although one needs a very sardonic view to fully appreciate it). Urzi is superb as the bombastic Don Vincenzo. He had a long career including stints in THE GODFATHER and Joseph Losey's MODESTY BLASE. Sandrelli (still active!) was only 18 at the time, but, she's become one of the Grande Dames of Italian cinema with THE CONFORMIST, 1900 and THE LAST KISS.
The final bitter irony is that the misogynistic laws that SEDUCED makes its target, lasted for almost another 20 years on the books (the film also includes a choice prescient epitaph of its own). So much for the sexual revolution.
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