Marriage Italian Style (1964)
Beginning the late 50s, Americans were exposed to what was going on in contemporary French and Italian cinema. These movies were so different from the button-down, wholesome fare the Hays Code had been spoon-feeding Americans for decades. These movies were different than the smoke-filled noirs they were used to. These foreign movies didn’t follow stories in a linear way. In fact, story didn’t seem to matter much at all. These movies were sexy in a way that American movie-going audiences had all but forgotten about.
Marcello Mastroianni in La Dolce Vita looked like Cary Grant but without the quips. He didn’t spend an entire movie nervously talking with the romantic lead before finally getting to their sole on-screen kiss at the climax. Mastroianni was the suave horn-dog that anyone who looked and dressed like that would be in real life.
Marriage Italian Style is not La Dolce Vita or 8 ½. It’s not Divorce Italian Style, despite their similar name. But like them, it does star Mastroianni. Unlike them, it was shot in gorgeous Technicolor. It follows the story in a thematic way instead of linear, changing perspective once so that viewers can know the full scope of Domenico (Mastroianni) and Filumena’s (Sophia Loren) relationship.
It’s the color that sets this farce apart: The rich tans, subtle off-whites, and deep blues of Mastroianni’s suits and that earthen hazel of Loren’s eyes. (Along with, you know, her brightly colored wardrobe.) The previously mentioned iconic films by no means needed color, but it’s a nice touch here in a lesser Italian import. Domenico cuddling with Filumena on the azure blue bleachers in an empty racetrack. Filumena ‘s red polka dot dress as she gets lifted out of the window of a bus. The bright red boutineer juxtaposed against the gray lapel of Domenico’s jacket when he finds out he’s been tricked into marrying Filumena. The color confirms that 60s Italian life looked every bit as sumptuous as we’d suspected.
The 20-year span of the story adds a twist to the fashion in the film. We see three-piece suits get replaced by double-breasted suits only to return as Domenico enters his fifties. You get the sense that he was stylish when he first met her in a brothel, stayed with it in the fifties and then reverted as he got older. True to status norms at the time, “Don” Domenico is always wearing the most fabric (and accessories) of anyone in the room.
Mastroianni was an international sex symbol. His sartorial style is pretty simple to emulate — Marriage Italian Style might be the busiest he’s ever worn with Domenico’s obsession with boutineers and other accoutrements. This movie provides a great template if you want to look sharp as all get out in the summertime. But this blog can only help you dress like him. If you want to look like, act like or be him, you’re on your own.
Sunday 12.03.17 Posted by John Locanthi Newer / Older
Originally published at www.johnlocanthi.com on March 12, 2017.
