MovieChat Forums > Divorzio all'italiana (1962) Discussion > Portrayal of Women

Portrayal of Women

posted 18 years ago by Lilbitdramatic23
23 replies | jump to latest

I saw this film for the first time last week, and I find that I can't stop thinking about it. I had a wonderful time watching it. It was incredibly funny, Marcello was fantastic (of course), and it had a social message. The only thing that had been bothering me was the portrayal of women in the film. By reducing them to charicatures and making the wife particularly annoying, it seemed to be condemning the divorce laws, ideas of masculinity, etc. alone, while siding with the males' horribly shallow view of women. I had heard of this film being hailed as a feminist film ahead of its time. Naturally, things didn't seem to fit.

After thinking about the film more, though, I've begun to think that the stereotypical depictions of women reinforce the audience's ultimate condemnation of the lead character. Though we laugh at him and even hope he succeeds, we know that he is not a good person. If we are seeing the female characters from his perspective, and he sees them as flat, shallow objects, then that is just another example of what an ignorant, selfish person he is. (Wow, I think I may have just used the highest number of commas that can be used in one sentence.)

What does everyone else think?

[–] overseer-3 18 years ago

I'm pretty conservative but I cannot help having some sympathy with the scoundrel. Any human being would go mad living with a woman like his wife in this picture, and any male of heterosexual bent would go crazy over the young girl, she was totally gorgeous, if the slightest bit trampy underneath that initial madonna presentation. :)

And yes there are annoying, clinging women like the wife in real life and feminism doesn't have anything to do with that. Even if she had shaved off her moustache those annoying mannerisms she had would drive anyone to distraction.

I think the filmmaker's main intent was to showcase how stupid that law was in Sicily that prevented divorce; the only way you could dump your wife was to kill her in a crime of passion if she betrayed you? Archaic! That was the law at the time the film was made but thankfully the law changed, and I'll bet this film had something to do with that!

[–] artihcus022 18 years ago

Well the thing is that it's not an out-and-out feminist film with a capital 'F'. But it is progressive.

The thing is both Fefe and his wife are in a marriage where none love each other and basically trapped in a compromise. She didn't get to marry her lover while he wanted Angela. The key is to see how they deal with it.

Rather than do something as ridiculous as Fefe's plan she simply leaves him, that house was holding her back, she didn't have children and whatnot. That is she had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Fefe on the other hand is trapped in this bizarre social ritual which he detests but nontheless continues simply because he's part of that stupid family of his. If he wanted he and Angela could simply have run away like she did with that painter. And he actually didn't have much to loose. The family has little money, little social standing outside the town and so on and it would have been liberating for him.

How much is a good nights sleep worth?

[–] thomas-jorgensen 17 years ago

I think every character in the film is presented almost as a stereotype: the lazy, southern nobility, the crafty mafiosi, the northern italian communist that wants a democratic debate, the political priest. This just adds to the comedy - you don't need to see many scenes with the priest in order to find it funny when he tries to make the congregation vote for the christian democrats. Just like we don't need to know much about Calogero to understand his reactions to the diary and the letter.
There is no gender bias here.

[–] zxtrueb 16 years ago

How much is a good nights sleep worth?

It's worth more than X*E*S... :-))))

[–] monsterflick 17 years ago

What? They can't create an annoying female character because viewers might think ALL women are annoying? Gee, maybe they should just stop making movies altogether. Or, better yet, maybe you should stop watching them.

[–] Jane_Doe01 17 years ago

^Agreed, posts like the above are so f-cking tiresome.
As if the men were exactly portrayed in such a glorious manner. The poster is probably just another product of Women's Studies indoctrination, which teaches essentially that women are perpetual victims of life.

[–] Box5Red5 17 years ago

"The poster is probably just another product of Women's Studies indoctrination, which teaches essentially that women are perpetual victims of life."

Hahahaha. Honey, that's what CNN teaches, not Women's Studies. Maybe you should look into transnational feminism... or pretty much any kind of feminist theory post plight-of-the-housewife era.

Nor do I think that the original post is tiresome... though I don't particularly agree with it, especially since the "hero" is such a sleezy stereotype himself.

I think films (and books) are really interesting when you are meant to sympathize with the antihero (Lolita, Crime and Punishment...), and this is one of the first movies that I've seen that portrays a story like this through the comedy genre. That's probably what makes it a little more complicated than straight-up caricature-humor.

[–] Lilbitdramatic23 17 years ago

I didn't intend for my post to seem trite and tiresome. I simply found it odd that this film is so often hailed as a feminist film, when, on first viewing, I found it to be a great film, but not quite what I was expecting. I watched the movie for the second time last night, and I realized that much of the feminist talk about the picture was probably due to the character Angela.

[–] vanityfair_713 17 years ago

Amen.

hasn't anyone ever told you that smoking was bad for you?

no..no one..THANK YOU.

[–] starburst1031 17 years ago

whats your signature from?

[–] vanityfair_713 17 years ago

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

He said it's all in your head, and I said, so's everything--
But he didnt get it.

[–] Jane_Doe01 17 years ago

CNN? What the heck are you on about? And if you disagree with my statement pertaining to the mission of Women's studies courses, then you obviously don't know much about them.
Thanks but no thanks on the recommendations. I already long ago established my total lack of use for feminism whether of the "victim" variety or otherwise. Any ideology that can't maintain some form of consistently agreeable definition for longer than a couple of years isn't one I'm usually inclined to take too seriously anyway.

[–] Little_Miss_Yappa 16 years ago

Any ideology that can't maintain some form of consistently agreeable definition for longer than a couple of years isn't one I'm usually inclined to take too seriously anyway.

Then I guess you should just live under a rock then, huh? No ideology, not even RELIGION, sticks to things forever. 1) Because these things are ultimately social and therefore tend to change with society and 2) because NOT EVERYONE IN THE MOVEMENTS ARE EXACTLY THE SAME. There will ALWAYS be feminists who disagree with each other. There will ALWAYS be masculinists who disagree with each other. There will ALWAYS be Christians who disagree with each other. Hell, there will always be AMERICANS who disagree with each other. These things aren't etched in stone, and for me and many others, that's part of what makes them so interesting.

If you can't see that, well I'm glad I don't know you in real life.

"That is one badass spider. I hear Samuel L. Jackson is going to play it in the movie"

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] activista 13 years ago

@mynameis pussy

No,you got it wrong--women's studies is just like ANY other class where you learn the particular history of a group of culture---plus I've never heard of anyone getting a degree in it, much less a job,unless they're going to teach it in college. Also, why the hell does anything to do with women get denigrated all the damn time, as if only men do important s*** all the time? As if those Jacka$$ movies are some important contributions to Western civilization? Women have made major contributions to society, too,you know---look them up.I think the hell not! Saw this flick too, and yeah, the laws were sexist as hell and straight out of the Middle Ages--glad to hear they have been gotten rid of.

Also, feminism is just the belief that woman should have equal rights to controlling their own bodies, getting equal pay, and just having rights period. That's all it is--it's not that complicated. Honestly, most of the folks I've read online who criticize the hell out of feminism and socialism usually don't really know about or understand a damn thing about either one,they just spout off what they heard someone on Fox News say about it,which is sad.

And to that other poster--hell yeah, idealogies change all the damn time--only if you live inan isolated part of the world do they not change!

[–] piggoli-imdb 11 years ago

Bookish knowledge much?

The real feminism is all about how to make a man completely emasculated: socially, financially and politically, because hey, for thousands of years, haven't men been the evil tyrants and women their perpetual victims? It is time to turn the tables, or whatever -

http://madamenoire.com/139270/7-ways-to-emasculate-a-man/
http://www.deltabravo.net/cms/plugins/content/content.php?content.232

that's what feminism has done to women and men)

I don't even watch fox news or cnn, so hey, there goes another strawman argument lol.

Evidently the OP expected the movie to portray the man as black and the woman as white, so needless to say she was disappointed and disgusted when the movie showed her that it takes two to make a quarrel.

[–] cinemanewyork 15 years ago

they really went all out with the wife's make-up, implying that it was a bad/ugly look therefore she was undesirable and a nuisance ("why wouldn't you want to leave her?!" it seems to say.) angela is reduced to a sex object. the film has a message but, unfortunately, it went about it in a cheap-shot manner.

i still take it for its artistic merits and take into consideration the dominant culture that spawned it. o well! marcello was funny.

[–] ed-pilling 13 years ago

While I was watching this movie, Rosalia reminded me of a old GF. Now I remember why I left her.

[–] Parker700 12 years ago

If the women were not big asses like the men, the premise wouldn't work. This film was a satire depicting people who are twisted in the extreme, in part bc of the "Church's" extreme opposition to divorce. And yeah we are also seeing it from the protagonist's perspective.

I've also heard the argument The Sopranos was anti feminism bc of it's portrayal of women too but I think Chase is extremely even handed. Those women would be with those men. It would be patronizing to show it otherwise.

The cat's in the bag, and the bag's in the river

[–] freakyfelix 10 years ago

I think it was funny but shouldn't be taken too seriously as political commentary, hard to tell what it's really saying politically. It's just making fun of lots of things.

[–] 10 years ago

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