Pane, burro e marmellata (1977)

Director:

Giorgio Capitani

Writers:

Giorgio Capitani (writer)
Franco Ferrer (writer)

Release Date:

10 November 1977 (Italy)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Bruno Desantis is a popular TV showman but Sofia, his wife, has left him. Bruno is still in love with her and tries to call her...

Plot Keywords:

Food In Title

Cast

Enrico Montesano	...	Bruno De Santis
Rossana Podestà	...	Simona
Claudine Auger	...	Betty
Rita Tushingham	...	Vera De Virdis
Bente Szacinski	...	Sofia, Bruno's wife (as Bente Szacinski Bosco)
Laura Trotter	...	Margherita - Bertelli's wife
Franco Giacobini	...	Simona's Husband
Jacques Herlin	...	Dottor Gaetano Arfè - the psychiatrist
Adolfo Celi	...	Aristide Bertelli
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stefano Amato	...	The Delivery Boy
Paola Arduini
Dino Emanuelli	...	The Butler
Simona Mariani	...	Mariuccia (as Simona Zezza)
Franca Scagnetti	...	Caterina Ciccetti - the servant

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Certification:

West Germany:16 (f)

Company:

Italian International Film

Man (haters) about the house

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Three women meet in a mental institution after each of them tried to kill or maim their respective husbands. Pronounced cured after a year, they decide to move in together. The women are in fact the original Domino from 'Thunderball' (Claudine Auger) as Betty, 'Helen of Troy' herself (Rossana Podestá) as Simone and 'The Girl' from 'Doctor Zhivago' (Rita Tushingham) as Vera. Into their luxurious penthouse bursts their neighbour Bruno (Enrico Montesano), popular host of the "Porta Porta" TV show, who has just been left by his wife and is looking for a working phone. At almost the same time their maid decides to leave and Bruno pleads his case to move in. At first the three women agree on account of having motherly feelings for him, later they become both annoyed by and attracted to the new man in their lives. Each one has her own ideas about seducing him, but Bruno is still hung up about his ex.

Obviously based on a play, with most of the action set in a shag pad that looks great on film (or on stage) but would not be very practical in reality. It has one circular room (with a lowered lounge area in the middle) that connects to the front door and 4 bedrooms. Director Georgio Capitani does his best to open the film up by showing the women out on separate dates with Bruno. An extended farcical sequence takes place in a hotel when the three are meeting the sponsor for their new boutique (a womanizing Adolfo Celi). Bruno tags along to disrupt everything and predictably ends up in drag as a Japanese Geisha.

Eventually all three of them secretly begin an affair with him, with Bruno developing a code to let them know which one he wants to rendezvous each night. The feminist nature of the original play "Les Bonshommes" by Froncoise Dorins obviously had to make way for a more masculine point of view for a version starring the popular Enrico Montesano. In typical theatrical fashion Betty, Simone and Vera eventually find out about Bruno's deception and decide to punish him the way it will hurt him most. But in true sit-com style, this comedy ends with a 'here-we-go-again-tag'.

6 out of 10