EDITOR’S NOTE: The Priest’s Wife was on the CBS Late Movie on February 21 and November 14, 1972 and October 22, 1973.
Directed by the master of commedia all’italiana, Dino Risi (Operazione San Gennaro, Fantasma d’amore), who wrote the script with Ruggero Maccari and Bernardino Zapponi, this film pairs Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni as Valeria Billi and Don Marco. She learns that her boyfriend was already married and shocked by that reveal, tries to kill herself, but not before running that man off the road, beating him and smashing his car. Ending up in the hospital after calling a Help Line and speaking to Don Marco, he visits her as she recovers. She falls in love with him, but he’s already married to the Roman Catholic church, as he’s a priest.
Sure, Loren and Mastroianni are one of the screen’s most famous couples. Still, even though producer Carlo Ponti did his best to make this work for international audiences with better dubbing than usual, it’s a rough movie to get through. Maybe I am cursed, because when I see Rome, I’m always looking for a masked killer with black gloves. I also didn’t like that Loren is either a strong woman or someone ready to die because a guy leaves her from scene to scene. I preferred the version of her slapping her unfaithful boyfriend into oblivion.
You can watch this on YouTube.
