Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
In this three-part anthology directed by Vittorio de Sica, Loren and Mastroianni display their acting talents and onscreen magnetism. "Adelina," the first episode, is set in Naples. The pair plays a happy but poor married couple. Adelina earns money selling black market cigarettes. When she gets fined and they can't pay, they discover that a woman can't be taken to prison if she's pregnant or nursing. The couple decide there's only one thing to do -- a neverending series of pregnancies. But her husband is not up to the task after years of baby-making. When she doesn't become pregnant their lives turn upside down.
The second episode, "Anna," is set in Milan. Loren plays a wealthy woman cheating on her husband with a writer played by Mastroianni. The two decide to take a day trip but when he crashes her car he learns her true feelings about him.
Finally, in the third episide called "Mara," set in Rome, Loren plays a prostitute with Mastroianni as one of her clients. Next door to Mara lives a young seminary student who becomes bewitched by her and decides to leave the seminary. The boy's grandmother accusing Mara of corrupting him and Mara ends up promising God a week of chastity if the boy returns to the seminary. He does return and, much to Mastroianni's distress, Mara keeps her vow. The famous striptease scene, in which Mastroianni howls like a wild animal, was recreated to hilarious effect by the pair in Robert Altman's Pret-a-Porter (Ready to Wear).
Marriage Italian Style
In this film, also directed by Vittorio de Sica, Mastroianni is a playboy named Domenico and Loren is a former prostitute named Filumena. For years, since they met in 1943 in a Neopolitan brothel, she has run his house, bar, and pastry shop. When she discovers that he is about to marry another woman, she pretends to be dying so that he will marry her and save her soul from mortal sin.
He discovers that he has been duped and gets the marriage annulled. She comes up with another plan, however, telling him that she wants her three sons to be legitimate and that one of them is his. He demands to know which one is his and becomes crazy as he tries every means of finding the truth. They have an emotional fight which ends in lovemaking and him realizing that he really loves her. They are married but she never reveals which child is his.
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