It might take an Italian background to appreciate this film. As a non-Italian viewer I found the humour (high farce) rather dull. The film had almost no characterization, a rather muddy plot line and absolutely no emotional interest. I tuned out constantly, and was glad for distractions.The third line of the anthology, about the sexual interest of a group of men in a young girl was particularly uncomfortable, with its pedophile themes, which Germi unpleasantly treated as though only humorous, not at all troubling.The overall perspective was purely male — the women in the film were simply either objects of desire or impediments to desire's fulfillment. I wouldn't bother watching this film again.

This is a merciless exposure of ways of thinking and behaviors that plagued (and maybe plague still) provincial towns. It starts lightly as a comedy centered on the old "cuckhold" theme, but it makes clear from the first minutes that the "Ladies and Gentlemen" of the original title are a bunch of leering gossipers, held together only by affluence, sexual intrigues and pretensions. Then we are made to witness a dream of love and liberation shattered to pieces by social conventions and a lot of pressure (and this is where a character that started comically grows up to tragic size). The last novella is material for courtroom drama - but there are no heroes here and everybody is just as corrupt as everybody else, the victim excepted, so much that we may feel sick on hearing that "justice has triumphed". The director subtly extracts from us laughter, but a laughter that risks becoming a desperate howl.

The Italian Comedy of the Sixties has been internationally recognised as one of the most innovative and original cinema genres produced in that decade. This forgotten movie stands as one of the best examples of such genre. Three stories from the same bunch of middle aged guys from the North of Italy (the nice location is Treviso) are portrayed in this very enjoyable comedy. It is an almost Fellinesque movie, in the sense that it is grotesque, funny and clever at the same time. It mainly is a satire on the human relationships and the hypocrisy of people. Obviously all of this is depicted in a totally hilarious "Italian way". The actresses are simply irresistible (Virna Lisi looks awesome!), the actors very convincing, the story simply too good compared to nowadays scripts, while music, photography and direction are almost perfect. It won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival together with "Un homme une famme". To be rediscovered. a convinced 10/10.

First of all, thumbs up to the restoration of this movie, which happened in 1997/98. Secondly, though, shame on the media who didn't flag this operation as it usually does when a masterpiece movie is finally restored. And this is a masterpiece.Then, there is no real "Rezega", the small town in which this movie is set. This movie was shot in Treviso, the place were I was born and lived for 20 years, and my father can recall the shooting taking place in his youth. This because, like in every other small town in the world, nothing ever happens in Rezega/Treviso, and whatever may happen can't be made public, but should be spread by word of mouth.All sort of things happen: marriage, betrayal, births and deaths, the fabric of every town's life. But decency is more important, and so "si fa ma non si dice" (everybody does it, nobody tells about it) is the law. Great performances from Gastone Moschin, Virna Lisi and Alberto Lionello, very good scriptwriting and magnificent direction by a true master like Pietro Germi make this a pleasure to watch, whether you want to understand provincial Italy or not. Oh, and if you do want to, this movie contains all you need to know about the dynamics that regulate the life of 80% of Italy's population, all those who live in towns of that size: I went to a movie screening a few years ago, and my acquaintances in the cinema were all related by stories similar to those in the movie (mind you, they are just in their 20s!).Go see it, ask for it, let the world know about this great little movie!