User reviews

A beautiful sixteen year old girl is seduced by her older sister's fiancée, a conniving would-be bureaucrat. How far will the tradition-bound paterfamilias go to restore the family's lost honor? Well, if you're writer/director Pietro Germi, the answer is pretty darn far—including perjury, kidnapping, murder, and bribing an eccentric baron with a new set of false teeth. Rarely has male hypocrisy and sexual double standards been so thoroughly lampooned. The film walks a fine line between comedy and tragedy, as the more and more traumatized sixteen year old girl is passed back and forth like damaged goods. Shot in beautiful black and white, on location. If you liked MAFIOSO, last year's great Italian rediscovery, you'll like this.

Granted, it's not as polished or swanky as "Divorce". No dashing Marcello, no Sophia's curves. Perhaps it dabs in paint too close to that of his more famous predecessor. Yet, what delightful film! The comedy of manners and mores can rarely get any better. And then the cutting, darker, a bit menacing undertones that reveal that fascinating Sicilia of times now lost forever: wow! I love both of Germi's gems but if I could take only one with me it would be "Sedotta e abbandonata". I also marvel at how well Germi, himself un Genovese, understood the very heart and soul of that lovely island off the boot of Italy. Almost perfect: who cares for perfection anyway?

The Italians are masters at laughing at themselves. I wonder if Iraq had developed that kind of self parody the world wouldn't have turned a much different place. I mention Iraq because, based on the tale told in "Seduced and Abandoned", the only difference between Sicily and Iraq is the name of their God. The great Pietro Germi designs a grotesquely comic masterpiece of such ferocity that the line between comedy and tragedy is indeed very thin. As is typical in a Germi film, the cast is uniformly sensational. Here, besides a very young and extraordinary Stefania Sandrelli, there is a superlative performance by Saro Urzi, the head of the family threatened by a devastating scandal. Ignorance and hypocrisy dissected with a refined, elegant hand. Observed with the acute, unsentimental eye of an outsider and yet, Pietro Germi, was an Italian who looked with affectionate horror at the cultural ties that kept his Country trailing behind the rest of the western world. Not to be missed.

The late Pietro Germi was one of the most gifted comic directors of the post-50s period. He is the man behind such wonderful movies like DIVORCE, ITALIAN STYLE; ALFREDO ALFREDO; SERAFINO; THE CLIMAX; THE BIRDS, THE BEES, AND THE ITALIANS. This hilarious movie, which may be his very best, is a loving yet deadly satire of Sicilian customs. The dejected heroine Agnese (played by Stefania Sandrelli) is seduced by her sister's fiance while she is chaperoning her snoozing sister during the sultry Sicilian siesta hours. She becomes pregnant and must succumb to a shotgun marriage demanded by her father. Problem: Sicilian seducers do not accept unchaste wives. It does not matter that HE seduced the girl. He has his honor. The father has honor too. This corpulent apoplectic domestic tyrant must also protect his family's "onore". For Verdi's Falstaff honor is a mere word. For this proud Sicilian father it is the foundation of our lives. Saro Urzi's performance as the father must be seen to be believed. Everyone else in the cast of this brilliant film is unforgettable as well. Carlo Rustichelli's musical score, like the one he provided for DIVORCE,ITALIAN STYLE is fabulous.

Pietro Germi is probably my favorite director of commedia all'italiana films, but to understand him, we have to understand commedia all'italiana, and to do that, we have to examine its roots, which lie in the Italian neorealist movement.

Italian neorealism was forged out of the ashes of World War II. After suffering Mussolini's dictatorship and Italian Fascism, followed by Nazi occupation, followed by American occupation, Italy's identity as a nation had been decimated. The new identity it would build in the postwar years would be defined in every way by the war. In cinema, directors began shooting low-budget, inexpensive films with a realistic aesthetic. This was, on one hand, a product of necessity, due to the economic impact of the war, and, on the other hand, it was an artistic choice, since the neorealists believed in a cinema that echoed reality, which meant natural lighting, nonprofessional actors, and on-location shooting. In terms of the films' content, they often featured a deep sympathy with the working class, which was the hallmark of the Marxist school of thought that was quickly beginning to dominate Italian cinema. Having recently seen the other end of the political spectrum (i.e. fascism) up close and personal, the shift leftward to communism was virtually inevitable. The other notable aspect of these neorealist films is their highly melancholic tone and grim portraits of human despair. This, too, of course, was a result of the horrors seen during the war.

Time heals all wounds, however, and by the mid-'50s, Italians were ready to wake from their doldrums and shake off the depression that had marked the years immediately following the war. Italian cinema would have to adapt. For a nation that was finally ready to laugh again, the influx of comedy into Italian films was only natural. And so the '50s saw the rise of a very unique brand of comedy that would come to be called commedia all'italiana ("comedy Italian style", borrowing its name from Germi's own 1961 film, "Divorce Italian Style").

Italian cinema now had the money and the motivation to make more commercial, more traditionally entertaining films, and while the neorealist mode of filmmaking had largely vanished by the mid-'50s, it survived through commedia all'italiana, which can best be described as an amalgam of the social realism that dominated the neorealist movement and a more conventional comedy. Commedia all'italiana, in a way, can be seen as half comedy, half neorealism, and while infusing neorealism with comedy may not sound like a good mixture, this blend of styles actually created some of the most enjoyable films in Italian cinematic history.

The directors who made films during the era of commedia all'italiana, for the most part, had apprenticed under the neorealists, and as a result much of the neorealist approach permeated their films. While the films they made were certainly comedies, they retained a poignancy, and an element of pathos, that was characteristic of Italian neorealism, and which transcended the conventions of comedic filmmaking. These filmmakers, like many of the neorealists before them, were largely communists, although it's been suggested that many only joined the party in an effort to further their careers.

And this, at last, brings us to Germi. Unlike fellow commedia all'italiana filmmaker Mario Monicelli, who was a committed, lifelong communist, Germi considered himself a social democrat. In other words, he believed in social equality, as did the left, but refused to subscribe to any specific political ideology. Germi and Monicelli both delivered indictments of society in their films, but unlike Monicelli's films, which operate on a sympathy with the working class, Germi's films are an attack on traditional, conservative values in Italian culture, specifically in the south.

While Monicelli's films tend to take place in Rome or northern cities like Turin, the films I've seen by Germi are set in Sicily, where conservative values regarding female chastity and familial honor were, certainly at the time of the film's release, at a maximum. Germi's films seem to revolve around individuals who are compelled toward unscrupulous choices and ultimately cast into a state of chaos by the rigid values of the society they live in. In "Divorce Italian Style", the protagonist lives in a Sicilian society that will not allow him to divorce (not without losing his honor and shaming himself as a cuckold), and so the only course of action left to him is to murder his wife (a comic premise, of course). In "Seduced and Abandoned", the patriarchal head of a family goes to absurd lengths to try to preserve his family's good name by covering up the corruption of his daughter's virtue at any and all costs.

In both films, we have a scenario in which completely normal, or at least non-calamitous events (the failure of a marriage, consensual sex between a fairly young man and a girl on the verge of adulthood) are elevated to a state of complete catastrophe by what Germi sees as society's ridiculous values and mores. "Seduced and Abandoned" is a scathing assault on these kinds of social mores, and despite Germi's refusal to engage a specific political doctrine, it is very much a political film. What makes it so successful, like "Divorce Italian Style", is the way Germi is able to execute his films in such a way as to make them enjoyable on two levels: as a meaningful reflection on the flaws and shortcomings of Italian society, and as pure, lighthearted, comedic entertainment. As the viewer, we have the prerogative of choosing which level to absorb. I recommend both.

RATING: 8.33 out of 10 stars

In Sicily, the fifteen year-old Agnese Ascalone (Stefania Sandrelli) is seduced by the youngster Peppino Califano (Aldo Puglisi), who is the fiancé of her older sister Matilde (Paola Biggio). When her father, Don Vincenzo Ascalone (Saro Urzì), discovers that Agnese is not pure anymore and is pregnant of Peppino, he visits his parents to arrange the marriage between Peppino and Agnese. Further, he makes arrangement with the decadent Baron Rizieri Zappalà (Leopoldo Trieste) to be Matilde's new fiancé. But Peppino refuses to marry Agnese and flees to a hideout in a convent. Don Ascalone seeks out his cousin that is a lawyer and they plot a scheme to kill Peppino. Don Ascalone sends his stupid son Antonio Ascalone (Lando Buzzanca) to gun down Peppino, but Agnese leaves home and tells the Police Chief Polenza (Oreste Palella) that Peppino will be murdered because she had been seduced by him. Now Peppino must marry Agnese otherwise he will go to prison. But Agnese does not want to marry him anymore.

"Sedotta e Abbandonata", a.k.a. "Seduced and Abandoned", is a tragicomic comedy about honor and family in Sicily. The Sicilians probably do not like this bitter movie since the story shows a hypocrite and retrograde society in the 60's, with gossipers and people interested in keep up appearances despite the feelings of the next of kin. Unfortunately the conclusion is quite disappointing. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Seduzida & Abandonada" ("Seduced and Abandoned")

In one moment, the father of this Sicilian family is with his buddies and computing the number of times a "real man" will ejaculate in his life (once per day between 18 and 60, so that's 42 years * 365 days, he reasons...), and in the next, he's calling his 16-year-old daughter a whore for even the idea that she's been with a man. The 1964 is a landmark film in calling out the double standard, especially when you consider the attitudes shown by real Italians in Pasolini's documentary from the same year, Love Meetings. It goes much further than that though, setting its sights on the shocking law that absolved a rapist of his crime provided he married his victim. In this case it's statutory and the girl has feelings for the fiance of her sister who aggressively came on to her until she gave in, but it's still very dark stuff.

Ironically the young girl is the one who feels guilty, not him, and she's berated by her priest and her father. As someone puts it, "It's a man's right to ask, a woman's duty to refuse," and the fact that she's not a virgin now makes her spoiled and unsuitable even in the eyes of the young man. It's a film that will probably make you pretty angry, and more than once. The father is sensitive in the extreme to what this does to his family's honor, and what the gossiping townspeople will say about them. The images that director Pietro Germi puts up on the screen of their leering, ugly faces, often shot in closeup or sullenly staring at a distance, make this a broader critique of Sicilian culture. Through zany action and humorous moments, he manages to make it feel not heavy though, which was a feat in itself. Great film.

Criterion Collection was generous enough to introduce me to Germi's works, first starting with Divorce, Italian Style. It was only natural that I followed up with Seduced and Abandoned, since I was blown away by Divorced, and had a newfound love of contemporary European cinema, especially from French and Italian filmmakers. I know it's relatively simple to find out about little gems of work from foreign directors (using IMDb, for example), but I'm grateful for a company like Criterion to steer me in the direction of fantastic films and the visionaries that create them. Saves me a lot of time and effort, haha.

Now, I'm just some random nobody in his early 20's, born and raised on the prairie of Western Canada. In a sense, I may not be as "culturally perceptive" as someone hailing from a direct Old-World European background. But to discover a film such as Seduced and Abandoned, it was a guaranteed shock to see the enormity of differences between the values, traditions, and customs of Sicily compared to what I grew up in, astonishing since these worlds are separated only by a couple generations! Then again, forced marriage might be as frowned upon nowadays as if someone from that era might look into the future and see the overwhelming divorce rate of ours! It's really a subjectivity of time, where a brilliant, neorealist director, not unlike Germi, of our time will be able to capture a kind of absurdity in the way we deal with (or possibly lack thereof) now common principles and practices, such as infidelity, polygamy, same-sex unions, etc.

I'm rambling. Seduced was a depressingly good movie. Sardonic and whimsical at the same time, this one had the ability to leave a bittersweet taste with me afterward, to not dismiss the ideals held in Sicilian culture a couple generations ago, but to ponder them, to compare them to the beliefs and mores of our generation.

Sandrelli was phenomenal, as always. And I'm glad Germi cast Saro Urzi as the father instead of some North American counterpart, like Borgnine... Added to a certain authenticity that I wouldn't find if that'd been the case.

Lando Buzzanca as Antonio, and Leopoldo Triste as the Baron were amazing as the kind of actors that kept the comedic ball rolling in this type of film; although Seduced is known as a key player in the Comedia d'all Italiano, without these laugh-out-loud performances, the film would be a depressing portrayal of old Italian values and nothing but.

I look forward to the day when a company like Criterion will release more of Pietro Germi's film works (undoubtedly his 1950's dramatic working class oeuvre), to an international audience...

Until then.

It is so rare to watch a funny masterpiece with so many insights! Sicily in the 50's appears obsessed with a twisted concept of honor, or, better, of an impeccable APPARENT reputation. No other movie I have seen is able to give such a vivid idea of the double morality for men and women that ails the "cultura machista". The character I love most in the movie is the extremely naive sister of the protagonist, who lives in her romantic world and does not realize what kind of tragicomic events are happening around her. In a word, truly a masterpiece.

As an Italian,and a film buff, I can't believe I missed this absolute masterpiece!

It is so joyfully satirical, so bitterly funny, so terribly accurate in it's merciless study of Southern Italian mores...that even an Italian will HAVE to admit that it's not a film catering for foreign audiences (like 90% of such 'genre' films), and instead is a distorted cinematic mirror of Sicilian reality.

Firstly: the Photography! Aiace Parolin is responsible for the most striking black and white visuals we are likely to ever see. On a par with the great Gianni DiVenanzio.

But here everything is superlative. Sets, wardrobe, editing. The music (by veteran master Carlo Rustichelli) is dinamic and Witty... and even anticipates the 'western' themes Morricone later used for Sergio Leone's masterworks.

Actors...ALL OF THEM... are simply perfect. Never unfocused or bland...always razor sharp and present in the fickle twists and turns of the plot.

And so we come to Germi.

If this had been his one and only film, he would be in the gotha of Italy's already superlative heaven (so to speak) of Directors. Above Risi, above Commencini, above Scola even.

Everything is laser-sharp, slick, uncanny in it's intuition and psychology.

I just HAD to give this film 10 out of 10 points.

Putting less would have been, quite frankly, miserly.

It's only fault is, maybe, its length.

The story is tortuous and we... along with poor Agnese (Stefania Sandrelli, GORGEOUS here) ... have to go through all the 'stations of the cross' of Catholic hipocrisy.

Quite honestly, however, when everything is so unbearable you just have to applaud...sit back...and ENJOY!

This is a story, almost similar to what could be seen in any orthodox society, i.e. where casual relationship isn't a too welcome thing, and would ring a bell at many places, not limited to only Sicily. Of course the limits one would go through is different at different places. The plot is simple - but extremely complex - and thankfully presented in a somewhat light manner. Agnes (Stefania Sandrelli), a girl, just in her mid-teens (she in real life too just a couple of year older at that time) is seduced by her sister's fiancee, and when the parents guess and then confirm it, to their horror, she is incinta. There is only one way to save family honour, make the seducer to break the engagement to elder sister, and marry the victim. For him too there is a threat otherwise - having relation with a minor would put him behind bar and also naturally spoil his future - the career he is looking at - unless he marries her. Then all the charges get dropped (thankfully this escape route doesn't exist any more). The parents first agree - but then the mother and son has a re-think - about the virginity of the bride (it doesn't matter that the son was cause), and go underground. Traced, there is only one way for the girl's family, and the brother goes with the gun. But the girl manages to escape from her house-arrest and inform the cops' who swing into action and before anything could happen, get the two combatants in safe custody. They are brought to magistrate where the Boy claims innocence averring the girl to have seduced him. However later, the threat becomes clear to them too, and to avoid the gaol, they, with the connivance of the girl's parents arrange an elaborate plan, to kidnap the girl and then marry her (and thereby in eyes of society, it would be alright, and both the honours would be saved). The plan was perfect - only there was a hitch - the girl. She did get kidnapped, being unaware of the plot, unwillingly. But then when they were brought to the magistrate, she went against the wish of all, and refused to marry. The end is a bit hurried, in fact blurred - between the real and her visions in delirium - in which the essence was a bit lost - or may be I couldn't get it, and had to imagine (not too difficult through).

Said to be a comedy, the two major protagonists had been superb, and made an equally serious story from it - Stefania Sandrelli (Agnes) and Saro Urzì (the father). One could empathise with the fate of the girl as well as the strain that the father had to go through, with the family honour going on tatters.

Stefania especially had been excellent - as the victim - who had been accused to be the seducer by the actual perpetrator. Naturally, and she portrayed it, she had lost all her affections for him, and he didn't try enough, or she understood it was just play-acting, to regain it.

Even at the cost of her honour, now everything openly known to the gleeful public - she refused to marry the man. And that where the movie stands shoulders above the fairy-tale endings - where the heroine happily accepts the man who had been treating not only her, but women in general as play-things. The last segment in fact rises much above ordinary - and it is worth looking at the expressions of these two - the father and the daughter - and realise how the circumstances dictate the terms - and I may say - this is what is likely to happen in real life too.

In the whole cast - the weakest link was the girl's brother (Antonio), he seemed to be too girlish - I won't really expect that from someone whose kid sister had been compromised. Aldo Puglisi (as Peppino) was just OK, there wasn't much of remorse in him - but may be the character wasn't supposed to have (which made Agnes fall out of love and reject him).

Beautiful movie- story told in a light manner, but if one goes in the skin, it's not as light as it looks.

I don't have the necessary English vocabulary to praise this jewel of a film. But no matter how wide the knowledge of a language can be, one will always fall short when praising this remarkable creation.

Simply amazing: Director (Pietro Germi), actors, camera, script... Perfection, absolute perfection. Every single situation is played with amazing vitality and bubbling gags are practically in every scene in this bittersweet story.

One hopes Sicilians have changed their "morals" from the 1950s to today, because nowadays the conflict depicted here seems unreal and preposterous: A guy (Peppino Califano) refuses to marry the girl (Stefania Sandrelli) (15 going to 16) because, "since she gave in to his sexual advances", now she's considered a "Puttana" and men require to marry virgins, otherwise he'll be the laughing stock in the village (a Cornuto).

The central character of the story is the father of this girl, the "offended" party, and the fireworks displayed by this actor (Saro Urzi) are just out of this world. The beauty of Stefania Sandrelli was also out of this world, as she looks like a Madonna painted by a Rinascimento master.

And she breaks our hearts finding herself in that tremendous conflict that will take her to an inevitable nervous breakdown. Again, women's position in Sicily was very close to total servitude to the dominant male in the family.

Lightweight comedy for a wrenching situation until the very bitter ending. Try watching this impossibly wonderful movie, a gift from the Gods of Cinecittà.

Pietro Germi presents us with his delightfully ironic vision of Sicilian honour and its consequences in that deeply closed society.

Honour is the islander's most precious asset and he will do anything to defend it. Better dead than dishonoured. And the Sicilian, more than anyone else, defends his honour, and that of his family, to the point of ridicule.

These are the aspects wonderfully explored by Germi in this dark, intelligent and hilariously dramatic comedy.

Magnificent performances, with special mention to Saro Urzì, a true Sicilian who knows all about matters of honour for his fellow countrymen, who leads a large and superb cast.

A special mention goes to the beautiful and charismatic Stefania Sandrelli who, at 18 years of age, not only charms the audience with her character Agnese, but also shows a surprising experience, built by someone who start making films at the age of 15, em 1961, and was already on her tenth feature film at the time.

One of the most entertaining and intelligent visions of Sicilian society ever brought to the screen. An unmissable classic.

The best comedies, this film included, do more than simply crack jokes. They highlight the worst qualities of humanity for the ridiculous things they are and reveal the hidden idiosyncrasies in our assumptions.

The situation presented in the film is the a thing of overwrought dramatic soap operas and reality TV. A 15 year old girl falls for her older sister's finance and gets pregnant. What is unique about the humor in this film is the rest of the family's reactions. The father, Don Vincenzo is incensed, of course and demands that Peppino marry Aganese. To do this however, Vincenzo must chase him down and convince him to marry her and Peppino just doesn't want to marry a girl who might not be faithful since she has already demonstrated that she is susceptible to seduction, even if he was the seducer.

Convincing him might be easier if it wasn't for he fact that Don Vincenzo, while caring very much whether or not his daughter is wed, cares even more that all of this remain on the hush hush. He simply will not have the family name be dragged through the dirt, even if he has to lie, cheat, steal, or murder, to keep people from thinking the family is a bunch of degenerates.

This tug of war between people's conflicting desires is what makes this film so delightfully funny. I have no doubt that this film will join films like "Tampopo" and "Death of Stalin" in my regular rotation of films I enjoy showing people when we are all in the mood for a laugh.

Fifteen-year-old Stefania Sandrelli is seduced by her sister's fiance, and all hell breaks loose..... for her.

Pietro Germi's satire of Sicilian sex , mores and family honor, like his better remembered DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE is one that will make people gape at its view of a hypocritical society, and people who are so much a part of it, that they don't notice the irony. Saro Urzì gives a performance beautifully balanced between bewildered tragedy and blustering comedy. Everyone except Sandrelli is reduced to a stooge as he wanders are, shouting, pleading and bribing.

For some reason, this movie did not do well in southern Italy. The law that permitted seducers and kidnappers to escape prison by marrying their victims was abolished in 1981.

If you liked "Divorzio all'italiana" you will probably enjoy this comedy as well, but there are a few of us who rate this one higher than Pietro Germi's 1961 film: perhaps it is because this time Germi (and clever screenwriters Age & Scarpelli) painted a vivid fresco of a Sicilian town, and the fight for "honor" reaches a powerful combination of personal drama, lunacy and irony. With an outstanding performance by Saro Urzì as the seduced girl's father, the tale unfolds with impetus and involves girls in heat, selfish consorts, corrupt politicians, ruined aristocrats, and an entire moralistic town responsible for the tragicomedy. An outstanding comedy that tells many dramatic truths.