There is something of the volcanic about this darkly comedic assessment of the hypocrisies of provincial life and double standards in Italy in the 1960s. It all starts when the fifteen year old “Agnese” (Stefanie Sandrelli) is seduced by “Peppino” (Aldo Puglisi) whilst her mother and sister - his own fiancée “Matilde” (Paola Biggio), and their afternoon nap. Next thing, she is expecting a baby and her livid father “Don Vincenzo” (Saro Urzi) demands that he do the right thing by his younger daughter. Disgraced and in some peril, “Peppino” does a bunk and flees the scene, but how far can he get with her brother “Antonio” (Lando Buzzanca) on his trail with an unpleasant ultimatum to deliver. At the end of her own tether by constantly being locked in her room and treated appallingly by her father, “Agnese” decides that confession to the church is not the answer. Confession to the police and a court hearing, however, might be! There are multiple strands to this comedy, some of them just out and out bawdy (a mere 15,000 ejaculations in an entire lifetime?) through to far more satiric criticism of attitudes, convention and even a law that could legitimise rape if the victim and the criminal agreed to marry afterwards! We see a most unfair perspective from a guilt-ridden girl whose conscience is troubled, whose support network is made of sugar and whose faith is also tested by a church that all too eagerly considers her an whore. Sometimes comedy is the best conduit for taking an objective look at the contemptible, and on that score Puglisi’s depiction of the letch and Urzi’s on the aggrieved father who cares more about the “honour” and reputation of his family that he does about the welfare of his younger daughter or, indeed, his older one who was so shamelessly cheated upon. He is left with tarnished goods, and that just is not acceptable. Can peace break out? Well, I found the conclusion a little bit disappointing given all the efforts we have gone to to illustrate the iniquity of these situations, but the rapidly paced fashion in which Pietro Germi presents this, coupled with a Morricone-esque score from Carlo Rustichelli that does raise a smile at times, and we are delivered of an acerbic critique on a mentality of whatever you do, don’t get caught or get pregnant! It’s funny, busy and rife with equivocation - and is well worth a couple of hours.
