Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow My Life by Sophia Loren

Author:Sophia Loren
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Retail, Personal Memoir, Movie Star, Actress, Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781476797427
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2014-11-04T05:00:00+00:00

IX

MARRIAGES

MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE

“Dummi’, o’ bello de’ ’e figlie l’avimmo perduto . . . Figlie so’ chille che se teneno ’mbraccia quanno so’ piccirille, ca te danno preoccupazione quanno stanno malate e nun te sanno dicere che se sènteno . . . ca te corrono incontro cu’ ’e braccelle aperte dicenno: ‘Papà.’ ” (Dummì, we’ve missed the beauty of having children . . . it means holding them in your arms when they’re little, it means worrying about them when they’re sick and don’t know how to describe how they feel, it’s when they run toward you with their arms wide open and call you “Papà.”)

Filumena Marturano’s words from Marriage Italian Style reverberate in my ears like sweet music filled with truth while I use my fingers to try to smooth out a creased page of the magazine Oggi, an issue dated April 23, 1964, which announced that shooting of the movie was about to begin. Carlo and De Sica had decided to make a movie out of the comedy Eduardo De Filippo had written for his sister, Titina, a renowned actress who had immortalized the role on stage. Here I was again on the set with Marcello.

Carlo had been thinking about it for a long time, until one day he’d made up his mind, and just tossed the question at me, with carefully studied nonchalance:

“Sophia, could you see yourself as Filumena?”

I shut my eyes; before me was the parted curtain, the lights dimming, the red velvet of an immense seating area . . .

“Filumena? Filumena Marturano?”

Carlo had guessed I might be reluctant, and he looked at me with a smile.

Smiling back at him, I replied: “Do you think I could? I’d really like to . . .”

This simple exchange of words was enough for us to begin one of our happiest adventures.

Marriage Italian Style—the title chosen for Filumena’s story, and a nod to Divorce Italian Style, directed by Pietro Germi in 1961—was one of my most important movies. It offered me a great role, an all-around one, which encompassed twenty-five years of Neapolitan life lived, and suffered, one year after another, by an intelligent, passionate woman, who was determined to use everything in her power to fight for her dignity and for that of her children. In other words, it was a role with which any Italian actress would have wanted to test her skills.

In the comedy, Filumena is middle-aged and worn down by life—but not defeated. Born in Vico San Liborio, in one of the city’s poorest quarters, she ends up like many other young women her age, working in a brothel, where she is found by Don Dummì, a confirmed well-to-do bachelor who belongs to a completely different social class. The two of them love each other, and she fools herself into thinking that something might come of it. But Dummì has absolutely no intention of marrying her. Filumena becomes his kept woman. He hands over the management of his pastry shop to her, a job she does with all the air of being its efficient owner.

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