University of Virginia Library

CINEMA

Priest's Marriage Scrutinized

By Paul Chaplin
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

There's a scandalous film in
Charlottesville this week. It's called
"The Priest's Wife," and holy
Moses, they do mean wife! And
from Italy yet! Does the Pope
know what's going on over there?

The priest is played by Marcello
Mastroianni, and his fiancee is
Sophia Loren. With a premise like
that, I would imagine any man
might, just might have the
temptation to abandon his
vocation. But even if the girl wasn't
a sexy looking Italian movie star,
the problem of celibacy in the
church is growing more serious
every day.

The problem with this film is
that it presents itself as a comedy,
when the issue at hand offers little
possibilities for honor. I usually feel
there's potential comedy in
everything, but in this case, I don't
think I could present much of an
argument for my own theory.
Furthermore, I wonder how many
people are really interested in a

problem unique to the Catholic
church?

The acting is really very good.
Loren and Mastroianni work well
together, letting their lines bounce
off each other and develop so that
the two characters are believable
despite some poor writing. I
especially enjoyed Venantino
Venantino (Remember good old
Venantino Venantini. Sounds like
Italian goulash at some cheap
restaurant.) He is quite funny in he
only humorous sequence in the
film, as Sophia Loren proceeds to
destroy his car.

Director Dino Risi has made a
fairly pretty film. There's nothing
exciting or unusual about the film,
it's just nice to look at. Of course
some credit must go to Miss Loren's
costumes, which are stylish even if
all the dresses look the same, only
done in different materials and
colors.

"The Priest's Wife" is a problem
film; it's well made, has good
acting, and deals with a
controversial subject in a mature
manner. Think of some of the films
that were about serious problems
and turned out to be very
ridiculous. "Getting Straight"
comes to my mind, and "The
People Next Door" turned out to
be quite funny with its pompous
tone and sloppy acting.

But "The Priest's Wife," despite
how good it is, just isn't really
entertaining. I am highly
sympathetic towards priests caught
in the dilemma of Mastroianni,
and feel that someday they might
be permitted to marry, or perhaps
laymen will be given more power
and authority within the Church.
Until then, Warner Brothers might
send their film off to the Vatican,
and maybe Pope Paul will catch
some of it between
pronouncements condemning those
"roods that bend in the wind."

(Now at the Cinema)