Beyond the Latin Lover: Marcello Mastroianni, Masculinity, and Italian Cinema

by Jacqueline Reich

Overview

Marcello Mastroianni is considered by many to be the epitome of the Latin lover, the consummate symbol of Italian masculinity. In Beyond the Latin Lover, Jacqueline Reich unmasks the reality behind the myth. In her investigation of many of Mastroianni's most famous characters in Italian cinema, she reveals that beneath the image of hyper-masculinity lies the figure of the inetto, the Italian schlemiel at odds with and out of place in a rapidly changing world. Diverse roles throughout his career—the impotent man, the cuckold, and the unruly woman's victim, among others—present an anti-hero caught in traditional but increasingly unsteady modes of masculinity. Far from being a study of just one Italian film star, however, Reich's work demonstrates that Mastroianni's inetto is a reflection of the unstable political, social, and sexual climate of post-war Italy and its constantly shifting gender roles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253216441
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	03/19/2004
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jacqueline Reich, Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is co-editor of Re-viewing Fascism (IUP, 2002).

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
1. In the beginning: Mastroianni, Masculinity and Italian Cinema
2. Undressing the Latin Lover: La dolce vita, Fashion and Italian Masculinity
3. Masculinity, Sicilian Style: Il bell'Antonio and Divorce - Italian Style
4. "Remember, It's a Comedy:" Mastroianni in the Films of Federico Fellini
5. The Inetto versus the Unruly Woman: Mastroianni and Sophia Loren
6. Remembrance of Films Past: Mastroianni and the Aging Male Body
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

In Fellini's La Dolce Vita, Marcello Mastroianni achieved international fame as the worldly, disillusioned reporter moving through postwar Rome's caf society. To his credit, the actor had been in the business a long time when he was hailed as the modern ideal of the Latin lover and possessed the wit and self-awareness to know that it was only an image. In this study of Mastroianni's persona, Reich (Italian & comparative literature, SUNY at Stony Brook) argues that for the rest of his career Mastroianni often played a variation of the inetto, an Italian version of the schlemiel or antihero. In fruitful collaborations with directors Vittorio De Sica and Fellini and actress Sophia Loren (they made 12 films over 40 years), he played bumblers, cuckolds, and victims of the Italian concept of "the unruly woman." Drawing on Italian literary, folk, and cinema traditions, plus fashion industry trends, the author contends that the actor's portrayals represent an insight into the breakdown and confusion of male gender roles in postwar Italy. She offers detailed coverage of the actor's most important Fellini films (particularly La Dolce Vita and 81/2) and critiques early, obscure films made with Loren. Though academic in tone, this book fills a gap, as few studies on Mastroianni are currently available in English. Appropriate for libraries with large holdings in international cinema and postwar Italian literature.-Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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