El bello Antonio

Released in the same year at La Dolce Vita (1960), Il bell; Antonio (Handsome Antonio) is a hidden gem for any Marcello Mastroianni fan. In fact, due to the popularity of La Dolce Vita, Marcello's performance in Handsome Antonio has been somewhat lost in time due to this. A forlorn romantic, doleful and heartsick in many ways, Antonio has a condition where a modern audience would simply put him in the category of having ED or downright being a homosexual in denial. For an audience of 1960, let alone a Sicilian audience, the answer is not that easy. This movie has more to do about the Tyranny of Italian patriarchy as well as the control the Church had over society and law. The movie is a betrayal of society outside a relationship between a man and a woman. What the neighbors think and the story a family must tell to reflect in good standings is more important than true love. This is a great social drama set in 1960's Italian world where being a romantic can cause your family great pain. The economic structure of marrying up has been a goal of every Italian family since the fall or Rome. Here it is subject to not only being lucky, but handsome and available. Antonio struggles to be all 3 as his heart tells him different. Il bell 'Antonio has no hidden message - it's about a boy trying to be a man in a world where all the adults are children.