Divorce Italian Style - Characters & Cast

Ferdinando's primary motivation is to escape his suffocating marriage to Rosalia and be with his beautiful young cousin, Angela. In a society where divorce is illegal, his desperation for freedom and his infatuation with Angela drive him to devise a morbid and elaborate plan to murder his wife under the guise of an "honor killing," which he believes will result in a minimal prison sentence.

Ferdinando begins as a lethargic, daydreaming nobleman, comically trapped in a marriage he despises. His character arc is one of descent into calculated amorality. Initially, his murderous thoughts are mere fantasies, a coping mechanism for his frustration. However, upon discovering the legal loophole of the "honor crime," his fantasies transform into a meticulous, real-world plan. He evolves from a passive sufferer into an active, manipulative schemer, orchestrating his wife's affair and murder. By the end, he achieves his goal of marrying his young cousin, but the final shot reveals he is now trapped in a new cycle of potential infidelity, suggesting his actions have brought him no true happiness or escape, but rather a deserved, ironic punishment.

Rosalia's main motivation is her deep, if smothering, love and devotion to her husband, Ferdinando. She craves his affection and is desperate to please him, unaware that he finds her repulsive. Later, feeling neglected and pushed away by Ferdinando, she becomes vulnerable to the attentions of her old flame, Carmelo, seeking the affection her husband no longer provides.

Rosalia's arc is tragic. She starts as a devoted, albeit overbearing and cloying, wife who genuinely loves her husband, Ferdinando. She is initially oblivious to his loathing and his infatuation with Angela. As the film progresses, Ferdinando's manipulation pushes her into the arms of a former admirer, Carmelo. Her journey is one of being unknowingly victimized by her husband's cruel scheme. She is ultimately murdered by Ferdinando, her death celebrated by the town as a justified "honor killing," making her the ultimate victim of a patriarchal and hypocritical society.

Angela's motivation appears to be a youthful infatuation with her older, aristocratic cousin, Ferdinando. She is drawn to the romance and forbidden nature of their relationship. She passively waits for Ferdinando to free himself from his marriage so they can be together. The ending, however, suggests her motivations may also include a desire for social status and a fickle, pleasure-seeking nature.

Angela is initially presented as a beautiful, innocent, and pure object of Ferdinando's desire. She seems to be a willing, if naive, participant in their forbidden romance. For most of the film, she functions as the idealized prize that motivates Ferdinando's dark plot. However, her character arc takes a significant turn in the final moments of the film. After marrying Ferdinando, the closing shot reveals her seductively caressing the foot of the young boat pilot, showing that she is not the pure, innocent girl Ferdinando imagined. This twist recasts her as a more complex and potentially manipulative figure, suggesting the cycle of infidelity will continue and that Ferdinando has simply exchanged one trap for another.

Carmelo's primary motivation is his long-held, unrequited love for Rosalia. When given the opportunity to reconnect with her, he eagerly pursues the affair, unaware that he is being carefully manipulated by Ferdinando. His actions are driven by genuine emotion, which makes his role as a pawn in the cynical plot all the more tragic and darkly comic.

Carmelo is a local painter and a former admirer of Rosalia. He is reintroduced into her life by Ferdinando, who sees him as the perfect pawn in his scheme. Carmelo's arc is that of an unwitting participant in a murder plot. He is manipulated by Ferdinando into rekindling his feelings for Rosalia, ultimately leading to their affair. He becomes a casualty of Ferdinando's plan when he is also implicitly dealt with after Rosalia's murder, serving his purpose as the convenient adulterer who justifies the "crime of honor."