Honeymoon Trips

Three couples set off on their honeymoons. One is an extremely jealous Roman and the young wife whose every move he polices; one is a divorced man remarried and unable to escape his past; one is a couple too devout and too fastidious. The three stories never intersect; the film moves between them in turn. The subject is not marriage but how differently people can tolerate one another. Each section is built on a distinct social type and the humour comes from recognition rather than exaggeration. The form is arranged as sketches. The sections are short, the transitions clean, and each story keeps its own tone. The best-loved part is the jealous couple's; the way they speak and the phrases they repeat entered everyday Italian. Carlo Verdone directs and plays all three husbands himself, a method he used often across his career: taking entirely different types inside one film. Claudia Gerini plays the young wife, and the role made her known. Veronica Pivetti and Cinzia Mascoli are in the cast. Who it is for: viewers who like Italian farce and comedy of types. Who it is not for: anyone bothered by humour built on dialect and speech patterns getting lost in translation; some of the comedy genuinely does not carry.