Goffredo Parise

An anthology of four comic moral tales about the hypocrisies surrounding sex in 1960s Italy: frothy young love and office politics in the big city; milk advertisements that begin to haunt an aging prude; a trophy wife enduring her husband's very public affairs; a lucky ticket-holder at a small town fair.

Emilio Brentani leads a peaceful and uneventful life with his older sister Amalia. Until he meets Angiolina Zarri, a beautiful but fickle, wayward and coquettish young woman. Unfortunately for him, Emilio falls madly in love with her.

A couple of bourgeois intellectuals, Carlo and Silvia, have been married for twenty years. While she lives in their flat in Rome, he spends most of his time in the country house where he writes his books, openly living with his younger lover, Lù. In return, Carlo has long accepted that her wife may have lovers, but her volatile relationship with a young neo-fascist suddenly rekindles his jealousy.

A background of rising fascism in Venice in 1930s. A music-student, Matthias, mixes with the town's bourgeoisie and falls in love with a mature teacher, Carla, the mother of his friend Renato, and then with his young colleague, Elena.

A forty-year-old employee marries a seemingly quiet girl who turns into a mantis after the wedding.

Five comedic episodes, all starring Alberto Sordi and Silvana Mangano.

Italy signed the armistice and in the general confusion a corporal decides to bring the tank back from the coast to the barracks.

Rossella, a beautiful young girl that lives in a family of popular class, looks for a job every day but soon discovers that the "greasy pole", which is the economic miracle, is only an illusion, and the world is far more ruthless than she could believe. But fate brings together Giuliano, the only man who did not ask for anything and who - like her - is not inclined to compromise.