Come Home and Meet My Wife

"Romanzo popolare" (1974) is an Italian comedy-drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Mario Monicelli. Working-class Milan, the 1970s: a 50-year-old trade union activist named Giulio falls for 17-year-old Vincenzina and decides to make her his wife.

The marriage holds until Giulio comes home early from a work trip. His wife's lover turns out to be his own close friend, a young cop named Giovanni. What follows isn't farce — Monicelli plays the jealousy straight, through a suicide attempt, years of isolation, and a slow reckoning. Ugo Tognazzi gives Giulio no softening whatsoever; the character is absurd and entirely human at the same time. Ornella Muti and Michele Placido round out the triangle. Stream "Romanzo popolare" (1974) on iFILM.