The Inconsolable Widow Thanks All Those Who Consoled Her (1973)

- La vedova inconsolabile ringrazia quanti la consolarono
What a title!, 30 April 2006

What a title! Just imagine The Inconsolable Widow Thanks All Those Who Consoled Her (let's shorten that to The Inconsolable Widow for the rest of this) on a marquee. The movie is about a childless widow named Catarina Prevosti (Edwige Fenech). Because Catarina gave her husband no heirs, Italian law mandates that his fortune revert to his blood relatives – his two bumbling brothers. Catarina's mother, naturally, cooks up a plan for her and Catarina to keep the money. If Catarina should become pregnant in the next couple of weeks, no one will know the child isn't her husband's. The brothers figure out what's going on an do everything they can, including posting guards around Catarina's house, to keep any man away from Catarina.

I haven't seen very many 70s Italian comedies, but The Inconsolable Widow appears to be about average. Some of the comedy works while a lot of it falls flat. I found the whole set-up, complete with armed guards, quite humorous. Much of the humor is quite naturally centered on sex and would be considered very politically incorrect in our current environment. As I could have predicted, these are the parts that I found the funniest. One of my favorite scenes involves Catarina's mother giving a would be suitor a pep talk before he heads to the bedroom.

This is the first of Edwige Fenech's comedies I've seen. Based on what I got out of The Inconsolable Widow, I think I'll track down a few more.

5/10