Il magnifico cornuto

A Commedia all'italiana about male pride, jealousy and gender roles: Andrea Artusi (Ugo Tognazzi), a wealthy hat manufacturer in Brescia, is married to Maria Grazia (Claudia Cardinale). After an intimate encounter with the wife of a business friend, he is overcome by the idea that his wife could also be unfaithful and cuckold him, turning him into a "cornuto," the greatest disgrace in the patriarchal system. He starts calling numbers from her phone book, suspects a winemaker because Maria Grazia speaks about barrels in her sleep, and dismisses his servant to replace him with an old man. In the series of tragically ridiculous male characters in Pietrangeli's films, it is Andrea Artusi who probably has the most grotesque features. (hjf)