Marcello Mastroianni's brilliant comic performance in this first of a series of “Italian Style” comedies garnered international acclaim for both the film and the actor. He won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award for his rendition of a condescending and bored Sicilian nobleman who decides the most efficient way to marry his attractive teenage cousin is to murder his current wife. The carefully crafted plot sheds light on the hypocrisy of the Italian legal system and prevailing mores.