But Carla isn't like the other women that Luigi deals with - she's a Catholic who believes in the old and simple values that modern society deems unfashionable.

Both try to convince the other of the rightness of their philosophy, and their basic disagreements put their love in jeopardy.

In his previous films, Pietro Germi sharply satirized the hypocritical morality and conformity of proper Italian society.

In this film, however, he turned his scorn towards the "immoral" youth of the 1960s, defending the conservative values.

Germi angrily responded that "critics are only good for a sociological study - their reaction is proof of the cultural degeneration that they are a part of".