Marriage Italian Style (Italian: Matrimonio all'italiana [matriˈmɔːnjo allitaˈljaːna]) is a 1964 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

Set during the World War II era, the film follows a cynical but successful 28-year-old businessman named Domenico (Mastroianni), who, after meeting a naive 17-year-old country girl, Filumena (Loren), during a bombing outside a Neapolitan brothel, starts an on-again, off-again relationship spanning 22 years.

Thinking she will be dead in a matter of hours and the marriage won't even be registered, he agrees.

After being proclaimed his legal bride, the shrewd and resourceful Filumena drops the charade of feigning death.

But Filumena reveals the real reason for the marriage: she did it for the three children she had borne (Umberto, Riccardo, and Michele).

However, she gives him a hint that his child was conceived on the night Domenico had said "to pretend we are in love" and had given her a 100-lira note, on which she had written the date and kept it in a locket ever since.

Filumena rushes in; Domenico, smiling with joy, tells her how wonderful she looks, and the marriage takes place.

[5] The New York Times noted that it was the fourth quality collaboration between director Vittorio De Sica and Sophia Loren, and the second to include Marcello Mastroianni in the mix, with the "warmup" for this movie having been 1963's Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.