General feeling of shame

The action of the film consists of four short stories, united by a common scene - Rome and a small town nearby - and some of the characters.

The first story. The venerable family man Jachinto Colonna ( Alberto Sordi ) decides to bring his legal wife Erminia ( Rossana Di Lorenzo ) into a movie, on the occasion of the “silver” anniversary of their life together. In addition, they have not been to the cinema for four years. Leaving a long wedding table in the courtyard of his house in the care of padre , a good and virtuous family friend, who took on the duties of a toastmaster, and saying goodbye to numerous relatives, friends and neighbors in the midst of the celebration, the couple goes to the nearest cinema. However, the full-wall billboard baffled them: some madman with a knife was shearing a naked woman with a clear intent to have a cannibal dinner. Fortunately, the session has just ended and Jacinto decides to inquire about what he saw with the group of cadets leaving the theater. So it is: a certain marquis-butcher lures young women into his castle, and then eats them at night. Jacinto braves in front of his wife and is ready to go to watch this “funny” film, but Erminia dissuades him and they go to another cinema.

Judging by the poster, they show the romantic love story of a nun and a wounded captain whom she looked after in the infirmary. Erminia loves such sentimental stories, and the "newlyweds" resolutely go to the ground. Some drunken roars are sitting there, it is not clear why they came to this session. In one of the scenes, the nun kneels in front of the captain (“to pray,” Erminia is sure), and ... starts making him a blowjob . Chet Colonna is confused, and on the screen in the meantime a violent bedding scene unfolds. However, the rest of the audience just waited for her: turning around, Giacinto saw perverts of all stripes gathered in the hall - pedophiles , pederasts , onanists, and just a drunken rabble, who immediately, under the influence of the “film”, organized a small improvised orgy in the dark. Jachi and Herminia leave the session.

Husband and wife Colonna, not desperate to find a suitable film, ride the bus to the other end of the city. On the way they come across a lot of posters, and on each naked body. A reasonable Jacinto explains to his wife that, probably, such paintings are necessary, since people go to them. Erminia replies that it is not at all necessary to do the same things as the others, and they have the right to watch a movie to their liking, at least “ Gone With the Wind ”. But this film has not been shown for a long time, but the heroes manage to find a cinema in which the film "Granddaughter" is going on: about a little girl, her grandfather and their funny poodle Bobby. Erminia "always loved such simple stories", and the advertisement of this film somehow reminded her of the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. If so, Jacinto decided to try his luck here. Alas, in this session, Erminia did not last even two minutes, because when they entered the hall, the kind grandfather was already pricked up to eat his granddaughter, just like in “Little Red Riding Hood”. Erminia fainted with a crash, and Jachino threw a scandal and demanded the return of his money. The money was returned to him, especially since his colorful story about those two minutes that he spent on “The Granddaughter”, as well as the kind of half-dead Herminia, served as an excellent advertisement for the film, and the honorable seniors from the lobby threw themselves into a “good tale”.

Inspired by the “moral victory” over the cinema administration, Jachinto “like a real seigneur” takes a taxi and they go to the center of Rome with Erminia. Along the roads there are again solid rows of frivolous advertising posters, from which they even learned a new word - swapping . But even in the center of the Eternal City they did not manage to find anything decent. Finally, the “movie fans” drew attention to the poster of the film “Riding the Horse”, and although the poster showed a naked woman on a hot horse, they decided to risk it for the last time, there was no longer any reason to search for anything else. The enthusiastic cheers of the spectators in the lobby were encouraging, this time an exalted audience, the color of society, gathered in the hall, and Collon's spouses now looked uncultured provincials. And this film almost entirely consists of explicit scenes, but the spouses are so tired that they decided to just sit in the easy chairs, eat ice cream, and not look at the screen in especially "difficult" moments. At first, everything went well and Erminia even made a number of new discoveries for herself in the art of love (such as erotic underwear or using a whip in bed), but the scene of a beautiful rider with a stallion ruined all the positive moments of the couple's stay on this film. Erminia just ran away from the hall.

On the way home, Jachinto was possessed by a philosophy of philosophy : perhaps, he says to Erminia, we don’t understand something, we live like dark people and are not even able to diversify our married life. At bedtime, Erminia invites her husband to whip him with a whip in black stockings. Jacinto politely refuses.

The second story. The publishing house of the magazine "Freedom" has serious problems, over the past six months, the third director has been arrested. However, this position in the publishing house is nominal, the publisher, emancipated Dame Loredana Davoli ( Florinda Bolkan ) with the assistant, the secretary of the German Ursulla Kerr ( Gisela Khan ), is in charge. A young writer, professor Ottavio Karamessa ( Kokki Ponzoni ), comes to the publishing house with a timid hope to publish his works. The secretary explains that they are not interested in philosophical essays and touching stories. Unless if only they have “something such”, sensual and sexual. Ottavio assures that in all his stories sexuality is felt. The secretary takes the manuscript and asks the author to wait. Waiting for their fate, shy Ottavio becomes a witness to an erotic photo shoot for a glossy magazine.

Dr. Davoli is delighted with Ottavio's stories and promises a dazzling future to a dumbfounded writer. True, for this you need to make small changes, get rid of euphemisms and old-fashioned courtly turns in love scenes. Polish Ottavio willingly agrees to finalize the manuscript. Loredana takes Ottavio to a rented apartment and sends him a young typist ( Sylvia Donicio ) so that the budding author has the opportunity to work and relax in peace. The professor's head is spinning from the new world that has fallen on him and the opportunities that have opened up. At first, he is embarrassed to dictate a reworked version of the end of the story to a typist, but soon he becomes convinced that even in the new edition there is nothing that the charming Orchid would not encounter not only in literature, but also in life.

Morning brought Ottavio two news: bad and good. The bad: Orchid does not feel any feelings for him, the stormy night was only part of her work. But Loredana offers him the position of executive director of Freedom - an “adult” magazine with a circulation of over a million copies oriented to the provincial bourgeois, gives him a personal Rolls-Royce and gives him a huge salary, demanding in return only one, to tell her “you”. There is no need to do anything, only to put signatures on documents and layouts, the editors themselves issue a magazine. “The task of our magazine is to teach husbands how to behave with their wives as if they were mistresses. And vice versa. We must remove the barriers of false morals. ”

The outcome was unexpected only for the new "director" - like the three previous ones, he was arrested on charges of distributing pornography, and again the editor's arrest warrant and the seizure of "Freedom" was issued by the incorruptible judge Tiziano Ballarin of San Juan, obviously having a large "Tooth" on the editor.

The third story. The action is transferred to the town of San Jusan, the main actors are Judge Tiziano Ballarin ( Pino Kolitsi ) and his wife Armida ( Claudia Cardinale ). The judge dictates to the secretary another appeal to the prosecutor demanding the sequestration of the Liberty magazine. But this is not enough, the arrest of the next dummy editor does not solve anything, the magazine sells out in the city faster than it is managed to be removed from the kiosks. It seems that a way out has been found: the judge, the mayor, the principal and some other prominent and highly moral citizens make up a petition, under which you need to collect five thousand signatures. And for this you need to give residents an example. And powerful men and their wives put their signatures on the petition. The trouble comes from where they did not expect - Armida, the wife of the judge, refuses to sign the document, she does not want to oppose what she has no idea. The rest of the participants also admit that they have never read pornographic magazines, but this does not prevent them from opposing the corruption of their fellow citizens.

Armida asks her husband to show these magazines to her, and her acquaintances behind them, meanwhile, gossip about the fact that the judge has not slept with his wife for a long time and “probably became impotent” while fighting with pornography. Tiziano refuses to "deliver porn" to his wife, and Armida decides to go to a nearby town, where no one knows her, in order to clarify for herself the contents of prohibited publications. Overcoming embarrassment, she buys the entire counter in one of the stalls, and here, to her dismay, sees all the members of the “moralists” meeting who came to the town to do the same, but, unlike her, not for the first time.

While Armida, rejecting shame and prejudice, is studying a pile of purchased magazines, her husband is scrolling through the film “Novel's Novel” (the same one with which the Colonas began their tour of Rome cinemas). Of course, not just like that, but for the purpose of examination. And, of course, after viewing it orders to close the cinema, and remove the film from the rental. Leaving, the judge promises to return the next day, check out the film "Riding". On the way home, the judge sees a priest who, cursing the demons, burns the porn magazines, spending his entire pension on them in order to protect the residents of the city from sin. Armida meets him at home in a seductive outfit, she tells that she saw these magazines, burned them and signed the petition. Spouses waiting for the night of love, the first in two years.

The fourth story. The filmmaker Giuseppe Costanzo ( Philippe Noiret ), author of the acclaimed films “Granddaughter” and “The Novice's Novel” shoots another masterpiece with a Hollywood star, an Oscar winner of the German Ingrid Strysberg ( Dagmar Lassander ) in the title role. The film is not yet complete, but the studio has already become unpredictable. Judge Ballarin closed the hire of the "Novice", the director does not call, and Giuseppe's daughter, Constanza, allows himself to wear a semi-transparent blouse, which makes his father infuriated. Giuseppe is all nerves. Finally, the director calls. The case is nearing completion, there is a shooting of the final scene in the forest, in which the actor must master the heroine Strysberg. But something inexplicable happens - Ingrid cries out, screaming into what the mother gave birth to from the pavilion, running through the next platform, where the Russians are shooting some kind of historical film. The crew was so confused that no one even tried to stop her. Crying Strysberg rushes into the dressing room and tells the maid that she had suffered enough humiliation during the filming, would not allow her to " have them in the back " at all, threatening to call the police.

Costanzo personally arrives at the site and arranges for all the dressing. Attempts by the director to explain that the actress, when signing the contract, did not understand that the scene would have to be played for real, without the use of editing and understudies, and that the film loses nothing in artistic terms and without this scene, cost him a couple of cracks from the employer. The American partner Costanzo immediately calls, the overseas audience is waiting for the film for the sake of this scene, it is on all posters, a huge dollar amount has already been spent on advertising. Costanzo says everything is fine, the scene is filmed. He hangs up and rushes to Ingrid's lavatory, but it is already gone.

The story of the flight of prima came to light, the bigwigs of the movie business and bankers from Europe, Asia, America and even Africa (African youth eager to “see the white capitalist’s ass, we can’t scatter people's money”) are going to Italy, to the Costanzo studio, to personally deal with the culprit of the failure - all loans were issued only for this damned scene. Bonuses promise to imprison Costanzo if the film is not completed. The situation is hopeless, Costanzo is ready to put a bullet in his forehead.

In desperation, Costanzo rushes to the hotel, Ingrid is still there, but the plane tickets for her have already been booked, and her agent does not allow the producer to visit her. However, for a lump sum he agrees to help. Immediately at the hotel, her husband (who doesn’t care what his wife does, since he is a chemist) and the mother of the actress who takes her side. Ingrid offers to play this scene face, depicting an orgasm. Costanzo says that this does not go away for a long time, the modern public cannot be averted. The star is a scandal and says that he doesn’t even allow this to her husband. Finally, she agrees if Costanzo gives her word that this scene is needed solely to enhance the artistic character of the film, and after consulting with "a feminist, a writer, a critic, a psychologist and a Jesuit priest."

All these gentlemen soon gathered in the senorita Striesberg room, and the reporters hungry for the news laid siege to the hotel. Ingrid says she dreamed of working in Italy all her life, even when she received an Oscar from the hands of Cary Grant himself . The art and names of Italian neorealists are sacred to her. And if now an authoritative commission confirms to her that this sacrifice is demanded by art, she will agree to undergo public violence. If not, she will refuse, and the producer will probably shoot himself from an already prepared gun.

Three hours have passed, and six experts have not come to any conclusion, the responsibility is too high. Costanzo in the church prays to the Holy Virgin. Suddenly his assistant rushes into the church - Straysberg agrees, the experts convinced her that she would be “highly artistic fucked.” The scene is filmed, at the premiere of "Lady Chatterley '76" a triumph. In the cinema, we meet the heroes of all four stories.

• Alberto Sordi - Jachino Colonna
• Rossana Di Lorenzo - Herminia Column
• Florinda Bolkan - Loredana Davoli
• Cocki Ponzoni - Ottavio Caramessa
• Gisela Khan - Ursullla Kerr
• Silvia Dionisio - Orchid
• Claudia Cardinale - Armida Ballarin
• Pinot Colitzi - Tiziano Ballarin
• Philippe Noiret - Giuseppe Costanzo
• Dagmar Lassander - Ingrid Striesberg

• Il Comune Senso Del Pudore (Eng.) On the Internet Movie Database