Se permettete parliamo di donne

The film shows a series of female characters, the protagonists of just as many episodes on a Boccaccio inspired background. So it goes from the Sicilian girl who gives herself for fear, to the one who can never find the right place to be with her boyfriend; from the “prostitute” with an indulgent husband, to the sophisticated lady in search of primitive sensations; from the girl who leaves her lover only a few minutes before marrying her actual fiancé, to the wife of a prisoner who manages to get her husband back home for a few hours to attribute to him the fatherhood of the child of another man.
Traduzione in inglese Francesca Sala - English translation Francesca Sala

I started by collaborating at the screenplays of very popular films, like Due notti con Cleopatra by Mario Mattoli or Un Americano a Roma by Steno. I also co-worked on the series of film produced by Carlo Infascelli and directed by Domenico Paolella. Those films gained a great success: Canzoni di mezzo secolo, Canzone, canzone, canzone, Amori di mezzo secolo, Ridere, ridere, ridere. In Amori di mezzo secolo there were cinematographers like Germi, Rossellini and Pietrangeli. These films were almost like big containers in which you can put a lot of things. That’s when I started to work with Pietrangeli as well, he came from film critic and was very clever and incisive. Among the Italian directors, Pietrangeli has always been the most devoted to the female cause, before it all started to be popular. I worked on all off Pietrangeli’s films as a screenwriter, apart from the first one, Il sole negli occhi, and the last one, Come, quando e perché. (...)
I believe that in every screenwriter, maybe well hidden inside, there is always a tendency towards directing, even in those who won’t walk that path, maybe because of their disposition or their personal choice. Screenwriters always say: “I would have done this framing in a different way, this scene would be better, if it was shot as I wrote it”. This is what every screenwriter thinks and what I thought as well. The hope of becoming a director may also come true. The chance to satisfy this desire appeared for one of Gassman’s films. There was a strong friendship between me and Vittorio Gassman, thanks to all the films we had made together, and also with Mario Cecchi Gori, who had already produced many films in which I took part, such as La Marcia su Roma, Il successo, Il sorpasso and many more, even if I don’t remember all the titles at the moment. There was a sort of collaboration between Gassman and me. I had written a script with Maccari, which hadn’t been assigned to a director yet; and so I happened to become the director. It was Se permettete parliamo di donne, with Vittorio Gassman and produced by Mario Cecchi Gori.
This first film, structured with nine different portraits of women, really satisfied me, because it made me understand (I had never been an assistant director nor a technician before) that I was able to direct, it wasn’t only a technical matter. Moreover, the film went really well on the market and that allowed me to go on: when the first film is a success, it is very easy to set up another one. So after being a screenwriter I became a director, even if I sometimes still write scripts for other directors. (...)
I haven’t seen my first film since 1964, it feels like the follow-up of the discussion about women started by Pietrangeli, which kept living in my debut work. It wasn’t only a film of mere break, there were characters who belonged to different social groups, the humble ones, the suffering ones. I have a better memory of this first film than of the second, La congiuntura.

Traduzione in inglese Francesca Sala - English translation Francesca Sala

Director: Ettore Scola.
Soggetto e sceneggiatura: Ettore Scola, Ruggero Maccari.
Director of photography: Alessandro D'Eva.
Art director: Arrigo Breschi.
Editor: Marcello Malvestiti.
Music: Armando Trovajoli.
Cast and characters: Vittorio Gassman (Proteiforme Adamo), Maria Fiore (la moglie del "picciotto"), Sylva Koscina (la fidanzata difficile), Antonella Lualdi (la bella frettolosa), Giovanna Ralli (la "professionista"), Eleonora Rossi Drago (la sofisticata), Jeanne Valerie (la moglie del carcerato), Umberto D'Orsi, Riccardo Garrone, Walter Chiari, Attilio Dottesio, Edda Ferroriao, Mario Brega, Olga Romanelli, Haidj Stroh, Marco Tulli.
Production company: Mario Cecchi Gori, per Fair Film-Concordia Film.
Italian distribution: Cineriz.