The naked truth

Let the first stone be thrown by the one who has never said “then let's get divorced!” during a marital quarrel over some trifle. Some, however, are impulsive enough to start putting this idea into practice. Jerry (excellent as always Cary Grant), although he himself is just lying to his wife as if from the sheet music, does not believe the explanations of Lucy (the playful and hellishly intelligent IreneDunne), who in a fine mood returns home with her singing teacher, having spent the night with him earlier in a cottage outside the city. So divorce! Before he does, however, 90 days must pass, during which the husband and wife engage in sophisticated social games to put aside the naked truth — that they still love each other madly (literally!).

Leo McCary's film is a sophisticated twist on screwballcomedy in which a pair of main characters fall in love with each other for the second time. In “Naked Truth”, the actors shine with a unique brilliance, swaddling with jokes and showcasing their own employment. Viñy Delmar's audacious, classy script navigates between seriousness and comedy, while maintaining a dignified Hollywood glamour.

Original title: The Awful Truth
Country of manufacture: USA
Year of manufacture: 1937
Directed by: Leo McCarey
Cast: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, Alexander D'Arcy, Cecil Cunningham
Duration: 91 min.

Hall: Stolica
Lecture - Patrycja Mucha-Smolinska
Projection from DCP media | English subtitles

This special kind of pleasure — to be accommodated in the world of film, which we know well. Or quite the opposite — the joy of discovering canonical works for yourself, seeing them for the first time and admitting that they are really as good as everyone says they are. Above all, however, the satisfaction of watching the classics the way it deserved it: on the big screen of a cinema that loves history.

The classics of the genre will evoke all these emotions and even more, because although we like to unseal the canon and walk along the side paths of cinema, we believe that already recognized masterpieces are still worth watching and looking at them from new perspectives.

The first installment of the series will be devoted to an extremely grateful genre, which has entered the history of cinema with far-fetched narrative ideas, outstanding roles and iconic scenes. Screwball comedy (or shot-comedy, as we sometimes call it) combines the scriptwriting mastery and craftsmanship of Hollywood's finest directors with a sneaky sideways commentary on social classes, gender roles, and modernity that burst into American cinema in the 1930s.

From Frank Capra's model “Their Nights,” to formula master Howard Hawks' wild “Predatory Baby,” Leo McCary's sophisticated “Naked Truth,” and Preston Sturges' morally daring “Miracle on Morgan's Creek,” to Preston Sturges' epigone “So What, Doc?” Peter Bogdanovich - together we will jump on the carousel of laughter and watch the best films of the genre on the big screen of the Iluzjon Cinema.