La moglie del prete (1970)

Valeria Billi is a former singer with various musical groups, disillusioned with men and with life. After discovering that the man she loved was actually married, she decides to kill herself by swallowing sleeping pills. But just then, her eye falls on a newspaper advertisement for “Voce Amica 2121,” a telephone service for people in need, and she feels like talking to someone before she goes. Mario, a priest (though he does not reveal that he is one), answers her call, and by the end of their conversation he hopes he has persuaded her not to kill herself. The next day, Don Mario—who is also a literature teacher at a Catholic middle school—is interrupted during class because someone urgently wants him on the phone: it is Valeria, calling from the hospital where she has been taken after being poisoned by the sleeping pills. She becomes attached to Don Mario, still unaware that he is a priest, and insists that he come to visit her. She is not discouraged even when she learns the truth, and with her passionate nature she manages to win the priest’s heart. He himself becomes increasingly convinced that he wants to leave the Church, which he calls a medieval institution because priests are required to remain celibate. At first, it seems there may be a possibility that the Vatican will grant Mario a dispensation, but then it refuses, since the Church is in crisis and has lost quite a few priests. Valeria insists on asking for a dispensation by appealing directly to the highest authorities. So Mario is indeed summoned to Rome; but there, instead of receiving permission to marry, he is appointed a monsignor. At his invitation, Valeria joins him at the Vatican, but finds him profoundly changed: he has submitted to the will of the Church and can do nothing but suggest that she take a small apartment across from his and be patient for a few months, perhaps a year. Stunned by the absurdity of the situation, the woman eventually gives up on telling him that she is expecting his child.