Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
On Quartile, The Marquis of Grillo scores 7.5/10 across five categories — strongest on Acting (Well Above Average), weakest on Ending (Below Average).
Ranked among Quartile’s Top Acting.
In 18th-century Rome, impish aristocrat Onofrio del Grillo amuses himself by playing pranks on all sorts of people — his reactionary family and fellow nobles, the poors, the French occupiers trying to modernize society, and even the Pope himself.
Alberto Sordi delivers a tour-de-force comedic performance as the irreverent Marquis, anchoring the film with boundless energy and comic timing that elevates the episodic material. The film is essentially a series of loosely connected pranks and sketches set in Napoleonic Rome, which gives the plot a meandering, anecdotal quality that lacks strong narrative momentum or a satisfying dramatic arc — hence the weaker ending. Cinematography is competent period-piece work without particular distinction. Novelty is moderate: the satirical jabs at class, clergy, and foreign occupiers are well-observed but the picaresque format is familiar. Its reputation rests squarely on Sordi's irreplaceable comedic presence.