Break Up – L’uomo dei cinque palloni

You can trust Marco Ferreri (1928 -1997) to depict a man in crisis with flair: from the graphical start in the style of a photonovel through classical black-and-white to almost psychedelic scenes in colour. As in his later big hit La grande bouffe (1973), he is not afraid of the grotesque and social satire. Break Up was not released in Italy at the time. Dissatisfied with the result, producer Carlo Ponti used only fragments from it for the episodic film Oggi, domani dopodomani (1965). The restored original recently won the Venice Classics Award. 
Mario (Marcello Mastroianni), owner of a sweets factory in Milan, is about to marry his beautiful fiancée Giovanna (Catherine Spaak). Following a visit by an advertising balloons rep, Mario gradually becomes obsessed with knowing exactly how far you can blow up a balloon before it pops. His search for the answer leads him to an ecstatic, licentious balloon party. Giovanna has soon had enough.