Can divorce and heartbreak ever be a comic occurrence? Italian director Pietro Germi discovered that it could be in his 1961 film “Divorce, Italian Style” (“Divorzio all’italiana”), a send-up of traditional Sicilian values that follows an unhappily married man, who is in love with his teenage cousin, as he attempts to catch his undesirable wife in compromising conversations with a former lover.

As “Divorce, Italian Style” opens for a two-week screening at Film Forum, Dinner and a Movie considered how to properly mark the occasion of the film’s re-release. A visit to the Belmont section of the Bronx, with its famed stretch of Arthur Avenue, home to one of New York’s first Italian immigrant communities, strikes us as the perfect complement to a downtown screening of this classic. Belmont and its environs are also conveniently close to Van Cortlandt Park and the New York Botanical Garden, making the neighborhood an ideal afternoon destination. This weekend, Dinner and a Movie heads to Mike’s Deli for food shopping and takes in the latest flower exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden, which could perk up even the most heartbroken city dweller.

(SHOPPING FOR) DINNER

Arthur Avenue has long been a center for good Italian eating. Situated about 20 minutes north of Upper Manhattan, a cluster of well-known restaurants, pizzerias, and shops can be found in the neighborhood. Food-minded New Yorkers regularly debate the excellence of the menus among Rigoletto’s, Roberto’s, and Umberto’s Clam House. Day-trippers to the Bronx will probably want to begin their explorations at the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, an enclosed warehouse space where shoppers can find potted herb and tomato plants, and countless varieties of breads, olives, cheeses, hams, and sausages. Mike’s Deli, which has been open for almost 60 years, provides the heartbeat of the market, selling fresh mozzarella, a huge array of fresh and dried salumis, and a variety of sandwiches, including “the Mussolini” (capicolo, fontinella cheese, and anchovies) and “Cool Steve’s Favorite” (ham, sopressata, fresh mozzarella, sweet peppers, and marinated mushrooms).

(2344 Arthur Ave., between Crescent Avenue and East 186th Street, Belmont, Bronx, 718-295-5033)

FLORA

Before the onslaught of the holiday season, when lighted trees and requests for toy trains take over, the New York Botanical Garden offers serenity in the form of “Kiku,” an exhibit of Japanese chrysanthemums. Presented in conjunction with the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Tokyo, the show features viewings of the cultivated flowers, as well as programs such as “Kiku for Kids,” gardening workshops, origami and cooking classes, and displays of illustrated Japanese books and plants. The abundance of bulbous yellow, pink, purple, and white blossoms is of such beauty that the chilly November winds should be a distant memory, at least for a while. (Through Sunday, November 18, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., NYBG, 200th Street and Kazimiroff Boulevard, Bronx, 718-817-8777, $18 general, $16 students and seniors, $5 children)

MOVIE

In “Divorce, Italian Style,” Fefè, played by Marcello Mastroianni, confronts Sicilian norms of the 1960s. Fefè aches to divorce his wife, played by Daniela Rocca, but is reluctant since divorce is frowned upon in society. He also can’t, well, whack his wife, since a murder sentence would be punishable by at least 20 years in jail. Lacking options, he considers a crime of “honor”: What if he caught his wife cheating? With this, the movie takes off, as Mastroianni’s Fefè hires an old flame of his wife’s to do a little house painting — and sets out a few well-placed hidden microphones and tape recorders. Janus Films has restored the film on a new 35 mm print, and Film Forum presents the screening.

(Saturday, 7:45 and 10 p.m., through Thursday, November 22, Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St., between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street, 212-727-8112, $10.50 general, $5.50 seniors and children)