A Special Day (1977)

Two neighbors, a persecuted journalist and a resigned housewife, meet during Hitler's visit to Italy in May 1938.

Director:

Ettore Scola

Writers:

Ruggero Maccari (screenplay), Ettore Scola (screenplay)

Stars:

Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, John Vernon

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sophia Loren	...	Antonietta Taberi
Marcello Mastroianni	...	Gabriele
John Vernon	...	Emanuele Taberi
Françoise Berd	...	Concierge
Patrizia Basso	...	Romana Taberi
Tiziano De Persio	...	Arnaldo Taberi
Maurizio Di Paolantonio	...	Fabio Taberi
Antonio Garibaldi	...	Littorio Taberi
Vittorio Guerrieri	...	Umberto Taberi
Alessandra Mussolini	...	Maria Luisa Taberi
Nicole Magny	...	Officer's Daughter

Storyline

It's the late 1930's Rome. It's a national holiday in Italy today for the first state visit of Adolf Hitler to the country. The occasion is being marked by a lavish parade with both Hitler and Benito Mussolini to celebrate their political friendship/alliance in the name of fascism. Most of the Roman populace will attend the parade to celebrate with their leader. Two that will not be are the following. Antonietta Taberi, who would have liked to have gone to the parade, has to stay at home to attend to her domestic chores in duty to her husband Emanuele and their six children, all who have gone to the parade without her. Gabriele is a former announcer on Italian Public Radio. Despite living in the same apartment complex (Gabriele only for the last two months) with their apartment windows facing each other across the courtyard, Antonietta and Gabriele meet for the first time today in Antonietta's need to access his apartment to retrieve her escaped myna bird. Their encounter is important...

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Plot Keywords:

housewife | italian fascism | homosexuality | fascism | italy | 

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Taglines:

Loren and Mastroianni together again in a very special movie.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy Canada

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

October 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Special Day

Filming Locations:

Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Compagnia Cinematografica Champion,Canafox Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was Italy's official submission to the 50th Academy Awards as Best Foreign Language Film.

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Goofs

In one scene, Antonietta is humming the song "Mamma" by Benjamino Gigli, but that wasn't released until two years later, in 1940.

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Quotes

Gabriele: That's the worst part. You try to seem different from what you really are. They force you to feel ashamed of yourself. To hide.

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Connections

Featured in Zomergasten: Episode #1.5 (1988)

User Reviews

Reading History through individual destinies.

The first thing you meet when you study fascism is ostracism:because this" philosophy " is a fake one,there's a need to use scapegoats to assess the "thought".Ettore Scola's movie,probably his masterpiece, focuses on the outcasts,the scapegoats of the regime.

Of the historical event (Hitler and Mussolini's alliance),we will see almost nothing:some military march,some garlands,some scattered voices ..Our two heroes are not invited for the feast of virility. "Genius is essentially masculine" :this is the golden rule Antonietta (a never better Sophia Loren)embroidered on her cushion;Antonietta ,whose world amounts to her kitchen,whose pride is her offsprings .At the beginning of the movie,she's a victim of this hypermacho world,but she does not realize it.She thinks she should be happy.Gabriel,on the contrary ,is politically aware,he knows about the cancer that is destroying inexorably his country.But as a gay man,he is no longer part of it,he's about to be arrested.

Forgetting everything that comes between them,they realize what they have in common and they make love.This is an act of rebellion,particularly for Antonietta ,whose ethic should forbid such a thing.Becoming an adulteress in a land where politics and religion combine to repress women as ever leads her to some kind of political awareness.One of the last shots shows her listening to the news on the radio.

Expect the unexpected and maybe a doctrine which denies the human being his intimate personality will see that its days are numbered.