A Special Day

A Special Day
Film poster
Directed by	Ettore Scola
Written by	Maurizio Costanzo Ruggero Maccari Ettore Scola
Produced by	Carlo Ponti
Starring	Sophia Loren Marcello Mastroianni John Vernon
Cinematography	Pasqualino De Santis
Edited by	Raimondo Crociani
Music by	Armando Trovajoli
Distributed by	Surf Film
Release dates	17 May 1977 (1977-05-17) (Cannes) 12 August 1977 (1977-08-12) (Italy)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

A Special Day (Italian: Una giornata particolare) is a 1977 Italian film directed by Ettore Scola and starring Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni and John Vernon. Set in Rome in 1938, its narrative follows a woman and her neighbor who stay home the day Adolf Hitler visits Benito Mussolini.

The film is an Italian-Canadian co-production. It has received several nominations and awards, including a César Award for Best Foreign Film in 1978 and two Oscar nominations in 1977, and it is featured on the list of the 100 Italian films to be saved.

Plot

Gabriele (Mastroianni) and Antonietta (Loren) in her living room

On May 8, 1938, the day Hitler visited Mussolini in Rome, Antonietta, a native and sentimental homemaker (Loren) stays home doing her usual domestic tasks, while her fascist husband (Vernon) and her six spoilt children take to the streets to follow the parade. The building is empty except for a neighbor across the complex (Mastroianni), a charming man named Gabriele. He is a radio broadcaster who has been dismissed from his job and is about to be deported to Sardinia because of his anti-fascist stance and his homosexuality. They meet by chance and began to talk. Antonietta is surprised by his opinions and, unaware of his sexual orientation, flirts with him.

Despite their differences, they warm to each other. Antonietta confides to him her troubles with her arrogant and unfaithful husband, and eventually they have sex before he is arrested and her family comes back home. At the end, Antonietta sits near the window and starts reading a book Gabriele has given her (The Three Musketeers) and watches her lover leaving the complex, escorted by fascist policemen; then she turns off the light and goes to bed, where her husband is waiting for her in order to beget the seventh child.

Cast

• Sophia Loren – Antonietta
• Marcello Mastroianni – Gabriele
• John Vernon – Emanuele, Antonietta's husband
• Françoise Berd – Caretaker
• Patrizia Basso – Romana
• Tiziano De Persio – Arnaldo
• Maurizio Di Paolantonio – Fabio
• Antonio Garibaldi – Littorio
• Vittorio Guerrieri – Umberto
• Alessandra Mussolini – Maria Luisa
• Nicole Magny – Officer's Daughter

Special scenes

A number of unusual cinematic techniques are used in this film. A long take scene introduces Antonietta and her family: the camera enters through the kitchen window and moves into the rooms. Deep focus is utilised in a scene in which the camera is in Antonietta's room with her in the frame, and through a distant window Gabriele can simultaneously be seen moving in his house in the same frame.

Awards

• The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
• It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Marcello Mastroianni) and Best Foreign Language Film.
• In Italy it won three Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress, Music and Script; and two David di Donatello for Best Actress and Best Director.
• In France it won César Award for Best Foreign Film.
• It was nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.

See also

• List of submissions to the 50th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Italian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

External links

• A Special Day at IMDb