A Special Day

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni deliver the finest and most nuanced performances of their careers in this understated masterpiece from director Ettore Scola.

Italian cinema’s most iconic screen couple, Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni – here cast against glamorous type – deliver the finest and most nuanced performances of their career in this understated masterpiece from director Ettore Scola.

On this special day in 1938, all of fascist Rome has been mustered to a parade for Hitler visiting Mussolini. Loren’s working-class housewife, Antonietta, left alone to her chores, meets the only other person left in their block, Gabriele (Mastroianni), a persecuted homosexual radio announcer. The two, who are poles apart, forge an unexpectedly close friendship that will change their perceptions of love, politics and life itself…