Emotional, sensitive portrait of humanity utilizing just two central characters. In May 1938, with Hitler visiting Mussolini in Rome, a slatternly Italian housewife, having just shooed her six kids and husband off to the rally, chances to meet her bachelor neighbor in the apartment complex across the courtyard after her myna bird escapes out the window. She initially learns little about him (except that she's attracted to his handsome face and decent nature, and that he's enjoying himself learning to dance the rumba); what she doesn't know is, her timely visit successfully stopped him from committing suicide. Turns out he's a radio broadcaster who was recently fired for his anti-fascist beliefs and for having "depraved tendencies", for which he will soon be deported to Sardinia under Mussolini's ruling persecuting all homosexuals. Adoring Mussolini, she's conflicted in her feelings for her new friend, who reaches out to her for understanding. Acclaimed Italian drama from director Ettore Scola, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Maurizio Costanzo and Ruggero Maccari, would not look out of place on the stage, with intimate conversation and action taking place in an isolated setting. The theme of the movie--the responsibility of gender roles, and how a man should behave if he wants to be considered a "real" man--is a little heady for these characters to tackle at such a precise moment in time, however the performances by Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni are quite wonderful (Mastroianni's being Oscar-nominated, as was the movie for Best Foreign Film). Loren, the sex goddess, and Mastroianni, the Latin lover, reign in their screen personas to become these frightened little people, and some of their exchanges are lovely and touching. *** from ****
Review of A Special Day
A Special Day
(1977)
"We always end up conforming to what others think...even when they are wrong."
11 September 2017