A Special Day Movie Review

They can do anything to Sophia Loren: strip her of makeup, stuff her in dumpy dresses, rip her stockings, frazzle her hair—anything, and she'll still take your breath away. In A Special Day, she plays an unappreciated housewife who befriends a disgraced homosexual (played by the late Marcello Mastroianni in an imaginative casting coup that led straight to an Oscar nomination). Ettore Scola films Ruggero Maccari's script rather like a play, with the two characters providing a dash of reality against the unreal backdrop of an unseen Hitler/Mussolini parade. The stars, as usual, make 105 minutes seem like ten and a half. AKA: Una Giornata Speciale; The Great Day.

1977 105m/C IT Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, John Vernon, Francoise Berd; D: Ettore Scola; W: Ettore Scola, Ruggero Maccari, Maurizio Costanzo; C: Pasqualino De Santis; M: Armando Trovajoli. Golden Globe Awards ‘78: Best Foreign Film; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘77: Best Actor (Mastroianni), Best Foreign Film. VHS, LV, Letterbox