A Special Day

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 rarely seen masterpiece finally presented, restored and remastered in 4K – with striking desaturated colours – as originally created by its multi-awarded 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…