A Special Day (1977)

Academy Awards, USA 1978

Nominee Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Marcello Mastroianni
	Best Foreign Language Film Italy

Surf Film
Directed by Ettore Scola
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)

Housewife Sophia Loren, with too many kids and a cheating husband, lives in a cramped apartment building in Rome. Almost everyone leaves to go to a parade featuring Adolf Hitler, giving her some rare time alone. Her pet bird escapes and she goes to a neighbor's apartment to find it. She strikes up a conversation with lonely, depressed Marcello Mastroianni, who has just lost his job as a radio broadcaster. She is attracted to him, until a nosy neighbor tells her he is an antifascist and not to be trusted. If that wasn't bad enough, he is also a homosexual. Despite their differences, their loneliness leads to a moment of weakness. She barely makes it home in time to see her family after the parade, and watches as he is arrested and taken away by the police. Impeccably acted by the two famous leads, who manage the delicate subject matter just right. Shot in muted colors to mimic the newsreels of the day, with an almost continuous radio broadcast in the background describing the meeting between Hitler and Mussolini.