A Special Day (1977)
Loren and Mastroianni working together again, with a film that like Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and Marriage Italian Style dives into gender roles and Italian society’s expectations of their purpose, but this time in a much more serious setting. All taking place on a single day where Hitler visited Rome in 1938, with Loren as the housewife is left home in the apartment and Mastroianni living as a bachelor in the same building. Both are trapped in their gender stereotyped roles for different reasons, and they find solace and common ground through their short encounter. This film works as a perfect beautiful conclusion to what Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and Marriage Italian Style did, and putting it very clearly into the context of fascism and what it does to people, and most importantly, how the first steps towards opposition is formed.
Criterion Challenge 2026 - 7. Queer Cinema
Rating: 4.5