A Special Day (1977) on Netflix
On the day Hitler visits Mussolini, Antonietta Taberi stays home while her husband and six children join the parade. An escaped myna bird leads her to the door of her neighbor Gabriele.
- Netflix4.5/5
- IMDb8.1/1018,983 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Featurette
Plot summary
Rome, May 1938. Adolf Hitler's state visit brings a parade through the city with Benito Mussolini, and the apartment building where Antonietta Taberi lives empties as the crowds gather. Her husband Emanuele and their six children go out to watch; Antonietta stays behind to attend to the home. Across the courtyard is Gabriele, a former announcer on Italian public radio who has lost his job. The two have never met. When the family's myna bird escapes and settles at Gabriele's window, Antonietta asks to be let into his apartment to retrieve it. He offers the bird food and helps her. Antonietta is surprised by his manner, flirts with him and dances the rumba.
Cast
- Tiziano De Persioas Arnaldo Taberi
- Maurizio Di Paolantonioas Fabio Taberi
- Antonio Garibaldias Littorio Taberi
- Nicole Magnyas Officer's Daughter
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about A Special Day (1977)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ruggero Maccari learned of an incident in Fascist Italy in which homosexuals were arrested and taken to Sardinia, and broadcaster Nunzio Filogamo, who always had to carry a certificate stating he was not homosexual, inspired the story.
- A Special Day competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival; juror Roberto Rossellini lobbied successfully for Padre Padrone to win instead.
- Faced with a lack of funding from Italian producers, the filmmakers persuaded investors in Canada to back the project; Canafox, a company based in Montreal, co-produced.
- The film introduces Antonietta and her family in a long take in which the camera comes in through the kitchen window and moves through the rooms; deep focus holds Antonietta and Gabriele in two separate rooms within one frame.
- When writing the screenplay, the filmmakers had abundant news coverage of Hitler's 1938 visit to Rome to work from, mining the public service film The Führer's Trip to Italy for footage.
- The film's look was achieved in post-production, where cinematic color grading was applied throughout to give it a muted sepia tone.
