A Special Day

Netflix subscribers beware, the DVD of this title is very low quality and dubbed. As such, I cannot give it a rating. It was watchable, however, as a last pairing of Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni -- she a frumpy(!), homebound mother of six and fan of Mussolini, he an antifascist homosexual about to be deported. Nonetheless, how could you keep them apart, it’d be like keeping the pasta separate from the sauce? They live across the courtyard in an apartment complex, unknown to each other until the day in 1938 when everyone else goes to join the parade as Il Duce welcomes Der Fuhrer to the grandeur of Rome. Ettore Scola’s story and direction seem rather diagrammatic, but the setting is invested with authenticity and the stars provide passion and complexity. I have to believe that Meryl Streep went to school on Sophia Loren here to prep for the similar character and story of Bridges of Madison County. (1977, dvd, n.) *NR*