A Special Day (1977)
(Una giornata particolare)
Country: IT/CAN
Technical: col 106m
Director: Ettore Scola
Cast: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, John Vernon
Synopsis:
On the day of Hitler's state visit to Rome in May 1938, a mother of six, though a staunch fascist, must stay at home in her apartment. In the flat opposite sits a gay intellectual radio announcer, relieved of his functions and awaiting deportation. An accident brings them together and over the course of the day in spite of their differences theirs is a meeting of the souls that leaves them altered.
Review:
Scola avoids grand gestures - neither life changes course as a result of the action - and the film resembles one of those television plays of the period. His use of the camera, however, is entirely more filmic: the carefully orchestrated tracks within the apartments creating shifting perspectives, the use of in-depth compositions through views across the courtyard, and the close-ups on faces or on Loren's eyes and mouth. It is a reminder of what a great actress she was, speaking her own language, dowdily dressed and un-made up as an urban housewife, and yet still gorgeous!
(Una giornata particolare)
Country: IT/CAN
Technical: col 106m
Director: Ettore Scola
Cast: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, John Vernon
Synopsis:
On the day of Hitler's state visit to Rome in May 1938, a mother of six, though a staunch fascist, must stay at home in her apartment. In the flat opposite sits a gay intellectual radio announcer, relieved of his functions and awaiting deportation. An accident brings them together and over the course of the day in spite of their differences theirs is a meeting of the souls that leaves them altered.
Review:
Scola avoids grand gestures - neither life changes course as a result of the action - and the film resembles one of those television plays of the period. His use of the camera, however, is entirely more filmic: the carefully orchestrated tracks within the apartments creating shifting perspectives, the use of in-depth compositions through views across the courtyard, and the close-ups on faces or on Loren's eyes and mouth. It is a reminder of what a great actress she was, speaking her own language, dowdily dressed and un-made up as an urban housewife, and yet still gorgeous!
(Una giornata particolare)
Country: IT/CAN
Technical: col 106m
Director: Ettore Scola
Cast: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, John Vernon
Synopsis:
On the day of Hitler's state visit to Rome in May 1938, a mother of six, though a staunch fascist, must stay at home in her apartment. In the flat opposite sits a gay intellectual radio announcer, relieved of his functions and awaiting deportation. An accident brings them together and over the course of the day in spite of their differences theirs is a meeting of the souls that leaves them altered.
Review:
Scola avoids grand gestures - neither life changes course as a result of the action - and the film resembles one of those television plays of the period. His use of the camera, however, is entirely more filmic: the carefully orchestrated tracks within the apartments creating shifting perspectives, the use of in-depth compositions through views across the courtyard, and the close-ups on faces or on Loren's eyes and mouth. It is a reminder of what a great actress she was, speaking her own language, dowdily dressed and un-made up as an urban housewife, and yet still gorgeous!