Set in Rome in 1938, on the day Adolf Hitler visits Benito Mussolini, the film centers on Antonietta (Sophia Loren), an exhausted, apolitical housewife left behind while her fascist husband and six children attend the parade. In the otherwise deserted apartment block, she encounters Gabriele (Marcello Mastroianni, Oscar-nominated), a former radio announcer dismissed and persecuted for his homosexuality and suspected anti-fascist sympathies.
Their meeting begins when Antonietta’s pet myna bird escapes into Gabriele’s flat. What starts as a simple retrieval evolves into a profound, transformative encounter. Over the course of the day, the two strangers—each marginalized in different ways by the fascist regime and rigid social roles—share conversation, vulnerability, and ultimately a fleeting intimacy, though both recognize it cannot alter their destinies.
Directed by Ettore Scola, this elegant two-hander unites Loren and Mastroianni, long celebrated as the “King and Queen of Italian Cinema.” Their star power, enriched by memories of earlier collaborations such as Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and Marriage Italian Style, infuses the film with a layered resonance. What begins in understatement blossoms into one of the most finely acted works of the 1970s.
By evening, Antonietta’s family returns, and Gabriele is arrested for deportation. Alone once more, Antonietta sits by the window reading The Three Musketeers, the book he gave her, as her husband calls her to bed to conceive another child—a chilling reminder of the life she briefly escaped.
At the 50th Academy Awards, Bob Hope quipped that Mastroianni deserved the Best Actor prize simply for playing a homosexual opposite Sophia Loren, underscoring the film’s daring and impact.
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75 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code 1934-1967 – TheBrownees
75 Queer Films from the New Hollywood (1968-1980). – TheBrownees
