Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month
A Special Day
Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni deliver the finest and most nuanced performances of their careers in this understated masterpiece from director Ettore Scola.
Director: Ettore Scola
Overview
Italian cinema’s most iconic screen couple, Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni – here cast against glamorous type – deliver the finest and most nuanced performances of their career in this understated masterpiece from director Ettore Scola.
On this special day in 1938, all of fascist Rome has been mustered to a parade for Hitler visiting Mussolini. Loren’s working-class housewife, Antonietta, left alone to her chores, meets the only other person left in their block, Gabriele (Mastroianni), a persecuted homosexual radio announcer. The two, who are poles apart, forge an unexpectedly close friendship that will change their perceptions of love, politics and life itself…
Contains moderate sex
Related
Sophia Loren: Reshaping Femininity Sophia Loren: Reshaping Femininity
Short documentary 2025 18 mins Director: Maha Albadrawi
Exclusive to BFI Player, a video essay exploring Sophia Loren’s 60s and 70s filmography, and how her work shook up Italian gender roles.
Human Traffic Human Traffic
Drama 1999 99 mins Director: Justin Kerrigan
A 1990s club-culture cult classic about five Cardiff friends planning a night out to remember. The weekend has landed!
Nightcrawler Nightcrawler
Crime 2014 118 mins Director: Dan Gilroy
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a crime journalist scouring the streets of after-dark LA in a stylish thriller that examines the morals of mass media.
La Captive La Captive
Drama 2000 118 mins Director: Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman's adaptation of Marcel Proust’s The Prisoner is a beguiling study of tortured relationships, voyeurism and possessive love.
The Piano Teacher The Piano Teacher
Drama 2001 131 mins Director: Michael Haneke
Isabelle Huppert’s turn as a woman disturbed yet consumed by her own desires has lost none of its gut-punching torment, in Haneke’s unsettling drama.
Hidden Hidden
Drama 2004 113 mins Director: Michael Haneke
Haneke’s Cannes award-winning masterpiece is both an enthralling thriller and a piercing analysis of colonial guilt.
Happy End Happy End
Drama 2017 103 mins Director: Michael Haneke
Isabelle Huppert and Toby Jones are among the cast in Haneke’s impressive satire about a well-to-do and French family oblivious to the migrant crisis.
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Comedy 1963 118 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Irrepressible Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves) directs this Oscar-winning film of three comic tales of love and sex in three cities.
Boccaccio '70 Boccaccio '70
Anthology 1962 204 mins Director: Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica and Mario Monicelli
Four of the greatest Italian directors – Fellini, Visconti, De Sica and Monicelli – join forces with show-stoppers Sophia Loren, Anita Ekberg and Romy Schneider in a carousel of sex and satire mocking the mores of Italian '60s society.
Marriage Italian Style Marriage Italian Style
Comedy 1964 97 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni are irrepressible as a long-married couple in this exquisite and timeless comedy of our all-too-human foibles.
Two Women Two Women
War 1960 100 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Sophia Loren won an Oscar® for her performance as a mother trying to protect her daughter in wartime Italy, in Vittorio De Sica's neorealist classic.
Sophia Loren: Reshaping Femininity Sophia Loren: Reshaping Femininity
Short documentary 2025 18 mins Director: Maha Albadrawi
Exclusive to BFI Player, a video essay exploring Sophia Loren’s 60s and 70s filmography, and how her work shook up Italian gender roles.
Marriage Italian Style Marriage Italian Style
Comedy 1964 97 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni are irrepressible as a long-married couple in this exquisite and timeless comedy of our all-too-human foibles.
Two Women Two Women
War 1960 100 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Sophia Loren won an Oscar® for her performance as a mother trying to protect her daughter in wartime Italy, in Vittorio De Sica's neorealist classic.
Boccaccio '70 Boccaccio '70
Anthology 1962 204 mins Director: Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica and Mario Monicelli
Four of the greatest Italian directors – Fellini, Visconti, De Sica and Monicelli – join forces with show-stoppers Sophia Loren, Anita Ekberg and Romy Schneider in a carousel of sex and satire mocking the mores of Italian '60s society.
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Comedy 1963 118 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Irrepressible Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves) directs this Oscar-winning film of three comic tales of love and sex in three cities.
Marriage Italian Style Marriage Italian Style
Comedy 1964 97 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni are irrepressible as a long-married couple in this exquisite and timeless comedy of our all-too-human foibles.
8½ 8½
Drama 1963 138 mins Director: Federico Fellini
Fellini triumphantly conjured himself out of writer's block with this magnum opus about a film director experiencing his own creative crisis.
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Comedy 1963 118 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Irrepressible Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves) directs this Oscar-winning film of three comic tales of love and sex in three cities.
How to Film... a Swimming Pool How to Film... a Swimming Pool
Short documentary 2025 17 mins
Cinema history demonstrates swimming pools are awash with symbolic possibility – artist Justin Anderson shares some tips on how to film them
Human Traffic Human Traffic
Drama 1999 99 mins Director: Justin Kerrigan
A 1990s club-culture cult classic about five Cardiff friends planning a night out to remember. The weekend has landed!
G.B.H. Grievous Bodily Harm G.B.H. Grievous Bodily Harm
Thriller 1983 73 mins Director: David Kent-Watson
A bouncer is enlisted to fight off a mob boss, in this barmy, shot-on-video cult actioner from famed Mancunian hardman Cliff Twemlow.
Nightcrawler Nightcrawler
Crime 2014 118 mins Director: Dan Gilroy
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a crime journalist scouring the streets of after-dark LA in a stylish thriller that examines the morals of mass media.
La Captive La Captive
Drama 2000 118 mins Director: Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman's adaptation of Marcel Proust’s The Prisoner is a beguiling study of tortured relationships, voyeurism and possessive love.
Exposé (aka House on Straw Hill) Exposé (aka House on Straw Hill)
Thriller 1976 84 mins Director: James Kenelm Clarke
A novelist’s rural retreat descends into an orgy of violent mayhem, in one of the most notorious shockers in British cinema.