A Special Day

On 4 May 1938, the day Hitler visits Mussolini in Rome, Antonietta, a naïve and overworked homemaker, stays home while her fascist husband Emanuele and their six children join a parade. The building is mostly empty except for the caretaker Pauletta and their neighbor Gabriele, a radio broadcaster who has been dismissed and is about to be deported for his sexuality and alleged anti-fascist stance. The mood blends public spectacle with private tension under a repressive regime.

Antonietta goes to Gabriele's door to retrieve the escaping myna bird that flew toward his window. Gabriele has just been interrupted from attempting suicide, yet he helps rescue the bird by offering it food. He is amused by the interruption and the chance encounter, finding a spark in this moment.

Antonietta flirts and dances a rumba with Gabriele, unaware of his sexual orientation. The playful moment reveals a warmer, gentler side beneath their initial reserve. The encounter hints at a growing connection between them.

Despite their differences, they warm to each other. They realize both are oppressed by social and governmental conditioning, and they start to see the other in a more nuanced light.

Pauletta warns Antonietta that Gabriele is anti-fascist, a label that instantly colors Antonietta's view of him. Antonietta initially finds this stance despicable, clinging to the stricter norms of her time. The warning foreshadows the danger their bond faces.

Gabriele confesses that he was fired for his sexuality and anti-fascist beliefs, and Antonietta confides that her husband is arrogant and unfaithful, preferring educated women. The two open up about their private humiliations and powerlessness under the regime. Their dialogue deepens their connection.

During their interaction, both realize they have been oppressed by social conditioning. They begin to form a new impression of each other, moving beyond the first judgments they made. The moment signals a shift in how they see themselves within their world.

They have sex, but both acknowledge it changes nothing about their lives. The intimacy emerges from shared vulnerability rather than from romance or rebellion. It becomes a charged moment that underscores their mutual disillusionment with the regime.

Later, when their son reminds Antonietta of the newspaper clippings she will collect from the parade, she shows a look of slight indifference. The moment hints that the upcoming pageantry no longer holds the same meaning for her. It marks a shift toward a more private, conflicted stance.

Soon after their intimate encounter, Antonietta's family returns home and Gabriele is arrested. The abrupt change underscores the regime's reach and the price of dissent. The couple's moment of privacy is abruptly crushed by political enforcement.

Gabriele is escorted by fascist policemen as he is led from the complex. The personal cost of his anti-fascist stance becomes tangible as he is removed from the community. The arrest signifies the end of their secret connection.

Antonietta sits by the window and reads a book that Gabriele has given her, The Three Musketeers. The act keeps a memory of their bond alive even as her lover is gone. It hints at a future where she might revisit this forbidden connection only in memory.

She watches as her lover leaves the complex, escorted by fascist policemen, a stark image of the price of defying the regime. He disappears into the night as the building's lights flicker. The scene closes with her turning off the light and returning to bed.

Back inside, her husband waits for their seventh child, whom he wants to name Adolfo. The home remains under patriarchal control, and the future seems to promise more of the same. Antonietta retreats to sleep, carrying the weight of a forbidden love and a repressed world.