Details

Release year: 1977

Storyline

Two neighbors, a persecuted journalist and a resigned housewife, meet during Hitler's visit to Italy in May 1938.

Top credits

Directors

Ettore Scola

Writers

Cast

Sophia Loren — Antonietta Taberi
Marcello Mastroianni — Gabriele
John Vernon — Emanuele Taberi
Françoise Berd — Concierge

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Awards

0 wins & 2 nominations

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Did you know

• Marcello Mastroianni's character, Gabriele, is partially based on Nunzio Filogamo, an Italian radio broadcaster and presenter. During the 1930s, Filogamo was persecuted by the Fascist regime for his homosexuality, but he was so popular with the Italian people that the government couldn't fire him or deport him. Instead, Filogamo was required to carry a medical card stating that he was not a homosexual (as Gabriele mentions he is required to do in the film).

• Sophia Loren's younger sister Maria Scicolone was married to Benito Mussolini's son Romano Mussolini from 1962 to 1971. Maria and Romano's daughter Alessandra Mussolini plays Maria Luisa, one of the daughters of her aunt's (Sophia Loren) character Antonietta.

• The song heard in the background for most of the latter part of the film is the "Horst Wessel Lied" which translates into "Horst Wessel Song". This was the official anthem of the Nazi party 1930-1945. In 1933 this song became a second National Anthem for Germany. The song is banned in both Germany and Austria since the end of the Second World War.