There's Still Tomorrow (ST. ALi Italian Film Festival 2024) - Film Review

Post

Subscribe

Thu 19 Sep 2024 - Wed 23 Oct 2024

Rome, 1946. Delia is a mother, nurse, umbrella assembler, repairer of clothes, housekeeper and abused wife. The abused bit becomes apparent when Delia's husband wakes up and casually and forcefully slaps Delia across the face. So begins There's Still Tomorrow, the directorial debut from Italian actress Paola Cortellesi, who also stars in the lead role, and who has created an absorbing, quirky and dazzlingly beautiful neorealist drama.



The setting is a working-class neighbourhood of central Rome. The war is over but Italy's hangover, in the form of American GIs on the streets and poorly stocked grocery stores, remains. Delia presides over a rowdy household of an older daughter, two young sons, a bed-ridden father-in-law and husband Ivano (Valerio Mastandrea). Ivano is a horrid and bitter man. He trudges off to work each day and spends nights out drinking and playing cards with his buddies. In between, Ivano treats Delia like a slave, savagely beating her for the slightest indiscretion, real or imagined.

Lacking any way out, Delia takes the beatings and continues on. She wakes early, prepares breakfast, sends her family off and then odd-jobs her way across Rome. She administers medicine to the patriarch of a well-off family. She works in an umbrella shop. She mends clothes. She does the laundry of another wealthy family. During all of this, Delia experiences slights and indignities, from learning that a trainee umbrella maker will be paid more than her (because he is a man) to being forced to lug a laundry basket upstairs because servants are not permitted in the lift.

Sometimes there are interludes. Delia's best friend works at the market and always has time for a chat. Delia also stops to talk with a mechanic, obviously a long-lost flame, who makes overtures toward her which are vague at first but later on in the film more serious. Another recurring character is an American GI, who watches out for Delia to pass by every day, noting the ever-increasing bruises on her body.

The major light in Delia's life is the impending marriage of daughter Marcella to the handsome son of upper-class cafe owners. Delia sees the marriage as a way out for her daughter. But the sizeable class difference between Marcella and her fiancee means that the first meeting between the two families proves disastrous, so much so that it leads Delia on a path to change her circumstances.

Gorgeously shot in black and white, There's Still Tomorrow comments on domestic violence and women's subjugation, not only in the male-dominated Italy of the 1940s but more broadly, its ideas about the treatment of women still relevant in today's world. The acting in the film is uniformly excellent, the highlight Paola Cortellesi, whose facial expressions and constant motion through the streets of Rome are hard to look away from.

There is a sharp twist in the tail of There's Still Tomorrow, a swerve which may not be to everyone's satisfaction. But the climax's pivot is a bold stroke and enlivens the preceding story more than obvious endings would have. There's Still Tomorrow is fine storytelling, a rich and rewarding film. A highlight of this year's Italian Film Festival.

There's Still Tomorrow is playing nationally as part of the ST. ALi Italian Film Festival 2024. Find information on session times, locations and tickets on the festival's official website .

%wnsydney
%wnadelaide
%wncanberra
%wnmelbourne
%wnbrisbane
%wnperth
%wngoldcoast
#arts_culture
#foreign_films
#film_festival
#entertainment
#performing_arts
#community
#nightlife
#date_night
#film_tv_reviews
#cinema