‘There’s Still Tomorrow’: Rome Review

Dir: Paola Cortellesi. Italy. 2023. 118mins

The possibility of change in post-war Italy is conveyed through the domestic struggles of one Roman housewife in There’s Still Tomorrow. Actor turned director Paola Cortellesi’s ambitious, big-hearted directorial debut feature echoes the Neo-realist classics of the period, showcasing a central character who might once have been played by Anna Magnani or Sophia Loren. An unashamed, old-fashioned melodrama develops into a more considered tale of small victories on the road to female empowerment. The opening night gala of the Rome Film Festival should attract further festival interest and the attention of domestic audiences when it is released in Italy on October 26. 

A considered tale of small victories on the road to female empowerment

A singer and actor, Cortellesi has a string of David Di Donatello nominations to her credit, including for The Last Will Be Last (2016) and Like A Cat On A Highway (2018). Her black and white feature is set in a Rome filled with signs of post-war revival. People tolerate the long queues outside poorly stocked shops but the open air markets are bustling again, American G.I.s patrol the streets and change is in the air.

Yet everything remains the same for Delia (played by Cortellesi herself) who lives with her boorish, controlling husband Ivano (Valerio Mastrandrea) and their three children. She is expected to cook, clean, raise the kids, look after her elderly, bedridden father-in-law and contribute as much as possible to the household finances from a range of odd jobs. Ivano takes every opportunity to disparage and belittle her. We first see the couple greeting a new day as Ivano reaches across their bed to slap her face.

Friends and family know what is happening in this household, but nobody intervenes. The film constantly underlines the tyranny of a patriarchal society where men decide everything and women are expected to stay silent. Ivano is lazy, penny-pinching and violent, with a stern-faced Mastandrea playing his monstrous entitlement to the hilt. His plan for daughter Marcella (Romana Maggiora Vergano) is a profitable marriage rather than wasting the cost of an education on a girl. When Marcella catches the eye of charming, well-mannered Giulio (Francesco Centorame) and his middle-class family, it seems a dream match. 

Delia is sustained by hopes of a better future for her daughter and the next generation. She is faced with constant reminders of how different her life might have been, including infrequent encounters with mechanic Nino (Vinicio Marchioni) who considers her the true love that got away. The film starts to build momentum as Delia finally plots to take charge of her own destiny.

Uneven in places, There’s Still Tomorrow is a sentimental tale of suffering and self-sacrifice but Cortellesi executes it with style. The domestic violence meted out by Ivano is, at times, choreographed into a grotesque and startling dance. The more over-blown romantic moments are undercut by a dry humour. As Delia shares the rare gift of American chocolate with Nino, the camera swoon and swirls around them in a 360 degree pan before they both smile, revealing teeth smeared with chocolate.

There is a certain swagger in Cortellesi’s use of the camera, from slow-motion moments to overhead shots capturing the cramped family sleeping arrangements. There is also something Scorsese-like in the use of an eclectic soundtrack that ranges across heart tugging ballads from Achille Togliani and Lucio Dalla to hip hop and rap numbers including B.O.B by outkast And, in a film that often seems predictable and novelletish, Cortellesi even manages to wrong foot the viewer with an ending in which Delia’s actions reflect a national turning point and historic advance in women’s rights.