There is still tomorrow: what is the film phenomenon that shook Italy worth? (critical)
With this black and white feminist film that shocked Italians, Paola Cortellesi paints the portrait of a woman at the dawn of a revolution.
In Italy, the feminist figure of 2023 is not Margot Robbie's Barbie. Because with his first feature film This is ancora domani, from its original title, actress and director Paola Cortellesi hit the mark last October to the point of topping the Italian box office, ahead of Greta Gerwig. A slap. Both figuratively and literally. Because it is with a huge slap in the face that the film opens: the one that Délia takes, every day when she wakes up, by her authoritarian and violent husband, before going about her business as a mother (she is now only that in the eyes of the world) in post-war Italy. A gesture which immediately sets the tone of the story: denouncing domestic violence through the absurd, ridiculing the brutality so as to retain only its influence, to the point of transforming a scene of aggression into a tango for two.
Far from being revolutionary in its message, the film nevertheless surprises with its mischievous execution. There is still tomorrow plays with his spectator, makes him go crazy, takes him this way, then that way, until he makes him believe that the prospect of Délia's emancipation will happen in a very precise way. However, the much-desired escape is not the one suspected and the outcome offers a stunning second reading of the character's feminist awakening. By invoking the past, the Italian director has created a poignant and current film that will resonate with every woman, regardless of generation.
By Paola Cortellesi. With Paola Cortellesi, Valerio Mastandrea, Romana Maggiora Vergano… Duration 1h58. Released March 13, 2024
