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“There's Still Tomorrow” (2023) by Paola Cortellesi – Review

The film is Paola Cortellesi's directorial debut

“There's Still Tomorrow” (2023): This film is a joy to behold.

There are many reasons to go to the cinema. Sometimes it is the desire to live a love story, other times it is the search for escape from the facts of everyday life, still other times the simple reason to keep up with the seriality of American blockbusters. A reason to go to the cinema is also to see something beautiful, made with care, and strongly desired in the details, those that make the difference. An excellent opportunity to leave the house, pay for a ticket and stay in the dark for two hours with strangers is “There's Still Tomorrow”, by Paola Cortellesi.

There's still tomorrow

The directorial debut of Cortellesi, a long-standing comedian on Italian television, is not a brilliant comedy, and it is not even a comedy film carried forward by the characters and their catchphrases. Rather, it is a current film, even if it tells a story from times gone by, and it is also, surprisingly, a box office success. The film has countless merits. “There's Still Tomorrow” intelligently stages a story, using the life of Delia - played by Cortellesi herself - to tell a much broader story.

The spectator is taken through the streets of Rome in 1946, with American soldiers still guarding the intersections, in the daily life of a village, and when he thinks he has arrived at his destination, he discovers that he is off the road, on the first stage of a more long and eminent.

More than anything, this is a film about women. There are many female characters who stand out from the background, including the strong-willed daughter Marcella and the sweet friend Marisa, brought to the stage by Romana Maggiora Vergano and Emanuela Fanelli.

Men and women

The protagonist is a woman like many others, like many in the post-war period. Delia has a life outside the home, she works and meets friends and acquaintances, she goes shopping and smiles. And then she has another life inside the house, where the dark shadow of her husband holds her, where there are secrets, where the worst truths are silenced and the best ones forced into silence.

Cortellesi demonstrates talent behind the camera, finding new solutions to old problems, such as that of a husband who beats his wife. Filming a scene like this can be done in many ways, but the new director finds her own. If the fear of her and her children can be perceived in the silences, the violence brought to the scene in a non-trivial way, also thanks to the help of another sense in addition to sight.

The husband, personified by Valerio Mastrandrea, is a man like some post-war men: gloomy, lifeless, marked by life. A difficult character, played with great skill, stripped of mannerisms, he appears like an automaton, and perhaps he is.

A feast for the eyes

On top of all this, “There's Still Tomorrow” is a joy to behold.

When the film begins, the transition from the outside world, in color, to the one projected on the screen, which has none, is anything but traumatic. The soft lights welcome the viewer, who feels at home, in a familiar place.

The film is made in grayscale - a declared homage to Italian neorealism - and this choice is dictated by the need to describe a black and white Italy, that of the post-war period, as it was codified by the great directors of our tradition.

Italian tradition

For many, both for those who lived them and those who saw them told, there were no colors in those years. Memories have faded, desaturated in a historical memory that was forged through the works of , Antonioni, Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti and Fellini.

Even in the conclusion, where director Cortellesi once again proves inspired, there is a scene between mother and daughter, which could be a tribute to the ending of a great film, and is also a way of concluding a high-level film.

The tradition of a certain Italian cinema has ensured that fiction has affected reality which, filtered through images that have been seen countless times, is returned through black and white fairy tales.

The image, protagonist of cinema

We often forget the peculiarity of cinema, its specific dimension, which distinguishes it from other media: the image.

Of course, now films are almost equaled in visual quality by TV or streaming products, which however offer watered-down, stretched and lengthened content aiming to create a sense of familiarity, which ultimately convinces the viewer to stay in front of the screen. But would these be able to bring people into the theaters? I do not think so.

To create a great work of narration, the quality of the writing is a fundamental requirement. It's true for a book, it's true for a film. What makes an audiovisual product unique is what can be seen. And this beautiful black and white of “There's Still Tomorrow”, it must be said, is worth the price of the ticket.

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