There's Still Tomorrow

A box office sensation in Italy, There’s Still Tomorrow looks back to yesteryear. It’s styled to evoke the neo-realist cinema that put Italian films on the map in the 1940s, which is when this is set. Shot in black and white and focussing on the unending labours of a working class wife, mother, and daughter in law (played by writer-director Paola Cortellesi), the film at first seems like a parody; the sheer weight of the sexist drudgery Delia suffers seems like a joke. (And it is: Cortellesi has a wicked appreciation for black comedy.) Scenes of domestic abuse are rendered as ritualized modern dance, a risky conceit that pays off. But when her teenage daughter Marcella announces she’s soon to be engaged to a handsome young man from an upwardly mobile family the film turns to a more subtle register. By the end, we’re completely immersed in the bitter emotional truths of this powerful feminist melodrama.

A thoughtful, emotionally satisfying, immensely entertaining one-off, with an ending that smartly dynamites our expectations.

Jonathan Romney, Financial Times

Heart-wrenching and uplifting.

Elisabetta Povoledo, New York Times

Hidden in this bittersweet narrative is a tale of unexpected empowerment. For the film’s big point is that the patriarchy isn’t in the past. Through its dark satire of 1940s subjugation, it also smartly spotlights the enduring issue of Italian domestic violence. Think of it as Delia’s chance to slap back.

Kate Stables, Sight & Sound