Paola Cortellesi Talks 1940s Italy Women’s Rights Drama ‘There’s Still Tomorrow’ – Rome Film Festival
19.10.2023 - 01:13
/ deadline.com
Italian actress and screenwriter Paola Cortellesi’s directorial feature debut There’s Still Tomorrow (C’è Ancora Domani) opened the 18th Rome Film Festival on Wednesday evening.
Set in the lead up to Italy’s historic post-World War Two institutional referendum on June 2, 1946, in which women were allowed to vote for the first time, the quirky black-and-white work mixes drama with comedy elements, and a period feel with modern music tracks.
Cortellesi stars as protagonist Delia, a downtrodden Rome housewife run ragged by her violent husband (Valerio Mastandrea) and unruly young sons as she juggles odd jobs in between cooking, cleaning as and caring for her misogynist bedridden father-in-law.
In the backdrop, she frets over what the future holds for her teenage daughter who has fallen for a local boy with a possessive streak.
The feature marks a departure for Cortellesi, who is a household name in Italy, best known as a singer and comic actress, with credits including hit comedies such as Do You Know Claudia?, Piano, Sola, Escort in Love and the Like a Cat on a Highway franchise.
Inspiration for There’s Still Tomorrow came two years ago as Cortellesi was reading her young daughter a children’s book recounting the evolution of women’s rights.
“She was incredulous about the stories of how women were treated in the past. At first, I was relieved because I thought it was a sign that times had changed. Then, I started thinking, if she’s not aware, teenage girls probably don’t know about it either,” she says.
The actress, who has co-written a number of features in which she has starred, got together with long-time collaborators Furio Andreotti and Giulia Calenda to write a film capturing the reality of ordinary women back in