There's Still Tomorrow

I NEGLECTED TO MENTION THE FINE PERFORMANCES GIVEN BY THE OTHER SUPPORTING PERFORMERS: ESPECIALLY BY ROMANA MAGGIORA VERGANO, WHO HAS TO NAVIGATE FROM PLAYING A CHARACTER WHO IS ORIGINALLY DISDAINFUL TO HER MOTHER (AT ONE POINT SHE TELLS DELIA THAT SHE WOUD "RATHER COMMIT SUICIDE THAN BE LIKE YOU") BUT WHO THEN BECOMES A BIG HELPER TO HER MOTHER. WE SEE THE SAME TRANSITION IN FRANCESCO CENTORAME'S PORTRAYAL OF GUILIO WHEN HE GOES FROM PLAYING A CHARMING, SELF-EFFACING MAN TO PLAYING A CONNIVING, CONTROLLING POTENTIAL ABUSER (AND THE SOFT-SPOKEN TONE THAT MR. CENTORAME USES WHEN WE SEE HIM CHANGE MAKES HIM SEEM EVEN MORE MENACING THAN THE BOMBASTIC IVANO). THE ACTORS & ACTRESSES IN THIS FILM ALSO CONVEY THEIR CHARACTERS' EMOTIONS IN THEIR EXPRESSIONS JUST AS CONVINCINGLY AS THEY DO IN THEIR LINES. WE SEE THAT AT ITS PEAK IN THE FINAL SCENE WHERE THE LOOK OF TRIUMPH THAT MS. CORTELLESSI EXPRESSES WHEN DELIA LOOKS AT IVANO SHOWS US THAT DELIA HAS FOUND A WAY TO LIBERATE HERSELF FROM IVANO, & THE SHEEPISH EXPRESSION ON MR. MASTANDREA'S FACE CONVEYS IVANO'S FEELING OF DEFEAT. THE CREDIT FOR THAT MUST ALSO GO TO MS. CORTELESSI'S DIRECTION & TO THE CINEMATOGRAPHY BY DAVIDE LEONE & THE EDITING BY VALENTINA MARIANI. THE SENSE OF THE INSULAR ATMOSPHERE OF DELIA'S WORLD WAS ALSO ENHANCED BY THE MOODY MUSIC BY LELE MARCHITELLI & THE DECISION TO HAVE MOST OF THE CHARACTERS' DIALOGUE SPOKEN IN THE ROMANESCO DIALOGUE RATHER THAN IN STANDARD ITALIAN. I JUST HOPE THAT ALL OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED PEOPLE ARE REMEMBERED BY NEXT YEAR'S OSCAR NOMINATORS!

AS SOON AS WE SEE THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THIS FILM, DELIA (PAOLA CORTELLESSI) GET SLAPPED IN THE FACE BY HER HUSBAND, IVANO (VALERIO MASTANDREA) FOR SAYING "GOOD MORNING" TO HIM, WE REALIZE THAT WE ARE GOING TO SEE A BRUTALLY HONST DEPICTION OF WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE FOR WOMEN IN POST-WORLD WAR II ITALY (AND IS STILL GOING ON TODAY IN PATRIARCHAL DICTATORSHIPS LIKE IRAN & AFGHANISTAN & SAUDI ARABIA). HOWEVER, DIRECTOR PAOLA CORTELLESSI SUCCEEDS IN GIVING US EVEN MORE THAN THAT. SHE BRILLIANTLY CAPTURES THE ESSENCE OF THE NEO-REALIST DRAMAS OF VITTORIO DE SICA & ROBERTO ROSSELLINI BY FILMING IT IN BLACK & WHITE, & BY MAKING THE WOMAN'S ORDEAL THE FOCUS OF THE STORY, SHE ALSO SUCCEEDS IN EXPANDING THE FEMINIST VIEWPOINT THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN PIONEERED BY MALE ITALIAN FILMMAKERS LIKE PIER PAOLO PASOLINI IN "MAMA ROMA" & ETTORE SCOLA IN "A SPECIAL DAY" & MR. DE SICA IN "A BRIEF VACATION.," AND ALSO ECHOES THE MODERN DAY SENSIBILITY THAT WE SAW IN PAYAL KAPADIA 'S EQUALLY BRILLIANT "ALL THE LIGHT THAT YOU CAN IMAGINE." AND WHAT MAKES THIS FILM EVEN MORE REMARKABLE IS THAT MS. CORTELLESSI BRILLIANTLY DIRECTS HERSELF IN THE LEAD ROLE OF DELIA, & EVEN WROTE THE SCREENPLAY, THIS PUTS HER IN THE SAME IMPRESSIVE CATEGORY OF FEMALE DIRECTORS WHO DIRECTED THEMSELVES IN FILMS, SUCH AS IDA LUPINO IN "THE BIGAMIST" & BARBRA STREISAND IN "YENTL" & "THE PRINCE OF TIDES." MS. CORTELLESSI ALSO DREW AMAZING PERFORMANCES FROM HER CO-STARS, WHICH WASN'T ALWAYS EASY SINCE SEVERAL OF THEM HAD TO DISPLAY UNSYMPATHETIC SIDES. THIS WAS PARTICULARLY TRUE OF MR. MASTANDREA, WHO HAD TO CONSTANTLY CONVEY HIS CHARACTER'S BRUTALITY - & OFTEN AT JUST A MOMENT'S NOTICE. THIS WAS PARTICULARLY TRUE IN THE SCENE WHEN HE GOES FROM REACTING WITH PLEASURE AT THE NEWS OF THEIR DAUGHTER, MARCELLA (ROMANA MAGGIORA VERGANO) BECOMING ENGAGED TO HER BOYFRIEND, GUILIO, TO BECOME ENRAGED IN A FIT OF PARANOIA WHEN DELIA GIVES CHOCOLATE TO THEIR SONS, & TELLS HIM THAT SHE RECEIVED IT FROM AN AMERICAN SOLDIER WHO WAS HANDING IT OUT TO PASSERS-BY . WHEN WE SEE HOW HE REACTS TO HER STORY, WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE HOW MUCH WORSE HE WOULD HAVE REACTED IF HE KNEW THAT SHE HAD RECEIVED IT FROM AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN SOLDIER, WILLIAM, WHO GAVE IT TO HER AS A WAY OF THANKING HER FOR FINDING A PHOTOGRAPH OF HIS FAMILY. AND THE TENDERNESS DISPLAYED BY YONV JOSEPH AS WILLIAM, & ALSO BY VINICIO MARCHIONI AS HER EX-BOYFRIEND, NINO, PROVIDE SUCH A WELCOME RELIEF FROM THE ABUSE SHE RECEIVES FROM IVANO. THIS WAS PARTICULARLY TRUE IN THE SCENE WHERE WE SEE THEM SHARING A TREAT. MS. CORTELLESSI FIRST SHOWS US A TWO-SHOT OF THEIR TWO HEADS, & THEN PANS AROUND TO GIVE US A CLOSE-UP OF DELIA'S FACE WHEN SHE'S CHEWING THE TREAT, & WE EXPEREIENCE THE SAME SENSE OF SENSUOUSNESS THAT WE SAW IN THE FAMOUS CIGARETTE SCENE BETWEEN BETTE DAVIS & PAUL HENRIED IN "NOW VOYAGER."