three generations of Italian women confide why the film “There is still tomorrow” shook the whole country

A film for history. After its success in Italy, There is still tomorrowthe film of Paola Cortellesi, released in French cinemas on Wednesday March 13. The story takes place at Rome, just after World War II. Delia, the main character, tries to free herself from an abusive husband.

Despite the harshness of the subject and although the film is in black and white, the event film attracted more than 5 million spectators, thus outstripping barbie at the top of the box office. The main actress and director Paola Cortellesi, first known as a comedian in Italy, manages to inject a lot of lightness. A scenario in which many Italian women recognized themselves, whatever their generation, even though It’s ancora domani was still in theaters when Italian news was marked by a highly publicized feminicide, that of Giulia Cecchetin, 22 years old.

“It tells reality”

Faced with the shock caused by this film in Italian society, franceinfo brought together three women, from different generations and who define themselves as feminists: Luciana Romoli, from all the fights, who was in the resistance in her adolescence, Isabelle Colin, teacher, who has lived in Italy for more than 30 years, and his daughter Charlotte Marincola, Franco-Italian born in Rome, who works in the Rai archives department.

Luciana was 15 years old at the end of the war. “I liked the film because it tells reality,” says this 93-year-old woman, who remembers these families of violent brothers and husbands, like that of Delia, the heroine of the feature film.

A character who also moved millions of spectators in theaters, including Isabelle, 50 years old: “Everyone went out with their handkerchiefs and dabbed their eyes”, she remembers. This was also the case for his daughter, Charlotte, 26, who also saw the shock wave. “Grandmothers, neighbors who tell me, ‘I recognized myself in this film’”, assures the 26-year-old young woman.

A film that echoes reality in Italy

While the face of the housewife, Delia, appeared on the big screen, that of the student Giulia Cecchetin, killed by her ex-boyfriend, made the headlines. “There is something similar between the two stories… They are common stories and we see something that was not as clear before,” Charlotte explains.

These last months perhaps mark the end of a silence, against which Luciana, in all the demonstrations, has fought for a long time. “We have held dozens of meetings to discuss with the police commissioner in working-class neighborhoods to say that when a woman denounces a man, he must be arrested immediately,” remembers the nonagenarian. But breaking the silence is not easy in Italy, says Isabelle: “We are going to touch on the intimate, on something that concerns the private sphere. I have the impression that we have a lot more difficulty getting that out of the closet here, and then we have had years of ‘ Berlusconism’ which have done harm to women’s bodies”.

The film also tells the story of the day women voted for the first time in Italy, June 2, 1946. “The day before, my mother cried with joy all night at the idea of ​​going to vote”recalls Luciana, for whom it is another form of emancipation.

About 80 years later, the question of feminism has infused society: “IThere are also many more men who question themselves, I find that it is something much more collective, in a sense and democratic.” assures Charlotte. Those who go to see the film will notice that lipstick is eminently political.