There’s Still Tomorrow review – empowering tragicomedy about an abused wife in postwar Rome

A black-and-white, neorealist-inspired tragicomic melodrama about an abused wife in post-second world war Rome, There’s Still Tomorrow has been a smash hit in Italy (it topped the box office in 2023). While the Italian success was in part due to the profile of director, star and national treasure Paola Cortellesi, who plays put-upon mum of three Delia, the film’s emotional heft, bittersweet comedy and tone of hard-bitten romance could appeal to UK fans of Elena Ferrante’s sagas.

Cortellesi, who cut her teeth as a sketch show comedian, finds humour in tragedy: domestic abuse, poverty, disappointment. It doesn’t always work – positioning spousal violence for lols is a fairly bold directorial gamble – but Cortellesi’s charisma and the message of empowerment carry the film.

• In UK and Irish cinemas now