“Confusing love with possession is something that sometimes resists. This is what is still done today, men, including young people, do not accept refusal and respond with violence…“
Paola Cortellesi is the director of the film There is still tomorrow, which is enjoying great success in the country of the Boot (in 2023, the film achieved more theatrical admissions than Barbie by Greta Gerwing or even Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan). It tells the story of Délia, a woman under the influence of her violent husband. She works several jobs and her rare moments of respite are those with her friend. However, one day a mysterious letter arrives and a better future finally seems possible.
Women’s rights in Italy
Through this film, the director carries a committed message to denounce domestic violence and the weight of patriarchy in Italy. The director is aware that her film could shake up the Italians: “In Italy, this certainly sparked conversations in the room and not just among the oldest, but rather from generation to generation” notes Paola Cortellesi.
She regrets that mentalities are not changing: “each generation feeds on the old and keeps things passed down by its own family“.”Mentality does not evolve as quickly and it takes generations to change these mentalities“, she confides, despite considerable progress concerning women’s rights now enshrined in the Italian Constitution. Despite the battles fought, there are still many inequalities: “We have different salaries, we have fewer women in positions positions of power…” she explains.
The director deplores the fact that many women are still financially dependent on their spouse. There are still too many of them who do not have a bank account in their name: “it seems absurd to us, but it is something that exists and which must be completely eradicated, otherwise there will never be any progress“.
Denounce through the big screen
Before becoming a director, Paola Cortellesi was a television author. This is his longest professional experience. She remembers being a victim of sexism herself, and recounts a painful situation she experienced: “I was sitting at a table and there were only men around. I asked a question and offered a solution. The others responded to my male colleagues by looking them straight in the eye and completely ignoring me as if I were transparent“.
This situation that she experienced inspired the name of her first film “Excuse me if I exist” for which she was a screenwriter. “Luckily, I was not confronted with harassment or violence in my professional career but these are things that affected me in another way“, confides the director. All these events gave her the courage to speak for others.