It's what the Italians call a caso, a social phenomenon. With almost 5.5 million tickets sold since the end of October 2023, There's Still Tomorrow has beaten record after record, all while bringing domestic violence to the forefront of public debate in Italy. This hit film is the first directed by Paola Cortellesi, who is also its lead actress and co-writer. While visiting Paris for the film's French release, the 50-year-old filmmaker from Rome, who earned her stripes in popular comedy, told Le Monde about this impressive success's creation.

Three years ago, I read my daughter a book on the history of women's rights. She was eight and a half, and her disbelief moved me. I wanted to direct a film on this very contemporary theme, by setting it in a period when domestic violence was perceived as normal: At the time, no one would cry foul or call it a scandal. I thought it would be a good idea to set the film in 1946, when women in Italy obtained the right to vote. Today, we take it for granted, but in those days, it was a fundamental step forward.

It's fiction, but it draws on the memories of my mother and grandmother. They didn't suffer violence themselves, but in the working-class neighborhood where they lived in Rome, they heard people talk about it in a trivial way, without the tragic dimension that such stories deserve. This theme has always been important to me, and I was talking about it in my shows long before #MeToo, which in Italy was limited to a debate on sexual assault in the workplace. Our country has an average of one femicide every 72 hours: We can't take it anymore! A minority of men still won't take no for an answer. Unfortunately, this archaic mentality cuts across social classes and generations.

No, it just seemed natural. As an actress and screenwriter, my greatest successes were in the tradition of Italian comedy – films by Risi, Monicelli or Scola, that tackled tough subjects with humor – or in so-called "pink" neorealism, where tragedy is tinged with levity. The cinema I believe in blends registers. This is the case here too: I wanted the tension to ease at times. I felt it was important to make fun of the protagonist's husband and father-in-law. Villains are often fascinating in cinema; when they're not using their appalling violence, they're just stupid, evil and ridiculous. Hats off to my actors: Alternating tragedy and satire, as they did, is never easy.

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