Italian comedian and writer Paola Cortellesi uses silliness to cut through the horror of domestic abuse in her hit directorial debut There's Still Tomorrow. Photo: Wildside / Vision Distribution
Domestic violence is no laughing matter, but humour can help guide audiences through such otherwise unacceptable subjects, Italian comedian and writer Paola Cortellesi says.
In her directorial debut There's Still Tomorrow, a 1940s husband and wife do jazzy dance moves to a contemporary love song as he physically attacks her.
While it is hard to watch this "dance of the blows", Cortellesi tells Susie Ferguson, it gets to the heart of the problem of domestic abuse.
"[The scene] depicts a kind of ritual that has been happening in this woman's life for a long time. A cycle repeating again and again ... It's something weird but all of this film is weird."
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Filmed in black-and-white, Cortellesi's movie takes audiences into Roman life in 1946 - the historic year Italian women got the vote.
This was a time when, without financial independence, Italian women were often "prisoners" in abusive marriages, expected to sacrifice their own lives and take care of large families.
In 1940s Italy, husbands physically abusing their wives was considered "completely and totally normal", Cortellesi says.
Delia - the character she plays in There's Still Tomorrow - is a working-class mother-of-three who, having been taught she is worthless, sometimes justifies suffering daily violence and humiliation from her husband Ivano (Valerio Mastandrea).
At the start of the film, Delia's only apparent desire is for her teenage daughter Marcella (Romana Maggiora Vergano) to marry a boy from a good family, Cortellesi says.
But after she realises Marcella might be about to fall into the same cycle of male domination and abuse that she has endured, a personal revolution is ignited.
Too often, women justify their partner's violence because they feel ashamed of speaking out, Cortellesi says.
For her, the greatest gift of releasing There's Still Tomorrow is getting people talking about a problem that still causes a lot of suffering around the world, including here in Aotearoa.
At publicity screenings, people stood up and spoke about how it reflected their own suffering, having once cowered in a bedroom listening to their mother being abused, or escaped living as a 'Delia'.
"If someone can find the courage to denounce [their abuser] or take her life into her own hands and do something, this is my greatest goal."
Happy and proud that more than 5.5 million Italians have seen There's Still Tomorrow, Cortellesi is especially heartened that at least half of those were men.
"This isn't a film against men - on the contrary. It's an invitation to walk together."
Where to get help
Women's Refuge:(0800 733 843
It's Not OK 0800 456 450
Shine: 0508 744 633
Victim Support: 0800 842 846
HELP Call 24/7 (Auckland): 09 623 1700, (Wellington): 04 801 6655 - push 0 at the menu
The National Network of Family Violence Services NZ has information on specialist family violence agencies.
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