There is still tomorrow ****
In 1946, in a Rome which is struggling to recover from the war, Délia lives under the influence of a husband who humiliates and rapes her on a daily basis. Confined in the basement where the whole family lives, her life is limited to cleaning, cooking, washing, taking care of her three children and her unbearable father-in-law. The only times she manages to escape are when she goes shopping or smokes a cigarette in secret with her friend Marisa. She has put her dreams away in a drawer, notably that of a secret love who suggests she change her life and leave everything behind. All she wants is for her daughter Marcella to be better married and happier than her. However, in Délia's life, there is a tomorrow. Tomorrow things could change. Will have to change. In any case, this is what a mysterious letter promises her that she is careful not to share with her husband Ivano and the content of which we will only know at the very end of the film.
With her first feature film as a director, actress and television woman Paola Cortellesi achieves a perfect marriage between popular cinema and activist film.
The Italian public was not mistaken and made It’s ancora domani the biggest box office success in 2023. Shot in black and white, this comedy has fun using the codes of post-war Italian cinema (the homages to Vittorio de Sica are legion), both to to claim the heritage with pride but also to divert them, in particular by integrating contemporary rock into its soundtrack, a way of emphasizing the modernity of its main character and of building bridges between these 40s and today where it is appropriate to continue working towards a better tomorrow. It’s ancora domani is a political film, resolutely feminist, inclusive and joyful. A must see. -ER
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**** Directed by Paola Cortellesi. With Paola Cortellesi, Valerio Mastandrea, Romana Maggiora Vergano – 118'.
female dogs of lives ***
In female dogs of lifea black and Belgian canine comedy by Xavier Seron (I'm killing myself saying it), Arieh Worthalter plays Franck, a guard in a supermarket who is squatting at his sister's house and is about to ruin the love story of his life because of his dog Perdita. His destiny as a quiet loser intersects with that of Tom and Greta, through this film with sketches all linked by dogs, a city (Brussels) and a scathing humor which mocks our postmodern anxieties, stirring up our fears of loving, of displeasing or to get attached. “I love Xavier's cinema, what strikes me about him is how much we can laugh at our anxieties, how much his cinema pushes the cursors of our neuroses. I love how it looks at our little daily struggles with ourselves. And then I'm Belgian, I like being part of Belgian cinema”, sums up the actor with now international stature after the coronation of Goldman trial by Cédric Kahn which earned him a César and a Magritte for best actor at the age of 38, revealing him to the general public in the role of far-left activist Pierre Goldman.
Hypnotic green eyes and a face without borders, a childhood in Antwerp then studies in Brussels (which he calls “his city” and where we often see him hurtling down on his bike), Arieh Worthalter cherishes his “multiple identities” which go from Poland to Ukraine or Tunisia. He speaks five languages (including Hebrew) and his female equivalent could be the polyglot Flemish actress Veerle Baetens. “Our languages are our riches. I am also aware that there has been a craze for the Belgian actor over the last fifteen years”, he says modestly, but we now know he is capable of playing everything (the inclusive father in Girl by Lukas Dhont, the loving husband in Hold me strong by Mathieu Amalric, the hold in With a beating heart facing Judith Chemla) and above all our fragilities. “If I try to act like a virile guy in life, it doesn't work, I very quickly look stupid. I like playing with that. My job is to open up our fragilities, to show the fragility of the world, the fractures and the places where we are on one knee to the ground. Anything that is superheroes and superpowers doesn't interest me, that's not my entry point into cinema. I like actors and actresses who open worlds to us and change paradigms. I want to tell stories in new ways, stripped of the vestiges of patriarchy.“We are ready to follow him. -J.G.
*** Directed by Xavier Seron. With Jean-Jacques Rausin, Aurora Marion, Arieh Worthalter – 92'.
Dream Scenario ***
Professor of evolutionary biology, Paul Matthews is a transparent man. He is no more interested in his family circle than in publishing houses to publish his research. Until the day he unwittingly sneaks into people's dreams. He is content to be present there, without doing anything, but the phenomenon becomes viral and the little teacher gains notoriety which will quickly surpass him. It is when he begins to appear in nightmares that his existence will become one. In the age of geolocation, facial recognition, omnipotent social networks and virtual Big Brother, the last place where our intimate can take refuge is our dreams.
Kristoffer Borgli explodes this last rampart in Dream Scenario. Through the story he imagines, he questions modernity with the intelligence of Spike Jonze of Her or Being John Malkovich. The humor is grating and cruel, but the observation is relevant: our dreams risk becoming the playground of unscrupulous designers. Unrecognizable in the role of Paul Matthews, Nicolas Cage finds here one of his best roles. -ER
*** Directed by Kristoffer Borgli. With Nicolas Cage, Lily Bird, Julianne Nicholson – 102'.
Mars Express ***
In the year 2200, as Earth became unbreathable, privileged humans were given the opportunity to inhabit Noctis, the glass-enclosed capital of the planet Mars. Responsible for investigating the disappearance of a student and flanked by an android colleague, a private detective prepares to delve into the corrupt bowels of the city. Building on the success of the series Lastman (an animated prequel to a fighting comic created by Bastien Vivès and Balak), Jérémie Périn tackles the animated science fiction film for adults but without giving in to the commercial standards of the genre. “The challenge was to use the classic SF codes which range from 2001: A Space Odyssey has Robocop by infusing it with modernity. The heroine is an alcoholic woman, which is quite frowned upon. We put up with that in hard-boiled thrillers with male heroes, less so with a woman. Yet SF is full of emancipated heroines, from Ripley in Alien to Sarah Connor in Terminator or even in Ghost In The Shell,” he told us on the sidelines of the recent Anima festival. Abundant and contemporary, the film questions our augmented humanity and the possibility of a totalitarian world. To discover. -J.G.
*** Directed by Jérémie Périn. With the voices of Léa Drucker, Mathieu Amalric, Daniel Njo Lobé – 85'.
Captives *
Taking up the subject of the novel by Victoria Mas (The Fools' Ballalready adapted by Mélanie Laurent for Amazon) which he had focused on before the success of the book, Arnaud des Pallières (Orphan) addresses the true story of the Salpêtrière hospital ball through the story of Fanni (Mélanie Thierry), a young woman who voluntarily allows herself to be locked up in the Parisian asylum in search of her mother. The filmmaker observes here the last “bal des fous” which took place in Paris in 1894 after the death of Professor Charcot who had gotten into the habit of exhibiting his residents at balls, reminiscent of “human zoos”. The actresses surprise in counter-employment (Balasko or Foïs in the lead), but the exaggeratedly emotional performance of Mélanie Thierry and the doloristic pretension of the treatment distance us from what the film denounces. We'll see again instead Vincere by Marco Bellocchio, on the forced internment of Mussolini's first mistress, otherwise poignant. -J.G.
* Directed by Arnaud des Pallières. With Mélanie Thierry, Josiane Balasko, Marina Foïs, Yolande Moreau – 110'.
