In postwar Rome, a working-class woman dreams of a better future for herself and her daughter while facing abuse at the hands of her domineering husband. When a mysterious letter arrives, she discovers the courage to change the circumstances of her life.
"The Italian phenomenon."
Top Billed Cast
Paola Cortellesi
Delia
Valerio Mastandrea
Ivano
Romana Maggiora Vergano
Marcella
Emanuela Fanelli
Marisa
Giorgio Colangeli
Sor Ottorino
Vinicio Marchioni
Nino
Alessia Barela
Orietta
Francesco Centorame
Giulio
Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews
C CinemaSerfVerified TMDB Critic
2024-05-01
This reminded me of one of those beautifully photographed post-war Vittorio De Sica stories with Sophia Loren. This time, it's the long suffering "Delia" (Paola Cortellesi) who is marred to the brutish "Ivano" (Valerio Mastandrea) and lives with their three children and her ailing father-in-law. The love has long since departed their marriage, and a few fleeting conversations with struggling garage-owner "Nino" (Vinicio Marchioni) fills us in on a bit of her own romantic backstory before she met "Ivano". Their elder daughter "Marcella" (Romana Maggiora Verano) is sweet on "Giulio" (Francesco C...
B Brent MarchantVerified TMDB Critic
2025-04-11
Employing an alternative approach in making a statement can be quite a daunting challenge. That’s particularly true when it comes to using humor in conveying an otherwise-serious point. If anything is off kilter in that regard, the message can easily become mixed, obscured or largely lost. Such is the case, unfortunately, with actor-director Paola Cortellesi’s debut feature about women’s empowerment in post-war Italy, a somewhat confusing release that unsuccessfully seeks to fuse humor and drama in examining its subject. Set in Rome in 1946 not long after women acquired the right to vote...
