Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (1963)

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow interestingly tells the stories of three women all played by screen siren Sophia Loren and the three different men who loved her all played by Marcello Mastroianni.

            The first story deals with a poor couple in a small Italian town. The wife Adelina has bought furniture that they cannot pay for because the husband Carmine is out of work and she sells illegally imported cigarettes on the streets. When the furniture people come around Carmine hides the furniture. A lawyer comes around and tells him what he has done is illegal and that since the furniture is in Adelina’s name she will be the one to be arrested. Turns out Adelina cannot be arrested and sent to jail just yet because she is pregnant but she will be sent to jail in six months with only a four month sentence. Well, Adelina and Carmine decide that every six months they do the old do and have another kid. They keep that jig up for seven kids until one day the impossible happens and they do not get pregnant. Carmine is stressed out beyond belief and haggard looking while Adelina looks more beautiful and desirable with every child she has. In frustration Adelina decides to take the two youngest children and turn herself in. Carmine cannot live without her and the people of the town take up extra collections and pile on taxes to help free Adelina. Big shock, she is able to get out of jail and live happily ever after with Carmine and their insane amount of kids for their insanely small home.

            The second story is about a woman named Anna Molteni. When the story first begins we see the roads she is driving on and hear her thoughts about what the days hold for her from her perspective. From her thoughts she seems to be a bored rich woman looking for something to excite her. She had called a guy named Renzo to meet up with her. She picks Renzo up and they go for a drive. She tries to put several moves on him and he has to remind her that she is richer than he is and he can never support her care free lifestyle. Anna has Renzo take over the driving and because she was distracting him he almost hits a boy but swerves in time. He unfortunately smacks rights into a tractor damaging the one side of the car. Anna is furious and starts saying nasty things about him. She manages to flag down a guy driving an expensive sports car and he tries to help change her tire. Anna talks trash about Renzo and leaves to head back to her place with the rich guy and makes Renzo stay with the car. He does not take her bull and he starts walking home.

            The third story deals with Mara and her annoying old neighbors. The old neighbors have their grandson staying with them. The grandson Umberto is studying to be a priest but he is completely enthralled with Mara. His grandparents do not like Mara because she is a prostitute. Mara’s one client Augusto is constantly coming over and makes a lot of noise. He wants to take her away and tries to make her but all Mara is concerned about is her nosy neighbors. One night Mara is out on her balcony and so is Umberto. They talk and Umberto falls in love. The following day the grandmother comes by to tell Mara that Umberto no longer wants to be a priest. Mara now sees that the grandmother is just a regular nice old woman seeking her help. Mara is willing to talk Umberto back into being a priest. The way she tries to get the boy to go back to the seminary is by having her meet him at a store that sells items for priests. She makes the mistake of telling Umberto she once fell in love with a  man in uniform and it was only his uniform she loved. The grandmother comes over again and tells Mara that her grandson now wants to go join the foreign legion. With some help from Augusto, Mara talks Umberto into going back to the seminary. Once back in her apartment, Mara does a little strip tease for Augusto that is quite sexy and also hilarious.

            Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow was alright. I do mind foreign films in the slightest but I started to get very bored with the whole thing and having to read the subtitles to understand some of what was happening got really tedious after a while. I thought the film was a little too long. The first story is too long and the third was not that long but it still felt like it was dragging. The only perfectly times story was the second one and it was not the best out them. Sophie Loren and Marcello Mastroianni’s pairing was fantastic. I have seen them in another film together and I really liked them as a pair. In Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow their chemistry is beyond brilliant because there was not a second where I thought they were not in love or had some kind of passion or love or lust for each other. I completely believed them as a loving lusty young couple with seven kids. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is not terrible but I would only recommend watching it if you either really love foreign films or if you are a big Sophia Loren fan.