Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow exists almost exclusively as a vessel for Sophia Loren to dominate the screen with her inexhaustible female vivacity and oh, is she ever sublime. The film is split into 3 parts, Loren playing a trio of women from different walks of life, with the overarching theme the use of sexuality as a means to different ends - be that as a mother, a lonely wife, or as a prostitute. Everyday Italian life, far from the tourist attractions, is on the menu here, seeping through the stone facades of Italy's cities and into the various relationships the two title actors adopt. I suspect that were it not for Loren's charming performances I probably wouldn't have taken to the film at all; in the last section in particular it's hard not to fall for her a little bit - she is a saint, wonderful and pure.
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