YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW is a romantic comedy, which consists of three stories set in different parts of Italy. All three stories are framed in a romantic farce, which examines relationships through common life issues, such as poverty, adultery, sex and religion.Stories about three very different women and the men they attract.Adelina sells black-market cigarettes in Naples. Her husband is unemployed. She tries to avoid a jail sentence at any cost.In Milan, Anna drives a Rolls, is bored, and picks up a writer, who is her lover. She talks dreamily of running off with him until he dents her car. After that, she shows her true face.Mara, who works as a prostitute from her apartment in Rome, turns the head of a naive seminarian. After talking with his grandmother, she wants to help a young man, while her nervous client from Bologna impatiently waiting.A male protagonist is exposed to tragicomic sobering, while a female protagonist is in a kind of inner conflicts, in each of the three stories. That's the point. The different characters of people are exposed to very strange situations, through which they question their relationships.The scenery is very impressive, especially in the first story. That Neapolitan atmosphere in explosion of colors in a narrow streets is truly remarkable. The dialogues are, here and there, trivial and empty. Humor is somewhat forced, but it's pretty luscious. Characterization is not bad at all.Sophia Loren (Adelina Sbaratti, Anna Molteni and Mara) is a temperamental and brave housewife, an elegant and selfish rich woman and a sensitive prostitute who would talk about morality. Yes, Ms. Loren looks divine in each of these women.Marcello Mastroianni (Carmine Sbaratti, Renzo and Augusto Rusconi) is a fertile, but useless husband, a cautious lover and an impatient client, who can not accept the fact that he's in love with a beautiful prostitute. Mr. Mastroianni is mostly a muddled and confused character in each of the three stories.I will say that this is another successful commedia all'italiana

This is a fine movie. Funny and heartwarming. A series of 3 short stories--slice of life stories they would be called in Lit class. As a beauty, she works best with dark hair--not really a blonde or red hair. The visual depiction of the locals are stunning--Naples, Rome, Milano. One looks at a movie for it's place in the form, the genre, or for the artists who played the role; as a film from Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroiani or director Vittorio de Sica alone makes the movie worth looking at to see where the movie falls in their oeuvre. Like so many short stories, it's easy to overlook the import of the story for it's being so slight; these stories carry their weight and convey that import most excellently. The short story/vignettes, for all their gossamer, hold the weight.

In my opinion, Vittorio De Sica really lost most of his talent when he met up with Sophia Loren. His films with her always feel like mush compared to his earlier masterpieces, even the much lauded Two Women. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is comprised of three short stories, all starring Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. This might be De Sica's worst film if it weren't for the third segment. The first two are really poor. The first, "Adelina" (all three are named after Loren's character), is about a married woman who sells illegal cigarettes on the street. The cops try to arrest her, but cannot since she's pregnant. No pregnant woman can go to jail, and they get six months after the birth, while nursing, before they can be sent, too. The solution? Obviously, keep getting pregnant so they can never send her to jail. Soon, with seven kids, Mastroianni is too tired to keep fathering children. This story is just plain stupid. The second story is so negligible it barely exists. It's called "Anna" and Loren is a rich woman cheating on her husband with Mastroianni. The two of them drive around in a car for a while. Who cares? It's all too bad, too, because "Mara," the third story, is excellent. Not as good as De Sica's masterpieces, but wonderful all the same. Loren is a high class prostitute who gets into an argument with her elderly neighbor after she flirts with her grandson, who is in the seminary. After the argument, the kid decides to quit and the old woman and Loren join forces to convince him to go back. Mastroianni is hilarious as an eager john getting more and more irked that his time with Loren is getting compromised. The whole film is worth sitting through for this, but I'd almost suggest just fast-forwarding to this third part. It also features Loren's infamous striptease. The movie won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1965.

This movie is made up of three separate vignettes starring Sophia Loren and Morcello Mastrianni playing three different couples. Each segment differs greatly as far as their length and quality.The first is the longest, and for me, the least interesting. It's about a woman who continues to have baby after baby after baby in order to stay out of prison for a petty crime. Considering she ultimately had 7 kids in the process, the story seems to drag on and on. She could have done it once or twice or even three times, but the skit went on and on with not nearly enough payoff.The second is by far the shortest and is about a selfish spoiled rich brat. It's mildly interesting but that's about all.The final skit makes the movie. If it weren't for this one, the movie might have been scored a 4 or 5. It's about a prostitute who has turned the head of a young man in training to be a priest. At the same time, Mastriani is a customer who is again and again and again thwarted in his goal of bedding Loren. It may not sound funny based on the description, but it's very entertaining and her striptease is very sexy to say the least! My overall impression of the movie is only fair. I think that's because I am a BIG fan of the earlier Neo-Realistic films directed by DeSica. They are almost totally different from this movie--having none of the expensive production values or polished actors. However, they were simply better movies. If you compare UMBERTO D., MIRACLE IN MILAN or any of his other Neo-Realistic films of the 40s, they show the director at the top of his form. Ieri, oggi, domani just looks contrived and ordinary in comparison.