Young Critics Lab

23 décembre 2025

Tomorrow There Will Be Another Dawn, With or Without You: Review of Three Goodbyes

By Esra Kars

“Before you go/ Is three goodbye/ One for fools crying/ Two for two timing/ Three for telling all those lies.” ¹

In her latest film Three Goodbyes, Isabel Coixet addresses the separation of Marta (played by Alba Rohrwacher) from Antonio (Elio Germano), handling a farewell in every respect. With its delicate and transparent story, the film won the Cinglés du Cinéma Jury Special Award at the 17th Les Arcs Film Festival.

Marta, who is a PE teacher, has been together with Antonio for many years. However, when an ordinary-looking argument leads to their split, her life changes completely. Suddenly, she becomes unable to eat. And yet, although the problem persists, she goes to see a doctor (Sarita Choudhury) and says: “I don’t want to put an end to this.”

Marta has two reasons for this. Experiencing the pain of any separation is the most concrete proof of the reality that was lived between two people. For this reason, no matter how difficult it is, people want to hold on to their pain. The second reason is that Marta has subconsciously associated with Antonio, who is a chef. In order to completely sever all ties with him, she wants to stop eating.

At first, her illness seems like a simple nausea, but in fact it has reached a level that cannot be torn out of her body. Her doctor’s advice is that Marta can treat this illness only by learning to live with it, without letting it grow inside her, and by keeping calm. Indeed, a person cannot escape bad memories, the past or those they could not love. However, one can continue living by accepting life as it is. 

Marta learns that the only being in this world that does not get sick is the amoeba. Ironically, the amoeba cannot feel, think or dream. Byung-Chul Han says: “A life without pain is not a human life, it is a state of not having died.”² Perhaps for this reason, suffering is the hardest thing for a person to accept, yet it is the only emotion that confronts us with the essence of life. For Marta, living means her love for her husband. She even says to him: “I don’t know what my life looks like without you.” Now, there is something new. What Marta has is her pain, because loving oneself means loving what one has. Even if that thing eats you away from the inside.

A Turkish writer, Duygu Asena, says the following in her book There is No Love: “I decided to decide.”³ At the beginning, Marta rides a motorcycle with her husband but cannot decide where to go, she cannot cook or communicate well with people. After separating from him, she takes control of her life. She rides a bicycle, improves her relationship with her sister and, most importantly, begins to eat healthily. There is an “organic” bond between a person who nourishes themselves and the value they give themselves. When Marta rediscovers her sense of taste, she cooks a nice meal for herself for the first time on the plates Antonio told her not to get.

The film handles metaphors gently. Her sister (Silvia D’Amico) orders a rice ball, but Marta never eats it. In later scenes, it becomes clear that dish was the reason she met Antonio. Similarly, a person’s departure is conveyed through the absence of a painting that used to hang on the wall. This makes the story more realistic, rather than placing it in a fictional context. Thus, an authentic bond is established between the story and the audience.

The screenplay’s main strength lies in its ability to characterize things. Marta’s home and her school, Antonio’s restaurant. It is evident that the screenplay can breathe life not only into the living, but even to a piece of cardboard found in the trash. So much so that the cardboard cutout of Jirko, a K-pop prince, becomes Marta’s therapist. When Marta’s relationship with Jirko progresses, she hides inside a closet and talks to him. This represents the suppression of hidden things that cannot be confronted. At the same time, it’s a place that insulates sound the best. Things that no one is meant to hear, see or know about can remain hidden inside it. Closets are warm, dark, and mysterious. Just like a mother’s womb. 

Thanks to the techniques it uses, the film approaches a classic subject in an original way. At this point, it also experiments with bold shooting styles. For example, in scenes where Marta turns inward, everything on the screen except her is blurred. Alternatively, the hour and minute hands of a clock melt to reveal meaningless time. This allows the audience to identify with Marta and directly conveys her feelings at that moment. Similarly, Marta’s and Antonio’s stories are told separately, reflecting their separation. This makes their state of mind more striking. With Jordi Azategul’s uncommon editing style, the audience becomes more integrated into the film. 

However, one of the rare things that distances viewers from the film is the color grading. Although it is designed to harmonize with the characters and situations, it occasionally uses a correction that is unnatural. This detaches the audience from the film’s realistic world. The intensity of the colors in the opening sequences, while conveying tension and depression, also creates the feeling that it’s artificial.

As an Italian production, Three Goodbyes uses the city of Rome in a way that’s quite striking. The city seems to live alongside the characters. Its locations change according to their moods. When they are sad, the weather is overcast. When they argue, it rains, and when they feel good, the sun comes out. Sometimes it’s orderly and peaceful; at other times, chaotic and dangerous. 

Most importantly, when they recall their old memories – only the good ones, ironically enough – it has a fairy-tale-like structure. However, when these dreamlike scenes of the past end and reality returns, the jarring difference between past and present is seen in this city. Time flowing forward sometimes mirrors the past. Just like when Marta and Antonio meet weeks later. “You’ll always end up in this city. Don’t hope for things elsewhere: there’s no ship for you, there’s no road.”⁴ 

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¹ Crispian St. Peters, Three Goodbyes, 1965
² Byung Chul Han, The Palliative Society: Pain Today, 2022
³ Duygu Asena, Actually, There Is Also No Love, Doğan Kitap, 2008 
⁴ The City, poem by Constantine Cavafy, 1910.