Elena, you coming?
- I really enjoyed the presentation - Thank you
- May I ask for one too? - Yes
Me too, please
To Olivia, fondly
It was a rather stormy presentation
Back in school Elena was the literary one
Come to dinner so you can tell us about it
I've made a reservation nearby
We have to celebrate there's a nice surprise for Elena
- Hi, Lenu - Hi, Nino
How long has it been?
The Airotas...
They're a family of great traditions
among the most civilized of those that count in Italy
Guido's an exceptional man
- I'm good friends with Mariarosa - Yes?
Yes, we have certain arguments...
I know you're marrying Pietro
I've read his book I found it brilliant
How do you like it in Milan?
It's a difficult city
especially if you're from the South without a cent in your pocket
- Did you move back to Naples? - For now, yes
- In the neighborhood? - Yes
I broke all ties with my father I don't see my family anymore
- Too bad - No, it's fine like that
I'm only sorry I don't have any news of Lila
She left her husband she lives with someone else
Did she have a boy or a girl?
A boy
Lila's brave, even too much so but she won't bend to reality
She's incapable of accepting others and herself
Loving her was a difficult experience
Why?
She doesn't know what dedication is
- You're exaggerating - No, she's all wrong
In her head, in everything even sex
"I would have liked to ask Lila is all wrong in the head?"
"And what does all wrong in sex mean?"
"Nino, when is a girl all wrong in sex?"
"Was I all wrong like Lila?"
"But even if it were possible to ask him those questions"
"what did I care?"
"Besides, who was he to say you're made wrong, you're not?"
I've got it in for the overlords
I agreed with the piece Professor Airota wrote in Il Ponte
The teaching conditions for us lecturers are as he described them
I must tell my daughter because Mariarosa, as usual
thought it was an awful article
Mariarosa only stands for what the world can't give her
- If you'll excuse me - Where are you going?
- We'd like to hear your view - I have nothing to say
A writer always has something to say
Maybe I'm not a writer
"By then, I knew he wasn't attracted to me"
"In Ischia he chose Lila, not me"
"And yet I still wanted him I only wanted him"
"I would have liked to make him walk all night to ask him..."
What music should I listen to? What films should I see?
What books should I read?
"Enough, I was sick of everything and everyone"
"even of myself for wasting the evening like that"
Here's your surprise!
Elena! I'm sorry, I came by car
but I didn't make it in time for the presentation
- Never mind, yes - Are you sure?
- Pisa-Milan is an arduous trip - Yes, but driving relaxes me
- What car do you have? - A 600
- How do you like it? - It's fine
I don't know much about cars but they say it has good gears
I wanted to buy one, but you know how the university pays
Enough chatter now
- Let's come to the second surprise - You tell them, mother
No, you tell them
They've made me a professor at Florence
He's got tenure
Just like that, as if by magic
I never know what he's studying what tests he has to take...
Elena, it's much better like this
We women are given the task of being happy about their success
It's not every day you become a full professor, so young
No, but there are thousands of lecturers slogging day and night
You have one right here
Congratulations it's wonderful news
Thank you
It'll be your turn soon you're so generous and brilliant
Let's raise a glass to our young professors
They'll change the world
- To you, Pietro - Thank you
- Congratulations, cheers! - Cheers, everyone
"How handsome Nino was how seductive, how..."
"No, I don't want to search for adjectives for Pietro, it'd be unfair"
"The gap between them was too great"
"but they seemed pleased to have met and they ignored me"
Professor, it's been a pleasure meeting you
For me too, son Be well
I'm off to bed Good night everyone
Blessed youth!
- I hope to see you again soon - It'd be a pleasure
I'll send your regards to Mariarosa
And pay my respects to your husband
See you soon, Adele
Elena, I wish you all the best
- Good night - Good night, Nino, goodbye
I'll stay with Elena for a while
Good
- Goodbye, my dear - Goodbye
- I'll see you at your sister's, then - Yes
Good night
What's wrong?
I'm just a bit tired
It was just an excuse for us to be alone for a while
Have I done something wrong? Are you angry?
I don't like Florence
Have you ever been to Florence?
Twice, but I don't like it
I don't even want to write anymore
Why?
I don't want to talk about it
- I want to teach - You can do both
We have our whole lives ahead you can do what you like
Tell me when I can come to Naples to meet your parents
Forget about my parents
You're not suitable for them and they're not suitable for you
Don't you want to marry me anymore?
Of course I do
It's been a tiring evening
Can I sleep with you tonight?
You wanted to wait, let's wait
Let's go
- Good night - Good night
Here's your key
Have a pleasant evening goodbye
Elena!
What a lovely evening!
I'll see you up
- Floor? - Fourth
Same as me! It's destiny!
Your pages are things that...
are things that...
Well, good night
Professor!
He's drunk...
"I had the impression that Nino's appearance"
"had finally given life full meaning"
"and that his disappearance instead, had stripped meaning"
"from every thing or feeling"
You think you're somebody because you write books
because you're marrying a professor...
But you came out of this belly this is your kind
So it's pointless to act superior
You're clever because I am even more than you!
If I had the chances you had...
I would have gone just as far as you you hear me?
Nothing to say?
You don't care about anyone
You went and did what you wanted without helping your siblings
who haven't amounted too much
At least you can give us some money
I'll have a telephone put in and a television
A television and a telephone in this house?
You'll pay for it?
Always, even after you're married?
The professor knows we can't afford a dowry or a reception?
He knows And we're not having a reception
No reception? Make him pay for it!
We'll do without
Remember Lila's wedding her reception?
You're a hundred times better than her and you don't want one?
No, and not only are we not having a reception
but we're not even getting married in church
We're getting married at city hall
Wretched girl!
- Stop! - Wretched!
If a priest doesn't bless your marriage it's worthless!
You'll be treated like a whore not like a wife!
Vittorio, come
You two, don't you have to go to work now?
Come and listen to this bullshit
Come on, it's late! It's afternoon
You hear what she's got in mind?
She studied so much her brain's gone!
She wants to be treated like a whore
I won't be able to leave the house out of shame!
Stop shouting, let me understand
You got to kick her out right now I don't want her here
She's happy to be treated like a whore!
Like Lila, like Ada!
You want to get married at city hall or your sweetheart does?
Whether I get married at city hall or in church is the same to me
but for Pietro and his family a church wedding would be unacceptable
If we don't get married at city hall we won't get married
- Or he won't marry you? - No
What will he do, leave you?
No, we'll live together without getting married
I swear I'll slit your throat you hear me?
Put the knife down, Immacolata try to calm down
Don't try my patience, calm down Let's think it through
You can get married in church have a lavish party and still end up badly
The professor's a Communist right?
Communist and professor
Professor of my ass!
A man who thinks like that is a piece of shit!
What piece of shit?
He's educated and he knows what nasty stuff priests get up to
That's why he only wants to get married at city hall
- Lenu, I was speaking to you too - I'm listening
The teaspoon
Thanks
I'm prepared to trust this university professor
He loves her, he'll see she doesn't look like a whore
Anyway, I trust him even though I haven't met him
He's an important person
The girls here can only dream of a match like him
Listen to me, let's trust him
Even this thing about city hall...
I know a judge who got married at city hall here in Naples
I can assure you the marriage is as valid as one in church
- maybe more - Vittorio, I don't even trust you
Not you, not city hall not this damn professor!
- You can't stand me - No
Me neither
Excuse me, are you a writer?
This morning I saw your picture in the newspaper
I've already sold two copies of your book since this morning
It's a book that will sell
- My compliments - Thank you
Goodbye
Corriere Della Sera, please
Thank you
"I broke out in a cold sweat"
"The critic defined me as a young girl busy hiding her lack of talent"
"with salacious passages of mediocre triviality"
Elena, get used to it
The main thing is they're talking about the book
I don't care if they talk about it if they say bad things
"all of Italy reads Corriere Della Sera"
I understand, but... You need to calm down
"I'll put my mother on, she's here"
I got to go we'll speak tomorrow, goodbye
- Hello? - It's Elena, hello
- "Did you read it?" - Yes
- "Pleased?" - What's there to be pleased about?
He defined me as a little girl who writes trivial things
L'Unità is coming out tomorrow and you'll find something
in the Messaggero too and in Il Mattino
"Positive reviews"
"And one is coming out on Saturday in La Stampa"
"People like the book, it's selling"
"If it goes on like this we'll reprint it"
I'll put Guido on he wanted to say hello, bye
"Elena, my compliments, really"
"Don't let a bigoted journalist ruin your day"
"Speak soon and enjoy your success"
"I hoped that wherever she was Lila wouldn't read the article"
"How embarrassing!"
"I wondered if she read my book"
"I cared about her opinion the most"
"But I was also afraid she'd say I don't like your book"
"You write such nonsense"
- What are you doing here? - I'm going to buy the newspaper
You haven't changed a bit
- And I almost didn't recognize you - I work out
I've moved up in the branch the secretary trusts me
- What branch? - The MSI
I'm a fascist, Lenu
- I must read your book - Don't bother, it's not for you
What do you mean, not for me? Remember our bet?
Did you put that in the book too?
The tits you showed me for money have gotten bigger
- Why don't you just go? - Get out of here!
Little fascist
- Hi - Hi, how are you?
- Good - I heard you're engaged
- And that you wrote a book - Yes
I wanted to read it but I heard it's a little racy
No
"They'd only read those pages"
"the whole book would have bored them"
"And now they treated me as at last I'd made the false move"
"they'd been expecting for some time"
"That wasn't a novel for them it was me, Elena Greco"
"telling my deepest secrets"
"secrets that a respectable girl should never have told anyone"
Lenu! Let me buy you a coffee
Thanks, Michele maybe some other time
I get it, now that you're famous you haven't got time for us
That's not true, I really can't but thank you
It'll only take you a minute
Gigliola will be here in a minute you can say hi
- I really can't - Come
Thank you, really
- So how are you? - Fine
- Everything okay at home? - Yes
Where's the newspaper?
Did you see what's written here?
Donato Sarratore wrote it
He claims it should be banned for under 18
Is it true?
- No, it's not true - I thought so
That's what you studied in Pisa? What you learned in Pisa?
I don't believe what it says here
I think you and Lila had a secret agreement
She does the dirty stuff and you write about it
Is that right? Tell me the truth
I'll be off then thanks for the coffee
Are you offended?
Go on, beat the crap out of him!
Aren't they your brothers?
Stop!
Stop! Stop!
Stop!
Stop! Peppe, Gianni, let's go
Why were you fighting?
- We were fighting because of you - Why?
Because you're a whore!
People read the book and now they're talking behind our back
Did you write the nasty stuff you do?
What nasty stuff? Read it
If Papa hears what they're saying about you, he'll kick you out
- There's no need, I'm leaving - Where will you go?
I have to go to Milan
Fascists, bourgeoisie in a few months dead you'll be!
Where's the meeting for Literature students?
- What meeting? - The one with Elena Greco
Who's she?
Never mind, thanks
"In Milan, I felt as if my tension was released"
"I was almost glad to discover that no one was expecting me"
"My book had zero importance"
"There were bigger things to squabble over"
"We won't bow our heads but this is already happening"
"It's happening in the courtyard of the Sorbonne"
"where our French comrades are doing their share"
"of revolutionary action"
"They're protesting peacefully"
"The French government immediately opposed this new course"
"First they occupied the Latin Quarter..."
"I recognized Franco Mari immediately"
"my boyfriend from my early days in Pisa"
"At the desk with him was Mariarosa, Pietro's sister"
"The girls were always in a group"
"they seemed game for that experience of male chaos"
"provided they stick together"
"I was struck by a girl with a baby"
"I got the impression she wanted to get involved but couldn't"
"and that made her unhappy"
We must continue to rebel as our comrade Cohn-Bendit says...
Clown! Stop raving!
You know what class consciousness is?
Shame!
The revolution belongs to the proletariat!
We must refuse to be the future ranks of capitalist exploitation
We may not be the avant-garde of the people's army
that will defeat the establishment
but we can open the eyes of the workers
the workers' children, yours everyone's!
Hi, what are you doing here?
I had a meeting with the Literature students, but it fell through
- I'm sorry, but look at this mess! - I see it
- It was good to listen to Franco - Do you know him?
Yes, we were at university together
I invited him
They'll make me pay for it look what a wasps' nest
Come to my place tonight
They've lent me a beautiful house it's very big
Come for dinner and then sleep over
- I've booked a hotel - I don't want to hear it
I don't want you to be alone and you can catch up with Franco
He's sleeping at my place too
See you later
- Have you been back to Pisa? - No
No, it makes me kind of... sad
Why? We had a good time
I don't know, it seems like such a long time ago...
Another life
You said you'd write to me
Yeah
Elena... That's just how it was meant to be
I'll show you, you can get lost here
I still get lost
I'll show you my work
I'm still working on them
- What do you think? - Interesting
That's all?
I don't know much about paintings
And painters?
What's there to laugh about?
"At the house, I came across the girl again, her name was Silvia"
"She was very on edge she'd had it with the baby"
I can try if you like I have three siblings
Do what the hell you want
You're so handsome Shall I sing you a song?
The revolution has to be cultural not just a political revolution
or else in the end all the pressure will be on the people, as usual
The only way is to change their mentality
"My little lamb, what will you do"
"when you are in the jaws of the wolf?"
You're so handsome
You smell so good
He's asleep...
The reformist policies of the European workers parties...
"I stayed at Mariarosa's"
"I wanted to show Franco I was no longer the girl from the past"
"I'd graduated brilliantly I'd written a book"
"I was a different person and I wanted him to acknowledge this"
Everything all right at home?
Fine
That friend of yours who was so important to you?
Why do you ask?
I don't know you always talked about her
- She's fine - What's she doing?
She works in a sausage factory in Naples
- Didn't she marry a storekeeper? - Yes, but it didn't work out
Right...
When I come down to Naples...
- You can introduce me to her - Of course
Leave me a number an address...
- Mine or hers? - Yours
All right
Has she read your book?
- I don't know, have you read it? - Of course
I thought it was good
Good how?
There were some beautiful passages
Which ones?
The ones where you allow the protagonist to piece together
fragments of things in her own way
And that's all?
- Isn't that enough? - You clearly didn't like it
No, I thought it was good
It's a book that stirs debate it's selling well
Exactly That's good, right?
Yes, but not for you What if it doesn't work?
Elena...
There isn't much to it
You use tales of romance and social climbing
- to hide what's worth saying - And what's that?
It's...
Forget it
It's late we need to get some sleep
You did what you could, no?
Pity this, objectively...
isn't the time to be writing novels
What time are you leaving in the morning?
- At dawn - Shall we go to bed?
Let's go
Bye
- What is it? - Can I sleep with you?
- Sleep? - I'll get in next to you
I won't bother you I don't want to be alone
Absolutely not
- Why? - I'm engaged
So? We'll just sleep
Get out, I don't even know you
I'm Juan, I showed you my work
- What else do you want? - Out!
They told me you write about love with great freedom
Everything that happens to us can be used to create
It feeds our imagination
Let me get close to you you'll be able to write about it
Let go of me!
Let go of me, out!
- You're a hypocrite - Asshole
Go on, read How boring!
"Did any stranger think he could lay his hands on me"
"and insult me if I rejected him?"
"What kind of person did he think I was?"
"What legitimized his request?"
"Did it depend on my fame as a free woman my book was giving me?"
"I didn't consider myself a hypocrite"
"In Milan, I felt ready to make love with Nino, betraying Pietro"
"That passion was of long standing it justified sexual desire, betrayal"
"But sex for its own sake, no that disturbed me"
- What's wrong? - I'm sorry
I just feel like I'm a hopeless mother, I'm at my wits' end
He cries all the time... I can't feed him all night long
I can't take it any more
You're beautiful, you're smart
You're everything
You'll be a proper mother
Your kids will be lucky
You've got a beautiful baby
I didn't want him
I hid that I was pregnant from everyone
including myself
But my body was changing shape so I had to tell my parents
We fought, there was a huge row
So I left home
I wouldn't admit I'd ruled out abortion because I was scared of it
I told myself I wanted the baby out of love for the guy who got me pregnant
He had said, if you want it I want it too, out of love for you
He was serious at the time I didn't make it up
I'm not so stupid
But after a few months there was no love left, just bitterness
I was all alone before the birth
and if I've made it this far I owe it to Mariarosa
She's savvy, generous and intelligent
All the Airotas are generous and intelligent
They're a great family
I'm marrying her brother soon you know?
Families are disgusting it's all old stuff
even if the family head is a professor
My son's father also works at the university
Does he take an interest in the baby?
No, no
The asshole hasn't been seen ever since
He's charming the girls fight over him
pulling him this way and that
A male is always outside save the moments...
you love him and he enters you
When you stop loving him
the very thought you ever wanted him, irks you
He liked me and I liked him
End of story
All that's left is the baby It's a part of you
The father was a stranger and is one again
Even his name doesn't have the sound it once did
I used to repeat it in my head from when I woke up
It was a magic word
Now the sound of it makes me sad
Nino...
Is the baby's father called Nino?
Yes
Everyone knows him
Nino what?
Nino Sarratore
Professor Nino Sarratore
Subtitled by: Image Production House