It's me.
Everything all right?
What do you mean they're gone? You mean, she's gone, too?
I'll be waiting in front of the hotel.
Who could have guessed a thing like that, sir?
When he got down into the street, it was still dark.
Then the front door opened again, and she came out, too.
I thought she must have come down to say goodbye to him.
Instead, she opens the door of the car,
makes the dog get in, gets in herself, and they're off.
Aren't you listening, Dottore?
Yes. Yes.
Damn it. This is something we didn't want. Anyway,
as far as I'm concerned, I followed the instructions.
You've made up your mind?
What do you think marriage will get you?
I don't know. The impression of normalcy.
-Normalcy. -Yes. Stability, security.
In the morning when I'm dressing in the mirror I see myself.
And compared to everyone else, I feel I'm different.
What do you see in Giulia?
It may be her body, her sensuality.
Yes? And she?
The minute we're alone she wants to fool around.
-And then? -lt usually ends up rolling on the rug.
-And the maid with the big tits? -Oh, she's part of the dowry.
So you're getting married, and I'm losing my best friend.
That's okay.
Two minutes and you're on, signore.
You're sure he's arriving?
The Colonel? Of course. He'll be here.
He promised. He's very interested.
It's best if you're quiet. It's funny though, you know?
Everyone would like to be different from the others,
but instead you want to be the same as everyone else.
Ten years ago, my father was in Munich.
Often, after the theater, he told me that
he'd go with friends to a Bierstube.
There was a nutty man they thought a fool.
He spoke about politics.
He was quite an attraction.
They'd buy him beer and encourage him.
He'd stand up on the table making furious speeches.
It was Hitler.
Ladies and gentlemen, that was "Who's Happier Than I"
by Cesare Andrea Bixio.
We conclude our program of popular music
with Arcangeli and Orchestra.
The singers were Silvana Fioresi, Oscar Carboni,
Lina Termini and "The Swallows. "
We bring you now "Mystique of an Alliance, "
a talk by Italo Montanari.
Italy and Germany, two strongholds of light
in the course of centuries.
Their unparalleled encounters mark a turning point
in the course of world history.
Once again, these two peoples are rediscovering
their ancient virtues.
Virtues that embody similarity and reciprocity
that have been long forgotten,
that which Goebbels calls "the Prussian aspect"
of Benito Mussolini,
and which we call "the Latin aspect" of Adolf Hitler.
Italy and Germany, bringing the world two great revolutions,
the Anti-Parliamentarian and the Anti-Democratic.
Please, stay seated, Clerici.
Is there any news for me?
Your personal record is really excellent.
Then I'm hired?
Such decisions must be taken slowly.
-Yes, I understand. -Yes, of course you would.
Civil servant, Baccalaureate in Classics, good future career,
and Comrade Montanari has recommended you.
One morning you come to the ministry.
You arrive at my office at the ministry with your bright and shining face,
you make a specific proposal.
The office of the Minister!
Did you ever ask yourself why people want to collaborate with us?
Some do it out of fear,
most of them for the money.
For faith in Fascism, very few.
But you, no.
I feel that you're not governed by any of these reasons.
And when may I expect a reply?
I hope very soon.
If I put aside the idealist revolutionary...
I must ask myself what your aim is.
I stand prepared to go, as soon as you decide.
Fine.
I'll introduce you to the Minister.
Clerici! Clerici!
-At your service. -The Minister is expecting us.
Is this the first time you're seeing the Minister?
Yes.
When I explained your plan to him, the first thing he said was, "Superb.
"Get to Professor Quadri and you inspire his faith in you.
"You try to discover who his contacts in ltaly are."
Yes, yes, superb!
And even more important, spontaneous!
-And also, voluntary. -Voluntary agency.
For repressing Anti-Fascism.
You've got to try and understand women.
Say she had decided to stay in Paris. She could have, no?
"Animula vagula blandula
"hospes comesque corporis. "
I'm sorry, I didn't get that.
It's nothing. It's Latin.
Five seconds, four seconds,
three seconds, two seconds, one second.
The correct time at the signal was 1 :00 p.m.
Here.
Pretty.
Aren't you giving them to me?
T oday I absolutely need your flowers.
Give them here. For you.
You know what I was thinking? I really must go to a fortune teller.
I want to know everything about you.
Don't stand around looking.
Darling!
Careful!
But, Marcello, we're engaged, what's wrong with it?
My uncle brought something from America.
What is it?
Mama made out a list of invitations.
-Want to see it? -No, I trust her.
I was talking to Don Lattanzi.
If you want to marry, you go to communion,
you've got to confess.
Otherwise he says he cannot marry us.
I don't believe in it.
Who does?
Ninety percent of the people who go to church today don't believe.
The priests don't either.
All right, if you want me to, I'll even confess.
I love you.
If you want to...
-lf I want to... -Yes, right here.
On the floor, on the carpet. Want to?
Better think about the priest.
He may not grant absolution.
They grant everyone absolution.
After all, it will be so soon, our honeymoon.
Have you decided yet, where?
Yes.
But I can't tell you anything yet.
It's a surprise.
-A surprise? -A surprise?
Yes, yes, I adore surprises.
Giulia, leave us alone.
-Marcello, I went down for the mail... -Come and eat!
The letter's anonymous?
What is it all about?
But you know they're just awful to do this.
Worse than stabbing us in the back.
But what's in the letter?
And the stamp shows it's someone in Rome.
Let me see, Mama. I want to see what's written there.
Read it just for us. But then I'll burn it.
There are such ugly things in it.
"Signora, in permitting your daughter and her fiancé to marry,
"you're committing more than an error,
"you're committing a crime."
"Signor Clerici's father
"has been confined in a mental home, with a brain disease
"brought on by syphilis.
"As you know, this disease is hereditary.
"There's still time to stop this marriage. A friend."
I'd be happy to undergo a check-up.
-Ridiculous. -No. I don't mind a bit.
In Germany, premarital medical tests are obligatory, a friend told me.
My boy, I know. You're not just a man,
you're an angel!
Thank you.
You see, the origin of my father's mental illness isn't venereal.
That can be medically confirmed.
By the way, my little girl has had the mumps,
scarlet fever, and German measles.
-They're all very moral maladies. -Yes!
Look here, who are you? Why are you following me?
Pure coincidence.
I wasn't following you.
Evidently, we're both going to the same place.
I'd like to ask you something. Would your name be Clerici?
Yes, I'm Dottore Clerici. And who are you?
I'm Special Agent Manganiello. Sent by the Colonel.
Get in.
-Thanks. -Hemlock!
Such disorder. The place looks like a dung heap.
Yes, it's a pity.
Hemlock!
Speed up, Manganiello, or we won't catch up with them.
I can't go faster than this, sir. The road is slippery.
Not more than half an hour ahead.
Don't talk so much. Hurry!
It's slippery.
I know. But we must save her, no matter how slippery.
I understand you.
But if we break our necks, where will that get us? Dottore?
The Colonel told me that I have to tell you...
After. Wait here.
Mother. Please cover yourself.
I don't want to see you half nude.
What a son I have. A moralist, my son is now.
You know? I had a dream just now.
You came in here by that door, you sat where you are.
You kissed me actually.
Why aren't you dressed?
What's the time?
It's late. We're gonna visit Papa.
Why doesn't he die?
All that hospital money we'd save, and I've got so little.
-We'll sell the auto. -No. I'm not going to sell that.
If I do, it means discharging Hemlock
and I must have him near me.
I get so lonely in this house.
I want to see him when I please.
Please don't talk to me about your lovers.
What do you mean? There's only one.
And he's much more elegant than your silly fiancée is.
What a bastard you are!
No, I'm not selling the car.
I will sell the house.
I want to travel around Europe.
After all, I was born to travel.
And Rome has become so provincial.
Middle-class children marrying into all kinds of good families.
It's all a lot of horse manure!
-Special Agent Manganiello! -Present!
Does this house look normal to you? A place for normal people?
The Colonel told me that I have to tell you...
For a normal childhood?
The decadence here makes me nauseous.
-Manganiello. -Yes, Dottore?
Comrade.
Do you see this?
It's morphine.
What did the Colonel say?
There's a small change in the program.
On your way to Paris before you cross the frontier,
you must stop at Ventimiglia, Via dei Glicini, number three.
Number three Via dei Glicini.
You'll meet a trusted person called Raoul.
He'll give you further instructions.
How long have you been in the ranks?
I began in 1923.
Turkey, France, Greece.
-Always into the breach? -I'm on the move.
All for family and my country.
Your country before the family.
Yes, sir. Of course.
Comrade!
Manganiello, you see that individual?
His name is Ki.
-Ki? -That's right.
"Ki" means Hemlock in Japanese.
Being called Hemlock isn't normal.
He's a procurer.
He couldn't be my brother, but my mother could be his mother.
I said it doesn't seem normal.
He brings her morphine and uses her as he likes.
-Hemlock? -Yes.
You must understand why I tell you this.
Five minutes and he won't have the time to take a valise.
Tell the Colonel to count on me!
Hemlock! Hemlock!
-Hemlock! -Where is he hiding?
You weren't rude to him again, were you?
I? No, he's so charming.
Hemlock!
Have you looked in his room?
I've looked everywhere. Even under your bed.
-How are things, Franz? -Better than yesterday.
-Yesterday, we were bad. -Pretty bad?
Yesterday we were forced to wear our straitjacket.
-And today? -T oday is better.
The wind seems to help our inspiration.
I'll never be tired of repeating.
If the State doesn't model itself
on the image of the individual, how will the individual
ever model himself in the image of the state?
Et cetera, et cetera.
Slaughter and melancholy.
Antonio, your son's decided to get married.
Marcello getting married?
Slaughter and melancholy.
Look.
The announcement of the wedding.
Stop it. He's your father!
I like it. Sign it.
Read. He's not as crazy as he looks.
May I ask a moment alone with my father?
When I was just a boy,
you used to tell me about your punitive forays.
I don't know, I can't recall anything.
But why are you ashamed? It's important for me.
When you were healthy, you used a big cudgel.
Yes.
-And did you give castor oil to them? -Yes.
-And didn't you torture them? -Yes.
Didn't you kill? You killed, too?
Go away! Franz! Franz!
Do you believe at all in fate, Dottore?
Well, two years ago in Africa, after a mission like this,
they tell me at Headquarters, "Did you receive the counter-orders?"
"Hey, what counter-orders?"
Well, in Rome, they decided to suspend the whole thing
because it wasn't necessary.
Let's hurry!
There's nothing we can do for the woman
even if we get there in time.
You know perfectly well we can't afford any witnesses.
Then stop!
I'll get out!
What's the use of going? You go!
Dottore Marcello!
But we have to be there. We have a certain responsibility.
Would you look at that!
Stop!
Who makes the report otherwise?
Unbutton his pants!
Let me up! Let me up!
The police! The police! Come on!
Stop!
-What's your name? -Marcello Clerici. What's yours?
Pasqualino Semirama. But call me Lino.
How long is it since your last confession?
Since I made my first Holy Communion.
Bad, my son, very bad.
-How old are you? -Thirty-four.
And all this time you have lived like an animal.
Tell me, which sins have you committed?
I've committed them all. Even the worst sin.
-All? -All. Even murder.
Murder? And you didn't feel the need to confess?
Pardon?
You didn't feel the need to rush to confession?
I was 1 3.
Well, what were your friends trying to do?
They're just stupid.
What did they want from you?
All right, then, what present?
A gun.
-A cap pistol? -No, a real one.
I have one, too. A Mauser.
You want it? If you want it, I'll give it to you.
-Where is it? -It's in my room. Come.
I have a pretty oriental kimono, too.
-Do you know who Madame Butterfly is? -Where are you going?
Go on, tell me. What did he want from you?
I didn't know what. He was so much like a woman.
-A woman? -He trembled like a woman.
Well, what happened? Kisses?
Touching you?
Are you sure you're telling me the truth?
Yes.
And what happened there between you? Carnal relations?
Shoot. What are you waiting for? Go on, shoot.
Kill the pretty butterfly!
-Now you must tell me the details. -No, that's enough, please.
It's almost as though you think sodomy
is a more mortal sin than killing somebody, padre.
I won't permit such insolence.
You are forgetting that I happen to be the priest,
and you the sinner.
After that once, did you have sexual relations with other men?
No. All the rest were normal.
Which means what?
A brothel when I was 1 8.
Since then, relationships only with women.
This in your opinion is a sexual life that's normal?
Yes. But why?
But you, my son, have always lived in sin.
Normal means matrimony, having a wife, family.
That's what I find.
Bravo, bravo, bravo.
I'm going to build a life that's normal.
I'm marrying a petty bourgeois.
Then she must be a fine girl.
Speak out. Go ahead!
Mediocre.
A mound of petty ideas.
Full of petty ambitions.
She's all bed and kitchen.
You have no right to use such expressions.
Normality.
I intend to construct my normality, but it won't be easy.
-Stay within religion... -Outside religion!
God is so bountiful. The Virgin is so maternal.
Christ is so merciful to us all.
And the priest is so blessed with understanding.
You haven't demonstrated any horror at my crime yet.
It didn't make you pause.
You're surprised because I didn't run to confession right away.
The one thing you have to do is repent humbly,
ask His pardon today.
I've already repented. I want to be excused by society.
Yes.
I want to confess today the sin I'll commit tomorrow.
One sin atones for another.
It is the price I must pay society. And I shall pay it.
Are you a part of some new sect?
Do you belong to a group of subversives?
No. No.
I belong to a group that tracks down all the subversives.
Ego te absolvo
a peccatis tuis.
Music!
Long live the bridegroom!
Congratulations!
-When is the wedding? -Next Sunday.
The bride, why didn't you bring her?
What's her name?
Let's drink to the end of bachelorhood!
-We have biscuits, too. -Crackers as well.
Only a drop. Pour me just a drop.
It goes to my head quickly.
-The party makes me nervous. -People wanted to meet you.
-Never mind. It's just a tray. -Good, good. It's a lucky sign.
You know, they're so excited.
Whenever there's an event, people get excited.
Forgive them.
-I'm going on a mission. -Good!
Your performance was wonderful.
-I appreciate it. -I am never refused.
Music. Come on, let's play.
People are waiting to speak with the Duce.
Suddenly a frightful scream is heard.
That's enough.
Where are you? Started again?
Last time's lesson wasn't enough for you? Stop crying.
I shall play for you the last part of "Foxtrot" by Maestro Lori.
What do you get out of working for the man?
I get the feeling I'm finally back
to the normal state I mentioned to you.
-How do you think a normal man... -A normal man!
For me, a normal man is one
who turns his head to see a beautiful woman's bottom.
The point is not just to turn your head.
There are 5-6 reasons,
and he is glad to find people who are like him, his equals.
That's why he likes crowded beaches,
football, the bar downtown...
At Piazza Venezia.
He likes people similar to himself
and does not trust those who are different.
That's why a normal man is a true brother, a true citizen,
-a true patriot. -A true Fascist.
You haven't ever wondered how come we're friends?
Since we're different from the others.
We are two of a kind.
Are you here?
What's the matter, you don't agree? I know you do.
I am never wrong.
It rains from the scattered clouds
It rains on the parched tamarisks about you
The happy pines glistening dew
And upon the myrtles it rains anew
It rains upon our naked hands
On our transparent vestments
On the new thoughts our souls reveal
And on the fable that eluded me yesterday
And eludes me today, Hermione
Marcello, I am unworthy of you.
Yes, yes. I don't deserve you.
You sound the same as your mother.
I have something to tell you, but you mustn't look at me,
so please look out there. If you look, I'll be ashamed.
Maybe afterwards you won't love me anymore,
but I've got to tell you.
You know, what you think of me isn't true.
You think I'm a virgin. I'm not.
What do you think of me now?
I didn't marry you because I thought you're still a virgin.
Dearest, I know your mentality's modern,
but then I felt I should tell you the truth.
I forgot to mention it.
At Ventimiglia, we'll get off. I've got an appointment.
But I have to tell you the whole thing. I have to.
You're angry.
You were in love with someone before you met me. Who was it?
He was a man of 60. A very disgusting old man.
A friend of my family's.
-Who is it? -It's the Advocate Perpuzio.
Perpuzio?
-But he's one of our witnesses. -He insisted on it.
But how was I going to say no?
-Six years it went on. -Six years?
Six years.
All right.
Pardon, monsieur. We'll be in Ventimiglia in a few minutes.
Thank you.
-This is number three Via dei Glicini? -Number three.
Who is it?
He looked to me like he might be an officer in civvies!
This isn't a museum. Go inside, go inside!
I'll send the others down right away.
I'm an idiot, a complete maniac.
Again! Say it again.
The gentleman is a friend of Signor Raoul's.
Go on! Say it!
I'm crazy, a complete maniac.
I'm crazy.
Clerici!
What are you doing wasting time?
Come here!
What?
Professor Quadri's activities in France
have become interfering and provocative.
It's become necessary to make an example of him.
You had to contact and inspire him with confidence
and get information.
-But now... -But now?
There's a counter-order from Rome. All you do is eliminate him.
-That clear? -Very.
The operation will not take place in Paris.
It's up to you to choose the locale and the moment.
It's up to you.
There's nothing more to talk about.
Fine. This means I have no alternative.
Comrade Clerici!
It must be quick and decisive! Comrade!
The train for Paris leaves in an hour.
I lost my hat. Where's my hat? Where is it?
Then he entered the room. Slowly.
Finally he stood behind me and said, "ls that French?"
Come and sit here.
"It's my Latin lesson," I said.
He grabbed me by my hair.
And then, imagine, I used to call him Uncle.
He unbuttoned my blouse then.
I was well-developed at 15, I guess.
He began to squeeze my breasts harder until I almost fainted.
And then, I don't know. I was suddenly on the bed.
He was on top of me.
Then I understood everything and all my strength left me.
Did you like it?
-I lay there passive. -And then?
He did everything to me he wanted.
I cried so much, and in order to console me,
he said he was absolutely, absolutely crazy about me.
Six years.
I would like 26, 15, 37.
-Length nine and width... -I'll wait.
Who are you telephoning to? One, two, three, four...
-A man with a hump. -Hunchbacks bring good luck!
Five and six.
Six by nine ought to amount to 54 meters square, isn't it?
That's right.
He was our professor at the university.
They named him Smerdikoff.
But his was the only class that was crowded.
All the freshman girls were in love with him.
Still busy?
Please, in a few minutes will you ring it for me?
The year I was supposed to graduate, they gave him the castor oil.
He won't remember after nine years.
I had to go and ask him for my thesis.
He asked me if I was a Fascist.
And what did you answer?
I didn't bother to answer him.
He told me it would be impossible for him
to teach philosophy in a Fascist country.
Hello.
This is Clerici. I was a student of yours back in Rome,
and I'd like to see you again.
Of course, Professor. I came about my graduate thesis.
It was the year that you stopped teaching.
I don't remember your name.
It was so long ago. Clerici, you said?
Yes. And you said to me... I remember that day so well, everything,
you said, "The time for reflection is over for me.
"Now begins the time for action."
-And you want to see me? -Yes.
Why?
I don't have any precise reason.
They still speak about you in Rome.
And I'd like to see you, that's all.
Let's see. Could you come over to my house?
Yes. When?
Today if you like, after lunch. Come and have a coffee.
I'm honeymooning in Paris.
Would it be all right if I brought my wife?
Of course. Seventeen Rue Saint Jacques.
-I'll see you later then. -Thank you.
He has a nice voice. Not like a hunchback's.
What shall I wear? Street clothes or really get dressed up?
But why bother?
He'll be a typical intellectual, disagreeable and impotent.
How do you know that?
I don't really. My uncle used to always say...
-Uncle Perpuzio! -Laugh, laugh.
Only he's the one who sent the anonymous letter.
Cut that out!
But, Marcello...
Answer that. Say I'm not in.
-But what if it's a foreigner? -No, he'll be an ltalian.
Answer the phone!
Hello?
No, he's not in.
Very well, I'll tell him.
He said he'd call back this afternoon.
Funny name, Manganiello.
-Yes, what is it? -I'm Monsieur Clerici.
-You've got the wrong apartment. -I've an appointment.
You're ltalian?
The professor is expecting them. I'll take care.
Get away, Marcello!
He'll bite you! Run!
Down, Roby!
Get down! Sit down!
You're Monsieur Clerici, aren't you?
Come in.
-Nothing to be afraid of. -Me? I'm not a bit frightened.
Well then come up. He won't bite now, I tell you.
Funny, usually dogs like me.
Is this the first time you're visiting Paris?
-Do you like it? -Yes. It's so pretty.
The station, the hotel, and now here.
-Please. -Thank you.
If you like, later I could show you a bit of the town.
Really? And then when you come to ltaly,
I can show you around Rome, everything.
The piazzas, the churches, the Forum...
Yes.
I should get them or the coffee will be frozen.
Come on, boys, the coffee's getting cold.
I wonder why she seems so hostile.
Does she seem hostile? But she's nice to me.
She acts like she knows me a hundred years.
And I don't know why. I never met her.
Don't even know who she is.
She's married to Professor Quadri.
Young enough to be his daughter.
But it doesn't matter. I heard her saying, "My husband's inside."
-She said "my husband"? -But certainly.
No, I don't agree. Printing in the shop is too expensive.
But we'll never accomplish anything with the mimeograph.
-Thirty thousand copies is no joke... -lt always breaks down.
My husband's still busy.
He'll see you in a few minutes, all right?
-Yes, we've got time. -He said we might dine tonight.
We'd love to.
Later we might stop at Joinville and dance.
-You agree? -Dancing makes me so happy!
Is dancing still allowed in ltaly?
Now that I think of it, it's impossible.
Why?
'Cause I didn't bring a gown with me.
We can fix that. This afternoon, we can shop if you'll come.
-Shouldn't we go immediately? -No. I have a class at school at 3:30.
But we can meet at your hotel if you like at 5:00.
-At what hotel are you? -At the D'Orsay.
-Then we'll see you at 5:00? -No.
Shopping is only for women. Husbands pay.
You mean I can go and you won't mind?
No.
Take him to the professor.
Come in, come in, Clerici. Did they give you coffee?
-Yes, thank you. -Goodbye. Thank you.
-Giulia. -Yes.
I'm curious.
Before you married him, did you go to bed with him?
It's very curious, Clerici.
You come all this way only to see me?
Remember, Professor,
as soon as you used to enter the classroom
they had to shut the windows.
You couldn't stand all that light, that noise.
Later, I understood why you used to do that.
All these years,
you know what remained most firmly imprinted on my memory?
Your voice.
Imagine a great dungeon in the shape of a cave.
Inside, men who have lived there since childhood,
all chained, and forced to face the back of the cave.
Behind them, far away, the light from a fire flickers.
Between the fire and the prisoners, imagine a low wall
similar to that little stage
on which a puppeteer shows his puppets.
That was November '28.
Yes, I remember.
Now try and imagine some other men
passing behind that little wall
bearing statues made of wood and stone.
The statues are higher than that wall.
You couldn't have brought me a better gift than these memories.
The enchained prisoners of Plato.
And how they resemble us.
-And what do they see? -What do they see?
You who come from ltaly should know from experience.
They see only the shadows the fire makes
on the back of the cavern that faces them.
Shadows. The reflections of things.
Like what's happening to you people now in ltaly.
Say those prisoners were at liberty and could speak out.
Mightn't they call the shadows they see reality, not visions?
Yes. They would mistake for reality, the shadows of reality.
The myth of the great cave.
That was the graduate thesis you proposed to do for me.
-Did you finish it afterwards? -You departed. I used a different theme.
I'm truly sorry, Clerici. I had so much faith in you.
-ln all of you. -No, I don't believe it.
If that were true, you'd never have left Rome.
That's fine. Go on!
Move faster. Move faster.
At the point we had reached there was no other choice.
All we could do was emigrate. We wanted everyone
to be able to feel our disdain, and our rebellion as exiles,
the meaning of our struggle, the historical meaning.
Beautiful words, but you left and I became a Fascist.
Excuse me, Clerici,
but a confirmed Fascist doesn't talk like that.
Yes? Yes, it's me. Yes. Go ahead.
One lover? Only one?
She went down and out.
She gave her all for a redheaded pimp with a bloodshot eye.
A Jew he was, with a garlic smell. Who'd come from Formosa once,