L'amore coniugale (1970) - full transcript
They are fresh!
What are you doing?
Do you want these?
You can try. Here.
How are they?
Well, it's not bad.
You are handsome!
I like everything you do.
You are so handsome!
Eeny meeny miny Moe
cath a tiger but the toe
Eeny meeny miny Moe
if he hollers let him go
Eeny meeny miny Moe.
Eeny meeny miny Moe
catch a tiger by the toe
Eeny meeny miny Moe
if he hollers let him go
Eeny meeny miny Moe.
Eeny meeny miny Moe
Eeny meeny miny Moe
catch a tiger by the toe
if he hollers let him go
Eeny meeny miny Moe
catch a tiger by the toe
if he hollers let him go....
We are preparing a debate
on the development plan.
We can not find a hall.
They are all being taken for the elections.
It takes a very violent complaint.
- We will report them on our newspaper.
- We need someone
- to sub for Ventimiglia.
- Who is Ventimiglia?
- The director of our magazine.
- Reported. - Arrested.
Locked up in prison
waiting for the trial.
We thought that you...
We need someone
registered as a publicist.
But did not you say I'm just a revisionist?
- At this moment, it is very important
to unite - What? - Unite!
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
When we were young, my cousins and I
would set off from here with the mule,
walked all the way down there
and took a swim.
Who built this house?
This villa was built by...
Marianna, that was her name.
She was my grandma's grandma's
grandma's grandma's
grandma.
- Is that her, up there?
- Yup.
It is told that
everytime she saw a handsome boy,
she took him, had him move
in the house
and then had a statue
built on the roof.
See all those up there?
They are all her former lovers.
- Look, I wanted to tell you something.
- Say it.
Would you like me
to become a writer?
I would like it!
I told you!
Well, I'll never
be able to write this way.
- 'This way' how?
- Making love to you every moment.
- But, how do the other writers do?
- The other writers, the other writers.
What do you want me to know?
- D'Annunzio, for example, had a
lot of women. - Ah, D'Annunzio.
In my opinion, D'Annunzio
managed very well.
Look, if you do not want, I won't.
I do not really care.
No, I want you to become
a writer, you have to do it!
- Why?
- You must become someone.
I could continue to be a
journalist, as I did before.
No, no, I want you
to write a novel.
However, from now on,
we have to change everything.
Meaning?
Until you finish the novel,
we will not make love anymore.
Are you okay with that?
The important thing is that
you write a good book, right?
No, no, no, no. Only
after I read your novel.
Ugh! Angelo, turn
off that radio!
Gaetanino, how much is that
fertilizer from Catania? Is it good?
If I put it in my son's head,
he'd become a lawyer right away.
Stop joking around, Gaetanino!
Tell me about the fertilizer.
If I put it in my head, I
would grow leaves too!
All right,
how much is it?
- Not much.
- How much?
For the lemons, 40.
Gaetanino, can you tell your son to turn
off the radio? It makes me nervous.
Ah!
I'm correcting an
article, let me work!
I do not care about the article!
Have you talked to the landlord?
- I have to submit it in an hour.
- Have you talked to him or not?
No, I have not. You do it!
No, I won't ! I'm tired of taking care
of unpleasant things.
- You go! - Do not be stupid!
- You are stupid!
Always with this shitty articles
and this nasty music!
Are you crazy?
Come on, come here.
Are you crazy, eh?
Are you crazy?
You operate at the level of
superstructures and as such
- you don't interest us.
- The only thing you can do here...
- You? Who are 'you'?
- You. You intellectuals.
The only thing you can
do here is to help us
at the level of advertising.
We need an article on the
Bagheria's development plan.
I do not write for newspapers anymore.
Here in this town, this is the
only good thing you can do.
But I'm not a journalist anymore,
I have to write my book.
It is not yet the time to write
books, dear Pataneo.
Where's your dad?
Ah, here he is.
Gaetanino, do me a favor.
Tomorrow I am having guests over.
- You need to kill the pig.
- The pig? They took it away.
- Who?
- Chernizzeri.
- Did you sell it?
- Yes, as you wanted.
I told you not to sell it!
Where is the money?
Chernizzeri has not paid me yet.
In a month.
Gaetanino, before doing
things your own way,
ask me, please.
The other pig?
It's small, it still has to grow.
- Kill it, tomorrow I have guests.
- But it's small!
- Do as I tell you.
- As you wish.
Quit being an idiot and go away!
What a scent of jasmine!
When I was a boy
I enjoyed poetry.
I wrote a poem about the
jasmines of my house.
It started like this:
"Oh, jasmine,
of the unhappy little head, you
remind me of the joys of the bishop
and my boyish pains. "
Then?
My house was a poor
house, without plaster.
The jasmines belonged to the
next house, that of our masters.
My mother, with her holy fingers,
picked up
those flowers for me.
Let's not being too dramatic.
- What do my relatives want from me?
- Nothing.
Excuse me?
They must want something.
They want to buy your
citrus grove, Pataneo.
- An honorable proposal,
in the family - Ah, in the family!
In family, yet
with the mediation of
- a powerful and important man like you.
- Do you mean mafioso?
One moment, I did not say
mafia, I said powerful.
Strong, important, like you.
The mafia does not exist, Pataneo.
You have been abroad, in the North.
In all this time, you
have forgotten your land.
These are things of the past century.
Two months ago, they
killed in Bagheria
two trade unionists.
So who was it?
Those are political men.
- They fight and someone gets
killed - The dead.
- And why do they want to buy the land?
- To protect it, enrich it,
- my flowered May rose.
- We are doing it.
It is not a question of will, dear friend.
You are sweet, industrious,
you are a modern farmer,
a man who knows
our beloved land and
its beautiful fruits.
But you are missing
something precious.
- You are missing blood.
- Blood?
Gold, vile metal that makes
stones bloom and gives leaves to the wind.
So, Valenza, you can tell those
crooks of my relatives
that I do not sell the land.
An intellectual fine man, a
carpenter of the soul like you!
But do not say bullshit,
please, Valenza.
Where did your husband learn
such a vulgar language?
You do not live in the Trinacria
anymore, you have lost our fine manners.
You speak like a foreigner
without poetry.
The fish was bad!
Plus, it was not pig.
I had asked your father to get the pig.
- Where is it? - It's dead.
- What does it mean?
How is it possible!
Yesterday it was great!
Why did not you show it to me?
Where is it?
I hope to wake up soon...
I hope to wake up soon...
How long does beauty last?
The time of a morning.
Then it fades away and death comes
violet dressed.
- It's not for lemons.
- What?
My family wants the
land to build over it.
Never! Here is nature
and here it must stay!
- With a guardian like that...
- Which guardian?
The development plan, sweet
Parisian butterfly.
- Here it is bound.
- What means to be bound, Silvio?
It means that people's representatives
take care of the community's interests.
It means that for the public good
it is decided to restrain building.
It means that for the public good
it is decided to restrain building.
It means that the strongest and most arrogant people do as they please at the weakest's expenses.
The continent turned him
a pessimist.
You see evil where it is not there.
Do you want to see how
to kill a lemon?
- And before him?
- Come on, stop it!
- And before? - A blond one.
- Who was him? How old was him?
22.
Was he a good lover?
- Answer me.
- Yes, he was very good.
- Was he handsome?
- Yes, handsome.
Silvio! Silvio!
- And did you like it?
- Yes Yes Yes!
- What's your name?
- Beautiful thighs, I would do you.
It's the pig!
Listen, Leda, the pig is dead.
They are killing him now!
Gaetanino said that the pig is dead?
Then the pig is dead.
- But... - If you do not believe
him, you are offending him. Go.
If it bothers you, you can turn
the music louder and that's it.
Angelo!
Daddy.
Little Daddy. Little Daddy.
I'll recite your
favorite nursery rhyme.
Eeny meeny miny Moe
cath a tiger but the toe
if he hollers let him go..
Eeny meeny miny Moe..
Look, look, come
look, come.
- What's this?
- Let's make love!
- We've decided not to.
- And who cares!
No, no, enough! Then you tell
me that you can not write.
- Antonio, can you curl my hair?
- Yes Madam.
All right, then when you're done
with my husband, come to me.
All right.
- Antonio, but do you know how to
make women's curls? - Yes, of course!
You can do a lot of things!
- Make her beautiful.
- Yes, yes. - That's enough, thanks.
Silvio?
- You look nice! - Please, tomorrow
send the barber away.
Send the barber away?
What did he do to you?
Nothing. I do not want to
see that man here anymore!
- What happened?
- I do not want to see him here anymore!
- He disrespected me.
- How did he disrespect you?
- What did he do to you?
- Will you send him away, yes or no?
-You must tell me what he did to you!
- He touched me.
He must have touched you by mistake!
- Please.
- How did he touch you?
He touched me.
- Come here. - Oh, no!
- Come here, show me how he did it.
If you do not show me how he did...
I'm sure it's not his fault.
- Sit down. - It's nonsense.
- Sit here.
All right, I'm the barber, I'm
doing your hair, like this.
- Did he touch you there? Here? - Yes.
- Oh well, while he's doing your hair
- he had to get closer!
- He did it on purpose!
He did it willingly.
Well, it depends on the type of contact.
Do you mean he was aroused?
Yes.
- Aroused..really?
- Yes.
- You do not give a damn.
- It's not like I do not give a damn,
sorry, but you're a beautiful
woman, anyone in his place...
- So, will you send him away or not?
- I can not send him away, Leda.
- With what reason? Because he touched you?
- Tell him we're leaving, I do not know.
- Everyone knows that we aren't going
anywhere. - Who cares!
- The important thing is that I won't see
him anymore. - It's not possible.
- How will I shave? I do not know how
to shave myself... - Learn.
Come on, he's a poor man
who makes a living this way.
- A poor man? He's horrible, disgusting.
- He has got many children, he is a wretch.
- And miserable.
- Come on, it's nonsense.
- So, you won't do this for me?
- I do not see the reason, that's all.
- All right.
- Come on, pretend it's nothing!
- Come on then.
- So you want me to hide in my house
- when he comes here, is that it?
- You hide in your house
- when he comes. You do not show up.
- Agreed.
This is hilarious!
Leda? Leda!
For centuries your ancestors
lived in this villa
exploiting the work of
the farmers of Bagheria.
I have nothing
to do with my ancestors.
- It's very beautiful. - Yes, it's
beautiful, but it's falling apart.
It is only fair, beauty is useless.
Do you need beauty?
Well, maybe yes, no?
Beauty is always linked to
exploitation and injustice.
- So, do you accept?
- Yes, I accept, but...
There is always a "but" for the bourgeois.
- Okay, I accept but after I finish
my book. - When?
- Well, I do not know, in two to three
months. - Too late.
Sit down.
- How much are lemons per quintal?
- It depends on the market price.
- It depends on how it goes.
- And how is the market going this year?
- Badly, lemons are shriveled.
- Okay thanks.
Tell me, Gaetanino.
I wanted to tell you something.
Your son,
why do not you send him to school?
- He does not want to go.
- Hasn't he got a girlfriend?
He's too young for that.
Gaetanino, you must watch out for your son,
because he's acting like a fool.
- What does it mean?
- Always with the radio on, with friends,
- It doesn't look right.
- Don't you worry about my son. I do.
It's my business.
Ah, Gaetanino, it's the
barber, you go open.
And then go call Mr. Silvio.
Come in. And you, idiot, call
Mr Silvio and tell him the barber is here.
- What do you want?
- Antonio has arrived.
Tell him I'll be there right away.
Tell him I'll be there right away.
Listen, come here for a moment.
Sorry, eh!
Am I wrong, or you and
your father don't like Antonio?
- He's really ugly.
- You don't like him because he's ugly?
- There must be another reason.
- He has long hands.
Do you mean that he steals things?
- So?
- He has 'the woman' here.
- He likes women?
- He has it here.
All right. Tidy up here while
I go shave.
- Antonio, how many children have you got?
- Five.
And you like women,
you're a womanizer.
Isn't your wife jealous?
All women are suspicious, sir.
So you cheat on her.
This is my business.
- You are right. - Even Ficarazzi's
godfather has his women.
Only that here women
are a bit suspicious.
Better not to talk.
Here of amused passions by miracle
the war is silent,
the war, here we, the poor,
get our share of wealth too
- and it's the smell of lemons.
- What's this?
A poem by Montale.
Do you know that they
divert the water again?
- When?
- They broke the pipe again.
They can break whatever they
want, I will not sell.
We have to buy another
piece of pipe.
Buy, buy, buy, buy.
Full of debts and we
do nothing but buying.
Well, you know, the
harvest is next month
and we will earn some money.
We live off of lemons.
And I'm not cut out to be a farmer.
But my relatives, those sharks,
I swear to God, will not win.
So, three harvests
per year at 1600 per quintal,
we should be able to make it.
And so, you give up the work
at the newspaper and focus on the book.
I already quit at the newspaper
and plus I would never go back
to that asshole, the director.
We must increase
Gaetanino's pay.
Also? With what money, sorry?
We have to sell to
someone who is not the aunt.
- We are forced to follow
the prices that she decides - Right.
Instead of only breaking the pipe,
she'll see to destroy our
whole irrigation system.
Why do your parents hate you so much?
Because I left home
because I became a journalist,
because I do not think like them, because
I despise them, because I hate them,
- because they disgust me.
- So they're right!
They are right, yes.
But I'm right too.
Let's go!
Move!
The interest of speculators
has become predominant
for another reason. It turned out that
an exploited construction worker
who works 8 hours, 9 hours a day,
10 hours a day,
is more profitable than
a farmer in the countryside.
From that moment on,
it begins what we call
'the battle of cement' in Bagheria.
It begins the politics
of reinforced concrete.
We, today, in 1970,
we are the largest municipality
in the province of Palermo
and that attracts the interests
of big speculators, even of the city
of Palermo towards Bagheria, because
in Palermo it is difficult to build.
Because the mafia of the areas in Palermo,
shoots more easily than
the mafia in Bagheria.
We need to unite around
these important themes
all available forces.
We say that these available
forces are: construction workers,
the inhabitants of the social housing,
the youth, the farmers and the
avant-garde intellectuals.
I am a construction worker
and I see roads that
are built completely wrong.
New roads that aren't straight
are really disheartening.
Like the Coglitore district, like the
Butera district, and many other
neighborhoods of Bagheria.
If we talk about the development plan,
many jobs will stop at the moment
but if you go ahead with work,
even working illegally,
as I personally do
in this period,
because any engineer
told me that
if you want to go on working,
always divide up to 25
centimeters in each floor
and for whoever comes to
check it will always be good.
This is the only way to work, otherwise
you could not work.
In the Via Consolare area,
you know where it is,
on 4,500 inhabitants
who live there today,
2,316 are to be moved out, that is,
2,316 people should not be there
because the habitable rooms
are not enough to host all of them.
In the area of via Palagonia, out of
2,200, the inhabitants to be moved out
are 1,180, more than 50%.
In the Mortellaro
Matrice area, on 4.140,
there are 1,000
who should leave.
And in the Sepolto Collegio area,
out of 3,519, the inhabitants
to be moved out are 1,105.
And the cost of
expropriation of this area
was 2,500 lira
per square meter.
Naturally, such a low cost
had to have a counterpart and
this counterpart was given
with a quite large interest, that is,
the municipality of Bagheria had
this area at a special price.
In exchange, all the
surrounding area has been parceled out
so we see that it is always
in expropriation, that is
with a cost lower
than the normal price
to build houses, from '56 to '69,
that is, from the construction of
the Ciro Scianna middle school,
until the construction
of the Ciro Scianna gym,
there has been an increase in
value of the areas of 800%.
- Two packs of salt, please.
- Yes Madam.
- How much it is? - 16,000.
- 16,000 for two packs of salt?
- There is the bill of the other days.
- What bill?
- Aren't you the lady of the villa?
- Yes.
- Angelo came.
- What did he get?
Cigarettes, tobacco, chocolate.
Yes, he smokes a lot. Too much!
All right, I pay this, then my
husband will come to pay the rest.
Madame, come in.
Angelo take the chair.
It is an honor to have you in my house.
Come, have a seat.
Would you like a drink? A bit of milk?
Angelo, move, come on. Give the
chair to Madam.
Come on!
Take the cup, come on, move!
Not this! Get the new one, move!
Come on! Have a seat.
This is my brother.
Excuse him, he's sick.
He does not speak. Drink, drink.
It's good, fresh stuff.
- Are you disgusted by my food?
- I'm not thirsty. I'm not thirsty.
- Were you looking for me?
- No.
I was looking for Angelo,
but I'll come back another time.
I have to go, my
husband is waiting for me.
- Thank you.
- I kiss the hands.
See you later.
Bagheria, Bagheria, Bagheria.
If I set my book in Bagheria,
I must write something
about this damned town.
Bagheria. Bagheria. Bagheria.
Bagheria. Bagheria. Bagheria.
Today I feel emptied. I have already
written more than twenty pages.
- You're happy?
- I'm happy. I'm happy!
- I see. Your eyes shine.
- Do my eyes shine? - Yup.
Yes, so the artists' eyes shine
at the height of their work.
I'm happy.
You must forgive me, because
I only think of myself.
Look, I was not sure at
first, but now I'm sure
to write the most beautiful book
in the world. The greatest!
- I'm happy. - Ah, what a happiness!
- And what is your novel about?
- I'm talking about you and me.
- About us?
- Yup.
- And what do you say about us?
About how we met,
of our love
and guess what?
- Of my jealousy for your first husband.
- Ah!
- So it's a love story.
- It's a love story.
It is a love story.
Why do not we make love here?
- No, we decided not to.
- Come on, I love you! - Not here for sure.
Please. Please.
- Please.
- After the book.
There is always a "but" for the bourgeois.
There is always a "but" for the bourgeois.
There is always a "but" for the bourgeois.
It is not yet time to write
books, dear Pataneo.
Assholes!
What did they want from
me, those three naggers?
They heard that they are trying
to force you to sell the citrus grove.
And that you must not give up.
But I know, I know
I know what I have to do myself.
I know already what to do!
And what will you do?
- Why did you marry him?
- Because I liked him.
If you liked him, why did not
you stick with him?
Because I did not love him enough.
So it means that you love me.
- Maybe.
- Maybe?
Maybe?
Maybe?
What are you doing?
I'm looking for my pants.
- In the garden?
- They flew out of the window.
How's the novel going?
Silvio?
Silvio, it's ready, come and eat.
Silvio?!
Those assoholes in my family
did not want to see me.
- So?
- Oh well, who cares.
They want me to sell
to make him speculate.
But I won't let them.
I am not a thief like them.
Who gave it to you? Who
gave you that radio? Eh?
Next year we'll make the most
famous band in all of Sicily.
- Come on! What's your name?
- Dolly Brothers.
- And what do you do, sing? - We're going
to Palermo, half a million a night.
Wow!
- And what's the name of the band?
- Dolly Brothers.
How is it?
Sing. Sing.
Hurry up I'm hungry, okay?
All right. All right.
- All right, hurry up!
- Yes, sir!
Come on, Antonio,
please, hurry up!
Ouch! Give me the mirror!
Give me the mirror!
- Look what you did to me, you fool!
- You moved.
I did not move at all.
It was you, asshole.
Go get your stuff and
get out of here.
- We still have to finish the beard.
- We do not have to finish anything, go!
- Out! I don't want to see you anymore!
- Shall I come tomorrow?
- Shall I come tomorrow?
- Don't you ever come here again. Out!
- You're an incompetent.
- As you wish.
Imbecile! Idiot!
Get out of here. I do not want
to see you anymore. Go away!
Fool! Idiot!
I kicked out Antonio.
How will you shave?
Well, I'll do it myself.
I will cut myself, oh well.
See what he did to me.
- Did you disinfect it?
- Yes, yes.
It was an excuse to kick him out.
Even Angelino told me
the same thing in the car.
He's a bad guy, a womanizer,
a slimy bastard.
You were right.
- How come you're dressed like that?
- Well, for once.
- What is it? Are you angry?
- No.
Oh well!
What do women find in him?
He's ugly, yellow, with a belly.
And then that bald head! He's disgusting!
Did you find the card in Palermo?
Yes, not exactly what I
wanted, but it's okay.
- What about the uncles?
- Sorry?
- The uncles.
- They did not want to talk to me.
Too bad for them.
Silvio, maybe we should sell the land.
- What?
- We are not good farmers.
Never, never, never and never.
All right.
Never! Those assholes!
And what was he like?
A white guy with blue eyes
like the emerald.
The emerald is not blue.
What about his body?
Slender, hairless.
- Then?
- With wide shoulders. - Then?
- Small knees.
- Then?
Did you like him?
Ouch! Damn hell.
- Finished?
- Finished, finished. - Finished, finished?
- Very well finished. - Finished. - Finished.
- Finished. - Finished. Finished.
We have to drink on it. Gin!
Let's cheer to the end of your book!
- Very well.
- There's never a glass in your house.
- And give it to me.
- What?
You are completely drunk.
Ah, it's over.
You are a genius!
Let's dance!
- Look, I'm done.
- No!
We said after you
read the novel to me.
Oh no, we said after
I wrote the novel.
Yes, but you must read it to me.
It's not right or else.
- That's what we said, right?
- You are bad.
Oh well, it's you who asked me.
You are very bad.
Yes, all right, promised. I'll read you
the novel, if you do not like it...
But no, I'm sure it's
beautiful, look, I'm happy.
Okay.
- What's up?
- You must come to the meeting
- tonight. It's important.
- Why?
We are preparing the complaint
against the Mayor.
So, are you coming?
- I'm, but what time will it be?
- In an hour, at 10.
- Will you come?
- At ten?
Yes. See you there.
- Well.
- Bye. - Bye.
Done! A kiss, to bring me luck.
So? You're so superstitious.
A lucky charm.
- Are you going to the meeting?
- Yes, are you coming with me?
No, no. I'm going to sleep, I'm tired.
Bye, goodnight.
Listen.
So, when are we making love?
When you finish to copy it and
after you read it to me.
- Is not it what we said?
- All right.
- Three days in a row.
- It will be a novelty
- to make love to a writer.
- Are you making a fool of me?
No. No. Goodnight!
Good night!
Uh!
Correct style. Cold feeling.
Null characters.
Poor psychological truth.
Conclusion:
failure.
Leda?
Leda?
Leda?
Leda?
Leda?
- Are you working?
- No.
What's up?
- So?
- I made a discovery tonight.
What discovery?
I discovered that my
book is worthless.
What are you saying?
It's worth nothing.
Do you know what we are going to do?
I'll go to my room and you'll
come read it to me.
Come, sit here.
It does not matter to say
where and how I met my wife,
she was about my age and in
many ways it seemed to me
that her life resembled mine.
To love, besides many other things,
means to take delight in looking
and observe your loved one.
And not just to take delight in the
contemplation of her beauties,
but from that of her
ugliness, few or many may they be.
The end.
Maybe you're right.
It is not a beautiful novel.
But it's not as bad as you say.
It's well written.
But it is not enough to write well.
Do you mind having
a failed writer as your husband?
I never thought of
you as a writer.
And how did you think about me?
I do not know.
When you love someone, one
can not make a judgment.
I too because I love you,
I can not judge you.
When we love, we love
everything, even the faults.
I love you as you are.
Do you know why
your novel isn't so convincing?
- Why?
- You talk about me
so... well, you
idealize me too much.
- So?
- So I think that in a little while,
when you'll know me better,
you'll be able to write about us in
a more convincing way.
You will write a beautiful
book, I am sure.
Read, signed and signed.
Did you see what beautiful
children Sicily has?
Not like those ugly beasts
you hang out with.
I am sorry but those are
not sons of the people.
They are bad grass
poisoning our land.
We understand the people,
we love and protect them.
They understand us and support us.
- Is it true, Angeluzzo?
- Give me the pen, please.
Here it is, Pataneo.
I'm really sorry for
those nice lemons.
Pataneo, who knows who burned
all those beautiful plants.
The initials, please, Pataneo.
I'm really sorry.
But it is God who commands
and we Christians only obey!
Angelo?
Give me that box.
No, this! This one!
Go see if Silvio has finished
packing the suitcases.
- Silvio? - Eh?
- I'm happy to go back to Rome.
Eeny meeny miny Moe
catch a tiger by the toe
if he hollers let he go
Eeny meeny miny Moe!
Let's go!
What are you doing?
Do you want these?
You can try. Here.
How are they?
Well, it's not bad.
You are handsome!
I like everything you do.
You are so handsome!
Eeny meeny miny Moe
cath a tiger but the toe
Eeny meeny miny Moe
if he hollers let him go
Eeny meeny miny Moe.
Eeny meeny miny Moe
catch a tiger by the toe
Eeny meeny miny Moe
if he hollers let him go
Eeny meeny miny Moe.
Eeny meeny miny Moe
Eeny meeny miny Moe
catch a tiger by the toe
if he hollers let him go
Eeny meeny miny Moe
catch a tiger by the toe
if he hollers let him go....
We are preparing a debate
on the development plan.
We can not find a hall.
They are all being taken for the elections.
It takes a very violent complaint.
- We will report them on our newspaper.
- We need someone
- to sub for Ventimiglia.
- Who is Ventimiglia?
- The director of our magazine.
- Reported. - Arrested.
Locked up in prison
waiting for the trial.
We thought that you...
We need someone
registered as a publicist.
But did not you say I'm just a revisionist?
- At this moment, it is very important
to unite - What? - Unite!
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
When we were young, my cousins and I
would set off from here with the mule,
walked all the way down there
and took a swim.
Who built this house?
This villa was built by...
Marianna, that was her name.
She was my grandma's grandma's
grandma's grandma's
grandma.
- Is that her, up there?
- Yup.
It is told that
everytime she saw a handsome boy,
she took him, had him move
in the house
and then had a statue
built on the roof.
See all those up there?
They are all her former lovers.
- Look, I wanted to tell you something.
- Say it.
Would you like me
to become a writer?
I would like it!
I told you!
Well, I'll never
be able to write this way.
- 'This way' how?
- Making love to you every moment.
- But, how do the other writers do?
- The other writers, the other writers.
What do you want me to know?
- D'Annunzio, for example, had a
lot of women. - Ah, D'Annunzio.
In my opinion, D'Annunzio
managed very well.
Look, if you do not want, I won't.
I do not really care.
No, I want you to become
a writer, you have to do it!
- Why?
- You must become someone.
I could continue to be a
journalist, as I did before.
No, no, I want you
to write a novel.
However, from now on,
we have to change everything.
Meaning?
Until you finish the novel,
we will not make love anymore.
Are you okay with that?
The important thing is that
you write a good book, right?
No, no, no, no. Only
after I read your novel.
Ugh! Angelo, turn
off that radio!
Gaetanino, how much is that
fertilizer from Catania? Is it good?
If I put it in my son's head,
he'd become a lawyer right away.
Stop joking around, Gaetanino!
Tell me about the fertilizer.
If I put it in my head, I
would grow leaves too!
All right,
how much is it?
- Not much.
- How much?
For the lemons, 40.
Gaetanino, can you tell your son to turn
off the radio? It makes me nervous.
Ah!
I'm correcting an
article, let me work!
I do not care about the article!
Have you talked to the landlord?
- I have to submit it in an hour.
- Have you talked to him or not?
No, I have not. You do it!
No, I won't ! I'm tired of taking care
of unpleasant things.
- You go! - Do not be stupid!
- You are stupid!
Always with this shitty articles
and this nasty music!
Are you crazy?
Come on, come here.
Are you crazy, eh?
Are you crazy?
You operate at the level of
superstructures and as such
- you don't interest us.
- The only thing you can do here...
- You? Who are 'you'?
- You. You intellectuals.
The only thing you can
do here is to help us
at the level of advertising.
We need an article on the
Bagheria's development plan.
I do not write for newspapers anymore.
Here in this town, this is the
only good thing you can do.
But I'm not a journalist anymore,
I have to write my book.
It is not yet the time to write
books, dear Pataneo.
Where's your dad?
Ah, here he is.
Gaetanino, do me a favor.
Tomorrow I am having guests over.
- You need to kill the pig.
- The pig? They took it away.
- Who?
- Chernizzeri.
- Did you sell it?
- Yes, as you wanted.
I told you not to sell it!
Where is the money?
Chernizzeri has not paid me yet.
In a month.
Gaetanino, before doing
things your own way,
ask me, please.
The other pig?
It's small, it still has to grow.
- Kill it, tomorrow I have guests.
- But it's small!
- Do as I tell you.
- As you wish.
Quit being an idiot and go away!
What a scent of jasmine!
When I was a boy
I enjoyed poetry.
I wrote a poem about the
jasmines of my house.
It started like this:
"Oh, jasmine,
of the unhappy little head, you
remind me of the joys of the bishop
and my boyish pains. "
Then?
My house was a poor
house, without plaster.
The jasmines belonged to the
next house, that of our masters.
My mother, with her holy fingers,
picked up
those flowers for me.
Let's not being too dramatic.
- What do my relatives want from me?
- Nothing.
Excuse me?
They must want something.
They want to buy your
citrus grove, Pataneo.
- An honorable proposal,
in the family - Ah, in the family!
In family, yet
with the mediation of
- a powerful and important man like you.
- Do you mean mafioso?
One moment, I did not say
mafia, I said powerful.
Strong, important, like you.
The mafia does not exist, Pataneo.
You have been abroad, in the North.
In all this time, you
have forgotten your land.
These are things of the past century.
Two months ago, they
killed in Bagheria
two trade unionists.
So who was it?
Those are political men.
- They fight and someone gets
killed - The dead.
- And why do they want to buy the land?
- To protect it, enrich it,
- my flowered May rose.
- We are doing it.
It is not a question of will, dear friend.
You are sweet, industrious,
you are a modern farmer,
a man who knows
our beloved land and
its beautiful fruits.
But you are missing
something precious.
- You are missing blood.
- Blood?
Gold, vile metal that makes
stones bloom and gives leaves to the wind.
So, Valenza, you can tell those
crooks of my relatives
that I do not sell the land.
An intellectual fine man, a
carpenter of the soul like you!
But do not say bullshit,
please, Valenza.
Where did your husband learn
such a vulgar language?
You do not live in the Trinacria
anymore, you have lost our fine manners.
You speak like a foreigner
without poetry.
The fish was bad!
Plus, it was not pig.
I had asked your father to get the pig.
- Where is it? - It's dead.
- What does it mean?
How is it possible!
Yesterday it was great!
Why did not you show it to me?
Where is it?
I hope to wake up soon...
I hope to wake up soon...
How long does beauty last?
The time of a morning.
Then it fades away and death comes
violet dressed.
- It's not for lemons.
- What?
My family wants the
land to build over it.
Never! Here is nature
and here it must stay!
- With a guardian like that...
- Which guardian?
The development plan, sweet
Parisian butterfly.
- Here it is bound.
- What means to be bound, Silvio?
It means that people's representatives
take care of the community's interests.
It means that for the public good
it is decided to restrain building.
It means that for the public good
it is decided to restrain building.
It means that the strongest and most arrogant people do as they please at the weakest's expenses.
The continent turned him
a pessimist.
You see evil where it is not there.
Do you want to see how
to kill a lemon?
- And before him?
- Come on, stop it!
- And before? - A blond one.
- Who was him? How old was him?
22.
Was he a good lover?
- Answer me.
- Yes, he was very good.
- Was he handsome?
- Yes, handsome.
Silvio! Silvio!
- And did you like it?
- Yes Yes Yes!
- What's your name?
- Beautiful thighs, I would do you.
It's the pig!
Listen, Leda, the pig is dead.
They are killing him now!
Gaetanino said that the pig is dead?
Then the pig is dead.
- But... - If you do not believe
him, you are offending him. Go.
If it bothers you, you can turn
the music louder and that's it.
Angelo!
Daddy.
Little Daddy. Little Daddy.
I'll recite your
favorite nursery rhyme.
Eeny meeny miny Moe
cath a tiger but the toe
if he hollers let him go..
Eeny meeny miny Moe..
Look, look, come
look, come.
- What's this?
- Let's make love!
- We've decided not to.
- And who cares!
No, no, enough! Then you tell
me that you can not write.
- Antonio, can you curl my hair?
- Yes Madam.
All right, then when you're done
with my husband, come to me.
All right.
- Antonio, but do you know how to
make women's curls? - Yes, of course!
You can do a lot of things!
- Make her beautiful.
- Yes, yes. - That's enough, thanks.
Silvio?
- You look nice! - Please, tomorrow
send the barber away.
Send the barber away?
What did he do to you?
Nothing. I do not want to
see that man here anymore!
- What happened?
- I do not want to see him here anymore!
- He disrespected me.
- How did he disrespect you?
- What did he do to you?
- Will you send him away, yes or no?
-You must tell me what he did to you!
- He touched me.
He must have touched you by mistake!
- Please.
- How did he touch you?
He touched me.
- Come here. - Oh, no!
- Come here, show me how he did it.
If you do not show me how he did...
I'm sure it's not his fault.
- Sit down. - It's nonsense.
- Sit here.
All right, I'm the barber, I'm
doing your hair, like this.
- Did he touch you there? Here? - Yes.
- Oh well, while he's doing your hair
- he had to get closer!
- He did it on purpose!
He did it willingly.
Well, it depends on the type of contact.
Do you mean he was aroused?
Yes.
- Aroused..really?
- Yes.
- You do not give a damn.
- It's not like I do not give a damn,
sorry, but you're a beautiful
woman, anyone in his place...
- So, will you send him away or not?
- I can not send him away, Leda.
- With what reason? Because he touched you?
- Tell him we're leaving, I do not know.
- Everyone knows that we aren't going
anywhere. - Who cares!
- The important thing is that I won't see
him anymore. - It's not possible.
- How will I shave? I do not know how
to shave myself... - Learn.
Come on, he's a poor man
who makes a living this way.
- A poor man? He's horrible, disgusting.
- He has got many children, he is a wretch.
- And miserable.
- Come on, it's nonsense.
- So, you won't do this for me?
- I do not see the reason, that's all.
- All right.
- Come on, pretend it's nothing!
- Come on then.
- So you want me to hide in my house
- when he comes here, is that it?
- You hide in your house
- when he comes. You do not show up.
- Agreed.
This is hilarious!
Leda? Leda!
For centuries your ancestors
lived in this villa
exploiting the work of
the farmers of Bagheria.
I have nothing
to do with my ancestors.
- It's very beautiful. - Yes, it's
beautiful, but it's falling apart.
It is only fair, beauty is useless.
Do you need beauty?
Well, maybe yes, no?
Beauty is always linked to
exploitation and injustice.
- So, do you accept?
- Yes, I accept, but...
There is always a "but" for the bourgeois.
- Okay, I accept but after I finish
my book. - When?
- Well, I do not know, in two to three
months. - Too late.
Sit down.
- How much are lemons per quintal?
- It depends on the market price.
- It depends on how it goes.
- And how is the market going this year?
- Badly, lemons are shriveled.
- Okay thanks.
Tell me, Gaetanino.
I wanted to tell you something.
Your son,
why do not you send him to school?
- He does not want to go.
- Hasn't he got a girlfriend?
He's too young for that.
Gaetanino, you must watch out for your son,
because he's acting like a fool.
- What does it mean?
- Always with the radio on, with friends,
- It doesn't look right.
- Don't you worry about my son. I do.
It's my business.
Ah, Gaetanino, it's the
barber, you go open.
And then go call Mr. Silvio.
Come in. And you, idiot, call
Mr Silvio and tell him the barber is here.
- What do you want?
- Antonio has arrived.
Tell him I'll be there right away.
Tell him I'll be there right away.
Listen, come here for a moment.
Sorry, eh!
Am I wrong, or you and
your father don't like Antonio?
- He's really ugly.
- You don't like him because he's ugly?
- There must be another reason.
- He has long hands.
Do you mean that he steals things?
- So?
- He has 'the woman' here.
- He likes women?
- He has it here.
All right. Tidy up here while
I go shave.
- Antonio, how many children have you got?
- Five.
And you like women,
you're a womanizer.
Isn't your wife jealous?
All women are suspicious, sir.
So you cheat on her.
This is my business.
- You are right. - Even Ficarazzi's
godfather has his women.
Only that here women
are a bit suspicious.
Better not to talk.
Here of amused passions by miracle
the war is silent,
the war, here we, the poor,
get our share of wealth too
- and it's the smell of lemons.
- What's this?
A poem by Montale.
Do you know that they
divert the water again?
- When?
- They broke the pipe again.
They can break whatever they
want, I will not sell.
We have to buy another
piece of pipe.
Buy, buy, buy, buy.
Full of debts and we
do nothing but buying.
Well, you know, the
harvest is next month
and we will earn some money.
We live off of lemons.
And I'm not cut out to be a farmer.
But my relatives, those sharks,
I swear to God, will not win.
So, three harvests
per year at 1600 per quintal,
we should be able to make it.
And so, you give up the work
at the newspaper and focus on the book.
I already quit at the newspaper
and plus I would never go back
to that asshole, the director.
We must increase
Gaetanino's pay.
Also? With what money, sorry?
We have to sell to
someone who is not the aunt.
- We are forced to follow
the prices that she decides - Right.
Instead of only breaking the pipe,
she'll see to destroy our
whole irrigation system.
Why do your parents hate you so much?
Because I left home
because I became a journalist,
because I do not think like them, because
I despise them, because I hate them,
- because they disgust me.
- So they're right!
They are right, yes.
But I'm right too.
Let's go!
Move!
The interest of speculators
has become predominant
for another reason. It turned out that
an exploited construction worker
who works 8 hours, 9 hours a day,
10 hours a day,
is more profitable than
a farmer in the countryside.
From that moment on,
it begins what we call
'the battle of cement' in Bagheria.
It begins the politics
of reinforced concrete.
We, today, in 1970,
we are the largest municipality
in the province of Palermo
and that attracts the interests
of big speculators, even of the city
of Palermo towards Bagheria, because
in Palermo it is difficult to build.
Because the mafia of the areas in Palermo,
shoots more easily than
the mafia in Bagheria.
We need to unite around
these important themes
all available forces.
We say that these available
forces are: construction workers,
the inhabitants of the social housing,
the youth, the farmers and the
avant-garde intellectuals.
I am a construction worker
and I see roads that
are built completely wrong.
New roads that aren't straight
are really disheartening.
Like the Coglitore district, like the
Butera district, and many other
neighborhoods of Bagheria.
If we talk about the development plan,
many jobs will stop at the moment
but if you go ahead with work,
even working illegally,
as I personally do
in this period,
because any engineer
told me that
if you want to go on working,
always divide up to 25
centimeters in each floor
and for whoever comes to
check it will always be good.
This is the only way to work, otherwise
you could not work.
In the Via Consolare area,
you know where it is,
on 4,500 inhabitants
who live there today,
2,316 are to be moved out, that is,
2,316 people should not be there
because the habitable rooms
are not enough to host all of them.
In the area of via Palagonia, out of
2,200, the inhabitants to be moved out
are 1,180, more than 50%.
In the Mortellaro
Matrice area, on 4.140,
there are 1,000
who should leave.
And in the Sepolto Collegio area,
out of 3,519, the inhabitants
to be moved out are 1,105.
And the cost of
expropriation of this area
was 2,500 lira
per square meter.
Naturally, such a low cost
had to have a counterpart and
this counterpart was given
with a quite large interest, that is,
the municipality of Bagheria had
this area at a special price.
In exchange, all the
surrounding area has been parceled out
so we see that it is always
in expropriation, that is
with a cost lower
than the normal price
to build houses, from '56 to '69,
that is, from the construction of
the Ciro Scianna middle school,
until the construction
of the Ciro Scianna gym,
there has been an increase in
value of the areas of 800%.
- Two packs of salt, please.
- Yes Madam.
- How much it is? - 16,000.
- 16,000 for two packs of salt?
- There is the bill of the other days.
- What bill?
- Aren't you the lady of the villa?
- Yes.
- Angelo came.
- What did he get?
Cigarettes, tobacco, chocolate.
Yes, he smokes a lot. Too much!
All right, I pay this, then my
husband will come to pay the rest.
Madame, come in.
Angelo take the chair.
It is an honor to have you in my house.
Come, have a seat.
Would you like a drink? A bit of milk?
Angelo, move, come on. Give the
chair to Madam.
Come on!
Take the cup, come on, move!
Not this! Get the new one, move!
Come on! Have a seat.
This is my brother.
Excuse him, he's sick.
He does not speak. Drink, drink.
It's good, fresh stuff.
- Are you disgusted by my food?
- I'm not thirsty. I'm not thirsty.
- Were you looking for me?
- No.
I was looking for Angelo,
but I'll come back another time.
I have to go, my
husband is waiting for me.
- Thank you.
- I kiss the hands.
See you later.
Bagheria, Bagheria, Bagheria.
If I set my book in Bagheria,
I must write something
about this damned town.
Bagheria. Bagheria. Bagheria.
Bagheria. Bagheria. Bagheria.
Today I feel emptied. I have already
written more than twenty pages.
- You're happy?
- I'm happy. I'm happy!
- I see. Your eyes shine.
- Do my eyes shine? - Yup.
Yes, so the artists' eyes shine
at the height of their work.
I'm happy.
You must forgive me, because
I only think of myself.
Look, I was not sure at
first, but now I'm sure
to write the most beautiful book
in the world. The greatest!
- I'm happy. - Ah, what a happiness!
- And what is your novel about?
- I'm talking about you and me.
- About us?
- Yup.
- And what do you say about us?
About how we met,
of our love
and guess what?
- Of my jealousy for your first husband.
- Ah!
- So it's a love story.
- It's a love story.
It is a love story.
Why do not we make love here?
- No, we decided not to.
- Come on, I love you! - Not here for sure.
Please. Please.
- Please.
- After the book.
There is always a "but" for the bourgeois.
There is always a "but" for the bourgeois.
There is always a "but" for the bourgeois.
It is not yet time to write
books, dear Pataneo.
Assholes!
What did they want from
me, those three naggers?
They heard that they are trying
to force you to sell the citrus grove.
And that you must not give up.
But I know, I know
I know what I have to do myself.
I know already what to do!
And what will you do?
- Why did you marry him?
- Because I liked him.
If you liked him, why did not
you stick with him?
Because I did not love him enough.
So it means that you love me.
- Maybe.
- Maybe?
Maybe?
Maybe?
What are you doing?
I'm looking for my pants.
- In the garden?
- They flew out of the window.
How's the novel going?
Silvio?
Silvio, it's ready, come and eat.
Silvio?!
Those assoholes in my family
did not want to see me.
- So?
- Oh well, who cares.
They want me to sell
to make him speculate.
But I won't let them.
I am not a thief like them.
Who gave it to you? Who
gave you that radio? Eh?
Next year we'll make the most
famous band in all of Sicily.
- Come on! What's your name?
- Dolly Brothers.
- And what do you do, sing? - We're going
to Palermo, half a million a night.
Wow!
- And what's the name of the band?
- Dolly Brothers.
How is it?
Sing. Sing.
Hurry up I'm hungry, okay?
All right. All right.
- All right, hurry up!
- Yes, sir!
Come on, Antonio,
please, hurry up!
Ouch! Give me the mirror!
Give me the mirror!
- Look what you did to me, you fool!
- You moved.
I did not move at all.
It was you, asshole.
Go get your stuff and
get out of here.
- We still have to finish the beard.
- We do not have to finish anything, go!
- Out! I don't want to see you anymore!
- Shall I come tomorrow?
- Shall I come tomorrow?
- Don't you ever come here again. Out!
- You're an incompetent.
- As you wish.
Imbecile! Idiot!
Get out of here. I do not want
to see you anymore. Go away!
Fool! Idiot!
I kicked out Antonio.
How will you shave?
Well, I'll do it myself.
I will cut myself, oh well.
See what he did to me.
- Did you disinfect it?
- Yes, yes.
It was an excuse to kick him out.
Even Angelino told me
the same thing in the car.
He's a bad guy, a womanizer,
a slimy bastard.
You were right.
- How come you're dressed like that?
- Well, for once.
- What is it? Are you angry?
- No.
Oh well!
What do women find in him?
He's ugly, yellow, with a belly.
And then that bald head! He's disgusting!
Did you find the card in Palermo?
Yes, not exactly what I
wanted, but it's okay.
- What about the uncles?
- Sorry?
- The uncles.
- They did not want to talk to me.
Too bad for them.
Silvio, maybe we should sell the land.
- What?
- We are not good farmers.
Never, never, never and never.
All right.
Never! Those assholes!
And what was he like?
A white guy with blue eyes
like the emerald.
The emerald is not blue.
What about his body?
Slender, hairless.
- Then?
- With wide shoulders. - Then?
- Small knees.
- Then?
Did you like him?
Ouch! Damn hell.
- Finished?
- Finished, finished. - Finished, finished?
- Very well finished. - Finished. - Finished.
- Finished. - Finished. Finished.
We have to drink on it. Gin!
Let's cheer to the end of your book!
- Very well.
- There's never a glass in your house.
- And give it to me.
- What?
You are completely drunk.
Ah, it's over.
You are a genius!
Let's dance!
- Look, I'm done.
- No!
We said after you
read the novel to me.
Oh no, we said after
I wrote the novel.
Yes, but you must read it to me.
It's not right or else.
- That's what we said, right?
- You are bad.
Oh well, it's you who asked me.
You are very bad.
Yes, all right, promised. I'll read you
the novel, if you do not like it...
But no, I'm sure it's
beautiful, look, I'm happy.
Okay.
- What's up?
- You must come to the meeting
- tonight. It's important.
- Why?
We are preparing the complaint
against the Mayor.
So, are you coming?
- I'm, but what time will it be?
- In an hour, at 10.
- Will you come?
- At ten?
Yes. See you there.
- Well.
- Bye. - Bye.
Done! A kiss, to bring me luck.
So? You're so superstitious.
A lucky charm.
- Are you going to the meeting?
- Yes, are you coming with me?
No, no. I'm going to sleep, I'm tired.
Bye, goodnight.
Listen.
So, when are we making love?
When you finish to copy it and
after you read it to me.
- Is not it what we said?
- All right.
- Three days in a row.
- It will be a novelty
- to make love to a writer.
- Are you making a fool of me?
No. No. Goodnight!
Good night!
Uh!
Correct style. Cold feeling.
Null characters.
Poor psychological truth.
Conclusion:
failure.
Leda?
Leda?
Leda?
Leda?
Leda?
- Are you working?
- No.
What's up?
- So?
- I made a discovery tonight.
What discovery?
I discovered that my
book is worthless.
What are you saying?
It's worth nothing.
Do you know what we are going to do?
I'll go to my room and you'll
come read it to me.
Come, sit here.
It does not matter to say
where and how I met my wife,
she was about my age and in
many ways it seemed to me
that her life resembled mine.
To love, besides many other things,
means to take delight in looking
and observe your loved one.
And not just to take delight in the
contemplation of her beauties,
but from that of her
ugliness, few or many may they be.
The end.
Maybe you're right.
It is not a beautiful novel.
But it's not as bad as you say.
It's well written.
But it is not enough to write well.
Do you mind having
a failed writer as your husband?
I never thought of
you as a writer.
And how did you think about me?
I do not know.
When you love someone, one
can not make a judgment.
I too because I love you,
I can not judge you.
When we love, we love
everything, even the faults.
I love you as you are.
Do you know why
your novel isn't so convincing?
- Why?
- You talk about me
so... well, you
idealize me too much.
- So?
- So I think that in a little while,
when you'll know me better,
you'll be able to write about us in
a more convincing way.
You will write a beautiful
book, I am sure.
Read, signed and signed.
Did you see what beautiful
children Sicily has?
Not like those ugly beasts
you hang out with.
I am sorry but those are
not sons of the people.
They are bad grass
poisoning our land.
We understand the people,
we love and protect them.
They understand us and support us.
- Is it true, Angeluzzo?
- Give me the pen, please.
Here it is, Pataneo.
I'm really sorry for
those nice lemons.
Pataneo, who knows who burned
all those beautiful plants.
The initials, please, Pataneo.
I'm really sorry.
But it is God who commands
and we Christians only obey!
Angelo?
Give me that box.
No, this! This one!
Go see if Silvio has finished
packing the suitcases.
- Silvio? - Eh?
- I'm happy to go back to Rome.
Eeny meeny miny Moe
catch a tiger by the toe
if he hollers let he go
Eeny meeny miny Moe!
Let's go!