The Murri Affair (1974) - full transcript

The Murri trial, that was actually held
at the beginning of the century,..

filled the chronicles
for the gravity of the fact,..

the reputation of the characters,
and the atmosphere of morbid curiosity..

that raised around it.

The authors, freely recalling it,
were inspired impartially..

by the trial records, from which
emerged, besides the facts,..

the characters and personalities of the
protagonists of this family tragedy.

Tullio.

Tullio.

May I stay here with you for a while?
- Come in.

Imagine if my husband saw us,..



if he found your letters,..

when you wrote me about
your love affairs.

I've never told you,
but they disturbed me.

Especially for their details!

Now they wouldn't excite me anymore,
I don't care about anything.

Sex doesn't make me tingle
like it used to.

I envy you, Tullio,
You're so sure of yourself!

You can do anything you want,
just because you're a man.

I, since I'm a woman, must be sweet,..

submissive, available.

I'll tell you my secret, Linda.

I was not born as I am now,
self assured, as you say.

I became such through my will power.

When they told me: "You must",..



I translated as: "I want".

Beastly vanity, impotent rage, envy,
but what the heck!

Just take a look at the newspapers
to get an idea..

of what you can make believe today..

to a poor devil who believes
to be a civilized man.

We must isolate them,
as they isolate the lepers,..

plague victims, dangerous lunatics.

This is what they say
about us socialists,..

and this is what is written in the
newspaper of Bologna monarchists.

This dissent is old,
and perhaps will never be solved.

But it is certain that, if even Christ
returned incognito to preach among us,..

the public security guards
would immediately handcuff him.

Here are the fruits of the government
of cavalier Giolitti.

Police and courtrooms, this is what
it takes, for these scoundrels!

Other than the right to strike!

Down with the monarchy!

Mr. and Mrs. Bonmartini,
after three years of legal separation,

deciding to reconstitute the family,
commit themselves to live together again.

But, being the reconciliation
apparent only,..

the apartment will consist of
two separate quarters.

The wife will be free to dispose of
herself, to go out by day or by night,..

to entertain whom she deems right
and to travel,..

and to follow, if she wants to,
her husband.

Equal freedom
will pertain to the husband.

The husband is obliged
to respect his wife as a woman,..

and not to enter her apartment,
if not by invitation,..

or in case of illness of the children.

This they promise on their honor,..

and swear in the presence of
His Excellency Cardinal Svampa,..

to respect, in every detail,
the terms agreed upon, on April 7, 1902.

I swear.

I swear.

A viper!

Children!

You're a fool,
you might have killed your sister.

Linda.
- Welcome.

It's true!

Hi, Cesco.

Hi, mom.
- Hi.

To my savior.

They told me you're about to be
expelled from the Physicians Guild.

But I never asked to be in it. - Why
were you reduced to this, do you drink?

Do you gamble? Why didn't you profit by
the influence of my father-in-law?

Maybe you can make him appoint you
as his assistant,..

I have not succeeded,
despite the promises.

Professor Murri does not esteem me,
he doesn't love me.

Do you know that dad said
it takes a sword to behead grandma?

Maria, come.

Missis "Lousey".
- Cute.

Is it true that you were able
to enter the university..

without even having obtained
the high school license?

All considered, my only wish would be
to assimilate you,..

and then divide the whole into
two equal halves.

Half suffering for me
and half sarcasm for you.

My husband would immediately
stifle my half.

I wanted to dig at my own expense,
an artesian well for the farmers,..

but he said he doesn't want them
to get used to well being.

They've got frog's blood,
and frog's blood it must stay.

So he'll prevent these poor creatures
from having any idea of rebellion.

Sure, so they will
more willingly go to church.

A woman who rebels against
her tyrant husband,..

isn't she more civilized than another
one who remains his slave?

Yesterday he decided
to put the kids in boarding school.

Jesuits for Ninetto and
Ursulines for Maria.

So I'll lose them, because I'm not sure
that the court would entrust them to me.

I can't stay without them.

Tullio, he wants my death,
and he'll have it, I know.

Look at him.
He's the obnoxious decider of my life.

You can't have a fish and a bird
living together,..

one of the two is bound to die.

Curare is obtained by boiling some herbs

that grow in the Amazon.
The process is still a mysterious one.

It leaves no trace?

No. Practically, it's as if
the animal had died of a stroke.

This animal is better off than me.

When theories no longer fit,..

when official laws appear absurd,..

don't persist in imposing the law,

suspend all judgment.

Look for another way...the other way.

Science does not seek but the truth,

but in Italy, everything distances us
from the pursuit of truth.

Our education begins first with
the nurse, mother, fairy tales,..

Then the teacher with novels,
the theater with comedies,..

the newspapers with humbug, the school
with the admiration of poets..

and compulsory religion lessons.

But no one teaches how to educate
the mind, using the reasoning.

Your first duty is to think that
what may appear to be true,..

may be false and that,
prior to believe,..

we must always ask ourselves:
"Why should I believe this?"

And you, one day,
will be able to cure him,..

but remember that the most terrible
disease is the social ignorance.

You, as scientists,
have a duty to eliminate it.

Hi, dad.
- Ah, you're here.

I heard that you fought a duel,
what a feat!

Since some time, you've been squandering
not only money, which is small thing,..

but intellectual energies as well,
which is a lot.

Dad, you have not yet figured out
that I'm not like you.

You're renowned, you are important,
famous.

I did not resemble my father either.
I say only this.

Could you not prove that enjoyment
that you say you want,..

making it coincide
with what is pleasing to others?

Wouldn't it seem right to you?

Dad, can I invite you to lunch?
- It's too late.

And then, your mother is waiting for us.

You are for the superior man
who is detached from the crowd.

You think you know everything,
but everything can not be known.

We must resign ourselves to ignorance,
Tullio.

I know that you stand for election,
and you have..

a good chance of being elected,
you will have more votes than Carducci.

Dad, Linda left for Venice.

They decided suddenly.

Why? I had advised you against it.

Cesco wanted to take her away.

They fight often, he threatens her.
She is desperate.

If I could strangle him...

Poor Linda, I knew.
Cursed the day he married her,..

and the day that Linda
went out of our house.

From Dr. Secchi, for Tullio Murri.
- Thanks.

Tullio!

Tullio.
- My Linda.

Finally.
- Bad luck can not last forever.

Hi, Cesco.

And you?
Won't you give me a little kiss?

I brought a beautiful thing.

What would you do,
if I left you?

I would kill myself immediately.

Miss Murri,..

I won!

This is the first trial, Cesco.

Want to know why I was laughing?

I thought of an episode when I was
at the University, in Bologna.

The professor did a lesson on body,
a girl of barely 16 years.

When the professor left the classroom,
everyone, staring at the white flesh,..

forgot that she was dead
and thought of one thing only:..

make love.
Understand? Abominable!

All but me,
I swear that I didn't think of it.

It's all made up,
and it's a story of bad taste.

You've told it
just so that it would bother me.

This way you have destroyed
the love that Linda had for you.

Linda is not capable
of any amiable thought,..

there's nothing in her that a woman,
a real woman, should possess.

I have done everything
to tear her away from this road,..

that leads her to moral ruin.
And what had I, in return?

Despise.
- Enough!

You come here to impose on me.
I am the master!

But not of Linda's life.

I beg you,
do not torment her any more!

Have at least mercy of her illness.

Be careful, Cesco,
that if something happens to Linda,..

I am capable of killing you.

I beg you, leave her alone.
- You plead whom?

Who? Not God, whom you don't believe in.

A family of anti-Christs, ignoble
atheists, that's what you are.

All this for your father,
pompous, greedy, Professor Murri.

The truth is that you despise me
because I'm not like you,..

I'm not a Godless,
I do not eat with the servants,..

I don't deal with those vagabonds
of my peasants.

What have you done for me?
Nothing.

You shouldn't have gotten back together,
your children would be happier..

if they lived
in a less idealistic manner..

and you didn't expose them
to the risks of your arguments.

But there will be a solution,
and it will end this life sentence..

blessed by the Holy Roman Church.

Needless to live like this, with all
the inconveniences of marriage..

and to no avail.
You don't even want to make love..

and the money I could spend
on the education of our children,..

I spend it on whores.

So far I've been a fool,
but that's enough.

If you want your children
do not go to college,..

you have to convince your father to make
me his assistant. Either so, or worse!

I can do nothing about it,
you know it well.

We know that
the eminent Professor Murri..

listens much to the advice
of his worthy daughter.

I do not accept this blackmail.
- Then away from Bologna!

Away from pernicious influence
of your family! At Padova to my parents.

No! - Otherwise I will make a scandal
and you will not see the children.

I'll never come to Padova, you can't
blackmail me, I'll rather kill myself!

I really believe that
he wants to kill me,..

and at one time or another...
he will succeed.

Now he wants to take me away from home,
drag me into that hateful Padova,..

among those hypocrite friends of his.

I do not want to go, I want to live.

I'm young.
- You won't go.

How can you tell?
- I don't know how, but...

I am still capable of love.

Tullio, I want to live.

Gentlemen, all on board!

Help me.

Help me.

Full.

Hi. Well?

I'm determined to everything now.
- Still thinking about that crazy idea!

I need help, a trusted person.

And why do you trust me?

Because you are you full of debts.
Is that enough?

Absolutely.

I heard that you even sold
the bag of surgeon irons.

They gave me 20 lire
that I lost at cards immediately.

What remains is the stethoscope, the
degree I have burned, it was too cold.

But I have not yet lost my mind,
and I will not follow you, Tullio.

You won't be able to convince me.

You'll be able to leave Bologna
and go abroad.

You don't risk anything,
nobody will be after you, do not worry.

I always thought of being
a ship's doctor,..

but violence does not serve anyone.
And what after?

After, I'll kill myself.

You are crazy.
Come on, come to the other room.

I have prepared all the alibis for you.

You are crazy.

A man has a duty to save
his next of kin, no? I'm her brother,..

and don't I have the duty
to save my sister?

Killing a man is not right,
and then it is not easy.

I already thought of everything.
- Even of your father?

No, he will never know anything.

Everything else can collapse,
but Linda must be saved, right?

You just have to keep me company,
courage might leave me.

Between the crime and its discovery,..

there will be enough time
for you to be safe.

Then...

Then we shall never meet again.
- I can not.

You must help me, I'll give you
3,000 lire, as if you had won at cards.

I never won so much.

No, I can not.
I can not do what you ask.

I'm sorry to leave you, just because
I think you need help,..

but I can not!

See you in two days.

No! I just hope that you think it over.

I have to talk to the countess, now.
- Come.

What's happening? - Tullio wants
to see you, it's important.

He needs 3,000 lire,
he's waiting in the garden.

He did not come
in order not to meet with the Count.

Come, get in.

It is decided then!
- Get in.

Let's think it over!

The bag. You can close.

Your friend, what's she doing?

My brother-in-law checks,
as he comes in, if this door is locked.

It only locks from outside.

It is one and a half.

My brother-in-law will arrive
tomorrow afternoon at about 18.30.

You're not tired?

You can sleep if you want.

Tullio.

What are you doing?

I'm preparing the scene
for when the police arrive.

See? An occasional lover came in
to rob the apartment.

My brother-in-law used...rather,
uses the services of loose women.

See? Here it is, look,
pictures of naked women.

Isn't it better to discuss with him?
- My brother-in-law does not discuss.

What do you think?
- Perfect.

Happy Birthday, Dad.
- Thanks.

How nice!

Come.

Thank you, good.
- Cesco, the train departs at 14.

You're right,
another big kiss to your big daddy.

I will return by train tomorrow night,
send me the gondola to the station.

See you tomorrow.

Stop by the administrator,
the rent expired a few days ago.

Don't worry.

You have a fever, you can not go on
like this, we can not, Tullio.

Drink.

As soon as you left,
I felt the need to write,..

to tell you what I have felt
not seeing you anymore,..

and what I feel
at the idea of seeing you again.

But the day will come when
we Murri will all get back together.

Then you too will be
at your father's side,..

who is always ready to defend you
from anyone who would want to hurt you.

I'll hit him with this, and when he will
be unconscious, you'll do the injection.

Here, before he recovers,
it's your turn.

I? You told me you needed me
only to keep you company.

I have come for this.
- You're making me company, idiot.

Don't be afraid, you'll take
the 19:00 train to Florence.

Everything will be alright,
do not worry. - No, I'm going.

No! You stay here.

No, Tullio, you must think.

I can not stay.

Please, calm down.
Do not worry.

Let me go.

Don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid.
- Let me go.

Listen, let's try to reason,
there is less than an hour.

You wanted me to keep you company,
and I've kept you company.

Now, when the Count comes,
we'll tell him everything.

What we wanted to do, about the
poison... In short, we'll apologize.

You'll see, we'll have a laugh,
the Count is one that puts up with it.

Then, for what concerns Linda,
you'll reach an agreement, I'm sure.

It was a misunderstanding, yes, yes,
a misunderstanding.

Think of your political career.

You are one of the most prominent men
of Bologna's socialism.

Brilliant lawyer, at the next election
you'll win easily,..

your father will be happy,
and Linda too.

I changed my mind.

I'll kill him with this.
- And what if he doesn't come?

He will. He will.

Thank you.

My God,
why didn't you make him die before?

Good evening, Count, welcome.
- Is everything alright, Teresa?

Yes, Count, do you want me
to carry your luggage? - No, thanks.

Mom.

Has the Count arrived yet?
- Yes, he arrived.

Did you find the Count? - Yes,
but he told me to come back tomorrow.

Giuseppe just came back with the..

with the gondola, from the station,
but the Count wasn't there.

There is nothing to worry about.

I think the Count, from Bologna,
wanted to pass by Cavarzere.

You may go.
Thank you.

There are two gentlemen who are looking
for you. - Okay, thanks.

Good morning.
- Well? What happens?

The gentleman here is the administrator
of the building where countess Linda is.

He says that, since 2 or 3 days, from
the apartment comes a terrible stench.

Unbearable!
We must absolutely open.

I thought I'd warn you ...
- You did very well.

Yes, it's true, it's several days that
we have no news of my brother-in-law.

You better warn my uncle Richard
and tell him to reach me immediately.

But do not say anything to my father
or my mother. - Okay.

Judge, the lawyer Riccardo Murri
and the lawyer Tullio Murri.

I know the gentlemen by name. Sorry,
but you'll have to do the recognition.

Is it really necessary? - It's
a formality of law, don't you know?

"Okay for Thursday the 27th.

But I want you to meet me
at the back door..

to avoid being seen by the tenants
across the street."

Would you give me the victim's data?

Yes, Francesco Bonmartini,
of the late Giovanni, aged 32.

Born in Padova, surgeon.

Married?
- Yes, to Linda Murri.

May I go?
I want to give the news to my sister.

You may go.

I also want to declare something,
but very subjective, of course.

Well, considering the libertine habits
of my brother-in-law,..

the matter seems very clear to me.

In my opinion, the murder was committed
for the purpose of robbery.

My brother-in-law was probably
with some woman of ill repute.

At some moment must have entered
her pimp, and together they ...

Very interesting, lawyer, thank you.

A prostitute who does not tie
the ribbons of her panties.

Strange.

Judge, come see.

If they were two waiting for the count,
they must have spent the night here.

Then lawyer Murri's hypothesis
would be correct.

These Murri always know everything.

It's amazing, then,
how they are always in the right.

Who lives here?
- We do not know.

Inquire, they may have seen
or heard something. - Good.

Rosa Bonetti, the housekeeper of the
countess. - Do you know who lives there?

No, I do not know, I never saw anybody.

Okay, let's go.

We arrived, come.

Come on, wake up.

Linda, welcome.

A bracelet with diamonds,..

a brooch of emeralds,..

a pearl necklace...

I think that's all.

Excuse me, let me ask you a question.

Until a few months ago, had you been
living apart from your husband,..

you at Bologna and him at Padova?

Exactly.
- Why did you decide to separate..

and then later to come back together?

My husband and I did not get along.

It would take too long to explain why,..

but we were too different, that's all.

I know that our reconciliation
seemed strange to many people,..

but I agreed for the sake of children.

Well.

Thank you.

Judge, excuse me,
have you received my ticket?

The Countess can leave
whenever she wants.

I am very grateful.
- Nothing.

Then I shall leave immediately
for Zurich,..

I must see my doctor
as soon as possible.

Forgive me, but don't you wait
for the funeral?

No, I would be too painful.

The funeral will not be held in Bologna,
but at Padova, where the family tomb is.

I understand. With your permission.

Excuse me, could you tell me who lives
in the apartment next door?

In the next door apartment?
- Yes, the apartment next to yours.

No, sorry.
- It doesn't matter, thanks.

The body is at your disposal.

My respects.

Have a good trip.

Excuse me.

Mom.
- Be good, dear.

The uncle and I have arrived.

Tullio, take care of your sister.

Farewell, my child.

Rosa Bonetti,
housekeeper of Count Bonmartini...

Why? - In the name of the law, you're
under arrest. - I haven't done anything!

Leave me!

I haven't done anything!

Why?

The arrest of the Bonetti girl!
- Il Resto del Carlino!

The assassination of Count Bonmartini!

New important clues!
- The arrest of the Bonetti!

Who will take care of you?
- I can not stay here, I have to leave.

I must go away.

Tell them that Uncle Tullio
loves them very much.

When they are older,
they will realize how much.

Bye.

Rosa Bonetti, born in Fontanelice,..

seamstress by the day,
serving as a housekeeper..

in the home of Countess Linda,
under the alias of Maria Pierazzotti.

Known as a former prostitute,
and indicated by the public voice..

as a concubine to lawyer Tullio Murri.

You have claimed to have looked for
the Count at 8:00 of August 20th,..

and that the Count told you
to come back the next day.

It is false! At that time,
the count was already dead.

It is not true,
I do not want to answer.

You also claimed not to know
who lives in the apartment..

next door to that of Count Bonmartini.

We learn now that it was rented
by Countess Linda..

who used it for her personal use,..

and that the rent was always paid
by the Countess but twice,..

once by a certain Tisa Borghi,
nurse of Dr. Secchi,..

and a second time by you.

Did you see what they write?
They want to destroy me and my family.

Many newspapers are in the hands
of Catholic industrialists..

who use them to speculate.
They revel in these scandals.

The elections are very close,
here is the truth.

Why don't you invite home judge Stanzani,
he could avoid the leak of news,..

of circumstantial assumptions
that do not concern the inquiry.

He is a serious judge, I believe he will
understand the apprehensions of a father.

Tell Professor Murri that I can't accept
the invitation, I'm engaged with work.

Add that in general, the invitations,...
it is I who do them.

Accompany him personally
at this address, this afternoon at 15.

I'll be there with Dr. Secchi.
- I am at your disposal.

About this registered letter
that you sent to Tullio Murri...

What was the content?

Well, money, 3,000 lire.

It is a large sum.
What for?

It was the countess who asked me. She
asked me if I could help her brother..

who was in a financial trouble.

Thank you, I'm through,
for the time being.

I'll make you a few more questions
this afternoon.

Wait here,
I'm going to inform the judge.

Well, continue.

When the Count was absent,
came to the house Tisa Borghi,..

bringing oysters, wine and desserts.

The countess had everything
prepared in her room.

There were also bottles of champagne.

Is it true?

Yes.
- Good.

Have you ever seen
who came to see the countess?

One evening we saw the Countess open to
a gentleman with a mustache, of age.

The two kissed and closed the room.

Who was Tisa Borghi?

The maid of an engineer
who came to see the countess.

Did you ever see the engineer?
- Yes.

Could you recognize him?
- Yes.

Is that him?
- Yes, It's him,..

the man that the Countess
received for her parties.

I have to go back to the hospital. - I
understand your pride of free thinker,..

but you have to learn like anyone else,
that sooner or later we are judged,..

one day, certainly by God, today perhaps
by me, because I represent the justice.

Well, thank you.

You may go too.

Who paid the rent for this garçonnière?

It was the Countess who paid the rent,
but the furniture was mine.

Why did you chose this apartment..

that communicates
with the house of the Countess?

The countess did not want
people to know.

The bottles of champagne,
how many were they each night?

Two.
- Where did you drink them?

There, on the couch, I went off at 6 am.

Out of curiosity,..

out of simple curiosity,..

why did you eat all those oysters?

And why only oysters?

I understand. Thank you.

Will you wait in the other room?

When one has lived as long as I have,..

and has seen the most silly lies be
considered as as the were the truth,..

nothing can amaze any more.

You, the investigating judge,
are accumulating absurd assumptions,..

trying to turn them into evidence,
but you will not succeed.

You are confusing a simple investigation
with a holy war.

The methods you are adopting
are despicable, unworthy of a judge.

You don't understand that being a parent
increases the sensitivity of a man.

You have committed a low action
making me watch the ravings..

of those sleazy characters
that I know from before you.

You invited me to your house
to tell me not to disclose the news,..

you wanted to corrupt me with stories
of paternal and civic awareness.

I invited you here to show you
that those stories are true.

You are a man of science, a socialist,..

and disseminate ideas that are enemies
of religion and established order.

But I am their defender.

When I was a student, I remember
you said in one of your lectures:

"Religious education is useless
to form good citizens."

"All that we need is moral education,
and morality does not concern religion."

We shall see what good citizens you
have been able to form in your family.

As for me, on behalf of an ideology that
is not yours and that is called law,..

I will do everything
to find the culprit, or culprits,..

or perhaps the plot behind this affair.

Tomorrow, you are summoned together with
your daughter, and you'll be questioned.

I hope this will bring
some light on the case.

My daughter? Would you make her pay the
death of the man who tormented her,..

and who would have
led her to the grave?

Why do you want to defame her
in the eyes of her two creatures?

Or, judge Stanzani,
it is my head that you want?

The oysters were not enough for your
daughter, there was pornography as well.

I will sue you for defamation.
- It will be wasted money, professor.

Meanwhile, I'll make you one question
on which you should think very well.

Who killed the Count Bonmartini?

The anonymous letters I receive,
make a name only and always the same,..

but you do not want to hear it.

Maria!

How many other of Linda's lovers have
been discovered? - I'm going to Zurich.

Maria, come, help me to pack.

Linda!

Dad!

What happened? What's up?

Linda, is it true
your story with Secchi?

Yes, I love him.

Although it is a love
difficult to understand.

It is a betrayal, Linda.

It was a betrayal.

I know him since when he courted you,
as a child.

He wasn't worth you, Linda.

He wasn't worth you.

Why didn't you confide in your father?
- Not to grieve you.

I was in an ambiguous situation,..

between Francesco, with whom
life became increasingly impossible,..

and him, Charles, whom I loved.

But I swear
on the lives of my children,..

at that time I tried to die.

It was the passion for Carlo
that saved me.

I re-created thus a new love life.

I was born again,
that intense affection made me live.

With an old man,..

almost as old as your father.

I was happy with him. Sometimes, when he
came over, I used to cry with joy.

What has he got, he?

What?

Why did he conquer you?

He was my first love as a child,
he gave me serenity.

Linda, that judge is disclosing
our privacy with fanaticism.

All Bologna accuses us,
you must come back,..

face the judge, the newspapers,
give due weight to things,..

clarify this mystery.
Let them interrogate you.

Dad, it was Tullio to kill Francesco.

No, it is not true!

No!

It isn't true.

I am the victim of his generosity,
he was convinced that I was in danger.

I beg you, Linda,
do not use me any mercy.

I want to hear everything.

All the strength of the pain.

Grandpa!
- Grandpa!

I've always been careful to teach you
an exaggerated sense of morality.

I realize I have been wrong.

I have to curse in you too
what I curse in everybody.

You taught us to love each other
this way since childhood, now help us.

No, there's only one thing
that remains for me to do,..

and I must have the strength to do it.

You denounce your son Tullio
as the sole executor of the murder.

Yes, in self-defense,
he wrote me a long confession,..

which I destroyed.

Where is he now, your son?
- I do not know.

However, he will give himself up,
I can guarantee you.

No, I believe that we must
take advantage of this moment!

You be the industrialist,
and let me be a journalist.

But a Murri a murderer,
don't you think it's a godsend?

The scandal will never be enough!
I manage the paper in new ways.

We must slander,
slander as much as possible.

You will see that something
in people's minds will always remain.

I want to excite the crowd,
causing a mass psychosis.

People want victims to tear to pieces?
We will give them our opponents.

Lawyer, now must reveal something,
the town has the right to know.

It is true that there was an arrest?
- And there was an accomplice?

Gentlemen, I'm sorry, I can not make any
statement, that would be premature.

You can assure readers that the case
will be resolved soon, without..

regard for anyone, in the name of that
faith that no one should step on.

And what about lawyer Murri? - Soon
we'll catch him and his accomplices.

Dr. Pio Naldi is sought after.

I am very grateful
that you came forward voluntarily.

No thanks. - But that's not enough,
you have to tell me much more.

Otherwise I'll put you in jail.
- The world wants too much from me.

I knew that you graduated cum laude.
Congratulations.

No, no. I am a mediocre.
Better at cards.

Explain why I had so much money.
3,000 lire is much,..

especially for you who,
a few days before the crime,..

had hocked two shirts.

Tullio Murri had paid me
a gambling debt.

No,
nobody wanted to play with you anymore.

By then everyone knew you were
a cardsharper, come on, confess.

I accompanied Murri to the count's house
because I thought to persuade him.

What Murri did when the Count arrived,
I can not know,..

I was already gone.

Pio Naldi, born January 8, 1874.

You are accused
of complicity in murder,..

with premeditation, and theft. - Believe
me, I don't know what Murri did.

Come.

How could I be there at 18.30,
if I took a train at 19.00?

I went home to pack,
the landlady will testify.

She must testify it!

I like you, Naldi,
so I will give you an advice,..

ponder it well, you're risking
life imprisonment. Take him away.

No, you can not do it,
I showed up spontaneously.

You can not arrest me.
- Take him away!

I am innocent,...remember.

"Glad to accompany you,
will arrive tomorrow morning.

Signed, Maria Pierazzotti".
Have you sent you this telegram?

No, it's not mine.
- Yet the signature is yours.

Why then do you sustain that it was
lawyer Tullio to send you to his sister?

No, he wanted to talk to her,
so we decided to go together.

You told me you had gone alone..

because you misunderstood an errand from
the Countess. Why this contradiction?

I do not remember! Enough!
- And this telegram? - I do not know.

How do you explain this?
- I do not remember.

I'll explain it to you!
The truth is that..

you went to Venice with Tullio..

to perfect with the Countess
the details of the crime...

Tullio is innocent!
- It's what we'll see.

Eminence,
we must prevent this spreading Satanism.

This is a whole world concept,
socialist ideas!

Those are Godless, atheists, infidels.

They are vipers, to be crushed
before they can bite again.

And what better time?
The elections are approaching.

Catholics are weak despite
the alliance with the conservatives.

If we want to beat the Socialists,..

and prevent
the secular teaching in schools,..

we should not quibble,
but use all means. - Not the slander.

Even the slander, we must double
the fire of our batteries,..

and not take pity on those who trample
the established and the divine law.

Eminence, if they win,
the Church will be unsettled.

The murderers of Bonmartini
are socialists,..

and I will say
that all socialists are murderers.

I am Dr. Silvani, can you wait
a few minutes? - It isn't possible.

Linda Murri, widow Bonmartini,
you're under arrest.

What have I done?

I accuse you of incitement and
complicity in the murder of your husband.

It is false, I'm innocent.
- I believe instead that you are guilty.

Guilty of inciting
your brother to kill,..

of having procured the money
to pay the complicity of Naldi,..

and of giving him
the keys to the apartment.

I am sick, I can not move.
- Alright.

You will be visited
by a medical officer.

Commissioner, stay here with the lady.

Do you think I want to kill myself?
It's only life hardships.

A man who kills another man,
commits a reprehensible act,..

but a whole society that kills a man,
a family, the justice,..

believe me, is even worse.

"Linda Murri brought to justice".

I am Tullio Murri.

I want to give myself up,
I killed in self defense.

Well, then?

It's the truth, I said it before.
- It's me who establishes the truth.

Was it Rosa Bonetti
who gave you the keys?

No, not true,
the keys I had them made myself.

You're lying, your sister
had given them to Bonetti. - No.

How did you know that the Count
would come to Bologna?

The Bonetti had told me.
- And how did the Bonetti know it?

Linda had written her so,..

she had to go to Venice
to bring her a dress.

No, that letter was a trick,
she went to prepare the ambush.

You were all together in this!
- No!

Linda has nothing to do,
Linda knows nothing, only I am guilty.

My brother-in-law
was a man without mercy.

He was on the point
to become the murderer of my sister.

I was forced to kill him
in self defense.

If I hadn't done it,
he would have killed me.

I was beside myself
for what I had known.

So I asked Naldi to accompany me,..

but then...he did not make it.

He found the keys
of the main entrance,..

and when he left the apartment,
shortly after I left too.

"I went in at night, then I went away,
then I came back."

Are you kidding me?

You believe yourselves all clever,
you Murri.

You thought you had devised
a perfect plan, right?

Maybe it was Dad who prepared
this masterpiece of organization!

You're accusing my father
without any right.

Your fanaticism is only because..

my father's fault
is to know more than others.

The truth is that the hatred against
the wise is awakened in you,..

and the soul of the inquisition
hidden in our laws,..

it is more so in you.

I am the murderer, only I
am the murderer, you must believe me.

You'd never admit to have been
instigated by your sister,

because you know that, if you talk, when
you leave, your father will kill you.

My sister is not involved.
- Take him away. - I've killed him!

I've killed him!

I, I am the murderer!

Naldi.

Naldi.

Now that you are between life and death,
don't you want to clear your conscience?

I have nothing to say.

Naldi, why do you persist?

I can do nothing about it.

Too bad for you,
I just wanted to help you.

Attorney,
Murri had brought in the apartment..

a bag of lead shot,..

a syringe, and curare.

It was Secchi,
the lover of the Countess,..

to provide the curare, it was him.

Good.

But one does not go to discuss
with someone with curare in his pocket.

Who has to pay, will pay.

Do you know the version
that your brother sustains?

To have been attacked
and forced to defend himself?

I know nothing about this.
- But your brother says..

that in Venice you were shocked
by the attitude of your husband.

No, I remember very well,..

that day we talked of
totally unrelated things.

He claims to have received
a desperate letter from you,..

and to have feared for your life.

Poor Tullio,..

must have misunderstood
or exaggerated my reaction.

What do you want me to say?
Of this, surely I'm not responsible.

How do you eplain the visit that Bonetti
and your brother paid you in Venice?

I could never explain it myself.
- I'll explain to you.

It was you who called your brother to Venice,..

to arrange the details of the crime
and hand over the keys.

No, it's not true...
- You wanted to get rid of your husband..

to be free. So you plotted
with your brother to kill him,..

you gave him
the keys of the apartment,..

you asked your husband to go
to Bologna with a futile excuse,..

because you were afraid!
You were afraid.

Afraid that something terrible
would be discovered,..

the illicit relationship that existed
between you and your brother.

This is a lie, the most cruel
you could invent! You are a monster!

Your father believes that
I am the murderer of your family,..

but I think it is him, instead.

I do not want to see you so.

For as long as this torture,
this uncertainty, continues,..

I can not hope to go back
to being a man that reasons.

If our boys were drowned,
or were struck by lightning,..

I would wish them to infinity,..

but this destroyed any moral idea
I had formed,..

any idea of goodness
that I cherished every moment.

I wish nothing else
that they come out of prison..

but even if Tullio and Linda
get out of prison without guilt,

I want to die
without seeing them any more.

Faced with the unspeakable fury..

with which the conservatives,
Democrats and clerics..

have made war against the family
and Augusto Murri,..

we have to wonder if
the biggest mistake of this man,..

the most distinguished scientist
and clinician in Europe,..

is not in truth,
to not communicate daily..

and not to run, full of trinkets,
to bend his back..

into the hall of the Court.

It's time! It's time! All to the polls,
in the name of that faith..

that we do not want to tread
the footsteps of Professor Murri.

In the name of the religion
that we want to teach our children,..

who must not grow
as those of Professor Murri.

You have already been heard, why
do you decide to reveal this only now?

Because I want to save Secchi.
- Good.

If you really want to save Secchi,
you must cooperate,..

otherwise, if it is true that you
were aware of the criminal project,..

I have to arrest you as an accomplice.

And if you lie instead,
I'll have you arrested as false witness.

Had you ever heard of curare?
- Yes.

From whom?
- Linda Murri.

When? - When Linda and Secchi
went to Switzerland.

Linda said she would accompany him
for fear that he would change his mind..

and that he would not buy that medicine,
curare.

And she wanted to accompany him?
- Yes.

But Secchi wanted to change her mind.

Indeed,..

Secchi, at the time, wanted to
break off the relationship, but she...

She? - She threatened him, saying that
her brother would have vindicated her.

And then?

Then arrived to Bologna
a box of medicines,..

cocaine, ethyl bromide, morphine..

and a bottle, a bottle...

That you have delivered to Tullio Murri.
- Yes.

Professor Murri knew!?

No.

Mr. President, honorable colleagues,
gentlemen of the jury,..

I am going to conclude my
by now long final speech,..

but before ending,
allow me some small considerations.

Tullio Murri, perhaps, would have become
a Member of Parliament,..

Secchi a professor,
and Pio Naldi a ship's doctor.

Rosa Bonetti would have continued to be
the lover of Tullio,..

but Linda has dragged them all
in the crime.

She alone is the cause
of so much destruction.

She, who had not a tear..

when was evoked the ruin
of the torn body of the poor husband.

No, no, do not tremble.

Gentlemen of the jury,
the sentence that you will soon give..

must be, yes,
a victory for human justice,..

but above all, a victory...
of divine justice.

I concede the last word to the accused.

Tullio Murri.

I ask the jurors to sympathize.
- Please, you must speak louder.

Now that the trial is over and..

and I was exposed
to all sorts of insults,..

without ever having
the opportunity to defend myself..

or to help my sister,..

whom I'd give my life for...

I pray the gentlemen of the jury
to sympathize with me,..

they'll understand my emotion.

It is not, gentlemen, for..

the memory of the murder
that I committed,..

because I have a confused memory of it,
and then...

And then I know
how the events took place.

I know that...

I know that when a man finds himself in
the circumstances in which I was caught,..

he's taken from a bestial instinct
like that which took me...

When I thought that Linda's life..

was in danger,..

I saw no other way,..

in order to save her,..

than suppress that other one.

It is a mistake
that comes from my nature..

and that gave me this head,..

and if I have a head like this,
I'll have to keep it.

Perhaps you could have it cut off me,
and society would lose very little,..

but I acted in good faith.

I didn't believe I was doing wrong.

I thought to see evil
where perhaps there wasn't any.

Love destroys the will,

and I believe that there is no guilt
where there is no will.

I do not know if my accusers
would have had the courage to..

to throw away their life, love..

and the future as I did..

to save another human life,
even if only that of a sister.

I am young, I'm 30,
I still have a long time to suffer,..

and I will suffer if need be,..

but at least give back
the freedom to Linda.

Naldi was not there,
give him back his freedom,..

and to others, who are innocent.

I, only I am guilty.

I apologize to everyone I hurt,..

and especially to you,
for the evil I have done you,..

because I loved you too much.

It was she, she is the ruin of us all.

It was she
who has pulled us all into a trap,..

but Secchi no, Secchi didn't want to,..

he said that the world
has room for everyone.

It was she who wanted to curare!
Linda knew Tullio's projects,..

and it was she to push him to kill.

No, it's a lie. - Take her out,
she has already been heard.

Take her out.
- It's the truth.

She was the mistress of Secchi before
me, that's why she hates me so much.

Linda lies, she always lied.
It was she, it was she.

It was she, it was she!

It was she!

Tullio.

Say something to the jury,
it's your last chance, defend yourself.

Without any proof,
it was built upon me an edifice of lies.

No corner of my heart
has remained inviolate,..

no secret of my life.
My mind, my soul..

have been prostituted to the
insatiable curiosity of the people,..

but the truth is purer than the tales
they have created about me.

Send me back to my children,..

do not be fooled by a false accusation
born only out of revenge and fantasy.

My children know my misfortune,
I never wanted to lie,..

and little by little I told them
all the tragedy that shocked me.

I do not know what I can do
to convince you, but on their heads,..

and on the hope to see them again,
I swear to be innocent.

The other defendants
have something to declare?

I...
confirm to be unrelated to everything.

Rosa Bonetti, you have nothing else
to say? - I did not understand.

Pio Naldi.
- I have nothing to say.

The Court withdraws.

I found the key in a drawer,
I'm leaving, Tullio, I'm leaving.

You can not abandon me like that.

I'm dying of fear.

I'll never have the courage
to kill the man.

I can't do it, don't leave me.
- Then come with me.

Enter the Court.

Is the jury ready to answer
the questions of this Court? - Yes.

Have you issued the verdict?
- Yes.

Tullio Murri is guilty
of killing Francesco Bonmartini?

Yes.
- Did he kill in self defense?

No, the murder
was premeditated and voluntary.

Pio Naldi has collaborated in the crime?
- Yes, unanimously.

Rosa Bonetti has collaborated
in the crime? - Yes, she collaborated.

Carlo Secchi committed actions
that caused the death..

of Francesco Bonmartini?
- Yes.

Linda Murri is guilty
of instigating one or more persons..

to cause the death of her husband?
- Yes.

Did she excite her brother into the
resolution facilitating his task? - Yes.

No!

It is inhumane, Linda is innocent!

Tullio!
- Help him!

Tullio, no!

Oh, my God.
- It is not possible.

In the name
of His Majesty Vittorio Emanuele III,..

by the grace of God and the will
of the Nation King of Italy,..

this Court has thus pronounced
the following sentence.

Tullio Murri is sentenced
to 30 years in prison..

for premeditated and voluntary murder.

Linda Murri is sentenced to 10 years
for instigating one or more persons..

into the killing of her own husband.

Carlo Secchi is sentenced to 10 years,
Rosa Bonetti is sentenced to 7 years.

Pio Naldi is sentenced,
for direct complicity in the crime,..

to 30 years in prison.

Breaking news!
- The king's daughter seriously ill!

Justice is not equal for all!

The King saves Murri's daughter!

Murri saves the King's daughter!

I would cope better with life..

if I hoped one day to know the truth.