Capitu (2008–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Episode #1.2 - full transcript
ON THE PROMENADE
I haven't been here for
so long, perhaps a year.
Forgive me, but it's only been
3 months since you came here...
with our neighbor P?dua.
You're growing up and he's
becoming presumptuous.
Dona Gl?ria might not like that.
Those P?duas aren't all bad.
Capitu, in spite of those eyes
the devil gave her...
have you noticed her eyes?
They're like a gypsy's,
sly and cunning.
That would be all right, but for
her vanity and pride.
Go on, ask, order!
I see you wish nothing
but my well-being.
What else could I want,
Bento?
In that case, I'll ask you a favor.
A favor? Tell me, order me?
What is it?
Mother.
Mother?
What of your mother?
Mother wants me to become
a priest, but I cannot.
I can't, it's not in me.
I don't like the priest's life.
Mother knows I do everything
she asks...
I'll be anything she likes,
even an omnibus coachman.
But not a priest.
I can't be a priest.
It's a fine career,
but it isn't for me.
I'm counting on you to save me.
But what can I do?
Plenty! You know how highly
thought-of you are at the house.
Mother often asks
your advice,
Uncle Cosme says
you're talented.
I confess I have the talent
your uncle sees in me...
but it is just a talent for
knowing what is...
good and worthy of appreciation.
Nothing more.
And for protecting
your friends, like me.
And what can usefully be done,
my little angel?
There'll be no dissuading your
mother from a project which...
apart from being a vow, has been
her dream for so many years.
No, no, no.
It's too late.
Only yesterday she did me the favor...
of saying: "Jos? Dias, I must
send Bento to the Seminary."
It's not too late.
There's still time,
if you wish it.
What other desire but to make
you happy, as you deserve?
So there's still time! Look,
I'm not just being indolent...
if mother wants...
I'll study law,
I'll go to São Paulo!
THE LAW IS FINE
It is too late, but to prove
I've no lack of good will...
I shall speak to your mother.
I don't promise to prevail,
but I shall fight.
Work with all my soul.
You don't wish to become a priest?
The law is fine, my dear.
You can go to São Paulo,
Pernambuco...
or even further!
There are great universities
in the wide world out there!
Go to the law, if that is your vocation.
I shall speak to Dona Gl?ria,
but don't count only on me...
speak also to your uncle.
If you cannot become a priest
and prefer the law...
the law is fine, without disrespecting
theology which stands above all,
the ecclesiastical life
being a most saintly one!
You'd better go to a university
abroad right away.
Then while you study,
you'll travel.
We could go together,
visit foreign lands...
we'll hear English, French, Italian,
Spanish, Russian and even Swedish.
Dona Gl?ria will probably not
be able to go with you.
Even if she can and does go, she won't
want to see to all the business, papers,
applications, lodging...
oh, the law!
The law is fine!
So, will you ask mother not
to send me to the seminary?
I'll ask her, but asking
is not achieving.
Angel of my heart, if the will
to serve were the ability to order...
we'd be already on board, right now!
Oh, you can't imagine
what Europe is like, Bento!
Europe, little Bento...
One of his ambitions
was to return to Europe...
which he had visited once.
He spoke about it many times
without managing to tempt my mother...
nor Uncle Cosme.
He hadn't thought of this
possibility of going with me...
and staying on throughout
the eternity of my studies.
THE EMPEROR
What if I went to the Emperor,
told him everything and
asked him to intervene?
I'd not mention it to Capitu.
If His Majesty asked,
mother would give in.
The Emperor is visiting
to Dona Gl?ria's house!
- I wonder why?
- Why not?
I'd like you ask to not to make
Bento a priest, madam.
It's fine career, and we
have good professors...
and doctors who can
stand shoulder to shoulder...
with the best in other lands.
Medicine is a great science,
a fine career.
Send him to our School.
Do this for me, yes?
Would you like that, Bento?
If mother so wishes.
Of course I do, Bento.
If that pleases Your Majesty.
If that pleases Your Majesty!
To medicine!
To our School
I saw and heard all this.
No, Ariosto's imagination is no more
fertile than the imagination
of children and sweethearts,
and all that is necessary
for a vision...
of the impossible is
the corner of an omnibus.
CURIOUS CAPITU
No, Bento, you'd better leave
the Emperor in peace.
Let's just stay with
Jos? Dias's promise.
Capitu wanted me to repeat
all his answers,
any alterations in gesture,
the sounds of his words,
even his pirouette.
She was detailed and
paid great attention.
Capitu was Capitu.
More a woman than
I a man.
If I haven't mentioned
this then I do so now.
If I have, there is no
harm in repeating it.
Certain ideas must penetrate the
reader's soul by means of repetition.
Caesar! Julius Caesar!
Tu quoque, Brutus?
Capitu didn't like
Caesar's profile...
but the actions cited by Jos? Dias
sounded admirable to her.
A man who could do everything!
Who gave a woman a pearl
worth 6 million sestertius!
And how much was
a sestertius worth?
All things awoke
Capitu's curiosity.
He's the greatest man in history!
Ancient furniture,
old furnishings,
customs a saying here
a recollection there
my mother's childhood and
youth, an adagio...
UNDERTOW EYES
Capitu is in the drawing room,
combing her hair.
Sneak in and give her a fright.
Any news?
None. I came to see you before
Father Cabral arrives for class.
How was your night?
Mine? Fine. Hasn't Jos?
Dias said anything yet?
- Apparently not.
- But when is he going to?
He said he intends to broach
the matter today or tomorrow.
He won't be too direct,
just mention it in passing.
First he wants to gauge
mother's resolve.
This is infernal! Insist
with him, Bento.
I will. He must say
something today.
-You swear?
-I swear!
I recalled the definition
Jos? Dias gave them.
Let me see your eyes, Capitu.
"Sly, deceiving
gypsy eyes."
I didn't know what he meant by sly,
but I understood deceiving.
What's wrong?
Never seen my eyes before?
Oh rhetoric of sweethearts!
Give me an exact and poetic...
comparison to describe
those eyes of Capitu.
No image springs to mind
capable of saying
what they were like
and what they did to me.
Undertow-like eyes?
Yes, undertow will do.
I could comb your hair, if you liked.
- You?
- Yes.
You'll only get it all tangled,
I bet.
If it tangles, you can untangle
it afterwards.
Let's see.
It was awkward work, sometimes
because I was clumsy...
at others on purpose to undo
what I'd done in order to redo it.
Sit here, it'll be better.
All right, let's see
the great hairdresser.
But the hair got done,
however
much I wished it never to end.
the infinite
countless times.
If this appears emphatic
to you, unfortunate reader...
that is because you have
never combed a young girl...
never placed your adolescent hands
on the young head of a nymph.
There!
-Is it all right?
-Look in the mirror.
Raise your head, Capitu, you might
get dizzy, hurt your neck.
Mother, look at what this
hairdresser has done to my hair.
Look at these braids!
Oh, very nice.
You'd never know they were done
by someone who can't comb hair.
What, mother?
This! Mother!
Oh, how dizzy!
Don't make fun of my 15 years,
my precocious reader.
Many, at 17, haven't yet begun to think
of the difference between the sexes.
Since I wished to speak
to hide my state...
I called up a few words
from within...
but they filled my mouth without
one managing to get out.
All the words retreated
to my heart, murmuring:
Here's one who's never
going to have a great career...
in the world, he's dominated
by emotions.
Bento, your mother has sent for
you to go to your Latin class.
Father Cabral is already
waiting for you.
I'm a man!
I'm a man!
PROTONOTARY APOSTOLIC
Bento, Father Cabral has
just been named Protonotary Apostolic!
By decree from the Pope!
It's not exactly an appointment
of the Curia, but an honorary one.
Protonotary Apostolic!
Be prepared, Bento... you could be
Protonotary Apostolic one day.
But the length of the title, to add to
your name... it's rather long, isn't it?
You may call me simply
Protonotary Cabral.
The Apostolic will be understood.
Of course, Protonotary Cabral.
But Protonotary, will you
be obliged to go to Rome?
No, Dona Justina.
It's just an honorary
appointment, Justina.
Now, in more formal cases,
official matters...
the full title may be used:
Protonotary Apostolic.
- I see.
- Of course.
Pius IX is the Pope of hope
for a unified Italy!
Congratulations, father Cabral.
Protonotary Cabral, Bento.
Congratulations, Protonotary Cabral.
You can take a day off Latin
today, Bento.
No celebrating the day's
idleness,
Latin will always be useful to you,
even if you don't become a priest.
That's when I knew my man.
It was the first word
the seed cast on the ground,
just in passing as if to get
the family's ears used to it.
He must become a priest!
And a handsome priest.
And don't forget, sister Gl?ria,
Protonotary too.
Protonotary Apostolic.
Protonotary Santiago!
THE SOUL IS FILLED
WITH MYSTERIES
Was Father Cabral
waiting long?
There was no class today,
we had a day off.
Father Cabral received an honor
from the Pope:
Protonotary Apostolic.
May I go to compliment him
this afternoon, at your house?
You may, but why?
Father will naturally want to come too
but he'd better pay him
a visit at home,
it's more suitable.
But not l, being almost a young lady.
Nanata! Nanata!
Capitu!
Nanata!
But Bento, what is a
Protonotary Apostolic?
So there you are!
My God, what a fright!
What's all this talk about
a Protonotary, girl?
I'll tell you in a minute.
Mother, supper! Father's here!
THE VOCATION
Vocation is everything.
The ecclesiastic state is
absolutely perfect...
since the cleric is destined
from the cradle, right?
There being no vocation, I'm talking
about sincere real vocation,
a young man can perfectly well devote
himself to human letters,
which are also useful and honorable.
Vocation is a great deal,
but God's power is supreme.
A man may not have a taste for
the Church and even persecute it...
and one day God's voice speaks to
him, and he becomes an apostle.
Take St. Paul.
Yes.
Well then! Without a vocation
there can be no good priest...
and in any liberal profession
God is served,
as all should serve.
What?
So one could go to the seminary
and not come out a priest?
One could. Bento, for instance,
is clear in his vocation.
His toys were from the church.
And he adores church services.
Good evening, all.
Bento, go with her.
No need, Dona Gl?ria,
I know the way.
Good-bye, Protonotary.
Good-bye, Capitu.
Don't come.
We'll talk tomorrow.
-But I just want to tell you...
-Tomorrow.
-Listen!
-Stay!
What's wrong?
Are you ill?
Mother, am I going to
live at the seminary?
No. You'll come home
on Saturdays and holidays.
When you've taken your vows,
then you'll come and live with me.
I'll miss you.
In a short while you'll get used
to your colleagues and masters...
and eventually enjoy
the life with them.
But I only like
mother.
But you want so very much
to become a priest.
Bento, Our Father has heard me,
saving your existence.
There can be no failing or
lying to Him.
Being a priest is good, it is saintly.
Don't be silly, Bento,
be a man and obey me...
for your mother's sake
and the good of your soul.
ARE YOU AFRAID?
Doesn't Capitu look tired, Bento?
Too much reading yesterday
before and after tea,
and until well after midnight
aren't I right, dear?
And by lamp light!
If I lit a candle,
you'd scold me.
Daughter!
I'm fine.
Capitu!
I'm fine.
I was unwell because of what
I heard at your house yesterday.
We sat on the canap? and
gazed into space.
I tell a lie
she gazed at the floor.
I followed suit,
as soon as I noticed.
But I believe Capitu was looking
inside her very self...
while I stared at the floor,
the gaps...
in the floor
two flies walking
and a cracked chair leg.
The undertow eyes didn't move...
and appeared to grow.
- Are you afraid?
- Afraid?
Yes, I'm asking whether
you're afraid.
Not wishing to interrogate
further, I tried to understand.
Afraid of what?
Of being beaten, arrested,
fighting, walking, working...
- Being beaten?
- Why would someone beat me?
- Who might beat me, Capitu?
- And why?
Also, why would I be arrested?
And who would arrest me?
Oh my God!
You're yellow!
I don't understand, Capitu.
Who's going to beat me?
Sorry.
I'm just a bit crazy today,
I was just fooling around, and...
No, Capitu, you're
not fooling around.
You're right, I was just
being crazy. See you.
What do you mean?
My headache's coming back,
I'm going to put a slice of lime...
on my temples.
Come on.
THE FIRST CHILD
It's hopeless, Bento.
Our separation is certain.
Tell me something, but tell the
truth, no making things up.
What is it?
If you had to choose between me and
your mother...whom would you choose?
Me? I'd choose...
but why choose, Capitu?
Mother wouldn't be capable
of asking me that.
I'm asking:
suppose you're at the seminary
and hear that I'm dying.
Don't talk about dying, Capitu!
Or that I'll die of longing if
you don't come right away.
Tell me, would you come?
Yes.
- Against your mother's orders?
- Against mother's orders.
You'd leave the seminary,
leave your mother...
leave everything
to see me die?
Stop talking about
dying, Capitu!
A priest is good,
certainly.
A canon is better
because of the purple socks.
Come to think of it,
a canon is much better.
But you can't be a canon without
becoming a priest first.
Start with the black socks,
purple ones will come after.
One thing I don't want
to miss is your first mass.
Give me plenty of notice so I can
make a dress with a wide skirt.
Or perhaps that won't
be fashionable by then.
It needs to be a big church,
Carmo or St. Francis.
Or Candel?ria.
Any of them will do
provided I attend the mass.
Everyone will ask:
Who's that graceful woman
with such a fine dress?
Oh, that's Dona Capitolina a girl who
used to live on Matacavalos Street.
Used to? Are you moving?
Who knows where we'll
live tomorrow?
And you at the altar, wearing your
cassock a golden cape over the top,
chanting the Lord's Prayer.
Agreed, Capitu.
You'll watch my first mass,
but on one condition.
Your Excellency may
speak.
Promise me one thing?
- What?
- Tell me you promise.
I won't promise without knowing
what it is.
- Well, to be honest, two things.
- Two? What?
The first is that I be the priest
to give you penitence and absolution.
You must always
confess to me.
- The second...
- The first, I promise.
The second... is that I be the priest
who presides over your wedding.
My wedding? No, Bento...
I'd have to wait too long.
I'll promise you something else...
that you'll baptize my first child.
That's exactly what Capitu said,
her very words.
She spoke of her first child as
if it were her first doll.
That threat of a first child,
Capitu's first child...
her marriage to someone else,
the absolute separation...
the loss, the annihilation,
all this had such an effect on me...
that I became dumb.
Capitu smiled. And I saw her
first child playing on the floor.
MAKING UP
Forgive me, Capitu.
You forgive me.
I think it was the insomnia,
my headache.
It was my fault.
No, it was mine.
All right, it's over.
Just explain one thing...
why did you ask me whether
I was afraid of being beaten?
It was nothing.
Why touch on that again?
Was it because of the seminary?
I've heard they have beatings there.
No? I don't believe it either.
And we sat there adding up
our illusions, our fears...
and started to miss
each other.
THE OATH OF THE WELL
- No!
- No what?
Definitely not!
They say we're not old enough
to marry that we're children.
But two or three years
soon pass.
Will you swear something? Do you
swear you'll only marry me?
I swear! I swear! I swear!
Even if you marry another, I'll
fulfill my oath by never marrying.
-If I marry someone else?
-Anything might happen, Bento.
You might find a girl who wants you
fall in love with her and marry.
Why would you remember
me in that case?
No! I swear too, Capitu!
I swear by the Lord Our God
that I'll only marry you.
Is that enough?
I don't dare ask for more.
Yes, you swear.
But we'll swear a different oath:
that we must marry one another...
whatever happens.
Our farewell didn't last long.
But at 15... everything is infinite.
May I come in?
Be happy!
We'll miss you very much...
we all hold you in high esteem,
as you deserve.
If you hear any different,
don't believe it. It'll just be gossip.
I'm not like certain parasites
coming from far away,
dividing families, low flatterers.
No, I belong to a different species.
I don't live in someone else's house.
If one day you lose your family,
you can count on our company.
It's not sufficiently important,
but our affection is enormous.
Priest or no priest, our house
is at your service.
I only ask you not to forget
old P?dua.
Don't forget your old P?dua.
Would you leave me
some memento?
A notebook anything,
a jacket button.
Something which is no longer of
any use to you.
The value will be in the memory.
Here, keep this.
A lock of your hair!
Thank you. From me
and my people.
I'll give it to the old lady to keep,
or the young one...
who is more careful than
her mother.
How lovely it is. How could you
cut such a lovely thing?
Come here and
give me a hug.
Another!
Good-bye!
P?dua's eyes were moist with
that knowing expression...
of one who bet all his savings
and hope on one ticket...
and sees the damn number
come up blank!
And such a fine number!
ON MY WAY
Oh, mother dear,
I offer you this day which is breaking
with all that it may bring:
joy, weariness, misunderstanding,
suffering.
Your mother's heart is always
open to your children.
I ask you, oh Mary,
to give me your hand
and guide my unsteady
steps this day.
Thank God on my behalf for
this new day which now begins.
Go on, lad, come back
as the Pope!
Oh beloved sight!
To share him with God is
to possess him still.
Within a year we'll be aboard.
Only in a year?
I'll find out the best time of year
to cross the Atlantic.
I can study medicine
right here.
Wait a year.
By then it'll all be arranged.
My sweet childhood companion.
I was pure, and pure I remained
and it was pure that entered
the São Jos? Seminary.
to seek my sacerdotal appearance
and investiture...
and before that, my vocation.
But you were my vocation,
you my investiture.
I haven't been here for
so long, perhaps a year.
Forgive me, but it's only been
3 months since you came here...
with our neighbor P?dua.
You're growing up and he's
becoming presumptuous.
Dona Gl?ria might not like that.
Those P?duas aren't all bad.
Capitu, in spite of those eyes
the devil gave her...
have you noticed her eyes?
They're like a gypsy's,
sly and cunning.
That would be all right, but for
her vanity and pride.
Go on, ask, order!
I see you wish nothing
but my well-being.
What else could I want,
Bento?
In that case, I'll ask you a favor.
A favor? Tell me, order me?
What is it?
Mother.
Mother?
What of your mother?
Mother wants me to become
a priest, but I cannot.
I can't, it's not in me.
I don't like the priest's life.
Mother knows I do everything
she asks...
I'll be anything she likes,
even an omnibus coachman.
But not a priest.
I can't be a priest.
It's a fine career,
but it isn't for me.
I'm counting on you to save me.
But what can I do?
Plenty! You know how highly
thought-of you are at the house.
Mother often asks
your advice,
Uncle Cosme says
you're talented.
I confess I have the talent
your uncle sees in me...
but it is just a talent for
knowing what is...
good and worthy of appreciation.
Nothing more.
And for protecting
your friends, like me.
And what can usefully be done,
my little angel?
There'll be no dissuading your
mother from a project which...
apart from being a vow, has been
her dream for so many years.
No, no, no.
It's too late.
Only yesterday she did me the favor...
of saying: "Jos? Dias, I must
send Bento to the Seminary."
It's not too late.
There's still time,
if you wish it.
What other desire but to make
you happy, as you deserve?
So there's still time! Look,
I'm not just being indolent...
if mother wants...
I'll study law,
I'll go to São Paulo!
THE LAW IS FINE
It is too late, but to prove
I've no lack of good will...
I shall speak to your mother.
I don't promise to prevail,
but I shall fight.
Work with all my soul.
You don't wish to become a priest?
The law is fine, my dear.
You can go to São Paulo,
Pernambuco...
or even further!
There are great universities
in the wide world out there!
Go to the law, if that is your vocation.
I shall speak to Dona Gl?ria,
but don't count only on me...
speak also to your uncle.
If you cannot become a priest
and prefer the law...
the law is fine, without disrespecting
theology which stands above all,
the ecclesiastical life
being a most saintly one!
You'd better go to a university
abroad right away.
Then while you study,
you'll travel.
We could go together,
visit foreign lands...
we'll hear English, French, Italian,
Spanish, Russian and even Swedish.
Dona Gl?ria will probably not
be able to go with you.
Even if she can and does go, she won't
want to see to all the business, papers,
applications, lodging...
oh, the law!
The law is fine!
So, will you ask mother not
to send me to the seminary?
I'll ask her, but asking
is not achieving.
Angel of my heart, if the will
to serve were the ability to order...
we'd be already on board, right now!
Oh, you can't imagine
what Europe is like, Bento!
Europe, little Bento...
One of his ambitions
was to return to Europe...
which he had visited once.
He spoke about it many times
without managing to tempt my mother...
nor Uncle Cosme.
He hadn't thought of this
possibility of going with me...
and staying on throughout
the eternity of my studies.
THE EMPEROR
What if I went to the Emperor,
told him everything and
asked him to intervene?
I'd not mention it to Capitu.
If His Majesty asked,
mother would give in.
The Emperor is visiting
to Dona Gl?ria's house!
- I wonder why?
- Why not?
I'd like you ask to not to make
Bento a priest, madam.
It's fine career, and we
have good professors...
and doctors who can
stand shoulder to shoulder...
with the best in other lands.
Medicine is a great science,
a fine career.
Send him to our School.
Do this for me, yes?
Would you like that, Bento?
If mother so wishes.
Of course I do, Bento.
If that pleases Your Majesty.
If that pleases Your Majesty!
To medicine!
To our School
I saw and heard all this.
No, Ariosto's imagination is no more
fertile than the imagination
of children and sweethearts,
and all that is necessary
for a vision...
of the impossible is
the corner of an omnibus.
CURIOUS CAPITU
No, Bento, you'd better leave
the Emperor in peace.
Let's just stay with
Jos? Dias's promise.
Capitu wanted me to repeat
all his answers,
any alterations in gesture,
the sounds of his words,
even his pirouette.
She was detailed and
paid great attention.
Capitu was Capitu.
More a woman than
I a man.
If I haven't mentioned
this then I do so now.
If I have, there is no
harm in repeating it.
Certain ideas must penetrate the
reader's soul by means of repetition.
Caesar! Julius Caesar!
Tu quoque, Brutus?
Capitu didn't like
Caesar's profile...
but the actions cited by Jos? Dias
sounded admirable to her.
A man who could do everything!
Who gave a woman a pearl
worth 6 million sestertius!
And how much was
a sestertius worth?
All things awoke
Capitu's curiosity.
He's the greatest man in history!
Ancient furniture,
old furnishings,
customs a saying here
a recollection there
my mother's childhood and
youth, an adagio...
UNDERTOW EYES
Capitu is in the drawing room,
combing her hair.
Sneak in and give her a fright.
Any news?
None. I came to see you before
Father Cabral arrives for class.
How was your night?
Mine? Fine. Hasn't Jos?
Dias said anything yet?
- Apparently not.
- But when is he going to?
He said he intends to broach
the matter today or tomorrow.
He won't be too direct,
just mention it in passing.
First he wants to gauge
mother's resolve.
This is infernal! Insist
with him, Bento.
I will. He must say
something today.
-You swear?
-I swear!
I recalled the definition
Jos? Dias gave them.
Let me see your eyes, Capitu.
"Sly, deceiving
gypsy eyes."
I didn't know what he meant by sly,
but I understood deceiving.
What's wrong?
Never seen my eyes before?
Oh rhetoric of sweethearts!
Give me an exact and poetic...
comparison to describe
those eyes of Capitu.
No image springs to mind
capable of saying
what they were like
and what they did to me.
Undertow-like eyes?
Yes, undertow will do.
I could comb your hair, if you liked.
- You?
- Yes.
You'll only get it all tangled,
I bet.
If it tangles, you can untangle
it afterwards.
Let's see.
It was awkward work, sometimes
because I was clumsy...
at others on purpose to undo
what I'd done in order to redo it.
Sit here, it'll be better.
All right, let's see
the great hairdresser.
But the hair got done,
however
much I wished it never to end.
the infinite
countless times.
If this appears emphatic
to you, unfortunate reader...
that is because you have
never combed a young girl...
never placed your adolescent hands
on the young head of a nymph.
There!
-Is it all right?
-Look in the mirror.
Raise your head, Capitu, you might
get dizzy, hurt your neck.
Mother, look at what this
hairdresser has done to my hair.
Look at these braids!
Oh, very nice.
You'd never know they were done
by someone who can't comb hair.
What, mother?
This! Mother!
Oh, how dizzy!
Don't make fun of my 15 years,
my precocious reader.
Many, at 17, haven't yet begun to think
of the difference between the sexes.
Since I wished to speak
to hide my state...
I called up a few words
from within...
but they filled my mouth without
one managing to get out.
All the words retreated
to my heart, murmuring:
Here's one who's never
going to have a great career...
in the world, he's dominated
by emotions.
Bento, your mother has sent for
you to go to your Latin class.
Father Cabral is already
waiting for you.
I'm a man!
I'm a man!
PROTONOTARY APOSTOLIC
Bento, Father Cabral has
just been named Protonotary Apostolic!
By decree from the Pope!
It's not exactly an appointment
of the Curia, but an honorary one.
Protonotary Apostolic!
Be prepared, Bento... you could be
Protonotary Apostolic one day.
But the length of the title, to add to
your name... it's rather long, isn't it?
You may call me simply
Protonotary Cabral.
The Apostolic will be understood.
Of course, Protonotary Cabral.
But Protonotary, will you
be obliged to go to Rome?
No, Dona Justina.
It's just an honorary
appointment, Justina.
Now, in more formal cases,
official matters...
the full title may be used:
Protonotary Apostolic.
- I see.
- Of course.
Pius IX is the Pope of hope
for a unified Italy!
Congratulations, father Cabral.
Protonotary Cabral, Bento.
Congratulations, Protonotary Cabral.
You can take a day off Latin
today, Bento.
No celebrating the day's
idleness,
Latin will always be useful to you,
even if you don't become a priest.
That's when I knew my man.
It was the first word
the seed cast on the ground,
just in passing as if to get
the family's ears used to it.
He must become a priest!
And a handsome priest.
And don't forget, sister Gl?ria,
Protonotary too.
Protonotary Apostolic.
Protonotary Santiago!
THE SOUL IS FILLED
WITH MYSTERIES
Was Father Cabral
waiting long?
There was no class today,
we had a day off.
Father Cabral received an honor
from the Pope:
Protonotary Apostolic.
May I go to compliment him
this afternoon, at your house?
You may, but why?
Father will naturally want to come too
but he'd better pay him
a visit at home,
it's more suitable.
But not l, being almost a young lady.
Nanata! Nanata!
Capitu!
Nanata!
But Bento, what is a
Protonotary Apostolic?
So there you are!
My God, what a fright!
What's all this talk about
a Protonotary, girl?
I'll tell you in a minute.
Mother, supper! Father's here!
THE VOCATION
Vocation is everything.
The ecclesiastic state is
absolutely perfect...
since the cleric is destined
from the cradle, right?
There being no vocation, I'm talking
about sincere real vocation,
a young man can perfectly well devote
himself to human letters,
which are also useful and honorable.
Vocation is a great deal,
but God's power is supreme.
A man may not have a taste for
the Church and even persecute it...
and one day God's voice speaks to
him, and he becomes an apostle.
Take St. Paul.
Yes.
Well then! Without a vocation
there can be no good priest...
and in any liberal profession
God is served,
as all should serve.
What?
So one could go to the seminary
and not come out a priest?
One could. Bento, for instance,
is clear in his vocation.
His toys were from the church.
And he adores church services.
Good evening, all.
Bento, go with her.
No need, Dona Gl?ria,
I know the way.
Good-bye, Protonotary.
Good-bye, Capitu.
Don't come.
We'll talk tomorrow.
-But I just want to tell you...
-Tomorrow.
-Listen!
-Stay!
What's wrong?
Are you ill?
Mother, am I going to
live at the seminary?
No. You'll come home
on Saturdays and holidays.
When you've taken your vows,
then you'll come and live with me.
I'll miss you.
In a short while you'll get used
to your colleagues and masters...
and eventually enjoy
the life with them.
But I only like
mother.
But you want so very much
to become a priest.
Bento, Our Father has heard me,
saving your existence.
There can be no failing or
lying to Him.
Being a priest is good, it is saintly.
Don't be silly, Bento,
be a man and obey me...
for your mother's sake
and the good of your soul.
ARE YOU AFRAID?
Doesn't Capitu look tired, Bento?
Too much reading yesterday
before and after tea,
and until well after midnight
aren't I right, dear?
And by lamp light!
If I lit a candle,
you'd scold me.
Daughter!
I'm fine.
Capitu!
I'm fine.
I was unwell because of what
I heard at your house yesterday.
We sat on the canap? and
gazed into space.
I tell a lie
she gazed at the floor.
I followed suit,
as soon as I noticed.
But I believe Capitu was looking
inside her very self...
while I stared at the floor,
the gaps...
in the floor
two flies walking
and a cracked chair leg.
The undertow eyes didn't move...
and appeared to grow.
- Are you afraid?
- Afraid?
Yes, I'm asking whether
you're afraid.
Not wishing to interrogate
further, I tried to understand.
Afraid of what?
Of being beaten, arrested,
fighting, walking, working...
- Being beaten?
- Why would someone beat me?
- Who might beat me, Capitu?
- And why?
Also, why would I be arrested?
And who would arrest me?
Oh my God!
You're yellow!
I don't understand, Capitu.
Who's going to beat me?
Sorry.
I'm just a bit crazy today,
I was just fooling around, and...
No, Capitu, you're
not fooling around.
You're right, I was just
being crazy. See you.
What do you mean?
My headache's coming back,
I'm going to put a slice of lime...
on my temples.
Come on.
THE FIRST CHILD
It's hopeless, Bento.
Our separation is certain.
Tell me something, but tell the
truth, no making things up.
What is it?
If you had to choose between me and
your mother...whom would you choose?
Me? I'd choose...
but why choose, Capitu?
Mother wouldn't be capable
of asking me that.
I'm asking:
suppose you're at the seminary
and hear that I'm dying.
Don't talk about dying, Capitu!
Or that I'll die of longing if
you don't come right away.
Tell me, would you come?
Yes.
- Against your mother's orders?
- Against mother's orders.
You'd leave the seminary,
leave your mother...
leave everything
to see me die?
Stop talking about
dying, Capitu!
A priest is good,
certainly.
A canon is better
because of the purple socks.
Come to think of it,
a canon is much better.
But you can't be a canon without
becoming a priest first.
Start with the black socks,
purple ones will come after.
One thing I don't want
to miss is your first mass.
Give me plenty of notice so I can
make a dress with a wide skirt.
Or perhaps that won't
be fashionable by then.
It needs to be a big church,
Carmo or St. Francis.
Or Candel?ria.
Any of them will do
provided I attend the mass.
Everyone will ask:
Who's that graceful woman
with such a fine dress?
Oh, that's Dona Capitolina a girl who
used to live on Matacavalos Street.
Used to? Are you moving?
Who knows where we'll
live tomorrow?
And you at the altar, wearing your
cassock a golden cape over the top,
chanting the Lord's Prayer.
Agreed, Capitu.
You'll watch my first mass,
but on one condition.
Your Excellency may
speak.
Promise me one thing?
- What?
- Tell me you promise.
I won't promise without knowing
what it is.
- Well, to be honest, two things.
- Two? What?
The first is that I be the priest
to give you penitence and absolution.
You must always
confess to me.
- The second...
- The first, I promise.
The second... is that I be the priest
who presides over your wedding.
My wedding? No, Bento...
I'd have to wait too long.
I'll promise you something else...
that you'll baptize my first child.
That's exactly what Capitu said,
her very words.
She spoke of her first child as
if it were her first doll.
That threat of a first child,
Capitu's first child...
her marriage to someone else,
the absolute separation...
the loss, the annihilation,
all this had such an effect on me...
that I became dumb.
Capitu smiled. And I saw her
first child playing on the floor.
MAKING UP
Forgive me, Capitu.
You forgive me.
I think it was the insomnia,
my headache.
It was my fault.
No, it was mine.
All right, it's over.
Just explain one thing...
why did you ask me whether
I was afraid of being beaten?
It was nothing.
Why touch on that again?
Was it because of the seminary?
I've heard they have beatings there.
No? I don't believe it either.
And we sat there adding up
our illusions, our fears...
and started to miss
each other.
THE OATH OF THE WELL
- No!
- No what?
Definitely not!
They say we're not old enough
to marry that we're children.
But two or three years
soon pass.
Will you swear something? Do you
swear you'll only marry me?
I swear! I swear! I swear!
Even if you marry another, I'll
fulfill my oath by never marrying.
-If I marry someone else?
-Anything might happen, Bento.
You might find a girl who wants you
fall in love with her and marry.
Why would you remember
me in that case?
No! I swear too, Capitu!
I swear by the Lord Our God
that I'll only marry you.
Is that enough?
I don't dare ask for more.
Yes, you swear.
But we'll swear a different oath:
that we must marry one another...
whatever happens.
Our farewell didn't last long.
But at 15... everything is infinite.
May I come in?
Be happy!
We'll miss you very much...
we all hold you in high esteem,
as you deserve.
If you hear any different,
don't believe it. It'll just be gossip.
I'm not like certain parasites
coming from far away,
dividing families, low flatterers.
No, I belong to a different species.
I don't live in someone else's house.
If one day you lose your family,
you can count on our company.
It's not sufficiently important,
but our affection is enormous.
Priest or no priest, our house
is at your service.
I only ask you not to forget
old P?dua.
Don't forget your old P?dua.
Would you leave me
some memento?
A notebook anything,
a jacket button.
Something which is no longer of
any use to you.
The value will be in the memory.
Here, keep this.
A lock of your hair!
Thank you. From me
and my people.
I'll give it to the old lady to keep,
or the young one...
who is more careful than
her mother.
How lovely it is. How could you
cut such a lovely thing?
Come here and
give me a hug.
Another!
Good-bye!
P?dua's eyes were moist with
that knowing expression...
of one who bet all his savings
and hope on one ticket...
and sees the damn number
come up blank!
And such a fine number!
ON MY WAY
Oh, mother dear,
I offer you this day which is breaking
with all that it may bring:
joy, weariness, misunderstanding,
suffering.
Your mother's heart is always
open to your children.
I ask you, oh Mary,
to give me your hand
and guide my unsteady
steps this day.
Thank God on my behalf for
this new day which now begins.
Go on, lad, come back
as the Pope!
Oh beloved sight!
To share him with God is
to possess him still.
Within a year we'll be aboard.
Only in a year?
I'll find out the best time of year
to cross the Atlantic.
I can study medicine
right here.
Wait a year.
By then it'll all be arranged.
My sweet childhood companion.
I was pure, and pure I remained
and it was pure that entered
the São Jos? Seminary.
to seek my sacerdotal appearance
and investiture...
and before that, my vocation.
But you were my vocation,
you my investiture.