Original subtitles

( Sinister organ music)

Has he been told? Does he know all the rules?

And is he prepared to accept our decision?

Tonight, gentlemen...

...we are unusually fortunate

It is not often that we may welcome to the Club of the Damned...

...a true celebrity

Men of notoriety, yes

Of, er...infamy, even

But a truly illustrious member of one of the professions

Respect, gentlemen, respect

Mr Adrian Gall...

...can be described as one of the truly great actors of this century

More than that, he was once the principal

of that famous company of actors which travelled far and wide...

...not only in this country but abroad...

...to present the works of William Shakespeare...

...before appreciative audiences in all civilised countries of the world

Thereby doing honour to his profession...

...and to his country

My goodness

Did I say was the principal?

Is, then, the actor's renown so ephemeral a thing...

...that after a mere decade of retirement...

...one already talks of his work as if he were dead?

True, one remembers a certain amount of speculation at the time

Unsavoury rumour concerning a rather sudden retirement

The disappearance of a rival

Or was it a rift in the marriage?

(Man) I am here

You are, I am told, aware of our rules of membership

You appreciate...

...that to become a member of this august assembly...

...you must tell a true story of supernatural terror?

You must also know that if you succeed in chilling our blood...

...you will be permitted to join...

The Club of the Damned, yes.

But if, in the opinion of only one of us, you fail...

- ...the penalty is... - Death?

I am prepared to take that chance

So pay attention to me, gentlemen

Hear the story of Adrian Gall...

...and judge me thereafter

Dream my life with me...

...and then decide whether mine is not the most dreadful story...

...ever to have assaulted your ears during the course of your assemblies...

...in the house, this room

(Gall) Though, as most of you will know, my home is in England...

...my story, or as much of it as matters...

...took place in a great foreign city, a timeless city...

...which has the feeling of that Venice...

...where my wife and I celebrated our greatest triumphs

it is certainly a city built on water...

...a city of haunted squares...

...dingy alleys and moonstruck bridges...

...Renaissance arches, dark vaults and subterranean passages

And it is in this forever-dying city...

...that the events with which [ shall shortly acquaint you occurred

But I must begin at the beginning

in the bedroom of my country house in England...

...where my dear wife Charlotte and I have lived since our retirement

(Gall groans)

- (Gall) Thieves! Scum! - Oh, my dear

(Gall) But I'll be revenged on them!

The whole pack of them there! I'll confront them!

Oh, Adrian, my love...

They've taken everything from me. Everything in the purse!

The purse that I've cherished ever since you gave it to me on our wedding day

- Robbed me of all I possess! - Hush!

- It's only that old dream, my dearest - Everything in the purse gone!

You cannot deny it! Every penny!

- Are you telling me I'm a liar? - Try and go back to sleep, dearest

Those dreadful rages...

...and all for nothing. For nothing

Look at your hands

Can't you remember? They took everything from us. From me

While we were working at the Teatro La Fenice

Ah, every seat was taken. How they loved us. And yet, and yet...

...they took every penny in that purse

That's why I must go back, Charlotte. I must

They took nothing

You've forgotten because it was a long time ago, but I remember every detail

We were playing Macbeth

The Prefect of Police was in the audience in a box with his entire family...

...and while they applauded us... Oh, the irony of it!

- Thieves, robbers in our dressing room! - There were no thieves

You lost no purse. Nothing was taken from our dressing room

They took everything from me! Why will you deny it?

I must deny it, my dear, or we'll both lose our sanity

You wake up oh so often...

...and I can see you need something...

...to feed these terrible rages of yours

You're humouring me. That's understandable

But I have grounds for my fury, haven't I, Charlotte?

Haven't I?

- It cannot go on, I know that - Oh, my love!

My dearest love

Can't you try and rest?

Can't you understand?

We're no longer young

Our children have grown up and have left us

- Soon we will be grandparents - Shh! Quiet, woman, quiet!

You mean well, I know, but it is different for a man, a man of my...

...quality

A man accustomed to admiration...

...and love

Yes. Love

That is why I must go back. I must

Back?

You really mean to...

I must. I shall go back

To lay that ghost

To retrieve my valuables

All those many years ago...

...and you lost nothing, I tell you

(Sobs) Nothing!

(Gaily To this city I returned...

...was impelled to return alone...

...to seek out an old acquaintance...

...the Prefect of Police...

...and to lodge with him once and for all an official complaint...

...about the loss of my valuables, my belongings...

...Indeed, that aforementioned purse...

...stolen from me during one of my performances in the city

That purse which my enraged dreams...

...had exhorted me to regain...

...because, it seemed to me...

...that it was of life itself that I had been robbed

Ah, never will I forget, Signor Gall, you and the gracious signora

The richness of the poetry, magic of your voices!

The Winter's Tale, Hamlet...

...magnificent Macbeth!/

You are too kind, my dear old friend

But it is not to receive your compliments...

...appreciated as they undoubtedly are...

Especially your Macbeth! Ah!

And your wonderful wife's Lady Macbeth

Those terrible witches, that atmosphere of violence and ghostly terror

All, all of it remains engraved on my memory, Signor Gall, indelibly!

Erm... Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo. Down!

Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs

(Performs Italian translation of Macbeth)

If I may say so, signor, the stage lost an ornament...

...when you determined to make your career with the police force

Oh, no, no. But you must understand, Signor Gall...

...to me, the Shakespearean verse sounded like great music...

...when you spoke it in the original language, and when the signora spoke it

Ah, how is the signora?

- I trust she is fully recovered? - Recovered?

Yes, from that accident. That dreadful accident

Do you not recall?

That is how we first met, you and |

Do you not recall, Signor Gall, after the unfortunate performance when...

The fall. That, erm, that accident

To be frank, signor...

...I did not ask you to meet me here to discuss minor incidents...

...nor past performances, neither mine nor my dear wife's

We are retired from the stage

Ah

But you must know why I've come the long way from England...

...why I've undertaken this long and dangerous voyage

Indeed, I do not

Nor can I guess why you did not give me advance notice of your intention...

...so I could offer you adequate hospitality

Nor can I divine why you chose to meet me here

This unpleasant cafe by the waterfront...

...the meeting place of loose women, their protectors and clients

Do you really have no explanation for my presence here?

No, dear Signor Gall...

...| can only guess that you are revisiting the scenes of...

Yes? The scenes of?

Well, the, er, the scenes of, er, your triumphs, of course

I am here, sir, to investigate a crime

Ah! Crime? Of what nature?

A crime, sir, that was done to my person here in this city, as well you remember

I remember?

I remember nothing of this crime

I am completely mystified, Signor Gall

Yes, I see

No doubt you would prefer...

...the file on that particular incident to be closed forever

What incident, Signor Gall?

You know full well what incident, sir!

Ah. The wine

Er, you must, of course, be my guest, signor

No, no, no, no, it was, after all, I who asked for this meeting

I am the host, signor

Indeed, in this city, I am bound to be the host

You insist, do you?

Indeed

- I insist - (Laughs)

Now, my dear old friend, let us return for a moment to this, er, incident

Very well, if you insist, I will restate my case once more

While we were performing Macbeth, sir...

...while my company was performing our most successful production...

you will remember, will you not...

...that thieves entered my garderobe...

...and robbed me

Robbed me of my...

(Sobs) Robbed...

Oh, my dear old friend, you are not well

Forgive me, it will pass

It's a certain weakness

I was once famous, you know, for my real tears

No, no, no, no, you are not well, my friend. I can see it

Come, let me take you back to your hotel

It is late and the company here is hardly suitable

What?

Well, perhaps you're right

But it is I who should really be entertaining you

Oh, forgive me. The wine was excellent

We shall drink another bottle on a future occasion, when next we meet again

Oh, yes, indeed. Make no doubt upon that score, Signor Valetti

We shall most certainly meet again

I have not crossed heaving seas...

...nor travelled many hundreds of miles in a desperately uncomfortable train...

...to be fobbed off with the insincere ramblings...

...of a pusillanimous petty official, who has determined in advance...

...to deny such crimes as were undoubtedly committed in his name!

If you give me the name of your hotel, signor...

...I will have one of my officials conduct you there in a private gondola

I do not need your solicitude, signor!

Investigate my complaint or you shall hear from the British Consul!

I absolutely demand the restitution of my property! Do you hear me, sir?

I demand it

I'm terribly concerned

Don't be too disturbed, my dear. A letter should arrive soon

I should never have permitted him to go

But a journey may do him good

To that place? At his age, in his condition?

My dear, Adrian is more robust than most men of his age

If you knew...

He hates the idea of aging

He simply cannot reconcile himself to...

What is it?

Oh, Charlotte, what is it?

He has such dreadful dreams

And he's obsessed by the idea of...

...well, loss. Of having been robbed

And wasn't he?

Why should he lie about that?

He always told me...

Don't you understand, Regina?

Do you really not understand?

I was a member of the company for such a short time, my dear

As you will remember, I had no choice but to leave

Oh, dear Regina, there's no need to rake over old coals!

A man of his stature, his vanity...

Oh, no, that was forgotten and forgiven long ago

- Adrian had such a passionate nature - Had?

But you say that now...

Have you never wondered...

...why he insists on treating me as if I were an invalid?

Invalid? What do you mean?

After my fall. That accident

But, my dear, your foot healed years ago

Precisely

Yet he chooses to behave as if it all happened yesterday

Now do you see?

What utter nonsense

What can you be talking about? You're not the least little bit like an invalid

No

But he now wishes that I were

Why have you never mentioned this to me before?

And why do you choose to do so now?

Well, you see...

If it helps him to... think I'm ill...

...incapacitated...

Helps him? How?

Please tell me, Regina...

...what of Felix? What of your own hus...?

What of him?

Well, does he still...

Oh, dear

Does he still make physi...

...or feel that he should?

At our age, my dear, it seems hardly proper to discuss matters of this sort

Especially about one's husband

No

Music and chatter)

Don't be afraid, darling

Oh, why should I be afraid?

I don't know!

But whenever I look at you, your eyes, they turn away

- Now, why should that be? - (Laughs) You're completely mistaken

Forgive me, I have no wish to do business with you

(Woman laughs)

No wish? Indeed

You are most insolent, whore

Do you imagine you know me?

I believe that you think you know me, signor

I've looked into a hundred pairs of eyes such as yours, signorina...

...and believe me, they are all the same

Good night

Let me help you

Let me be the stranger you seek

The one you have never seen before...

...and will never, ever see again

No

- Troppo tardi, vecchio? -Hm?

Too late, old man?

Do you think that I want your money?

Or maybe to steal your purse? Huh?

Sleep alone, then!

Dearest Charlotte, is it all a dream?

Shall I wake up from this nightmare in your arms?

Or can we never be... ourselves again?

You know that I will do anything for you, my love

Oh, forgive me, Charlotte, if I...

...if my heart seems closed to you

Forgive me

She mocked me. She, too

All of them! Very well

Let them pay their tribute to me... in fear!

(Gall) And so I found myself impelled to haunt...

...literally to haunt...

...the nocturnal alleys and accusing arcades of this city

(Screaming)

(Gall) Knowing that only through my own strength

would I be able to settle scores...

...and retrieve that of which I had been robbed

(Screaming)

(Woman screams)

(Screams)

Idle fantasies? Ravings of an old actor's rotting mind?

Oh, God, I prayed to my maker that night...

...had I indeed become unhinged? Had all reason taken leave of me?

How [ wished, as [/ lay shivering in that damp Venetian room...

...that I had never embarked on this lunatic journey...

...that I could be spirited back to my own warm bed...

...to my dear wife's side

But an inner voice told me it was already too late...

...the merciless surge of time could not be held back...

...there was no ref urn

For you only have to imagine them...

...and any human acts can become possible...

...indeed, likely, even inevitable

Leonora

(Gall) She vanished quickly...

...but it was most certainly Leonora...

...who, in some way, [ now associated with my loss

Could it be her [ imagined I had lost?

Was she not indeed the cause of my flight?

So many years ago in that same arcade...

...so unbearably, so desolately young

Yes, now I remember. Had she not pursued me, Adrian Gall...

...from the London theatre where she never missed my performances?

Pursued me here? To this city?

For what? To applaud?

Or had she then been something altogether different?

One of us. A member of my company

(Distant voices speak Italian)

Signor Gall

Yes, indeed, sir. And have you done, sir, as I instructed you?

As you instructed me?

Have you investigated my complaint?

Oh, indeed I have, signor

And I am glad to tell you that no object or objects were reported stolen...

...from your dressing room at Teatro la Fenice those many years ago

- No objects, you say? - Nothing, signor

Your triumph was, if that is the correct word, undiluted

- Except... - Yes, except?

Well, except, of course, for the regrettable incident of the fall

Oh. What fall?

Signor, you must remember it

We discussed it the other evening, when the signora fell upon the stage

- Fell on the stage? - An unfortunate occurrence...

...during her famous sleepwalking scene

Naturally, it brought your season to a premature end

But what about the young girl? The young lady?

The young lady?

Well, you know her better than I do, probably

Her name was Leonora. She wished me to engage her, did she not?

She wished to play small parts, and then larger parts...

...and finally she wished to usurp my wife's place

Oh, my dear friend, I would not ever presume to...

Lies! Everything. All lies!

You have robbed and betrayed me...

...and now you even wish me to doubt my own reason!

It is best that we part, sir, lest our much-valued relationship...

...should be damaged beyond repair

I wish you a good night, sir

(Gasps)

But I do not understand. How can this be?

- Leonora? - Yes

- But it cannot be you - Cannot?

Cannot. Since all those years ago...

...you died

And even if my memory has deserted me...

...you look no older than you did then, not a day older

(Laughter and chatter)

But you do not deny it. You are Leonora?

- Indeed I am - You are

As you are still the great Adrian Gall

But then why...

Am I here? With you?

In this cafe, among these women?

Oh, but I am certainly not among them

Things are not always what they seem

Except for one thing

I love you still

And you live here? Alone?

In this city?

Oh, I am free to roam where I please

- As free as you appear to be -Yes, I see

It must have been you I came back to... to... recover

You they took away from me. Oh

Dearest Leonora...

(Leonora) We shall meet again tomorrow

Wherever you are, I shall find you, beloved

Have no fear

(Woman) Old fool

Are you still muttering to yourself?

(Gall) What had been the most extraordinary encounter of my life...

...became only the first of many such meetings

Indeed, a never-ending embrace...

...as sweetly satisfying as anything I had ever known

[ felt reborn...

...as if new blood was surging through my veins

And cured of my fears, { now felt as young as my adorable mistress

Leonora's love invested us with an uncanny strength

We needed neither food nor drink...

...yet no wish was beyond instantaneous fulfilment

In long-forgotten caves and vaults that only she seemed to know...

...we held our timeless trysts

Here we celebrated life without remorse or apprehension...

...without thought for others, without memory

But neither in my intoxicated dream-like state...

...nor in the nightmares that now preceded it...

...and alas, were to succeed it...

...could I have imagined the tragic and grotesque events...

...that were so soon to restore dreaded reality

One night, while reciting certain speeches from my old roles...

...which Leonora had taught me to speak in Italian...

(Performs Italian translation of Macbeth)

(Hesitates)

...contro le chiese... chiese... I cannot remember!

Though castles topple on their warders' heads...

...though palaces and pyramids do slope their heads to their foundations...

...though the treasure of nature's germens tumble altogether...

...even till destruction sicken...

...answer me to what I ask you

(Laughs)

(Both laugh)

(Laughter and merry music)

Well, it's you! The lonely Englishman!

He who mutters to himself

Come away from here! He will bequeath his disease on you, this one

Look at him! He's almost dead already!

He's the gravestone on his own fresh grave!

(Laughs)

The lonely old man...

...who prefers to love alone

(Laughs)

Oh, my love.

If you, too, could be rid of them forever

Rid of them?

Those who think of themselves as men and women

But I do not understand. What are you trying to tell me, my love?

It doesn't matter

Let us remember that all life is a joke...

...and that what comes after... is funnier still

Tell me, then

Am I sleeping my life away?

Seems I can no longer tell what is life and what is a dream

Then I have succeeded

I think I shall wake up at any moment...

...and find I'm still an ambitious young travelling actor...

...merely dreaming of playing Macbeth one day...

...dreaming of success and money

And love

Come. Let me teach you another play in Italian

What do you wish me to be this time? Rosalind?

- Desdemona? - Why didn't she see you, Leonora?

Why didn't any of them see you?

Why do we always seek out these places where it seems... only I can see you?

Because I would frighten them, my love

That is if they could see me

(Gasps)

Oh, Leonora

Would you, my dear lover...

...not be terrified to see one...

...who has been dead for so long?

It was here in the city, you see?

All those years ago

And I imagined that you...

...whom I had always worshipped, had repulsed me

It was then that I swam out into the moonlit lagoon...

...until the waters had overwhelmed me

Yes, my love...

...you are my murderer

Then I shall do it

Do what must be done

(Gall) You may wonder, gentlemen, how could it be...

...that I remained unaware for so long...

...that my beloved was a ghost

But do not forget the intoxication of my own renewal...

...and the intensity of our love...

...which had imprisoned me in a dream of timeless unreality

(Gall) No further! Scum!

- Murderer! - Signor Gall

I see you are rehearsing a new part. May I ask...?

You may let me spit at you, thief!

Till you have returned what you took from me

We both know I took nothing from you, sir

We both know that what you lost here was your own...

No! Don't say it or you'll force me to kill you

Listen to me. You must listen! The threads of your memory are so tangled...

- I warned you! - Think back, that night

When the actress who loved you drowned

- No, don't! - That same night...

...your mind still clouded by your terrible conflict...

...you set up that obstacle on the stage so your wife should fall

- No! Falsehood! Slander! - You must hear the truth at last!

You were then as you are now...

...in a condition of such mindless rage, you did not know what you were doing

Such a long time ago, why do you not try to forgive yourself?

As we who understand have forgiven you?

- You whore's son - (Sighs)

You scum of the diseased canals

You try to saddle me with your crimes

Filth. How dare you accuse me of murder?

Have I not merely confirmed your own fears, my friend?

Lies!

When it is you. You!

Very well, signor. You leave me no option

I see, no option

First you rob and slander me and now you wish to kill me...

...to eradicate all evidence of your evil

Beware!

(Splashing)

(Gall groans)

(Groaning and gasping)

(Gasps)

(Man screams)

(Splashing)

(Screams)

Oh, my God! Murderer!

Murderer!

(Charlotte sobs) Oh, God!

(Gall) Confident that the good prefect... Oh, God, why had { killed him?

...had by now expired in the waters of that foul canal...

...and that his bloated body would not be recovered until morning...

...I once more sought protection and refuge in the love of my ghostly mistress

As night now followed night without any perceptible interval of daylight...

...I began to be drawn back to that fateful bridge...

...the Ponte delle Turchette

But I killed him

You saw me do it. I drowned him

Tell me, I must know

Tell me this one thing and I will ask no more

Seek to know no more

I will be satisfied

Deny me this and an eternal curse fall on you

Let me know...

Oh! I can't remember

It's gone! (Laughs)

Cosi e, signore...

(Performs Italian translation of Macbeth)

- What? What? - Aye, sir, all this is so...

...but why stands Macbeth thus amazedly?

Yes, of course. I had forgotten and you remember

Remember?

Remember it was I who played that dreary First Witch all those months!

The only part that she would... your good wife would allow me

Yes, I see. But I had promised... Don't forget, Leonora, I did promise you...

Oh, indeed, you promised much. Cosi e, signore

Dear Leonora, you always knew that I loved you

But I cannot... I simply cannot continue like this...

... drifting, floundering between...

Between?

- Between wife and mistress? - No

Between Lady Macbeth and the First Witch?

Between a woman and a ghost?

Oh, God, be kind to me, Leonora

Listen to me. I must escape. I simply cannot stay in this city

- I'm in such horrible danger! - You poor man

But why precisely must you escape?

Do tell me, from whom, from what?

Well, you know. You must know. The police

You think you killed him, the Prefect of Police, is that it?

I know I did

- And I say again, you saw me do it - (Leonora) I did?

Then look

E cos�

Why do you seem disturbed?

You saw him before, did you not? Tonight on the Ponte delle Turchette?

I thought I saw it

What? Speak louder. What is the matter with you?

I thought...

I must have felt that I saw it

His spirit. His ghost. Say it!

Don't torture me, Leonora

Look!

There he is!

Touch him!

He's as real as any mortal...

...and as mortal as any living man

Living? Then I... didn't...

It was all a dream? I couldn't...

I didn't kill him?

No, poor man, of course not

He killed you

Now we can be together

Forever and ever

Alone together...

...forever

Isn't that what love is?

(Gall) There is little more to fell, gentlemen

She, it, had spoken the truth...

...and I had indeed not killed the prefect on that dark bridge

It was he who had killed me...

...as he was destined to do

What you now see before you is therefore...

...what you wish to see

Can you imagine what it must feel like, gentlemen...

...to live eternally invisibly...

...without purpose, without form, without desire?

No?

Is it not in order to discover that precise feeling...

...that you come here to this Club of the Damned?

Is that not the ultimate horror you seek?

The frisson of something worse than death itself...

...worse even than the fear of death?

Gentlemen, this letter has just been delivered at the door

I shall read it to you

Mr Adrian Gall...

...regrets that for reasons of his indisposition...

...he is forced to cancel his engagement with you tonight

He begs the members of your worthy establishment to excuse and forgive...

...his... absence

His absence?

(Gall's laughter echoes)

(Leonora and Gall's laughter echoes)

( Sinister organ music)