All language subtitles for Mio Dio, come sono caduta in basso! (1974) EN

MY GOD,
HOW LOW I'VE FALLEN!

Paris, April 20, 1920.

After this sad day,
I'll write no more on your pages,

my Journal,
faithful companion of my labors.

Today died in the cemetery
of Père Lachaise,

my last hope to find my true love.

From the window of my Parisian room, I see

the tower from which
I will take the big leap,

forever closing that brief
earthly chapter called life.

My painful story began 12 years ago,
in my beautiful Sicily.

Come, come!

Will you stop it?
This is a wedding, not a funeral.

Sit down.

As you can see, the father,
although urged to, didn't show up.

Maybe he's dead.
- He's not,

because he still withdraws his annuities.
And how!

No more bets!

Eighteen, even and red.

No more bets!
- A letter, Marquis.

Where is it from?

From Sicily.
- Trash it!

Yet I sent telegrams to all the resorts where
he usually wears out his depraved life.

A telegram, Marquis.

Later, later.

That's why I've gathered
the family council.

What to say to a bride, before she
approaches to the nuptial bed?

What would she tell her, her mother,
who sadly is no longer?

She watches from Heaven
and takes care of everything.

Oh, I know! She takes care
but doesn't speak.

Aunt Eccelsa, you've acted as her mother,

you know what your duty is.

I don't understand what you mean,
Monsignor.

A maiden can't wed ignorant of things
that neither I nor Mother Beatrice know.

And neither I, if you please!

An ignorant maiden is the best tidbit...
- You, shut up!

Is Aunt Clorinda still alive?

If she wasn't eaten by the mice! - That I
know of, she gets her meals regularly.

Excellent! It'll be up to her.

How I envy her!

Never, I'll never allow it!
- A virginal flower, with that sinner!

Enough, I've decided.
The sinful Aunt is perfect.

She's expiated by now, and her experience
will be helpful to Eugenia.

Aunt Clorinda.

Aunt Clorinda..

Aunt Clorinda!
They told me you want me.

How beautiful you are!
You look like a lily!

A virginal lily!

Let me hug you!

Why are you crying?
Today I'm so happy, yet everyone cries.

One day you'll understand.
Sit down.

That's it.
Now I must talk to you as a mother.

They've ordered me to.

It is necessary that a mother,
on the eve of the wedding,

talk to her daughter.

You've been raised by the
pious Sisters of Carmel.

You know the mysteries of the soul,

but not those of the flesh!

And they,
they want me to tell you about them.

I had not yet turned 30..

We danced the waltz.
He was very handsome, he was strong.

In the ecstasy of the music,
I didn't realize that

he was leading me away,
outside, under the moon,

into the scent of orange blossom.

And it was there! It was there that he
threw me to the ground and violated me!

And then?

And then...
It was such a delicious ecstasy,

so divine,

that I felt as if a fire was invading me!

And then blood, lots of blood!

Now, you know everything.

Go, my daughter.
May God protect you.

That's it.

Thank you, Aunt Clorinda.

What did she tell you?

She told me everything,
but I understood very little.

Ah, praised be heaven!

Commoners too, besides all the nobility,

crowded that day into the
convent chapel where I grew up.

It was for me a marriage of love.

At the foot of the altar,
was waiting the man I loved.

Who, although handsome, rich and young,

had, sadly, a commoner name.

Kneel.

Raimondo Corrao,
will you take as your wife

Eugenia de Maqueda, according to
the rite of the holy and Roman Church?

Yes!

Eugenia de Maqueda,
do you take as your husband

Raimondo Corrao, according to
the rite of the holy Roman Church?

Yes!

But it's torn!
- That's how it must be. - Shut up, you!

Why?

Because this hole is not for the head.

Hurry up and do her hair!

What is it for, then?

Be gentile with my child.

Come, my little girl, come!

Eugenia!

Take off your robe.
- Why?

You must be tired.

Very.

Therefore...

let me...

Lie down.

Where?

In the bed.

And you?

Me... Here.
Beside you.

The sacrament just received so demands.

I know.

May I kiss you?

Let me kiss you!

No!

Who is it?

A telegram!
An urgent telegram!

Pass it under the door!

Aunt Clorinda...

Again!

Again.
- Not yet!

Why?

Read this!
- Who sent it?

Apparently your father.
- Then he's alive!

Where is the mirror with the Caryatids?

In there, why?

"In God's name, don't consummate marriage."
What does that mean?

It means that someone wants to mock us!

It's customary, on the wedding night.

I did it too, when I was a student.

Only that this one is a dirty trick!

"Remain pure and pray. Stop".

"The news of your wedding
came too late. Stop."

"You are brother and sister. Stop."

"In false bottom of drawer
in mirror with Caryatids"

"is hidden my memoir"

"with explanation atrocious
equivocation your birth."

"Signed, your father,
Ruggero of Maqueda".

Hey! A hammer and chisel, quick!
- At your orders, Excellency!

A hammer and chisel! Fast!

The groom needs a hammer and chisel!

The groom needs a hammer and chisel!
Fast!

What is it?

The groom wants a hammer and chisel!

There really is!
It wasn't a prank!

My God, what an emotion!

The handwriting is my father's.

You read it. I've no courage.

"Dear Eugenia,

some day you may have to read these lines,
if I'll ever dare to give them to you."

"It was the year 1886,

when I embarked for Africa to conquer
colonies for our beloved homeland."

I left in Sicily my beloved Floridia,
who had recently become my dear wife,

and not yet your mother.

Floridia
- Yes mother.

Don't stand spellbound.
- She's thinking of her Ruggero!

Yes, but this way the flag will
reach Eritrea when the war is over.

War? A walk through Africa,
as the today's paper says.

The fate was adverse
to our bold hopes of victory.

And I would've never again
seen my beloved Floridia,

if God hadn't put by my side a man,
who though a commoner,

was gifted with a great spirit
of sacrifice and indomitable will:

Antonino Corrao, my orderly,
and faithful guardian of our fief.

I've a wounded! Bring a stretcher.

Mission accomplished, Captain.

Thanks, Antonino.

Then your father owes his life to mine.

"While thus I returned to a new life,

had passed away, almost centenarian,
our Aunt Cristina of Cefalù."

Who, not ceasing to oppress us with
her eccentricity even after her death,

threatened now to deprive us
of her immense wealth,

that we all waited
with rightful impatience.

"...to Carolina Zampella."

"As regards to my fiefs:

if that good-for-nothing Ruggero is
not able to give the Maqueda family

an heir within the year
following my death,

they'll entirely go to the pious convent
of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother."

I see the wife blushing.

Perhaps the heir is already
in the process of coming to the world?

Unfortunately it wasn't so.

In that place of pain that's a field hospital,
I got the following telegram:

"Ministry grants license
to return to homeland

where urgently needed heir
to save inheritance.

Signed, Uncle Ettore".

Drink Don Ruggero.
This is the blood of our land.

May God bless you, Antonino.

I think I feel a little better.

Take a look, Antonino.
It seems that the suppuration has ceased.

Yes, It is much better.

The legs seem better.

I feel, sometimes,
a sharp pain in the groin.

Pardon my ignorance. What is the groin?

My dear and faithful Antonino,
the groin, in educated speech,

indicates that part of the human body...

where the balls hang.

You don't have them anymore, Captain.

The hand of an enemy,
who doesn't deserve to be called a man,

"had deprived me of
my masculine attributes."

It's about mustache?
- Yeah, and beard!

"Meanwhile, accompanied by my faithful
Antonino, I prepared to return home."

What do you think of a trip to Lourdes?

Don Ruggero, the only trip I've
ever made is this one in Africa

to make war.
What is this place of which you speak?

It is a holy place,
known for its miraculous pool,

where, by immersing,

the crippled resume walking,
the blind recover their sight...

But Don Ruggero,
cripples have legs,

the blind have eyes.

And came, regrettably,
the day of my return.

Triumphantly welcomed
by the entire population,

I feared in my heart the meeting
that, in the intimacy of the night,

I would have had with my beloved Floridia.

My husband!

Allow me.

I've long awaited you!

Take me, I'm yours.
- Yes.

Oh, my Ruggero!

Ruggero!

Antonino!

Hasten!
Don Ruggero is feeling bad!

Here, here, in his bed!

There, there!
- There, there!

No, here!
- There! There!

Here!
- There!

Ruggero!

I feel bad!

Once again, Antonino had saved me.

Under the pretext of ill-health,
I made him sleep beside me,

even though at that time he had a wife
and a grown child named Raimondo.

It's me, all hope is lost! - How can we
be siblings, with different parents?

We'll soon know. "Lost all hope
to fulfill my duties as a spouse..."

What duties has failed my beloved father?
- Don't ask questions, listen!

"I had to inevitably resort to
a stratagem worthy of Boccaccio..."

How can I hear if you read by mind?
- I fear these are things you can't hear,

nor know, nor understand.

"SWEETDREAMS
Chamomile mixture"

THE WAR OF GAUL
Julius Caesar

Mission accomplished, Captain!

I feared,..

last night, to have hurt you.

But I see from your face
to have not done anything.

How I wish it were night again!

Yes..

My respects, Donna Floridia.
- Morning, Antonino.

My respects, Don Ruggero.

That's how Floridia found out about
the deception and was destroyed.

Nine months after that fateful night
you were born, my dear Eugenia.

I rewarded Antonino with a large sum,
and he went to live with his family.

Your mother, for the pain suffered,
soon passed on to a better life.

With my money and other donations
I had to give him to buy his silence,

Antonino became ever richer
and could send his son

which is me,
to study with the priests.

With time, Antonino became
ever more daring and demanding,

aware as he was to have
saved our patrimony. Until,

a banal hunting accident...

did justice of that arrogant
and now superfluous person.

Offensive words from your father to mine,
I couldn't forgive even if he were here.

"Embittered by many humiliations, I left
the island and decided to never return."

"I entrust you to the good Sisters of Sorrows,
who know nothing of the deception."

"But if one day you meet Raimondo
Corrao, son of Antonino,"

"you should know that he's your brother."

Sister!

You're my sister!

And you're my brother!

Damn! Damn!
Damn! Damn!

What a cruel mockery of fate!

Raimondo, my husband!

Help! Aunt Cesca!
- What are you doing Where you going?

Help me!
My husband has fainted!

Wretch!
- But what have I done?

What have you done?

On the wedding night the husband can
never feel bad! It's the wife who feels bad!

Although that can't happen now.

Why? Explain!
God, I'm confused!

Eugenia,
why are you so beautiful?

I don't know.
- You are mine, and I can't have you!

In what sense? I don't understand.

Because a brother
can't sleep with his sister.

It's forbidden by the laws
of God and men.

We'll have separate beds,
what harm is there in that?

The Rota would annul the marriage:
ratified but unconsummated.

There has been no intercourse.
- Intercourse?

Mud thrown on our families.

And dishonor for me, cruelly tricked.

I'll also lose Aunt Cristina's inheritance
subtracted to the nuns. No!

Not the inheritance!

Only death can wash away this shame.

Whose death?

Yours. No, mine...
Both!

No, not mine, not mine, because
I see the headlines in Sicily:

"The best catch of the island
commits suicide on wedding night."

"Was the bride a virgin?" with or
without question marks. No, no.

As for yours...

"A young noble girl kills herself.."

"during the wedding night."
It happens..

"Was the virility of the groom in doubt!?"
Question marks and exclamations!

No! No and no!

I can hear the comments at the Noblemen's
Club: "Don Raimondo couldn't!" Me!

I just need to look at you...

Raimondo, are you sick?

May I call for help?

Answer me!

Now I'm able to look at you.

My Raimondo!
- Call me brother.

My brother, I feared you were
committing an insane act.

Insane it was. Unnatural.

I freed my flesh from an impure desire.

Now I can look at you serenely, sister.
And even kiss you.

On the forehead.

You're granted one grace: that of purity
and abstinence, comforted by ignorance.

Nooo!

Then I'll never get to know
the mysteries of the flesh? - Never!

We had to keep up appearances.

The day after that sad night,
we left our ancestral palace

for our so-called honeymoon.

In here, please.
- I wouldn't like to disturb.

May I?

Allow me: Raimondo Corrao,
Marquis Maqueda and Castelvetrano.

Baron Henri de Sarcey, Legion of Honor,
Engineer of the French Railways. - Delighted.

Madame, my most devoted respect.

I'll stay as little as possible
- Why, please?

I don't want to disturb the privacy
of a couple on their honeymoon.

How did you know?
- It's obvious. I read it in your eyes.

I bet you are going to Paris.

Yes, but after visiting Rome,
Naples and Florence.

The gaze of that unknown traveller
in such an intimate part of my body

filled me with shame.

Causing me, I confess,
also a chill of insane pleasure.

What is it?

I don't get it.

A herd of cattle is blocking the tracks.
It's unconceivable!

A locomotive has to stop and a train wait
because a herd has to cross the rails!

Excuse me a moment, dear.
I must find out.

Excuse me!

My husband is interested in everything,
but is really fond for trains.

I, instead, have another passion!

During a railway strike,
he drove a locomotive to Messina.

It was his first time,
but he did very well.

Since then he had a passion for trains.
He says it was heady experience.

I too have an heady passion.

Oh yeah? What?

Beautiful women.

Like you.

There are soldiers.
Soldiers herding the livestock.

Take my advice.

Which one?
- Have fun in Paris.

I know the fate of Sicilian women: all day
at home, all her life with many children,

always in mourning for some relative
who died years before.

Sure I'll have fun!

In Paris I know...
- It's crazy!

Striking farmers left to die of thirst
and hunger all.. all the beasts!

The soldiers had to lead them
to the river to drink.

How cruel!
- Yes, strikes, strikes.

In my country too
the miners refuse to dig coal.

I said to them:

"If you won't go in the mine,
we will certainly be without fire."

"But you, without fire nor bread."

A few gunshots, a few deaths,
and order would be restored!

I hear that you like
to drive locomotives?

A famous monument of Gothic art.

Very well. This is all of it.

Those are not ours!

Flowers! Who sent them? Him?

An inner voice was telling me: him!
It could only be him!

"This modest tribute to the Marquise of
Maqueda is not from me but from Paris."

"And since Paris is female
the Marquis won't take offense.

Baron Henri de Sarcey "
Why the subterfuge?

Do you feel ill, ma'am
- No, no, no.

Take them out of here, out, out!

What? You're sending away my flowers?

To put them in water.

What a pleasure! - I heard of your arrival
and wanted to welcome you to Paris.

Is the lady tired from the trip?

Madame.

Aren't you feeling well?
- It's nothing, don't worry.

I'm happy to hear it.

Trembling, dismayed, I invented an illness
rather than go out that evening.

Unfortunately, the next day when
we toured the city, he came with us.

He seemed to have nothing to do but
to harass my already fragile existence.

Wonderful!

An impressive realization
of human ingenuity!

Powerful! Daring!

You must always dare, in life.

Euge... Eugenia.

I'm here! - Full, it's full!
- Here I am!

Eugenia
One moment! A little manners!

Raimondo, Raimondo!

Eugenia! I'll wait below.

Come, come! Let's take refuge here.
It's useless to wait in the rain.

Come in.
Please come in.

I love you!

Where are you going?

One more word, and my suicide
will be on your conscience!

I was only watching this
wonder of modern technology!

Let's go; the darkness overwhelms me.
- Yes, let's go.

I don't think this a show
suitable for a lady.

Please, sir.

Good night, sister.
- Good night, brother.

From now on, we'll only visit
churches and museums.

Being exposed in public like that,
shameless!

Where is society going?

A nude woman between two dressed gents,
what does it represent?

Maybe truth..
Truth is always naked.

Isn't it true, madame?

Ah! Here's the landscape, righteous source
of inspiration for true born artists.

I felt myself vacillating,
but I wanted to be strong.

I invented several excuses
not to go out anymore.

Unfortunately, not even the good books
my dear Monsignor Pacifici gave me,

could chase from my mind,
those horrible thoughts,

which now undermined me daily.

Raimondo and the Frenchman
had gone that day to a stable

to see some purebreds to buy.

Who is it?

Enter!

I can't open it, I'm locked up!

Why are you ringing? Tell me.

Eugenia? Hello?
Eugenia? Answer me.

Hello? Eugenia?
- Oh, my God!

It's me, who are you?
- It's me, Henri.

I'm alone. Raimondo's is out.
- I know.

He's busy with the horses.
I want to see you.

All alone. Grant me that grace.

I haven't slept since I met you.

I love you, Eugenia.
- No!

This is insane! Go away!

Behind the hotel is a large garden,
the Palais Royal.

In 5 minutes, OK?

Under the columns
to the right as you enter.

Never!
- You're not happy Eugenia...

I know, I can see it.
Are you happy, Eugenia?

No.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.

But you have made me unhappy,
I need to talk to you.

You're the most beautiful
woman I've ever met!

I love you, as only in Paris...
- Be quiet!

Raimondo may come back any time.
- No, he's so busy with his horses!

Never! I'll never come!

I'll still wait for you, my love.

My mouth had said "never",
yet I quivered all over with the desire

to reach this man,
who had showed me so much love.

Troubled by these guilty thoughts,
it was an almost a comfort

the door locked by Raimondo.

which earlier had filled me with anger,
and now had turned to my benefit.

Oh! Pardon me, Madame!

That meeting, that look!

It seemed as if the priest
could read the bottom of my soul.

I saw in him a pious hand
being offered to a castaway.

Do you speak Italian?
- Latin.

I understand little Italian.
Say, say.

Father, I've sinned greatly with desire.

Desire of.. love?
- Yes, Father.

It's not serious. I absolve you.

I've done nothing wrong!

Who opened the door?
- The maid. She came to clean.

I just stepped out for
a breath of fresh air!

I just got curious.

By what right you locked me in?
- The right of a wise husband.

You're not my husband!

If not your husband, I'm your brother!

A lady doesn't go out alone in Paris!
Where did you go?

You've dishonored me,
as a brother and a husband!

A fine trip, interesting, eh?

Very.

Are you happy to go back home?

Very.

Souvenir of Paris.

Your kindness confuses me. Look...
- Excuse me, madam.

You know I build railroads. I'm friends with
everyone, even the Minister of Transport.

I have a proposition to make.

A shame, we're leaving Paris tonight.

Precisely, dear friend.
I've a nice surprise for you.

Tonight, a ride aboard a locomotive,
"The Rafale".

The fastest of France.
80 miles an hour.

And I've a special permit for you.

It'll be a thrilling experience!

Do you mind, my dear?

Huh? No.

Stronger, faster!

Feed it! Feed it!
Like that!

Feed it, feed the insatiable monster.
Man is master the elements!

Again, Again!

Excuse me, sir, may I?

"PARISIAN LIFE"

Who is it?

Eugenia, please open up!
I've come to give you some company.

I've brought a bottle of champagne.
- I cannot!

Why not? Just a little company.
Only some company.

That's okay.
Okay, I'll wait.

Hear how happy is your husband!

We can be happy too!

Another would have said, "I love you",
but I say, "I want you!"

No!
- We'll spend an unforgettable night!

No!
- You'll have a beautiful memory!

No! - The memories will help you live.
I want you, Eugenia!

No!

Let me caress your naked body.

It'll be my paradise!

Perhaps yours too.

Scoundrel!

Can't you hear?
He's as happy as we are.

"Like a whirlwind, its spews its breath,
He passes by, o people, the Great Satan."

Carducci, the great Italian poet.
Carduccì!

Here's to love.

Perfect! Like a Russian.

But you must be careful not to
get cut by the glass, little one.

So be it!
Try once and then die!

Die? Why die?

I offer you my virginity.
Don't ravage it!

Virgin? You're still a virgin?
- Pure as a lily.

What about your husband then?

He hasn't touched me,
not even with a finger.

My God, how complicated
you Sicilians are!

Stendhal tells of an Italian husband
who left his wife a virgin all her life

to always check if she had been violated.

Ah, no! No, no, no.
Who understands you Italians?

No, it's all too complicated for me.

I'll leave the champagne.

Goodbye, my beautiful one!

Besides, virgins... too tiring!

No!

I want to die!

Conductor! Hurry, Conductor!

What's up, Madam?

She drank this excellent hair lotion.
She'll be alright.

Is she traveling alone?
- No, her husband is driving the locomotive.

Oh! They're well paid
these French railwaymen!

Making an attempt on your own life!
Crazy! And why?

Chastity is too great a burden!

The chastity that many saints
invoked as a blessing from God,

for you is too great a burden!

Read in the book that
I gave you for your wedding,

with what joy the saints accepted
martyrdom to preserve their virginity.

"Brief the suffering
but eternal the joy".

screamed in her heavenly exaltation
St. Apollonia, virgin and martyr,

while being torn on the wheel,

thrown into a ravine
and fed to the beasts!

And Tecla! Tecla,

who after rejecting to wed Timiride,

did not hesitate to face, with
no more dress than mystic ardor,

the ferocity of a pack of tigers!

I'm too weak to face
the dangers of the world.

Weak?

Were they weak, the eleven thousand,
yes, the 11,000 virgins led by St. Ursula,

who preferred death to carnal acts
with a horde of lewd heartless Huns?

Or Agatha, the chaste maiden, who
preferred the amputation of her breast

rather than give in to
the concupiscent Quintian!

An army of virgins and martyrs
is watching and judging you:

Filomena, Margarita, Martina, Bibiana,

Barbara, Dorothy, Christiana,
Dorothea, Sinforosa!

But what am I saying? They're martyrs
but unfortunately not virgins!

Prayer and good works!

The spirit is mastered with repentance
and body with work!

Now get ready to return to your palace,

like two happy newlyweds.

Yes, our love will be pure and spiritual.

But we'll have to separate the rooms!
What will the servants think?

And I wouldn't want people to whisper
behind my back. Do you understand?

Very simple.
We'll just say that you took..

a vow of chastity according
to the rule of St. Augustine.

That's a great idea.

"PRAYER OF A VIRGIN"

Good night, Raimondo!
Good night, Firmino!

Good night.
- A happy night, Aunt.

I heard something unheard of.
You took a vow...

you and my cousin Eugenia,
to waive the shared bed.

Yes, I did.

That's crazy!
With a woman like that!

Abstinence is sometimes more
stimulating than pleasure.

Haven't you ever seen, cousin, a flower,
rarer than others for its beauty,

that seemed to say: "Don't pluck me."

"Don't violate me."
- No!

"She seems created just for making love."

D'Annunzio, Pleasure, chapter 3.

Gabriele D'Annunzio?
- Our greatest poet!

I don't read his books.
They're banned, immoral.

"Only by trampling on the moral,
man can approach the superman".

The Triumph of Death,
Preface.

A vow is sacred.

She plays for you and you love her?

I love her, yes, but I can't. Never.

"The love I love never tires
of repeating: Hurt me more!"

Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Book 1.

"Accept the unknown
and all that fate brings."

"He liked to call sister his lover".

"Eliminate any prohibition and she'll
nearly have the flavor of incest."

Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!
My God, what am I doing!

You wanted to kill me.

"Desire and destruction, delight
and suffering, are the same fever."

Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Book 1.

Yes, even crime is justified,
when it gives strong emotions.

For me, only vice.
Goodnight, cousin.

And read the poet.

Now comes the Marchioness!
The Marquise!

Come on, boys, don't bother the Marquise.
Behave yourselves.

Don't make a fuss.

There's something here for everyone.
That's for you. - I kiss your hands.

Are all these children yours?
- I've seven and another on the way.

I brought you some clothes.

I dedicated myself to doing good in order
to silence the pleasures of the flesh.

To facilitate these outings,

Raimondo had brought
from Turin a motor vehicle.

To the convent.

At your service, Marchesa.

Unfortunately, with it,
had also come a skilled mechanic.

He was a Tuscan named Pennacchini.

A man who, at first, seemed well-mannered,
and capable to behave properly.

I dulled my senses with prayers
to ward off new temptations.

To the Palace.
- Yes, Marchesa.

There was a foul odor
emanating from his person.

A vulgar smell and yet very exciting...

from which I couldn't free myself.

Madame?
- Close the divider glass.

Who works, sweats.

Tomorrow, I want the car
washed and buffed.

It'll be done.

And see to wash yourself too.

I'll see to it.

"THE PLEASURE"

"THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS"

"THE INNOCENT"
"MAYBE YES, MAYBE NO"

I would like to get in the car.

Why?
- Just so... To try it out.

Get in then.
- Really?

No, I won't get in.
- Why?

Because if the Marquise sees me,
she'll lay me off. - She'll lay you off?

Is she so wicked, our mistress?
- Not wicked. Nervous!

Because of this marriage.
- They bicker often?

How would they?

He sleeps over here,
she sleeps over there...

But I'm not going to say more!
- Hey, listen!

Our mistress and our master
have taken a vow,

just after the wedding,
to practice a marriage that's...

chaste.
That's it!

So, after death, they'll become saints.
- After death. And now?

They don't fuck!

Maybe I'll be here a while.

I'm not in a hurry.

God, we praise you,
Our Lord, we trust in you.

You, Eternal Father,
all creation worships you.

Consider yourself fired.

Certainly.

Not even my French perfume

could free me from the pungent
and violent odor of that commoner.

The engine has a fault.

We need a pair of oxen
to tow the car in town.

What do we do?

There's a shed over there, you see?
Pardon, do you mind?

It's hot out here.

Maybe it's cooler in there.

Shall I take a look?

Lie down.

You'll see how soft it is.
Better than a bed.

You take advantage of my weakness.
- Yes!

No!

No!

No...

No...

Will you give me a hand?
Holy cow, a bit of collaboration!

Not like that!

Not like that, not like that...

Enough!

I can't manage!

It's too tiring.

I give up!

NO!

Here we are!

If you're a man of honor, leave the island.

I'm not a man of honor.

My God!
How low I've fallen!

Vile, vile!
In a vile way you tricked me!

The engine wasn't faulty!

Why, didn't you like it?

You'll see that tomorrow it'll be better.
Come on, get in.

Here is Eugenia back from the convent.
- Here's my cousin back from the convent.

Off, Giuseppe, out of the way!

Donna Eugenia, your husband's a hero!

You know that for ten days the workers
of your husband's mine were on strike,

egged on by two or three hotheads.

From this working paralysis,
your husband was having serious damages,

not only him, but Italy itself,
at this time of war effort.

Well, he decided to put an end to it!

Here's Raimondo watching the situation
as a general would assess a battlefield.

Then,

with a slow but decided stride,

he advances under the blazing sun,

defenseless, unarmed,

toward the group of mutineers,
led by three or four troublemakers,

who'd be better off behind prison grates!

The lieutenant ordered
his men to aim their weapons.

But Raimondo, upon hearing the clicks,
with a wave of his hand signaled

that it wasn't necessary.

Get to work!
Do your duty!

After a moment of uncertainty,
that seemed eternal,

the crowd of troublemakers
slowly moved, swayed,

walked to the mine,
to their daily bread.

And the strike was over.

Forgive me, cousin.
I'm so moved I must retire.

Wash me, purify me, scrub me,
make me spotless!

Purify me! Harder!

But, my lady, if you won't remove
your gown, I can't do any better.

Bathe naked? Never!

You know the saying: We're born naked
and naked we die. And we wash naked.

I don't allow you such comments!

I'll bite my tongue!

Harder! Harder!
Purify me!

Harder! Harder!
Purify me! Purify me!

Take off my nightgown!

Never!
- Obey!

I obey.

Marchesa, may I say something?

The dog that cut off your dress,
must be a strange dog.

On your skin..
he didn't make even one scratch.

Clean me, wash me, scrub me!

Quick, clean me!
Cleanse me, wash me, scrub me!

You heard of my feats?

I heard.

I never saw you so beautiful.

What did you do?

Nothing!

At the sight of the shed,
a storm raged in my poor heart.

Would he have had the impudence to stop?
Or not?

He didn't stop!
I almost felt disappointed.

Carry on.

Do your duty.

Come.

Well, yes! I've come.

Already?

You've no pity on me who am suffering
and despairing? Is your heart so hard?

You too have a mother!
- What about my mom?

I thought we came here to fuck!

Eugenia! But you always faint?

Hey!
Baby!

Wake up!
Look, I'm going away, eh?

It takes two to fuck.

Wake up,
you still know nothing about love!

It takes some cooperation.

Today it'll be better than last time.

I'll send you to paradise.
Hey, but you'll undress by yourself, eh?

Well, so be it! Then it'll be death!
- Why? - For now I want you.

Good! You'll see that
you'll forget the wish to die!

I don't dare say it.
- What?

I'd like to start over.

Give me your hand.
Here.

You feel how small it is?
Kiss me!

It's blooming again.

Are thus these the mysteries of the flesh?

These and others.

I still want you.

Again, again!

Once more!

Can we?

"With all the prows go sail the south wind,
dreaming of the colony of Duilio,"

"that you'll have rammed
with a new rostrum."

Whose verses are those? - The greatest
Italian poet. - Alighieri? - D'Annunzio.

Unjustly exiled to French soil...

Where he fled from his debt.
- A genius doesn't pay his debts, Msgr.

My respects, Msgr.
- My respects, Msgr.

The Church banned his books.

I feel sorry for the Church.

From exile he sends these verses,
"Songs of overseas",

which inflame all the Italian hearts
and urge the Libyan war.

Please sit down.

Why don't they give us water,
instead of colonies?

Water?

The so-called problems of literacy,
water and roads to the southern people

are issues that can be
entrusted to any bureaucrat!

It's the great deeds
that make great men.

I felt myself unworthy of such a man.

And I swore to myself never more
to yield to the calls of the flesh.

Never again to fall into
the horror of sin.

The Devil...

You're the Devil!

Now is the day the bow and the plow,

the day of the spur and the plow.
O men, now is the time!

It has come like a typhoon
from the Mediterranean Sea,

more fierce than the star
on Orion's back,

more colored than the sky
messenger crying, 'Hoist, hoist!'

Already, all the sky is one flag.

Come with me to the burning desert!

With me to the desert of the sphinxes,
awaiting footprints and seed!

With me, fruitful race gird yourselves
to make fertile again the ancient path

in which you and your work tap into.

With me there,
where he who fights, harvests

so that in the crown, I unite
the bay leaf with the spike!

These, proud people of Sicily,
are the verses

that from exile, the great poet
Gabriele D'Annunzio sends you.

Be pitiless, punish me!
Chase away the intruder!

Be good and forgive me.
And chase away that commoner.

I'm not worthy of you.
- Eugenia, Eugenia, where are you?

Forgive...

Farewell, my wife, my sister!
I'm leaving tomorrow for Libya.

Great deeds make great men.

As the poet says,
"O, Tripoli, city of felony,

you’ll see how Rome's heels
are bronze and his yoke iron".

What are you doing down there?

I fell.
- Did you faint?

I tripped.
- You hurt yourself?

Let’s drink to our future victory.

To you the good works,
to us the great feats.

You tremble?

For.. for you.

My little dear wife.

I’m your sister.

Little dear sister.

I'll be back soon.

During my absence..

read the poet's works.

The novels, especially.

They’re in my library.

I left them for you.
- Thanks.

Eugenia..

Yes?

Long live war!

Have pity on a poor sinner!

I confessed my horrible sins and
he ordered me a long spiritual retreat

in the convent of the Sisters of Sorrow,
with the good sisters who had raised me.

The thought that when
I returned to the Palace,

I’d have to confront the object
of my lust, did not give me peace.

But fortunately, the good Monsignor
had seen to everything.

Marchesa, a letter came from the Marquis.
And then there are those!

Brigadier Nutrizio. My respects,
Marchesa. - How can I help you?

Yesterday we arrested your.. mechanic,
Silvano Pennacchini,

on charges of aggravated theft.
- Aggravated theft?

That’s right. Theft of sacred objects.

Disappeared from the convent,
where he often drove you,

two silver candlesticks
were found underneath his bed.

With this precedent, we want to check
that he hasn’t committed other crimes.

I’ll see, I’ll check.

Excuse me, I'm feeling Ill.

But fate wanted me to see him again.

At the clock of my life,
the most bitter hour had rung.

Marchesa, do you recognize
in the accused, your personal driver?

Look at him.

I recognize him.

During his service, has the accused
always satisfied you?

Always.

Those were years of loneliness.

Of my unfortunate lover,
I heard nothing more.

I read the novels of the poet.
I dreamed...

Marchesa! Marchesa!
You have a visitor!

How is my suicide victim?

Are you happy to live now?
- No.

Stupid girl!

I saved you once on the train,
I'll save you once again.

Everything will change now.

I came to Sicily to do a story on
Greek temples. I'll stay a while.

Long enough to make you cheerful again.

Pants!

What are you reading?
Ah, D'Annunzio! I know all about him!

“A servant escorts you to the lobby...”

“and he retires when the poet appears.”

"The poet wears a dressing gown,

similar to a Franciscan habit.”

"He kisses both your hands...”

"and that kiss.. burns like fire.”

"He makes you sit on a lounge chair,
and crouches down at your feet.”

"He takes your hands and
caresses them while speaking.”

"There are words more burning
than the most burning of caresses.”

"He knows them.”

"And there are caresses more sublime
than the most sublime words.”

“And he know them.”

It was the year of 1914.

Raimondo, triumphantly returned
from the Libyan war,

had been elected to Parliament.

He divided his time between
the capital and the cares of our lands.

Neglecting me a lot.

I loved to take long rides on a velocipede
with my new friend, Evelyn.

So it was that, one day,
I wanted to return to the shed,

the place of my sad loves.

The horror! The horror!

Vile! - The flesh cries and commands!
Eugenia! - No! - You won't think that I..?

Eugenia!
- Leave me!

A poor peasant girl.
I don't even know her name!

So you don’t ask your lovers' name?

"The flesh cries and commands",
the poet wrote it.

So I've read!
- Sister!

You made me believe in your purity,
but you’re rotten!

Where are you going?
- Don't touch me! I’m leaving. I’ll travel.

Don't make a scandal!
I’m a member of Parliament.

Look!

What is it?

A powerful poison.
I carry it with me like all brave men.

Don't force me to take it!

Forget me! I'm not made for you,
nor you for me!

I left, I traveled.

I wanted to satisfy the
only craving in my heart:

to meet the poet.

I came to the shore of the great ocean,
his place of exile,

eager to meet him and to love him.

Madam, want some coffee? - Yes, thanks.
- Honey, pass me the thermos.

He never appears before sunrise.

No, no, when there’s a moon,
he rides even at night.

No saddle, he rides bareback!
- Let's stay here.

Listen to this beautiful
passage from Alcione:

"Grace of the sky, how gently
you reflect on the quenched soil,

a soul made beautiful by your tears.”

"Rising moon, in the sky as fine
as the eyebrow of a young girl,”

"a slender stem of a reed..."
- There!

He’s down there! There, in the distance!

Viva D'Annunzio!

He’s nude!
- No, he’s dressed in white.

What an unforgettable thrill!

Will he swim?
- Don't know, don't know!

Arrived at last the longed for
day of the audience.

Don’t worry.
You’re the most beautiful!

Oh, greyhounds!

You may enter, this way.

Let's get a chair.

Stand up, stand up!

Here at least we'll be fine.

Silence!

Don't faint, stupid!
Look at him.

Happy are they who saw
the face of the poet.

The audience is over.

Why do you laugh?

When I think how things have occurred,
I still laugh. And you don't?

No.

I’ll never have a child from the poet!

Tonight, let's go back
to the shore of the ocean.

We might see him again.

He won't come.

Life has no more meaning. I want to die.

Why die?

"Abolish any prohibition"
The poet said so!

What prohibition?

This one.

Eugenia!

Well, yes!
Try this too and then die!

My dear little Eugenia!

From the great meadow of life, I had
plucked the flower of unnatural pleasure.

I woke up from deep sleep
only to find a letter of goodbye.

Tired of vanities that
stunned and did not satisfy me,

I returned to Rome to say
goodbye to my husband-brother.

May I help you? - Is at home
the Honorable Corrao? - Yes, Ma’am.

I'm his wife.
- Please come in.

Good evening, Marchesa.

This way, Ma’am.

This way.

My darling!

So you've decided.

You'll withdraw from the world.

I'm tired of lying.

The nunnery?

I took you from the convent
and to the convent you’ll return.

Perhaps it’s right.
Perhaps it’s good.

I’ll take my vows.
I'll go far away.

To Africa or Asia... to cure lepers.

So this is goodbye.

You could not stand the test.

I’ve read of you in the papers.
- I honor my name as I can,

serving the country, in humility.

Is that all?
- That's all.

Farewell.

Farewell.
- Goodbye, brother.

Let that a chaste kiss
seals this separation.

Yes, brother.

Mercy!
- My beloved Sister!

No!
- Your eyes are burning with desire.

No!
- I see it!

We're soaked with putrescence.

The smell of putrescence..
powerful to excite great thoughts.

Sinful thoughts!
- Which are also your thoughts!

If fate has joined us,
let fate forgive us! - What?

The incestuous intercourse!
- No! - Yes!

Confess that also you
covet me as I covet you!

I'm your sister.
- But we can, we’re allowed.

"Only by trampling the moral, man
surpasses man and approaches the superman."

My God!

More than flesh, infinite mysteries that
only contact with other flesh can reveal!

Listen to the bestial part
that howls within us!

It laughs, sobs, babbles, mocks,
complains, cries, orders.

We are allowed...

We can...

What did you say?
- That I too desire you.

But I...
I’ve always desired you!

I've always loved you, Eugenia.

Beloved sister!

Yes, I too desire you!

My heart beats, my blood boils!
Kiss Me!

I want also a greater delight.
- Which one?

Death.

Death?

Which death?

The poison you showed me.

Remember?
Like Romeo and Juliet.

Yes, yes...
like Romeo and Juliet.

What a scent of violets!

Enter!

Leave it there and go.
And don't disturb us anymore.

Indeed, take the day off, you can get out.

Frankincense, myrrh and benzoin,
precious oriental perfumes.

In equal measure... this way.

Friend poison,
you shall lead us to the final abode.

Take me! I'm yours.

Beautiful. And sister!

Let accompany us on our last journey,
as an epitaph, these words of the poet:

"Invaded by the same delirium that
excites lovers, embittered by carnal hate,

when desire and destruction,
pleasure and pain, become one fever...”

The telephone rings.

Hello?

Who are you?

What do you want?

The Honorable Raimondo Corrao is me.
But who are you?

Speak louder, I can't...

Monsignor Pacifici?

Oh! Yes, tell me.
Is my mother ill?

Dona Rosalia has confessed? And what the
hell she confessed that’s so important?

You’re not brother and sister!

You’re not because Antonio Corrao,
Eugenia’s natural father,

is not your father.

Why, why...

Because Donna Rosalia, your mother,
got married pregnant.

Who is your father?

The Marquis de Maqueda.

But how can it be? Don Ruggero suffered
that small mutilation in Africa.

It was before, before leaving for Africa,
when he was still a young man.

He had impregnated Donna Rosalia,

who then wed Antonio Corrao,
in a marriage of convenience.

Are you happy? You see how
Divine Providence fixes everything?

Tell me.

Cover yourself up!

You're not my sister!

Really?

My father's not my father.
My father is yours and yours is mine.

Cruel mockery of fate,
which deprives me of a forbidden pleasure!

We're husband and wife,
as two petty bourgeois.

I needed strong excitements.

I'll seek them elsewhere.
- Crazy! It's poisoned.

Rest assured. I won’t die.

And the poison?
- It's just Parisian powder.

Parisian powder?

An ordinary aphrodisiac.

Villain! Vile!
Coward!

I want to die, and you’ll die with me!
- Be careful what you do!

I'm doing it on purpose!
- You'll burn the house!

That's what I want!
Burn up the whole world!

The world caught fire for real,
and we all got in the furnace.

You will be for us,
the aroma of the battle!

You'll be for us the virginity of victory.
Now..

Here’s the mother, the one who
helped you take your first steps.

She who dried your first tears,

who consoled, counseled
and forgave you. She...

who sends you to war and sets you under
fire, and cries: "Go, son. Go and die!"

She tears you off from her side,
and sends you to fight,

saying: "Go, son!
You can't not win, you can't not die!"

Fuck, what a jinx!
Touch your balls.

To his country, Raimondo gave his life.

I, what little I could.

Water!

I'm thirsty!

I'm thirsty!

You?

Call me by name.

Hey, will you give me some water?

I didn’t know...
I thought you were in...

Instead, I'm here.

He was given a medal,
so he died happy!

Who knows if I'll get me a medal.

Because, as to dying...
I’ll die too.

Even if...
I don’t feel like.

Nurse!
Are we making a love duet?

I'm thirsty!

Easy.

Easy!

Down...

That's okay.

Careful, it’s a serious case.

Your husband...

was bumped off by the war.

I, if I don’t snuff it...
I got to bump off another two:

The Monsignor...

and you.

In the same instant when
I found the only man of my life,

I learned that he hated me.

Paris 1920.

Peace came. I traveled
and tried to find myself.

I returned to Paris in search
of some shred of my past.

There among the graves
of many illustrious men,

also rested the one I could’ve loved...

and whom my virginity had frightened.

Come in!

You!

Yes, me.

How did you find me?

It’s a long story.

We’ll talk about it later.

Then you didn’t come to kill me?

No!

Then why are you here?

Dunno.
Who knows?

Don't open old wounds..

Respect the flag!

I understand. Excuse me.
I was wrong.

Why?

Because you haven’t changed at all.

Don’t you understand thus
the storm that my heart harbors?

Look.
Let me explain.

For me, a storm is when it rains
outside and the wind blows.

Harboring, instead,
means to live in a hotel.

What I wanted to do with you,

and that you're dying to do with me,

is called "screw".

And you can say it in many other ways.
For example, in Sicily, you say “fuck”.

No!

Don't get flustered.

I'm going.

No!

Don't make fun of me!

First of all, less formalities!
- You.. you mock me?

You're drunk with words!

And love... you don't make it with words.

Love! You said love!
So you love me?

Why else I would be back?
- Tell me.

So I love you, goddammit! And you?
- Me too! I love you, I love you. Kiss Me!

No!
Into the whirlpool of sin, no!

English subs by edam17@KG
November 2014

Revised from an original set by
sirgarfield and invinciblebg @CG