CARRACCI'S GROCERY STORE
This goes over here!
Signora, tell me what to do and I'll do it!
Lila, in your condition you need to be careful.
Be careful with those shelves, or they'll fall!
They have to be fitted to the wall.
- That's the sixth time you've told me. - And this is the seventh!
By all means. As you wish.
And fit this properly too.
Why does she want to do everything? She shouldn't exert herself.
How would I know?
Do you think I've calmed down?
No, it doesn't look like it.
I gave Carmela much higher pay than at the notions store.
I made Stefano increase Ada's pay
and I gave Pasquale money to go to the dentist.
I don't want to hear a word from anyone.
Yes, but you need to calm down. You can't work like this every day.
- Let someone help you. - Out of my way.
Those two assholes, my brother and my husband, used me.
They don't think I'm a person, but a thing.
They kept Michele happy, like they did with Marcello.
"We'll give him Lila. We'll hang her on the wall, because she's nothing."
They'll have to kill me first if they want to use my picture.
It's a good thing, they only put actresses on posters.
Again? I'm not an actress.
Where are you going with that register? It has to go here!
Can't you see it's too low? One, two, three...
She had something in mind to divert her from her constant turmoil.
A violent, definitive outburst
to free her mind and body of pent-up energy.
My intuition was confirmed in the tenth week of pregnancy.
Lila came to me with her eyes shining feverishly.
She had glue, scissors, paint.
She'd found a solution for the photograph
and wanted me to help her, to support her.
Is it the frame, the wall, the light?
I have to see it.
And then, enough, okay?
Yes, enough.
Lovely lady, now will you tell us what you've got in mind?
Or do you simply want to ruin our evening?
- Put it on the floor. - What for?
Now I'll show you.
Don't be stupid.
You have no idea what it cost! If you ruin it, you'll be sorry!
On the floor.
Lenù, help me.
Hand me the cutter.
Get the scissors.
The newspaper, too.
I recognized the expression her face assumed
when a thought would arrive from deep inside her and burn her brain.
How exciting those moments were, how I liked being at her side,
slipping into her intentions, coming to predict them.
I felt she was seeing something that was not there
and that she was working so we could see it too.
It's finished.
All done.
- I'm not hanging this eyesore in my shop! - I agree.
We have to sell, with this thing on the wall people will run away!
Tell her it's ridiculous, please!
I told you, you can't reason with her.
You have to say: yes or no, and that's it.
Or else it's a waste of time.
In a magazine I saw that Rossano Brazzi has a picture like this in his house.
- See? - And what does that mean?
That Rossano Brazzi knows everything?
That you know everything and me and Pina don't?
Shut up.
- Like this or not at all. - I don't get it, I can't...
Shut up, Gigliola.
I like it, signora.
I get what you were trying to do.
You can see the shoes well, they stand out.
Brava.
You're stubborn, but when you do something, you do it right.
We gotta decide, the shop opens tomorrow.
It's already decided, I like it.
Yes, you've convinced me, too.
We're ready to turn it on.
Let me see this sign, then.
See what a beauty.
If they're Cerullo shoes, why is the shop named Solara?
Why do you have to be a pain in the ass? Wanna make more trouble?
You ruined the photo and those two fools even agree.
- Be satisfied for once. - Do you borrow money from the Solaras?
Stefano, too?
That's why you do whatever they say, you're in debt to them!
From now on, you and my husband don't count.
I'll speak to Michele.
- Lila, where are you going? - Nowhere.
It's me.
Some blood came out.
Does that mean the baby is dead?
Who personifies love that moves everything?
Angelica.
Angelica is the pivotal character of the work,
everything rotates around her.
Rinaldo loves her in vain.
Orlando goes mad with jealousy.
It's as if there were a place
at the heart of which
stands a sensual, irresistible woman who stokes passion in all men.
- And pain, too. - Yes, pain, too.
But Ariosto conceives the moon
as the place where everything that has been lost on earth is kept.
Where the grief for those we have loved in vain ends up.
Thank you, Greco.
I'd like to keep going, but it's time to go home.
Go back to your place.
For the day after tomorrow, "Orlando Furioso",
canto 35, reading and paraphrasing.
You may go.
Elena.
What newspapers do you read?
I don't know... Roma.
Take this one, I've read it.
I'll bring newspapers again, so you can read them every day.
Thank you, miss.
PIAZZA DEI MARTIRI - NEW STORE IN THE CENTER OF NAPLES
Hi, Lenù.
Give me the satisfaction. Try it.
You try some, too. You can see it's fresh milk.
After the miscarriage, there began a long period
when she stopped running around
and seemed determined to compress her whole life
into the order of that space fragrant with cheese,
filled with salami and bread.
- Who wants more? - 250 for me!
Mamma, make sure you treat her well.
Thank you.
Please.
Signora Maria, your daughter-in-law's recovered.
You know what they say?
The Lord gives us children and then takes them away.
So true...
Lenù, come here.
Enzo sent it, he's in a remote place in Piedmont.
He's fine.
I'm glad, Enzo's cool.
Antonio sent a postcard to Lila here at the store.
- He's not well, is he? - No.
Carmela, take care of the customers.
Lenù, come with me.
- Signora, what else do you need? - I took a bottle of Strega liqueur.
You take it a little too often.
Alfonso told me you were looking for me.
Wait.
I wanted to show you this.
I've seen it, Michele Solara got them to write it.
Did you see? He was here.
He's always here, I don't understand why.
Read it out loud.
"The kindness, the sweetness, the grace of the two seductive nereids,
Signorina Gigliola Spagnuolo and Signorina Giuseppina Carracci,
marvelous maids in flower who control the destiny of a business...
No, further down.
"The panel is a crude hotchpotch,
a discordant note in a setting of majestic elegance".
Did you see who wrote it?
Donato Sarratore.
Yes.
And you have nothing to say?
- What can I say? - Like father, like son.
And anyway, only he wrote the truth.
There's not a true word in any of the other papers.
They were all paid for.
With this.
Smell how it stinks.
- Lila, Mamma's here, she's arrived. - Send her in.
- Giuseppina. - Good evening.
- Hi, Lenù. - Hi, Giuseppina.
How are you?
We get by.
- This is for you. - You're such a dear.
There are things to take to your husband in jail, too.
- May the Lord bless you. - It's nothing.
Give me a kiss.
I'll see you.
Thank you again.
Carmela, I'll be right there.
Pasquale was always right,
everything here has been done with Stefano's money
and Stefano made the money starting with his father's.
Without the money made from the black market and loan sharking,
neither this store nor the shoe store would exist.
And that's not all, neither Stefano, nor Rino, nor my father
would have sold a single shoe without the help of the Solaras' contacts,
also loan sharks.
The Solaras and the Carraccis joined forces to keep the money growing.
Therefore not even the money Carmela and I earn is clean.
Money can never be cleaned.
Is it clear what kind of scam I'm caught up in?
I don't like what I've done and what I'm doing,
that's why I want to use the money my way.
Remember, you have to pass with an A average.
I put my heart and soul into it.
I'm doing well.
I know you've really knuckled down.
You've got to get it all into that head of yours.
Well?
What?
They're for you, don't you want them?
Lila, you shouldn't have.
I ordered them for the start of school but they only got here now.
- Thank you. - They're new.
Enough with those tatty books Miss Oliviero gives you.
Mario?
Please accompany my friend home, her bags are heavy.
Very well, signora.
- Give these to your mother. - Thanks.
I have to work.
Sorry, I forgot my keys.
Good evening, signora. Where can I put them?
Put them on the table.
There.
Goodbye.
What's all this?
This is from Lila.
A whole one?
She gave me these too.
- What are they? - School books for this year.
They smell nice.
They're brand-new.
They're new.
From Christmas to Easter the Solaras and the Carraccis made lots of money.
The new grocery store and the old one yielded well,
the shoe factory worked at full capacity.
The shoes designed by Lila gained the approval of the well-to-do,
those who reach effortlessly for their wallets.
We need Lila, or what's this meeting for?
We're here, isn't that enough?
We have to do this meeting to figure out who's in charge.
- You already said that, shut up. - I'll talk whenever I want!
No, now shut up!
We need new styles and Lila knows it, why didn't she come?
I told you, she's not feeling well.
Me and Papa have already begun, you'll see them soon.
Your sister does the good shoes.
If the shoes sell it's only thanks to those who work here all day long.
Your wife is indispensable, you have to make her come.
My wife spends all day at the grocery store.
That's why the meeting is at lunchtime when the shops are closed.
She needs to rest at lunchtime.
Your wife is wasted at the grocery store.
Here she'd make in a month what would take your sister and Gigliola 100 years.
Lila needs to command, to invent, to design shoes.
She'll do what she wants, as usual.
Come, I need to explain something to you.
Marcello.
See all the shoes in here? We Cerullos make them!
If it wasn't for Michele, you'd still be in the neighborhood.
Actually, it's thanks to my brother.
With respect, without the Solaras your brother's a nobody.
He never needed anything, without Michele you're a nobody!
You listen to me! Who the fuck do you think you are?
The boss? You're nobody.
If I want I can send you back to stuffing ricotta in the cannoli again.
What's going on?
It's your fault, you've got a lighter because you smoke in secret!
Did you do it on purpose?
Why don't you get it? She's a wicked witch!
She lit the fire herself.
She wanted to burn me, she wanted to kill us.
Pinù, you tell them.
Lila is capable of not getting pregnant.
And when it happened, she let it slide out between her legs.
What the fuck are you talking about?
You'd better leave Lenù.
There's a wicked witch in here.
And now what will you do? Will you still do drawings?
I don't want to draw a thing,
not so much as a sandal or a slipper.
- They'll get mad. - What can I do about it?
- It's money. - They've got money.
And it's already enough.
The truth is I tried,
but nothing comes out anymore.
Try again.
It's not the way it was when we were 12.
The things that came out of here, don't anymore.
The smell of leather, skins, revolts me.
I did it for you,
to show you that, although I didn't go to school, I could do something.
It never ends,
I always have urges in my head.
I always have to prove I know how to do things well.
When we opened the grocery store,
Stefano taught me how to cheat on the weight.
At first I yelled at him that he was a thief,
so this was how he made his money,
but then I wanted to show I could cheat better than him.
And I came up with a hundred ways.
I cheat everyone, Lenù.
On the weight, on a thousand other things.
I cheat the whole neighborhood.
Don't trust me.
Don't trust what I say and do.
I'm glad the photo with the bridal dress got burned.
The wedding should have burned too.
The dress, the Solaras, the shoes...
Stand up.
Try to relax.
What are you going to do?
Cheat.
I'll get Rino to do the shoes.
If they go badly, I'll take the blame,
if they go well, I'll say he did them.
Are you crazy?
It suits you,
but not for an important party.
- It's important, right? - How should I know?
My teacher stopped me outside school,
she said her kids were organizing a party and she wanted me to go.
Then you have to go.
Try this on.
This is elegant. They'll be elegant people.
I think it's elegant too.
Where does this teacher live?
On Corso Vittorio Emanuele.
- Does she have a sea view? - I don't know.
Are her kids still in school?
I don't know.
No, that's it, I'm not going.
Take me with you.
- Stefano won't let you come. - We'll see about that.
Tell me if you want to take me.
Of course I want you to come.
I could wear this.
- Don't you think it's a bit much? - Is it a party or a wake?
What are you doing here?
What am I doing here? Do I have to explain it to you?
No, Stefano!
You're here too...
- Everyone's going to find out anyway. - What are you talking about?
Her brother brings Pinuccia to do their stuff here.
- In this house! Who gave them the keys? - It's my house, too.
Shut up, don't even breathe.
On account of doing filthy things,
Pinuccia's pregnant and now they have to get married.
You know what really pissed me off?
When I slapped Pinuccia, you know what she said?
"You're jealous because I'm a woman and your wife isn't,
because Rino knows what to do with a woman and you don't!"
Fucking hell!
Damn it to hell!
Why do you have to put me through this?
I better go out or I'll kill you! But I won't give you that satisfaction!
You fucking bitch!
You're just a bitch!
Nothing but trouble!
So, will you take me?
I feared her dress was too flashy,
but also that her beauty would explode like a star
and everyone would scramble to grab a fragment of it.
I feared she would speak in dialect, say vulgar things,
but also that, if she simply opened her mouth,
everyone would be mesmerized by her intelligence
and Mrs Galiani herself would fall under her spell.
I feared Mrs Galiani would realize I was only a pale shadow of her.
She'd want to see her again, she'd try to get her to go back to school.
- I'll see you later. - What time do I pick you up?
Midnight.
Lila!
I was thinking... what if I come up with you?
I'll say hello, have a drink.
No, Stefano. They're Elena's friends, I don't even know them.
Okay.
How did you convince him?
If I want something, I just act like a whore.
Please, don't talk like that.
- Like what? - Like you just did.
Are you ashamed of me?
No...
- You know what floor they're on? - Third.
Have you ever been in an elevator?
- It's better if we walk up. - Why?
And what happens now? What do we do?
You have to press 3.
- Shall I do it? - Do it.
Good God!
Hi.
I'm Elena, one of Mrs Galiani's students.
- Elena? - Yes.
I'm Armando, her son.
Mamma torments us with your essays, I must have read them all.
Please, come in.
Come, I'll take you to my mother.
Elena, what a pleasure to see you.
I'm glad you came.
Thank you, your house is beautiful.
Thank you, if you like I'll give you a little tour later.
I told her you always read us her essays, that she's very clever.
See? Our Elena is also very beautiful.
Thank you.
There are lots of interesting people here to meet.
I wanted to introduce you to my husband but he's on shift at the hospital.
Is she a friend of yours?
Yes. This is my teacher.
This is Lila, we went to elementary school together.
- Hi. - Good evening.
Long friendships are important.
- Are you married? - Yes.
- Are you Elena's age? - Two weeks older.
- Have you introduced them to Nadia? - No.
- What are you waiting for? - They've just arrived.
Nadia's looking forward to meeting you. This one's a rogue, don't trust him.
But she's a good girl.
I'm sure you'll be friends. You'll see, you'll like her.
- Let's go. - Have fun.
Thank you.
My sister ruined my childhood, a pain in the ass for 16 years.
Nadia, come, I want to introduce you to Elena.
- She's Elena, Mamma's student. - Hi.
I'm so pleased to meet you.
Hi.
The things you write capture me.
I always ask Mamma if you've written another essay.
Thank you, Nadia.
You're all so nice to me.
This is a friend of mine.
- Raffaella Carracci. - Nadia, nice to meet you.
- Hi, Elena. - Hi, Nino.
- You know each other? - Yes.
We're from the same neighborhood.
Hi.
How was the trip to England?
Very interesting. I want to go back soon.
- Let's dance. - Lila, are you coming?
I don't feel like it.
You're Lila, right?
- I'm Nino Sarratore, remember me? - Yes.
- You're not dancing? - No.
Lila, come on!
Oh, God!
Sorry, we were... She was looking for the bathroom.
Yes, sorry.
Excuse us.
Goodbye.
Elena, your friend's in there.
Thanks.
Lila, well?
I've been looking for you for an hour.
- I was here. - Come to the terrace, everyone's there.
- Doing what? - Talking, getting fresh air.
You go.
Are you bored?
I'm looking at the books.
Have you seen how many there are?
Yes.
Come on.
- Hi, Greco. - Hi.
The clash between rich and poor, exploiters and exploited,
is no longer avoidable.
The new and decisive fact is that the victims can't be intimidated
and they carry on their struggle.
The real problem is that you, young people, think
that you can obtain everything right away without sacrifices.
But to build a new world it takes time, there has to be a plan.
The world doesn't change with planning, it takes blood.
- Violence is necessary. - You're wrong.
You know what you're lacking in?
Trust. Without trust, things don't change.
The world already has the technical and human capabilities
to end colonialism, hunger, war.
Look at what Danilo Dolci is doing in Sicily, in Trappeto,
he went on a hunger strike
to protest against that child dying from malnutrition...
Benedetto Barretta, poor little thing.
Isolated cases don't count.
Martin Luther King is an isolated case?
Or President Chehab, who reconciled the Lebanese communities
after the crisis of '58?
It's also thanks to him that you can now go to Beirut as if it were Paris.
What you call isolated cases are many and they are a great force.
I like to imagine them like a world peace brigade.
Not that again!
You just like the name "world peace brigade."
Maybe you're right, I like the name.
Maybe because it makes me hope for something good.
Do you hope for something good?
You're deluded, or you're afraid.
Nino's right.
We mustn't repeat the errors of previous generations.
I don't want to live in a world that's at war again.
Today war must be waged on atomic arsenals.
It should be waged on war itself.
If we allow the use of these weapons we're all guilty.
Much more than the Nazis.
There are tyrants who still keep people enslaved.
The world urgently needs to be changed,
but it must be changed through peace.
I absolutely agree with you.
Try and get this rebellious, restless hard head to understand.
Do you remember Quasimodo?
"Forget, o sons, the clouds of blood risen from the earth,
forget the fathers..."
"Their tombs sink down in ashes,
blackbirds, the wind,
cover their hearts."
Exactly.
You're so good. Clever, brave.
They don't sound like brave words to me.
If you say something different from others, you're more than brave.
...with neither victims, nor persecutors,
neither servants, nor masters.
And to do this, we have to do what Elena says,
wage war on the atomic arsenals.
I'm dead tired.
I called Stefano, he's downstairs.
Wait a bit longer.
No, enough, I'm sick of it here.
- Wait five minutes. - No.
Our dear Christian Democrats promise change,
but they can't even agree amongst themselves.
Miss, they've come to pick us up.
- Go, Elena, don't worry. - Thank you.
Bye, Nino. Bye, Nadia.
Bye, thank you.
What's the matter? What's wrong?
I've never been so bored since I was born.
It would have been better if we'd gone to the movies.
Even watching TV would have been better than being with those snobs.
What a disgusting place!
A house full of old stuff.
Furniture from a hundred years ago,
the house is three hundred years old.
The books are covered with dust, they're also really old.
None of them earned any of it,
they were born with that old stuff so they think they're God Almighty.
They eat like this, they talk like this, they move like this...
but not one of them is capable of an original idea.
They know, they know, but they don't know a thing.
You couldn't understand a word they said.
And I don't think they understood either.
Opening to the Left, atomic arsenals...
Next time don't take me,
take Pasquale, he'll soon set them straight.
They're monkeys that piss and shit in the toilet instead of on the ground.
But they've forgotten it,
that's why they think they're all that.
You too, be careful,
you're becoming the parrots' parrot.
You should have heard her, with that voice...
Her and Sarratore's son, the same.
We have the technical capability... Hunger here, war there...
Like Sarratore, you act the part to be welcome in their house?
You leave us alone in our shit, with our brains burning,
while you go "coco-rico"...
See him, Lenù?
Good or bad, I've got a man.
You know a lot of things,
but you don't know what this is like.
Bye, Elena.
Don't take it to heart, Lila's joking.
How clever you are!
How intelligent you are!
How brave you are!
Bye, Greco.
The memory of her sarcastic tone that night,
instead of fading, it amplified
and the bitterness grew stronger.
It seemed that nothing could justify what she had done.
After school ended, I began working in a bookstore in Port'Alba
and I disappeared from the neighborhood.
This is the volume on Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.
The other one I don't understand what it's called.
"Sein und Zeit"...
I'm sorry, but I don't understand.
I asked for "Being and Time" by Heidegger translated by Chiodi in 1953.
I'll get it for you, Professor.
Here, this is it.
That's the one.
Go and put out the books that came in this morning.
This is the only authorized Italian translation.
I have high regard for this publisher.
You're right, I knew I'd find it here.
I'm sure there'll be more translations to come.
Let's hope so.
They take many important initiatives...
Elena, where are you going?
- Nino! - Lenù!
- Where'd you come from? - From that bookstore.
- We were looking for you. - What?
We knew you worked in one of these bookstores, but not which one.
We searched them all.
I was behind a bookshelf, but I saw you.
- Want to go to the movies with us? - Thanks, but I can't.
We'll drop by later.
I have to go home.
- But a stroll in the neighborhood? - Yes.
One of these days we'll come to you.
All right.
- Shall we go to the movies? - Let's go.
We'll see you.
Bye.
Thank you.
Not one of his features resembled his father,
not his stature, not his face, not his manner,
not even his voice or his eyes.
He was sweet, anomalous fruit.
How attractive he was with his ruffled hair,
how unrelated he was to any other form of male...
Pinuccia, what a surprise!
Has something happened?
- Come in. - No, I'm in a hurry.
There's no one here, they've all gone to Mass.
I saw them. I brought your invitation to the wedding.
It's only for you, we want you to come.
It's Stefano's fault.
Not only is he not buying me a house,
but seeing as he's paying for the dress, the photographs and the reception,
half the neighborhood's not on the list.
Rino apologizes too, but we can't invite your family.
Stefano says he's put all his money in the grocery store and the shoe store
and now he's got nothing left.
Not to mention Rino, he's a spendthrift.
He's bought a car.
Don't worry.
We wanted a wedding like Lila's and a house by the railroad,
instead Mamma's giving us her bedroom.
Stefano acts broke with me but squanders money on his wife.
- Sorry again. - It doesn't matter, don't worry.
Elena!
Lenù!
Hi! What are you doing here?
Come down. Let's go for a walk.
Yeah, I'll be right down.
Hi.
What are you doing here?
I brought this for you to read.
Will you read it?
Of course.
Let's go.
It's schematic, like Galiani and Armando.
But there are some good things in it.
I really mean it.
Mrs. Galiani was fundamental for me too,
but she can't bear ideas different from hers.
Take what you need, but reason with your own mind.
If you like, show it to Lila too.
Where's Nadia?
Nadia's at home with some of her father's friends,
she's going to Norway with them.
Are you going to Ischia with your parents?
With my father? Not even if they kill me.
I'm going to Ischia but to a friend's house.
We have to study. You?
I don't know, I'm looking for a summer job for when the bookstore closes.
Why don't you come and visit me?
How can I?
What's the big deal? Go on, come.
I like talking to you.
Me too.
And I want to know what you think of the journal.
I haven't been here for ages.
- Shall we get a coffee? - Yes.
Donato!
Who's that?
It's Melina, don't you remember her?
Is she talking to me?
I don't know.
Donato!
Why is she calling me "Donato"? Do you think I look like my father?
- Sure? - Yes.
Wait for me, Donato!
- Maybe I'd better go. - No, wait...
No, Lenù... I'll go.
I'm coming, Donato!
Yes, maybe it's better if you go.
Promise you'll come to Ischia.
Donato, where are you going?
I'm coming!
I'm coming, Donato!
Where are you going, Donato?