04x07 - The Return

[bunniefuu]

I went back to Via Petrarca determined

to break off all relations with Nino.

Life in that apartment was over.

Suddenly the reasons for my presence
in Naples felt as if they'd run out.

I waited with growing anxiety to hear from him.

Hello?

It's me.

Antonio?

Yeah, I'm downstairs.

Will you come down?

Did Lila send you?

She's afraid you'll do something stupid.

Take your jacket off.

Listen, Lenù...

I gotta talk to you.

I've got stuff to tell you, I really have to.

But...

just know I'm not happy about it.

Tell me.

Nino Sarratore

has betrayed you over and over.

You can't imagine how many times.

And all the women he's been with were friends of his

and yours too.

He was seeing that student,

Mirella, who used to babysit your girls.

Do you remember her?

Yes.

Then there was the doctor.

Who?

Who?

The gynecologist.

How many have there been?

A lot. A lot.

The teacher, the lawyer,

even a nurse.

I can list them all,

one by one, first and last name,

but if you want me to stop, I will,

because that's not so important.

Now you know what kind of man he is.

He can't live without women.

When did it happen?

How didn't I notice?

Nino's clever, he sees them regularly for a while,

then he finds another one and switches,

but never breaks things off with the previous one.

He never leaves anyone.

Let's say he's "faithful."

He goes from one to another.

Does Lila know?

Yeah.

Why didn't you tell me right away?

I wanted to tell you,

but Lila told me to wait.

And you obeyed her?

If I'm told to do something, I do it.

Infidelity has to come out at the right time.

Or it's pointless.

First it takes falling out of love.

When you're in love, you forgive everything.

You become blind.

You also go blind if you only obey orders.

That's not true.

Sometimes I obey money

and sometimes

I obey myself.

When, a few years ago, the Solaras

asked me to spy on Lila and Nino

and to hand Lila over to Michele...

Well, I decided on my own.

I reached out to Enzo, he was the
only one who could truly help Lila.

And in any case I beat the sh*t outta Nino.

But I did it because you loved him and not me.

And I didn't want Nino to go back to Lila.

I knew Lila would have gotten back together with him

and he would've ruined her life for good.

Lila would never have listened to me,

because not only does love not have eyes,

it doesn't have ears either.

In all these years you never told Lila

that Nino was going back to her that night?

No.

You should have.

When my head says, "It's best to do this,"

I do what my head says and don't think about it anymore.

What are your orders now?

Before coming here,

Lila forbade me from smashing that scumbag's face.

But just say the word and if you
want Nino to regret being born,

I'll make him regret it!

Don't laugh.

Don't laugh, I know I don't express myself well.

I speak German better than Italian.

I'm laughing at the situation.

I'm laughing at you, who've
wanted to k*ll Nino forever

and me who, if he showed up
right now, would say, "k*ll him!"

I'm laughing...

I'm laughing out of despair!

I'm laughing because I'm so humiliated

you can't even begin to imagine.

I feel so sick, I think I'm fainting.

What's wrong?

You don't feel well?

- I feel sick.
- Sit down.

Hold me, I need to warm up.

Hold me, Antonio.

No.

Why?

I'm not sure you want me.

I want you now.

Just this once.

It's something you owe me and I owe you.

I don't owe you anything.

I love you

and you instead...

You've always only loved him.

But I've never desired anyone

like I desired you, not even him.

I remember the excitement,

the pit of my stomach growing hot and melting.

A longing that tormented me.

Come on, don't be like this.

Why?

I remember you liked it.

I wanted you, remember?

I wanted you and you resisted.

Have you forgotten?

I haven't.

I've never forgotten our afternoons
at the ruins near the factory,

the taste of your mouth,

the scent of your desire,

your hands,

your big c*ck between my thighs.

What happened?

I don't know.

But I'm glad it happened.

You're like all the others.

- You betrayed your wife.
- No.

I didn't betray anyone.

My wife before now,

doesn't exist yet.

You're right,

we just lived out a small fragment

of a day that belongs to twenty years ago.

Thank you.

Yes?

Good, you're at home, I'll be right over.

No.

I'm nearby.

I said no.

When, then?

Tomorrow.

No.

I need to explain to you now.

It's urgent. Please.

Nino,

I just screwed Antonio.

It wasn't like with anyone before.

Nino didn't come the next day

and time passed without any news of him.

The weight of life on my own

made the days filled with tasks of
motherhood an almost mindless flow.

Hello, sweetheart.

- Where are Elsa and Imma?
- In their room.

- Anna.
- Ma'am.

Will you put away the groceries?

If you'd called me I would have come to help.

A man with a Milanese accent called: Enrico.

- When?
- Not long ago.

He said he'd call back.

Hello?

Lenù, it's me.

Lila, how are you?

Elsa, my compass!

Fine and you?

I haven't heard from you in ages.

Can't you see I'm on the phone? It's Aunt Lila.

Hold on a sec.

- Why do you always blame me?
- My homework is important!

And you?

- You're a b*tch!
- No, you are!

Stop it!

Stop it!

I said stop it!

This is no good!

To your room!

Lila, are you there?

Now do you get why I never call?

Listen.

There's an apartment freeing up right under mine.

Two rooms and a kitchen.

It doesn't cost much.

So you can save a bit.

You can see the stradone from the window.

We could help each other with the kids.

Thank you, but I don't know...

At least you know about it.

Do as you like.

Yes.

Think about it. I gotta go now.

Bye.

Lila, what is it?

- Who's Lila?
- Enrico, hi.

I was about to call you.

Where are you with the book?

You promised it for this fall.

It's already been six months since our dinner.

I finished yesterday.

Seriously? Send it off today.

I'll go to the post office tomorrow.

I'll read it at once and let you know.

Bye.

I was exhausted, my nerves were shot.

I hadn't written a word

and I promised a novel for the following day.

What was I doing?

I'd ended up in a vortex that was pulling me down.

SLAMMING DOORS by Elena Greco

It was the manuscript I wrote in Florence

that neither Adele nor Lila liked.

Was the novel no good?

Well, then it wouldn't be published.

But I'd worked hard and hadn't deceived anyone.

"Manuscript -Publisher's Copy."

I'm sorry, I still have the keys.

I called you but I couldn't reach you.

What do you want?

To see you.

I haven't seen her for so long.

We're always here.

But you don't want to see me.

Can you blame me?

This is also your home, when you remember the rent...

- I've run out of money.
- Sorry about the rent, I forgot.

I'll pay it today.

Shall we watch TV?

Let's see what's on.

Do you like this?

Can we talk?

Let's talk.

The first thing I want to tell
you, and I won't go back on this...

Lila told you those things out of
jealousy and to destroy our relationship.

You know that, right?

The stories she told you are meaningless.

Maybe it's different for you women,

you're more reflective, but for me...

I don't know what happens to me,

but when faced with occasional desire,

even the most stupid, the most absurd...

I can't resist.

All this craving for women

is perhaps a sign of fragile heterosexuality,

which to stay solid

requires continual confirmation.

Anyway, I already told you,

it wasn't Lila who told me these things, but Antonio.

Of course he did.

That piece of sh*t

told you all that stuff just to f*ck you.

Is it true you liked it better with him than with me?

Don't laugh, answer me.

- Answer me.
- Yes!

I don't believe it.

You gave in

out of spite.

- No.
- You've been with other men, right?

Only to hurt me.

You're not coming back into my bed.

Get out!

And leave the keys on the table.

I realized then, to my surprise,

that I felt nothing for him anymore.

I called Lila and confirmed with her

that I'd rent the apartment beneath hers.

Since I'd returned to live in the neighborhood,

I had regained my voice.

Hi, Auntie.

Hi, Gennarino.

"As a kid all this made me suffer.

Let's see if I can control it now," I said to myself.

Although Enrico liked the manuscript a lot,

I rewrote it from scratch.

I studied Lila, her gaze, her gestures,

her meanness and her generosity.

That very same dialect intimately
connected to our birthplace

had ended up in the book.

When the book came out some critics appreciated it,

but at the time it wasn't so successful.

Then two things happened:

it was translated and published in France

and an important Italian
politician quoted it on television.

It was only then that everyone became aware of me.

For intellectuals and journalists I'd found a new way

to denounce the crime that smothered Naples.

I simply looked out my window onto the neighborhood

and even though I changed some names,

that book was about me, Lila, Don Achille,

and Manuela Solara's death.

I observed and listened.

I watched Ada grow gloomier every day,

Marisa's enemy who had stolen Stefano from her.

I watched Alfonso who often
had a black eye and a split lip

after taking a beating by who knows who.

I watched Antonio split
his time between Lila's office

and the Solara's bar.

I didn't know exactly what he did,

but nasty rumors spread in the neighborhood about it.

Imma.

Let's go.

The same rumors had it

that Stefano Carracci was
about to close his grocery store,

that Pasquale Peluso, still at large,

had kidnapped someone,

that the Solaras were opening

a night club in the new neighborhood:

women and drugs,

and that along the stradone at night,

huge trucks carried stuff

more dangerous than the atomic b*mb.

Hi, sweetheart. How did it go?

Well.

Imma, do you want a sheet too?

When are we going?

I told Dede to come here. As
soon as she arrives, we'll go.

We'll take Tina with us too.

Lila, are you coming too?

No.

I never eat lunch.

Good for you, but I need to eat.

If I don't put on weight before Elisa's wedding,

the dress will look too big.

- Any ideas for a gift?
- None, they already have everything.

Marcello doesn't go without anything.

How boring.

I don't want to go to the wedding

to see all that riff-raff.

I don't want to either.

But I'm happy for my mother.

It mattered to her.

But after all this time I'd lost hope.

Mamma, when are we going?

Now.

Tina.

It's beautiful.

How lovely.

- Hi.
- Hi, darling.

Well?

- How did it go?
- The Latin translation was hard.

It was a text without an author.

The teacher is old and mean.

The classrooms are old too.

They're the same as when I left them.

Uncle Enzo bought a new computer.

Let's go.

You type in the numbers, the data

and the program gives you the result immediately.

Calculations are longer and
more complex with calculators.

You try it. Sit here.

You sit here too, Imma.

Lila, I'm off, I have to run an errand.

See you, Lenù.

- Bye, Papa.
- Bye, darling.

Try it, sweetheart. It's easy.

Look how clever Tina is.

Your hand here.

Lila, can you come for a moment?

I'll be right back.

- What is it?
- Mr. Minopoli again.

I told him it's pointless, but
he insists on talking to you.

Give me the program then I'll pay you.

I don't give a f*ck!

You gotta pay. And not tomorrow or the day after.

I'm fed up with your excuses!

You already tried to screw me once!

Here, these are the right keys.

- I want all that money tonight!
- I'll pay later.

Give me a little time.

- Do I have to call you-know-who?
- No!

I'm telling you for the last time. Or it will end badly!

- Now get outta here!
- All right, then...

You crooked b*tch! You're the worst!

She wanted to change the neighborhood.

I wondered if she meant to do it like this.

Lila told me that when she wanted to recoup her money,

she'd turn to Antonio.

I knew that method, it was the Solaras'.

In the past, I'd thought she'd succeeded

by turning Alfonso into a bad copy of herself,

reducing Michele to an obedient dog.

But since I'd returned to the neighborhood,

Michele didn't show up at Basic Sight anymore.

What was going on?

Gigliola, it's a slow dance!

Long live the newlyweds!

Kiss! Kiss!

I'm going to say a couple of words.

Wait.

Easy.

Easy.

You look beautiful.

I wanted...

I wanted to thank you all for coming

to celebrate my daughter Elisa, Marcello

and my grandson Silvio.

I give them my blessing.

Special thanks to Marcello

for organizing this wonderful reception.

Even though it took him long enough.

But what matters is that today we're finally here.

Today is a happy day.

Allow me to take a moment

for my wife Immacolata.

I'm certain she's happy up there,

just as I'm happy.

- Can you hear me?
- Yes.

Can you hear me?

Have you filled your glasses?

Well done.

Don't be shy, huh.

We have enough champagne for two more weddings.

Am I right, Marcello?

Anyone else want to get married today?

You can't come in. Go away.

- Why?
- Don't make a fuss.

Let me in.

You gotta leave.

- Don't you understand?
- Let me in.

We speaking Greek here?

You're ruining the party.

Michele!

Let's throw this piece of sh*t out.

Get your hands off me!

Michele! Look!

You're hurting me!

Get out.

Anyone else here who's out of their mind?

Yes, because Elisa and Marcello

are out of their minds.

- Let go of it!
- No!

Because they love each other.

I know my brother very well.

I've never seen him so in love.

Lila!

Will you get those girls to shut up?

Stop it!

Come here!

Let's drink a toast to the girls as well.

Long live the newlyweds.

See? My brother-in-law has changed.

He's no longer under Lila's spell.

Stay here.

Alfonso.

What's going on?

You tell me.

What did I do wrong?

I worked for them for 10
years and they didn't invite me.

What's wrong with me?

I'm getting fat.

I'm getting uglier.

I don't look like you anymore.

Maybe it's better if you go.

It's not good for you to be here.

It all hurts here.

What is it?

It hurts down to my a*s.

You want to check my a*s?

Stop it.

What are you doing? Calm down.

When you act like this, you seem crazy.

But Alfonso didn't calm down.

The next day, with his eyes red from crying,

he left Basic Sight to have
a coffee at the Solaras' bar.

- What do you want?
- Why didn't you invite me?

Tell me why.

Get outta here.

Tell me why.

Michele, no...

Get outta here! You hear me?

Help me!

Help me!

He's k*lling me!

You're hurting me!

- I've put up with it long enough!
- Enzo, stop!

He only takes it out on the weak!

- Let him try it with me!
- Please, don't!

What's going on?

- Go back upstairs.
- What's going on?

I wanna help someone who gets beaten up for no reason!

Papa, don't!

Darling.

See? You're frightening the child!

Don't be a pain in the a*s!

You think it's easy for me to put up with all this?

Lila had begun to fear Michele again.

Marcello had managed to free his brother

from Alfonso's spell that Lila had artfully created.

Michele who couldn't have Lila, had taken Alfonso.

Alfonso!

That violence, probably,

was the practical demonstration

that things in Michele's head
had returned to the old order.

Elena?

The magazine sent me for the photos.

Weren't you expecting me?

No. Actually, I wasn't.

I lost your number, I couldn't get in touch.

It was a slog getting here, it's a horrible place.

But it's what we need.

- You live here, right?
- Yeah.

- Where are you going?
- To the gardens.

- Be careful.
- Okay.

Make yourself at home...

Hi.

Are these little dolls your daughters?

Yes, one's mine and the other is a friend's.

No, wait.

- I'll tidy up and get changed.
- You're perfect as you are.

Let's go to your office.

- I don't have one.
- Where do you write?

Wherever.

Here, in the kitchen, in my room...

Good. Let's start from the kitchen.

Like that.

- Do you have a copy of your book?
- No, they're reprinting it.

- It'll be here in a few days.
- A copy of the previous one?

Move your hand.

Perfect.

Like that. Beautiful.

What a cute little face.

Both hold still.

We'll do one with your daughter.

Imma, come here.

I found my readers again.

The publisher had to reprint the
book and organize presentations.

Some were thrilled by the pleasure of reading it,

others praised how skillfully
the heroine was developed.

Positive judgments arrived but with opposing views,

as if the critics hadn't read the
book that was in the bookstores,

but each evoked their own fantasy book

made up of their own prejudices.

Goodbye.

What the f*ck did you write in that book?

Disgraceful things about the place you were born?

About the people who saw you grow
up, who respect you and love you?

Are you disgracing this beautiful city of ours?

My family?

You like talking sh*t?

"Elena Greco with her daughter Tina."

They made a mistake.

They didn't make a mistake. You did, both of you.

- Both of who?
- You and your friend.

I don't understand.

Forget it.

It's Lila who manipulates her.

She doesn't even realize.

Don't you get it?

She doesn't get it...

- What's wrong?
- I'll tell you.

Will you make me a coffee?

Hi, Mamma.

Come, I've just made it.

Hi, Aunt Lenù.

Hi, Tina.

"Elena Greco with her daughter Tina."

You know who gave me this magazine?

No.

Michele Solara.

He stopped me in the street,

he was with Marcello who didn't even say hello.

Michele acted crazy, he was shouting.

He said I smeared them,
their family, the neighborhood.

What do you think?

- It's a pretty photo.
- Cut it out. Tell me what you think.

See that, baby doll?

They think you're Aunt Lenù's daughter.

I'll send a letter, I'll protest.

Let them do a reportage on Naples,

on the Cirillo kidnapping, on Camorra deaths,

but they mustn't use my book to their own ends!

Why not?

Because it's literature, I
didn't write about real events.

I think you did.

What do you mean?

You didn't use real names,

but a lot of it is recognizable.

Why didn't you tell me?

I told you I didn't like your book.

You either tell things or you don't.

- But you stayed in the middle.
- It was a novel.

Partly yes, partly no.

- What should I do?
- You should calm down.

Who do you think the Solaras are?

Your book is out,

you even rewrote it and staying
here helped make it more real.

But it's out now and there's no turning back.

Are the Solaras angry?

So what?

Did Michele threaten you?

Who gives a sh*t!

There could be another, stronger earthquake.

The universe could fall in.

And then, who the f*ck is Michele Solara?

He's nothing, I tell you.

And Marcello's nothing too.

The Solaras will always be dangerous beasts,

there's nothing we can do.

I tamed one but his brother
turned him into a savage again.

Did you see how Michele beat up that poor guy?

Alfonso.

He'd like to beat me up, but he doesn't have the guts.

And his anger about the article, the photo,

it's all anger against me.

Don't give a sh*t about it.

Don't give a sh*t, like me!

You put them in a magazine and they can't bear it,

because it's bad for business

and all their dirty dealings.

And we like it, right?

Mamma.

What?

Tina wants to know if I'm your daughter or she is.

- And do you want to know?
- Yes.

We're mammas of both of you.

We love you both.

Stop.

Imma.

See? Your dad's on television.

This question shouldn't even be asked.

But the viewers know perfectly
well what we're talking about.

I believe the government interference

is obvious.

Maybe because of the relationship...

I'd like to be clear about this too,

also for our audience...

It's Papa, do you recognize him?

The government intervention
on the private TV networks

shouldn't be reduced to the ties
between Craxi and Berlusconi.

It's pure demagogy.

This intervention raises two crucial issues:

freedom and modernity.

The government has decided that

a magistrate's injunction is worthless.

Is limiting broadcasting

over the entire national
territory by Fininvest networks

a matter the magistrates should be involved with?