My Brilliant Friend (2018) s03e03 Episode Script

1
Is she asleep?
She's not well.
She left the factory.
She has to stop working now.
Lila has a bad life, it's true,
like everyone who's exploited.
She'll die at this rate.
Lila's destined to do so much,
she can't stop now.
The struggle at the Soccavo factory
is serious.
These fights are happening
all over the world
You're always lecturing people!
We're all aware of the facts,
but this is about Lila's health.
Lila's health
For a little fever, your friend gets
to stay home like a lady?
- Like you are now.
- What am I?
An intellectual.
So what?
A petty bourgeois who cares more
about her friend than the working class.
Lots of workers
can wage war on Soccavo.
I knew there was something strange,
that she was in trouble,
that she was wearing down.
Lila's really ill.
She was right to quit.
Drive me home.
Let's go.
Enzo
I'll see you out.
Keep Pasquale away from Lila.
Lila seemed like one of those plants
that lose their brilliant green,
their leaves turn gray, lose their shape
and you feel particularly satisfied
coming to their aid,
seeing how they turn green again
thanks to us.
I felt a certain sense of power,
as if her withering gave me the chance
to show off my new status.
What happened?
Fine time to come home
where have you been?
I was at Lila's.
I knew you were with that slut.
She's not well, she needs help.
That one'll lead you down a bad path.
No one in the neighborhood
wants her, not even her family.
And you do?
For once, will you listen to me?
Think of what you've become
and how she's ended up.
Wasn't writing a dirty book
enough for you?
You want to stay friends with her too?
What are you doing?
Who are you calling at this hour?
Hello, Pietro?
Did I wake you?
Don't open them, your sister's sleeping.
We're all awake, with all this noise.
Thanks to your sister.
I have to help her. What can I do?
To resign and get a little money
she needs a lawyer.
- Who can I ask?
- I'll ask Mariarosa.
I think she dated a Neapolitan lawyer.
- Then we have to help her companion.
- Enzo.
If he's good with computers,
I'll ask Mansani.
He's a young Greek scholar from Pisa
who's obsessed with computers.
Call Mariarosa
and the Greek scholar, please.
- All right.
- Don't just promise, do it.
You just used the exact same tone
as my mother.
I'm different from Adele, unfortunately.
Thank goodness you're different.
She's exceptional with these things,
so tell her about your friend,
she'll help you.
Okay, I'll speak to you tonight.
Making calls for someone who left her
husband and is living with someone else.
Wake up! Not even shouting
makes you open your eyes.
You always shout, we're used to it.
Adele, it's Elena.
What on earth happened this morning?
Lenuccia.
She slept over with that trash
without letting us know.
May I give you a piece of advice?
Elena, can you hear me?
Yes, I'm here.
She's not a kid anymore,
she's an adult woman.
I'll help you, I'd be very pleased to,
but you must learn
to take sides, don't be shy.
You're a writer,
make your role count for something.
Get involved, be there.
Start with that riffraff where you are.
Put them
with their back against the wall.
- How can I do that?
- By writing.
Frighten the factory owner to death.
Him and those like him.
Promise me you'll do that.
I'll try.
I'll give you the number
of a good man
on the editorial staff of L'Unità.
Write down the number.
How much longer
do we have to support her?
Thank you, we'll speak soon.
No worries, I can give Elisa
a little money.
Look what a little sweetie
he is this morning.
Don't hit me!
Where's Gianni?
He's gone out,
he didn't even have breakfast.
What's wrong, Lenù?
You wanna say something?
Mamma
Mamma?
First thing this morning, he goes:
"Mamma, did you buy cookies?"
He can't get out of bed
without sugar and milk.
I was no longer the little match girl
always down to her last match.
Now I had a sizable stock of matches,
I could do a lot for Lila.
I was leaving the family I came from
and I was joining a powerful,
generously protective family.
Saving Lila also became a way
to demonstrate, above all to myself,
what kind of person I could be.
Come, I'll take you in to meet Giuntini.
Don't be shy,
he's kind underneath it all.
Giuntini? She's here.
- Good morning, Mr. Giuntini, I'm
- You're Elena Greco, I know.
The paper devoted
half a page to you, a rave review.
- Your book wasn't bad.
- Thank you, sir.
We're less formal here, comrade.
You are a comrade, right?
I don't remember what you wanted
to write about. Dock workers, miners?
The sausage factory.
Right, the one in San Giovanni.
So why do successful young novelists
want to dirty their hands
with shifts and overtime?
- Don't you have the piece?
- I thought we had to discuss it.
How do we put the paper together,
with chatter?
Find a typewriter and write.
- Now?
- How long do I have to wait?
Sit there and give me 30 lines.
No, actually
You write well, make it 60.
This is Greco, she'll be with us today.
Hi.
Good morning.
"As we walk in the street
with lowered eyes,
we don't notice others who brush past,
we don't ask who they are, how they live,
the sacrifices they make,
the despair in their eyes,
the wrath they feel
when they show us their hands wounded
from boning animal carcasses,
scarred forever by toil
and neglect in their workplaces,
the hands of workers who at night
collapse not saying a word.
And young women
who aren't able to tell their men
their bosses suddenly
decided they mustn't be immersed
in the cooking water
for the mortadella"
I wrote what you told me.
The teacher's Communist kids
won't like this way of doing things.
What way?
At the newspaper
they complimented me,
they asked me to work with them.
Nadia, you mean? Don't give her more
importance than she gives herself.
And Armando too.
All right, forget it.
- I'm not going to the cardiologist.
- Why?
Because I don't want to.
I called half the world to get you
an appointment, you can't do this.
- That's why I have to go?
- You're going, period.
It's important.
We'll put our shoes on
and go to your neighbor.
You get ready.
You're going to the cardiologist
by yourself.
Bye, Gennarino. Bye, Titina, thank you.
Are you ready?
I want to go back
to live in the neighborhood.
You're strong, I never have been.
You, the further away you go,
the more real you feel.
Me, if I go through the tunnel,
I get scared.
Remember when we were going
to the seaside and it started raining?
Yes.
Who wanted to keep going
and who wanted to turn back?
But you can't go back
to the neighborhood.
What will you do about Stefano,
about your family?
Have you forgotten
how you treated your mother?
And your father doesn't want
to see you anymore.
How do you know all these things?
People talk.
He's getting married, she's run off
Rumors spread in the neighborhood.
Is this news to you?
Come.
What madness to return
to the neighborhood!
I was about to leave it behind me,
she wanted to go back into the trap.
You're beautiful like these statuettes.
You're the lady and I'm the maid.
I didn't understand her.
She must have felt so helpless
in the factory and outside
that now the neighborhood
seemed comfortable ground.
If I'm all right,
I'll go back to the neighborhood.
Cerullo, this way.
Can my friend come in too?
No, she has to wait here.
Go, don't worry.
If she's not there, I'm leaving.
All right, follow me both of you.
Lila, you have to tell me when to make
an appointment for Enzo at IBM.
Do I have to tell you right now?
My son graduated at the Normale
University, a few years before you.
Now lie down.
How do you know Adele?
Her cousin, a world-renowned physicist,
is a friend of mine.
So you're marrying Pietro.
Good, I know he is a young man
of great intelligence.
You're lucky.
Relax now.
- When's the wedding?
- May 17.
17? But that's unlucky.
- Change the date!
- I don't think it's possible.
- Do you have trouble waking up?
- I don't have trouble doing anything.
It's not true, she's often tired,
with no energy.
- Does she eat?
- Very little.
- And how would you know?
- I can tell.
You can get dressed.
She has a perfect heart,
but we need to take urgent action
on your friend's health.
She needs a restorative tonic.
Most of these symptoms
will vanish as soon as
she gets her strength back.
Hear that?
In any case, I advise
a neurological examination.
Do I have a nervous illness?
On the contrary,
I'm merely advising a check-up.
Did I say something wrong?
Don't worry, the examination is
to gain a clear picture of the situation.
A relative of mine, my mother's cousin,
has always been unhappy.
When I was young I'd hear her
through the window, shouting, laughing.
But it was always unhappiness,
she never went to any doctor.
She should have gone.
Nervous illnesses are for ladies.
And wasn't your mother's cousin a lady?
No.
- And you?
- Even less.
- Do you feel unhappy?
- I'm just fine.
Have her follow
this treatment regularly, absolute rest.
And if you can take her to the country
for a bit, all the better.
Once a doctor sent me to the seaside
and I got into a lot of trouble.
It was hard to convince Lila.
She put up resistance,
but she was exhausted, saddened.
In the end I managed to drag her
from one doctor to another.
Both the irascible and the desirous souls
prevail over the rational one.
Let's try to restore
the wellbeing of the body
to restore that of the mind.
Could you give me those pills
that prevent you from having children?
- Are you married?
- I was, not now.
- What does that mean?
- I'm separated.
You're still married.
- Do you have any children?
- I have one.
- It isn't much.
- It's enough for me.
A pregnancy would help you,
there's no better medicine for a woman.
I know women destroyed by pregnancy,
better the pills.
I don't know of any contraceptive pills.
And if they exist, they're illegal.
There are pills that regulate your cycle,
but they are reserved
for legitimately married women.
And if you need them, don't ask me.
Anyway, I'll write you a prescription
with the medicines for your friend.
Here.
My wife read your book,
she liked it a lot.
Thank your wife from me.
What's with the face? It's a good thing.
All right
I'll give you the number
of a lady doctor,
a friend of mine.
- Here.
- Thank you.
How much do I owe you?
Heaven forbid!
What a view!
- We shouldn't be here.
- Let's go.
I won't take the medicine
that asshole gave me.
My head's coming unstuck anyway.
I think you're wrong,
but do what you want.
I'm not mad at you, but at the doctors.
What do you want those pills for?
- You already knew about them?
- Yes.
The doctor, to be polite,
said they're used for the cycle.
Do you take them?
No, but I will as soon as I'm married.
Don't you want children?
Yes, but first I have to write
another book.
Does your husband know that?
- I'll tell him.
- Have you already?
No, not yet.
Then, let's both get
a prescription for the pill.
Those pills aren't candy.
And if you're not doing anything
with Enzo, why take them?
I'm not doing anything now,
but who knows later on.
- Seriously?
- Am I not allowed?
Yes, of course
But you ask the lady doctor.
No, you ask her, I'm embarrassed.
I'm embarrassed too.
That thing
it never gave me the pleasure
I thought it would as a girl.
To be honest, it annoys me.
I've always done everything,
everything a man wants from a woman.
I did it because I had to
or out of curiosity,
or out of passion.
With Nino I even had a child.
But now I can't accept
a decent man like Enzo inside me.
This joy that drives you crazy
seems overstated to me.
For me it's not like that.
You wrote something else in your book.
So you've read it!
I don't even know
what ended up in there.
Dirty stuff ended up in there, Lenù.
What men don't want to hear
and women are afraid of saying.
Now you're hiding?
You talked about
the annoyance of screwing.
And if you talked about it, you know it.
No use saying it's not like that.
Maybe it's true, I don't know.
I'm sorry you got pregnant without joy.
Let's stay here for a bit
then go and see that lady doctor.
Look at all the shells.
We'd never shared
such intimate details.
I listened to her.
I was careful not to mention
Nino's "made wrong in sex".
If she was, so was I.
Sex gave me pleasure
and I desired that pleasure,
but I was riddled with anxiety,
scared of getting pregnant
or being judged by men.
It was them who told us how to behave
and criticized us whether
we pulled back or gave in.
Nino, too, with his remark,
had done the same.
Men behaved as if their desires
were necessarily ours.
As a result, pleasure
became depraved unhappiness.
Good morning.
- How are you?
- Well, thank you.
- Have you been waiting long?
- No
What are your names?
- Raffaella Cerullo.
- Elena Greco.
First of all, I'm not a gynecologist.
What do you mean?
That's not important, but I can help you.
You know the pill is used here
but it's not legal.
- I don't know anything.
- What does that mean?
- We'll pretend it's for something else.
- Why?
We're being hypocritical.
The pill is only used
for therapeutic purposes,
to regulate the cycle,
and it is given to married women.
I'm still married, but I left home.
She's about to get married,
let's say we're eligible.
Now I'll ask you a few
questions about your health,
and I'll slip prescriptions
into your purses.
All right?
I felt like a guardian goddess
who cared about Lila's fate
above all else.
The next move was to determine
the risks she'd be exposed to
if she really did return
to the neighborhood.
In the end, you all left that family.
Lila and I have one thing in common:
in the Carracci family
we were aliens, Martians.
We couldn't last.
Is Stefano still mad at her?
My brother hates her,
but he has too many troubles.
Lila is the last of his concerns.
Are you happy to be getting married?
I was fine the way I was,
but Marisa wanted it
and she turned to Michele.
You did what she wanted?
I don't get it.
You're getting married because
Marisa asked Michele?
Life is a very ugly affair.
Why did you accept?
To avoid upsetting Michele.
He put me in here, he trusted me.
And sometimes we all go out together,
Michele takes us out.
- And Marisa is pregnant.
- Congratulations!
Marisa will be a good wife
and a wonderful mother.
- Didn't Lila ever tell you?
- Tell me what?
If she didn't tell you,
she hasn't told anyone.
She's a very special person.
Lenù
I'm queer, I don't like girls.
And if I were a girl,
I'd like to be identical to Lila.
They suit you.
How much do they cost?
I'll give you a special price.
From Alfonso I realized the Carraccis
were in too much trouble
to indulge in the luxury
of tormenting Lila.
Lenù, how are you?
Understanding the Solara's intentions was urgent,
so I went to visit Gigliola.
She was about to get married too,
to the most dangerous
of the two, Michele.
In this building there are engineers,
lawyers, important professors.
Look what a view.
Look.
Ever seen the sea like this?
Naples Vesuvius is behind there.
- Ever seen this sky in the neighborhood?
- Wonderful.
There's no comparison with Lila's house
in the neighborhood.
In what's now Ada's house.
No, there's no comparison.
This is more upper-class.
- Yes
- You're not convinced.
Of course I am, Gigliola.
I'm really happy for you.
Each to his own.
You studied, you write books.
And I have this.
If you save up,
you can buy a house like this.
I don't think so.
Doesn't he want to live in Naples?
I'd rule that out.
You can tell he's a good guy.
He's not like Michele,
he'll do what you want.
You've been lucky.
Of course, I've been lucky too.
Pinuccia lives in misery
because of that moron Rino,
Ada is Stefano's whore
and I have Michele
who's everybody's boss.
See where he set me up?
We're having a wedding worthy
of the Shah of Persia and Soraya.
I was sly,
I took Michele when I was a kid.
This is the result.
I'm always alone here.
- I'm getting married on my own.
- It's not true.
Do you think I exist?
Look at me, do you think I exist?
Let's eat something.
I'm only 25 years old
and he fucks here and there as he likes.
I feel disgust when they ask us how
many children we want and he replies:
"I already have children,
I don't even know how many."
Does Pietro say these things?
He's never loved me.
Men only get married
to have a faithful housemaid.
He's always telling me:
"What the fuck will I do with you?"
I'm sorry.
I'm talking like this because you wrote
that book and you know suffering.
- Why do you let him speak like that?
- Otherwise he won't marry me.
- After the wedding make him pay for it.
- How?
He doesn't give a shit about me.
I never see him as it is,
just imagine afterwards.
I'm sorry, I don't understand.
You don't understand
because you're not me.
Would you take someone
who's in love with someone else?
Michele has a lover?
He's a man, he sticks it
wherever he can.
- But that's not the point.
- What is?
Sit down.
He loves Lila,
he loves her in a way
he's never loved me,
in a way he'll never love anyone.
I'm not making this up,
he told me himself.
One night he was so drunk he said
how many women he had fucked.
122, for free and paid.
He told me I was on that list too.
"But you're not among those
who gave me the greatest pleasure,
because you're a moron
and to fuck well it takes intelligence.
For example when you do a blow job,
you're hopeless,
I can tell it disgusts you.
I'm marrying you
out of respect for your father
and because one has to have
a wife and children."
Then he almost started crying.
He said: "For me women
are all dolls with a few holes.
All of them.
All except one.
Lila.
She is the only woman
I love and respect."
He told me to my face.
He says with her
he could have become truly important,
that he didn't want her for sex,
but rather to kiss her, to caress her.
He wanted her
to see her grow old, to talk with her.
He says only
he really understands who she is.
He recognized her.
And what did you say?
Nothing, I didn't say a thing.
I thought: "Now he'll fall asleep
and I'll stab him
and I'll get my Michele back."
I don't have it in for Lila.
Not anymore.
I wanted to kill her when Michele
took me out of the shoe shop
and put me back in the pastry shop.
But I don't have it in for her
anymore, actually,
I'm glad because she'll never take
Michele, she'll make him spit blood.
Do you think he could hurt Lila?
Who, him? Hurt Lila?
Haven't you seen
how he's behaved all these years?
He could hurt me, you,
even his mother and his brother,
he could hurt all the people
close to Lila,
especially Enzo.
But not her,
he'd never do anything to her.
The Unità articles had the effect
my mother-in-law predicted.
One day Bruno Soccavo called.
He brought up Ischia, our friendship
Lenù, I'm not to blame,
my father left me a business
that was struggling.
Your friend behaved badly.
Don't make me think about it.
All she did was cause trouble.
Don't get worked up,
I believe Lila not you.
Now order them
to pay her down to the last cent.
There's nothing I can do,
I don't manage my money.
There's people behind me
whom you know very well.
What do you mean?
Maybe you've forgotten what certain
people in your neighborhood are like.
Lila.
See this, Enzo?
That shitbag Soccavo coughed up
every last cent.
Thank you.
That man you sent me to see
was very kind,
he knew all about your fiancé,
he told me his father is very important.
But he said you have to wait.
He says that IBM is producing
a new computer in Italy
and that they need an expert in Naples.
He'll let me know as soon as
the training courses begin.
Thank you, Lenù.
My father-in-law's prestige
doesn't count for much.
This man will help you
only because you're good.
Boss! Open the back door!
He's really good.
Yeah, sure
I've never even seen a computer.
That guy must have understood anyway
that you're on the ball.
So it's Don Carlo's widow's house?
How much is the rent?
Houses cost less in the neighborhood
than in San Giovanni.
Come, I'll introduce you
to your grandfather.
Let's do it some other time,
let's go and see the apartment.
Why? Can't the child meet
his grandfather?
Papa!
Hi, Papa.
Here's Gennarino.
Gennarino
When you see your mother,
tell her she's a whore.
Got that?
Don't worry, Grandpa was joking.
People like to joke in the neighborhood,
didn't I tell you?
Aunty Lenù and I used to walk here.
We grew up here.
I went to school down there.
Lenù.
How are you?
- Fine, and you?
- Fine, thanks.
The things we've heard about you!
Now you're getting married.
- You're going to live in Florence
- Yes, I'm leaving soon.
Beautiful city, Florence, Ada and I
were there a few months ago.
God, what a city! You're lucky.
When you come back, come and visit us.
Don't forget your friends
in the neighborhood.
You got that?
Of course.
- How are you?
- Good.
Good?
- Hurry up!
- Papa's girl! Hi!
- Say hello to Papa.
- Give me a kiss.
Good girl.
- Where are you taking her?
- To your place.
- Tell Ada I'll be late tonight.
- All right.
- I'll see you later.
- Bye, Maria.
Bye, little man.
You're here! Let me say hello!
Lenù!
Hi!
You know Antonio's still in Germany.
He always asks after you in his letters.
You look so well.
All right
That's what I'll turn into.
Is this your son?
Lila, you've gotten thin, ugly.
Look at yourself,
you look like a cadaver.
Of course Stefano left you!
Men need flesh. If they don't know
what to hold onto, they leave.
Do you know, this is your sister?
Her name's Maria.
Give each other a kiss!
You're so cute!
Let me see, stand close together.
They're identical to their father,
like they stuck his head on.
We'll get going. If we're late,
your mother will give us what for.
Let's go.
Eat something,
you look like a cadaver.
Skinny and white! Eat a nice steak.
Eat a nice steak!
- Did you see the resemblance?
- What resemblance?
Melina was right,
they're both identical to Stefano.
- It's not true.
- They're two peas in a pod.
Gennarino's Stefano's son, not Nino's.
This is the apartment.
Here's the bathroom.
The dining room, the kitchen.
I'll open the window in the bedroom.
To move in here
we'll have to gut the place first.
Look at this, Gennarino.
It's the right place: in the
neighborhood, but not in the heart of it.
We can even escape.
You can see
Carmen's fiancé's gas pump.
I like that too.
It's the perfect apartment
for us, isn't it?
If Lila's got it into her head
that it's right, we have to take it.
But you'll have to meet us halfway.
I'll have to work on it every night.
Don't worry, I'll lower it a bit.
- A bit?
- Yes, a bit.
- You'll have problems, you know.
- Got them in San Giovanni too.
- Here, there'll be more of them.
- We'll see about that.
- Will you always stay close to her?
- For as long as she wants.
Gennarino and I will sleep in there.
But at night
you'll hear the trucks in here.
I like trucks.
Me too.
Enough, or the signora
will raise the price.
- What do I have to sign?
- We'll do a contract.
- That way you're all happy.
- Fine.
- So, you'll come down a bit.
- Yes, a bit, don't worry.
What can you do!
Are you sure?
- Extremely sure.
- All right then.