"THE EYES, THE MOUTH" "...they're verified if they happen in the dictatorships of Latin America or in southern parts of Africa and in South Africa." "Kira!" "Giovanni!" "It was an accident, agreed?" "Where are the children?" "Mom's despairing, she can't accept it." "How can anyone?" " If she goes crazy?" " She won't." "Did you see?" " How are things?" " Fine, come in." "I didn't deserve this." "I didn't deserve this." " Pippo's better off than us, now." " Who guarantees?" "No one goes to Hell anymore." ""It makes no difference, Mom."" "I asked if he wanted soup or rice, "It makes no difference."" "The Lord's embrace is generous, be at peace, Signora." "If only I'd foreseen!" " Did he die immediately?" " With the shot, don't worry." "Thank God." "Would you like some tea?" "A little soup or rice, "It makes no difference"." "I foresaw none of this!" "Be strong, all's possible in the eyes of God." "Couldn't he have taken me?" "Why am I alive?" "Those who believe in God believe anything." "Wake up!" "This is a joke." "Couldn't you have thought it over some?" "Use a little imagination?" "Pippo, will you cut the crap?" "To die like this is idiocy." "What should I do, to make you stop?" "Damn you!" "What's love to you?" "It's something so big that at my age I don't know if God created it or vice versa." "I like that." "For once we're not obliged to laugh." "Hey, careful." "Vanda's not here yet, we have to prepare her." "Who's Vanda?" "They were getting married in Spring." "What about the apartment?" "Everything in due time." "An apartment?" "Pippo gave her an apartment, a gem!" "Happy New Year!" "Happy New Year!" "We fly happily towards 1982!" "Tell me where she lives, I'll go." "Is she pretty?" "Is she pretty?" " If she's pretty..." " A typical South American beauty." "And also... she's young." "It's clear, she was cheating on him." "When a person's unlucky!" "As kids we always dressed the same, we had after-school lessons with a relative." " Signora Candelotti." " Unmarried, of course." "For our elementary school exams she put me on one side, and him on the other" "and since we were always distracted and didn't give a toss, she'd threaten us:" ""You're going to get it!"" "and he'd be the one to get whacked, he'd be the one to get whacked." "It was Signora Candelotti, she just had cataracts removed." "I'd give him rapid-fire advice over the phone." "One day, how stupid," "I told him to read "Capital", because the world was changing." "Know what he said?" ""Marx can wait."" " So?" " What do you mean by "so"?" "I mean I never took an interest." "You talk about Pippo's suicide like it depended on you." "Are you God?" "Pippo committed suicide in absolute freedom and luckily this freedom still exists." "If you'd foreseen, you couldn't have done a thing, so don't burden yourself, I have no guilt feelings." "Suicide is a right to defend at all costs." "I want to be sure that..." "Why get pissed off?" "Goodnight." " Let's go back inside, it's cold." " Stay here." "Stay here, the kids are asleep!" "Relax." " Where'll you run to?" " It's cold, we can't get sick." "What are you doing?" "Come away from there!" " Aren't you afraid?" " I wanted to see him." " Now that you've seen him?" " Nothing, I saw Mom too." "Don't tell Dad." " What's that hole in his head?" " Ask your father." " Did he shoot himself?" " If you know why ask me?" "Goodnight." "Wait!" "Vanda!" "You call her, she might answer you." "Not a sound." "Why does she always make me look like shit?" "You're pigheaded, answer me!" "I'm putting an end to this!" "Enough's enough!" "Wait till I get my hands on you!" " You animal!" " I'm not going, I feel awful." "My mother's worse than anyone." " I feel terrible." " Of course you do." " You're driving me nuts." " Do you mind?" "Let's leave them alone." "So?" "I don't want to go." "Alright." "Pippo wrote this before he died." ""Whether I'm here or not makes no difference, even love went wrong." "Mom forgive me, Pippo."" "Vanda, you have to help me." "We have to convince Mom Pippo didn't take his own life." "He had no reason to, he was in love, and loved in return, in other words, everything was fine." "You have to come, to deprive Mom of this hope would mean to kill her." "What difference is it to you?" "I don't lie." "You don't have to, just let her see you like this," "I'll be right by your side." "I don't know, what's my face like?" "Just right, it's perfect." "She's not crying." "Come here!" "Shame!" "Come back!" " Where are you going?" " Wherever I want, it's my house." " Is he nuts?" " I don't think so." "The only time Pippo brought Vanda home to meet Mom..." "We were chatting at the table and he, who'd been quiet till then, butts in and calmly says to Mom:" ""Mom!" "all this is bullshit, what counts is Vanda doesn't love me."" "We told him he was wrong, that things would work out." "Even Mom did her part." "And Vanda?" "Nothing, she listened intently." "Didn't even lower her eyes." "She asked for the bathroom, and disappeared." ""Vanda doesn't love me", in a whisper, no emphasis, it gave me the shivers." " I'm giving her what-for!" " Come back here." " Leave me alone." " You don't say or do anything." "We've had our fill of trouble for today." "Don't move!" "I have to go." "You wretch!" "Calm down." "Please!" "Asshole!" "Say you're sorry." " We'll be going." " I'll accompany you." "Goodnight." "Saturday's important, my mother must see Vanda, it might reassure her." "Give me a kiss." "No!" "Suitably dressed, please." "Come here, let's make peace!" "Why this orange in your hand?" "You're an animal when you're like that." " Is the dog eating?" " Yes." " He's a little thin." " He's fine." "Vanda's not here, she's a bitch!" " Think Mom's noticed?" " Sure, she doesn't miss a thing!" "Let's take Communion?" "Know where I'd shove your consistency?" "You could have spared half an hour!" "Couldn't you?" "You're really a whore!" "A real whore and a piece of shit!" "Won't even go to church?" "Who do you think you are?" "Who do you think you are?" "Where were you going?" "What do you want?" " Anything serious?" " No, a broken foot." "He was lucky." "What are you doing here?" "So?" "Do I keep the baby?" " What answer do you want?" " I don't know." "Keep in mind a baby costs a lot." "You have no job, no home, no insurance, a baby will require full time for at least six months." "I know, but that doesn't matter." " If you want a father..." " I don't." "Not even the help of a short-term, reformist doctor and a skeptic?" "Not interested, I don't love you." " I tried." " Material matters can be resolved." " That's not true." " Yes it is and you know it." "There's a science, economics..." "I could care less about economics right now!" "You were born poor like me, weren't you?" "It shows." " Did you know Pippo?" " I'd seen him." "He had a ton of money and I liked to make him spend it." "I'd go into a store and say: "That, that..."" "and he'd buy it all, without ever getting mad." "It was unreal." "So it was social revenge!" "Then, when I got pregnant, everything changed" "I knew I didn't want to be with him anymore and I ran off without even telling him." " That's good, you weren't in love." " But I'm pregnant." "Doesn't matter, if all the pregnant women..." "That's idiocy!" " Statistically..." " I don't give a fucking damn!" " Have a cigarette." " I don't want one, you have it." "I don't smoke." " Let's talk." " What do you want?" "Goodnight." "Get out you slut, this is no hotel!" "Get out you slut, this is no hotel!" " I'm going." " Wait." "Who is he?" "Anyway I know who he is!" " Why ask me?" " Cut the crap, my eyesight's great." "In church I saw Pippo's uncle, the lawyer." "You can tell he's a gentleman." "He'd like to know your intentions on the apartment." "Can't do a thing, Pippo had made only a down payment." "He can get you a mortgage." "What mortgage?" "I don't even have money for cigarettes!" "Talk to him, maybe he can advise you." "He's an expert in real estate, handles millions, his word would be enough." "Dad, why do you always want to hit me?" "Why?" "I'd like to see you with a daughter like yourself!" "Giovanni phoned." "He may be an artist, but he's a good guy." "I like him, he took Communion too." "Why?" "I want to see you married." "It's not a requirement." "Everyone gets married." "And who are you?" "Think if we all lived alone, what egotism, what desolation!" "That's best, then we'd be together only to make love." "I don't like that expression." "Look at me." "Look at me." "Morally, you're in mourning, you can't be seen with a big-nose like him, and from the South too!" "That drives me insane." "What a chance we lost," "you'll never have another." "Take your hand away!" "Kira!" "Come here!" "The dog's fine, Uncle said she wasn't eating..." "And you look at the dog?" "So dumb, they get dumber and dumber!" "Look!" " Do you see the mistakes?" " I do!" "I don't." "That's all for today." "Mom?" " She's asleep." " Nights are bad." "Dead, dead... all dead!" "Matteo worries me, he scares me." " What will he become?" " There's time." "There's time, but then there isn't anymore." "I can see him at 20, when he'll spit in my face!" " Does he have to end up like us?" " Like you." "You could give a damn, you've got no kids!" "Forget Matteo, think about you!" "Have some fun, why else are you living?" "Thanks for the advice." "But seriously, you can't keep on with that long face." "Think of something, you never play with them!" "Bullshit from the genius!" "Play!" "To piss me off, just tell me I should play with my son." "I hate the father who clowns to win his son, the 40-year-old on all fours trying to be a lion and who hopes his wife won't notice his wrinkled suit." "Have you ever been in love?" "Sure, as a kid." " Got a woman?" " What a question!" " Don't you ever screw?" " Not your business!" "What do you do?" "I grow my beard." "What's this "what do you do"?" "I'm always with the kids!" " I can tell!" " May I come in?" "Speaking of love, in comes Adele." " What's funny?" " And you, Adele?" "She's true to her first love who's already a grandpa." "Shut up!" "And you, Adele?" "Did I hurt you?" "Pippo was in love." "He was the only man in love in this house." "Are you crazy?" "The kids can get hurt!" "Watch your head!" "One of your ideas?" "Yes." "And your mother?" " She's asleep." " Can hear the shrieks from outside!" " Kids, put things in order." " No, continue." " Do you know them?" " Yes, I do." "Why are you here?" "Business." "Aren't you leaving anymore?" "I'm waiting." "Are you expecting too?" "You're good with kids." "In Italy there's the tragedy of having "seconds"." "A second job, a second wife, a second home... a second life." "If we had just one of everything, one job, one home, one wife..." " It would be a revolution." " One salary." "One course, either first or second." "I'm fine with the first course, but I eat the second course too!" " What's your point?" " Nothing, just chatter." "Not really just chatter." "Agostino, remember the poor?" "How hungry they were!" "They'd come at the end of a meal with a canteen for soup and Grandma even offered them wine." "Then she'd send them to church." "Why not stay with us, Giovanni?" "You could get your degree and a serious job." " Don't I work?" " If you call that work..." "You live like a gypsy, you have no position, or family..." "Isn't being content better, without wanting to change the world?" "It feels strange seeing you side by side." "It's a nice feeling!" "And you, Vanda?" "I'm looking for a job." " Are you still with your parents?" " Until I find a place..." "What about the apartment?" "With today's housing problem!" " I couldn't pay for it." " We could help you." " No!" " I offended you?" "I'm sorry." "Let's cut this story, material problems are never unsurmountable, the essential thing is to have a clear conscience." "Keep it." "No, thank you," "I couldn't live in that apartment." "But I'd like to say something." "Before Pippo died, he left a note and mentioned me?" " What note?" " What note do you mean?" "I don't know of one, but if it exists we'd like to see it." " He left a note?" " You people never listen." "Vanda said: "Pippo left a note?"" "It's a question, not a statement." "Correct me if I'm wrong." "You're wrong." "Couldn't Pippo have left a note?" "Why would he?" "Maybe you read a note we don't know about." "Maybe I'm wrong, I thought someone mentioned one." "I'm sorry." "Excuse me, I'm crying." " I don't know what to do about it." " Mom!" "I had a dream last night." "Pippo was with me, we were much younger and were running." "I was behind him." "Now I remember..." "He seemed worried." "We were running up the stairs of our high school and he stopped to look at the posted exam results." "He was happy: promoted!" "He was laughing like never before." "Promoted." "Pippo usually had confirming exams, he was neither promoted, nor failed." "Taking confirming exams would correspond to purgatory, but if he was promoted, maybe he's already in paradise, a little too much!" "Promoted or not, I remember he was very happy." "I wait all night for him," "I'd like to know why he wanted to die in such a horrible way." "I can't dream about him, he must be angry with me!" "If you dream of him again, tell him I'm waiting for him," "I'd like to be reassured too." " Alright." " Where's the bathroom?" "You too Nigi, if by chance..." "We were so pleased, after such sacrifices and humiliations..." "You don't know what it means to emigrate and return home not having made your fortune." "Finally something wonderful to repay our disappointments." "Your brother was a real gentleman, no talk about interests, dowry, he was above all that." "The kind of husband a father dreams for his daughter." "Vanda will soon realize." "Look at what a man can come to!" "Why don't you marry her?" "What an idea!" "You should pity me." "All the nights here with your brother waiting for my daughter!" "I don't say she should be a nun or wear mourning, but at least some respect." " Does Vanda have someone?" " Yes." "Someone always brings her home, I don't know what they do." " Even before Pippo died?" " Yes." "My father used his belt and I say he was right." " Punishing means to love." " Back to whipping with belts!" "Don't you agree?" "I was never slapped, but I envied my classmates who'd come to school with welts on their legs." " You could see they had a father." " That's reasoning!" "I don't like making demands, just say what's right or wrong." "Vanda do you agree?" "Tell me, so we're not ambiguous!" "If it's right, it's right today, tomorrow and the day after, am I right or not?" "Young people are dying like flies today." "More severity." "Is this him?" " Diploma." " High school." "Profession?" "Manager, clerk, factory worker, homemaker, other..." "We'll put "other"?" "Yes." "Previous pregnancies?" " You've never been pregnant." " No." " Abortions?" " No." "Gestation time..." "How long have you been pregnant?" "Three months." "7 days from now come here at 7:30, bring a robe." "February 28th, remember it." " Shall I turn on the light?" " No." "There are umbrellas, if the belt's not enough." " Wait for me here." " Should I go with you?" "I'll close the door." " Stop it!" " Stop?" "Can't you see?" "You're a whore!" " Your pants are dropping!" " You're laughing!" "You're ridiculous." "You bastard!" " Bumpkin!" " You talking to me?" "Let's leave here." "Is your father mad at me?" "Let's go be with people, I don't want to be alone with you." " You're in high spirits." " And you're so sad." "I wish this were love, a love that's real, this thing I feel that makes my heart suffer." "I wish I could tell you I'm crazy with love for you..." "The only wonderful thing I've never had..." " What the fuck's this?" " It's a dummy, what do you think?" " You had a screw, right?" " What vulgarity!" "Did they see you?" " Who saw me?" " See, you had a screw." "What do you want from me?" "You ask me, I have to answer, I ask you, you get pissed off." "Giovanni, is that you?" " Did I wake you?" " I wasn't sleeping." "I always wake up at this hour." " Did you dream?" " No." " Unfortunately." " You have to be patient." "In youth we fall asleep dreaming and we dream when we're asleep too." "In old age we've little to dream of, ghosts aren't scary anymore." "You're cheerful?" "No." " Don't let it bother you." " No." "It's just that today it's impossible to be cheerful." "What were you saying?" "I was saying that..." "I'd like one of my dear departed, and there are many unfortunately," "would come to visit me." "Just to chat a little and wait for morning together." "Not to have all these young people around me with their eyes drooping with sleep." "Tender and kind, but always full of sleepiness." "Ghosts are nice people, calm and polite," "like the retired people who'd stop and visit when you were children." "We'd talk, we'd never say anything we didn't already know." "Those unembarrassed silences in the living room as it gradually grew dark." "Someone always came in and said:" ""Why are you in the dark?"" "Because no one had a mind to turn on the light." "Goodnight." " Who is it?" " Giovanni." "Hi." "FISTS IN THE POCKET" "Thank you." "Stay away from here, it's dangerous." "If you don't bring me!" "Ale, where can I sit?" "Come, sit on the wall." "Ale help me." "Where have you gone?" "Where's the wall?" " Where are you, Ale?" " Here." "Help me!" "Please, help me!" "I liked the film, but scene with the mother is cruel!" " Too cruel." " A lifetime ago." "A guy could lose his head being with you." "I wouldn't have had Pippo's courage." " Courage?" " It takes courage to be with you." " I make you that afraid?" " No, I came looking for you..." "But I am very afraid." "I'm afraid, but..." "I don't know what to say anymore." "You're handsome when you get muddled." "I need to always be imaginative." "As kids Pippo and I, to impress the girls, would jump off a high bridge into a deep, freezing cold river, it was scary." "It was just to show we had courage." "We were called the Kamikaze Twins." "I'd close my eyes, my mouth and with my hands, my ears and nose." "Down I'd go, straight in!" "I took some real belly flops!" "We couldn't do anything else so we kept jumping off, to the bottom." "After a while no one watched us anymore." "That's not how to get a girl, it's completely different." "Pippo asked you to marry him not because he believed in family, or in crap like confetti, or a white gown, but because he had no ideas." "He thought a home, a family, lots of kids..." "To be like everyone else the end of suffering, of a nightmare." " Are you mad at me?" " A little." "No, I'm very mad at you." " No one wears mourning these days?" " Should I have died too?" "At least make believe." "Stay here!" "My brother killed himself, he wasn't a poet." "I'm not killing myself, okay?" " You're really cruel." " I should be more so." "Who should I ask for forgiveness?" "And for what?" "I shouldn't have made love with you and you've lots to be forgiven." " I'm leaving." " Stop!" "I'm the one who's leaving." "Hurry, it's already begun, let's not miss this work of art!" "Excuse me." " Signorina..." " Good evening." "Are you here to admire my nephew's work of art too?" "Have you seen him by chance?" "His mother is worried." "He didn't sleep at home and in Rome there's no answer." "If you see him, tell him to get in touch, even just a call." "Your father's worried too, he's threatened to call the police, it would be best if you also made a call." " Are these yours?" " No." " Goodbye." " Good evening." "There's no escaping, I'm a jerk!" "There's no mercy, or forgiveness." "I know, that's how I am," "I've no excuses, not even vague ones." "Nothing." " What are you doing here?" " I'm looking for my daughter." "Me too." " How did you get in?" " I have duplicate keys." "I've got Pippo's." " Did she sleep here?" " I don't know." "The bed looks made." "I'll go look for her, you stay here and if you find her before I do, stay calm and wait for me." "You hurt me!" "Hi." "Don't you recognize me?" " Where are you going?" " To my mother's." "She'll be happy." "Tomorrow she'll bring me breakfast in bed." "I'll say goodbye." "Here are the keys, I'll wait for your call." "I don't know a thing, do whatever you want." "Do whatever you want." "Where are you?" "What do you want?" "An orange, something to drink?" "I'm not having fun anymore, I'll take you home." "I'm staying, I like it here." "We have all the time we want, we're free, go if you like, I'm staying." " What are you doing?" " Looking at you." "I hoped you were sleeping so I could slide into bed." "I'm wearing underwear." "I won't touch you, don't worry." "Do you have a house in Rome?" " I don't have a house." " Me neither." "I live here and there," "I'm in Rome, I could be anywhere." "When I was a little girl, in America," "when a circus came to town, I'd try to run away with them but my father would always come and get me." "With boys it was the same thing, always." "If I fell in love with someone, I'd want to run away with him," "but I never found anyone willing to, too afraid." "I'd be hurt," "I was sorry to get so little, and I was willing to give everything." "Your work must be nice." " Is it the directors who call you?" " They don't anymore." "Why not?" "Because I've gotten fat." "I'm not joking." "They used to call me because I'd taken part in the 1968 uprisings, the needed a rebel, an angry young man, an antisocial type." "They'd call me," "I'd become a character, almost a caricature." "I thought: "Sooner or later something will change"." "The years have gone by and nothing has changed, not even me," "I went out of style." "Your generation doesn't even know I exist and that's right." "I'm starting from zero, but I don't really know where to begin, and yet even in my worst, most stupid films" "I always tried to express something a detail, even the smallest thing." "I didn't want to let them cancel me out totally," "I wanted to exist." "If not, I'd have already killed myself." "There was always some director saying:" ""Move from here to there."" "The cameraman would put a chalk mark on the ground." ""Stop, count to 5," "make a three-quarter turn and without blinking, leave the scene."" "I'd ask something: "Please!"" "I'd try to understand and he'd say:" ""You're fat, you're still too fat."" "And I'd feel like a puppy leashed to the camera." "There are nice moments in life." "Warm, heartfelt moments." "But it's as if one kiss can never follow another." "The second is an imitation of the first, the third is even worse." "If that's not how it is, I don't know..." "Vanda, isn't that how it is?" "You're always crying." "I didn't want to wake you." "I'll take a run home." " Won't you?" " No." " I can take you there." " No." " Are you judging me?" " No." " Will I find you here?" " Depends when you come back." "Fuck it, I'd just got dressed." "Change, change!" "I've been dropping money from my trousers for twenty years." "My faithful friends are concerned about my talent," "that the obsession to change, to heal doesn't make me totally bizarre." "They're afraid I might lose my obsessions, fears, manias, phobias, my little perversions." "You absolutely mustn't lose them." "If you're crazy, you have to stay crazy." "Misfortunes are your lucky charms, without them you'd be a mediocre artist with nothing to say." "And I should thank God for my brother's suicide." " Change the subject." " Thing's went right for you." "Change the subject." "Not so easy!" "But if I stick my nose out the door" "I feel dizzy and don't know what to say any more, blackout!" "Can you understand that or not?" "Asshole!" "I won't forgive you." "Help me!" "Goodnight." "What have you been up to?" "You disappeared!" "Did you hear that Vanda's father tried to kill a doctor?" "A gynecologist." " Mom?" " She doesn't know anything." " What did you say about me?" " That you were in Rome." "She's not well, right?" "Say it." "If you have to sleep with someone..." "Shut up!" "Where is she?" "What hotel did you take her to?" " You should never have touched her." " You have to shut up." "You're so predictable!" "You're still the same clown." "Listen, Giovanni..." "In your own town sleep at home in Rome do as you please." " You can't tell me..." " You'll never grow up." " It's too late." " That's not true." "And you're not the one to say that." "Time to stop." "And knock it off with fists in your pocket!" "You're pathetic." "A puppet." "I'm not a puppet." "You think you know everything but you know a fucking nothing." "I hate guys like you, the positivists, the rationalists, the cynical liberals, the skeptics, those who shrug their shoulders superior to everything, never risking their lives, who eating ice cream, tread on corpses" "and then paralyze with a stare." "Worse than priests or Fascists." "Mom!" "I'm Pippo, don't be afraid." "Don't be afraid." "I'm not." "Forgive me." "You gave me life and I was ungrateful." "I never found a job, nor married, nor got a degree..." "I didn't celebrate Easter and I often swore out of spite." "Every Sunday, when you, so tenderly and in a low voice, suggested to stop a moment in church, a little moment in church..." "What would it have cost me to say yes and make you happy?" "Nothing." "No!" "I had to uphold a principle." "To make you cry." "Don't cry." "Please, don't cry." "Don't cry." "I can't bear to see tears," "I have to bring solace to the living and the dead." "My instinct perceives tears at great distances." "Where's Giovanni?" "He's in Rome, he had to leave suddenly." "He worries about you and me." "He takes on all the world's sufferings." "He even blames himself for my death." "Reassure him, Mom, I'm very well where I am." "I don't burn," "I'm not cold, or hungry, I'm not hot, or thirsty," "I'm not angry with anyone, I don't want revenge and I'm here to say it." "If Giovanni continues to have guilt feelings, too bad for him." "Where are you?" "Are you alright?" " Do you need anything?" " I have all I need." "Don't worry." "Mom, you won't forget me?" "Never!" "What a desire for milk and coffee, for apple pie!" "We'd steal pie crust from the pies before they got to the table." "I miss your desserts." "You never cared about our successes, but about our complexion, you did." "And that we never had worries." ""You eat so little, much too little!"" "That could be your epigraph." "Giovanni, stay with us!" "No!" "Stay!" "Your coat!" " What are you looking for?" " His tears."