"GOODBYE, CRUEL BROTHER" "Freely adapted from the play by John Ford, '"Tis Pity She's a Whore"" "There's no more to say." "I've drained the burden weighing on my soul... laid bare the depths of my thoughts... and my head." "For three days, I've torn my flesh... at night, I've fled through the streets, pursued by a question that torments me." "It's like... a sword that has pierced me through." "I am undone." "I couldn't keep it in any longer." "I had to tell someone." "Why am only I..." "forbidden to do that... which is granted to all other men?" "To love." "Who's that boy?" "It's your brother, Giovanni... your brother Giovanni, back from his studies in Bologna." "Don't say that we have the same father, that Annabella and I came from the same womb." "Of course we have the same blood, for we were begotten by the same love." "Are we not for this very reason... even closer bound by nature, by the ties of blood, by reason?" "Does not even religion..." "In the words that you hear and repeat... from morning till night... does it not tell us, perhaps, this same religion... that we are a single being forever - one soul, one flesh, one love, one head..." "one all?" "Shut up." "You are lost." "What's become of you?" "Why have you changed so much?" "Until a few months ago, in Bologna, you were calm and quiet." "Bologna was Bologna." "A few months ago may as well be an eternity ago." "What is this madness?" "She's your sister!" "Don't you know what that means?" "My sister...?" "I don't know her." "What I know now is a woman." "Have you seen her?" "A goddess, before whom I must kneel." "But why must a common term... like that of being called brother and sister stand as an obstacle... between my eternal happiness and myself?" "Tell me!" "But this is blasphemy!" "Listen, Giovanni... go home." "Lock yourself into your room... fall to your knees on the ﬂoor." "Weep... chastise yourself... while I pray for you here." "Do this for seven days." "Then, if you still have this hell inside of you, return to me." "I'll do it, but if it comes to nothing, I'll follow my fate as my only god." "This is the shadow of a man, an unhappy creature, wild with grief." "It's not my brother." "But why do you care so much?" "Your brother is mistaken..." "he's no different from the others." "He'll fall madly for some girl, and then forget about her three days later." "What if she were the right girl?" "She wouldn't let herself be forgotten." "Listen to her!" "What do you know about whether a man's right for a woman or not?" "You don't understand anything, you don't notice anything." "You don't even notice all the men following along behind you!" "You'll be in bed one night, and they'll come and carry you off, bed, blankets and all!" "Admirers, acts of chivalry, marriage proposals - these things mean nothing to me." "That's your biggest mistake:" "make the most of them all." "Many of the finest ladies in Italy don't have the suitors that you have." "I don't understand - you're rich, young and beautiful." "You are one of the best catches in Italy." "But beware..." "get a husband that's a real man." "A man who's rough and ready..." "Because only then do marriages work out." "Military men - not worth considering." "They're all useless..." "Well, perhaps 1 in 20 is a good one." "But, my dear, get them in bed and you'll need a miracle or a pulley... to get them to 'stand up'." "There is one man I know who's right for you." "Just one..." " he's important, a man of property." " Then he's not for me." "I believe he'd be perfect for you." "He's an important young man." "Do you understand?" "Important!" "He is noble and rich;" "that's important too." "He has wealth, health and, most important of all, he's masculine!" "Such a man will always be ready in the bedroom." "Indeed?" "And how is it that a miracle such as this hasn't yet been snatched up?" "You needn't laugh." "In my opinion, you're a perfect match." "Made for each other." "He is..." "Senor Soranzo." "Who do you think you are?" "You think you're important, just because now you're wearing a robe?" "Be careful what you say, Soranzo... this time it will not be so easy." "I'll split your head open!" "So he's learned to show his teeth!" "Bravo!" "But for me, you're still the stable boy." "Four times I have sent for you, Your Eminence... why didn't you come?" "Return to the monastery now." "You have come at the right time, Giovanni." "What if this monk is only a stable boy in disguise?" "We are friends, right?" "And this matter concerns all three of us." "What's your sister doing, Giovanni?" "Has she forgotten me?" "What's the matter with that father of yours, and you too?" "You won't find a better match for her, and I love her... and desire her." "And you, Your Eminence, get going!" "Pay her a visit in your official capacity!" "You monks, you need the devil to convince the poor Christians." "Hypocrisy is your strong point - perhaps you'll help my suit." "Or perhaps Giovanni doesn't want me as a brother-in-law?" "Well, you'd better get used to it, because one day soon, that's what I'll be." "Don't you see that mere custom decrees it legitimate for my sister... to end up in the arms of this beast?" "To be contaminated by the likes of such an animal!" "So, just because I'm her blood-brother, my joys are forever to be banned from her bed?" "Is it right that he can take her to bed, love or no love, to do with her as he will?" "To his bed, yes." "To yours, no." "In that case, if you tell me that's the way it must be... then leave me alone." "I do not want to see anyone anymore." "If I am a monster, then let me die in the darkest pit that exists!" "Ha!" "In there, from now on, will be my blind universe, the only one suited to me, brighter and fuller of stars than all your heavens!" "Giovanni!" "Giovanni!" "Bonnaventura!" "What are you doing?" "Giovanni!" "This is not the penance asked of you." "You must live." "You have the right to live." "Come, Giovanni!" "In the name of God, answer me!" "Lost..." "I'm lost." "The more I fight myself, the more I love." "I see now that my ruin is certain." "Everything that reason and will could do... to heal my wounds, my loneliness and my suffering, I've tried." "It's useless;" "it's still the same." "Either speak or explode..." "I now know it's not my desire that drives me, but my fate." "Give me your hand." "Let's take a little walk - do you mind?" "Why would I mind?" "There's no one here." "We two, alone." "Where have you been all this time?" "I haven't seen you." "How are you?" "Well." "I'm sick..." "sick to death." "You're joking." "I think you love me." " Of course: you know I do." " Of course I know." " You're very beautiful." " I see you have a merry sickness!" "Annabella, this is no time for jests." "Here - take this." "Strike here." "Strike home!" "Rip open this breast... and you will find a heart wherein is written a truth that I lack the courage to utter." "Come!" "Strike!" "Why should I?" " Are you capable of loving?" " Loving whom?" "Me." "Annabella, I am finished... my love for you, my sister, has troubled the harmony of my dreams, and my life." "Why do not you strike?" "I'd rather kill myself." "Is it true?" "You cannot imagine the agonies I have suffered." "I tried to suppress the hell hidden inside of me..." "I cursed my fate; fought against a thousand reasons for my love, but all in vain." "There is no escape for me." "Either you must love me, or I must die." " But Giovanni, you are my brother." " I feel I love you all the more for that." "Head, blood, the same head, the same blood..." "I know my fate is sealed." "Must I live or die?" "Live." "For your every sigh, for every tear you have shed..." "I have shed one hundred." "And not so much because I loved my brother, but because I dared not tell him I loved him... hardly dared even think it." "Come." "Swear, on the grave of our mother, that you are not lying... that you are not teasing me." "Love me or kill me, brother." "Swear, on the grave of our mother, that you are not lying... that you are not teasing me." "Love me or kill me, sister." "Is it the truth?" "It's the truth." "You swear it?" "I swear." " Are you not ashamed?" " No." "I would be ashamed, if there was someone else in your place and not you, my brother." "Don't call me 'brother';" "call me 'love'." "I wonder why girls consider this useless trinket called virginity such a great loss, when, upon losing it, a greater jewel is obtained." "When nothing is lost... and you've remained the same." "You can talk;" "you've won without fighting." "I'd like to tell everyone... if the world had ears to hear and the head to understand." "The world doesn't exist." "Kiss me, brother, kiss me." "Don't call me 'brother'... call me 'love'." "Come quietly." "Look, it's father." "It's time to put things in order here." "There's too much confusion." "Look, even the dogs are loose." "What are you waiting for?" "For everything to fall apart?" "To go to rack and ruin?" "The garden is dirty and poorly maintained, the fields aren't what they used to be... everyone does as he pleases." "You know what I want:" "everyone must do their pad... the way it should be done!" "Nobody obeys me here." "Shame on you - you don't pay attention to what's happening." "It's your fault." "And I don't like the way things are going in my family." "Away with you!" "My children: witless, both of them!" "Look at this..." "Giovanni disappears from home for days, hiding at the monastery and not telling anybody anything." "I hope that fool of a monk Buenaventura isn't putting silly ideas into his head." "In my opinion, he's thinking about other things... than becoming a monk." "He'd much rather be in bed with some girl, than praying in the monastery." "Annabella." "He's more interested in being a man than a monk." "What do you know?" "How do you know?" " Like father, like..." " Watch your tongue!" "Don't you think you're exaggerating a little?" "Keep to your place and don't ever forget who you are." " Ah, you're home!" " And why shouldn't I be?" "I remembered that nowhere else could I find the beauty that our house contains!" "Ah!" "I see you're beginning to come to your senses... if nobody else, at least you." "Where's your sister?" "Go and get her;" "I need to talk to her." "Ah, there you are!" "My two true treasures, both here." "Don't you think it's time you made up your mind?" "Leave us alone for a moment, please." "You know what I'm talking about... you've received 10 marriage proposals and you've rejected them all." "Heaven knows what's going on in your head." "You act as if you were weaned only three days ago." "Don't you realise that you are a woman now, and that you need a husband?" "I have found one for you..." "young... rich... handsome... in shod, the best there is." "Where have you put the ring your mother left you in her will?" "She said it was for you to give to your husband." "My brother took it this morning." "He said he wanted to wear it today." "This is a present for you." "Here." "Take it, then later, I'll tell you who it's from." "Who gave you that ring?" "Someone who is in love with me!" " I don't want you to wear it." " Giovanni, Giovanni!" "Give it back." "Don't tell me you're jealous!" "You'll find out tonight, when we're together." "So men die in war, not for love." "You'll have to get married at some point." "Someone will have to take you." "You." "What if they should force you to?" "They can only force me to kill myself." "Then you have the courage to swear you'll remain mine and nobody else's?" "I swear it for our love." "If you only knew how loathsome all my suitors are to me." "You asked to speak with me alone." "What do you want to say?" "Can't you imagine, Annabella?" "Why do call me by name?" "I'm no longer a little girl." "So?" "Please forgive me." "So, what do you wish to tell me?" " You must realise." " Yes, that you love me." "On my soul, I swear it." "Do you believe me?" "It's not an article of faith!" "Have you no desire to love a man?" "Not you." "Who then?" "That depends on fate." "I am a realist..." "I say it all depends on you." "What do you want to do with your life?" "To live and die as I am." "But that's absurd!" "I'm only asking you to grant my request... and let me live." "As far as I'm concerned, you can live for a thousand years." "Annabella... let us leave aside this useless wordplay." "You know that I have loved you for a longtime, sincerely... and with every fiber of my being." "Do not torture me with your chaste contempt." "My longing for you has made me ill." "My head is breaking." "Where are you going?" "Didn't you say you felt ill?" "I was going to fetch some water." "That's enough, Annabella!" "You've had your fun at my expense." "The time for playing's past." "We are a pair, made for the same bed, and none other shall have you." "It is I you will marry, because I love you." "You misunderstood me;" "I only wished to calm your excitement." "Your temper is so quick to rise." "I don't love you..." "But if it is of any comfort to you, let me tell you that could I have chosen a man... from among those who have asked for my hand, that man would have been you and no-one else." "I feel faint..." "You're still here?" "Go away." "You made me spend the whole night out here." "Why won't you listen to me?" "Go away" " I don't want to listen to you." "I don't want to hear anything you have to say." "But no!" "You must listen to me." "You're a monk, aren't you?" "You're a monk, just in order that you can hear... the best and the worst that happens to people." "Stay here, stay here with your feet on the ground." "You've got to see what's going on right under your nose!" "Your paradise and your hell can wait." "Let me go!" "You're lost, lost." "You're already in hell." "Let me go!" "I don't want to see you again." "If I can't tell you, then who else can I tell?" "Annabella is pregnant!" "Pregnant by me!" "Stop talking like a monk." "What should I do?" "I don't know..." "I don't know what to say to you." "I don't know anything." "Those are the facts, father." "The names of those involved are best not mentioned." "That a young woman, rich, endowed with all the gifts of nature, should so behave... who would not say 'tis pity she's a whore?" "And, being the woman, she is the more guilty... she should therefore be dragged to the market square... and there be burned alive in the purifying flames of outraged justice." "But the Church, inspired by the spirit of the Holy Ghost, and in His name, is able to absolve those who ask forgiveness... yes, even of modal sins." "To absolve her shame, she must leave her life of sin... she must not see her brother again... and she must marry her suitor immediately... so that the bastard may be born with the name of a legitimate father... and thus be allowed to live, protected and loved by the sacraments of our religion." "But the suitor?" "The Church is the mistress and mother of the mercy of our Lord God... and she administers His will with care, and with infinite compassion, but she demands obedience... and unqualified acceptance of her decisions..." "unqualified acceptance." "This is the will of the Church, and also the law, as it was told to me." "Wait..." "I'll walk you back to the monastery." "I'll never return to the monastery." "The monastery is no longer a place for me." "I'm going to beg for me and my brothers." "In that way, I will be more useful to the community." "I don't want to see you again, nor know anything about you." "My faith has already faltered too much." "Goodbye, Giovanni." " We shall never meet again." " The world is small... we shall meet, whether you want to or no." "You think you'll be meeting me, but I won't see you." "Congratulations!" "Congratulations!" "My dearly departed wife's mother, and Annabella's cousin." "Hey, Giovanni!" "For you, my brother." "Drink a toast to your sister's happiness, hers and mine." "May we always feel as real brothers together." " I can't drink." " What do you mean?" " I'm sick!" " Please don't insist, if he doesn't feel like it." "Well... it's not important..." "I'm not angry." "I must go." "Oh, I understand... after all, you have no reason to love me... yet." "You only married me because your family convinced you to do so." "I only know one way to make a woman happy." "I thought it was enough..." "I was wrong." "You still like playing games." "What game should I play with you?" "What game do you prefer?" "How about 'Patience'?" "Very well, I will be patient." "Or perhaps you'd like to watch me burn?" "Very well." "Here I am." "I've given you my word, and I won't back down." "Whatever it takes to win you, I'll do... and give you a husband that you will love unto death." "Good night." "Let them dream of worlds differently disposed... the men who live in books and amongst words." "My world with her was perfect and happy." "I wouldn't have changed it for a thousand paradises of philosophers or saints." "Common morality is but foolishness which frightens untempered minds, like the teacher's whip, which keeps young pupils quiet." "Let philosophers teach that this globe of Earth shall be reduced to ashes in an instant." "For me, it would be just as strange to see the water bum." "If!" "could believe this possible... then I could also believe in the existence of heaven... and hell." "Hell is nothing more than a cowardly and superstitious fear." "I not only say this, I can prove it." "If future times shall ever hear speak of my burning passion... even if the laws of conscience and custom may condemn me... this love will wipe away the guilt, which would have otherwise been abhorred." "If I were to repeat to you, little Giovanni, the story of my life... it would be a waste of time..." "and I have no more time." "Before my sister got married..." "I thought that every joy of love would be stifled by that wedding contract." "This did not happen." "For me, she's still the same." "And her kisses are no less desirable now than the first that I gave her, when youth and freedom gave her the right to be my bride, my mistress, my sister and no one else's." "Loneliness, the torment of a thousand hells, are one with me and all that's left to me." "Go out, shining sun... tum this day into night... so that your golden rays may not witness an event... which would make their splendour darker even than... the darkest of the poets' hells." "I..." "I hold destiny fast." "I can stop time forever." "Be a man until the end of my soul." "Do not allow the damnation of ancient hypocrisies... to rip from your heart the courage which I now need." "If I must fall, like an oak burdened with the years, then other more fragile saplings will be crushed and broken by my ruin." "With me... all must perish." "Natural acts are nothing to be ashamed of!" "It's about time you began behaving as a woman, and not as a child." " What is it?" " It's my brother." " Call him." " No, no..." "I thought it was him, but it's not." "Forgive me." "I have been abrupt..." "abrupt and coarse." "I still have to learn how to behave with you." "What you need is some distraction, to get to know the world... to see yourself in a new and different setting, in more cheerful rooms." "You shall see Venice." "Quickly, run for the doctor." "Hurry!" "Come here, you whore!" "Come here, you blatant whore!" "If every drop of blood in your adulterous body were a life, with one blow, I'd destroy them all." "Harlot, incomparable harlot!" "Was there no man in Manchua but me for you to use to cover your foul intrigue?" "And now I'm supposed to act as father to that mass of flesh in your contaminated belly?" "!" "God!" "Why?" "Why?" "Because that is your fate!" "You dare to tell me this?" "!" "You filthy whore!" "I was seeking the courage to tell you the condition I was in." " Are you pregnant?" " You ask again?" "!" "Yeeeessss!" "By whom?" "That you will never know." "I'll never know?" "You say I will never know?" "I'll rip out your head and read the name there." "It is a name you are not worthy of uttering or even hearing... without first going down on your knees!" "Who is it?" "I want to know, who is it?" "It's an angel... it's an angel that begot this boy, for it is a boy... and you should be glad to have a male heir." "You're a monster." "Come on, kill me, kill me!" "What sweeter death is there than dying for love?" "If the king himself went down on his knees, begging me to spare your life... and all Heaven's holy saints should plead in supplication... it still wouldn't be enough to save you." "I have been used by your family to cover your filthy lusts and their dishonour." "Now I understand the sudden marriage... but this vile mockery shall be ended." "My noble master sends his greetings to your lordship and to your family." "He and his wife invite you to a banquet to celebrate their recent return from Venice." "Tell your master I'm not afraid to come." "What do you mean, you're not afraid?" "Tell him I want to come, and moreover, I will." "My love my love!" "Run away, run away!" "Take for our father and don't stay a moment longer in this house." "Please!" "Go... go!" "It is a banquet of death that has been prepared for all of us." "He knows everything." "Not about you, but about me and the child." "Giovanni!" "Don't you understand, I've not been forced to wear these lavish clothes for nothing?" "How you've changed in so shod a time... you've found an expert husband." "Yes, that's it... one much cleverer in devising night games, than two innocent children, as we were." "This sudden feast has not been prepared just to spend money and nothing else." "He's kept me locked up until now, separated from everyone!" "Why do you think he has suddenly restored my freedom?" "For whom have you become so beautiful?" "For me or him?" "Swear you don't love him!" "Giovanni... save yourself and save our father." "I pray you; there is not much time." "In fact, I have no time:" "you've abandoned me!" "Do you not feel the chill of death in the air?" "Tell me... why are you so afraid?" "Only those who believe in heaven and hell are frightened... but heaven and hell do not exist." " Oh, but they do..." " Dreams... dreams." "You'd have me believe there is another world, where we could kiss... talk... laugh... do together all the things we do down here?" "No... it's not true." "Look at me." "What do you see in my face?" "Madness." "Madness!" "And terrible thoughts." "Tears... tears of mourning, shed on your grave." "But they are the last." "Forgive me..." "Farewell." "One last kiss, my sister." "I save your honour... and kill you with a kiss." "Goodbye... cruel brother." "Goodbye..." "Goodbye..." "goodbye." "The wretched fruit in your womb... received from me both life and death." "Oh, Soranzo, you've missed your mark." "I anticipated you." "I killed a love for whose every drop of blood I would have given my heart" "Annabella... with what splendour your wounds blaze, triumphing over shame and hate." "Falter not, brave hand, but resolutely perform only this last and greater deed." "Here you are, Soranzo..." "Take at last... my sister's head." "In no other way... could you possess it." "Look at it... take a good look at it." "Are you frightened?" "How you would have trembled, had you witnessed the havoc of life... and beauty I have wrought." "It's a head..." "It's a head, my friends..." "A head... in which... mine... is buried." "Take courage, Soranzo..." "It's Annabella's head..." "I swear... it's hers." "With the tip of this dagger..." "you see it?" "I ploughed up her fruitful womb... and left to myself... the glory of carnage." " Are you mad?" "!" " Nooooo!" "For nine months, Annabella was my bride." "Nine months... we lived and loved... enough." "Do you understand?" "Do you understand that it is the truth, Soranzo?" "I read it in your eyes, in your pale cheeks... they bear the mark..." "of your shame." "So it was you..." "incestuous monster!" "Let not one member of her family survive!" "This, too, is an act of courage!" "Now no one in my family lives but me!" "Ordained with the blood of a beautiful sister and an unhappy father!" "Stop him." "Stop him, Soranzo - the three of us were friends." "Don't remind me of that, monk." "I loved Annabella... yet you became vile and debauched." "I could have lived in splendour." "You talk of friendship, monk?" "It does not exist." "Don't shut your eyes." "Look... look for the last time, upon your incestuous friend." "I shall scatter the pieces of his body, for the dogs of the swamps." "Don't pray for him, monk." "It's useless." "Save your prayers for beasts more worthy of them." "Subtitles by Lord Retsudo"