Wondrous Boccaccio (Maraviglioso Boccaccio)

WONDROUS BOCCACCIO

FLORENCE 1 348 AT THE TIME OF THE PLAGUE

I'm dying...

without having enjoyed Iife...

Not even...

this much.

I've Iost a daughter, I won't have these two taken from me!

- Keep away! - You touched her!

Keep away!

Don't come Iooking for us.

I'm going with them, Lauretta.

I'II accompany them.

I won't abandon them.

We're done.

We have to go.

Not Iike that! Don't treat my famiIy Iike that!

Here, give him a hand.

I want them cIose together.

Side by side.

No, no!

- Come here! - Come back up here!

Come away!

Come back here!

We're in a hurry, we're paid to work.

Get out!

Or we'II bury you too!

He's not the first to react this way.

You saw them the other day. At Ieast two of them.

- Shame on you! - We're not harming anyone!

Many say the scent of fIowers keeps the pIague away.

I've got the pIague, fair rose.

Why shouIdn't you catch it too?

Wait!

Anna! PaoIa!

- Are we aII here? - AII except EIisabetta.

I'm over here. I'm over here.

I'm staying here!

EIisabetta, aII of us together, remember?

We'II save ourseIves.

We're Ieaving.

I'm staying here.

If you can forget, I can't.

I'II Ieave on my own tomorrow.

You count the day's dead in the evening.

I'm going up into the hiIIs, in the open air.

And if death finds me up there, so be it.

What's wrong, Fiammetta? You were the most determined.

To abandon everything...

We ourseIves have been abandoned!

I know that. Many of you know that.

We can't put it off any Ionger.

We've been Iooking for you for days, where were you?

We even thought...

Dioneo, FiIostrato...

PanfiIo...

we're Ieaving FIorence tomorrow.

WiII you come with us?

Are you joking?

We've decided we need some peace.

These Iast few days have been...

They've been...

Come with us.

Listen!

We'II meet at HoIy Trinity bridge two hours from now.

Come over here!

This is beautifuI!

Friends...

what are you doing?

What are we doing?

GirIs, your good judgment brought us here.

I don't know what you pIan to do, what you're thinking.

I Ieft my worries down there.

You did too, didn't you, Fiammetta?

We can spend these days together pIeasantIy,

or say fareweII

and return to FIorence.

Stay, Dioneo.

For our friendship's sake at Ieast.

We're aII very tired...

Dioneo, I want what you want, we aII do.

Let's give ourseIves ruIes, the days wiII be Iong.

NeifiIe and FiIomena came up with a good idea.

TeII them, NeifiIe.

Every day we'II teII a story, we'II aII teII a different one.

A good one.

You might know some of them, they're a century oId.

Oh, God, I can't even think of one. What shaII I do?

I know a Iot...

but we're free to choose any topic we want, right?

No, Dioneo.

Don't be angry.

I think the three of us shouId set another ruIe.

No romancing.

Then there'II be no envy among the others.

AII right, pIease yourseIf!

But no one can stop me kissing my beIoved right now.

Then no more, I promise.

FiIomena, are you asIeep?

Listen!

AII right then...

I'm reaIIy happy to be the first to teII a story, about Iove

and resurrection.

It's about the pIague too.

Forgive me,

but you'II see that he, and her too...

This is my story:

about CataIina, a very beautifuI and respectabIe wife.

But she faIIs seriousIy iII.

But they don't know what her sickness is.

This is her husband, Nicoluccio,

a good husband and a successful merchant,

but like everyone in that house, he takes orders from his mother,

Lady Lucrezia, who has ordered the servant and doctor

to take Catalina far away from them

to their country house.

She's given the coachman the order.

This is Master Gentile Carisendi,

young, handsome and distraught.

He was touched by the plague, but he survived.

For days he's waited below the window

where the woman he loves might die,

the woman he has always loved.

If we don't get her out of here, we'II aII perish!

While they were taking Catalina far away from her home,

the doctor and servant witnessed her death.

They stopped, but didn't turn back.

They left her in the crypt of an abandoned church.

Doctor, I won't get into troubIe for this?

No, the sooner you bury them,

the more gratefuI their reIatives and friends are.

- Where did you put her? - Where do you think?

On top of the sIab.

I reaIized she was stiII aIive.

- AIive? - Yes, I've brought her here.

Do you Iove her that much?

Look at me.

Yes...

I know you.

You do.

No, you can see her Iater.

Go back to your room...

and wait.

Who are you?

- Am I aIive or dead? - You're a IittIe dazed, but aIive.

You're with friends, don't be afraid.

Yes, you have fought off your iIIness.

My doctor examined you,

he says you're weak but you'II get better.

And we wiII heIp you.

I won't touch you, if you don't want.

The pIague has been kind.

It's kept away from our vaIIey.

And everyone's saying it's now Ieaving FIorence too.

Good morning, CataIina. Sorry for coming into your room.

There, I won't Iook at you.

But Iet me speak.

You know why you're here in our home, my mother's toId you everything.

And you've known of my Iove for some time.

But for God to use this Iove of mine to bring you back to Iife...

it amazes me.

ReaIIy.

And I am gratefuI to Him.

So am I.

But I wouId ask you a favor.

Remain here untiI you are weII.

Why?

Your famiIy beIieves you dead,

and there's no one waiting for you at home.

That's why.

I don't understand.

I want to give your husband a wonderfuI surprise.

Me and you...

No, I'II come no cIoser.

I wiII organize a banquet here...

outside in the grounds.

I wiII invite your friends and mine.

From FIorence.

Let's have a go at this game.

You try.

WeII done!

Leave us.

Friends...

you have honored my tabIe,

and I wish to honor you too.

I want you to meet the person I Iove most in the worId.

But first...

I'd Iike you to cIear up a doubt I have.

Right...

a gentIeman has in his home...

a kind and IoyaI servant

who faIIs seriousIy iII.

And this gentIeman, without waiting for the end,

takes him into the street and abandons him there.

A stranger, moved by compassion,

takes him to his home,

and he's cured.

Now then...

if the first gentIeman

wishes to take his servant back

and the second refuses to Iet him...