My Brilliant Friend (L'amica geniale)

CARRACCI'S GROCERY STORE

This goes over here!

Signora, tell me what to do and I'll do it!

Lila, in your condition you need to be careful.

Be careful with those shelves, or they'll fall!

They have to be fitted to the wall.

- That's the sixth time you've told me. - And this is the seventh!

By all means. As you wish.

And fit this properly too.

Why does she want to do everything? She shouldn't exert herself.

How would I know?

Do you think I've calmed down?

No, it doesn't look like it.

I gave Carmela much higher pay than at the notions store.

I made Stefano increase Ada's pay

and I gave Pasquale money to go to the dentist.

I don't want to hear a word from anyone.

Yes, but you need to calm down. You can't work like this every day.

- Let someone help you. - Out of my way.

Those two assholes, my brother and my husband, used me.

They don't think I'm a person, but a thing.

They kept Michele happy, like they did with Marcello.

"We'll give him Lila. We'll hang her on the wall, because she's nothing."

They'll have to kill me first if they want to use my picture.

It's a good thing, they only put actresses on posters.

Again? I'm not an actress.

Where are you going with that register? It has to go here!

Can't you see it's too low? One, two, three...

She had something in mind to divert her from her constant turmoil.

A violent, definitive outburst

to free her mind and body of pent-up energy.

My intuition was confirmed in the tenth week of pregnancy.

Lila came to me with her eyes shining feverishly.

She had glue, scissors, paint.

She'd found a solution for the photograph

and wanted me to help her, to support her.

Is it the frame, the wall, the light?

I have to see it.

And then, enough, okay?

Yes, enough.

Lovely lady, now will you tell us what you've got in mind?

Or do you simply want to ruin our evening?

- Put it on the floor. - What for?

Now I'll show you.

Don't be stupid.

You have no idea what it cost! If you ruin it, you'll be sorry!

On the floor.

Lenù, help me.

Hand me the cutter.

Get the scissors.

The newspaper, too.

I recognized the expression her face assumed

when a thought would arrive from deep inside her and burn her brain.

How exciting those moments were, how I liked being at her side,

slipping into her intentions, coming to predict them.

I felt she was seeing something that was not there

and that she was working so we could see it too.

It's finished.

All done.

- I'm not hanging this eyesore in my shop! - I agree.

We have to sell, with this thing on the wall people will run away!

Tell her it's ridiculous, please!

I told you, you can't reason with her.

You have to say: yes or no, and that's it.

Or else it's a waste of time.

In a magazine I saw that Rossano Brazzi has a picture like this in his house.

- See? - And what does that mean?

That Rossano Brazzi knows everything?

That you know everything and me and Pina don't?

Shut up.

- Like this or not at all. - I don't get it, I can't...

Shut up, Gigliola.

I like it, signora.

I get what you were trying to do.

You can see the shoes well, they stand out.

Brava.

You're stubborn, but when you do something, you do it right.

We gotta decide, the shop opens tomorrow.

It's already decided, I like it.

Yes, you've convinced me, too.

We're ready to turn it on.

Let me see this sign, then.

See what a beauty.

If they're Cerullo shoes, why is the shop named Solara?

Why do you have to be a pain in the ass? Wanna make more trouble?

You ruined the photo and those two fools even agree.

- Be satisfied for once. - Do you borrow money from the Solaras?

Stefano, too?

That's why you do whatever they say, you're in debt to them!

From now on, you and my husband don't count.

I'll speak to Michele.

- Lila, where are you going? - Nowhere.

It's me.

Some blood came out.

Does that mean the baby is dead?

Who personifies love that moves everything?

Angelica.

Angelica is the pivotal character of the work,

everything rotates around her.

Rinaldo loves her in vain.

Orlando goes mad with jealousy.

It's as if there were a place

at the heart of which

stands a sensual, irresistible woman who stokes passion in all men.

- And pain, too. - Yes, pain, too.

But Ariosto conceives the moon

as the place where everything that has been lost on earth is kept.

Where the grief for those we have loved in vain ends up.

Thank you, Greco.

I'd like to keep going, but it's time to go home.

Go back to your place.

For the day after tomorrow, "Orlando Furioso",

canto 35, reading and paraphrasing.

You may go.

Elena.

What newspapers do you read?

I don't know... Roma.

Take this one, I've read it.

I'll bring newspapers again, so you can read them every day.

Thank you, miss.

PIAZZA DEI MARTIRI - NEW STORE IN THE CENTER OF NAPLES

Hi, Lenù.

Give me the satisfaction. Try it.

You try some, too. You can see it's fresh milk.

After the miscarriage, there began a long period

when she stopped running around

and seemed determined to compress her whole life

into the order of that space fragrant with cheese,

filled with salami and bread.

- Who wants more? - 250 for me!

Mamma, make sure you treat her well.

Thank you.

Please.

Signora Maria, your daughter-in-law's recovered.

You know what they say?

The Lord gives us children and then takes them away.

So true...

Lenù, come here.

Enzo sent it, he's in a remote place in Piedmont.

He's fine.

I'm glad, Enzo's cool.

Antonio sent a postcard to Lila here at the store.

- He's not well, is he? - No.

Carmela, take care of the customers.

Lenù, come with me.

- Signora, what else do you need? - I took a bottle of Strega liqueur.

You take it a little too often.

Alfonso told me you were looking for me.

Wait.

I wanted to show you this.

I've seen it, Michele Solara got them to write it.

Did you see? He was here.

He's always here, I don't understand why.

Read it out loud.

"The kindness, the sweetness, the grace of the two seductive nereids,

Signorina Gigliola Spagnuolo and Signorina Giuseppina Carracci,

marvelous maids in flower who control the destiny of a business...

No, further down.

"The panel is a crude hotchpotch,

a discordant note in a setting of majestic elegance".

Did you see who wrote it?

Donato Sarratore.

Yes.

And you have nothing to say?

- What can I say? - Like father, like son.

And anyway, only he wrote the truth.

There's not a true word in any of the other papers.

They were all paid for.

With this.

Smell how it stinks.

- Lila, Mamma's here, she's arrived. - Send her in.

- Giuseppina. - Good evening.

- Hi, Lenù. - Hi, Giuseppina.

How are you?

We get by.

- This is for you. - You're such a dear.

There are things to take to your husband in jail, too.

- May the Lord bless you. - It's nothing.

Give me a kiss.

I'll see you.

Thank you again.

Carmela, I'll be right there.

Pasquale was always right,

everything here has been done with Stefano's money

and Stefano made the money starting with his father's.

Without the money made from the black market and loan sharking,

neither this store nor the shoe store would exist.

And that's not all, neither Stefano, nor Rino, nor my father

would have sold a single shoe without the help of the Solaras' contacts,

also loan sharks.

The Solaras and the Carraccis joined forces to keep the money growing.

Therefore not even the money Carmela and I earn is clean.

Money can never be cleaned.

Is it clear what kind of scam I'm caught up in?

I don't like what I've done and what I'm doing,

that's why I want to use the money my way.

Remember, you have to pass with an A average.

I put my heart and soul into it.

I'm doing well.

I know you've really knuckled down.