The Charterhouse of Parma (La certosa di Parma)

Music of the credits.

Applause.

Live italy!

- Long live freedom! - Long live freedom!

On May 15, 1796, General Bonaparte

entered Milan at the head of the army

who had just passed the Lodi Bridge

and to teach the world that after so many centuries,

Caesar and Alexander had a successor.

Miracles of bravery and genius including Italy

witnessed awakened a sleeping people.

The departure of the last Austrian regiment

marked the fall of ideas.

The people realized that everything he had respected

was supremely ridiculous and sometimes odious.

To be happy, one had to love one's country and be heroic.

The madness was so excessive and so general

that it would be impossible for me to give an idea

if not by this historical reflection:

"This people was bored for 100 years."

Playful classical music

...

Thank you.

Here you are finally. You give me a little courage.

Your brother feels such hatred for the French,

that as soon as the troops approached, he went to the castle.

We are obliged to host a French officer

who showed up this morning with a billet.

...

What an idea to invite me to dinner.

Heaps of luck, you eat at the pantry.

Go.

Hurry up, I'll be late.

How to call the hostess?

Excellence?

Madam Marquise?

Well, I found, I'll call him a citizen.

So?

Here.

...

My husband says

that they are bloodthirsty. They want to see us guillotined.

...

Excellency! Lieutenant Robert.

Please let me introduce you

my sister-in-law, the future Countess Pietranera.

Nice to meet you.

Count Pietranera.

I beg you, gentlemen.

Classical music

I'm sorry, I'm not presentable.

I do not even know how to sit at the table.

Since 2 years, in the mountains of Genoa,

I only saw ugly things

and miserable.

You must have seen death closely.

The risk did not scare us.

We have always looked for it.

My brother claims that you are forced under pain of death

to plunder and cut the heads of aristocrats.

Is it true?

We fight for you and for your freedom.

And for that, we must start by supporting ourselves.

Italy has long been the realm of lies.

Everything is a lie in this country.

Except music.

She is the only thing that stays alive.

The other joys of the soul are stifled.

If you have a minimum of civic sense,

we are not long in dying,

poisoned by melancholy.

On the other hand, the love here is delicious.

In other countries, only the copy is found.

The real feeling seems to have been created by the Italians.

We have nothing else to do.

The story of Lt Robert was pretty much that of all the French,

instead of making fun of these brave soldiers,

we had pity on them and we loved them.

We will admit that following the example of many authors,

the story of our hero begins a year before his birth.

This character is none other than Fabrice Valserra,

Marchesino del Dongo as they say in Milan.

He happened to be the second son of this Marquis del Dongo

you will know hatred for new ideas,

so for the French.

Fabrice had just been born

when the French were driven out.

Blessing prayer.

We will not talk about drunkenness.

Milanese when 2 years later, Bonaparte

entered Milan again.

We will slide on the 10 years of happiness

which followed from 1800 to 1810.

Fabrice spent the first years at Grianta Castle

giving and receiving punches

and learning nothing, not even reading.

His father demanded that he be shown Latin,

he was sent to Jesuit College in Milan,

where he saw his aunt Gina become, against the will of the marquis,

Countess Pietranera.

Are you still watching the battle of Marengo, Fabrice?

It fascinates you, huh?

Tonight, I promise you,

I'll tell you how I almost got slashed.

Fabrice.

I have a surprise for you.

Here.

It's over with those sad clothes.

God, you're skinny.

Do you think we give you enough to eat in college?

It was Prince Eugene who promoted you to a hussar officer.

He wants you to be introduced to him.

Hussar officer, you will be superb.

And all women will fall in love with you.

As I fell in love with your uncle

when I was about your age.

Your father never

supported the idea that I marry Aunt Gina.

He blamed me for my liberal ideas

that he hates. Despite the feeling he shows me,

he should recognize that your aunt since

the return of the French became

one of the most brilliant women of the court.

Fabrice did not suspect that this promotion

it would be worth to be reminded to Grianta

and separated from his uncle and aunt whom he adored.

Oh!

Honey.

Let's see. Enough of these cajoleries.

I do not see the reason.

It does not seem to me that this young man has behaved well.

Besides, it's my fault in a way.

I should not have trust them.

You will have to forget a lot of things.

What is that?

Ah! Ah!

My beloved sister has deigned to break her silence and write to me.

"I beg you," Fabrice returns to Milan.

"I want to cry at any moment."

"I'm crazy about this kid."

The mad is her.

She is an exalted

and a fool.

She lost her reputation and she wants to lose you too.

Make you a Pietranera.

It's over the holiday season.

No more playing the soldier.

You will forget your uniform and your liberal principles.

You will not leave the house.

And his studies?

It's a Dongo del, he does not have to study.

He must learn not to be robbed.

For the rest, our abbot will suffice.

He will remain an ignorant man all his life?

And Ascagne, then?

Should we consider him an ignorant?

Because he is learning to manage our goods?

That's not what I meant.

The truth is that you think like Gina.

You would like to make Fabrice a patriot like his uncle.

A Jacobin.

It is the ideas that have lost Italy, which have rotten it.

Come with me.

...

Excellency. Oh it's you.

News?

The 6th hunter changed garrison.

These are all the names and the proofs you asked for.

Bravo.

You worked well, I'm happy.

Come here.

...

Here. I'm counting on you tomorrow.

The least information is important.

We need the most evidence against this breed

who married the cause of the French.

Do not be afraid.

Leave us. We will soon celebrate the return of his imperial majesty.

...

Timely,

it will be possible for me to prove my fidelity to Austria.

...

At work, now.

Come on, Ascagne, take the code.

Meanwhile, I will put on my coat.

...

It is a pity

unable to wear it yet.

I still hope to put it

before everyone in a while.

...

In six months, Napoleon will be overthrown.

And we will see

the French finally driven out.

And the reconquest of Milan by the Austrian troops.

Ascanio.

To his imperial and royal majesty,

the Emperor of Austria.

For 13 years, the marquis firmly believed

that Napoleon would be overthrown before 6 months.