My Brilliant Friend (L'amica geniale)

Is she asleep?

She's not well.

She left the factory.

She has to stop working now.

Lila has a bad life, it's true,

like everyone who's exploited.

She'll die at this rate.

Lila's destined to do so much, she can't stop now.

The struggle at the Soccavo factory is serious.

These fights are happening all over the world...

You're always lecturing people!

We're all aware of the facts, but this is about Lila's health.

Lila's health...

For a little fever, your friend gets to stay home like a lady?

- Like you are now. - What am I?

An intellectual.

So what?

A petty bourgeois who cares more about her friend than the working class.

Lots of workers can wage war on Soccavo.

I knew there was something strange,

that she was in trouble, that she was wearing down.

Lila's really ill.

She was right to quit.

Drive me home.

Let's go.

Enzo...

I'll see you out.

Keep Pasquale away from Lila.

Lila seemed like one of those plants that lose their brilliant green,

their leaves turn gray, lose their shape

and you feel particularly satisfied coming to their aid,

seeing how they turn green again thanks to us.

I felt a certain sense of power,

as if her withering gave me the chance to show off my new status.

What happened?

Fine time to come home... where have you been?

I was at Lila's.

I knew you were with that slut.

She's not well, she needs help.

That one'll lead you down a bad path.

No one in the neighborhood wants her, not even her family.

And you do?

For once, will you listen to me?

Think of what you've become and how she's ended up.

Wasn't writing a dirty book enough for you?

You want to stay friends with her too?

What are you doing? Who are you calling at this hour?

Hello, Pietro?

Did I wake you?

Don't open them, your sister's sleeping.

We're all awake, with all this noise.

Thanks to your sister.

I have to help her. What can I do?

To resign and get a little money

she needs a lawyer.

- Who can I ask? - I'll ask Mariarosa.

I think she dated a Neapolitan lawyer.

- Then we have to help her companion. - Enzo.

If he's good with computers, I'll ask Mansani.

He's a young Greek scholar from Pisa who's obsessed with computers.

Call Mariarosa and the Greek scholar, please.

- All right. - Don't just promise, do it.

You just used the exact same tone as my mother.

I'm different from Adele, unfortunately.

Thank goodness you're different.

She's exceptional with these things,

so tell her about your friend, she'll help you.

Okay, I'll speak to you tonight.

Making calls for someone who left her husband and is living with someone else.

Wake up! Not even shouting makes you open your eyes.

You always shout, we're used to it.

Adele, it's Elena.

What on earth happened this morning?

Lenuccia.

She slept over with that trash without letting us know.

May I give you a piece of advice?

Elena, can you hear me?

Yes, I'm here.

She's not a kid anymore, she's an adult woman.

I'll help you, I'd be very pleased to,

but you must learn to take sides, don't be shy.

You're a writer, make your role count for something.

Get involved, be there.

Start with that riffraff where you are.

Put them with their back against the wall.

- How can I do that? - By writing.

Frighten the factory owner to death.

Him and those like him.

Promise me you'll do that.

I'll try.

I'll give you the number

of a good man on the editorial staff of L'Unità.

Write down the number.

How much longer do we have to support her?

Thank you, we'll speak soon.

No worries, I can give Elisa a little money.

Look what a little sweetie he is this morning.

Don't hit me!

Where's Gianni?

He's gone out, he didn't even have breakfast.

What's wrong, Lenù?

You wanna say something?

Mamma...

Mamma?

First thing this morning, he goes: "Mamma, did you buy cookies?"

He can't get out of bed without sugar and milk.

I was no longer the little match girl always down to her last match.

Now I had a sizable stock of matches, I could do a lot for Lila.

I was leaving the family I came from

and I was joining a powerful, generously protective family.

Saving Lila also became a way

to demonstrate, above all to myself, what kind of person I could be.

Come, I'll take you in to meet Giuntini.

Don't be shy, he's kind underneath it all.

Giuntini? She's here.

- Good morning, Mr. Giuntini, I'm... - You're Elena Greco, I know.

The paper devoted half a page to you, a rave review.

- Your book wasn't bad. - Thank you, sir.

We're less formal here, comrade. You are a comrade, right?

I don't remember what you wanted to write about. Dock workers, miners?

The sausage factory.

Right, the one in San Giovanni.

So why do successful young novelists

want to dirty their hands with shifts and overtime?

- Don't you have the piece? - I thought we had to discuss it.

How do we put the paper together, with chatter?

Find a typewriter and write.

- Now? - How long do I have to wait?

Sit there and give me 30 lines.

No, actually...

You write well, make it 60.

This is Greco, she'll be with us today.

Hi.

Good morning.

"As we walk in the street with lowered eyes,

we don't notice others who brush past, we don't ask who they are, how they live,

the sacrifices they make, the despair in their eyes,

the wrath they feel when they show us their hands wounded

from boning animal carcasses,

scarred forever by toil and neglect in their workplaces,

the hands of workers who at night collapse not saying a word.

And young women who aren't able to tell their men

their bosses suddenly decided they mustn't be immersed

in the cooking water for the mortadella..."

I wrote what you told me.

The teacher's Communist kids won't like this way of doing things.

What way?

At the newspaper they complimented me,

they asked me to work with them.

Nadia, you mean? Don't give her more importance than she gives herself.

And Armando too.

All right, forget it.

- I'm not going to the cardiologist. - Why?

Because I don't want to.

I called half the world to get you an appointment, you can't do this.

- That's why I have to go? - You're going, period.

It's important.

We'll put our shoes on and go to your neighbor.

You get ready.

You're going to the cardiologist by yourself.

Bye, Gennarino. Bye, Titina, thank you.

Are you ready?

I want to go back to live in the neighborhood.

You're strong, I never have been.

You, the further away you go, the more real you feel.

Me, if I go through the tunnel, I get scared.

Remember when we were going to the seaside and it started raining?

Yes.

Who wanted to keep going and who wanted to turn back?

But you can't go back to the neighborhood.

What will you do about Stefano, about your family?

Have you forgotten how you treated your mother?

And your father doesn't want to see you anymore.

How do you know all these things?

People talk.

He's getting married, she's run off...

Rumors spread in the neighborhood.

Is this news to you?

Come.

What madness to return to the neighborhood!

I was about to leave it behind me,

she wanted to go back into the trap.

You're beautiful like these statuettes.

You're the lady and I'm the maid.

I didn't understand her.

She must have felt so helpless in the factory and outside

that now the neighborhood seemed comfortable ground.

If I'm all right, I'll go back to the neighborhood.

Cerullo, this way.

Can my friend come in too?

No, she has to wait here.

Go, don't worry.

If she's not there, I'm leaving.

All right, follow me both of you.

Lila, you have to tell me when to make an appointment for Enzo at IBM.

Do I have to tell you right now?

My son graduated at the Normale University, a few years before you.

Now lie down.

How do you know Adele?

Her cousin, a world-renowned physicist, is a friend of mine.