Maraviglioso Boccaccio Page #3

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Nice, eh?

Light, maneuverable...

With this, I would have surely won.

And that?

My gift for your Ghismunda.

It is beautiful.

Well done, Guiscardo.

Worth your salt, eh?

A good swordsman and a good sculptor.

Ghismunda will drink the milk I

shall give her from your chalice.

Thank you, Father.

- Come, sit and reason with me.

Do you remember?

- Do I remember?

How often I thought of our little

corner of confidence, from afar.

But not today.

Do not be upset, today I wish to be

alone. My husband is not long dead.

But he was old, and you did not love him.

Is that not so?

It is true, but now that he is

gone he seems dearer to me.

He was good to me, and I respect him.

I shall mourn him, and remain

closed in my room for a month.

Have patience.

Patience is for the old. I am not

that old to you, am I, Ghismunda?

Then allow me to stay here.

I must leave? Truly?

Yes.

- Oh, yes?

Oh, yes?

One Month Later

Look at me, am I beautiful?

- Yes, yes.

But, truly beautiful?

- Yes.

There she is.

I'd die of envy if I saw a father

with a daughter such as she.

And now, Tancredi, a nice marriage!

- No marriage! She stays here.

She doesn't want to put out!

She's a naughty one, that swallow.

She won't put out!

He likes the swallows, eh? Your protege.

- Yes, that is Guiscardo.

Make me happy:
go and thank him

for the chalice he gifted you.

Very clever, but such a lout.

- A lout, why?

The way he speaks. You heard him

this morning in the town square.

The love life of the swallows.

He is a lout. - You're right,

often he tests my patience.

Though, he has such imagination.

You should see the work he is

doing on our coat of arms.

A shame that I must lose

him one of these days.

Why must you lose him? - He is talented.

Word gets around, all workshops want him.

I don't understand. You raised him,

taught him and now you let him go?

I don't know you anymore.

- I'm happy for him, he deserves it.

May Florence admire him!

I was expecting you.

Why? - Why? There is no why,

you are here and that's all.

Is this the coat of arms?

My father has spoken of it.

He is right, it's beautiful.

- No, I find it ugly.

I've drawn it 100 times. There's too

much, no central idea, I hate it.

No, I think there is imagination.

You shouldn't have looked at it,

it's sh*t!

Why must an artist be such a lout?

You made this with love, yes?

Yes, Ghismunda, I'd like

to act aloof, but...

This horse was born out of angst.

I'd make mistakes, not sleep at night.

But from it comes a brighter day.

Do not leave for Florence.

Come!

Come with me.

It's my room!

I see it with your eyes, Guiscardo,

and it seems much more beautiful.

Don't go!

Don't go.

- I won't go.

Don't play the naughty swallow.

- I cannot live without you.

And I, was not truly alive until that

day I saw you in the town square.

I felt it, too.

Why? Are you afraid?

Of whom, of what?

Of nothing, if I am here with you.

I, too, have no other will than

to be here with you.

But, your father? - I don't know.

I love no one, except for you.

No, actually I love everyone more.

Everyone.

Why have you done this to me?

I know what awaits me.

But Sir, we...

if it is love, does that not count?

Nothing? Nothing!

If you harm him, Sir, you will

do more harm to yourself.

What am to do with you? You know

how fond I have always been of you.

A father can do no more,

must do no more.

You know of my blood: those who

offend me must be wiped out.

He must be wiped out!

But before it is done,

I must hear it from you.

Tancredi...

I will not contradict nor

implore your forgiveness.

I loved Guiscardo, and while

I am alive I shall love him.

And if love exists after death...

I will love him still.

You are of flesh and have fathered

a daughter of flesh, not stone.

You cannot have forgotten

the pleasures of your youth.

I learned them in my bridal bed.

I looked for them once again

and you showed them to me.

You told me of Guiscardo,

of his merit and virtues.

I found them again, Tancredi.

I do not wish to show disrespect

in calling you by name.

But may continue to love a

father who now wishes to...

How did you put it?

Wipe out his young favourite.

You know not what to do with me?

Dismiss such thoughts.

Unless you do the same to me

as you intend to do to him...

these hands of mine will

do it for you.

Father...

you will not do it.

She is a woman. He will disappear

from sight and she will forget him.

Strangle him and bring me his heart.

The next day, a servant came...

and gave me the golden chalet that

my father had ordered to be made...

for my celebration, and which

Guiscardo had forged for me.

Inside it was his heart. I kissed

it and washed it with my tears.

I poured in the potion of poisonous

herbs I had gathered that morning.

I drank it.

I dried my eyes, would not go to

Guiscardo with a face full of tears.

Lied down on the bed without fear.

Then, I don't recall, at dawn,

I felt a hand touch my hair.

It was that of my father, he was there.

Forgive me.

Forgive you?

Yes...

Forgive you...

Her face was relaxed as though smiling...

when she was interred beside Guiscardo.

Because this is what the people wished.

I've finished.

Where are you going?

- What are you doing?

Enough of this sadness! - What do you

mean? - Come, let us take a swim!

A swim? - Yes, there's a lake!

- Sorry?

There's "the lake of women",

that's how the farmers call it.

Why?

- Who knows, but it's a nice name!

First you cried, almost

made us feel guilty.

Now you will laugh, I hope.

You may know that not far from here,

perhaps that way...

there was a famous saintly monastery.

Few nuns were there for vocation,

most the wish of powerful families.

You must have heard, no?

All destined for a cloistered

life from a very young age.

Like Isabetta, unaware of the

strange future that awaited her.

Like Usimbalda, future Abbess.

And what an Abbess!

Isabetta was the most beautiful of

the convent, and the most unhappy.

One morning, Isabetta came to

to the grate to see relatives...

and fell in love with Leonetto,

the handsome Leonetto...

who was visiting with them.

Come!

- What's going on?

What is it, what's going on?

- We must call for the Abbess!

Isabetta, I can't believe it!

- Isabetta? - Come quick!

Quiet!

Make no noise, or they will flee!

Waking your Mother Abbess in the

middle of the night? How dare you?!

A man!

- Naked!

Where? - With Sister Isabetta.

- Naked!

Wait there.

Go!

Down!

Is that okay? Can you breath?

My breeches!

Usimbalda...

You have my breeches on your head!

Now keep your eyes down.

On your knees, damnable sinner!

Tremble, tremble...

Down in hell they are preparing

a place for your arrival.

Forgive me.

Yes, for what more shameful sin...

to risk disgracing this convent

that has been hallowed for centuries.

The convent that you honour with

your prayers, sisters, your purity.

And this sister of yours

sullies it with her shame.

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