All language subtitles for Abdication (1974) english

I, Christina, sovereign of Sweden,

do hereby abdicate my throne

and do invest all my lands and all my powers

upon my successor.

By the grace of god,

may he reign in peace.

God save the king.

Ha ha ha!

But she is not expected for a week.

Nevertheless, she is here.

Tell the pope I've arrived

to throw myself at his feet

to become his newest and most ardent catholic.

Tell him I've sworn not to take my first communion

till I receive it from his hand.

Well?

Go.

We won't steal anything.

Caught him off guard, didn't I?

What do you think, birgito?

Will the Vatican suit us?

I think it will suit me very well.

And one week from now,

we're to welcome this woman into the faith?

Not exactly what one hopes for in a convert, is she?

She always presented herself as a philosopher,

a lover of art and learning.

She's depraved, a libertine.

The church has been to bed with libertines before and survived.

It could be only rumor.

If people believe it,

it has the force of fact.

She must not be allowed to come.

But all Rome has been preparing for months.

What about the decorations?

Oh, by all means, don't let's waste the decorations.

She is the most powerful

protestant monarch in the world.

Her conversion is a victory,

and it will bring thousands

back to the sanctity of holy mother church.

If these reports are true,

her conversion to catholicism

might be the greatest victory

the protestants ever had.

Which side are you on?

Neither.

We can't admit her.

She could make a laughingstock

of the church and all it stands for.

We should see the proofs of these stories.

How do you find proofs for these stories?

From the source. From her.

We must send someone to investigate her.

Where is she now?

In the north of Italy, I believe.

Then we must have time to investigate her.

Agreed?

Agreed.

So we must send an envoy to her at once

to impede her progress...

What is it, Dominic?

She's here.

The queen is here.

What?

His holiness must be told at once.

His holiness will not receive her.

But when her retinue arrives,

the whole city will know.

Her retinue will be delayed

and her presence in the Vatican kept secret.

Her conversion will not be celebrated

until we have determined that it is in the interest

of the holy church to do so.

Until we have determined

that her conversion is sincere.

How is it to be decided?

His holiness has required

that before he receives her, she be examined.

Examined?

A ritual cleansing.

I could better use a bath.

It's for the good of your soul.

My soul has survived abdication, conversion,

and a thousand miles of jogging in square-wheeled carriages.

I shall not make the rest of the journey on my knees.

But...

I already poured out my soul in letters to his holiness.

But you won't be examined by him.

Who, then?

Another.

An ancient cleric hiding behind his curtain

muttering, "yes, my daughter. No, my daughter."

Please, madam.

I shall not expose my soul to some faceless creature.

Do it eye-to-eye, then.

I expected the pope to take me in his arms.

I did not expect to be held

outside his doorstep.

I quite understand.

I insist on seeing the pope at once.

I'm sorry.

I am queen.

Ex-queen, if you'll forgive the distinction.

Where are your maidservants?

I prefer the company of men.

What is he saying?

That we should go back to Sweden.

Dominic, show him the queen's apartments.

Yes, your eminence.

Your eminence!

Yes, Dominic?

I can't understand it.

He won't accept any of the rooms I offer him.

How many has he seen?

12.

You've shown him 12 rooms, and none of them are satisfactory?

They are satisfactory, but not sufficient.

How many do you require?

20.

For your attendants?

For myself.

We'll do our best to accommodate you.

I thought the fellow was mad.

He gets it from his mistress.

We can't possibly...

Give her the entire tower.

The entire...

Naturally, we will wait until you are less tired.

I am never tired.

I thought that you might like to...

I always look like this.

Rest does not improve me.

Tell me, cardinal.

You are a cardinal?

I am a cardinal.

This formality

before I can see the pope...

Is that usual Vatican procedure?

Frequent Vatican procedure.

Do you never make exceptions?

Sometimes.

Then surely I can be one.

I'm afraid not.

Why?

There are doubts.

About what?

The sincerity of your conversion.

I gave up a crown to become a convert.

So it would seem.

No one in the history of the world

ever made such a sacrifice.

So anxious were you to become a catholic?

So anxious.

And yet it took you a year

to make the journey from Stockholm to Rome.

The roads were muddy.

Were the ballrooms

of Hamburg, antwerp, and Brussels muddy, too?

I was enjoying myself

for the first time in my life.

What made you suddenly decide to cut short

the merrymaking

and descend on the Vatican?

I insist on seeing the pope.

I'm sorry, but that's not possible.

The pope led me to believe he would

welcome me as a daughter the moment I arrived.

So he had hoped.

Then why am I still standing here?

Because of this.

The pleasures and depravities

of Christina, queen of Sweden.

Have you read it?

I haven't time to waste on scandal.

You refute the book?

I laugh at it, and so should you.

Or can't the church be expected to appreciate

a little humor?

The church loves humor, Christina, if that's what it is,

but there are reasons for us not being amused by it.

And what are those?

Letters...

From priests and bishops all along your route.

Tales are told of you in every dining hall

and tavern in Europe.

Your escapades single-handedly

are keeping an army of gossips alive.

Then why didn't you stop me coming?

We wished to judge for ourselves.

Why did you let the choice fall to azzolino?

He could turn this to his own advantage.

Not at all.

I think he'll find himself in a trap.

As we all know,

azzolino is not the world's best judge of women.

No. Let him have the honor.

I refuse to submit to this!

You cannot escape your life

by hiding in the Vatican.

I came here for a haven and a refuge.

You came here because of god-knows-what political intrigues,

debauchery, lechery,

and expected the pope to welcome you.

You insult me to suggest

I came all this way

to rebel against the holy father.

I must have evidence

that if you are to be a guest of the Vatican

you will abide by its rules.

What do you think I would do...

Break your China?

Ride my horse through your crypts?

You cannot become a catholic for your own convenience.

For whose, then?

If you have done these things

and are repentant,

you will be accepted.

If I have done these things

and am not repentant?

Then you will not.

And what if I have not done these things?

That is why I want to hear your story.

And what if I don't choose to tell?

Then you are free to go.

Go? Where?

Well...where should a lady go

who has given up a protestant throne

to become a catholic?

Who has arrived to spend the rest of her life in Rome,

and the pope refuses to let her in?

Who would care to entertain a lady

who has neither god nor country?

I am a convert.

Then go where other converts go.

Where do they go?

Anywhere.

But there's no anywhere

for the former queen of Sweden, is there?

So you must be greeted and accepted by the pope.

Well, then, inquisitor...

Are your instruments of torture ready?

What's your name, cardinal?

Azzolino.

How long have you been a cardinal, azzolino?

Long enough.

Have you ever examined a queen?

No.

Does the prospect disconcert you?

I assume you're mortal.

Come, azzolino, let's start the day

with some good French wine,

and I will tell you the story of my life.

I want to hear the story of your life

without French wine.

Not even a little sacramental sip?

What do you want from me?

Seriousness and obedience.

Seriousness... obedience.

Have I come all this way

once more to play their doll queen?

Good girl, your majesty.

Now smile. Oh, come on, smile.

Chin up. High.

That's better.

I became queen when I was very young.

All I had to do was smile

and obey my prime minister.

Lower your left knee.

Bow your head.

Yes, oxenstierna. Yes, oxenstierna.

I was the best-behaved child

you could ever wish to meet.

That's not what they say about you here.

They say that you were brought up as a boy.

Oh, come on. Once more, your majesty.

Chin up. Yes. Higher.

Now...smile.

Which of these creatures are you?

None of them... both of them.

Neither.

Let's play the truth game!

I don't want to play the truth game.

Your entire future's at stake,

and you call it a game?

I was thinking of something I used to play

when I was a child... a truth game.

I was rather good at it.

I used to play it

with my dear friend ebba...

And that most handsome of all young gentlemen,

Magnus Gabriel de la gardie...

And my cousin Charles.

Is this Charles the present king of Sweden?

Yes.

And you abdicated to him?

Does that surprise you?

It seems to be an advantage for a king

to have no character.

Anyone who lies has to forfeit a kiss.

Ha ha ha!

What's the biggest lie you've ever told?

About my age.

I always say I'm two years older.

I lied about where I was last Christmas Eve.

Where were you?

Behind the stables.

What were you doing there?

Wouldn't you like to know?

My biggest lie was in mathematics.

Once I cheated.

Charles!

What about you, Christina?

I never lie.

Was that the truth?

Was and is... absolutely.

In this, you are the harlot of the northern hemisphere.

How picturesque.

In this, you are a man in disguise.

Unlikely, but possible.

Why did you give up the crown?

It was too heavy.

Why did you never marry?

I'm allergic to gold rings.

Why did you become a catholic?

To come to a better climate.

In the year since you gave up the throne,

you roamed the streets carousing every night.

You commanded for your pleasure

entertainments of the most disreputable nature.

Some say you even took part in them. Is it true?

Oh, yes, it's true. Everything's true.

What do they accuse me of...

Murder? Rape? The seven deadly sins?

Whatever you like.

The pope will have to assign someone else to this task.

I do not take the church and what it has to offer lightly.

Nor do I, azzolino.

Then I give you one more chance

to tell the truth.

I have nothing to tell.

In that case, I'm wasting my time.

These documents stand.

You allowed her time to visit her horse,

and you know the condition of the pope?

I know that if I hurry her, she'll sense it.

I already understand the lady well enough

to know that would be fatal.

If the pope dies before you have made a recommendation,

it'll make no difference.

Altieri will be our next pope.

He will make peace with the Turks.

He'll encourage the war between France and Spain.

I know what's at stake.

How long will it take for her to be examined?

I don't know. She's given up so much,

and I don't yet know why.

Perhaps giving up power is something

you are not capable of understanding.

Mamma!

What's the matter? Can't you sleep?

Sleep is the refuge of idiots.

Why do you sleep in 20 beds?

It's more restful.

You afraid of the dark?

That was long ago.

Why did you become a catholic?

To cure me of insomnia.

We can assure you of beds, but not of sleep.

I thought this was the house of miracles.

For some, it is.

Then it will have to be for me.

Why can't you sleep, Christina?

Mamma! Mamma!

Why do all my babies die?

My babies.

All my babies!

Don't be afraid.

Dwarfs bring you luck.

Always have one when you're with child, Christina,

or you will give birth to a monster.

Go away!

Go away.

She was superstitious, weak, hysterical.

I hated everything about her.

Why do you keep a dwarf?

For luck?

No.

Why, then?

To remind me of my inner self.

And you see yourself like that?

How do you see yourself?

Thank god I have no daughter.

I couldn't bear anyone to feel about me

as I felt about my mother.

She made you hate women.

Hate women?

Surely you know

the worst thing I'm accused of isn't hating women.

Have you ever found a woman of such grace

that she was, in every form, every gesture,

exactly what a woman should be?

I'm afraid not,

but as a prince of the church, of course,

I try to imagine the blessed virgin in a form like that.

The blessed virgin?

I'll match my ebba to her any day.

Ebba!

Come on!

I'll never be like you, ebba.

Oxenstierna said that when I fell in love,

I would feel beautiful.

How very precious you are to me, ebba.

I love you, ebba.

I love you, ebba.

So the accusations

of unnatural love are true?

I didn't say...

I tell you of beauty. You call it...

What you were describing was...

Love. I was describing love.

I loved that woman more than I ever loved a man.

Did you never find a man you could love as I loved ebba?

My sins are mine, Christina.

We're discussing yours.

Love is so rare.

Must we deny it when we find it?

I don't regret my life, azzolino,

except the last few days of it.

I've had enough of waiting around here,

denied the courtesies granted to an ordinary kitchen maid!

Am I pure enough to be let in?

I refuse to answer,

but you'll see how the world will laugh

when they find out I walked out on the pope.

Birgito!

Birgito!

Birgito!

Birgito!

Birgito!

Where have you been?

What have you been doing? Tell me!

Well, cardinal?

The queen of Sweden has decided to leave.

Then the allegations were true?

I didn't say that.

I said she's decided to leave.

We should like to know

what you have decided, cardinal.

Not to restrain her.

That is a very momentous negative.

There is no true catholic

in the whole of Europe

that is not waiting to hear

how Rome receives Christina

and Christina receives Rome,

and you decided to let her go like that?

Yes.

Well, I think that someone else should...

Carranza! It is the cardinal's responsibility.

It would be wrong of any of us to interfere.

Azzolino...

People are beginning to gather in the square.

How could you let her go?

What will she do?

I'm gambling.

I think she will get to the gate and then turn back.

Azzolino!

Is it true the pope is ill?

Is it true?

Yes.

How long has he been ill?

Some months now.

Is it serious?

It is in god's hands.

Come all this way and find him dying.

No matter what happens to the holy father,

the church remains.

If he dies, who will succeed him?

Go and pack, birgito.

It is obvious we came to Rome at the wrong time.

So you have ambitions?

Ambition is an evil demon, cardinal.

You should guard against it.

Do you think I don't know what's happening here?

You are using me now.

You are mistaken.

Am I?

You forget I've played these power games myself.

Is that what you think?

Very well.

If you want to go, go.

The gates are unlocked.

You're free.

You can begin your life in Rome.

My life in Rome?

Concerts...

Fiestas.

Entertainment...

Banquets.

Music, laughter.

Music, laughter, yes.

You will have lost your chance forever.

My chance?

To find out why you really came.

Stay and talk to me, Christina.

I think you need us very much.

Father...

If you only...

What is it?

It seems so strange to call somebody "father."

Don't you remember your father?

Oh, yes...

I do.

I lost my father, too, when I was very young.

Strange...i never thought of cardinals having fathers.

We do. And brothers and sisters,

uncles and aunts.

But no sons?

No sons.

What a shame.

Then holiness could be inherited.

Like royalty?

Like royalty.

You sigh when I mention it.

Was it all so difficult?

You ask that only because you haven't yet had power yourself.

I have a little.

It makes me wonder why you gave it up.

Why I gave it up?

The crown...It is so little.

You know, azzolino...

I once gave up the sun.

How beautiful it is, Magnus.

I wanted to bring something worthy of you,

so there was only one thing to bring... the sun.

Tell me all about the court of France.

It's said that Louis has three mistresses.

Tell me what they wear.

Well, the women have a new style.

What new style?

They wear tight laces...

That pull their waists in

very small down here...

And push the rest way out in front

up here like this.

What's the matter?

Nothing.

I was only trying to show you.

Do you mind?

No.

It's just that I'm queen.

I have to be... I have to...

I understand perfectly.

I want you to know that...

Don't even think about it.

I understand.

Ha ha ha!

I have a surprise for you.

I'm going to make him my husband.

De la gardie?

Hasn't he a beautiful name?

I love to say it.

De la gardie, de la gardie.

Christina.

I'm announcing it tonight.

That's quite impossible.

You have to consult the council.

I've consulted my heart.

I need no other counsel.

Christina, that's not like you.

I know.

Magnus!

Magnus!

Magnus!

I came here to forget.

I thought you came here to understand.

No, I won't go on.

What tricks are you using

to make me say these things...

Things I've never spoken to a soul before?

Words I never thought of saying come pouring out.

Azzolino,

the crowds in the square grow every minute.

Do they?

Since she has remained,

I think it is time we had your decision.

I see. You want to throw her to the populace

with the full papal seal... Saint or sinner.

What I want is a decision.

We cannot wait much longer.

You'll wait as long as it takes.

This woman has spent her entire life

on display to the public.

Now, for a few hours, she's alone with herself,

and she's no longer a queen or a freak

or a heathen or a candidate for canonization.

She's a human being...

And a very troubled human being.

I'm sure, but I am thinking about

the welfare of the church.

Perhaps it's time you thought about hers.

It hardly seems necessary

when your own concern is so intimately pastoral.

Our lord said that the good Shepherd

would care more for one lost sheep than 99 of the flock.

We await your decision, good Shepherd.

If you delay much longer,

you may find the flock has gone on without you.

Christina, I can't.

I want to know what it's like.

Find out for yourself.

Then it'll be too late.

I'll be quiet.

I'll hide in a corner in the dark.

Magnus will never know.

Please.

Please.

Oh!

You were there last night, weren't you?

If you want to know what it's like, why don't you ask?

Poor Christina.

Come on. I'll show you.

Why not?

It's what you want, isn't it?

Hmm?

Uh!

When I touch you, you feel nothing, do you?

Nothing cries out to be surrendered, to be taken!

You will never be a woman,

for all your kingdom or your wealth!

No one will ever love you.

You don't know how to love.

Go on.

I dismissed de la gardie from his post.

Do you think I did right?

It was your prerogative.

I didn't ask what was my prerogative. I asked if I did right.

I was wrong.

Were you, Christina?

I will reinstate him.

I didn't know what I was doing.

I let my emotions carry me away.

For the sake of the country, Christina,

you must begin to think about an heir.

"Make sons, make daughters,

make sons, make daughters."

Make joy. Make joy for all the people

if you take a husband.

Would I? And, um, what joy

would I bring to myself?

Charles admires you deeply.

He has never mentioned it.

You know that he cannot ask

for your hand.

I know.

But I will tell you a secret, oxenstierna.

If he did,

I would gladly give it to him.

You would?

I would have it cut off at the wrist

and sent to him in a velvet box.

As for giving him

one more inch of my body,

I will never do it.

Have you noticed

that all our friends are married?

Are they?

They all seem very happy.

Oh? They do?

With all of them married,

doesn't it make you want anything?

It makes me want to make new friends.

Christina...

Don't touch me.

I've not given you leave to touch me.

Forgive me.

What permission do I have?

To speak.

What do you want me to say?

I want you to describe it.

What?

Our wedding night.

Why don't you speak?

I order you to speak!

Tell me what you'll do to me!

You can't expect a man to describe...

What do you know about these things?

Such questions are resolved for you.

You escaped from it

the day you took your vow of celibacy.

Even celibacy involves a decision.

Do you think young priests

put on a cassock one day,

and all their earthly longings

vanish in the air?

Then how do they bear it?

They devote themselves to good works

and cold baths.

You're mocking me.

Yes, a little.

I'm sorry.

How old were you

when you decided to become a priest?

15.

Seems such a waste, somehow...

A man of your strength,

your capacity of life.

For such a man to choose

to become a priest...

Don't you think I have a talent for it?

An almost frightening talent.

Christina, you must marry Charles.

It is your duty.

I am queen of Sweden.

By reason of my exalted rank

and privilege,

I'm allowed anything I want.

I'm allowed to marry a man I do not love.

I'm allowed by night

to submit to god-knows-what

idiotic fumblings and horrors

and by day to rule the fumbler

and the entire world.

If there is one thing

you have taught me since I could hear,

it is the specialness of me.

Kings rule...

And indulge between the sheets

in every sort of pleasure.

Then they go off to battle

and joyfully await news

of the arrival of their sons.

Find me a man who will bear my children.

Christina...

Find me a battalion of men

who will each let me have my way with them

and then will watch me

ride out of their lives forever at the dawn.

Find me a chance encounter at the hill

where I pursue,

and he takes the consequences.

Christina, you realize

you are asking the impossible.

I am queen.

I can have anything I want,

and I tell you

I will not submit my body and my mind

to what is asked of me.

Charles was no match for you.

Who on god's earth would be a match for me?

It would have to be a man...

Quite rare.

To allow oneself to be possessed

when one has been born to rule.

And then, I have never felt...

What?

I don't know.

Then would you swear now

what you swore then?

That I'll never give myself to a man?

Yes. I still swear it.

I swear I shall never give myself to a man...

Unless it be to you.

I'll tell her you are present

to record my questions

and her answers.

But, your eminence, I don't write quickly.

Then sit and scribble,

but stay.

Where is your mistress?

Hmm?

I've come to continue my examination.

Are you aware that the entire Vatican

is talking about our sessions together?

Yes.

Christina and the cardinal,

alone together, day after day.

Doesn't the gossip disturb you?

Not at all.

How completely self-possessed you are, cardinal.

It goes with the hat.

I thought you might feel

you were being compromised.

No.

Then why haven't you thanked me for my gift?

If I were choosing a gift for the Vatican,

I don't think I would pick

the rape of the sabine women.

But, azzolino, they were all converts.

In my experience, conversions are done

less strenuously these days,

and the converts wear clothes.

I'll have them painted on.

Bring the goblet to my apartments tonight.

What are you doing, Christina?

Courting you.

I'm serious.

So am I...Quite.

Why did you never marry?

The inquisition continues.

Why did you never marry?

Why didn't you?

Christina.

Most people take marriage for granted.

What was there about you and me

that we didn't?

You and I are...

Is marriage a natural state

or the most unnatural?

Marriage is the natural state.

Not to me.

It's god's way of renewing the generations.

My pig renewed the generations yesterday,

and as far as I know,

she was never a bride.

Christina,

your refusal to marry

is making the entire country

uneasy.

Why?

Because they are deprived

of their vicarious enjoyment

of my wedding night?

They're anxious about the succession.

They want you to have children.

Do they?

Then I have good news for them.

My friends,

I want you to be the first to know.

I'm going to have a son.

God in heaven. What are you saying?

Next Tuesday.

I am going to present the country with my heir.

Here he is.

Congratulate me.

I will be the first woman in history

to have a son two years older than herself.

I want to have a son with you.

Our son...

Someone to love us and live on after us.

How many times do I have to repeat

I have no intention of marrying

or bearing children?

But why?

The subject is closed!

You ought to marry.

Why won't you marry?

I'm dedicating my maidenhead to god.

Ha ha!

It was the only thing I could say

to stop them pestering me.

They're protestants, you see.

To them, virginity has no value.

It never occurred to them

I'd find a place where it's celebrated.

So you used the church.

Oh, no. The church used me.

The only thing I had to do was whisper,

and it sent emissaries to tempt me

into the one true faith.

They sent me priests.

I met with them in secret.

I never saw their faces.

We talked of god.

Tell me of redemption.

By Christ's death on the cross,

he made satisfaction to god

for all our sins.

Tell me of penance.

Penance is the sacrament

by which sins are forgiven.

To be valid,

you must confess your sins

to an ordained priest

and have the firm intention

of sinning no more.

Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!

Tell me of sanctifying grace.

Sanctifying grace is the new life

given to the soul by the sacraments,

making it the adopted child of god.

Tell me of the peace to be found in Christ.

Tell me of the visions of the saints.

Tell me of love, joy, god!

Tell me of ecstasy!

I do want to convert!

I'm in love with god!

I accept the body and the blood of Christ!

I accept the body and the blood!

The body and the blood of Christ.

I accept the body and the blood of Christ.

I accept the body and the blood.

I accept the body and the blood of Christ.

I accept the body...

You must keep your mind

on the matters we are discussing.

Christina...

You have to make a decision.

Our troops are in Europe.

We cannot ignore the war,

but we still have time to choose our allies.

Now, will it be France or Spain, Christina?

France.

Yes. That has been

the traditional course, Christina,

but you see, this time, we have...

France.

They are the better lovers.

Christina, this is serious.

Then it is not to be discussed

before the children.

You may go.

And you, too.

Christina...

What do you want?

I want to be loved.

The people love you.

Send them to my bedroom.

Christina, you've got to make a decision.

Do you want to hear a song, oxenstierna?

They tell me it's very popular

in all the taverns.

♪ The queen of Sweden sleeps alone ♪

♪ and swears she'll never marry ♪

♪ is she a monster, dame ♪

♪ or man? ♪

♪ Oh, which sex does she carry? ♪

♪ Come board the monster, dame, or man ♪

♪ see which sex she'll carry ♪

I'll tell you what sex Christina is.

She isn't any.

Aah!

Leave me alone!

I'm going to give up the crown.

You are here under false colors.

You came for another kingdom.

No.

You saw yourself on a raised dais

sitting next to the pope

on an equal throne.

I didn't mean to...

You did expect to be the queen of Rome.

You still expect it.

Once the pope's door is open to you,

you expect to reign along with him.

The accusations...

Are they true or false, Christina?

All false.

All true.

What are they saying?

I gave myself to anyone...

At any time?

I gave myself to no one.

I've never loved...

Not even god.

You have come to him.

You have confessed to him.

He will not turn away.

May almighty god have mercy on you,

forgive you your sins,

and bring you to everlasting life.

May the almighty and merciful lord

Grant you pardon, absolution,

and remission of your sins.

Amen.

I've told you things

these last few days...

I've never told another human being.

When they ask you

if Christina...

Is worthy of being received by the pope,

what will you say?

I will answer yes...

But you realize

that if I recommend you be admitted,

it is only on one condition.

What condition?

That you never again allow yourself

to display to me...

To behave towards me as you have been doing.

You dare propose such a bargain.

Have you no feelings for me?

You cannot ask this of a priest.

I ask it of you! I feel for you!

But I do!

Then you must stop!

What will you do if I don't?

If you're not accepted here,

there's nowhere else for you.

I know that.

Then, in heaven's name, help me to help you.

You must promise to obey the church's laws.

They ask too much!

If you want the church to bring you to god...

I don't need the church to bring me to god!

I was born with god within me!

You must obey the law!

I will not! I will love you if I choose.

I will defy the pope.

I will defy the church.

I will defy heaven!

You will not be admitted...

Ever.

As god is my witness,

you will never be received by the pope.

Have physicians been sent to her?

She refuses to see them.

Who's caring for her?

Only her servant.

You must refuse her

audience with the pope...

For your sake.

It's the only thing you can do

to disprove the rumors.

You asked me to question her.

You could lose everything

if there is scandal.

How could you let yourself?

Everyone is saying that you and she...

Is there no possible association

between a man and a woman

except the sexual?

Despite centuries of learning,

does it all come down to that one animal fact?

How dare they say

that we are that much or that little to each other.

God save me from the common mind!

God save me from myself.

Oh!

Why did you come to Rome?

What are you seeking?

What kind of creature are you to give up a crown

in the hope of finding more?

What more do you want?

Bless me, father, for I have sinned.

Years ago, after I'd taken my vows,

I possessed a woman.

I gave myself to the pleasures of the flesh.

I am a fallen priest!

For a priest to have a woman is not uncommon, is it?

It's how he has her that determines the degree of sin.

The way I had a woman

was to be had by her.

My love was not love.

It was a raging fire...

An unconquerable obsession,

a need for her

beyond my need for god.

This was my experience of love.

I was debased,

my mind and body enslaved.

I was possessed by living demons.

While I loved, I was no longer any use to god,

the church, myself, or anyone.

To be with her...

To be embraced by her... to be within her...

I would have surrendered up my very life!

I have not finished.

I prayed to god for some deliverance.

I lived on bread and water

for a thousand days.

I did not allow myself to sleep.

I scourged myself, and then,

after years of self-inflicted penance,

I was cured,

and I vowed...

Never again to let myself...

God is here.

I want to be able to serve him.

I want to feel his call again...

In innocence...

As I did when I was a boy.

I do not want to lose myself again.

I thought

that I'd made myself impervious.

I kept my vow for 10 long years,

and then you came...

Strange...

Tormented creature.

Confused...

Courageous...

Brilliant creature.

Azzolino.

You told me of your greatest fault.

Now I will tell you mine.

My fault is that...

Despite years on my knees,

despite all the teachings of the church,

despite the sacred trust of this uniform,

despite all these things, I do love...

And what is worse, I do not think it is a sin.

I do not even think it is a weakness.

I do love.

I do want.

I do desire.

Do you desire me?

Yes, I do.

Tears?

No.

You...

The woman I admire most for her courage.

Are we so...

Despised by god

that we are to be denied

what others take with ease?

If god has sent me this love,

can it be wrong of me to feel it

and express it?

I want to give myself to you.

Christina,

we would be damned.

If I don't have you,

I will have no one.

Once...

Just once.

It is never once.

Once is only the beginning.

Then let's begin...

And give ourselves to love.

Let's enjoy all that god has given humans to enjoy.

Let's celebrate him.

Say yes...

To him,

to life, to love, to everything.

I love you.

Let's say I died.

What?

Let's say I died,

and they're bringing me to Rome to be buried,

and while they're laying me to rest,

you and I will be setting off

to live private lives far from Rome.

I don't want to look at you

across vast public spaces

and yearn for you to tell me

that you still know I'm alive.

You want us to run.

Is what I'm saying madness?

No, it is not madness.

Is there within you some...

Small temptation toward this other life?

Yes.

We could live as two free souls,

you and I.

We could...

Your eminence.

Yes, Dominic?

The pope is dying.

Azzolino.

I'm being asked to give him up.

I can feel it.

Worlds out there that suddenly need him...

And I am asked to let him go.

Is this the purpose of my life...

To abdicate everything?

The pope has asked to see you.

You vowed to take communion only from his hands.

There is still time.

He wishes, then, to see me.

With all his heart, Christina.

Because of what you told him of me.

Because of what you are.

Did the pope speak to you about yourself?

Yes. He blessed me...

Urged me to consecrate my life anew...

To god.

Renouncing me for him...

Like rival lovers.

You give me up so easily.

If you think that,

you've understood nothing of me.

Then why must this happen to us?

All lovers feel that they are exceptions...

That they make their own rules,

create their own laws,

and that they live

as we have lived in these last few days...

In their own special universe...

But god's kingdom is greater...

And in the end,

it must be served.

Are we not the world's strangest couple?

Saying no to each other...

And that's the greatest gift we each can give.