Original subtitles

(You recognize the best things in life only when they're gone.)

(Reading the newspaper under the trellis roof of a café by the sea,)

(side A of Van Morrison's "Moondance",)

(my grandmother Lina's roast,)

(the first contact of her lips at the start of a blow-job,)

(Nothing equals death in restoring the order of things,)

(putting each of them in the right place.)

"August 25th"

(Like everyone else, I lived life as if death didn't concern me,)

- Gaspare, you said they'd bloom in time. - I'm sorry, sir. I don't know what happened.

(Women liked me, I had a good career in politics, a good salary,)

(and my boss was the man I admired more than anyone else on Earth.)

Aster... that means stars. Nice, is that what they're called?

They should've been lilac, I had them planted for this occasion.

You wanted the meeting to be born under a good star.

Instead, no stars.

(This was six hours and 38 minutes ago,)

(Silvio Berlusconi was still very worried)

(of the consequences of the meeting)

(with a guest as much awaited as feared at Villa Certosa,)

- Is it a bad omen? - No.

If he's coming all the way here it means he wants to talk.

Maybe... but then why is Notte so glum?

(The feared guest was the secretary of the Northern League,)

(Umberto Bossi,)

(By signing the coalition pact,)

(Bossi had said it would be for just six months,)

(which were about to expire.)

There were 300,000 armed men ready.

Many came to me, even actual soldiers, saying:

"If you give us the order, we're ready."

I said: "No. We won't do anything.

We'll dismantle the system, but from within,

peacefully, with federalism."

Maybe I already knew we'd end up in government.

Speaking of government, today you meet Berlusconi.

What will you tell him? Will this coalition last through summer?

(The summit was to clarify)

(if Bossi wanted to confirm the alliance)

(or rather pull the plug on the government.)

(The meeting was crucial)

(for the political fate of my boss and the country.)

(As for me, if you're wondering why I'm talking in the past,)

(it's because I'm dead.)

(Here I am, in the fleeting splendor of my earthly aspect,)

(I felt part of something bigger than me,)

(working on the preparations for this decisive meeting.)

- Is it bad luck? - No.

If he's coming all the way here, it means he wants to talk.

Maybe... but then why is Notte so glum?

- Can I talk to you for a moment? - See? I knew there was something wrong.

What's that, a hawk?

- Well? - They all over me, Sir. Di Pietro, his office...

- Still on about that absurd story? - They're using me to get to you.

They're trying to prove that you used Guarnieri to silence the Financial Police.

They'll use any excuse to attack you, politically.

They don't know what to invent against me anymore, and you got caught in the middle.

If I had parliamentary immunity, I would be happier.

Are you blaming me for not nominating you for office?

You're the one who wanted to stay behind the scenes.

In the background yes, in prison no, I can't go back there.

Notte, there is only one way to defend from attacks by this political judiciary:

stay in government.

I need you alert and ready, today's meeting is decisive.

If the government falters, they will come at us with all their might.

They hate us and want to hurt us, we're in the same boat.

Do you want to save yourself? Save the government.

Talking to Bossi, we can't complain too much about the judges.

They attack me without proof!

Let's tell him we learned the lesson and we'll let them work in peace,

to make him feel happier.

- When's he here? - In less than an hour.

Better if he comes with Maroni, it means he's decided to negotiate.

Federalism, reorganization of the TVs...

Federalism is what the country wants.

We also want to reorganize the broadcasting system,

- consolidate the state budget and antitrust... - Pensions.

Every time we talk about pensions, the country gets scared.

The League is a popular force, we are against cuts...

Ok, I got this. Come on, let's go.

- Sir. - Huh?

They're here.

Who did he come with? Can you see?

Pietro Bosco.

That's good, right? He helped us with the Biondi decree.

- No, it's not good at all. - Umberto!

His father was killed by a loan shark who got released because of the decree.

Ouch.

Hi Silvio. Your look says: "Make yourselves at home."

- How are you? - Well.

- Bosco, how's it going? - Well.

Silvio, you're always working, huh?

Do you know what my daughter wrote in school?

"This year big changes in the family: Luigi lost his baby teeth,

Eli changed her hairstyle,

...dad became Prime Minister and I became an orphan."

If you want to be pitied, I'm not falling for it.

Not even six months in government and look what you've done to me.

More wrinkles, less hair, and I've put on 7 kg.

But you're so thin!

Paolo Pellegrini.

- Hi. - Rachele Manni.

- Beautiful bangs. - Beautiful shoes.

Hi, Pietro.

- Sorry about your father. - Thanks.

- I'm sorry for your boss. - What do you mean?

He really wanted to be Prime Minister.

- Am I wrong or he brought a guard dog? - Yeah.

- Bosco. - Thanks.

We need a bone before he starts to bite.

(Before I died I was in awe and perhaps admiration)

(of men without feelings,)

(willing to do anything.)

- Hey, how's it going there? - Bad.

Bossi is here with Pietro, which is a problem, you were right.

You should listen to me!

- What do you want to do? - Defuse it somehow, I don't know how.

It would be enough to distract him for a while.

- Leo, why did you call me? - Why?

I'm not asking you anything.

- No? - No.

Lacking the courage to ask me?

(Men capable of making the worst of decisions)

(to get what they want.)

- Are you still in Versilia? - Yes.

Where, exactly?

(Men like Leonardo Notte.) - In Lerici.

What till you taste the sea bass,

I get them from La Maddalena every morning.

From La Maddalena? With American nuclear submarines?

Watch out! It could be radioactive.

What radioactivity? Watch out for the bones.

You can't suddenly say that people can only retire at 65.

We are a popular force.

Of course, retirees are a valuable electorate,

we are a country of old people. But who pays the bill?

Few young people cannot take on many elderly people.

Did you hear Mr. Secretary? You can't touch pensions.

Our voters are still angry about the save-thief decree.

Umberto, you always say that the League is the only true liberal force.

So?

Do you think this stance on pensions is liberal?

The pension system is the most statist...

While we're talking about liberalism...

why not put a good antitrust law on the plate?

(Antitrust,)

(if there was a word capable of enraging my boss,)

(Bosco had found it.)

(Silvio had found a new name to add to the list of his enemies.)

(Pietro Bosco was becoming a thorn in his side.)

- What's more liberal than antitrust? - Well said, Bosco.

So we'll solve this conflict of interest, once and for all.

What conflict of interest?!

First, decisions are taken by the Cabinet as a whole,

after that there is Parliament, then the President.

How can I pass anything that goes to my advantage?

In our system, the Prime Minister counts for nothing. That's why

we need a constitutional reform.

More powers to the Prime Minister, directly elected

and, at the same time, federal reform of the state.

(After the stick, here's the carrot,)

(the magic word to defuse the argument, slipped in at the right time.)

- Are you serious? - Every word. A promise is a debt.

Federalism is the what the entire country wants.

But a constitutional reform like this has to go through parliament,

it'll take a confirmatory referendum... we will need technical time.

The government must last another two years.

You have spent months on the board, waiting to dive.

Why don't you just dive in? It's summer.

So why not start those two years

with a conflict of interest law?

So that people understand that we want actual change.

(Things had gone wrong, Silvio knew it,)

(a stalemate, no concessions.)

(Something was needed to unlock it,)

(But what?)

Who's coming?

The Cavalry.

Let's take a look, Umberto.

- Was I quick enough? - Perfect.

What's this hottie doing here?

I don't know... she's part of the furniture, maybe?

- Mr. Prime Minister! - Veronica!

- We're so happy you're here. - Thanks for the invitation.

- Umberto Bossi. - Sir.

- Call me Umberto. - Alright.

Hi.

- What are you doing here? - How can I refuse an invitation from the P.M.?

Anyway, you're here too.

Do you know her?

Let's say we have a past.

Look at you... Batman!

Umberto, let's get changed and go to the beach.

- Come here, Bosco. - What the fuck is happening?

- Understood what's going on? - Frankly, no.

Well...

Paolo, isn't it early for a gin and tonic?

A slight alcoholism doesn't prejudice the elegance of a man, on the contrary...

Come up?

I'm feeling hot, I'll take a bath.

Are we a team?

You tell me.

How can I prove I am your friend and you can trust me?

If the MPs that mysteriously left the League came back to the fold...

With a single center-right party

MPs would be together, in the same house.

Or in the same mess.

With all due respect,

I really don't see Bossi taking orders from anyone...

not even from the Cavaliere...

Who says I'd be in charge?

I'm just an entrepreneur loaned to politics, Umberto.

You are a thoroughbred, you were born for this.

If you agree to merge our parties, I'll hand you the keys.

Mr. Secretary, can I have a light?

In Gallarate, near where I grew up,

there was a guy, a dairy farmer,

his name was Bertazzi.

His income, however, wasn't from milk. It came from the manure he sold to the peasants.

It was a shit factory pretending to be a milk factory.

Excuse me for a moment.

This time he understood.

Either he folds over the antitrust or that's it.

Shit, did you see his face? He looked like death.

Eh.

What happened?

I don't know, but I don't like the boss's face.

(I liked the Northern League.)

(Everyone loves simple people's success stories,)

(the secondary characters who become protagonists.)

(They are likable.)

(But that day, seeing the laughs of Bosco and Bossi,)

(and at the same time the hurt expression of my boss,)

(even I understood the need to control the rise of simple people.)

I treat everyone with the utmost kindness and courtesy,

nobody has ever complained, look how I welcomed them!

And this guy comes to tell me about shit factories?

- You're right. - Come on.

Poor Silvio, look at him, we have to come up with something.

In these cases, we can only try and play down the situation.

- Go back to Bossi. - What?! Never.

Go back to him, he's a poker player!

He just wants to raise the stakes.

You sit at the same table with the world's powers.

Just make him believe he's winning the game.

Let's go take a swim, come on, we may as well.

- I don't want to, you go. - Are you sure?

- Do you need a nanny? Go on. - Yes, sir.

Shit, it's really cold.

Sorry about your father.

- Thanks. - I've never seen you like this.

- Like this how? - Fragile.

Look, we're here, it's a beautiful day, let's stop talking about work.

I'll take you seriously, haven't been on holidays for years.

- If you prefer, I'll go away now. - Let's get the boat and enjoy.

We can think about the government when kids go back to school in September.

- Alright then. - Come on.

Come dive, Umberto, dive!

What an idiot.

And let's play down...

("And play down", my last famous words.)

(The issue is, whatever happens, something else always happens.)

Ouch, fuck, a jellyfish!

- What happened? - Nothing... nothing.

- Honey, shall I get you the disinfectant? - Yes, please.

- Are you crazy, holding it with your hands? - It can't sting from its head.

- Would you like a boat ride? - Now?

- Yes. - No, I've spent enough time on boats.

And you, Veronica?

No.

(A boat ride was enough to make everyone forget)

(my attempt to play down.)

(And nobody thought to check what had happened to me.)

(Leonardo was too busy rescuing Bossi from Pietro's grasp,)

(and to leave him to Berlusconi,)

(Bosco was too interested in Veronica)

(to worry about Leo's maneuvers.)

(As for Veronica, it was yet another confirmation)

(of the ambiguous nature of her relationship with Leo.)

(She tried to focus on physical pain,)

(to avoid looking at the abyss of pain inside her.)

Rachele, honey, are you sailing with us young people?

Sure, I just have to take this...

Leave them alone, I'll get a waiter to take it there.

As you wish...

How long does it take?

If you want, I know a very old technique for jellyfish stings.

- We used it at sea. - Do you want to piss on me?

Excuse me! Shall I leave it here?

- Yes, leave it there. - Thanks!

And bring us a drink, champagne!

It's on Silvio. Look how he runs!

Shit!

Piss?

- Cesarone! - Welcome on the Barbarossa!

- Look who I bring you. - Umberto, what an honor.

Hi Previti. All plebs you guys, huh?

- Afterthoughts? - Who did you buy it from?

No.

But did you really have to call her Barbarossa?

- He's wearing a tank top. - Why?

It's like saying: "I'm not like you."

Alberto da Giussano kicked the ass of Barbarossa!

It's not my idea, but the previous owner's.

- For tonight? - All good.

- Make those calls. - OK.

That's Caprera.

Bravo!

Umberto, sing one yourself, I know you were a singer.

I destroyed the evidence, I took all recordings...

I didn't know you were a singer.

- No comment. - Didn't you know?

- Yes, okay. - He's very good, he recorded records.

- Really! - Yes, a few 45 EPs.

- What better occasion...? - No, it's not the right moment.

Let us hear something!

- Don't be shy. - I'm not shy.

- What's going on? - Nothing.

Are you still thinking about Di Pietro?

No.

You're here to help me, but you're here in a corner,

looking like Baresi after missing a penalty.

I don't like him.

He's anthropologically incompatible with us, let's forget it.

Let's have early elections and we'll win without him.

The President will never let us call an election, have you seen him?

Ergo, we need Bossi.

Now smile, come on, and get back on the field.

I don't pay you to stay on the bench.

Cesare, do you still have shrimp? I'm hungry.

- I robbed a fishing boat. - Come on with the prawns, then, come on.

- Why did they leave us alone? - We don't matter.

Speak for yourself, Miss Parliament.

You are a strange guy.

So many bad men pretend to be good,

but you're the opposite, you're a good guy who pretends to be bad.

And what are you?

Someone who quickly forgets.

Without your father, are you the only one left?

The last Bosco.

What happened to your father? Is he alive? You never told me about him.

When Giulia and I went to live with mom

he stopped talking to us.

- What did you have to do with that? - Dunno, nothing.

Maybe he was too angry with her.

You and I are nobody's children.

That's why they send us to do the dirty work.

What?

What do you think? I know why we're alone on this beach.

So?

It's a waste of time, Bossi doesn't give up.

If you knew why we're here, why didn't you leave?

Well...

maybe because I felt like staying.

Are you crazy?!

- What the fuck are you doing? Stop. - Not like this.

- Is this what you want? - Stop it, stop it!

You're just a whore.

You're an asshole!

You hurt me!

- Why are you doing this? - Shh, silence.

Shut up.

(As that poet said:)

("The awful daring of a moment’s surrender)

(Which an age of prudence can never retract,)

(By this, and this only, we have existed,)

(Which is not to be found in our obituaries.")

- What's going on? - Nothing.

- What is this mess? - A surprise, come.

- Hey, aren't you coming up? - In a moment.

Since we've decided not to talk politics, at least let's celebrate.

Isn't that guy from the "Gatti di Vicolo Miracoli"?

Exactly. He's also called Umberto!

- Great, Silvio! - Hi, Zeno! Good evening everyone.

- Zeno, thanks for coming. - Have I ever missed one of your parties?

- I want to introduce you to my wife. - Congratulations.

- Thanks. - Can I?

Sure.

You can hear the sea.

- You got him to settle down, eh? - I tried.

- Good luck. - Thanks.

- Silvio! - Umbertone!

Hi!

(Feelings sometimes falter even for the most cynical among us,)

(and they no longer feel impervious to guilt.)

(In those moments, usually, we trace back our steps,)

(and yet, we rarely arrive at our intended destination.)

(that we had set ourselves.)

Paolo! Fuck, no!

There must be a party...

I'd better go.

Bye.

Hypothetically, if I sold you Fininvest shares

and make you my business partner, would you trust me?

You can't frame me.

I'm a peasant from waist down, citizen from waist up.

That's why both vote for me.

Hold on... wait a minute.

I can't believe it...

- How did you...? - Where there's a will, there's a way.

Enough, stop there, enough!

Umberto, we have a gift for you.

- Is this stuff still around? - Not anymore.

We paid a collector from Brescia.

It's not just any record, Umberto's debut in '64.

- Thirty years ago. - What? You are "Donato"?

- Sing it. - Come on!

- Come on! - No, I don't even remember it anymore.

- What if we sing it together? - Don't tell me you've learned it!

- This one and the other one... "Melancholy". - Devil of a Berlusconi!

Umberto! Umberto! Umberto!

Go, Umberto!

- Eh!

Hooray.

Umberto Bossi, aka Donato.

Silvio Berlusconi, always him.

"Melancholy", a success from 1964.

Your success, not so much mine!

Go to that bit...

Hey, where did you end up? You missed the performance of the century.

We saved the government and you're sleeping?

He's dead.

The government? No, Bossi seems OK now.

Paolo is dead.

What the fuck are you saying?

(And then the time comes to call things by their name.)

No, no.

Rachele, no.

- How did this happen? - I don't know, maybe when he dived.

- We have to tell Silvio. - No.

He already thought it was a bad omen when the fucking flowers didn't bloom.

What'll happen if we tell him now?

We'll tell him tomorrow when Bossi leaves, okay?

Just give me a minute.

What the fuck am I doing without you now?

Rachele, hey, hey.

Now go.

I'll stay here with him. Go back and don't let anyone come.

Go. Go!

(Don't judge my friend Leo.)

(For a moment he was genuinely shocked by my departure,)

(but then he realized that my death freed a seat in the House.)

(This was his chance to avoid jail.)

(This had given him hope again.)

Oh God.

("Understand me", said Bukowski,)

("I’m not like an ordinary world. I have my madness,)

(I live in another dimension.")

Hey.

- I was waiting for you. - Did you get what you wanted?

And you, did you get what you wanted?

This is the last time.

I have a proposal for you.

What proposal?

Is now the right time?

- I never loved you like I love you now. - What the fuck.

- Shall I take it for a yes? - Fuck you.

I don't have the ring yet, but I'll make up for that, I promise.

Heard that, Paolo? I am getting married.

He doesn't hear you, he's dead.

- Go to sleep. - OK.

There's still time before everyone wakes up.

- Coming? - I have to stay with him.

- How much did he drink? - I'll explain later.

- Go get some rest. - See you later.

A handshake, please?

So, Umberto, I was so happy to see you.

- Me too. - See you in Rome.

Yes, be good. Bye.

- See you later. - Bosco.

So how did it go?

- Did he give up on the antitrust? - Where the fuck did you end up?

- Did you get something or not? - Are you lecturing me now?

You want to be an adviser, but I don't understand which head you use to think.

Very good, Leonardo, nice idea to find the 45 EP.

Teamwork always pays off in the end.

- Would you like to be my best man? - Excuse me?

- Give me a minute. - Excuse me.

- Is he getting married?! - Erm...

Have you seen Veronica?

Go fuck yourself!

Hold on.

What happened last night...

I don't believe you did it just because they asked.

You're right, I did it because I wanted to.

It was my bachelorette party.

What's that?

I told you.

I forget quickly.

Sir, we need to tell you something.

(So, with a renewed coalition agreement on one side,)

(and a promise of marriage on the other, my earthly life came to an end.)

(I would have liked to tell Veronica not to worry:)

(it happens to lots of people to love more than one person.)

(She wanted Leo because he loved her as she was, without judging her,)

(and she wanted Pietro, because he loved her for how she could have been.)

(Finally I wanted to say good luck to Leo for the elections,)

(I was glad it was he who took my place.)

(And if that made him avoid jail, all the better.)

(While the ambulance was leaving on the narrow roads of the Costa Smeralda,)

(I asked myself: "In the end, what the fuck do I care?")

This is an inspection. I kindly ask you to cooperate.

- Leonardo? - Yes.

- For any issue, I'm counting on you. - Of course.

Everything must be absolutely perfect.

If you find me evidence of the meeting between Guarnieri and Berlusconi...

I'll build you a golden statue!