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  • 2 days ago
A beautiful American woman infiltrates the home of a novelist and his wife so she can investigate the disappearance of her lover
Transcript
00:01:29I'll show you to your room.
00:01:38Quote, what is the monkey to man?
00:01:41Contemptuous mirth or painful truth?
00:01:43Unquote.
00:01:45He lowered the book and looked into her eyes, then continued.
00:01:48Quote, and what is man to the Superman?
00:01:52Still mirth or painful truth?
00:01:54Unquote.
00:01:54New paragraph.
00:02:10Do you agree with Nietzsche?
00:02:11The woman, then, tricks the brute and the Superman.
00:02:20You're staring at me.
00:02:22Oh, I beg your pardon.
00:02:23I didn't mean to.
00:02:24I assure you I'm not a ghost.
00:02:26No, it's just that I imagined you differently.
00:02:29Oh, how differently?
00:02:31Hmm?
00:02:31I don't know.
00:02:32Having read your books, I...
00:02:34Well, I...
00:02:35You imagined me to be a sea monster.
00:02:39With a hundred eyes and a cavernous mouth.
00:02:43You thought at night I grew hands long enough to slap the moon.
00:02:47But that if I should become little once again, I'd cry a river of tears.
00:02:51Now, isn't that so?
00:02:52Ah, alas, you see me in this disguise.
00:02:58It's modesty that doesn't allow me to be myself.
00:03:03Come, I'll show you something.
00:03:10Now, you see that nail?
00:03:12I placed it there exactly five years ago.
00:03:15I knew what I wanted then.
00:03:17It's taken me five years, but I've got it now.
00:03:22It's mine.
00:03:25A masterpiece.
00:03:27The Bacchanal by Lorenzo Lotto.
00:03:31Do you know his work?
00:03:32No, I'm afraid not.
00:03:34Well, then let me introduce him to you.
00:03:37Lorenzo Lotto, painter.
00:03:39Born in Venice in the year 1480.
00:03:41And died in the year of...
00:03:44Nonsense.
00:03:46A true artist never dies.
00:03:48He's immortal.
00:03:49A young friend, my dear Eleonora, has read my books.
00:03:55All of them, as I understand.
00:03:57But I disappointed her today.
00:04:00She found me to be a very ordinary man.
00:04:02One could define you in many ways, but never ordinary.
00:04:06I didn't say anything of the kind.
00:04:07I just...
00:04:08Is that all, madam?
00:04:12Yes, you may go, Giovanni.
00:04:24Giovanni lives on Torcello, an island nearby.
00:04:27Richard prefers not to have the servants around at night.
00:04:29They have the ugly habit of eavesdropping.
00:04:32Oh, by the way, Sandro came last night with Christiane.
00:04:35Oh?
00:04:37Enjoy yourselves?
00:04:38The usual things.
00:04:40Nothing very exciting.
00:04:42You must be tired.
00:04:43You'd better get some rest.
00:04:46Yes, we'll see you tomorrow, Greta.
00:04:49Good night.
00:04:50Good night.
00:05:08Would you like a coffee?
00:05:24No, thanks.
00:05:25I'm trying to give it up.
00:05:27Now, you say that this Sally Lee slept.
00:05:29No forwarding address.
00:05:31Yes, that's right.
00:05:32And she gave no warning?
00:05:34Just left without a word.
00:05:35That's right.
00:05:36A lot of words of me, the servants, anything.
00:05:40Strange behavior for a secretary, Mr. Stewart, wouldn't you say?
00:05:43Very strange indeed.
00:05:46Although a few days before she disappeared,
00:05:49we couldn't help noticing a change had come over her,
00:05:51as if she were being tormented by something.
00:05:55Perhaps it was just an impression.
00:05:57She never mentioned anything,
00:05:59and we were discreet enough not to ask.
00:06:02Left no personal effects, no baggage.
00:06:04No, not a thing.
00:06:09Tell me, Commissioner.
00:06:10Do you really think Sally may have been the victim of foul play?
00:06:13A girl doesn't vanish like that into thin air,
00:06:16without a plausible explanation.
00:06:19I agree.
00:06:22Would you at least know if she was seeing someone?
00:06:25I mean the man, wife, friend.
00:06:28I'm not in the habit of prying into my secretary's affairs.
00:06:31I'm sorry.
00:06:32I can't help you there.
00:06:33If you hear anything, please get in touch with me.
00:06:46Sorry to bother you, but you know how these formalities are.
00:06:48Certainly, Commissioner.
00:06:50Come, I'll show you out.
00:06:51There, that's my hairdresser.
00:07:07I'll meet you here in two hours.
00:07:09All right.
00:07:11Greta.
00:07:13I need a friend so badly at times.
00:07:16Someone to confide in.
00:07:18I feel so alone in that house.
00:07:22Sure you don't want to come with me?
00:07:24I really have a lot of things to do, Eleonora.
00:07:26I really have a lot of things to do.
00:07:56I feel...
00:08:10I am sorry.
00:08:16I do think that something terrible might have happened.
00:08:21You do?
00:08:22Why who are you?
00:08:24You, Commissioner.
00:08:25I overheard you speaking with Mr. Stewart.
00:08:28I assure you, young lady, I was only following through on a routine investigation.
00:08:34Sally Reese and I have known each other since school days.
00:08:40We used to work together, room together,
00:08:43until she decided to come to Venice.
00:08:47She used to write every week, then less and less.
00:08:51This is her last letter.
00:08:52You'll note it's dated shortly before they say she left.
00:09:00It's gotten to the point where I must tell someone.
00:09:03And who but you could I tell this to?
00:09:05Oh, Greta, I'm living in a world I never knew existed.
00:09:09At times I feel as if I were being driven by another will,
00:09:12a superior force that lures me even as it repels me.
00:09:16In my moments of sanity, such as now, when I realize to what depths I have sunk,
00:09:19I want to turn back, to flee from this house, run far, far away.
00:09:24But then I'm prey once again, mesmerized by their evil, unable to escape it,
00:09:30and then not wanting to escape it.
00:09:32A willing slave in this world of perverse pleasures.
00:09:36If I could only see you, I'd be able to explain what I feel.
00:09:39But sometimes I wonder if I'll ever see you again.
00:09:43Write to me, I beg you.
00:09:44But for God's sake, it's not to this address.
00:09:46Write in care of the post office, please, Greta.
00:09:48Love, Sally.
00:09:51Doesn't really say very much.
00:09:53Just words.
00:09:54And somewhat disconnected at that.
00:09:56Mr. Richard Stewart is a very important man.
00:09:59Is that it?
00:10:00There are many ways one can interpret that letter.
00:10:03It's anything but precise.
00:10:04No direct accusation.
00:10:05What are you going to do now, signorina?
00:10:10I'm going to stay on in that house until I find out what happened to Sally.
00:10:14How did you manage to get employed there?
00:10:17Sally and I both worked for Stratton, Richard Stewart's publisher.
00:10:20It was easy enough.
00:10:23If what you suggest is true, you're in considerable danger in that house, you know.
00:10:31I must go.
00:10:35I'm going to stay on in that house.
00:11:05I'm going to stay on in that house.
00:11:35What is it? It's me, Richard. Open the door.
00:11:49What happened?
00:11:51There's a man out there in the garden.
00:11:55What did he look like?
00:11:57He was a giant man. It was awful.
00:12:01Get a hold of yourself. It was only Rocco, a fisherman who lives near here.
00:12:08He's perfectly harmless.
00:12:10The body of a giant in the brain of a child.
00:12:22Come. Try to get some rest now. I'll keep you company till you fall asleep.
00:12:27Good girl.
00:12:28No, really, Eleonora. I'm fired.
00:12:30Not another word. You've had a shock, Greta.
00:12:34Pleasant dreams.
00:12:35Pleasant dreams.
00:12:37Pleasant dreams.
00:50:37Help, help.
01:02:06Thank you,
01:15:36Come on.
01:16:36there.

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