Genre: Historical/Romance
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Ben Collins
Based on the novel by Alessandro Manzoni
Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Katherine Langford, Cate Blanchett, Luke Evans, Stanley Tucci, Mia Wasikowska, Mark Strong, Karl Urban, Bob Odenkirk, Annette Bening, Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Maggie Q, Ralph Ineson, Jake Short
Plot:
The film begins by showing the landscape surrounding the shores of Lake Como which continue to narrow to form the Adda river. Around the lake surrounded by mountains, there were peasant fields, houses, woods that reached up to the mountains. Lecco was one of those lands, then it was a large village on the way to becoming a great city.
Don Abbondio (Stanley Tucci) is walking along one of the streets that ran between the mountains, saying his prayers and between one psalm and the next he closed the book. He had his head down, his right hand as a bookmark while the other was folded behind his back. Along the road there was a crossroads, the road on the right led to the mountain the other went down to the stream. Don Abbondio raises his head when he reaches the crossroads and sees two men next to each other who seem to be waiting for him. The two wore on their heads a green hat, a shiny leather belt and from it two pistols, a saber inserted in a pocket of the baggy trousers, a horn full of gunpowder, hanging from the chest and finally a broadsword. The priest immediately recognized them as two "Bravi". Don Abbondio with a worried face read another of the phrases from his book and went on walking quickly. When he was between the two men, one of them greeted Don Abbondio, who asked with visible anxiety if the two men needed anything. The other "Bravo" replied that it should not be done and Don Abbondio replied with a puzzled face what should not be done. The "bravo" completed the sentence by saying that the marriage between Renzo and Lucia should not be celebrated because Rodrigo had decided so. Don Abbondio said nothing and ran home. The man is seen by Perpetua (Annette Bening), the woman who takes care of the house and the church. The woman begins to question him as to whether there was something wrong. After a while Don Abbondio yielded to Perpetua's requests and while she wipes her sweaty forehead with her handkerchief he begins to tell her what had happened. Then he went to bed. The night was very agitated and he never managed to sleep except for a moment when he dreamed of being killed by the two "Bravi". The priest began to find a solution for the following morning that would protect him from the threats of the Bravi by not celebrating the marriage established between Renzo and Lucia. Eventually he thought the only solution was to postpone the ceremony with an excuse.
The following morning Don Abbondio awaits the arrival of the textile operator Renzo Tramaglino (Timothee Chalamet) who arrives even earlier, being that the day of his wedding with his fiancée, Lucia Mondella. The priest welcomes him with conspicuous anxiety and trepidation and tells him that he would not have been able to celebrate any wedding that day. Renzo begins to protest by saying that he had prepared everything for the celebration of the rite, but Don Abbondio manages to reply by saying that it was not possible because the celebration of the marriage involves many difficulties that had to be overcome first. Renzo does not resign and asks the priest to tell him what the impediment is, saying that he would take care of resolving it as soon as possible. At that point Don Abbondio begins to invent the most disparate excuses and concludes by asking Renzo to postpone the ceremony for a week. Reluctantly, Renzo accepts and leaves the parish priest's house to go to Lucia to communicate the news of the postponement requested by Don Abbondio. While he was walking he began to think back to the words said by the priest and became convinced that there must be something strange in the story that he still could not understand. Renzo accidentally meets Perpetua as she is leaving the bakery. Her boyfriend approaches her and asks her politely why the priest refused to celebrate the wedding. Perpetua replies that she knew nothing of Abbondio's behavior, but she made him understand that some difficulty must have suddenly arisen. The woman, who continues to say that she does not know anything, says that this difficulty consisted in the fact that someone had intervened to prevent the celebration of the marriage. At that point Renzo returns to Don Abbondio visibly angry. Abbondio feels a sense of dread at seeing the boy so bewildered and angry. The young man asks him who was the bully who had forced him not to celebrate the wedding. The priest, frightened by the threatening face of the young man and by the vision of a knife in his pocket, reveals the name of that bully: Don Rodrigo. At that point the priest collapses on his chair and tells him about the meeting the previous evening he had had with the Bravi, the two criminals under Rodrigo's orders.
Meanwhile Lucia (Katherine Langford) is at her house happy and excited about her because she would soon marry the boy she is madly in love with. Agnese (Cate Blanchett), her mother, is in her house and is fixing her hairstyle. At one point Renzo comes home to talk to Lucia. Agnese and Renzo, want to have some explanations from Lucia despite her the girl keeps repeating that she doesn't know anything. Agnese and Renzo do not know why Don Rodrigo has decided to prevent the union between Renzo and Lucia. At one point Lucia bursts into tears and says that in recent days Don Rodrigo had shown some interest in her, worrying her so much that he decided to reveal everything about her to Friar Cristoforo (Mark Strong). At this point Agnese's wisdom intervenes and she sends Renzo to the famous lawyer Azzeccagarbugli (Bob Odenkirk) advising him to bring two hens with him to use as payment. The hope is that the lawyer will be able to advise the young man on how to solve the problem of Don Rodrigo's threats. Once he arrives at Azzeccagarbugli, Renzo is immediately in difficulty because, being a poorly educated boy, he cannot understand the difficult words of the lawyer, creating a misunderstanding. Initially Azzeccagarbugli thinks it was Renzo who prevented the marriage by threatening the priest and offers to defend him. At a certain point the lawyer realizes that the situation is exactly the opposite and that Renzo wants to file a complaint against Don Rodrigo. The lawyer begins to change his attitude and shortly after he sends the boy away in a rather rude way. Meanwhile Agnese and Lucia invite Friar Cristoforo to Lucia's house and she learns with contempt from the two women what is happening. After examining the situation, and driven by his impulsive nature, he decides to go talk to Don Rodrigo to dissuade him from his purpose. Having taken his leave, Cristoforo goes towards Don Rodrigo's mansion. Along the way, the friar thinks back to the events that led him to become a friar. In the past Cristoforo was called Lodovico and was a merchant who, after having clashed with a nobleman, kills him in a duel caused by trivial causes and then takes refuge in a convent of friars.
Cristoforo arrives in Rodrigo's mansion. He realizes that everything appears marked by an atmosphere of violence and evil, wherever weapons and dangerous faces are seen. Friar Cristoforo is introduced in the dining room where he is present. Seated at the table are also various important people including the mayor of Lecco, the lawyer Azzeccagarbugli and the head of Rodrigo's "Bravi", called Griso (Ralph Ineson). The group is heatedly discussing a matter of chivalry while they are eating wild boar meat. The friar is called to express a judgment, but his sentence, which he invites to peace and charity, is mistaken for a joke. The discussions are abandoned for a few moments to give way to a toast, but they immediately resume on the theme of famine, evoked by Azzeccagarbugli in his eulogy to wine. The group agrees that the food shortage is to blame for the bakers stocking up on grain to raise the price. At a certain point, Don Rodrigo puts an end to the debate by dismissing the guests and leading Friar Cristoforo to another room. Calmly and diplomatically, Brother Cristoforo asks Don Rodrigo to stop the persecutions against Lucia and to allow the marriage between the two lovers. The nobleman reacts violently accusing the friar of also having a dubious interest in the girl. The conversation thus turns into a verbal duel in which Friar Cristoforo reminds his antagonist that in the future there will be the day of judgment in which he will have to give an account to God for his actions. Don Rodrigo, angry and at the same time frightened in the depths of his conscience, chases the friar away in a bad way. Griso takes the friar out by insulting him and making fun of him. Don Rodrigo is rather shaken by the friar's threatening prophecies and orders his servants to leave him alone and not to disturb him.
Meanwhile Agnese proposes to the two engaged couples to celebrate the surprise marriage, that is, to appear before the parish priest with two witnesses and to pronounce the marriage formula. Although celebrated against the will of the parish priest, this marriage would in fact have value in all respects. Renzo is enthusiastic, but Lucia is rather against the project because she foresees subterfuges but she reluctantly accepts. Renzo goes to the tavern where he manages to find two friends who can be his witnesses and then returns home. Meanwhile, Friar Cristoforo returns to the protagonists to report the results of the conversation with Don Rodrigo. Agnese and Renzo jointly establish the details of the marriage plan with the other two friends while Lucia remains on the sidelines. Meanwhile, some shady figures dressed as wayfarers and pilgrims roam near Lucia's house. After the clash with Cristoforo, Rodrigo was furious at not being able to intimidate the friar and troubled by his words he walked for a long time through his mansion in the presence of the portraits of his ancestors. At the end of his thoughts Rodrigo has prepared a plan to kidnap Lucia. Renzo, Lucia, Agnese and the two friends arrive at the door of Abbondio's house.
One of the friends knocks on the door telling Perpetua that he wants to pay off a debt. While Agnes entertains Perpetua, the others enter the house. Renzo and Lucia go into hiding as Abbondio appears to receive the debt money. While the priest is issuing the receipt Renzo and Lucia reveal their presence. The young man manages to pronounce her sentences but Lucia fails because the priest throws the tablecloth on her face to prevent her from talking about her. In doing so he accidentally drops the lantern. The room suddenly plunges into darkness. Don Abbondio fleeing from Renzo, takes refuge in another room and starts shouting for help from the window. The sexton, alarmed by the curate's cries, begins to ring the bells. The tolling of the bells also alarm the Bravi led by Griso who had entered Lucia's house to kidnap her before realizing that the house is deserted. Meanwhile, Perpetua abandons Agnese's chatter because of the priest's cries to run to the rectory. The two lovers and the rest of the group manage to escape to take refuge at Agnese's cottage but meet a boy who, having witnessed the raid of the Bravi, told him to go to the convent where Cristoforo was, who was waiting for them.
The friar tells the fugitives that Don Rodrigo intends to kidnap Lucia and advises them to leave Lecco. He says that they will have to go to the river where there is a boat waiting for them and then he will send Lucia and Agnese to a convent in Monza and Renzo in Milan with the excuse of delivering letters to some acquaintances. On the way, passengers look at the mountains and the city they were leaving, perhaps forever. At the sight of Don Rodrigo's palace and Agnese's house, Lucia secretly abandons herself to tears and greets the place where she was born. Arriving on the opposite shore of the lake, the three arrive in Monza in a carriage driven by a passing man. Once in town, they can finally rest and refresh themselves in an inn. After a short meal, Renzo greets the two women. The two women thus go to the monastery of nuns where they hope to find hospitality and talk to Gertrude (Mia Wasikowska), a rather young nun of a noble and powerful family who seems to be in charge of the convent. The young nun is in her thirties and her face shows a faded beauty. Her attitude and the way she wears her dress have something strange in Lucia's eyes. Gertrude questions the two women and at the end of the interview, she grants hospitality to the two women. Meanwhile Don Rodrigo learns of Lucia's failure to kidnap and sends some Bravi to find out where she was hiding.
Meanwhile, Renzo arrives in Milan on the day when violent riots begin following the increase in the price of bread. Renzo, taken by curiosity, begins to follow the rioters and mingles with the crowd in front of the vicar's house. The man orders the servants to lock the door and close all the windows before retiring to the attic. The crowd begins to unhinge the wall and the doors and most of them want the vicar dead. Renzo is horrified by this fact and takes sides among those who oppose the murder, and invites the crowd to have a more peaceful attitude. Renzo risks being lynched but manages to escape until he is helped by a man. Renzo is accompanied to a nearby inn by the kind man but in reality he is a police informant. During dinner, the policeman gets Renzo drunk, who reveals his personal data. The man calls the policemen but Renzo, once again lucid, still manages to escape and plans to leave Milan to join his cousin Bertoldo (Jake Short) in Bergamo. On the way, Renzo enters a tavern for a break. Inside there were many men who asked him for information on the events that took place in Milan, but Renzo said he didn't know anything. A Milanese merchant arrives at the tavern who began to tell about the riot and the near-arrest of a young man who managed to escape anyway. Renzo decided to settle the bill and leave quickly. Renzo spends the night in a barn where he begins to pray for Lucia and in the morning, thanks to a fisherman who ferries him to the other side of the Adda, he goes to the house of his cousin Bertoldo. After Renzo tells him his story, Bertoldo promises him help and work. Renzo begins to delude himself that the troubles are over.
A few weeks later Don Rodrigo receives the news that Lucia is in Monza in a convent. Meanwhile Agnese and Lucia learn the terrible news of Renzo and his escape from Milan and are desperate for the difficulty of having precise news. Fortunately for the women, Friar Cristoforo sends a messenger who informs them in case of news. One day Agnese, not having received the expected visit from the bearer of information, decides to go around Monza where she learns from another friar that Cristoforo has been transferred to a distant city because Don Rodrigo and his friends have decided to get rid of him. . Meanwhile Rodrigo has decided to ask for the help of the Unnamed (Karl Urban), a professional villain who had deserved a disqualification and lived out of necessity in an isolated castle, far from everyone. Despite this, he was still omnipresent in the Milanese, where he was respected by all for the fear he aroused and was linked to many other criminals.
In Monza the Unnamed has a point of support: on him depends the man who was in the past the lover of Gertrude and with whom she is still in love. With genuine suffering the woman is forced to give her consent and with a false reason she sends Lucia out of the convent. Three men are next to a carriage: they are the Bravos under the orders of the Unnamed. Despite his resistance, Lucia is kidnapped and put in a carriage. At first, the girl almost faints from fear of her, despite the assurances of the Bravi who try to calm her down with one of them scolding the others for their rude behavior. Lucia, however, does not stop complaining and in the end she decides to abandon herself to prayer, sobbing. Arriving at the castle, the girl is made to sit in a room.
Arriving in the presence of the Unnamed, the leader of the Bravi says that everything had been done according to orders, but that Lucia had moved him with great compassion. The Innominato is received by Lucia. The girl is curled up on the floor and she refuses both water and food. Lucia begins to beg him to leave her free, with the phrase "God forgives many things for a work of mercy". The Unnamed, moved by the girl's attitude, urges her to have courage and assures her that he would see her again the next day and leaves her with an old servant. Lucia has a very intense night. She makes a vow of chastity to Our Lady to save her and therefore renounces her love for Renzo. She then she calmer she manages to fall asleep. The Unnamed would also like to behave in the same way, but he too spends a very agitated night: he reflects on Lucia, who was the only one to see him moved and to dispel this thought, he meditates on her past life. It is not the best solution, because he feels more and more responsible and repentant for the crimes he has committed: he decides to shoot himself, but the doubt of another life he had heard about as a child makes him desist. Just at that moment the girl's words come to mind, which give him some hope and so he decides to free her. In the morning Lucia wakes up, her old servant convinces her to eat. The Unnamed reveals her presence and asks for her forgiveness by stating that she would have let her go and knows someone who could have helped her. Shortly after, to her surprise, Abbondio, Perpetua and the seamstress appear before her. The young woman is taken to the tailor's house, where she is hosted by her family. Lucia, who took a vow of chastity, regrets having done so, but mindful of the sufferings she suffered during the kidnapping and of the faith she felt at the moment of her pronouncement, she renews her, begging Our Lady to give her the strength to respect it. Subsequently Agnese arrives there and embraces her daughter again. The news of Lucia's release spreads in the Lecco area. Don Rodrigo remains locked up in his palace for two days and on the third day he leaves the country to go to Milan accompanied by his Bravi. Lucia and Agnese make friends with the members of the seamstress's family. In those same days a couple of Milanese nobles, Donna Prassede (Emily Watson) and Don Ferrante (David Thewlis), are there on vacation. The lady learns of Lucia's story and decides to send her to get her because she wants to help her by proposing to welcome her into her house.
The two women then return to their country and talk to the cardinal who agrees that Donna Prassede's invitation is kind and that Lucia will be safe. The next day Lucia moves to Donna Prassede's holiday home, where she will stay for a few days and then move to Milan. The unnamed person donates a large sum of money to Agnese as compensation for the harm done to her daughter. The next day Agnese goes to Lucia who reveals that she has taken a vow of virginity and she asks to inform Renzo of her. Agnese finds Renzo with difficulty and begins a correspondence between the two, but the partial illiteracy of the two complicates the exchange of letters. Agnese manages to send some money donated by the Unnamed, informing Renzo with that letter of Lucia's vow of chastity. Renzo, altered, replies that he will never put his soul at peace. Agnese manages to inform Lucia, now a guest of Donna Prassede in Milan, that Renzo is safe. The Milanese noblewoman, convinced that Renzo is a criminal, wants to persuade Lucia to forget him, but the young woman continues to think of him. In the following months, the plague begins to spread in northern Italy. Furthermore, the Landsknechts had also invaded some parts of northern Italy. The Landsknechts were mercenary infantry soldiers, enlisted by the German legions of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire. The news of the arrival of the lansquenets and their raids in the territory of Lecco spreads in a flash and soon reaches the village of Don Abbondio who is terrified. Agnese, mindful of the promise of help from the Unnamed, suggests to Don Abbondio and Perpetua to take refuge in the castle of the now former bandit. The proposal was welcomed with enthusiasm by Perpetua, who encouraged him to leave immediately. Don Abbondio, Agnese and Perpetua arrive at the castle of the Innominati, which kindly welcomes them. The three remain at the castle for a couple of weeks, without anything particular happening, except for frequent alarms for the arrival of the landsknets. The namesake along with his small army defends the place from German soldiers, who complete their passage after about a month. From the castle all the refugees begin to leave and the former bandit gives Agnese some money before she too leaves with her two traveling companions.
The three return to the village where they find the houses devastated by the looting of the soldiers. The plague epidemic begins to spread but the public authorities are negligent and unwary in stemming the infection. The disease spreads slowly in the city of Milan, but even the population seems not to worry about it until in a few days the situation worsens irreversibly and the authorities no longer know what to do. The hospital is entrusted to the Capuchin fathers, who do their utmost to help the sick. The authorities to convince the people of the veracity of the epidemic shows a wagon with the corpses of an entire family who died of the plague. Fear spreads in the city and incidents of lynching by the crowd against innocent people begin to occur. Meanwhile Don Rodrigo, escorted by his trusty Griso, returns to his house in Milan after his cousin's funeral but begins to feel ill. He spends a bad night in anxiety, having an anguished dream in which Friar Cristoforo appears to him, with an accusatory attitude. When he wakes up he discovers he has contracted the plague and asks Griso to go find his trusted doctor. Griso nods but instead betrays him by handing him over to the authorities and is taken away with the other sick people. Then he rummages through Rodrigo's clothes for money and becomes infected in turn.
Meanwhile Renzo, already cured of the plague, returns to Lecco to get news of Lucia and meets Don Abbondio, who tells him about the death of Perpetua and many others. He also tells him where Lucia is staying. Renzo arrives in Milan and is called by a woman who, together with her children, is kidnapped from her house because her husband is infected. Renzo kindly gives her her bread that he takes with him.
He sees the wagons full of corpses and begins to be very worried about Lucia. He asks a priest for directions, who finally shows him where Ferrante's house is. Renzo is about to arrive at the house but reluctantly witnesses the sad scene of a mother who desperately hands over the lifeless body of her eight-year-old daughter wrapped in a red wool blanket. Renzo wipes a tear and arrives at Don Ferrante's house which was a couple of houses further on. Renzo, however, learns that Lucia had fallen ill with the plague and was taken away. Renzo is desperate and leans against a wall with his hands on his head talking to himself and praying. An old woman sees him as he looks out from the balcony and mistakes him for a pestilent and starts screaming attracting other people there. Renzo escapes and manages to escape the lynching of the crowd managing to take refuge on a wagon full of dead that is heading towards the area used as a hospital. Renzo arrives there and is astonished seeing only death and despair and thus begins the arduous search for Lucia. Renzo walks randomly aimlessly and accidentally meets Brother Cristoforo who is helping the plague victims. The friar tells him that he has never met her and suggests that he look for the girl in the part of the healed and gives him directions on how to access the women's quarter. Renzo at the thought of not finding Lucia expresses intentions of revenge against Don Rodrigo but the friar reproaches him very harshly, telling him that only God can judge. Renzo understands the friar's words and says he is ready to forgive Don Rodrigo. At that point Cristoforo tells him to follow him and they enter a tent. Renzo thus sees Rodrigo now dying. The boy kneels next to Rodrigo and prays for the safety of his persecutor and then returns to look for Lucia.
Renzo goes to the area suggested by Cristoforo but cannot find it. Pessimism is about to take over in the boy until a woman with Asian features comes out of a hut and a familiar voice comes from there. A moment later he sees her beloved come out of a hut with a jug of water in her hand. Renzo and Lucia see each other and burst into tears hugging each other. The two boyfriends exchange a few words and then he tries in vain to distract Lucia from the promise of the vow of chastity but the girl reluctantly says that they cannot be together. Renzo does not give up and goes to look for Cristoforo to ask him for help. Meanwhile Lucia bursts into tears as she tells the story of her to the Asian woman (Maggie Q), who was brought to Italy by a very wealthy merchant who fell in love with her after a trip to Asia. After her husband's death, she inherited her wealth from her and she was commonly referred to as "The Merchant". The two women had become friends and after her death also her children due to the plague had expressed their intention to keep Lucia with them as a kind of sister. Renzo and Fra Cristoforo enter the hut and the friar is welcomed by Lucia with great affection. The friar takes Lucia aside and invites her to confide in him: the young woman confesses that her feelings for Renzo are unchanged and the friar reassures her of the legitimacy of the annulment of the vow of chastity. Cristoforo recites the prayer for the dissolution of the vow and tells Lucia to go back to thinking serenely about her marriage.
The next day Lucia is discharged and will move to the Mercantesses' house awaiting her complete recovery and they make an appointment for the end of the quarantine. Renzo greets Cristoforo and goes away thanking him. Cristoforo watches the girl go away smiling and then sits down on a chair with a tired and tried face, a sign that he too is ill with the plague even though he had not revealed it to either Renzo or Lucia.
A few days later Lucia is about to finish the quarantine and sadly learns of the deaths of Fra Cristoforo, Don Ferrante and Donna Pressede and she begins to pray for them. A few days later, one evening Agnese hears some noises in front of her house: it is Lucia accompanied by the Mercantess. The next morning Renzo, worried about Lucia's non-arrival at her house, goes to Agnese's house and finds her loved by her and they go to Don Abbondio's. A couple of days later Renzo and Lucia get married and the next day they sign the purchase contract for their farms. Lucia, Renzo and Agnese leave for Bergamo happy while the merchant leaves for Milan.
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