The Continuity Script

The Continuity Script
From the film with screenplay by
Federico Fellini
Ennio Flaiano
Tullio Pinelli
Brunello Rondi
Converted to PDF by mypdfscripts.com

AN UNDERPASS
Throughout this scene, the images are marked by a start black-

and-white contrast.
1 MS: the back of Guido’s head through the rear window of his
car. (We will not see Guido’s face at all until the film’s
next sequence, shot 31.) Caught in a traffic jam, Guido’s car
inches forward. The camera tracks forwards slightly, as if it
too were caught in the jam. The only sound is a regular
drumbeat, suggestive of a heartbeat.
2 Pan right, starting at the level of the cars’ roofs, rising

to the level of the windows of a bus on the left side of
underpass.
3 CU: the back of Guido’s head. Pan left to the face of a man
in the adjoining car, staring at Guido, then to a woman,
apparently dozing in the driver’s seat, then back to the
interior of Guido’s car. Guido takes a piece of cloth from
the dashboard and begins to wipe the interior of the
windshield. Pan to the occupants of the car on the right,
then back to Guido’s dashboard. A whiff of smoke escapes from
the car’s ventilation system, accompanied by a whooshing
sound. Gasping for breath, Guido vainly tries to adjust the
ventilation, then to open the door.
4 LS: top half of frame, a row of arms hanging out of the

windows of a bus; bottom half, the occupants of the cars,
staring in Guido’s direction.
5 MS: Guido continues to bang against his door. More smoke

fills his car. He tries to open the window on the passenger’s
side of the car. CU of his hands banging and clawing against
the window. Pan right to a man in an adjoining car, looking
on impassively. Track right and pan left to Guido’s hands,
banging on the window.
6 MS: in another car a man, smoking a cigarette, is caressing

and sexually arousing a scantily dressed woman. (We will
later recognize this woman as Carla, Guido’s mistress.) Pan
right past the faces of a couple in another car to Guido’s
smoke-filled car. Guido bangs on the window on the opposite
side.
7 MS: Guido crawling onto the roof of his car.
8 CU: a man looking in Guido’s direction. The camera rapidly

rises and pulls back slightly to reveal, in LS, a man and a
woman in the front of the bus, staring impassively. Pan right
follows Guido, his arms outstretched, floating over the roofs
of the cars.
2.
9 MS tilts up Guido’s back as he floats, stretching out his

arms, his black coat billowing. When he leaves the frame at
the right he reveals, against a stark white sky, the overhead
wires of a tram.
THE SKY
10 LS: following Guido as he gloats in the sky.
11 LS: from Guido’s POV, advancing toward sun and rapidly-moving

clouds.
12 LS: from Guido’s POV, moving toward a structure of girders

and wires that we will recognize as the spaceship
superstructure of the film’s final sequences.
A BEACH
13 LS: Claudia’s Agent, wearing a cape, riding a horse. Pan

follows him right.
CLAUDIA’S PRESS AGENT

Avvocato, I’ve caught him.
Claudia’s Press Agent appears in MS. He rises from the sand,

grabs hold of a cord and looks up. Claudia’s Agent stops and
points to the sky.
CLAUDIA’S PRESS AGENT (CONT’D)

Hey. Down. Come down.
14 High angle LS: from Guido’s POV as he floats above the beach,
of his own leg, a long cord attached to it, held by Claudia’s
Press Agent far below.
15 Closer high angle LS: Claudia’s Press Agent holding the end
of the cord, pulling on it and laughing.
16 As in 14. Guido tries to untie the cord around his angle.
17 Low angle MS, then zoom into CU of Claudia’s Agent, rifling

through some papers, on horse.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT
Down for good!
18 Extreme high angle from above the figure of Guido who falls
precipitously toward the water, the sound of his gasps
continues into the next shot.
3.
GUIDO’S HOTEL ROOM, DAY
19 CU: Guido’s arm stretched upwards, taut with anxiety. First

Doctor enters, LS, from the right background, walking left
toward Guido’s bed, first looking up and to the right, then
at Guido, who coughs repeatedly during this shot.
FIRST DOCTOR
Please forgive this early-morning
intrusion. How do you feel? I am
one of your great admirers. I am
very happy to meet you. May we
begin?
From behind Guido’s head, pan left continues to an elderly

nurse, entering through a white curtain.
NURSE
May I use your typewriter, sir?
Pan right to Second Doctor, with stethoscope, seated next to

Guido’s bed, MS.
SECOND DOCTOR
Please uncover your arm. Keep it
relaxed.
20 CU: a newspaper, being read by the First Doctor, fills the

right foreground; LS: Nurse in left background.
NURSE
How old are you?
GUIDO
Forty-three.
SECOND DOCTOR
Please get up.
The First Doctor drops the newspaper and leans affably on the
bedstead.
FIRST DOCTOR
Well, what are you cooking up for
us? Another film without hope?
NURSE
Is this the first time that you’re
taking the cure?
GUIDO
Yes.
4.
21 CU: Guido’s back, covered with sheet. Second Doctor first

taps, then puts his ear to Guido’s chest.
SECOND DOCTOR
A deep breath.
A knock at the door.
GUIDO
Come in.
22 LS: through an etched glass partition, we see Daumier, in

bathrobe and pyjamas, entering Guido’s room. Although during
the course of the film he occasionally says a word in French
rather than Italian, Daumier speaks excellent academic
Italian with a strong French accent.
DAUMIER
Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll come back
later.
Daumier starts to back out.
23 As in 21.
GUIDO
No, come on in.
24 MCU: tracking Daumier entering and walking left.
SECOND DOCTOR (O.S.)

Breathe.
(pause)
Deeper.
DAUMIER
Good morning.
25 LS: Daumier.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
May I smoke?
Absorbed in his own thoughts, Daumier sits in a chair on the

far wall, smoking. He holds a script in his lap.

Cough.
26 CU: Guido’s hands; his head is hidden beneath his dressing

gown. He coughs.
SECOND DOCTOR (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Breathe.
5.
GUIDO
Have you read it yet?
27 As in 25.
DAUMIER
Yes.
28 As in 26.
SECOND DOCTOR
Breathe.
GUIDO
And what did you think of it?
29 As in 27.
Daumier runs his hand through the few remaining hairs on his
head.
DAUMIER
Well, I’ve made some notes. But
we’ll talk about it... later.
30 CU: Second Doctor’s leg and arm, and Guido’s bare leg that
the doctor has just finished tapping.

Your system has been a little
overworked. Thank you. You may get
dressed.
Tracking pan follows the doctor’s hands as he puts his hammer

into a case on the bed. The bed is strewn with glossy
photographs of women. He picks up one photograph.
SECOND DOCTOR (O.S.) (CONT’D)

A pretty girl. American, isn’t she?
31 LS: Second Doctor walking right with his bag and Guido
walking right, putting on his dressing gown. This is the
first glimpse of Guido’s face in the film. Pan right
revealing First Doctor who stands to shake Guido’s hand, and
Nurse, who is typing out the instructions.
SECOND DOCTOR (CONT’D)

(referring to the
photographs)
You sure have a lot of good
merchandise here...
(When Guido begins speaking, some of the Second Doctor’s

lines become unintelligible.)
6.
SECOND DOCTOR (CONT’D)

This cure will certainly do you
lots of good.
(to Nurse)
So, Miss, every day, on an empty
stomach, 300 grams of mineral water
to be drunk in three doses, at
quarter-hour intervals. Every other
day, mud baths. After each mud
treatment, a bath in mineral water
for ten minutes, according to the
prescription. Diet... At the end of
the first week of the cure, suspend
all the prescribed treatments for
two days.
While Second Doctor paces left to right, giving these

instructions to the Nurse, and First Doctor paces and fans
himself with his newspaper, the camera tracks back to Guido,
his dressing gown half on, walks forward dazedly, past the
imperturbable Daumier.
GUIDO
What time is it?
DAUMIER
I’ll wait for you at the springs,
if you like?
GUIDO
Yes, thank you.
Guido enters the bathroom on the right.
GUIDO’S BATHROOM
32 Tilt up to bathroom mirror as Guido walk into CU. The music,

Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” (Die Walküre, Act III),
continues through this scene into the next. Guido snaps on
the light and we finally see his face clearly. He looks
dejectedly at his reflection; his features are bloated, his
eyes rimmed with dark circles.
33 LS: Guido in the enormous bathroom. He scratches his head,

finishes putting on his dressing gown. The room is flooded
with bright light, accompanied by an “electric” sound. (Both
the light and the sound will be repeated several times in the
film. They are references to the floodlights and the buzzer
of a movie soundstage.) Guido walks to the right, starts
taking off the dressing gown. The phone rings. He turns in
annoyance and marks each subsequent ring by squatting lower
and lower.
7.
THE TERRACE AND GROUNDS OF THE SPA, DAY
Shots 34-41 appear to be from Guido’s POV.
34 Pan left over grounds. People are shown in a variety of

attitudes and situations: walking, stationary, in CU, in MS,
and in LS, acknowledging Guido’s presence by looking directly
at the camera, ignoring him, carrying glasses of mineral
water, drinking the water. The women are dressed elegantly,
in styles reminiscent of fashions of the thirties. Many of
them carry parasols. An elderly man drinks mineral water. The
camera follows him as he walks to a woman seated on a
concrete bench with a high, curving back. She smiles,
enchanted by the music. Pan continues to a priest, some nuns,
a group of women in the foreground, one of whom blows a kiss
toward the camera. MS of conductor waving his arms.
35 Pan right. In MS and CU: nuns walking away from camera; women
seated in foreground, waving; an expressionless woman,
wearing large dark glasses, a cigarette dangling from her
lips, slowing twirling her black, polka-dot parasol; a portly
woman in white, sleeping.
36 LS: a bearded monk, seated on one of the monumental concrete

benches, swinging his short legs in time to the music, Two
elderly women cross in the foreground, right to left. Pan to
two nurses helping an elderly man in shorts to be seated, in
background. As the pan continues, CU, in the foreground, of a
woman in severely mannish dress.
37 Pan left: LS of a line of people, their glasses in hand,

advancing right to left in time to the music. MS of nun in
foreground, drinking her mineral water, smiling at camera,
then turning away giggling, Pan continues left as other
figures move left to right, mid-ground.
38 Pan follows a man moving right in CU, his cane shaking in one
hand, his glass in the other hand; slight pan left follows in
MS a man shielding his head from the sun with a newspaper.
When he leaves the frame we seem stretching from foreground
to background, a line of young women dressed in white
uniforms. Standing in a trench several feet below ground
level, they are filling the water glasses of the people
taking the cure.
39 Low angle LS: people walking on a staircase at the top of

which is placed the orchestra.
40 High angle ELS: the spa terrace, the spring circling from the
right around the rear. People are standing in three lines,
waiting for their mineral water. As the camera descends, two
nuns and a man and woman appear in MS, sitting on a different
part of the terrace, the orchestra ends its rendition of “The
Ride of the Valkyries.”
8.
41 We now hear the overture to Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

Two women in black uniforms walk from foreground, away from
camera, and join the line of people waiting to have their
glasses filled. One of them carries a black umbrella. LS
showing the girls serving the water, on the left.
42 CU: faces of people moving in line, right to left. Guido’s

face appears. CU, track follows him. He is wearing dark
glasses. He looks to the right and left, then drops his
cigarette. He slides his glasses down the bridge of his nose.
The music stops; there is an unnatural silence from here
until just after Guido speaks in 50.
43 ELS: Claudia, dressed in a white uniform, standing in the

woods, framed between the monumental walls that flank the
spring.
44 MCU: Guido, looking over the rim of his glasses, tapping the
end of his nose.
45 LS: Claudia coming forward between the walls. Her arms are
crossed modestly across her breasts. As she approaches, she
spreads her arms and continues to advance rapidly through the
frame, from left to right, in a dancelike movement.
46 CU: Claudia smiling radiantly, moving to the right.
47 As in 44.
48 CU: Claudia bending down, out of the frame.
49 High angle CU: Claudia’s hand, holding a glass of mineral

water. Tilt up as she offers glass to Guido, her smiling face
in MCU.
50 As in 47. Guido is fascinated.
GUIDO
(in a whisper)
Thank you.
ATTENDANT (O.S.)
Sir.
The music starts again.
51 In the place of Claudia, an impatient, tire, overheated

attendant, wiping her brow with one hand, with the other
offering Guido his glass.
ATTENDANT (CONT’D)
Sir, your glass.
9.
52 As in 50. Drawn out of his reverie, Guido pushes his glasses

back to their conventional place. After he accepts his water
and exits from right, his pace is taken by a short old lady,
carrying a parasol.
53 LS: the terrace, its high walls and the opening onto the
forest, and the lines of people. Guido walks forward, waving
his hand. MCU: back of Daumier’s shoulder and head as he
stands in response to Guido’s greeting.
DAUMIER
Here I am.
54 Throughout most of this shot we see Daumier tracked in CU,

alternately full-face and in profile, from Guido’s POV.
Daumier moves left to right, occasionally stopping.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
You want us to talk about the film.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Yes. Of course.
DAUMIER
Well, I hope you’ll tell me if you
want your producer to see this
report.
He brandishes a piece of paper.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
Frankly, I wouldn’t want to cause
you any trouble.
GUIDO (O.S.)
No, don’t worry. I’m the one who
asked for you opinion.
DAUMIER
You see, a first reading makes
plain the lack of a central idea
that establishes the problematic of
the film or, if you wish, of a
philosophical premise...
GUIDO (O.S.)
Shall we sit down?
Daumier continues walking to the right.
DAUMIER
...and therefore the film becomes
(in French)
a series
(MORE)
10.
DAUMIER (CONT'D)
(in Italian)
of absolutely gratuitous episodes.
Because of their ambiguous realism,
they may even be amusing.
He leans against one of the concrete benches. Beneath his

arm, we see Guido seated, drinking his mineral water, in MS.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
One wonders what the authors really
intend. Do they want to make us
think? Do they want to frighten us?
Pan right on Daumier, in CU, as he turns away from Guido.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
Right from the start, the action
displays an impoverished poetic
inspiration.
Daumier rubs two fingers together to suggest the poor value

of the scripts. Track back as he turns, bending down to brush
dust off the leg of his trousers, and sits on the far side of
Guido, in LS.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
You’ll have to excuse me for saying
so, but this may be the most
pathetic demonstration that the
cinema is irremediably fifty years
behind all the other arts. The
subject is not even worth that of
an avant-garde film, even though it
has all the weaknesses of that
genre.
55 MS: pan right form Daumier to include Guido.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
I took some notes, but I don’t
think they’ll be of much use to
you.
GUIDO
Thank you.
Daumier hands the notes to Guido, who begins to read them.
DAUMIER
I’m really surprised you thought of
me for a collaboration that,
frankly, I don’t think would work
out.
11.
GUIDO
(folding the notes)
No, no, no. Quite the contrary. You
will be very helpful to me.
He leans forward, now alone in MS, and speaks hesitantly.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
You see, the film... I really want
to do this film. I postponed the
start for two weeks... only...
because...
He looks up to the left, is distracted by what he sees, then

stands and shouts.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Mezzabotta!
(Looking down in Daumier’s
direction)
Excuse me.
Pan follows Guido to the left.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Mezzabotta! Mario! So you’re here,
too!
Over Guido’s shoulder, Mezzabotta in LS, dressed in sport

clothes, in sharp contrast to the formal attire worn by the
other people at the spa.
MEZZABOTTA
Guido!
Stooped, with bent legs, Mezzabotta laboriously makes his way

up a little hill.
GUIDO
Well, now. What happened to you?
What’s wrong with you?
When Mezzabotta nears Guido he laughs, springs erect, hops

forward, leaps into the air with exaggerated sprightliness
and embraces his friend,
MEZZABOTTA
Hi!
GUIDO
Go...
56 MCU: Guido and Mezzabotta.

12.
MEZZABOTTA
Hi, Guidone, how are you?
GUIDO
Fine.
MEZZABOTTA
Oh, you’ve grown some white hair,
old Snàporaz.
GUIDO
And what about you?
MEZZABOTTA
(looking down at Guido’s
glass)
What are you doing? You’re drinking
that stuff? It’s crap. It’ll make
you sick.
GUIDO
Yes. They said my liver doesn’t...
And what kind of treatment are you
doing?
MEZZABOTTA
(with a serious
expression)
Wait a minute.
As he turns, pan right over his shoulder to Gloria, a young

woman, in LS, walking forward, looking at the ground, her
shoes in her hand.
MEZZABOTTA (CONT’D)
Gloria!
GUIDO (O.S.)
Your daughter! My, how she’s grown.
Pan back to Mezzabotta and Guido.
MEZZABOTTA
No, she’s not my daughter.
He looks again in Gloria’s direction.
GLORIA (O.S.)
It’s horrible.
57 CU: Gloria. Her head is bent forward so that most of the

frame is filled with her wide-brimmed black hat. She speak
faulty Italian and has a strong American accent.
13.
GLORIA (CONT’D)
That cruel bee has sucked out the
life from these poor flowers.
As she looks up we hear the orchestra begin to play “The

Dance of the Reed-Pipes” from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.
MEZZABOTTA (O.S.)
Here, dearest.
Gloria smiles.
MEZZABOTTA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

I’d like to introduce my friend...
GLORIA
Pardon me. My shoes.
58 MS: Guido and Mezzabotta. Guido steps forward to shake hands.
GLORIA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Gloria... Gloria Morin.
GUIDO
Pleased to meet you.
GUIDO (O.S.) (CONT’D)

(in English)
How do you do?
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Fine, thank you.
59 As in 57.
GLORIA
I know all about you. Pupi always,
always tells me. We even had a big
fight because I was very critical
of your last film.
Mezzabotta enters left and puts his arm around Gloria.
MEZZABOTTA
That’s not true. You liked it a
lot.
He laughs nervously.
Shall we have something to drink?
Let’s go.
14.
60 MCU: Guido smiles, with some irony. He turns left and starts
walking, camera tracking his movement.

What about you? Are you alone?
61 MCU: tracking Gloria and Mezzabotta walking right.
Your wife?
GUIDO (O.S.)
No. I’m alone.
MEZZABOTTA
Better that way. Well, I mean,
better in general. You’ve heard
about me and Tina, no?
GUIDO (O.S.)
Tina?
MEZZABOTTA
Well, we’re waiting for the
annulment.
Mezzabotta and Gloria stop walking. Gloria is self-conscious

about Mezzabotta’s attentions.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Ah.
MEZZABOTTA
That’s why we’re here together.
We’re engaged.
He kisses Gloria who, a bit embarrassed, continues to look

intently at Guido.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Congratulations.
MEZZABOTTA
(laughing nervously)
Well, Guidone. What are you working
on? Something good?
Daumier stands up behind the couple.
62 MCU: Guido.

This is surely an idea place to
think...
15.
GUIDO
Excuse me. Daumier, the writer.
Miss...
63 MS: Gloria turns to shake hands with Daumier.

Excuse me... what is your name,
please?
GLORIA
(turning in Guido’s
direction, and smiling
broadly)
Gloria.
MEZZABOTTA (O.S.)
Gloria Morin.
Gloria turns back to Daumier.
GLORIA
I’m so happy to meet you. I’m a
great admirer of yours.
DAUMIER
You flatter me.
He puts on his glasses.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
Are you an actress? I’ve seen your
photograph somewhere.
GUIDO
Actress? Yes. I have some ambition
in that area.
She turns to look in Guido’s direction.
GLORIA
Actually, enormous ambition. But
that’s all for the time being.
Mezzabotta appears between Gloria and Daumier.
MEZZABOTTA
She has a degree in philosophy.
(Introducing himself)
Mario Mezzabotta.
DAUMIER
16.
GLORIA
I don’t have the degree yet. I’m
just writing my thesis. That’s a
bit different.
DAUMIER
What is the subject?
Pan follows Gloria as she turns, walks right and sits on one
of the “benches,” provocatively displaying her legs as she
puts on her shoes.
GLORIA
Oh, it’s a difficult subject. “The
Solitude of Modern Man in the
Contemporary Theater.”
MEZZABOTTA (O.S.)
An interesting thesis, isn’t it,
Professor?
64 MCU: Guido, his head bent forward. Pan follows him right.
DAUMIER (O.S.)
And the unexpected appearances of
the girl at the fountain... what do
they mean? An offer of purity, or
warmth to the hero?
Guido, lost in his own thoughts, reads a telegram.
THE TRAIN STATION, DAY
The station is small, bright, elegant, with flowers and

graceful lamps.
65 LS: Guido seated on a bench, left, beneath a beer

advertisement. Most of the frame is filled with an iron gate,
through which we see the tracks extending into the distance.
A porter stands behind the gate, right. A bell is ringing.
DAUMIER (O.S.)
(continuing to speak as in
the previous shot)
Of all the symbols that abound in
your story, this is the worst-
filled with am...
The word “ambiguity” is interrupted by the sound of a train

whistle. With a gesture of impatience, Guido throws the
telegram to the ground. He thinks better of it, though, and
stands. Pan right as he crosses to pick up the crumpled
telegram.
17.
Pan continues as, looking toward the approaching train, he

continues to walk right, then leans on a barrier to watch the
train slowly pull in to the station. It stop very near him.
66 MCU: Guido. Frowning, he does not seem eager to meet the

train.
67 LS: train from Guido’s POV. Passengers descend: a priest, a

woman and child. The porter goes to meet them with his cart.
68 As in 66. Guido puts on his glasses.
69 As in 67. The porter closes the door, the three passengers

walk forward. In the foreground, CU of the hand and the
signal of the track attendant. He blows the whistle to signal
the train’s departure.
70 As in 68. Guido, mildly puzzled and bemused, turns and walks

left.
GUIDO
(to himself)
She didn’t come. So much the
better.
71 MS: Guido walking forward, fanning himself with a newspaper.

Pan as he continues walking right, then stops, his back to
the camera. As the train starts to back out of the station,
Carla appears right, LS. She wears a large white hat and
collar and carries a white muff and a hatbox. Behind her, a
porter is picking up several of her valises. Taking a few
steps, with her characteristically “Sexy” walk, she calls to
Guido, waves, laughs, bends her knees and then straightens up
as if to say, “Guess who’s here?” Guido lamely waves his
newspaper at her, then turns away to see if anyone is
watching. He goes to meet her and she continues to wiggle
toward him, giggling. The other passengers cross from left to
right in the foreground.
72 MCU: Guido kissing Carla’s hand.
CARLA
(smiling broadly)
Yak.
(Throughout the film, Carla often punctuates her speech with

nonverbal sounds- “sgulp,” “smak,” “sgurp,” “snap” -and
largely drawn from the Donald Duck comic strip. These convey
happiness, sexual desire, etc.)
CARLA (CONT’D)
How are you?
18.
GUIDO
(the back of his head to
the camera)
So-so. Not bad.
CARLA
Does anyone here recognize you?
GUIDO
No, I don’t think so. But you
brought all that luggage?
Track forward follows as Carla turns away, walking toward the

porter and luggage.
CARLA
Oh, there are just five suitcases.
Evening gowns take up so much room.
I brought one... just wait until
you see it.
(to the porter)
Did you load everything?
PORTER
Yes, everything.
Carla turns back and looks in Guido’s direction.
GUIDO (O.S.)
But Carla, here people go to bed
early. There’s nothing going on.
Track back as Carla walks forward in MCU.
CARLA
But this is a fashionable spa.
There must surely be a fashion
show. Even in your hotel, there’s
got to be a little nightclub, no?
Guido appears at right, then crosses behind her as they walk

forward.
CARLA (CONT’D)
Have you been a good boy?
GUIDO
Yes, yes, yes. But, I want to tell
you something.
He nervously crosses back to the other side of the frame.

19.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
I... I couldn’t find a room for you
in my hotel. And, in any case, it’s
full of people who know me. So, I
decided it would be better to have
you stay somewhere else. An
excellent hotel, very sweet.
CARLA
(frowning like a
disappointed child)
But why?
GUIDO
(looking down, then
putting his hand on
Carla’s behind)
And how’s he feeling?
CARLA
(delighted, laughing)
Sgulp! Just fine.
GUIDO
Mmmm.
73 LS: through an iron gate, of Guido and Carla walking left to

right and then away from the camera, toward station exit.
CARLA
You look a little pale. How come?
GUIDO
There it is. Do you see? The hotel
is right over there.
DINING ROOM IN CARLA’S HOTEL, DAY
74 Over Guido’s shoulder we see in LS a narrow, unpretentious

dining room. An old waitress is playing solitaire at one of
the tables.
WAITRESS
(calling, without looking
up from her cards)
Ma’am!
Pan right as Guido in MS turns back and takes a step toward

Carla, who begins fanning herself with her hand and looking
around.
WAITRESS (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Some people here.
20.
GUIDO
You see... just as I told you...
it’s not... but it’s very quiet.
He takes off his glasses.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
If you’re hungry, I’ll have some
sandwiches brought up to the room.
It’s a bit depressing here, isn’t
it?
CARLA
Not at all. It’s picturesque.
Pan follows her left as she walks toward the dining room.
CARLA (CONT’D)
And I’m hungry. You ate, but I
didn’t.
Buttoning her blouse, the Hotel-keeper walks toward Carla.
HOTEL-KEEPER
(speaking in a strong
Venetian accent)
Good afternoon, sir.
CARLA
(walking toward the
Waitress playing
solitaire)
Good afternoon.
HOTEL-KEEPER
Good afternoon, ma’am.
CARLA
Is your solitaire working out?
WAITRESS
No.
HOTEL-KEEPER
(approaching Guido, in MS)
Everything is ready. The room...
the bathroom. You can rest assured.
Madame will be like one of the
family.
GUIDO
(back to the camera)
Yes, yes, thank you. You wouldn’t
have anything to eat, would you?
21.
HOTEL-KEEPER
Whatever you like.
CARLA
(coming forward)
The bathroom, please.
HOTEL-KEEPER
(pointing to the rear)
It’s over there.
(Turning to Guido)
I’ll prepare something myself.
GUIDO
Yes, please do.
HOTEL-KEEPER
(speaking to the Waitress
as she walks to the rear)
Soon, Madame will...
The rest of her exchange with the Waitress is covered by the

dialogue of Guido and Carla.
CARLA
(coquettishly stroking her
own hands)
The train is terrible. It leaves
your hands black. Are you happy I’m
here?
GUIDO
Of course.
CARLA
But very happy, or just a little
happy.
WAITRESS
(in the background, to the
Hotel-keeper)
Shall I set that table?
GUIDO
I’m very happy.
CARLA
(delighted, playfully
bringing her fist to
Guido’s face)
Mmm. Sbak.
She turns. Track follows as she walks through the dining room
22.
CARLA (CONT’D)
Mmm. What a wonderful aroma. You
know, Guido... Oop.
Her hat strikes a pendant hanging from a light fixture.
CARLA (CONT’D)
This black velvet... I was sure it
would wrinkle.
75 MS: Guido bemusedly scratching his head, taking a few steps

forward; behind him, jars of pickles and olives. Carla
continues to speak during Guido’s response.
GUIDO
Really? Good, good.
CARLA (O.S.)
Nothing of the sort. Not even a
crease! Can you imagine? After
traveling for three hours!
76 LS: through an open window on the right we see Carla washing

up; through the half-open door on the left, a bicycle,
propped against the wall. The sound of a train whistle. Carla
sings, wordlessly.
77 MS: the Hotel-keeper putting on her apron, walking forward,

looking right in the direction of Carla.
CARLA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

But you’ve not even told me you
liked it. Don’t you like it, Guido?
HOTEL-KEEPER
direction)
78 What a beautiful lady!
MS: Guido, who discards an olive pit into his hand.
GUIDO
Hm.
79 As in 77.
HOTEL-KEEPER
(gesturing approval by
shaking her hand)
Elegant!
She brings her hand up to her head.

23.
HOTEL-KEEPER (CONT’D)
What she has on her head... is it
plush?
(She pronounces it as if
it were an Italian word)
80 As in 78.
GUIDO
(pronouncing it correctly,
in French)
Ah, plush, plush.
81 As in 79.
HOTEL-KEEPER
(repeating Guido’s
pronunciation)
Ah, plush.
82 MS: Carla’s reflection in mirror.
CARLA
If you only knew how long it took
me to find it. I was almost
desperate.
Guido’s reflection appears behind her.
CARLA (CONT’D)
You know me. When Carla puts her
mind to something...
GUIDO
(burying his nose in her
plush collar)
Snak!
CARLA
Sgulp!
She laughs.
CARLA (CONT’D)
There was a really good one in last
week’s Donald Duck. There was a
dinosaur...
GUIDO
(speaking along with
Carla)
Here she is, my sweet piece of ass.
24.
CARLA
Behave yourself. There was a
dinosaur...
A woman’s voice is heard singing the “Ricordo d’ infanzia”

(”Childhood Memory”) theme that figures so importantly in the
farmhouse scene. As Carla turns towards Guido, pan to their
reflected images in CU.
CARLA (CONT’D)
Guido, behave yourself. Well, what
do you want to do?
GUIDO
Mmm.
CARLA
(touching her forehead to
Guido’s)
Have you really been a good boy?
GUIDO
Of course.
CARLA
Hmm. Well, in any case, now your
sweet piece of ass is hungry.
Pan left as Carla walks to the right. She is now seen in

reflection. Guido goes to the sink. We see both his image and
its reflection as he washes his hands.
CARLA (CONT’D)
Oh, my wedding ring.
She exits.
CARLA (CONT’D)
Listen, Guido... that little thing
you promised me...
GUIDO
What little thing?
(To himself)
Now you’ll see... she’ll start
talking again about her husband.
You don’t think so? You’ll see, old
Snàporaz.
83 At the table. MCU: Carla is holding and eating a chicken leg.

25.
CARLA
Poor Luigi. He’s not happy at all.
You know, my husband is not a pushy
type. Not him. It depresses him.
But he’s not stupid, you know. On
the contrary, he’s very
intelligent. Goodness, it’s
terribly hot!
She wiggles her torso, then pats her bosom with her napkin.
CARLA (CONT’D)
Can you believe it...
84 MS: Guido smoking, playing solitaire with one hand,

distractedly swinging Carla’s purse with the other.

...he knows Roman history backwards
and forwards. He needs someone to
give him a little push. He’s still
there working for the fuel company
at the same salary.
85 CU: Carla.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(absentmindedly)
Oh, really?
CARLA
Be careful with my purse. You’ll
break it.
86 As in 84.
Guido puts the purse on the table.

I’m very attached to that purse. He
gave it to me.
Guido picks up his newspaper.
87 As in 85.
CARLA (CONT’D)
(sweetly, with a little
laugh)
Why don’t you find him a job? You
know so many people.
Guido hums the Rossini overture, off.

26.
88 As in 86. Guido reads his newspaper and continues to hum.

You promised me so often. Guido!
89 As in 87.
CARLA (CONT’D)
You know, I’ve dreamt it. I dreamt
that you found him a job. And he
went crazy and killed...
90 As in 88. Guido starts from his newspaper.

...us both.
GUIDO
Who?
91 As in 89.
CARLA
You and me. Mmm.
Savoring the taste of her food, she drinks some wine.
CARLA (CONT’D)
Do you know where we were? In that
little street behind Via della
Corce, where I bought you that tie
that your wife also bought you?
Remember? And when you wore it I
never knew whether it was hers or
mine.
She speaks with her mouth full of food.
CARLA (CONT’D)
There we were, on a cot, in each
other’s arms, naked. And he came in
a killed us both with a broom.
She smiles broadly, then laughs, vastly amused.
92 LS: Carla and Guido at the table. Guido is swinging the purse
again.
CARLA’S HOTEL ROOM, DAY
93 CU: Carla, in silhouette, from behind. Wrapped in a sheet, a

black veil tied around her head, she is looking out the
window.
27.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(whispering)
Make it darker.
CARLA
(whispering)
Yes.
She closes the curtains.
GUIDO
(whispering)
Yes, like that. Now you go out into
the hall and then, after a minute,
you come in as if it were the wrong
room and found a stranger.
Pan follows Carla in MCU. She stops in front of her

reflection in the mirror over the sink, then faces forward,
absolutely delighted at Guido’s suggestion.
CARLA
Oh, that’s good. We’ve never done
that one.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Stop, just like that. Let me see.
She gives a lascivious expression.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
No. You need makeup that’s more...
Pan follows Carla as she turns toward a mirror on an armoire;

in it is the reflection of Guido lying in bed.
CARLA
(her back to the camera)
More what?
The sound of a train whistle.
GUIDO
More like a whore’s.
We see the reflection of Guido rising in bed; then pan

follows Carla who moves in MCU right toward the bed,
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Come here. Give me the pencil.
Guido appears opposite Carla, in MCU. He begins to pencil her

eyebrows.
28.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Don’t move.
The dialogue of Guido and Carla overlaps in the next few

exchanges.
CARLA
(looking up)
What a nice lamp.
GUIDO
(intent on making up
Carla)
Yes, yes.
CARLA
You see, I wanted one for my house.
GUIDO
OK, but don’t move.
CARLA
What’s the name of this hotel?
GUIDO
Della Ferrovia.
CARLA
Ah. I want to write to my husband.
Then he’ll send me an express
letter right away. You should see
the beautiful letters he writes.
I’ll let you read them.
GUIDO
(still intent on his
makeup job)
Yes, yes. But if you don’t keep
still... Make a face like a whore.
Carla turns her face toward the camera, makes a “sexy” sound,
parts her lips, closes her eyes, then starts laughing.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
(getting up)
Sgwee! Go out into the hallway.
CARLA
(putting her arms around
Guido’s neck)
Oh, so it’s a part I have to play.
GUIDO
Yes.
29.
CARLA
You think I’m one of your
actresses.
GUIDO
Go. Get out.
Pan right as he lies down in bed and pulls up the sheet.
CARLA (O.S.)
Why? You don’t think I’d be as good
as they are?
94 MS: Carla walking toward the door.
CARLA (CONT’D)
Well, it’s not for me. I wouldn’t
like their kind of life.
She opens the door to the little antechamber where her

traveling outfit is hanging. She stops for a moment in the
entrance and turns toward Guido.
CARLA (CONT’D)
I like to stay at home.
95 High angle MS: Guido settling into his pillow.
GUIDO
Go on. Out. I’m sleeping.
96 MCU: Carla going out the door, making the “hooker” face and
the sexy sound. Her head leaves the frame but her hand
remains on the door frame. Then she backs into view.
CARLA
Say, if I did this for real, would
you be jealous?
97 As in 95.
GUIDO
(turning toward Carla)
Buy why? Would you really do it?
98 As in 96.
CARLA
Mm. Who knows?
99 As in 98.
Most of the exchanges between the Hotel-keeper and Carla are

indistinct. Guido gets up on one elbow, smoking a cigarette.
30.
HOTEL-KEEPER (O.S.)
Do you need anything?
CARLA (O.S.)
No. I’ve just come out for a
moment.
HOTEL-KEEPER (O.S.)
Would you like a bath?
CARLA (O.S.)
No. It’s only for...
HOTEL-KEEPER (O.S.)
It you’re thirsty, do you want some
mineral water?
CARLA (O.S.)
No. Goodbye.
100 The entrance to the room. Carla runs back in, giggling,
signaling for Guido to keep quiet.
101 CU: Guido.
GUIDO
What did she want? What did she
say?
102 As in 100.
CARLA
(still giggling)
It was the hotel-keeper who wanted
to give me mineral water.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Come here.
As Carla seductively approaches Guido’s bed the camera tracks

toward her.

Come. Open up the sheet.
Her face in CU, she makes the “hooker” face and opens the
sheet, spreading her arms wide.
CARLA
Guido. But you do love me?
She throws herself on Guido, whose arms enfold her.

31.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(with a touch of
impatience)
Yes, yes.
DISSOLVE.
103 MS: Guido is asleep in the foreground. Behind him, Carla is

propped up in bed, intently reading a comic book, munching on
a piece of fruit. A plate with fruit is balanced on her knee.
She starts to laugh at what she is reading, glances at Guido,
suffocates her laugh, then goes back to her comic book and
piece of fruit.
104 High angle LS: the bedroom. Gently blowing in the wind, the
curtains create changing patterns of light and dark. Guido
and Carla as in 103. At left, Guido’s Mother dressed in
black, moving her right arm as if she were wiping something.
She takes small steps to the left. The unnatural silence of
this shot, characteristic of the dream sequences of the film,
is interrupted by lugubrious chords that accompany the next
scene.
COUNTRY CEMETERY, GUIDO’S DREAM
This is a ruined cemetery without conventional tombstones. It

seems to be composed of monumental walls and rows of columns
and mausoleums.
105 MS: Her back to the camera, Guido’s Mother in front of a

large white surface that, after a moment, dimly reflects the
cemetery behind her. Guido appears behind her, nearly
unidentifiable in the reflection. She briefly continues her
wiping gesture, then drops her arms with a weary shrug and
steps back. After repeating the wiping gesture and shaking
her handkerchief, she walks left. Pan follows her, showing
more of the cemetery in LS.
106 LS: the cemetery. Guido’s profile is silhouetted in CU in the

foreground. His mother is in background, watering the ground
with a watering can.
GUIDO
You’re Mama, aren’t you?
107 MS: Guido’s Mother in the foreground, bent over, weeding.

Behind her, a cemetery wall. Track left/pan right brings her
into MS, simulating Guido’s POV. She looks up.
MOTHER
How many tears, my son?! How many
tears?!
32.
She dabs her cheek with her handkerchief. Pan right continues
in pursuit of Guido’s Father carrying a straw hat, moving out
of frame, right.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(very anxiously)
Poppa, wait! Don’t go away!
108 LS with a slight up and down motion, again simulating Guido’s

POV; the camera pans left from the monumental wall, past a
row of square columns, to the base of a mausoleum, in CU.

We’ve talked so little to each
other. Listen, Poppa! I had so many
questions to ask you.
The pan continues on the torso of the Father. He opens the

glass door of the mausoleum and then stands to the left of a
white bier. We finally see his face in MS. Guido’s back
appears at the right edge of the frame.
FATHER
(smiling, in an
excessively sweet,
plaintive tone of voice
that he maintains
throughout the sequence)
I cannot answer yet.
Turning his straw hat in his hands, he glances at the

ceiling.
FATHER (CONT’D)
Do you see how low the ceiling is
here? I would have liked it higher.
It’s ugly, my son, it’s ugly. I
would have like it different.
109 MS: the Father. Pan follows him to the right as he walks
around bier. Through a window, we see the cemetery walls
stretching into the background.
FATHER (CONT’D)
Couldn’t you take care of it,
Guido? You used to draw so well.
I’d like...
As the pan continues we see Pace, the producer, walking

toward the mausoleum. His black coat is draped over his
shoulders; he carries a black hat. The Father is now off.
33.
FATHER (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Oh, the Commendatore. He shouldn’t
have taken the trouble.
Pace raises his arm in greeting as he continues walking

toward the mausoleum. Pan continues right to door that opens.
Conocchia, the production assistant, in a white sport shirt
and white hat enters, in MCU, followed by Pace.

Good morning.
CONOCCHIA
direction)
Hi!
Father appears to the left of Pace, in MS. His manner is

obsequious.
FATHER
How is he doing? How is my son
doing?
Pace makes a gesture of disapproval with his hand.
CONOCCHIA
(whispering to Pace)
Don’t let yourself be moved. Be
careful!
FATHER
What? Not well?
Pace continues to gesticulate disapprovingly while the other

two men look in Guido’s direction, judging him negatively.
110 LS: the cemetery, through the window of the mausoleum.

Conocchia and Pace are walking away. Guido’s silhouette
appears in CU at left.

It was sad to realize that one has
been so mistaken!
GUIDO
But I...
He turns to look at the two men receding in the distance.
111 CU: the Father, smiling pathetically. He repeatedly sways

closer and farther from the lens.
34.
FATHER
Mother prepared something to take
along with you. A little cheese...
two peaches. Don’t worry about me.
112 The monumental wall of the cemetery crosses the rear of frame
diagonally. Guido is in the right foreground, in MCU, nearly
completely in shadow.

Of course, this place is a bit
lonely...
He appears behind Guido and drapes a cloak over his

shoulders. It is now clear that, in this sequence, Guido has
been wearing the uniform of a schoolboy.

...but your mother comes every day.
She keeps me company.
The camera tracks back to show the two men and the cemetery
in LS. The Father pats Guido on the head and starts to walk
away. Guido turns to watch. Through the remainder of this
shot, Guido remains with his back to the camera while his
father continuers to walk off, his back to the camera as
well.

She always keeps everything in
order. A little decorum is always
necessary. That’s the way we were
brought up. And with your wife...
is everything all right?
GUIDO
(anxiously, taking a step
toward his departing
father)
Yes. Luisa...
FATHER
You two have been the joy of my
life. Goodbye, my son.
113 ECU: Guido’s hands, covering his face. Although it appears

that he is sobbing, he is actually sighing deeply. He then
stops abruptly. He turns away from the camera and we see the
monumental wall, diagonally marking the background. High
Angle MS: the Father sitting on the edge of his grave in the
right foreground.
35.
GUIDO
But what is this place? Are you
comfortable here?
FATHER
I still haven’t really understood,
Guido. But it’s going better. Much
better.
Guido walks forward and helps his father descend fully into
the grave.
FATHER (CONT’D)
At first, my son... at first...
The Father almost completely disappears into the grave. Guido

is not kneeling at the edge, holding his father’s hand. The
lower half of the Mother’s body appears in CU at the left
edge of the frame.
MOTHER
Guido, I do the best I can. What
more can I do?
As Guido turns, stands and comes toward his mother, she

spreads her arms, then fervently embraces him.
114 High angle CU: the Mother kissing Guido, holding his head
between her hands. She then kisses him on the lips
rapturously.
115 As in 114. Guido pulls his mother’s hands from the back of
his head. We see in the place of the Mother, wearing the same
costume as the Mother, Guido’s wife, Luisa. As she turns to
the right and starts walking, the camera, from Guido’s POV,
tracks along side her in CU.
LUISA
Poor Guido! You must be tired. Do
you want to go home?
She stops and turns back. Her expression has hardened.
LUISA (CONT’D)
I’m Luisa, your wife. Don’t you
recognize me? What are you
thinking?
116 High angle ELS: the columns and the monumental wall receding
into the distance, dwarfing the solitary figure of Luisa.
36.
THE HOTEL, A CORRIDOR, DAY
117 LS: Guido walking down a long, dark corridor, toward the
camera. He is singing the Overture to The Barber of Seville.
He breaks into a funny little step reminiscent of Chaplin’s
tramp, punctuated by his whistling. A buzzer sounds. He stops
in front of the elevator door, rings, turns, and leans
against the wall to wait. A rushing sound signals the arrival
of the elevator. This sound, as well as that of the opening
and closing doors, are greatly amplified in this scene. Guido
sighs deeply and casts his eyes down.
118 MS: Guido as in 117. He rhythmically raises and lowers

himself on his toes, tapping his heels on the floor.
119 CU: the glass panel of the elevator door, through an

elaborate wrought-iron gate. The elevator arrives; the
elevator operator, an elderly woman, whose black uniform
suggests a maid, and whose white cap recalls a nurse’s, opens
the door and exits to allow Guido to enter. Between them we
see, in the background, the Cardinal’s secretary, a thin-
faced man in street clothes, with a long, thin moustache and
small beard.
GUIDO
Good afternoon.
ELEVATOR OPERATOR
Good afternoon.
THE ELEVATOR CAR
120 MS, from inside the elevator, we see Guido entering. He looks
up, a bit startled.
121 CU: the Cardinal, his head bent forward, absorbed in prayer.
122 As in 120. Guido takes off his hat and moves right. He turns,
leans on the elevator wall and looks in the direction of the
Cardinal and his party.
123 MS: the Cardinal between the Secretary on the left, and an
older prelate on the right. The Secretary and the prelate
acknowledge Guido’s presence by nodding and smiling.
124 As in 122.
GUIDO
(in a respectful whisper)
Good afternoon.
Continuing to stare in the direction of the Cardinal, Guido

screws up his lips nervously.
37.
125 As in 121. The descent of the elevator from floor to floor is

marked by the intermittent thump and illumination of a
diamond-shaped glass panel behind the Cardinal.
126 MCU: Guido looking anxious.
127 CU: a second prelate reading. He looks up and smiles at

Guido, then goes back to his breviary.
128 CU: the Secretary.
LOBBY, SPA HOTEL, DAY
129 LS: the brightly illuminated hotel lobby. The Cardinal’s

party exits from the elevator at the right. The buzzing sound
heard in 117 is repeated. A hotel clerk escorts the party to
the left rear, across the lobby. Guido’s assistant, Cesarino,
entering from the left foreground, CU, goes to meet Guido.
Various other guests are walking in the lobby.
CESARINO
Guido! In a couple of days I’ll
arrange for an interview with him.
You can get all the advice you want
for the film. What a wonderful
mystical type!
Guido and Cesarino are now in MCU. Guido looks to the right.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
Oh, I brought you the three old
men.
GUIDO
(distractedly walking to
the right)
Hm?
CESARINO
One’s Russian. Another’s a retired
general.
Pan follows Guido and Cesarino as they proceed right. They

have walked out of the set for the hotel lobby and are on
another set being built by workmen.
GUIDO
What old men?
CESARINO
The ones for the part of the
father.
38.
GUIDO
(surprised when he looks
up and sees someone, then
hiding behind his coat)
Ah! Cover me, Cesarino.
Murmuring unintelligibly, he tries to escape toward the rear,

walking with his knees bent, imitating Groucho Marx’s mock
stealth.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Smak, smak, smak.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT
(his shoulder appearing in
the right foreground)
Come here, you clown.
GUIDO
(stopping and turning)
How are you? What a pleasure to see
you Super-Tarzan.
Track follows Claudia’s Agent as he approaches Guido.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT
I telephoned you six times.
He shakes hands with Guido. They are now side by side in MS.
GUIDO
(apologetically)
Yes, I know. I understand. It’s
about the script for Claudia.
Claudia’s Agent puts his hand around Guido’s shoulder; track

back as they come forward.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT
Well?
GUIDO
I thought I’d sent it to you. In
fact, it’s practically in the mail.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT
(annoyed)
Oh, yes?
GUIDO
(placatingly)
You look young as ever! Why aren’t
you acting anymore?
39.
Pan slightly to right as Conocchia enters, taking Guido’s arm

and pulling him away from Claudia’s Agent.
CONOCCHIA
I was awake all night. I got an
idea for the spaceship. If we made
the upper story...
GUIDO
(very annoyed, extracting
his arm from Conocchia’s
grip)
Eh, Conocchia. Don’t take me by the
arm. It bothers me. And why don’t
you wear a jacket!
Guido continues walking, leaving Conocchia behind.
CONOCCHIA (O.S.)
(wounded and angry)
Now I have to put on a smoking
jacket to talk to you.
Suddenly smiling, Guido continues to walk right. Pan follows.

He shakes the hand of a markedly effeminate young man, the
Actress’s Agent.
GUIDO
How are you?
ACTRESS’S AGENT
(with an American accent)
Fine.
GUIDO
Have you had a good trip?
ACTRESS’S AGENT
Yes, thank you. It’s been an
hour...
He implies that the Actress has been waiting for an hour. He

gestures to the right and Guido bows in that direction.
ACTRESS (O.S.)
(broadly, in French)
Hello.
We hear an orchestra playing Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.
GUIDO
What a blinding vision! Beautiful!
40.
Pan follows Guido as he walks toward Actress, spreading his

arms in admiration. Dressed all in white, with a white fur
piece around her neck and wearing a cloche hat, she is seated
next to a statue on a pedestal. Daumier stands beside her,
reading.
130 MS: the Actress extending her hand to Guido, who kisses it.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Beautiful!
The Actress speaks Italian with a strong French accent. She

switches indiscriminately between the two languages
throughout the film.
ACTRESS
(half as a question, half
as an assertion, in
French)
That’s true! You always tell me
that I am
(in Italian)
beautiful, but you never speak
about my part.
She rises. She and Guido are seen in profile, MS. Between
them, in the center of the frame, Daumier, inattentive to
what they are saying, his glasses perched on his forehead, is
bent over what he is reading.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
How was my screen test?
GUIDO
Very good. Otherwise I wouldn’t
have asked you to come.
ACTRESS
But I still don’t know anything.
You told me to be maternal.
MAN (O.S.)
Guido!
ACTRESS
That I ought to eat lots of
spaghetti!
131 CU: the Actress laughing.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
(in French)
Well, I’ve put on three kilos.
(MORE)
41.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
(in Italian)
Is that all there is to it?
GUIDO (O.S.)
You see, you know more than I do.
ACTRESS
(disappointed, turning
toward Daumier, in
French)
Well now, really...
132 As in 130.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
...you’re taking your time!
MAN (O.S.)
Guido!
ACTRESS
You could tell me something more
about it.
DAUMIER
(looking up)
What is it that she’s supposed to
play?
In the distance, over Daumier’s shoulder, we see the American

Journalist wave in greeting and stand.
GUIDO
But haven’t you...
AMERICAN JOURNALIST
(in English)
Oh, hello!
Pan left shows his approach.
GUIDO
Hello!
He looks to the left.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Agostini!
(In the direction of the
Actress)
Excuse me.
(to Daumier)
Excuse me.
42.
Over Guido’s shoulder, we see the American Journalist, a

drink in his hand.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST
(in a strong American
accent)
I don’t want to be a pest.
GUIDO
Please.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST
The hotel is fine. The whisky is
excellent, but I have three
questions.
GUIDO
Yes, yes. We can talk later.
Agostini appears at the left of the frame, interrupting.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
(to Agostini, annoyed)
What do you want? Oh, yes.
(In the direction of
Daumier and the Actress)
Excuse me.
(To the American
Journalist)
Excuse me.
Pan follows Guido who walks left with Agostini.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Agostini, we have to...
Guido lowers his voice.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
It was nothing. I called you
because I didn’t want to answer
this fellow’s questions.
Guido looks left toward Claudia’s Agent who then appears in

frame.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Yes?
Guido continues walking to the left with his hand on the

shoulder of Claudia’s Agent.
43.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT
Claudia has offers from all over
the world. I can’t keep her waiting
any longer. You must tell her
something. Does a script really
exist? A couple of pages, an idea?
Guido and Claudia’s Agent stop and face each other, in MS.
GUIDO
But does Claudia know that this
might be a wonderful part, the best
she ever had?
On the staircase, in the background we see a girl in white

holding the hand of the Beautiful Unknown Woman, she too all
in white, wearing a large hat.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
No? Now, I’m going to explain it to
you.
Guido notices the Beautiful Unknown Woman. Pan follows as she

crosses the unfinished portion of the lobby set, LS.
133 CU: the Beautiful Unknown Woman.
BEAUTIFUL UNKNOWN WOMAN

(in accented English)
Darling!
Pan follows her as she continues to walk through the lobby.
134 MS: Claudia’s Agent and Guido. Guido is looking to the right,
in the direction of the Beautiful Unknown Woman.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT
I’m talking to you as a friend. You
are going to lose Claudia.
Track back: Cesarino appears on the right.
CESARINO
Do you want to see the old men or
not?
GUIDO
(to Claudia’s Agent)
Are you crazy? Everything’s ready.
(Annoyed, to Cesarino)
Well, what do you want?
CESARINO
The old men!
44.
GUIDO
Where are they?
CESARINO
They’re here.
GUIDO
(to Claudia’s Agent)
Excuse me.
Guido walks off to the right, in MS, with Cesarino.
CESARINO
Listen. It’s Carla. She called. She
doesn’t want to stay in that hotel.
It’s ugly. She’s right.
As Guido and Cesarino walk away, the American Journalist and

his Wife approach.
GUIDO
What can I do? Can I bring her
here?
AMERICAN JOURNALIST
(in English)
Excuse me.
CESARINO
(exiting right)
I’ll call the old men.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST
(in Italian)
I’d like to introduce the little
woman.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST’S WIFE

(in strongly accented
French)
It’s a great pleasure.
She then uses an incorrect salutation in Italian (also

heavily accented and particularly grating), “piacerissimo,”
and shake Guido’s hand.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST
My wife writes too. Works...
(in English)
...in the ladies’ magazines.
(in Italian)
She also has a question or two.
45.
GUIDO
Of course.
Guido and the American Journalist’s Wife walk right. In ever-

increasing CU, she appears more and more grotesque.

My readers are crazy about love
stories. Could you tell me
something about your love life?
135 MS: Cesarino approaches with one of the old men.
CESARINO
Here they are.
(To four old men, three of
whom are off at this
point)
Say hello to the boss.
He motions for the others to come forward and the camera pans
right.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
Come forward. Come forward. You
too, General. Say hello to the
boss.
They wave and bow, in MS.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Hello.
OLD MEN
Hello. Hello.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(to the second from right)
How old are you?
OLD MAN
Seventy.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(to the one on the far
right)
You?
SECOND OLD MAN

Sixty-four.
136 MS: Guido, pensive.

46.
GUIDO
You?
THIRD OLD MAN (O.S.)

Sixty-eight.
Guido chews his lip, seems a bit embarrassed. He looks in the

direction of Cesarino.
GUIDO
They’re not old enough.
137 MS: the back of Guido’s head, Cesarino and the oldest old
man.
CESARINO
(turning to the old man)
What? This one’s about to drop
dead. Next time I’ll bring you
three corpses. You asked me for
someone pathetic. Just look at this
one and you start crying.
Guido turns forward. He raises his arms and begins a high-

pitched chant.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
(to the old men)
Move, move.
138 High angle LS: lobby from the staircase. We see the other
characters already introduced in this sequence. They look at
Guido, his arms upraised, chanting, walking toward the foot
of the stairs where he kneels and bows.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
(to the old men)
Move... I’ll call you later.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT
(in Pace’s direction)
How do you do, sir?
139 Low angle LS from the foot of the stairs. The producer, Pace,
his young Girlfriend and the Accountant are descending.
140 As in 138. The three figures descend toward Guido, still

kneeling.
PACE
If you kneel before me, what would
I have to do before you? Get up.
You’ll hurt yourself.
47.
He laughs.
PACE (CONT’D)
How are you, Guidino? How is it
going?
GUIDO
(getting up and embracing
Pace)
Fine.
CESARINO (O.S.)
Hello there, Boss! Our sun is
finally shining!
141 CU: Pace, over Guido’s shoulder. The two men are still
embracing, on one cheek, then the other.
PACE
I came by helicopter with this
one...
(He indicates his
Girlfriend)
...shouting all the way.
142 CU: Pace’s girlfriend.
PACE’S GIRLFRIEND
Where’s the pool?
143 As in 141.
PACE
Sweetie, we just arrived. Be quiet
a minute.
(to Guido)
Has the cure helped you?
144 MS: Pace’s Girlfriend, Pace, the Accountant, and Guido.
GUIDO
Yes.
PACE
(hading a small case to
Guido)
Are you feeling well?
GUIDO
What is this?
PACE
A little nothing.
48.
Pace and Guido walk into the lobby.
GUIDO
(delighted)
Oh, you’re always giving me
presents.
PACE
It’s just like mine.
145 As in 142.
PACE’S GIRLFRIEND
You never have to wind it.
146 MCU: Guido and Pace, walking forward. Guido proudly shows off
his new wristwatch to the right and the left.
GUIDO
Wristwatch, wristwatch, wristwatch.
Ladies and gentlemen, please look
at the wristwatch.
Various unidentifiable faces pass behind the two men. As they

traverse the lobby, always in MS, Pace acknowledges some
people, off.
CESARINO (O.S.)
My respects, Boss, my respects.
PACE
Well, young man. Are your ideas any
clearer?
GUIDO
Yes, I really think so. I’m
beginning to...
MAN (O.S.)
Commendatore, we have the Americans
in the palm of our hand.
147 LS: the entire group going toward the exit.

(in English)
You’re the famous capitalist from
Milan.
49.
THE TERRACE AND GROUNDS OF THE SPA, NIGHT
148 CU: Singer in silhouetted profile. As the orchestra begins

its introduction she finishes her cigarette, picks up a
microphone and begins to sing in German, “Nichts auf der
Welt.” The words of her song can be heard through 153.
“Nothing in the world is easier for us than to forget what we
still know in the morning. A thousand wishes in May that one
forgot.... Glowing sentences from the new song, glowing
words, as they were once written by a poet... they call out
like a lover in the Café...” pan follows in CU as she walks
left, and then, brightly illuminated, faces the audience. In
her late middle-age, both her voice and her expression are
hard-edged, her coiffure mannish.
149 LS: the grounds with the concrete-canopied benches. Tables

have been set up. As a group of richly dressed women walk
forward, the camera tracks back slowly.
150 CU: track shows two women walking.
FIRST WOMAN
(laughing)
I saw her passport. She’s fifty-two
years old!
SECOND WOMAN
Just a baby!
The two women smile maliciously.
151 CU: track shows two other women walking. One, quite old, is
lighting her cigarette, the other is holding a handkerchief
to her face.
MAN (O.S.)
Good evening.
OLD WOMAN
(delighted)
Who are you, dear, who are you?
152 LS: the improvised dance floor on the terrace where people
lined up for their mineral water during the day. The tables
are on a level a few steps below. The camera tracks in
slowly, following the women in MS. Pan right follows a couple
on the table level in the foreground walking up the steps.
Other couples are dancing slowly on the terrace.
153 MCU: couple dancing. Both are wearing hats. Pan left and
right to other couples in MS and LS. Some of the women are
wearing furs. The music changes to a faster, more “modern”
beat-the “twist.”
50.
154 CU: Gloria, first completely in shadow, her head down as in

her first appearance. As she backs up in time to the music,
she tosses her head, her face now fully lighted. She pulls
Mezzabotta into the dance. Then, in silhouetted LS, they do
the twist. Other couples exit, leaving Gloria and Mezzabotta
nearly alone on the terrace.
155 Pan right, MS to LS, from behind, of an older couple leaving

the dance floor.
156 MCU: Gloria and Mezzabotta. Her hands are behind his neck.
Pan follows them as they turn, gazing intently at each other.
They separate, Gloria dancing away from the camera, her hand
over her own shoulder. She turns toward Mezzabotta.
157 LS: Mezzabotta framed by the monumental walls through which

Claudia first appeared. He is trying to adapt his style of
dancing to the more modern beat.
158 MCU: Gloria dancing, her hand together as in an Easter

prayer.
159 MCU: Mezzabotta, very satisfied with himself, perspiring

profusely.
160 MS: Guido at a table, wearing a false “Pinocchio” nose,

apparently watching Mezzabotta and Gloria. At the other end
of the table, in the background, LS, Pace and his Girlfriend.
PACE
(indistinctly)
I must admit, rather, that the
problem of mental illness...
AMERICAN JOURNALIST (O.S.)

Mr. Director. May I ask you another
little question?
Guido turns and the camera pans left to show the rest of the
table. Pan stops, in MCU, on Daumier and the American
Journalist, who is tying a sweater around his neck.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST (CONT’D)

(in English)
What do you think of the connection
between Catholicism and Marxism?
DAUMIER
(translating into Italian)
He wants to know about the
relationship between Catholicism
and Marxism.
51.
161 MCU: Guido in right foreground, MS of Pace and Girlfriend in

left background.
GUIDO
(to Daumier)
Thank you. I understood the
question.
(to the American
Journalist)
You want to know which political
party I belong to.
162 As in 160. A waiter is pouring wine into Daumier’s glass.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST
163 I think that you, an honest man-all
you Italians are-you should be able
to answer me. Is Italy, or isn’t
Italy...
MCU: Pace’s Girlfriend, eating ice cream.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...an essentially Catholic country?
PACE’S GIRLFRIEND
Yes.
164 MCU: Conocchia and Pace, who is reading a budget report.
PACE
Keep still. Eat your ice cream and
keep still.
He snaps his fingers to call Conocchia’s attention to an item

in the budget.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST’S WIFE (O.S.)

(in English)
But if Italy is a Catholic country,
why are all you films slanted to
the Left?
Pace pulls down his glasses and looks in the direction of

Guido. Some of the ensuing dialogue is spoken simultaneously.
CONOCCHIA
(to Pace)
It’s an estimate for the space
ship. And I would like to speak
privately with you again for a
moment because, really, it can’t go
on like this any more.
52.
He becomes increasingly excited, raising his hand in

frustration.
CONOCCHIA (CONT’D)
This is a madhouse!
PACE
Fine. We’ll talk about it later.
He gives the budget to Conocchia and speaks to Actress’s

Agent, who is out of the frame.
PACE (CONT’D)
Excuse me. What were you telling me
about cholesterol?
165 LS: Carla seated at a table alone, wearing the same outfit
she wore at her arrival. She looks over her shoulder in
Guido’s direction and signals “hello” with a discreet gesture
of her hand held low behind her chair. Sound of applause as
one number ends and another immediately begins.
166 MCU: Guido, who surreptitiously acknowledges her, then looks

around to see if the others have noticed.

(indistinctly, in French)
This making films without heroes...

(in English)
What the hell are you talking
about, darling?

(in French)
I don’t find it very interesting.
It might work in a novel, but a
film must have a hero.
167 MCU: Carla, in profile, daintily eating, looking in Guido’s

direction.

(in English)
I don’t understand a damned bit of
that French.

(in English)
Oh, now, honey, don’t drink any
more.
168 As in 166. Guido looks more pointedly in Carla direction.

53.
169 As in 167. Carla, delighted by Guido’s attention, turns in

sharp profile and forms her lips into a kiss.

(in French)
Because the cinema id not begin as
an intellectual game.
170 As in 168. Embarrassed, Guido turns away, playing with his

hat.

(in French)
It is only the simplification and
the exaltation of...
PACE (O.S.)
(in French)
Where are our...
(in Italian)
...great writers?
171 CU: Daumier, waving his finger.
DAUMIER
Fitzgerald in his first novel...
afterward, an orgy of pragmatism,
of brutal realism.
Daumier turns away in disgust.
172 Pan follows a woman, carrying a frond, walking from right to

left, in LS. People sitting at tables in foreground, MS,
couples dancing in background.
DAUMIER (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Finally, what does “Left” mean?
What does “Right” mean? Are you so
optimistic as to believe that in
this confused and chaotic world
there are people with ideas clear
enough...
173 MCU: Guido, stroking his nose, then smiling in the direction
of the Actress; Daumier looking in Pace’s direction.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
...to consider themselves entirely
on the Right or on the Left?
174 MCU: Actress’s Agent, looking off to the right in Pace’s

direction; the Actress, eating, smiling, looking straight
ahead in Guido’s direction.
54.
ACTRESS’S AGENT
Now the Americans have a new
theory. To take care of
cholesterol, they have you eat...
175 As in 173.
GUIDO
(in French)
Is the asparagus good?
176 MCU: the Actress.
ACTRESS
(in French)
Very good.
She smiles and crinkles up her nose in an effort to be cute.
177 As in 175.
ACTRESS’S AGENT (O.S.)

(in English)
I beg your pardon. Can you tell me
approximately...
GUIDO
(in English)
Please?
178 MCU: Actress’s Agent and Actress.
ACTRESS’S AGENT
(in Italian)
Approximately...
ACTRESS
(slightly annoyed, to the
Actress’s Agent, in
English)
Not now, please.
ACTRESS’S AGENT
How many scenes will there be?
GUIDO (O.S.)
What do you mean?
ACTRESS’S AGENT
How many scenes will there be?
179 As in 177.
55.
GUIDO
(holding up his hand)
Five.
Daumier begins to roar with laughter.
180 As in 178.
ACTRESS
(in Italian)
Only five?
GUIDO (O.S.)
Perhaps six, perhaps seven. That’s
right.
Daumier, off, in indistinct dialogue, expresses his

disbelief.
181 Pan follows Cesarino crossing from left to right in MS.
CESARINO
(waving in Pace’s
direction)
Good evening, Boss. Hi, Guido.
He kneels next to Guido.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
Look, the Ambassador is giving
Carla the eye.
182 LS: Carla at her table, a distinguished gentleman standing to

the left, raising his glass to her.
183 As in 181.
GUIDO
So?
CESARINO
I just thought you should know.
GUIDO
(turning away)
Now I know.
CESARINO
Do you want me to dance with her?
GUIDO
Yes, yes. Dance with her.
Cesarino rises and exits right.

56.
PACE (O.S.)
Oh, dear friend. There is only one
truth.
184 The slow dance music gives way, suddenly, to the energetic
rhythm of “Carlotta’s Gallop.” MCU: Actress, gesticulating
broadly, on the left; Conocchia on the right.
ACTRESS
(in French)
Yes... perhaps... but I’s so
anxious to know... to understand
the character well. I have to live
with my character for a long time
in advance.
She takes out a cigarette.
185 MS: Guido, biting his fingernail.
ACTRESS’S AGENT (O.S.)

Madame says that she must know her
character in advance, of necessity.
186 As in 184. Pace’s arm enters the frame on the right; he

lights the Actress’s cigarette. During this exchange
Conocchia is engrosses in his notes.
ACTRESS
(in French)
I have to feel her flesh on me...
her ideas. Without that, I just
can’t.
PACE
(leaning into the frame)
But hasn’t our director explained
the part to you yet?
ACTRESS
No!
The camera follows Pace as he leans back.
PORTER
I’m so sorry, beautiful lady. I
have no information for you. I’m
only the producer. Isn’t it true,
Guido...
187 As in 185.
PACE (O.S.)
...that I don’t know anything?
57.
GUIDO
That’s right. You mustn’t know
anything.
188 Pan follows Mezzabotta running toward table, left to right,

LS to MCU, huffing noisily. He kneels next to Guido who
smiles.
ACTRESS (O.S.)
(in French)
Well, what did he say?
During this, and the next few shots, we hear the table
conversation indistinctly.
189 MS: Gloria walking, with a mysterious air.
MEZZABOTTA (O.S.)
(he lets out a long
whistle, like an engine
running down, then
laughs)
And now, three days of rest.
MCU as Gloria sits, then picks up a bunch of cherries and

brings them to her nose to smell them deeply.
GLORIA
They look like glass. The first
cherries of spring.
(in English)
Come along! Let’s welcome in the
springtime together.
She throws one of the cherries at Mezzabotta.
190 As in 188. Mezzabotta catches, then eats the cherry. Guido

looks troubled, puts on his hat.
MEZZABOTTA
Thanks. And what about some for
Guido?
GLORIA (O.S.)
(in English)
Good luck to Guido.
Mezzabotta catches another cherry and puts it in Guido’s

mouth. He then nestles his head on his hand, resting on the
edge of the table.
MEZZABOTTA
Mario Mezzabotta... 96 kilograms...
58.
He waves a finger at Guido.
Shall we take a little walk?
Guido nods in assent. Mezzabotta blows a kiss in Gloria’s

direction. Both men stand and Mezzabotta takes Guido’s arm;
pan follows as they walk to the right, from MS to MCU.
I know. Naturally you... think I’m
in my second childhood, don’t you?
GUIDO
Yes.
They stop and face each other. Guido is nearly completely

turned away from camera; Mezzabotta is fully illuminated.
MEZZABOTTA
I’m thirty years older than she is.
And so what?
GUIDO
That’s fine.
MEZZABOTTA
I may be an idiot... an old
imbecile... the guy who picks up
the tab. Whatever you say. So what?

(in English)
Excuse me.
Guido turns.
191 MCU: American Journalist, seated at table, his wife behind

him.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST (CONT’D)

(gesticulating with his
spoon)
Would you be able to create, on
demand, something true, important,
and beautiful? For example, if the
pope asked you to?
GUIDO (O.S.)
(impatiently)
Sure, sure, I’ll think about it.
Excuse me.
59.
192 In MCU, Mezzabotta and Guido continue to walk a bit, then

stop.
MEZZABOTTA
I’m not fooling myself, you know.
He crosses in front of Guido.
Oh, no. Maybe she stays with me
just for the money. Actually,
that’s certainly it. But in my
whole life I’ve never felt anyone
to be closer to me.
He looks in her direction, off. Camera follows as he sits, in

MCU.
Just look at her. She’s pretty...
charming... intelligent.
He mops his face with his handkerchief.
She has everything going for her.
Just for the money? But nowadays,
there are so many young men with
money...
193 MCU: Guido looking down at Mezzabotta.

...loads of them.
GUIDO
(reassuringly)
It’s obvious. She loves you.
194 As in 192.
MEZZABOTTA
(nodding in agreement)
Yes. And she didn’t try to pressure
me.
He continues to mop his face.
No... I decided myself, rationally.
She... never once said a word
against my wife... about my family.
Never a reproach.
60.
GUIDO (O.S.)
But how did you meet her?
MEZZABOTTA
(laughing slightly)
In London. She was in school with
my daughter.
195 As in 193.
GUIDO
How many years have you been
married?
MEZZABOTTA (O.S.)
Many. Thirty-one.
GUIDO
And how did your wife...
196 As in 194.
MEZZABOTTA
(rubbing the side of his
head)
My wife took it very badly. She
hates her. But Gloria... can you
believe it... Gloria is fond of
her.
He rises, now looking at Guido face to face. He takes a

challenging tone of voice.
And now go ahead and say it... I’m
an ass.
The Actress’s Agent appears between Guido and Mezzabotta, the

Actress in LS, behind them.
ACTRESS’S AGENT
(in English)
Excuse me.
(in Italian)
There must be a shooting
schedule... dates. Or she’ll lose a
film contract in Germany. We have
other offers!

61.
ACTRESS
(in French)
Will you leave me in total darkness
right up to the end?
198 MCU: the Actress’s Agent and Guido, who addresses the
Actress.
GUIDO
(as if he hasn’t
understood)
Pardon me?
199 An in 197. Actress is disappointed.
200 As in 198.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
(smiling vaguely)
You look like a little snail.
201 Guido and Actress’s Agent in MCU foreground, their backs to

camera, looking at the Actress who is between them, still
seated, MS.
ACTRESS’S AGENT
(in French, except for the
word for little snail,
“lumachina”)
What is a “lumachina”?
Guido holds up his hand, his index finger and pinky extended
to suggest the antennae of a snail.
GUIDO
(in French)
A little snail.
202 MCU: the Actress, laughing self-consciously, putting her hair

to the ornament in her hair that, indeed, does look like
antennae.
ACTRESS
(in French)
Snail!
203 MCU: Gloria bent backwards in her chair, then upright, then,
in CU, leaning her head against the umbrella pole in the
middle of the table.
62.
GLORIA
(in English)
Silence!
(ecstatically, in Italian)
Listen to the voices of the spring.
The Romans called it “Happy Water.”
204 We hear the orchestra play a fanfare to signal the start of

an act. LS: the terrace, almost completely in darkness. Two
trees in the background are illuminated. We barely perceive
the figure of Maurice. Then, suddenly lit from behind, he
appears in silhouette.
205 MCU: Maurice. Same transition from darkness to silhouette.

Finally he is lit from the front. First serious, he then
begins smiling as he bends to the right to pick up his wand.
We hear a crash of cymbals. Maurice bursts into sardonic
laughter. Maya and her blackboard are barely distinguishable
behind him.
MAURICE
Maya!
He starts running to the right.
206 LS: terrace. Maya and her blackboard are still in shadow. Pan
follows Maurice running to the right in a spotlight.
MAURICE (CONT’D)
Let’s give these bores a little
diversion.
He stops at the table of two of the elderly women we saw at

the beginning of the sequence and picks up a handbag, then
addresses one of them in French.
MAURICE (CONT’D)
Good evening, Madame. May I?
207 CU: Maya in profile, blindfolded.
MAURICE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Are you ready, Maya? Concentrate,
now! What do I have in my hands?
Pan on Maya as she walks right, smiling.
MAYA
A velvet evening bag.
MAURICE (O.S.)
And what’s inside?
63.
208 MS: Maurice on left of frame, holding up a white

handkerchief, a woman seated on right. Maya is seen between
them, in LS. She walks backwards and forwards during the
shot. Her silhouette appears in the spotlight projected on
the blackboard.
MAYA
A white handkerchief!
MAURICE
(in French)
That’s right.
During this shot, Maurice keeps pulling objects out of the

evening bag.
MAYA
A red handkerchief... aspirin...
MAURICE
Not drugs, I hope.
WOMAN
(laughing)
No.
MAYA
No, no. Aspirin!
MAURICE
Ah ha!
WOMAN
Ah.
MAYA
Change purse!
MAURICE
(opening the purse)
Is there any money?
209 LS: Maya, her arms stretched in front of her, walking in

front of the blackboard on which is projected her shadow.
MAYA
Two thousand seven hundred...
210 As in 208.
MAYA (CONT’D)
...twenty-five lire.
64.
The woman applauds. We hear the applause of the rest of the

spectators.
MAURICE
(dropping the change purse
into the evening bag,
contorting his mouth into
his habitual rictus)
Ah ha!
WOMAN
She’s wonderful!
211 LS: pan on Maurice as he runs from left background to a table

in right foreground.
MAURICE
And this lady... what is she
thinking?
(in French)
Nothing dirty, I hope.
MS: Maurice standing between two seated women. He addresses

the one on the left of the screen, holding his hand above her
head.
MAURICE (CONT’D)
Come on! Think about something.
WOMAN
What should I think about?
MAURICE
Whatever you like.
(in French)
Are you thinking?
The woman closes her eyes in concentration.
WOMAN
Yes.
MAYA (O.S.)
I’d like to live for a hundred more
years.
MAURICE
(laughing ironically)
Is that correct?
He kisses the woman’s hand and exits right.

65.
WOMAN
(turning in the direction
of Maya and applauding in
great delight)
Yes, yes!
212 LS: Cesarino accompanying Carla to a table, helping her into

a seat.
MAURICE
(running from left to
right, to Carla, in
Italian)
And this lovely lady...
He laughs, puts his hand over Carla’s head.
MAURICE (CONT’D)
What does she have in her little
head?
CARLA
Leave me alone.
(Slight pause)
May I think about someone?
MAURICE
(in French)
Of course.
Cesarino, standing left, looks straight ahead, presumably at

Guido.
MAURICE (CONT’D)
(in Italian)
Go ahead!
CARLA
In that case...
213 CU: Guido, who starts biting his nails.

(nervously)
No, I’m embarrassed. Let...
MAURICE (O.S.)
But of what?
(in French)
Go ahead, Madame!
CARLA (O.S.)
May I really think of a person?
66.
214 LS: the table. Pace’s Girlfriend and the Actress are seated,
Actress’s Agent is standing, Pace is moving forward, rubbing
his hands.
GIRLFRIEND
I’d be afraid to have my mind read.
PACE
Don’t worry dear... that’s a risk
you don’t run!
(in French, to the
Actress)
Would you like to go back to the
hotel, Madame? It’s cold.
The Actress’s Agent helps the Girlfriend on with her wrap.

The Actress stands and the group starts to leave.
MAYA (O.S.)
A kiss, and a slap?
MAURICE (O.S.)
(in French)
Is that is? Exactly.
Carla laughs, off.

Thank you.
Slight pan left to Gloria seated, the American Journalist's

Wife standing next to Mezzabotta, and, in front of the table,
Guido applauding. Guido turns and joins the group leaving to
the rear, while Mezzabotta kisses the hand of the American
Journalist’s Wife.

Ladies and gentlemen,
(in Italian)
your thinking, “What a cheat!” I’m
sorry to disappoint you, but
there’s no cheating at all.
The camera tracks slightly toward the table. As Maurice’s

hand and wand appear in ever-increasing CU in the foreground,
the group at the table goes briefly out of focus.

And it’s not just a coincidence.
It’s an exceptional experiment in
magnetic force, in telepathy.
Gloria, the American Journalist’s Wife, and Mezzabotta are

now in MS.
67.

I actually transmit your thoughts
to Mademoiselle Maya.
Maurice appears next to Gloria, and touches her head with his
wand. Her hands over her ears as if to shut him out, she puts
her head on the table.
MAURICE (CONT’D)
(to Gloria)
Do you think you’re able to hide
your thoughts?
GLORIA
(in English, desperate)
I don’t want you to do it to me.
The American Journalist’s Wife turns to Gloria and smiles.
215 LS: the rest of the party walking away from the camera. Guido
does his little knee-bending routine.
GLORIA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

(screaming)
No!
MAN (O.S.)
Guido!
GLORIA (O.S.)
(still screaming)
You’re disgusting!
The group stops and looks back. Gloria gasps.
216 MCU: Gloria in profile. Gloria and Mezzabotta speak

simultaneously during this shot and part of the next one.
GLORIA (CONT’D)
Leave me alone!
MEZZABOTTA
(at first, off)
Gloria!
Gloria rises, turns and throws her arms around Mezzabotta’s

neck. We see Maurice over Gloria’s shoulder.
GLORIA
Oh, God!
MEZZABOTTA
(in English)
Gloria, what are you saying?
(MORE)
68.
MEZZABOTTA (CONT'D)
Darling...
(in Italian)
Calm yourself.
GLORIA
(in English)
Tell this man to get his hands... I
can’t stand it. This man’s
crucifying me.
MEZZABOTTA
(to Maurice)
Please stop.
217 CU: Mezzabotta and the back of Gloria’s head.
(to Maurice)
Please, don’t go on. OK?
MAURICE (O.S.)
Please excuse me. Thoughts are
sacred.
Now calm, Gloria faces forward.
MEZZABOTTA
(to Gloria)
It’s a game. It’s nothing.
Maya makes an unintelligible sound. Gloria puts her index

finger to her lips, as if to apologize to Maurice.
MAURICE (O.S.)
Ready, Maya?
218 LS: the group walking away. Pace is holding Guido’s arm. The
camera tracks closer, following the spotlight.

Just a moment, ladies and
gentlemen. Stop right there.
Maurice appears in the frame, running from the right

foreground to the group.
MAURICE (CONT’D)
May we know what you’re thinking?
(To Pace)
You, for instance.
219 MCU: Pace walking to the left, and various other members of
the group.
69.
PACE
What do you think I’m thinking
about? I’m thinking about my
director-both the cross that I must
bear and my delight.
He exits left, walking behind Guido who now appears in MCU

frame right, facing Maurice frame left.
GUIDO
(smiling, to Maurice)
How are you?
MAURICE
(speaking in a natural
tone of voice for the
first time)
Fine. And you?
GUIDO
(looking right, then
walking left with his
back to the camera, with
Maurice)
We haven’t seen each other for
years.
MAURICE
That’s the truth, unfortunately,
old chap.
He turns, calling out to Maya.
MAURICE (CONT’D)
I’ll be there right away.
He turns back to Guido and they continue walking.
MAURICE (CONT’D)
You’ve become famous, eh?
GUIDO
(his back to the camera)
Oh, cut it out! But tell me...
what’s the trick?
He stops and faces Maurice.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
How do you transmit?
MAURICE
There are some tricks, but there’s
also something true about it.
(MORE)
70.
MAURICE (CONT'D)
I Don’t know how it happens, but it
happens.
GUIDO
But can you transmit anything at
all?
MAURICE
Anything... except that I want her
to beat it.
He laughs.
MAURICE (CONT’D)
Do you want to try?
GUIDO
(with a look of glee)
Yes, yes. Wait a second!
MAURICE
(taking off his top hat)
Watch, with you I’ll fall on my
face.
He holds his hand over Guido’s head. Introduction to the

“Ricordo d’ infanzia” theme on the sound track.
220 ELS: the tables and the terrace. In the background, Maya and
her blackboard in silhouette; in the foreground, Mezzabotta
with his arms around the shoulders of Gloria and the American
Journalist’s Wife, slowly walking forward. The spotlight
travels back to pick up Maya.
MAYA
I don’t understand.
221 CU: Maya, smiling and puzzled.
MAYA (CONT’D)
I can’t repeat it.
She puts her hand to her forehead, then turns to the

blackboard and begins to write. We can make out the letters
“A” and “S.”
222 As in 219.
223 LS: Maya writing on the blackboard.
224 MS, continuing action of 223. When Maya finishes writing

“MASA” she turns forward, then walks to the right to reveal
what she has written.
71.
MAYA (CONT’D)
(in French)
Is that it?
She waves her feather boa over the words. Then, off.
MAYA (CONT’D)
“Asa... Nisi... Masa”?
225 As in 222.
MAURICE
Is that it?
GUIDO
Yes.
Guido turns away; Maurice looks in Maya’s direction.
PACE (O.S.)
Guido!
MAURICE
But what does it mean?
THE FARMHOUSE KITCHEN, NIGHT
Throughout this sequence, the dialogue is spoken in the

Romagna dialect, making it to some degree unintelligible to
many speakers of Italian. Some of this dialogue is inaudible,
as well. Guido appears as a child throughout.
226 Tracking pan left, MS: Nanny in White, briefly in silhouette

behind a hanging sheet, then making her way through other
hanging sheets. Off, a woman is humming the “Ricordo d’
infanzia” theme. This voice and this music persist through
much of the sequence, along with a pattern of notes
soothingly played on a guitar.
227 MS: track shows Guido advancing on all fours beneath a table,
hiding from Nanny in White. Barefoot, he is in his shorts, a
towel over his head.
228 Tilt down, MS, as Nanny in White gets down on her hands and
knees next to the table.
NANNY IN WHITE
Guido, come here! Where are you?
Don’t be difficult!
229 Pan left as camera tracks right, LS of the room. In the

foreground, an old woman, asleep in a chair. As tracking pan
continues we see more of the room;
72.
a figure standing mid-ground, an iron fence around a hole in

the floor, a grill-like structure on the far wall.
NANNY IN WHITE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

What a wonder!
GUIDO
I don’t want to take a bath. I
don’t want to take a bath.
NANNY IN BLACK (O.S.)

Come here... let me catch you.
NANNY IN WHITE (O.S.)

I know what that rascal wants. He
wants to be carried by his
sweetheart, doesn’t he, that
handsome darling.
Guido runs from right to left, stopping at a wall where the

gigantic shadow of Nanny in Black is projected upon him and
his own shadow. He runs back and forth, complicating the play
of shadows on the wall. Nanny in Black finally captures him
and carries him forward in her arms.
230 MCU: Nanny in White smiling, beckons to Guido and takes him
from the arms of Nanny in Black, whom we see from behind.
NANNY IN BLACK
Come here. Come here.
Guido’s torso and towel-covered head in MCU as he is carried

forward on the shoulders of the Nanny in White.
NANNY IN WHITE
He never wants to take the wine
bath, that shameful boy. But don’t
you know that the wine bath...
231 MS: the shadow of Guido on the Nanny’s shoulders moving along
the wall.
NANNY IN WHITE (CONT’D)

(in shadow)
...makes you as strong as a man?
232 MS: a man taking the towel from Guido’s head.
CHILDREN’S VOICES (O.S.)

(in unison)
Guido is afraid! Guido is afraid!
Guido, now smiling, is carried to a wine vat and put in with

the other children.
73.
233 MS: the children shout with joy, jump up and down.
CHILDREN
Hopla, hopla.
One of the smaller children is repeatedly plunged in the vat

by a man outside; another is held by a man who is in the vat.
Tilt up to Twelve-Year-Old Girl sitting in the opening of a
trap door in the ceiling, her legs dangling. She throws
grapes into the vat below.
234 Pan MCU: the children jumping up and down in wine vat.
235 LS: another part of the room with the drying sheets. LS
tracking to the left follows Grandmother walking slowly,
followed by the Twelve-Year-Old Girl. She walks stealthily,
waiting to surprise the Grandmother. The Grandmother picks up
some wood.
GRANDMOTHER
(speaking to herself)
The Devil and damnation!
CHILDREN’S VOICES (O.S.)

Grandmother, grandmother!
GRANDMOTHER
The wood is all wet this year. This
prowling cat is just like your
grandfather. He goes out and only
comes home when he’s hungry.
The Grandmother turns, sees the Twelve-Year-Old Girl, sweeps

a switch across the floor.
GRANDMOTHER (CONT’D)
Shame on you! Go to bed. Oh!
The Twelve-Year-Old Girl jumps.
236 MS: the Twelve-Year-Old Girl, thumbing her nose, jumping up

and down.
237 As in 235. The Twelve-Year-Old Girl turns and runs out. The
Grandmother advances toward sheets drying on a globular
wooden frame.
The last time I slammed the door in
his face and I left him outside for
two days.
She walks around the frame, removing the sheets, then circles
it again, carrying the sheets forward.
74.
I could have married again, and you
can be sure I would have found a
handsome one, better than your
grandfather, children. What an
idiot I am!
Pan follows her coming forward right; she walks behind, then
around other hanging sheets; pan follows her left in MS.
I thought that if I took another
husband, my first husband, whether
in heaven or hell, wherever they
put him, he wouldn’t have waited
for me.
She throws the sheets onto a bed, turns to the right and
cries out to the children.
Be quiet! Go to bed, children!
238 LS: the vat, showing its considerable height. Some children
are still jumping up and down inside it; some are outside;
one (perhaps Guido) is being pulled out by a man. Nanny in
Black enters right foreground with a dry sheet. Together with
Nanny in White, she wraps the child in it. Pan right follows
Nanny in White running with child in her arms, speaking to
him affectionately. Track left shows them going up a flight
of stairs, away from camera. Then, in MCU foreground, the
figure of Nanny in Black, another young woman, and yet
another sheet-wrapped child who, in turn, is carried up the
stairs. The Twelve-Year-Old Girl runs up the stairs as well.
THE FARMHOUSE BEDROOM, NIGHT
239 Track in to bed. Uncle Agostino’s portrait is hanging on the

wall in the background. In MS, Nanny in White enters, and
with the help of Nanny in Black (who is not visible until the
end of this shot), pulls back the sheets, revealing a wooden
form and bed warmer. Pan right as Nanny in White removes the
bed warmer; behind her, three children (one of whom is the
Twelve-Year-Old Girl) jump up and down on another bed.
CHILD
Nanny, Nanny, Claudio wet himself.
Nanny in White turns to the children.
NANNY IN WHITE
What are you doing? Go to sleep, go
to sleep... you too, go to sleep.
75.
She puts the children back to bed and covers them. Guido
appears in foreground MCU, his back to the camera, a towel
covering his head. Camera tracks back to show him lie back in
bed, playfully kicking his legs.

(coming toward Guido)
Guidino, get under the covers. It’s
cold. Be still.
Nanny in Black appears in foreground. The two nannies replace

Guido in his proper position in bed and cover him.
NANNY IN BLACK
Did you say your prayers?
The camera tracks closer as the Nanny in White, on the far

side of the bed, caresses and embraces Guido.
NANNY IN WHITE
My little sweetheart, aren’t you my
little sweetheart?
NANNY IN BLACK
(tucking Guido in)
Will you give me a kiss, too? Who
do you love best? Don’t you love me
best?
Pan left to the children in the other bed who scream and
jump.
NANNY IN WHITE
(turning to the children,
playfully)
I’m going to give you a spanking.
The light is extinguished and the screen goes dark.
VOICE
Sh!
240 MCU: the Grandmother walking forward, her face lit by the
lamp she is carrying.
GRANDMOTHER
You can’t fool me.
241 Rapid track back from MS of two children sleeping in a bed.
GRANDMOTHER (O.S.) (CONT’D)

I can tell when you’re pretending
to be asleep.
76.
242 Track in to bed with the Twelve-Year-Old Girl and the other
two sleeping children.
(in silhouette, on far
side of bed)
Sleep well, my little ones.
She taps the head of the child nearest her.
Close your eyes.
She turns and exits left through an open door as the camera
gently tracks back and pans right to show the expanse of the
bed. The Grandmother turns in the brightly lit doorway, then
closes its two panels.
243 MS: the bed with the three sleeping children. The Twelve-Year-
Old Girl, who is nearest the camera, sits up suddenly, in
MCU. As she speaks her lines, she points vigorously to the
left, puts her index finger in front of her nose, crosses her
arms in front of her and flaps them over her shoulders like a
bird’s wings, waves her hands and folds them as if performing
a ritual.
TWELVE-YEAR-OLD GIRL
Guido, don’t go to sleep tonight!
It’s the night the portrait’s eyes
move. You’re not scared, are you?
You have to be quiet! Uncle
Agostino will look into a corner of
the room, and the treasure will be
there! Don’t be afraid, Guido!
We’ll be rich! Do you remember the
magic words?
244 LS: the room, Guido sitting up in bed in foreground, his back
to camera; the Twelve-Year-Old Girl in the far right corner,
gesticulating; Uncle Agostino’s portrait is prominent on the
wall, between the two beds.
TWELVE-YEAR-OLD GIRL (CONT’D)

Asa Nisi Masa... Asa Nisi Masa...
Asa Nisi Masa... sh!
THE FARMHOUSE KITCHEN, NIGHT
245 LS: a wall with a low chest. Her back to the camera, the Old
Peasant Relative walks to the open door on the right, then
exits. We hear the sound of the wind whistling that persists
until the end of this scene.
77.
246 LS: the landing in front of the bedrooms, with its columns
and railing. Nanny in White, carrying a lamp, is entering a
room in the right background. Slow track right to a column on
which are hanging photographs of a woman and of a man, a lamp
beneath them. Then we are able to see the whole expanse of
the room below, with its hanging sheets, the ladder leading
up to the vat, and the hearth on the far wall.
247 Slow track in to CU of sputtering flames on hearth. Slow

dissolve to next shot.
LOBBY, SPA HOTEL, NIGHT
248 Pan right showing the front desk, a desk clerk the middle
distance, the staircase in the background. In MCU, the
Concierge looks up to the right, in Guido’s direction, and
removes his glasses.
CONCIERGE
By the way, sir, they called you
from Rome two or three times. Your
wife, I think.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in an exhausted tone)
Oh, really? All right. Tell them
I’ll take the call now.
CONCIERGE
(turning to Gino, the desk
clerk)
Gino, tell the Rome operator to go
ahead.
GINO
All right.
CONCIERGE
(handing Guido a
newspaper)
This is for you.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Thank you.
CONCIERGE
Good night, sir.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Good night.
78.
GINO
(speaking on the telephone
to the operator)
Marcella, that call from Tome...
it’s urgent.
From Guido’s POV, track to the right, showing more of the

lobby and staircase. We can read that it is 2:00 on the clock
above the staircase. As the back of Guido’s head appears in
the frame in MCU we hear the principal musical motif of the
film being played on a piano. The camera follows Guido as he
walks past the desk.
GINO (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Good night, sir.
GUIDO
Good night.
249 LS: the lobby, Guido walking forward. At the right, the
Beautiful Unknown Woman whom Guido noticed during the first
lobby sequence is speaking on the telephone. Guido turns
toward her at the sound of her voice.

(in an emotional tone that
conveys great sincerity)
No, no, no... I’m not angry. Only
one thing can make me angry.
The camera tracks back as Guido continues to walk forward.
BEAUTIFUL UNKNOWN WOMAN (CONT’D)

Oh, but you know what I’m like.
Guido stops again, turns to look at her.
250 CU: the Beautiful Unknown Woman.

No. No.
She looks up, tears starting to well in her eyes. She half
turns her face away from camera.

I forgive him everything.
251 As in 249.

Everything. I forgive him
everything.
79.
The music changes to something more peppy; pan follows Guido

to the right. We see Mezzabotta playing the piano on a little
stage; Gloria is seated on the edge. Guido stops for a
moment. The arm of the Actress appears on the back of the
bench she is sitting on, in the right foreground.
ACTRESS
(in French, first off,
then in profile MCU as
the camera continues to
pan right)
Good evening.
(In Italian)
Can we talk a bit?
(In French)
Sit here next to me for a moment.
GUIDO (O.S.)
No, I’m sorry... I’m going to bed.
I’m very tired... and I’m waiting
for a phone call.
The Actress turns toward the camera, in Guido’s direction,

and offers him a glass.
ACTRESS
(in French)
Like some?
GUIDO (O.S.)
No, thank you. I have a headache...
ACTRESS
(in Italian)
Give me your hands.
Guido’s hands appear in the frame. She holds them.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
No. Sit down.
She rises, in CU. Pan follows her as she turns and walks
around the bench.
ACTRESS
I have a healing fluid in my left
hand.
(In French)
Yes... when I have a stomachache I
apply it to myself. Take off you
hat.
80.
252 High angle MCU: Guido, resigned to his fate, takes off his
hat. The hands and waist of the Actress appear behind him.
She applies her hands to his forehead.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
(in Italian)
Is that better.
At his silence, her smile dissolves in disappointment.
254 As in 252. Guido pulls away the left hand of the Actress and
kisses her palm.
GUIDO
(out of politeness)
Yes, perhaps.
She disappears out of the frame at right. Pan left as he

settles back on the bench and looks up in her direction.
255 MCU: Actress in profile, leaning on the bench.
ACTRESS
(in Italian)
Why do you look at me like that?
(With increasing
agitation)
Oh, don’t tell me that I’m
beautiful. The way you say it
sounds...
256 As in 254.
ACTRESS (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...like an insult.
GUIDO
What’s bothering you?
257 As in 255. Actress turns away from camera, sobbing.
ACTRESS
(in French)
I don’t know.
Pan follows as she walks left.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
(in Italian)
I feel as if I’ve made a mess of
everything...
81.
She sits, then, turns in Guido’s direction. In the

background, Mezzabotta at the piano, Gloria at his feet.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
...my life... my work.
(Regaining a bit of her
composure, in French)
But tell me...
(In Italian)
...why do you find it so amusing to
torture me?
258 MCU: Guido.
GUIDO
Torture you! Oh, please!
He smiles in the direction of the Actress’s Agent.
259 MCU: the Actress’s Agent, glass in hand. He burps.
ACTRESS (O.S.)
(in Italian)
Speak to me as if I were an old
friend. I need...
260 Guido in MCU in foreground, Actress’s Agent MS in background.

...to feel close to my director.
No longer listening to what she says but smiling pleasantly,

Guido turns forward, looking past the Actress, in Gloria’s
direction.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
Then...
261 MCU: Gloria, seated on the edge of the little stage, as

before. Sucking on her pinky, looking in Guido’s direction,
she winks and smiles.
262 As in 260.

(in French)
Did you see my last film? It was
shot in Belgrade.
263 LS: Gloria seated on stage, Mezzabotta playing the piano.

82.

My character was a still attractive
woman, marked by the injustices of
time... a hysterical temperament.
It was a real creation.
Gloria gets up behind Mezzabotta, bops him on the head and

poses with her leg against the wall.
GLORIA
Play “Mystification.”
MEZZABOTTA
I don’t know “Mystification.”
GLORIA
(bending over him,
cajolingly)
But yes...
ACTRESS (O.S.)
(in Italian)
Ah, what a character! This woman...
264 MS: Guido putting his hands to the top of his head, as if to
protect himself from what he hears.
GUIDO
But...
ACTRESS (O.S.)
(in French)
...in whom people find protection.
(in Italian)
and love.
265 Over shoulder of Actress’s Agent, Gloria and Mezzabotta in

background LS (he is again playing the 8½ theme), Actress in
mid-ground MS who sits down and looks in Guido’s direction.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
(in Italian)
I am this character. I’m like her
in life... in love.
She looks at the Actress’s Agent.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
And that’s why I’m so alone. I’ve
always understood and I’ve always
forgiven everything in the man I
love... in the men.
A hotel clerk appears in the left of the frame.

83.
CLERK
Rome on the line, sir.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Yes, thank you.
Guido appears in the frame as he rises, the camera tracking

to the right and panning on him as he moves toward the
telephone. The Actress turns in his direction, continuing to
speak, anxious to keep his attention.
ACTRESS
I’m very sensual.
(In French)
Wicked, too!
Guido looks at her while walking away.
GUIDO
Yes, yes, you’re getting very
close. I’ll be right back.
266 Track in to MS: Concierge holding receiver in his hand.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
(walking into frame from
right)
Thank you.
CONCIERGE
You’re welcome.
Pan/track follows Concierge as he crosses between Guido and

the telephone and then walks left, through lobby toward
elevator.
GUIDO
(speaking into the phone)
Hello!
VOICE OF TELEPHONE OPERATOR

Rome’s on the line. Go ahead.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Hello, yes!
VOICE OF ROSSELLA
Do you want Luisa?
GUIDO (O.S.)
Yes, please.
84.
VOICE OF ROSSELLA
(playfully)
You’re feeling guilty, aren’t you,
you monster! This is Rossella.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Oh, hi, Rossella. How are you? Did
Luisa call me?
VOICE OF ROSSELLA
Where were you out so late, you
gypsy?! Your rest cure... what an
excuse! Here’s Luisa.
267 MCU: the back of Guido’s head, seen over a partition.
GUIDO
Yes, so long. Thanks.
He turns forward.
VOICE OF LUISA
Guido, I called you twice. Where
were you?
GUIDO
I know. I’m sorry. I was in the
production office. We’re working.
(With great sincerity)
How are you?
VOICE OF LUISA
Not bad.
GUIDO
Eh?
VOICE OF LUISA
Is the treatment doing you any
good?
GUIDO
(hesitating)
But...
VOICE OF LUISA
Do you feel it’s helping you?
GUIDO
Maybe. I think so. But, you know, i
really can’t rest much.
Track in to CU.
85.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
What are you doing? Are you having
a good time?
VOICE OF LUISA
The usual. Rossella, Tilde, and
Enrico are here.
268 LS: the lobby, from Guido’s POV. Gloria and Mezzabotta are
walking slowly from left to right.
VOICE OF LUISA (CONT’D)

They’re about to leave. But are you
having a good time? Did you meet
anyone?
GUIDO
Can you imagine?! It’s a terrible
bore. But on the other hand, you
know, for my work, it’s better this
way.
Gloria playfully and unintelligibly teases Mezzabotta. She

puts her hands on his back and makes believe she is pushing
him along.
MEZZABOTTA
(laughing and turning
toward Guido)
Good night, Guido.
269 As in 267.
GUIDO
(whispering, to
Mezzabotta)
Good night.
VOICE OF LUISA
But you haven’t met anyone you
know? Are you still alone?
GUIDO
(slightly annoyed)
Of course.
VOICE OF LUISA
(suspiciously)
Really?
GUIDO
(suddenly, with great
enthusiasm)
Luisa...
(MORE)
86.
GUIDO (CONT'D)
why don’t you come pay me a visit?
You can be here in no time! It’s
easy!
VOICE OF ROSSELLA
(in an aggressive, kidding
tone)
When are you going to begin this
film, you bore?
GUIDO
I don’t know. I don’t know. Put
Luisa back on, please.
VOICE OF LUISA
(softening)
So I should come? You want me to
come?
GUIDO
Yes, of course, if you’d like to.
You might even come with someone.
VOICE OF LUISA
But would you like it?
GUIDO
Of course I would. Otherwise I
wouldn’t have asked you, would I?
VOICE OF TELEPHONE OPERATOR

Finished, sir?
GUIDO
No, thank you.
VOICE OF LUISA
When should I come?
GUIDO
Whenever you want, Luisa.
VOICE OF LUISA
(laughing nervously)
Watch out... I might really come.
GUIDO
But darling, I wouldn’t have asked
you if I hadn’t wanted to. I’d like
it! So long... and good night.
VOICE OF ROSSELLA
So long, you madman, good night.
87.
GUIDO
So long.
VOICE OF LUISA
(serious)
Good night, Guido.
Guido, after a slight pause, turns and hangs up the phone.
270 LS: Guido walking forward, lost in thought. Clocks begin to

chime. The disparate elements of the lobby are particularly
apparent: a rocking chair, a mask hanging on a statue,
temporary boards attached to poles.
ACTRESS (O.S.)
(in French)
Monsieur Guido, my agent thought...
GUIDO
(with a gesture of
exasperation)
Just a moment, Madame.
271 LS: the lobby, the Actress and Agent in the background.

I’m going up to the office to see
Agostini precisely because...
ACTRESS
(angrily, in French)
Shit!
She turns to Agent, picks up her drink and sits.
GUIDO (O.S.)
...and in any case, it’s in my best
interest. Tomorrow morning we’ll
talk about everything.
(In French)
All right?
272 As in 270. Guido walks forward, left.
273 Track forward and tilt up, from Guido’s POV, showing grand
staircase and the large clock hanging above. It still reads
2:00.
AGOSTINI (O.S.)
Giorgio Tovorali...
88.
HOTEL ROOM/PRODUCTION OFFICE, NIGHT
274 LS: the room. Bruno Agostini, the director of production, is

seated on a table at the left, his back to the camera. The
Accountant is typing from his dictation at a small table on
the right. Mock-ups of sets are seen in the center.
Photographs are hanging on the walls. Track forward slowly
from Guido’s POV.
AGOSTINI
...for the central structure,
10,000.
The Accountant stops typing and stands when he notices Guido.
AGOSTINI (CONT’D)
...planks for the steps, 260...
ACCOUNTANT
Good evening.
He sits.
AGOSTINI
(turning to Guido)
Do you need something?
275 MCU: Guido.
GUIDO
No, thank you. Go on with your
work.
Pan follows as he walks forward, looking to the right and

left. Agostini’s voice can be heard in the background
reciting names and figures. Guido speaks with some degree of
irony.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
What a wonderful production team!
276 Track back from Wardrobe Mistress who looks up from her
sewing and smiles at Guido.
WARDROBE MISTRESS
(in a whisper)
Hi.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(pleasantly surprised to
see her)
Oh, hi, Eleonora!
89.
The Wardrobe Mistress puts a lace mantle on a dressmaker’s

dummy.
AGOSTINI (O.S.)
...2,350. Lanieri Ondulave.
Pan right over model of launching pad.
277 MS: a table upon which rest a black bust (something like a
death’s head) and a photograph.
AGOSTINI (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Listen, Boss, as long as you’re
here...
Rapid track toward photograph. Agostini picks it up. Now he

is partially in the frame.
AGOSTINI (CONT’D)
I called the German woman at the
pensione, but she’s not there any
more. They can’t find her.
Track follows Agostini as he walks forward, keeping the

photograph in CU. We now see it is of a woman standing
between the legs of an upright elephant.
GUIDO (O.S.)
You just have to find her.
AGOSTINI
But she’s in Paris with the circus.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(distracted)
Oh, really?
278 Pan left over photographs of women and masks in CU, continues
on Guido walking left, scratching head in MS, then over
another panel hung with photographs, principally of people’s
eyes.
279 Agostini walking forward in MCU, left foreground, Wardrobe

Mistress, right background.
AGOSTINI
What should I do about this one,
then?
CESARINO (O.S.)
What an honor, Boss!
280 LS: Cesarino in his underwear, in a doorway. He playfully

covers himself with a drape.
90.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
(smiling broadly)
But you’ve caught me...
(in French)
...undressed!
He walks forward into MCU.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
Listen, Guido, about that farm,
there was that...
He looks around, then turns to a photograph of a country

scene on the wall.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
Oh, here it is. But where is this
place?
(Showing Guido the back of
the photo)
There’s not even an address...
nothing.
Guido’s left shoulder appears CU in the right of the frame.
GUIDO
It’s part of the Prince’s estate.
The sound of women laughing.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
But who’s that?
CESARINO
My “nieces.” Eva and Dina.
The photograph is put aside and we see a bed. Dina, a very

young woman, sits up in MS, and extends her hand to Guido.
She is clearly not Cesarino’s niece.
DINA
Good evening.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Good evening.
Laughing, Dina turns to Eva who is hiding beneath the sheet.

Dina tries to pull the sheet away.
DINA
Come on, get out from under there,
you idiot. Maybe he’ll give you a
little part.
91.
Finally Eva, also a very young woman, appears, disheveled,

and extends her hand to Guido.
DINA (CONT’D)
Ah!
281 MCU: Guido.
EVA (O.S.)
GUIDO
The pleasure is mine. Where are you
from?
282 As in 280.
EVA
(smiling idiotically)
From Trieste.
283 MCU: Cesarino.
CESARINO
Hurray for Italy!
Pan right and tilt down as he sits on the edge of the bed,
amidst much hilarity.
284 As in 282.
GUIDO
You’ve got yourselves well set up
here, haven’t you?
Pan follows as he turns, paying scant attention to the

cavorting on the bed, and walks toward window, in MS.
EVA (O.S.)
Tell him about my girl cousin.
CESARINO (O.S.)
Guido, this one has a cousin who’s
six feet tall.
285 LS: Cesarino, left, sitting on edge of bed, Dina and Eva
giggling. Large photograph of a spaceship model hangs over
the bed.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
Take a look. Maybe we can use her
in the film.
He turns to Dina.
92.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
This one... this imp...
Dina stands on bed, provocatively lifting her nightgown.
DINA
That’s right, sir. She’s six feet
tall, like me standing on the bed.
286 As in 284. Pan follows Guido as he turns back and walks

right, in MCU.
CESARINO (O.S.)
Do you see?
DINA (O.S.)
She was twice elected Miss Nylon
Stockings.
CONOCCHIA (O.S.)
Is Guido there with you? I’ll be
right there.
GUIDO
Sleep, sleep, Conocchia. I’ll see
you tomorrow.
287 MS: Dina standing on bed.
DINA
(teasingly)
May I ask you a question?
GUIDO (O.S.)
Go ahead.
DINA
My friend here says...
Tilt down as Dina jumps on Eva. Eva tries to make Dina stop
talking.
DINA (CONT’D)
...she says you can’t make a love
story.
EVA
(to Dina)
Shut up!
288 As in 286.
GUIDO
She’s right.
93.
Pan follows Guido in MCU as he walks away to right.
AGOSTINI
(in this shot, first off,
then in frame)
Leather, 360... Tubes, 200 from 60
to 20,000; 375 meters of plastic
tubing...
Cesarino appears in frame and puts his arm on Guido’s

shoulder.
CESARINO
Should I wake you tomorrow morning,
Guido?
GUIDO
No, thanks.
As Guido and Cesarino walk away from camera we see, left, the
Accountant from behind, at his typewriter, Agostini at right.
CESARINO
(looking back toward the
girls)
Pipe down!
Guido hands Agostini a plaster model of a saint’s foot.

Cesarino stops, stands at attention and salutes while Guido
continues toward the door.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
Out commander will never catch us
unprepared! This production crew
never sleeps!
He does a little time step.
The door opens; Conocchia appears in his dressing gown.
CONOCCHIA
(to Guido)
I have a terrible headache.
He gestures impatiently to Cesarino.
Cut it out!
THE CORRIDOR, OUTSIDE THE PRODUCTION OFFICE, NIGHT
289 MCU: Guido coming through the doorway. He looks in

Conocchia’s direction, with great gentleness.
94.
CONOCCHIA (O.S.)
They’re always fooling around, but
they’re good guys.
290 Pan right, MCU: the back of Conocchia’s head.
Do you need anything, Guido?
Terribly anxious to please, he turns to Guido.
Have you had any ideas? Do you have
something to tell me?
291 As in 289.
GUIDO
(smiling in friendship)
No, no, thanks, Conocchia. I don’t
need anything. Go back to sleep.
Good night.
CONOCCHIA (O.S.)
Anything at all.
GUIDO
(impatiently)
No, thank you. Good night.
292 As in 290.
CONOCCHIA
(angrily)
Like hell, good night!
Putting his hands on the back of his head in desperation, he

walks away to the left. Pan shows the length of the corridor.
In the background, a full-length mirror reflects the action.
How can I sleep here? Who could
sleep here?
GUIDO
(his back to the camera,
in MCU)
Conocchia, calm down.
CONOCCHIA
(turning, and raising his
arm in anger, in LS)
What?
(MORE)
95.
CONOCCHIA (CONT'D)
I’ve been in this business thirty
years, and I’ve made films that
none of you could even conceive of.
And I’ve never been afraid of...
293 MCU: Guido, annoyed.
CONOCCHIA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...anything!
GUIDO
Stop shouting, you old fool!
CONOCCHIA (O.S.)
Ah...
294 As in 292.
...you said the word.
Slight pan left as he crosses the corridor.
“Old.”
He leans his arm and forehead against the wall and speaks in
a pathetic tone.
Finally...
295 As in 293.

...it’s come out.
Cesarino and Agostini appear in the doorway, right.

Conocchia is an old man!
GUIDO
(turning angrily to
Cesarino and Agostini)
What do you want? We don’t need
anything. Scram.
They exit.
CONOCCHIA (O.S.)
We don’t need Conocchia any more.
You keep me in the dark about
everything all the time.
(MORE)
96.
CONOCCHIA (O.S.) (CONT'D)
I never know what I should do...
when I can talk, when I should keep
quiet.
Track back as Guido turns, and walks away with exaggerated

movements of stealth, trying to escape Conocchia’s self-
pitying tone and accusations.

I don’t want to bug you. I don’t
want to know what the film’s about.
You want to keep it a secret, so
keep it a secret!
Guido stops and turns, at the end of his patience, in LS.
GUIDO
Please, Conocchia, go to bed.
He leans against the wall and slides down into a squatting

position.
CONOCCHIA (O.S.)
But if I’m supposed to help you, as
I always have... and you were so
satisfied...
296 LS: Conocchia in corridor.
(pleading)
...you’ve got to tell me something!
Say, “Conocchia... the French
woman...
297 As in 295. Guido nods wearily at each of Conocchia’s remarks.

...the spaceship should be like
this or that.” Say, “Conocchia, go
screw yourself,” but say something.
298 As in 296. Conocchia rests against the right wall, blows his
nose and wipes tears from his eyes.
How you’ve changed, Guido, my
friend!
299 Guido looks up, MCU.

97.
GUIDO
(with a trace of guilt)
Don’t go on like that. Now you’re
crying. Come on.
300 MCU: Conocchia in profile, wiping his eyes with his

handkerchief.

(gently)
Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?
CONOCCHIA
direction)
No. I’m leaving tomorrow.
Pan left as he crosses the corridor.
I don’t want to be a hindrance to
you anymore. You need to have young
people around.
Entering his room, he waves his finger in admonition.
But watch out, you’re not...
301 As in 299. Guido’s head is bent.

...the man you one were, either.
GUIDO
Conocchia...
He looks up, sighs, then pensively twirls a lock of his hair.
302 LS: the corridor, Guido squatting mid-distance, the mirror in

the background. Clock chime. Guido stands and enters his
room.
GUIDO’S HOTEL ROOM, NIGHT
303 LS: Guido entering dark room. The unnatural silence,

characteristic of Guido’s other fantasies and dreams, is
broken only by his footsteps and the sound of his voice.
98.
GUIDO
(to himself)
A crisis of
(in English)
inspiration?
(In Italian)
And suppose it’s not only
temporary, my little man?
He walks forward.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
What if it’s the final collapse of
a big fat liar who has neither
flair nor talent? Sgulp!
He snaps his suspenders.
304 MS: the figure of Claudia emerges from the darkness. Pan
follows her left, through the deep shadows of the room. In
her white uniform, she proceeds rapidly, with the dancelike
movement that recalls her first appearance in the film at the
spa. She goes to Guido’s bed, turns down the sheet and
smooths it lovingly with her hand. She picks up Guido’s
slippers, walks to the foot of the bed and kneeling, places
them there. We now see that she is barefoot.
305 MCU: Guido, his coat hanging over his shoulder. He puts his
hat crookedly on his head and turns.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
(speaking to himself,
about Claudia)
What if you were the symbol of
purity... of spontaneity.
He hangs up his hat and coat, turns away from the camera and
walks toward the brilliantly lit bathroom
GUIDO (CONT’D)
But what the hell does it mean to
be really sincere? Did you hear
what the Falcaccio said?
(Mimicking Daumier’s
French accent)
“It’s about time you gave up
symbols, the lure of purity,
innocence, escape.”
The camera has tracked back. Now in LS, Guido sits on a chair
and pours something on his head from a small bottle.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Well, what do you want?
99.
306 High angle MS: Claudia, in profile, in deep shadow.
307 As in 305. Camera is closer to Guido. He leans pensively on

the sink.
308 MCU: Claudia in profile, now bare-armed and bare-shouldered.

She puts a white scarf over her hair, then turns
provocatively toward the camera.
309 LS: the room, the sound of Guido’s footsteps.

Yes, it could work...
310 MS: Guido walking toward bed.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
...like that.
He walks into MCU, looks down at bed, lost in thought.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
In the village there’s a picture
gallery.
(Interior monologue)
And you could be the custodian’s
daughter.
311 MS: the surface of bed, covered with photographs of women.

Tilt up toward chair, desk, and window, its curtains gently
billowing. Claudia, in her slip, can barely be perceived
standing next to the window.

You’ve grown up amidst images of
ancient beauty.
Claudia sits at the desk and leafs through the script lying
on it. Still in LS, she turns toward the camera, bends
forward, with her arms between her legs, and laughs heartily.
Her gestures here are slightly vulgar, in marked contrast to
the exaggerated grace of her previous movements.
312 CU: Guido, in profile, his chin resting on the foot of the
bed.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
You’re right.
He places his head on the bed and somersaults slowly onto the
photographs.
313 CU: Claudia’s white veil. Her arms and body appear as she
walks right and drapes the veil over a lamp.
100.
Tilt up to her face, in MCU. Her hair is now worn loose,

slightly disheveled. She looks down in Guido’s direction.
Tilt down as she kneels next to bed and bends over to kiss
the palm of Guido’s hand. She gently folds his arms across
his chest, then bends again to kiss his face.
314 MS: Claudia from behind, the straps of her slip drawn down.
She is sitting on the edge of the bed.
CLAUDIA
I’ve come, never to leave again.
She inches to the left.
315 MCU: Claudia in bed, a provocative expression on her face.

She caresses the sheet covering her neck.
CLAUDIA (CONT’D)
I want to make order. I want to
clean. I want to make order.
The camera pulls into an ECU of Claudia’s neck.
CLAUDIA (CONT’D)
I want to cl...
Telephone rings.
316 LS: the room, desk in foreground, chair and unoccupied bed
mid-ground, Guido lying on other bed, left background. The
sound of the ringing is repeated.
317 CU: Guido’s feet resting on pillow, photograph of a young

woman between them. Guido shifts his legs to the floor,
sighs, and sits up to answer the phone. We see him from
behind, MS. The photograph of the young woman figures
prominently in the lower right corner of the frame.
GUIDO
Yes?
VOICE OF MALE TELEPHONE OPERATOR

There’s a call for you from the
Hotel della Ferrovia.
GUIDO
Oh, yes. Put it through.
Guido picks up phone and leans back on bed, his head out of
frame, his feet back on pillow.

Hello?
101.
He makes a clicking sound.

Who is it?
(more clicking sounds,
then with great
impatience)
Hello, who is it?
He shakes his legs in anger.
VOICE OF CARLA
(weakly, pathetically)
Guido, I don’t feel well at all.
The mineral water made me sick. I
have a fever. Come here. Come here
right away.
GUIDO (O.S.)
At this time of night? I can’t. I
can’t now. I’ll come tomorrow.
VOICE OF CARLA
(more pathetic)
Come.
CARLA’S HOTEL ROOM, DAY
318 MS: the Hotel-keeper walking in with a bowl of ice in her

hand.
HOTEL-KEEPER
Poor thing! If you only knew how
she called for you. Here’s the ice.
She hands the bowl to Guido, right. Pan follows Guido as he

goes to Carla’s bed. The Waitress is standing over her.
WAITRESS
But she’s burning with fever. It
must be at least 40.
319 Guido moves her out of the frame, to the left.
GUIDO
Yes, yes.
He leans over Carla and places his hand on her forehead.
WAITRESS (O.S.)
Should I bring her the peas?
Puzzled, Guido looks in her direction.

102.
GUIDO
The peas?
HOTEL-KEEPER (O.S.)
Because she asked for peas when she
was delirious. But it’s a good
sign!
GUIDO
(pan following as he walks
left, toward the door,
gesturing negatively)
No, thank you, forget the peas. You
can go.
HOTEL-KEEPER (O.S.)
If you need anything, just call.
GUIDO
Yes. Thank you.
He closes the door; pan right as he goes to the foot of the

bed. Carla is breathing heavily. An intermittent train
whistle punctuates the rest of the scene.
320 MCU: Carla’s back, shoulder, and head.

Carla!
She turns her face into CU, still breathing heavily, covered
with perspiration, her hair disheveled.

Have you had other signs of fever?
(He pauses)
Carla!
CARLA
(nodding her head
affirmatively, then
moving it back and forth
in agitation)
Ye. Anything at all makes me shoot
up to 39 or 40. Then it goes away.
My husband is used to me. It
doesn’t frighten him.
Carla rises in MCU.
GUIDO (O.S.)
No, lie down. Don’t get up. Don’t
uncover yourself.
103.
CARLA
I’m hot. I’m thirsty.
Guido crosses in front of her and hands her a glass.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Wait. I’ll give it to you. Here!
She drinks deeply from the glass he still holds in his hand.

Drink slowly or you’ll fill
yourself up too quickly!
CARLA
(still breathing heavily)
Is it da or night?
GUIDO
(bending down to comfort
her)
But what are you talking about?
Night? It’s four in the afternoon.
Listen, let’s wait until the doctor
comes to hear what he has to say. I
don’t think it would be a bad idea
to send your husband a telegram.
Carla becomes more agitated.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
We can’t take the full
responsibility, can we?
Carla continues to thrash about, saying “No” repeatedly.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
But yes. He ought to be told.
Carla throws the pillow to the right. Pan on her as she lies
down, her head at the foot of the bed, her back to the
camera.
CARLA
I don’t want everything to end. If
he comes he’ll take me away. I
bought so many pretty dresses!
GUIDO (O.S.)
(angry)
But why did you go and drink all
that water?
321 MS: Guido is bending over the sink, his back to the camera.
104.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
It’s for sick people. are you sick?
He turns and walks forward with a wet handkerchief in his

hand.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
when it comes to eating or
drinking, you’re always ready.
CARLA
(off, then in the frame as
pan follows Guido who
sits on bed next to her)
What am I supposed to do? You leave
me alone all the time.
He mops her brow with the handkerchief. She turns on her back
as he continues to wipe her face.
CARLA (CONT’D)
Two years ago I made my will.
Really, you know, you don’t die any
sooner just because you make a
will.
Guido wipes her with a towel.
CARLA (CONT’D)
Because since I have a brother and
a sister, I wanted the apartment to
go to my husband. The apartment
belongs to me. Poor man, how would
be manage without it? Even if he
married again. Ah, the sheet!
She turns her face to the pillow again.
322 CU: Carla’s face on the pillow.
CARLA (CONT’D)
(in a calmer voice)
Guido... listen... tell me the
truth.
323 MS: Carla in previous position, Guido’s knee at the left of

frame. She extends her arm and caresses his leg.
CARLA (CONT’D)
The truth, now. Why do you stay
with me?
324 MS: Guido lying back on Carla’s bed, looking upward, his
hands clasped over his head.
105.
GUIDO
(interior monologue)
What can I say to the Cardinal
tomorrow?
THE GROUNDS OF THE SPA, DAY
325 Slow LS tracks forward through a eucalyptus grove. People can

be seen walking in the distance. A little girl is running,
other children are playing.
CARDINAL’S SECRETARY (O.S.)

Yes, I did look at the short
synopsis that your producer sent
for our consideration. Very
interesting. But in terms of
verisimilitude, a meeting between
the hero of your film and a prince
of the Church could not take
place...
326 Tracking, from Guido’s POV, MCU: Cardinal’s Secretary

walking, speaking to Guido.
CARDINAL’S SECRETARY (CONT’D)

...in a mud bath, as you describe
it. I’m sorry, but it is quite
impossible. A high prelate...
327 MCU: track following the back of Guido’s head, as he walks

forward. He puts on his hat, then takes it off.
CARDINAL’S SECRETARY (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...would have a private
compartment.
GUIDO
That’s true. But I was trying to
create a context for an
unconventional encounter.
328 LS: track as Prelate walks forward into MCU, fanning himself
with his hat.
CARDINAL’S SECRETARY (O.S.)

In what way?
GUIDO (O.S.)
My hero had a Catholic education
and...
The Prelate stops and smiles in Guido’s direction.

106.
PRELATE
Good day.
The Cardinal’s Secretary appears in the left of the frame.
CARDINAL’S SECRETARY
Monsignor, permit me to introduce
Mr. Guido Anselmi.
329 MCU: Guido.
GUIDO
I’m very pleased to meet you.
PRELATE (O.S.)
You must be the director.
GUIDO
(smiles and continues to
walk forward)
Yes.
330 MCU: track follows Prelate walking forward while talking to

Guido who is out of frame at right. In most of shots 330-337
the Prelate and the Cardinal’s Secretary are seen
predominantly from behind, in profile, from Guido’s POV.
PRELATE
Is this film with a religious
subject?
The Cardinal’s Secretary crosses out of the frame, left to

right behind the Prelate.
GUIDO (O.S.)
In a way. I was just explaining
that the hero of my story...
331 MCU: track follows Guido walking forward in right foreground,

the Cardinal’s Secretary walking forward in left background.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
...had a Catholic education-like
the rest of us, for that matter-
that creates certain complexes,
certain needs that he can’t repress
any more. A prince of the Church
seems to him the guardian of a
truth that he can no longer accept
although it still...
332 MCU: track follows Prelate walking forward.

107.

...fascinates him. So he seeks some
contact, some help, maybe even a
revelation.
PRELATE
(taking off his glasses)
Saul in Damascus, isn’t that so?
333 MCU: track follows Cardinal’s Secretary walking forward.
CARDINAL’S SECRETARY
Something we all hope for.
He turns, smiles painfully, and emits a slight laugh.
GUIDO (O.S.)
I realize that I’m not being very
specific, that all this is a little
clumsy.
PRELATE (O.S.)
No, no, no.
334 As in 332.
PRELATE (CONT’D)
(taking off his hat and
then putting it on again)
That’s not the point. It’s that the
cinema, I believe, does not lend
itself very well to certain topics.
You mix...
335 As in 335. The Cardinal’s Secretary smiles in agreement.
PRELATE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...sacred love and profane love
with too much nonchalance.
336 Track forward from Guido’s POV, LS: the terrace, bounded by
the semi-circular high walls and the opening into the woods.
The Cardinal is helped to his seat in the center. He blesses
one nun, who walks off with another nun to the right. A
doctor and a prelate walk off to the left.

Isn’t that so?
GUIDO (O.S.)
That depends. Perhaps.
108.
PRELATE (O.S.)
You people have a great
responsibility. You can educate
or...
337 MCU, in profile, tracking Prelate walking.
PRELATE (CONT’D)
...corrupt millions of souls. In
any case, His Eminence will be
happy to listen to you. You will be
able to ask him a few questions.
338 Track in from LS to MS: Cardinal, seated, apparently

slumbering, his cane and his newspaper on his lap. Left, a
table with a glass of water and other newspapers. The sound
of water.

Excuse me, Your Eminence. I would
like to introduce the director...
The Cardinal looks up.
339 LS, Cardinal at right, Guido kneeling to kiss his ring;

Cardinal’s Secretary and Prelate at left, doctor and other
prelate walking left to right.
CARDINAL
(in a very feeble voice)
Please sit down.
GUIDO
(in the hushed, respectful
tone he uses throughout
the interview)
Thank you.
340 MCU: Guido.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Please excuse this intrusion, Your
Eminence. I wouldn’t have presumed
upon you but my producer, beset by
doubts, perhaps...
341 MCU: Cardinal, his head bowed.

...justified doubts, insisted
that...
109.
CARDINAL
(looking up at Guido)
Are you married?
342 As in 340.
GUIDO
Yes.
CARDINAL (O.S.)
Do you have children?
GUIDO
Yes... I mean, no.
The sound of a bird calling. This persists and is answered by

the sound of other birds until the end of the scene.
CARDINAL (O.S.)
How old are you?
GUIDO
Forty-three.
343 LS: Guido and Cardinal. Cardinal points up, left, in the
bird’s direction.
CARDINAL
Do you hear this singer?
GUIDO
Excuse me?
CARDINAL
Do you know what it is called?
GUIDO
No.
CARDINAL
It is called “Diomedeo.” According
to legend, when Diomedes died all
these little birds came together
and sang a funeral chorus for him,
accompanying him right to his
grave.
Guido nods.
344 As in 341. Cardinal appears more alert at this moment than at

any other point of the scene.
CARDINAL (CONT’D)
Listen. It sounds like a sob.
110.
345 As in 342. Guido, intent, his chin resting on his hand, looks
up as if to see the birds. He smiles wanly.
346 MCU: doctor and other prelate, in profile, looking up. In

background, LS, a woman is making her way down the hill.
347 LS: the group, looking up, except for Guido in center, who
looks uneasily at the others. In the background, the woman
comes nearer.
348 CU: Cardinal looking up.
349 MCU: Guido looking down, dejectedly, then in the Cardinal’s

direction, then over his shoulder, toward the woods. We hear
the introduction to the “Ricordo d’ infanzia” theme music.
350 LS: the heavyset woman coming down a little hill, a basket on
her arm. She has raised her skirt to facilitate her descent.
Her legs come into MS; tilt up briefly catches her smile.
351 MCU: Guido adjusts his glasses to see her better. He then
lowers his eyes and begins to smile at his memory. The sound
of a whistle.
THE SCHOOLYARD, DAY
In shots 352-391 Guido is a schoolboy.
352 ECU: the back of a neck of a young priest. He turns into

profile and we see the whistle between his lips. In the
background, the wall of the school, a priest running from
right to left. Camera pans on him, kicking a soccer ball,
followed by a group of boys. We see more high walls
surrounding the courtyard, and as the pan continues, more
children playing with the ball in the foreground. A wall in
the distance is traversed by a strange catwalk upon which are
perched five poor boys from the town, waving.
BOYS
Guido, Guido, we’re going to see
Saraghina.
353 In the foreground, in MS, the back of Guido. He is wearing a

cap and a cloak. In the background, the wall and catwalk with
five boys gesturing to Guido.
BOYS (CONT’D)
Guido, Guido, we’re going to see
Saraghina.
354 From between the head and upraised arm of the statue of a
church prelate, extreme high angle shot of Guido standing in
the schoolyard, looking around. Guido casts a long shadow.
111.
BOYS (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Guido, Guido...
Pan follows Guido as he runs right.
GUIDO
I’m coming right away!
355 LS: pan follows Guido and the poor boys as they run off, down
the street.
THE BEACH, DAY
356 LS: The boys run left along the beach in a line. The sea is
in the background. The music is replaced by the sound of the
waves. Pan left as they run past a wall, then stop.
BOY
(cupping his hands to call
into the distance)
Saraghina... Saraghina...
357 MS: the exterior of the bunker in which Saraghina lives. As

the camera pans left, her head can be seen indistinctly
through the opening.
BOY (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Saraghina... Saraghina...
Saraghina emerges from the entry to the bunker, her head

down; pan right as she makes her way up the little
embankment. We are now able to make out her monumental body,
amply revealed by her scanty dress, but her face is almost
completely obscured by her abundant, disheveled black hair.
When she reaches the top of the embankment she pauses, in MS,
stretches her body by placing her hands on her hips. Her back
is to the camera. Beyond her, mid-distance, a boy hops.
BOY (CONT’D)
Saraghina... the rumba... the
rumba.
SARAGHINA
(walking toward the boy)
Come here.
The boy approaches, drops some coins in her hand and runs
off, right. We hear the introduction to the rumba. Now in LS,
she looks to the left, pauses, drops the coins in her bodice,
then walks to the right, out of the frame.
112.
358 LS: the wall, right; boys, center and left, looking left.
They are obliterated by an ECU of Saraghina’s hand and
backside. She smooths the material on her rump, as if
preparing for her dance, then turns. Camera tilts up and we
finally see her face, enormous, her eyes darkly circled, her
hair flying in the wind, her lips in a sneer. She looks left
and right, then turns away from the camera. Camera tilts down
to her backside and legs as she runs forward a few steps. She
stops, turns in profile, her body tense. We see her from her
calf to her elbow.
359 Low angle MCU: Saraghina. With a dramatic gesture, she pulls
her dress off her shoulders and starts to move her body
seductively in time to the music.
360 LS: the boys looking expectantly in Saraghina’s direction;

three seated on the ground, Guido standing center, two others
standing right.
361 MCU: Saraghina. She is now smiling lasciviously, gyrating her

upper torso. She appears to be enjoying her dance. Her
expression of satisfaction, and the exaggerated seductive
movements of her eyes and mouth, will be maintained
throughout her dance.
362 ECU: her lower torso gyrating. Tilt up to her face, in MCU.
363 ECU: Saraghina’s face.
364 Track in to boys clapping in enthusiasm and jumping up and

down.
365 Low angle MCU: Saraghina, from slightly off center. Track
back shows her arms outstretched, then her whole body in LS
as she runs backward, dancing. Pan follows as she moves to
right, then back to left. She kicks her right leg high, turns
her back to the camera, wiggles her backside, raises her
skirt slightly, continuing her dance with her back to the
camera while repeating these movements. Track in as she moves
to the wall and turns to the camera, then away. She rubs her
body up and down the wall, caressing it.
366 LS: the boys applauding, laughing, jumping up and down as

they look in Saraghina’s direction. One of the boys
repeatedly slaps himself in the face in joy, in time to the
music.
367 ECU: Saraghina’s face, her arms raised next to it. She turns;
tilt down to the back of her black dress. As she exits right,
we see the sea between the wall and a fence of reeds.
368 LS: the wall, boys left. Saraghina dances right to left. She
stops in front of Guido and pulls him into the dance.
113.
369 MCU: Guido and Saraghina dancing. She is trying to hold her
arms. She picks him up.
370 LS: two priests approaching.
371 LS: Guido running away, down beach. He is followed by a

priest. Guido heads right, toward the sea, then turns back,
the priest in pursuit. Camera pans right as Guido collides
with the other priest, knocking him down. The pursuing priest
falls on top of them. The second part of this shot uses
speeded-up motion, recalling the way silent comedies are
projected by contemporary, fixed-space cameras. The two
priests rise and drag Guido forward between them. The rumba
has been replaced by the sound of waves.
CORRIDOR AND SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE, DAY
372 LS: priest holding Guido by the ear while pulling him down a
staircase. The sound of a bell ringing. Pan left over a
series of austere portraits of priests, in ever-increasing
CU. Camera rests on face of young priest, posing as in the
portraits. He looks right, disapprovingly, then motions left
with his head.
373 LS: track shows Guido walking forward, between two priests,
along a wall lined with two series of portraits. They stop,
bow slightly. The priests turn and walk back; Guido removes
his cap and stands at attention.
374 LS: four priests (played by women) seated in large room, in

front of a bare wall. Camera pans right over desk to MCU of
the principal of the school (also played by a woman), writing
with a large quill. Zoom into CU as he turns and begins to
speak.
PRINCIPAL
Shame on you! Shame on you!
Shame...
375 Zoom in CU of first priest. The priests and the principal

speak simultaneously during this shot, continuing to repeat
what they initially say, off, as the camera pans right from
one to the next.
PRINCIPAL (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...on you!
FIRST PRIEST
It’s a mortal sin. It’s a mortal
sin.
Pan to second priest, his eyes cast down, shaking his head.
114.
SECOND PRIEST
I cannot believe it. It’s not
possible. I cannot believe it. It’s
not possible.
Pan to priest sitting further away, in LS; another priest

standing next to him steps forward and points.
STANDING PRIEST
Look at...
376 LS: Guido standing, his eyes cast down.
STANDING PRIEST (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...your mother. Look at her.
GUIDO
(turning right)
Mother!
Pan as he runs right.
MOTHER (O.S.)
Stop!
Guido stops short at left. Mother is at right, a handkerchief

in her right hand. On the wall behind them hangs an enormous
portrait of a young man.
MOTHER (CONT’D)
(gesticulating
melodramatically, and in
a tone of exaggerated
despair)
Oh heavens, what a disgrace!
Slight pan to the right as she sits, dabbing her eyes with
her handkerchief. Track in to Mother in MCU.
MOTHER (CONT’D)
What a disgrace... what a terrible
blow!
She cries and sighs.
377 LS: the whole room and corridor. Guido walks backward away
from his Mother, right, then faces the principal’s desk,
genuflects, turns and walks into background, down the
portrait-lined corridor, toward the priests who accompanied
him; two of the priests sitting in the foreground, their
backs to the camera, stand, wave their arms in indignation,
and walk toward him. The bell begins ringing again.
115.
MOTHER (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Oh, what a disgrace!
378 ECU: the Mother, dabbing one eye, then the other, with her
handkerchief. The eye that is not being dabbed looks
accusing. She sobs deeply. Her rather dry eyes and her hard
expression are, however, discordant with her audible
suffering.
THE SCHOOLROOM, DAY
379 LS: pan right. On left and right, two series of desks and
benches. A boy runs from left to right, hits another boy in
the head with his book, then runs back again. The other boys
are shouting in derision and banging their books on their
desks. Pan right continues to show Guido walking forward,
wearing a tall dunce cap. A priest is walking next to him.
Then pan left follows him as he passes in front of his
classmates, in MS. As he walks away from camera we see a sign
bearing the word “Shame” pinned to his back. Pan continues
left showing two more series of desks with schoolboys. Priest
stops in left foreground, his back to the camera. Guido
stands mid-ground, facing left.
THE REFECTORY, DAY
380 ECU: Young Priest’s hands cupped to catch kernels of corn

being poured from a plate.
PRIEST READING (O.S.)

But, above all, the very pious
Luigi abhorred, throughout his
whole life...
Slow track right as the Young Priest with the corn kernels
walks left, away from the camera. On the left, the boys
seated behind a long table; the priests are seated behind a
table at the rear of the frame. Guido is standing,
motionless, near the point at which the two tables meet, in
LS.
PRIEST READING (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...and in all the places in which
he lived, speaking or coming into
contact with women,...
As the Young Priest with the corn approaches Guido, track

continues right, and the desk and the back of the priest who
is reading come into view. We can now see the latter’s long
beard.
116.
PRIEST READING (CONT’D)

...whose presence he fled to such a
degree that whosoever saw him
believed that he had a natural
antipathy for them.
The Young Priest places the corn kernels on the floor in

front of Guido who tries to kneel down, first from one leg,
then the other, but cannot bring himself to complete the
movement.
381 MCU, In profile, of the Young Priest.
YOUNG PRIEST
Get down!

Not even with the Marquise, his
sister...
Zoom in to ECU of Young Priest.
YOUNG PRIEST
(shouting)
Get down!
382 LS: Guido, his back to camera, the two tables meeting behind
him, the boys and the priests eating. Young Priest slaps him
hard on the head; Guido kneels on the corn; Young Priest
exits left, his hands piously joined.

...did he like to engage in private
conversation... whence, if it
happened that he was speaking with
her...
CHAPEL IN SCHOOL, DAY
383 Bells are faintly ringing. In the foreground, the shroud-

covered legs of a mummified saint; on the wall, in the
background, Guido’s shadow. (Guido, himself, is not seen in
this shot.) His hands come up to his face. Pan follows as he
runs right; then track in to MCU of mummy’s face.
CHURCH IN SCHOOL, DAY
384 The sound of bells continues, joined by sound of footsteps.

Track in, LS to MS of confessional.
385 ECU: a hand emerging to close curtain of confessional. Pan

right on the dark curtain, then sound of a panel being moved.
117.
We see the sunburst pattern of the perforated speaking panel

of the confessional.
PRINCIPAL (O.S.)
But don’t you know that Saraghina
is the devil?
386 CU: the Principal, in deep shadow.
GUIDO (O.S.)
I didn’t know! I really didn’t
know!
The Principal sighs deeply.
387 As in 385, CU: the speaking panel. Another panel is closed

behind it, shutting off the light.
388 LS: Church, a pulpit in the right foreground, the Principal

and Guido emerging, respectively, from the center and left
side of the confessional, mid-ground; another confessional
left background. Music: “Ricordo d’ Infanzia.” Slight left
pan as Guido walks forward, crying into his handkerchief, and
the Principal walks to the background. Guido stops and
kneels. We know see votive candles in the left foreground.
389 MCU: a statue of the Virgin. Dissolve to next shot.
THE BEACH, DAY
390 LS: Saraghina’s bunker in the foreground, the sea in the

background. Guido, on left, looks inside. Pan as he runs to
the right and looks in from a different angle. We hear
Saraghina humming the “Ricordo d’ infanzia” theme. Guido
turns and pan follows as he continues right toward the wall.
He kneels, his back to the camera, and waves his cap at
Saraghina sitting on a chair, right background.
391 Brief track LS to MS: Saraghina, first smiling sweetly at

Guido, then looking away toward the sea.
SARAGHINA
(to Guido)
Hi.
She continues humming.
THE DINING ROOM, SPA HOTEL, DAY
392 The sound of Saraghina’s humming ends just after the

beginning of this shot.
118.
Camera tracks back from Cardinal and his retinue sitting down
to breakfast, in LS, to Daumier, in MCU, drinking his coffee,
looking off-screen right, in Guido’s direction. The
Cardinal’s table remains in soft focus, in the background,
during this shot.
DAUMIER
(strongly expressing his
disapproval of Guido
through his voice and his
gestures throughout this
scene)
And what does it mean?
He pauses. We hear a piano.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
It’s a character from your
childhood memories.
He wipes his mouth.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
It has nothing to do with a true
critical consciousness. No... if
you really want to engage in a
polemic about Catholic
consciousness in Italy... well, my
friend...
We see a waiter at the Cardinal’s table.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
...in this case, believe me, what
you would need above all is a
higher degree of culture, as well
as, of course, inexorable logic and
clarity. You’ll forgive me for
saying so, but your naiveté is a
serious drawback.
393 MCU: Guido, listening impassively.

Your little memories, bathed in
nostalgia, your inoffensive and
fundamentally sentimental
evocations...
Guido looks in the direction of the Cardinal.

...are the expressions of an
accomplice.
119.
394 In foreground, MS: the back of a prelate; in mid-ground,

Cardinal, looking to his right; waiter walking off in
background.
CARDINAL
“But what?” The priest exclaimed.
“With a communist?” He didn’t say,
“A man.” Do you understand?
The men in his party laugh.
395 CU: Daumier, who stands.
DAUMIER
The catholic consciousness!
MCU, tracking as he walks forward, speaking to Guido, off-

screen right.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
Think of what Suetonius meant at
the time of the Caesars! No... your
initial intention is to denounce...
A woman begins to sing, off.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
...and you end up supporting it,
just like an accomplice.
Over Daumier’s shoulder we see, in soft focus, a female

pianist, and an elderly, portly woman singing Russian words
to Chopin’s Nocturne, Op. 9, No. 2.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
But you see... what confusion, what
ambiguity...
He exits left and we clearly, briefly see the singer.
THE THERMAL BATHS OF THE SPA, DAY
396 LS: a group of four white-clad musicians playing “Carlotta’s

Gallop.” They are back-lit, therefore in shadow. A woman,
draped in a sheet, waving a fan, rises into the foreground of
the frame, in MCU. She begins to move left; the camera pans
left through the rest of the shot.
WOMAN
(flirting)
Oh, dear doctor, I’m really angry
with you.
120.
Doctor appears from left, back to camera, kisses her hand.
DOCTOR
But you don’t need me any longer,
dear lady.
WOMAN
Oh, that’s not true. That’s not
true at all.
Woman walks out of frame to left as doctor turns to watch

her. In background, through clouds of steam, we dimly see
other sheet-clad figures who approach, walking left, as the
camera continues its pan. Throughout this sequence, those
taking the steam baths and other treatments are draped in
sheets; some of the male attendants are bare-chested.
ATTENDANT WITH MICROPHONE

(first off, then in frame
as pan continues)
127, shower and mud bath; 129,
massage...
The voices of other attendants, announcing numbers, etc., are

also heard.
397 Tilt down in LS from top of enormous, double staircase,

leading to the steam and mud baths. The men descend on the
right, the women on the left. Between them, at mid-distance,
two attendants are carrying up an enormous barrel reminiscent
of the wine vat in the farmhouse sequence. At the bottom, in
the background, a long table and other attendants.
ATTENDANT WITH MICROPHONE (O.S.)

(CONT’D)
...131, inhalation.
398 Pan right from MS to MCU: women walking down staircase. Two
are engaged in animated conversation.

(CONT’D)
137, inhalations. 145, massage.
399 Low angle LS from bottom of staircase, men descending on

left, women on right, an attendant standing in the middle.
Camera tracks back until the bare back of an attendant
occupies much of the frame.

(CONT’D)
147, shower and mud bath.
121.
400 High angle LS: two tables, attendants standing behind them,
indicating to a patient walking right in foreground that he
should continue in that direction. Slight pan right as
patient is met by a bare-chested attendant.

(CONT’D)
149, inhalations.
401 MCU tracking pan: elderly man walking right.
ELDERLY MAN
(to Pace)
Hello!
He exits right, past the attendant stationed on the stairs.

Pace and several others enter right in MCU and pan follows
left as they descend.
PACE
(first off, then in frame,
looking down, but
speaking to Guido who,
walking beside him, has
not yet entered the
frame)
I’ve figured out what it is you
want to tell. You want to describe
the confusion a man has within
himself. But you’ve got to be
clear.
During Pace’s last words Guido enters the frame, stops, and
looks in the direction of the women’s side of the staircase.
Clasping his sheet tightly around himself, Guido has not
abandoned his glasses. He holds a cigarette between his
fingers.
402 Pan right, from Guido’s POV, as Beautiful Unknown Woman

descends, in MCU-CU-MCU.
PACE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

You must make yourself understood.
Otherwise, What point is there?
As she continues to descend stairs, she adjusts the sheet

that she has gracefully draped over her head.

Guido...
403 Guido in MCU, right foreground; Pace, further down the

stairs, is turning to Guido; the others continue walking
toward the steam.
122.
PACE (CONT’D)
...come on!
Guido resumes descending the stairs. He catches up with Pace.

Attention! Will Dr. De Angelis
please proceed to the rest area.
404 Slow pan left and slight track back; a man appears in MCU and
then exits. Pan, LS, follows Pace, Guido, and others as they
walk forward, on wooden gratings, turn, and continue left,
away from the camera. We then see a very large room, lined
with benches. Men are seated, inhaling the fumes.
PACE
If what you have to say in
interesting, it must be interesting
to everybody. Why shouldn’t you
worry if the audience understands
or not? You’ll have to forgive me
for saying so, but that is a
disgrace... it’s presumptuous.
Cesarino approaches from left background.
CESARINO
(to Pace)
Hi, Boss!
PACE
You should...
CESARINO
Come here, come here!
Cesarino walks forward, waving his arms.
405 MS: Pace’s bare back. Cesarino is walking toward him.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
(taking Pace by the arm)
Come over here, Boss. Breathe,
breathe deeply.
He looks briefly at Guido who turns away, in MS, in

foreground.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
Hi, Guido!
Cesarino continues to lead PAce away.

123.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
I’ve kept a place, near the stream.
406 A man in MS, left, sits down on a bench with others. They are
nearly obliterated by steam.
CESARINO (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Oh, Boss, this morning I’ve had a
look at the spaceship. They’ve
already built it up fifty meters.
407 LS: the steam room, men milling around in foreground and
background. The sound of muttering and coughing. Pan left to
MS of a man breathing deeply.
408 MS: Guido sitting on bench. He throws down his cigarette. Pan
left to Mezzabotta in MCU, his head covered by sheet, eyes
cast down, deeply inhaling the steam. Guido looks at him
intently.
GUIDO
(whispering)
Mario!
Unresponsive, Mezzabotta continues his deep breathing. Guido

looks away from him, across the room.
409 LS: pan left of the men seated on the benches around the
perimeter of the room, others pacing back and forth, from
Guido’s POV. The music changes character, becomes lugubrious.
WOMAN’S VOICE
(in English)
Attention, please.
410 Track in to CU: Guido, his head bowed.
WOMAN’S VOICE (CONT’D)

Attention, please. Guido...
411 LS: the whole steam room, now free of steam. The men are
seated on the benches lining the walls.

(in Italian)
His Eminence is waiting for you.
Guido stands up, left background.

We repeat: Guido, His Eminence is
waiting for you.
124.
Camera tracks back as Guido walks forward quickly, down the

wooden grating at the center of the room.
412 This complete shot, a combination of tracking and panning,

maintains Guido’s POV as he is walking. Agostini, fully
dressed, walks rapidly into low angle MCU, carrying Guido’s
shoes and shirt.
AGOSTINI
Here are you clothes! Get dressed.
Please hurry, Boss.
He turns around and walks back, signaling urgency with hand

gestures. Camera follows, MCU, from Guido’s POV.
AGOSTINI (CONT’D)
The Cardinal is waiting. Tell him
everything. Confide in him
completely. Don’t hide a thing from
him.
He walks left and turns his face in Guido’s direction.
AGOSTINI (CONT’D)
And if you can, Boss, put in a good
word for me, too.
As he disappears behind a column we hear, briefly, a sound

that suggests steam, followed by a few notes sung by a
chorus.
AGOSTINI (CONT’D)
...for me, for me, for me, Boss.
As camera pans right Cesarino walks into frame, MCU, and

hands Guido his trousers.
CESARINO
It’s a golden opportunity! Here are
your pants.
Track follows him in MCU from Guido’s POV.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
The Cardinal! What luck! He can
authorize anything... yes,
anything... even my Mexican
divorce. Think of it! Get me my
Mexican divorce, Guido. Please...
do me a favor. He won’t turn you
down.
125.
He turns and smiles at Guido while exiting, left, behind

Conocchia, fully dressed, who appears in MCU, with Guido’s
suit on a hanger.
CONOCCHIA
No! Above all, look pious! Throw
yourself at his feet! Kiss his
ring! Cry! Say that you’ve
repented.
Track left follows Conocchia.
If you manage to get in their good
graces, you can get anything you
want. Listen to me, Guido!
As Conocchia exits left, Pace appears in MS, walking forward,

offering Guido his tie and imploring his cooperation.
PACE
Please, Guido, we’re in your hands.
Please.
In CU, he blows a kiss straight ahead.
413 LS: Guido, dressed, walking away from camera, down the steamy
corridor.
414 The Cardinal’s suite of anteroom, steam chamber, and mud

bath. LS: track forward toward a priest, in silhouette,
walking forward from a brightly illuminated doorway, right
background. The priest holds up his hand and gestures to the
right. We again hear the choir.
PRIEST
Only five minutes.
Pan right past a large font with steam rising from it, then
track in to a low window with translucent panes, in CU. The
noise of the steam becomes louder. With an exaggerated
creaking noise, the window is drawn open on two top hinges,
revealing the Cardinal’s steam bath. In the left foreground,
a priest, seen from the waist down; in LS, the Cardinal
seated, bent over, fully clothed. Steam covers the floor. Two
attendants, seen from the waist down, enter from the right.
They carry a sheet that covers the Cardinal; the priest in
the foreground exits right.
415 MS: a sheet covering Cardinal in three-quarter profile, naked

from the waist up. Then, his silhouette upon the sheet.
126.
GUIDO
(in a voice that conveys
deep respect and profound
emotion)
Your Eminence, I am not happy.
The Cardinal raises his hand.
CARDINAL (O.S.)
Why should you...
416 MCU: Cardinal’s Secretary holding sheet; pan right to

silhouette of Cardinal’s head behind sheet.
CARDINAL (CONT’D)
(first off, then in
silhouette)
...be happy? That is not your task.
The Cardinal’s head appears in profile, in CU, as the sheet

is lowered and wrapped around his shoulders.
CARDINAL (CONT’D)
Who told you that we come into the
world in order to be happy?
417 CU: track follows Cardinal to the right, his face turned
away.
CARDINAL (CONT’D)
Origen wrote in his homilies,
“Extra Ecclesiam...
418 CU: the beard and arms of the Cardinal’s Secretary, in

foreground. He is kneading mud that drips from his hands. In
LS: the Cardinal draped in a sheet, his back to camera,
standing between two priests, in background. He is about to
enter a section of the room surrounded by a low border, from
which great clouds of steam are emanating.
CARDINAL (CONT’D)
...nulla salus”-Outside the Church
there is no salvation.
419 MS: priest on right removing sheet and walking forward while
folding it, thereby screening the Cardinal from view as he
enters the steam. The priest on left sits, followed by the
priest on the right.
CARDINAL (CONT’D)
“Extra Ecclesiam, nemo salvatur”-
Outside the Church, no one will be
saved.
127.
The Cardinal is helped to a seat in the steam by an

attendant.
CARDINAL (CONT’D)
“Salus extra Ecclesiam...
420 MCU: Cardinal, in profile.
CARDINAL (CONT’D)
...non est.”
The steam almost obliterates him.
CARDINAL (CONT’D)
There is no salvation outside the
Church. “Civitas Dei!” He who is
not...
421 LS: Cardinal sitting in steam at right, attendant (partial

view) standing mid-frame, priest seated at left. Track back
as window closes.
CARDINAL (CONT’D)
(his voice trailing off in
a dramatic whisper)
...in the City of God belongs to
the City of the Devil.
As the window closes we again hear the creaking noise. This

is joined by the sound of an orchestra playing “Blue Moon.”
PUBLIC SQUARE AND ADJOINING SHOPS IN THE RESORT TOWN, DUSK
422 ELS: Hotel on hill in background, bandstand mid-ground,

female orchestra playing “Blue Moon,” people at tables in
foreground. As camera tracks back, the large electric letters
on the roof of the hotel, “GRAND HOTEL LA POSTE,” and the
decorative street lamps in the piazza are turned on.
423 MCU: track follows elderly female violinist playing while

walking right, then turning forward.
424 Night has fallen. Elegantly and fancifully dressed people are
strolling in MS, both right and left, as camera tracks right.
MAN WITH MICROPHONE

Come see this great human
phenomenon... the Fakir Siva who
has broken all previous records.
In background a “Ford” sign, then the Fakir recumbent in a

glass coffin.
128.
MAN WITH MICROPHONE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Our experiment is controlled daily
by European experts...
425 CU: track right, a woman in silhouette, with fan. As camera

continues to move laterally we see automobiles in a showroom,
background to the strollers who appear in CU and MS.
426 Track right as camera pans left, showing more strollers and
then Luisa standing in front of a shop window, smoking. She
turns and pan follows as she walks right in MS. She is
distinguished from the other strollers by the severity of her
attire. Hatless, without jewelry, she is wearing a white
blouse remarkable for its simplicity. The frames of her
glasses are similar to Guido’s. She walks away from camera.
427 MCU: Guido in three-quarter profile, looking pensively in

Luisa’s direction. He bites his fingernails; track follows as
he begins walking right.
428 Track follows Luisa in MS toward an auction house. We see and

hear the auctioneer and the bidders in the background:
“20,000, 22, 23, 25, 35, 40. Good. Going, going... another
bid.” Luisa stands in the entrance, then turns around and
walks forward, opens her handbag and takes out a cigarette.
429 MCU: track as Guido walks forward, looking in Luisa’s

direction.
430 MCU: Luisa lighting her new cigarette with the stub of her
previous one. Puffing aggressively, she looks around; then
track follows as she walks away, right, in MS. In front of a
store exhibiting a large painting of the sea, she stops,
turns, hesitates, then is overjoyed to recognize Guido.
431 MCU: Guido, smiling.
GUIDO
Hi.
He exits, right.
432 MCU: Guido enters frame from left, Luisa on right, smiling
broadly, the picture of the sea between them in the
background.
LUISA
Hi.
GUIDO
When did you get here?
129.
LUISA
At five. We went to the hotel, but
you weren’t there. How are you?
GUIDO
Fine, fine.
He kisses her on both cheeks.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Whom did you come with?
LUISA
With Rossella, Enrico... and Tilde,
too.
GUIDO
Ah, Rossella. Where is she?
LUISA
(looking right, then back
at Guido)
Right here!
MS, track, then pan right as Guido puts his arm around
Luisa’s shoulder and they walk away.
GUIDO
You’re wonderful. You came after
all. You look fine, you know.
He kisses her neck lightly. As they cross the street in LS we

see a car pass and a “Coca Cola” sign. In the background,
Rossella stands and waves. Guido returns her wave.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Hi, Rossa!
433 MCU: track with Luisa dancing. The orchestra is now playing
“Nostalgic Swing,” based on other musical motifs from the
film.
LUISA
The last time we danced together
was a year ago.
Guido appears in MCU and he and Luisa, cheeks touching, turn

while dancing. Through the remainder of this shot, they are
tracked, usually in MCU, occasionally in MS, their faces
alternately shown as they dance. Other couples pass in the
background.
130.
GUIDO
(with great sincerity)
Dear Luisa... you’re such a
darling. I’m really happy that you
came. It always happens this way.
Whenever... whenever you’re away...
LUISA
(looking at Guido and
finishing his sentence)
You feel lonely. Is it true? Did
you miss me?
GUIDO
(decisively)
Yes.
LUISA
(gently teasing)
And you didn’t have the company of
all these beautiful women?
Their cheeks touch again.
GUIDO
(with good humor)
Oh, you’ve seen them, then?
Track right as another couple momentarily fills the frame.

The woman, short and fat, wears an elaborate hairpiece. Then
Guido and Luisa reenter the frame.
LUISA
So you haven’t had any adventures
since you left? Poor Guido.
They again dance cheek to cheek.
GUIDO
And your fascinating virility?
GUIDO (CONT’D)
What nice perfume you’re wearing!
LUISA
Do you like it?
GUIDO
How light you are.
LUISA
(looking at Guido)
And how is your work going? Better?
131.
GUIDO
(shaking his head)
Oh, I don’t think I’ve made great
progress.
LUISA
But what’s it about? What do you
have on your mind this time?
Luisa backs into Enrico, who is dancing with Luisa’s friend.
LUISA’S FRIEND
Oh!
LUISA
Excuse me.
GUIDO
(recognizing Enrico and
Luisa’s friend)
Hi.
LUISA
(smiling, realizing she
has bumped into Enrico)
Ah!
ENRICO
(smiling with particular
warmth)
Excuse me.
Guido and Luisa dance forward, away from the other couple.
GUIDO
Say, I may be wrong, but isn’t
Enrico a little in love with you?
LUISA
(looking at Guido, smiling
teasingly but not
unpleasantly)
Hm, hm.
The music becomes more lively; the camera follows Luisa as

she first moves backward, away from Guido, then turns and
dances off, followed by a violinist.
434 MCU: Guido, Enrico, and Luisa’s Friend behind him; they are
all looking admiringly in Luisa’s direction.
LUISA’S FRIEND
Isn’t she adorable?!
132.
Enrico’s expression conveys his infatuation with Luisa. Guido

turns, looks at him, then looks back toward Luisa.
435 LS: Luisa dancing alone, followed by violinist. Pace and

Conocchia enter frame left, Pace applauding. The table with
Rossella and the others in Luisa’s party is in the
background.
PACE
Wonderful!
LUISA
Good evening.
PACE
(kissing Luisa’s hand)
Good evening.
436 MS: Luisa, Pace holding her hand, Conocchia between them.
PACE (CONT’D)
Welcome.
LUISA
Thank you.
PACE
(looking forward, in
Guido’s direction)
Maestro... we are here, at your
total disposal. Shall we go?
GUIDO (O.S.)
Yes, yes. I’m coming right away.
PACE
(to Luisa)
Dear lady, tonight you’ll see what
degree of insanity a producer can
reach.
Rossella appears between Conocchia and Luisa, looking at

Pace.
LUISA
(to Pace)
My friend.
ROSSELLA
Ah.
Pan follows Rossella as she passes behind Luisa and, beneath

frameline, extends her hand to Conocchia who is now out of
frame, left.
133.
PACE (O.S.)
Well, well... frankly, I’m not sure
I want to shake hands with this
lovely lady.
ROSSELLA
(to Conocchia)
Good evening.
PACE (O.S.)
As soon as this women touches you,
she can read your mind. Who are
you... what you do... what you
think.
Luisa laughs. Rossella is startled and turns. Guido has

apparently poked her in the ribs. Pan right now shows
Rossella and Guido facing each other in MCU.
ROSSELLA
Oh! Well, who else could it have
been?
GUIDO
Your guiding spirit. Haven’t you
yet reached this stage in your
relationship...
437 MCU of Luisa’s Sister, seated, frame left, Tilde, MS, frame
right.

...with him?
LUISA (O.S.)
I’d like to introduce my sister.
PACE (O.S.)
Oh, what a beautiful little sister!
Luisa’s Sister rises, smiling. Tilde rises as well. Pan as

she walks left.
TILDE
(sarcastically)
Look at the women who flock around
the director. Whether they have
contempt for him or not...
She walks behind her boyfriend, in MS.
TILDE’S BOYFRIEND
(to Pace, who is off)
I am delighted to meet you.
(MORE)
134.
TILDE’S BOYFRIEND (CONT'D)
I’ve just finished a script against
nuclear arms.
Pace and Luisa enter the frame in MCU; pan follows them left.
TILDE’S BOYFRIEND (O.S.) (CONT’D)

(with great insistence)
Only a producer with your courage
could make it.
PACE
(looking back, while
walking away from the
camera)
And does the beautiful witch belong
to the harem too?
ROSSELLA
(tracked as she walks
forward in MS, looking
for something in her
handbag)
Let’s say I’m a kind of managing
supervisor.
She speaks to Guido who is first behind her, then walking at

her side. She reserves for Guido a habitual tone of friendly
irony, dosed with disapproval.
ROSSELLA (CONT’D)
Well, what about you? Are you
feeling better? Did solitude do you
good, hm? As a matter of fact, you
seem completely changed.
GUIDO
Yes?
ROSSELLA
(laughing, then showing
real concern for Guido)
No, really, how are you? I was a
little frightened. It was wonderful
of you to call Luisa. If you only
knew how happy she was to come
here!
GUIDO
(shrugging his shoulders)
But...
DAUMIER (O.S.)
If you don’t mind...
135.
Guido and Rossella look forward, in Daumier’s direction.
438 Daumier, in MCU, left; Pace, walking away, center.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
...I would prefer not coming. My
presence is not indispensable.
Guido appears MCU, right; Pace turns as he is getting into

his car.
GUIDO
(to Daumier)
Well, it’s up to you.
PACE
(to Daumier)
Oh, no, my friend. I insist! Get
into Conocchia’s car.
He turns to speak to his Girlfriend, sitting in the back

seat.
PACE (CONT’D)
Sweetie... please get out. Go with
the others.
(to Guido)
Guido, where’s your wife?
GUIDO
I don’t know. She was here.
Daumier exits right, Pace gets into driver’s seat, Guido in

the back seat and the Girlfriend exits from the opposite
side, as camera tracks into MS. Guido and Pace look right, in
the direction of Luisa and Rossella.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Rossella, get in with us!
PACE
Here, near me, Rossella...
GUIDO
Luisa...
439 LS: Luisa standing alone, right, looking off-frame; strollers

in background, a man sitting on a bench, left.
PACE (O.S.)
I want to tell you a very strange
story.
136.
Luisa turns, but seems reluctant to move. Her expression is

very serious.
440 MCU: Guido, looking out the car window in Luisa’s direction.
GUIDO
Luisa, come!
PACE (O.S.)
I had a sister who died very
young...
441 As in 439. Pan follows Luisa walking left in rear of frame,

markedly not toward Guido. Profile of elderly woman smoking
appears in MCU.

...and one evening the portrait of
my sister, Concezione, suddenly
changed expression.
442 As in 440. Guido, disappointed, bends his head.

Please get in, Rossella.
443 MS: Luisa walking toward Rossella who is standing next to the
passenger’s side of the car, her back to the camera.

It was as if she wanted to warn me
of a danger, of a threat.
LUISA
(to Rossella)
I’ll sit in front.
PACE (O.S.)
As I was saying, two or three days
later my uncle said to me...
Luisa and Rossella get into the car.
444 MS: Guido and Rossella in back seat of car. Guido gestures
bewilderment at Luisa’s change of mood. Rossella gestures
that she doesn’t understand it either.

...”Come to the market with me,
sonny.” My uncle had an Isotta-
Fraschini.
445 MS through windshield of Pace, speaking to Luisa, who seems

not to be listening.
137.
PACE (CONT’D)
I was telling the story of a
premonition.
The car drives off.
THE SET OF THE SPACESHIP, NIGHT
446 LS: watchman waving a flashlight in foreground. The

headlights of the two cars appear; the cars then turn right
as pan follows them toward one of the two towers under
construction. An eerie effect is created by a bank of lights
and electronic music.
447 MS: Pace’s car. As the passengers get out they look up.
PACE
(putting on his overcoat)
What do you say? You have to be
crazy to listen to this director!
Put on your coats. It’s damp.
Rossella and Guido follow Pace who walks forward in MCU.
448 Low angle LS: the two towers; an illuminated staircase

zigzags between them.

Renato, where are you? Renato!
Tilt down to ground level where we see workmen and the rest
of the party visiting the set.
RENATO
(coming forward)
Her I am, Boss. Good evening.
PACE (O.S.)
We have to be ready by the 20th.
(To Luisa)
Come, come.
Luisa and Pace enter right foreground and walk toward Renato.
PACE (CONT’D)
Be careful. The ground’s all broken
up.
(To Renato, who removes
his hat)
It seems that we’re a little behind
schedule.
138.
RENATO
No. It’s going well.
(Pointing up)
We’ve already gotten it up to
seventy meters.
449 Track forward following Rossella and Guido in MS, in deep

shadow.
GUIDO
Say, what’s bothering Luisa? Her
mood changed all of a sudden. She
turned nervous, rude...
ROSSELLA
I don’t know. She was so happy to
come see you. Maybe you said
something to upset her.
Pan left follows Rossella toward a painting on glass used to

create the image of the spaceship.
GUIDO (O.S.)
No.
ROSSELLA
(inspecting the glass)
Hey, what’s this?
We see Rossella through the fantastic image painted on the

glass, Tilde’s Boyfriend in foreground, his back to camera.
TILDE’S BOYFRIEND
(turning right, in Guido’s
direction)
I think this is extraordinarily
fascinating. This is the model
that, through superimposition, will
give the optical illusion that the
spaceship is on top of the
launching pad.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Rossella!
Pan follows Rossella as she turns and walks right.
ROSSELLA
Yes, I’m coming.
TILDE’S BOYFRIEND (O.S.)

(to Guido)
Isn’t that right, Guido?
139.
GUIDO
(turning briefly in
direction of Tilde’s
Boyfriend)
Yes, that’s right.
WOMAN (O.S.)
You can see from up here. Come on
up. It’s the spaceship.
450 Pace walking forward, in MS, followed by Luisa and the

others.
PACE
And what’s that?
Pan left on Luisa as she passes, in silhouette, behind

another imagine painted on glass.
PACE (CONT’D)
It’s the launching ramp for the
spaceship, the most important scene
in the film. Come on up. There’s no
danger. No photos.
451 MS pan left from Tilde’s Boyfriend to Tilde and Luisa’s

Sister, walking forward. Tilde’s Boyfriend is preparing to
take a photograph.
TILDE’S BOYFRIEND
Only one!
TILDE
(nastily)
What’s your husband up to? Is he
making a...
452 Tilde in right foreground, back to camera. Luisa turns to

look at her, in MS.
TILDE (CONT’D)
...science-fiction film?
LUISA
How should I know. Ask him.
Pan left follows the two women as they follow the others.
TILDE
Giancarlo wrote him a wonderful
story...
140.
453 Pan right follows group in LS silhouette. The foreground and

mid-ground are occupied by lights and indeterminate framelike
structures.
TILDE (CONT’D)
...about Martians.
Various characters call out Guido’s name. During this shot

their comments are largely unintelligible. Pan continues as
the party begins to mount the stairs, right. Models of
spaceships appear in foreground. Track left/pan right
continues to show ascent, through and above the scaffolding.
WOMAN
What are you going to do with this
amusement park?
PACE
You don’t know what a job this was.
No construction company wanted to
take it on. It rests entirely on
sand. Cesarino, how many quintals
of reinforced concrete did it take?
454 Low angle LS: the group mounting stairway, away from camera.
Tilt up gives impression of stairway’s great height.
CESARINO
Quintals? Tons! 400 tons, Boss.
CONOCCHIA
Boss, if you don’t mind, I’ll stop
at the first landing. I get dizzy
spells.
455 High angle shot: the group mounting toward camera. Lower part
of Pace’s body in foreground, MS. He is followed by Luisa’s
Sister and Luisa’s Friend.
LUISA’S FRIEND
With 80 million lire you could buy
at least ten apartments.
LUISA’S SISTER
It’s a pompous shack, just like
him. It’s his own portrait.
PACE (O.S.)
The little sister-in-law is tough
on our director. Maybe she’s in
love with him.
The two women walk into MCU.

141.
LUISA’S SISTER
In love? Every morning and every
night I pray to God that I don’t
end up with a husband like him.
She walks left out of frame.
LUISA’S FRIEND
Hey, what do we do now? Is there
more to climb?
Slight pan left shows her walking up, away from camera. Tilt
up to Pace’s backside.
PACE
I’ll be glad to carry you up.
456 High angle LS: the landing, Conocchia at left, leaning on

railing, Cesarino sitting on stairs, massaging his feet,
Daumier and Tilde at right, walking down, away from camera.
CONOCCHIA
When I think that he made me spend
80 million for this structure! I
say a nice painted backdrop would
have been better.
CESARINO
A backdrop! In grandpa’s time they
used backdrops. Is it your money,
Conocchia?
Pan left shows ground level from an extremely high angle:

Guido, Rossella and an automobile. Rossella is laughing.
457 MCU in profile: Luisa, looking down, lost in thought.
ENRICO (O.S.)
Luisa...
As Luisa turns, pan left to Enrico.
ENRICO (CONT’D)
Are you cold? Take my jacket.
LUISA
(turning away from him)
No, no, thank you. In any case, I
think we’re going back to the hotel
now.
The sound on an airplane passing overhead. Luisa looks up.

Enrico walks right, behind her.
142.
ENRICO
Is something wrong? You got sad all
of a sudden.
He sits on the stairs behind her, right. She takes a puff on

her cigarette.
ENRICO (CONT’D)
Isn’t that what happened?
LUISA
(smiling bitterly and
shaking her head)
No. I’m not sad at all.
Pan follows her as she walks left, pauses at the railing.
PACE (O.S.)
(speaking to the others)
The sequence begins with a view of
planet Earth...
458 Extreme high angle LS: one of the levels of the structure
through the scaffolding. Pace and the others can barely be
distinguished.
PACE (CONT’D)
...completely destroyed by a
thermonuclear war.
459 MCU: Enrico, first looking down, then left, in Luisa’s

direction.

In this...
ENRICO
Guido seemed very happy to see
you... really.
PACE (O.S.)
...appears a true Noah’s Ark... the
spaceship...
460 LS: Guido walking right, workmen rolling a large cable spool
in left foreground. Pan right follows Guido. Rossella appears
in profile, looking up, MCU: Guido stops in background and
looks up.

...that tries to escape the atomic
plague. The rest of humanity looks
for a safe haven on another planet.
More than 10,000 extras...
(MORE)
143.
maybe 15,000! You understand... a
tragic crowd that abandons...
ROSSELLA
(with irony, looking at
Guido)
Come on! Are we really going to see
all that in your film? Heavens! The
prophet is raising his voice! He’s
decided to frighten everyone to
death.
MCU, track on Rossella as she walks forward. Pan right to

Guido in MS. There is an automobile between them.
GUIDO
(annoyed)
Why not? Do you like stories in
which nothing happens, too?
Pan as Guido walks right, away from camera, in LS;

scaffolding and lights in background.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Well, in my film everything
happens... ok? I’m putting
everything in.
461 MCU: Rossella, a bit abashed.

Even the Sailor doing a tap dance.
Sailor... come here!
SAILOR (O.S.)
Cla, cla, cla, cla...
462 As in 460. The Sailor, an old workman, comes toward Guido,

carrying a container of water.
GUIDO
(with impatience and
anger)
Show what you learned in America!
No, I don’t want any water. Dance
and I’ll give you a part. Dance!
The Sailor sings tonelessly and executes a few steps, in LS.

A truck approaches in the background.
463 As in 461. Rossella smiles with compassion, then looks in

Guido’s direction. MCU, track as she walks toward him.
144.
ROSSELLA
(gently)
What’s bothering you, Guido? What’s
happening to you?
464 MCU: Guido in right foreground, holding onto a pole; Sailor

dancing in left background.
GUIDO
Rossella, stop sounding like my big
sister.
He turns and walks away.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
I don’t like you when you do it.
SAILOR (O.S.)
(in his old, cracked
voice)
Mr. Director... what part do I get?
Guido turns, smiles, sits.
SAILOR (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Mr. Director...
GUIDO
What is Luisa thinking about me?
What does she want to do?
SAILOR (O.S.)
...what part do I get? What part do
I get?
GUIDO
Go away, Sailor.
(With great impatience)
Go away!
465 Sailor turns and exits, left background; in MCU, Rossella

lights a cigarette and looks down in Guido’s direction.
ROSSELLA
(with friendly concern)
You know, Luisa doesn’t talk
much... not even to me, her best
friend. I really don’t know what
she wants to do. She’s confused.
One day she says one thing, the
next, something else.
Unfortunately, I think the only
thing she wants is for you to be
different from what you are.
145.
466 High angle MS: Guido leaning on his elbow, from Rossella’s
POV.
GUIDO
But why?
ROSSELLA (O.S.)
Why? That’s the mistake we all
make.
GUIDO
(looking up in her
direction)
That sweet fellow, is he making a
play for her? Is he in love with
her?
ROSSELLA (O.S.)
(with irony)
That would suit you fine, wouldn’t
it? That would relieve your guilty
conscience.
He looks up at the tower.
ROSSELLA (CONT’D)
What a lout you are! Poor Enrico.
467 As in 465. Rossella steps forward.
ROSSELLA (CONT’D)
He’s so awkward and vulnerable that
everyone has noticed. He hangs
around her... listens... keeps her
company.
468 As in 466. Guido rises to a sitting position and hangs his

head. His face is completely hidden by the brim of his hat.
ROSSELLA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

He’s a very good friend.
GUIDO
I thought I understood things so
clearly. I wanted to make an honest
film, without any lies at all. I
thought I had something so
simple... so simple to say. A film
that might be a little helpful to
everyone... that might help... to
bury forever everything dead that
we carry inside us.
146.
Sighing deeply, he stands in profile, his face still obscured

by deep shadows. Scaffolding and lights are seen behind him.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
And instead, I’m the one who
doesn’t have the courage to bury
anything.
He adjusts his hat and looks up.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Now... my mind is totally
confused... this tower to deal
with...
Pan right as he walks away from camera.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
I wonder why things turned out this
way. Where did I go wrong?
469 As in 467. Rossella takes a puff of her cigarette.

(in a little sing-song)
I have really nothing to say. But I
want to say it anyway.
470 As in 468. Guido in MS, right foreground, turns in Rossella’s

direction; trucks pass in background.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
And your spirits, why don’t they
help me?
471 CU: Rossella.

You always said that they were
loaded down with messages for me.
Well, they should get to work!
ROSSELLA
I already told you, Guido.
She turns away.
ROSSELLA (CONT’D)
Your attitude about them is wrong.
She walks and turns nervously, in MCU.

147.
ROSSELLA (CONT’D)
You’re curious... childishly
curious. And you have too many
reservations... you want too many
guarantees.
GUIDO (O.S.)
All right... but what do they say
to you?
ROSSELLA
(looking in Guido’s
direction)
They always say the same thing,
even right now. They’re very
reasonable spirits. They know you
very well.
Slow track in to CU of Rossella.
GUIDO
Well?
ROSSELLA
They say that you’re free. But you
have to chose, and you haven’t got
much time left.
472 MCU: Guido.
ROSSELLA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

You have to do it quickly.
Guido smiles a bit skeptically.
473 LS tilting up to the towers. We see the party climbing the

staircase.
MAN’S VOICE (O.S.)

Guido! Guido! Are you or aren’t you
coming up?
GUIDO’S HOTEL ROOM, NIGHT
474 MS: Guido in bed, sucking the end of his pinky. The sound of
footsteps. Abruptly he turns out his bed lamp as camera
tracks in to MCU. He pretends to be asleep. The sound of a
door being opened.
475 Sharply lit from behind, in MS, Luisa opens the bathroom
door, pauses, and looks in Guido’s direction. She switches
off the light in the bathroom.
148.
Pan follows as she walks left, puffing on her cigarette,

occasionally looking in Guido’s direction. She passes behind
the etched glass partition, then bumps into a chair.
476 As in 474. Reacting to the noise, Guido stirs.
477 As in 475. Luisa looks at him angrily, then continues moving

left. When she leaves the frame, her reflection, from behind,
appears in a mirror.
478 Low angle MCU profile: Luisa, turning on her bed lamp. She
shields it with a magazine. She picks up the telephone
receiver.
LUISA
(to operator)
Get me room 320.
VOICE OF OPERATOR
He’s still out.
LUISA
Oh... all right. Thank you.
She hangs up. Looking over at Guido, she picks up a glass.

Pan follows as she walks away from camera to table where she
fills glass with mineral water, in LS. She leafs through a
magazine. Then, pan left follows her to a bureau, on top of
which is her handbag.
479 MCU over Luisa’s shoulder as she opens a pillbox. She

hesitates when she notices, next to the handbag, a large
photograph of herself smiling broadly, wearing her hair long.
She picks up the photograph, looks left toward Guido, then
puts the photograph down. She takes a pill and washes it down
with the water.
480 LS: Guido in bed, in the darkness, looking in Luisa’s

direction.
GUIDO
What’s the matter? Do you have a
headache?
LUISA (O.S.)
No. It’s a tranquilizer.
GUIDO
Do you take them often?
481 LS: Luisa, in profile, at the bureau, closing her handbag.
LUISA
Sometimes. To sleep.
149.
She walks forward, sits on the edge of her bed, her back to
camera, in MCU and addresses Guido sarcastically.
LUISA (CONT’D)
What’s worrying you now?
She removes the sweater that covered her nightgown, lies back
in bed, pulls up the sheet, and begins reading a magazine.
482 MCU: Guido, his head on his pillow. The sound of Luisa
rustling her magazine.
483 MCU: Luisa in profile, smoking. As she turns to stub out her
cigarette she looks in Guido’s direction, removes her
glasses, then lies back laughing.
484 As in 482.
GUIDO
(smiling faintly)
What is it?
LUISA (O.S.)
(laughing)
Nothing. But if you could see
yourself!
485 As in 483. She continues to laugh.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Why are you laughing?
LUISA
(with increasing
bitterness and anger)
I don’t think I could ever cheat on
you. If for no other reason than
having to live with the absurdity,
the effort of having to hide, to
lie.
486 As in 484.
LUISA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

But apparently you find it easy.
GUIDO
Listen, Luisa... I’m very happy
that you’re hear. But please... I’m
very tired. I’m sleepy.
He turns on his back.
487 As in 485.
150.
LUISA
(harshly, she turns off
her lamp)
So sleep! Good night.
Through the rest of this scene both Guido and Luisa are
barely visible in the darkness.
488 MS: Guido’s back.
GUIDO
(sighing deeply, then
speaking with increasing
strength and emotion)
I don’t know what you expect to
see, to discover in my life by
reducing everything to the
pettiness of stealing from the
cookie jar. But what do you know
about my life... about what’s
bothering me... about what’s not
bothering me...
489 MS: Luisa’s back.

What do you know about it?
LUISA
I know only what you let me see.
490 As in 488. Guido turns and faces the camera.
GUIDO
And what do I let you see, huh?
Come on... tell me what you see.
What do you expect to accomplish
with your moralistic judgments?
LUISA (O.S.)
I don’t expect to accomplish
anything. I know that we’ve been
stuck in the same place for years.
You’re the one who always wants to
start over. You ask me to come back
every time and you always think we
can begin again.
GUIDO
(angrily rising from his
pillow)
Let this be clear once and for all.
I don’t want to start anything
over, do you hear?
(MORE)
151.
GUIDO (CONT'D)
(Shouting)
But what is it you...
491 As in 489. Luisa turns in Guido’s direction, rising from her

pillow.

...want from me?
LUISA
(shouting, in hatred)
You! Why did you make me come here?
What good am I to you? What can you
get from me? What is it you want
from me?
492 LS: the bedroom, Guido’s bed in foreground. Guido and Luisa
are glaring at each other. Then they turn their backs to each
other (first Luisa, then Guido) with an angry rustling of
their sheets.
FADE OUT TO BLACK.
CAFÉ IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE, DAY
493 Starting at the back of a woman’s head, MCU, pan left LS over
the nearly empty café tables, the bandstand in the
background, the hotel looming behind. Bright sunlight. A
waiter is taking a client’s order, mid-ground. Music:
“Carlotta’s Gallop.” Pan continues right; a series of high-
backed, domes straw chairs, a man reading a newspaper. Track
left/pan right follows horse and carriage that appear in
background and continue right, behind other straw chairs. The
horse sports a white plume; the carriage is hung with white
curtains. It fills the frame when it stops, next to the
square. Carla, wearing the same extravagant costume she wore
in her first scene, emerges and pays the coachman.
494 LS: Guido (unshaven), Luisa, and Rossella seated at a table,

surrounded by many empty tables. Guido is reading a magazine.
They all look up. Guido hides behind his magazine.
495 With her characteristic wiggle, Carla walks forward MS,

smiling, looking right and left, until she stops short and
stops smiling, in MCU. She has seen Guido and Luisa.
496 Luisa in CU, drinking. She stops drinking and stares when she
recognizes Carla.
497 CU: Carla, looking around in confusion.

152.
498 LS: Carla walking away, not knowing where to turn. In mid-
stride, she delays her footfall, as if she were walking in
slow motion. Then she decides to walk forward again, wiggling
as usual. Pan follows as she walks left between the empty
tables and finally sits at one.
499 CU: Luisa smiling ironically, then taking a puff on her

cigarette. Track back shows Guido next to Luisa in MCU.
LUISA
Relax! I saw her last night, as
soon as I arrived.
GUIDO
(looking up from his
magazine, as if he hadn’t
heard or noticed)
Hm?
He then looks in Carla’s direction, slowly shakes his head,

signifying infinite patience
GUIDO (CONT’D)
I swear to you, Luisa...
LUISA
(abruptly interrupting)
I didn’t ask you any question. I
don’t want to know anything. Just
spare me the embarrassment of
having to listen to you swear to a
lie, as usual.
Guido draws a long-suffering sigh.
500 Guido and Luisa in foreground, MCU, their backs to camera;

Rossella, at the other side of their table; Carla at her
table, in profile, LS, sitting bolt upright. Rossella turns
to look at Carla.
ROSSELLA
Was she born in March or April? She
has all the characteristics of an
Aries. She is really the Aries
type.
LUISA
(sarcastically)
I know what type that one is!
Rossella turns to Luisa and laughs; Guido is trying to read

his magazine.
153.
ROSSELLA
Yes? It’s precisely that type of
woman who tends to be a good
companion for weak, spineless,
confused me.
She shakes her finger at Guido.
501 As in 499. Guido looks at his magazine. He then looks up.
GUIDO
(imploringly)
Luisa... I didn’t know. I see her
now for the first time, just as you
do. But really, in a place like
this, where everybody comes, it’s
not so surprising to find that poor
soul, is it?
Luisa looks at Guido, implacably.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Oh, so that’s the reason you’ve
been giving me a hard time since
last night. Why didn’t you say so
right away?
He folds his magazine.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
And anyway, if there’s anything
that I find insulting, it’s the
notion that people could believe I
go around with a woman who wears a
get-up like that! You’ve seen how
she makes herself up, haven’t you?
Guido puts on his sunglasses.
ROSSELLA (O.S.)
Come on. Let’s go for a walk.
GUIDO
Let’s not talk about this any more,
Luisa. It’s been over for three
years... finished... that’s all!
The music changes to the 8½ theme, played sweetly.
LUISA
(bitterly)
He’s driving me crazy. He talks as
if it were the gospel truth, as if
he were sincerity itself.
(MORE)
154.
LUISA (CONT'D)
But look at him! And he thinks he’s
the one who’s right!
As she addresses Guido, her anger increasing, he looks

straight ahead, fidgets with his glasses, sighs, taps his
nose repeatedly.
LUISA (CONT’D)
How can you stand living like this?
It’s not right to lie all the time,
never letting people know what’s
true and what’s false. Is it
possible that for you it’s all the
same... everything?
(Turning to Rossella)
Forgive me. I know... I know.
You’re right. I’m being a bore.
What a sad fate... to play the part
of the middle-class wife, the woman
who doesn’t understand. But what
should I do? You tell me what I
should do. I can’t laugh about it
the way you do.
ROSSELLA (O.S.)
(with compassion)
Nom darling, I’m not laughing about
it.
LUISA
(to Guido)
What do you say to a woman like
that? What do you talk to her
about?
She laughs bitterly.
502 CU: Luisa drinking.
LUISA (CONT’D)
What disgusts me most is that
you’ve included her in our life,
that she knows everything about me
and you. That whore!
(Shouting)
Cow!
503 MS: Guido left, his back to the camera, Luisa in the middle,
Rossella, right, touching Luisa’s hand to calm her.
GUIDO AND ROSSELLA

Luisa!
155.
ROSSELLA
(to Guido)
You’re a real pain, you know!
504 MCU: Guido in profile, then facing forward. He appears to

have had an idea.
GUIDO
(to himself)
At yet...
He slides down in his chair and, nestling his chin on his

hands, smiles with great self-satisfaction. The sound of a
woman’s voice, sweetly singing.
505 LS: Carla at her table, in profile. Track in to MCU as she

gently sways to the music, rising straight in her chair as
she raises her voice, enraptured by her song.
LUISA (O.S.)
How well you sing, Carla!
Carla turns and smiles in Luisa’s direction.
CARLA
(standing)
Oh, no. I’m just an amateur.
LUISA (O.S.)
And how pretty you are!
Luisa enters frame left. In MCU, the two women face each
other, smiling warmly.
LUISA (CONT’D)
I’ve wanted to meet you for so
long.
CARLA
And I, you.
Holding hands, they kiss each other on both cheeks, then,

radiating happiness, look in Guido’s direction. The music
becomes more peppy.
506 LS: Guido leaning back contentedly in his chair, his feet up
on the table. He applauds.
507 As in 505. Carla laughs.
LUISA
How elegantly you dress!
156.
CARLA
You’re the one who’s elegant.
LUISA
(looking down at her
severely tailored shirt)
Oh, no!
The women walk forward, in time to the music, tracked in MCU.
CARLA
You know... frankly... I’m a bit
vulgar.
LUISA
But what are you saying? You’re
very refined!
CARLA
Do you like it? It was a little
something that I saw in Vogue.
LUISA
(switching sides of the
frame with Carla as their
walk becomes yet more
dancelike)
Oh really?
CARLA
If you only knew how long I had to
look before I found it.
LUISA
Ah!
CARLA
But when Carla gets an idea in her
head...
The two women laugh.
508 LS: track follows Carla and Luisa dancing right to left,
between the tables.
THE FARMHOUSE, GUIDO’S HAREM FANTASY
509 CU: a large pot boiling on the hearth. Luisa reaches in to

lift it out. Pan right follows hands, then tilt up to Luisa’s
face in profile, MCU. Her fair is wrapped in a scarf; she
wears the simple black dress of a farm woman.
157.
LUISA
(smiling, overjoyed)
Here he is!
OTHER WOMEN (O.S.)

Here he is! Here he is! It’s Guido!
The music, a medley of the 8½ themes, becomes a fanfare.
Pan follows Luisa as she walks right. We now see the

farmhouse kitchen (the same one in which the wine bath
sequence was played, 226-247), some of the other women, a
harp, a sheet hanging. The women run toward the door in the
background.
510 LS: Guido coming through the door, his arms filled with
gifts. Snow is falling outside.
GUIDO
Good evening, women.
The Nanny in White runs to close the door behind him.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Close the door! It’s cold. There’s
a blizzard.
Guido walks into MCU as the women cluster around him. We can
see the back of the head of the Actress in the right
foreground.
ACTRESS
(hysterically, in French)
Did you have a good trip?
GUIDO
(to all the women)
How are you? Are you all well?
Please... every package has a name
on it. Don’t get them mixed up.
ACTRESS
(speaking at the same time
as Guido)
Oh, like gifts for the children!
Oh, he’s so adorable, so sweet.
GUIDO
(handing a package to the
right)
This one’s for Caterina.
158.
511 Luisa in the foreground, in MCU, turns directly to the

camera, beaming. Behind her, the long table, another woman,
and in soft focus LS, Guido.
LUISA
He’s marvelous!
She makes a “cute” face, lifting her shoulders in delight.
512 Pan follows Guido walking left, in MS. He hands a package to

Luisa’s Sister, whose forehead is smudged with coal.
GUIDO
And this one for my dear little
sister-in-law...
LUISA’S SISTER
(kissing Guido, taking his
arm and walking left)
Thank you.
GUIDO
...who’s finally learned to like me
because she’s understood that
things have to be like this.
A white veil is waved between Guido and the camera. It

reappears several times during the shot.
LUISA’S SISTER
We’ll draw your bath right away.
Pan follows the package in Guido’s hand as he offers it,

left. It appears behind the harp.
GUIDO
Gloria. Here’s what you asked for.
Pan left to Gloria playing the harp.
GLORIA
Oh, thank you. I must speak to you,
Guido.
As pan continues left, we see Carla walking down the stairs,

eating grapes, wearing a white feather boa over an
extravagant white dressing gown decorated in ostrich
feathers.
CARLA
(pointing at Gloria)
I know what that one wants to tell
you.
159.
She walks into MCU, smiling warmly.
CARLA (CONT’D)
But now we have to send her away
because she’ll be jealous.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(to Carla)
What do you do upstairs?
CARLA
I went to be with those poor girls.
As pan continues left, Carla leaves the frame. We see other

women, including Saraghina, and several buckets. Luisa is
carrying a heavy pot.

They would be alone all the time if
it weren’t for me.
The pan stop on the Actress, in MCU.
ACTRESS
(contemptuously, in
French)
The role is not suited to her.
She’s only a common middle-class
woman. She has no class.
Track forward follows her briefly. Luisa enters frame from

right in LS. Pan follows her left.
LUISA
Leave him alone. That’s enough now!
She puts the pot on the table.
LUISA (CONT’D)
He has to take his bath.
Pan left to the Beautiful Unknown Woman holding a tiara in

her hands, in MCU.

Oh, Guido, it’s beautiful. I’ve
always wanted one like it.
Pan follows Luisa right, MS-LS.
LUISA
(clapping her hands)
Gloria! Carla! Hedy! Get the
buckets.
160.
At right, the Black Dancer is draping herself in a sheet.
513 A flurry of veils in the foreground. From Gloria, pan right

follows Hedy who is wearing a coolie hat with a black veil,
walking past Guido and Luisa’s Sister. The latter is folding
his cloak, passes it to Hedy, and then helps Guido off with
his jacket, in MS.
CARLA
(first off, then in
foreground MCU, her back
to the camera, as pan
follows Guido right)
Guido! My husband wrote that he’d
like me home for New Year’s, just
for one day. But if you don’t want
me to go, I’ll tell him I can’t.
GUIDO
(magnanimously)
Yes. I think that will be all
right.
He looks at Carla.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Come on, Carlotta.
He holds up his hands. Carla moves right, in profile, and

blows on Guido’s hands as he rubs them together. He looks
left.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Who’s that little black girl?
LUISA’S SISTER
A surprise we’ve prepared for you.
She’s from Hawaii.
514 LS: Luisa helping the Black Dancer adjust her sheet, the
Nanny in White walking left with an empty bucket that she
exchanges with Saraghina for a full one.
LUISA
Don’t you remember her?
The Black Dancer curtsies grandly.
LUISA (CONT’D)
You always talked about her.
The Black Dancer moves left and begins her dance. Some of the
other women clap to the beat of the music, “Saraghina’s
Rumba.”
161.
515 As in 513.
GUIDO
Thank you, Luisa. You’re so kind.
Guido turns his back to camera as Luisa’s Sister helps him

off with his suspenders; Carla moves in CU, smiling and
clapping her hands.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
What a sweet thought!
516 As in 514. The Black Dancer continues her dance; some women
are carrying buckets, other are clapping their hands.
517 Pan follows Luisa walking forward, MS to MCU, pointing.
LUISA
That tiara is for me!
The Beautiful Unknown Woman appears in CU, right.

(in her soft, cultivated
voice)
Yes, I know. I’ll return it to you
right away.
Pan/track follows as she walks right, holding a sheet for

Guido.

Oh, darling!
GUIDO
(first off, then in frame
as she wraps the sheet
around him)
What a thrill to find you here!

How are you?
GUIDO
Fine.
Pan/track follows them, MCU, as they move left.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
But please satisfy my curiosity,
beautiful lady. Who are you?
162.

My name doesn’t matter. I’m happy
to be here. Don’t ask me any
questions.
Black Dancer enters right.
BLACK DANCER
May I stay?
518 CU: the Black Dancer, Guido’s hand on her chin.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Of course, my dear.
She makes as if to bite him, snarls, and smiles.
519 MS: the Beautiful Unknown Woman, Guido, and Black Dancer.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
I’m busy now.
Pan follows as he climbs the ladder to the vat in which he

will take his bath.
BLACK DANCER (O.S.)

(seductively)
But later...
Laughter from above. Tilt up to balcony, Rossella sitting on

railing, LS.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Are you here too, Rossella? What
are you doing here?
ROSSELLA
I’m Pinocchio’s talking cricket! Do
I bother you?
GUIDO (O.S.)
No. But what are you laughing at?
ROSSELLA
At nothing. I just want to see how
you’re managing. You finally got
your harem, eh? King Solomon!
GUIDO (O.S.)
Wasn’t it about time?
ROSSELLA
Sure, it was time.
163.
520 LS: the women in two lines, passing buckets of hot water from
foreground to the large vat in the background. Carla and
Luisa, laughing happily, are nearest the camera. Guido,
wrapped in a sheet, still wearing his black hat, is standing
on a platform, his back to the camera, about to enter the
bath. The Nanny in Black and the Nanny in White are on either
side of him.
GUIDO
Put me in!
521 MCU: in profile, Rossella leans over the balcony railing,

looking down in Guido’s direction.
ROSSELLA
Tell me, Guido, aren’t you a little
afraid?
GUIDO (O.S.)
Afraid of what? Everything’s going
fine.
ROSSELLA
Can’t I stay too? I’m having such a
good time. I don’t want anything.
I’ll just look at you.
GUIDO (O.S.)
There’s a rule that has to be
obeyed. Have you heard it?
Pan right as Rossella turns to Hedy, who is now completely

dressed in ostrich feathers.
HEDY
(to Rossella)
Come. Help me.
Tilt down as the two women lift a trapdoor. Track forward

shows Guido through trap, still wearing his black hat, up to
his neck in soap suds in the vat. His arms are crossed over
his chest and he flaps his hands like wings.
HEDY (CONT’D)
(off, except for her bare
feet on the edge of the
opening)
Guido... a suit and busby of
ostrich feathers. Will this be all
right?
164.
GUIDO
(looking up, smiling and
spreading his arms)
Oh, hi, Hedy. It’s beautiful.
He returns to his hand-flapping bath position as the trap

door is closed.
ROSSELLA
What is this rule?
Camera tilts up to Hedy in MCU. Track follows as she walks

right.
HEDY
I don’t know anything about it. He
promised me a part in his film. He
told me that I would have a lot of
costume changes.
As she begins to descend staircase, pan past the bust of a

woman, in a a niche in the wall.
522 MCU: Guido swaying back and forth contentedly in the vat.
Rapid track back as the two Nannies bring more buckets of
water and pour it into the vat.
GUIDO
That’s enough, girls. Lift me out.
523 MCU: track back as the Nanny in White walks forward with a
sheet to dry Guido. She smiles and crinkles up her nose as if
she were looking at a “cute” baby. Then she looks right.
NANNY IN WHITE
Gloria... the talcum powder!
As she leaves the frame, Gloria enters it, posing

extravagantly with her hands on her head in MCU. The harp is
behind her.
GLORIA
Ah, but yes, but yes, but yes.
Track follows her briefly as she turns and dances away.
524 MS: Guido and the Nannies. He removes his hat and they dry
his head.
NANNY IN WHITE
Guido, do you know that she
prepared something just the way you
like it?
165.
GUIDO
Oh really?
OLDER NANNY
A cake.
They dry his face with a towel and drape it around his neck.
GUIDO
Are you happy, girls?
NANNIES
Of course.
GUIDO
Isn’t this just what you always
wanted?
NANNIES
Certainly! Isn’t he the best kid in
the world?
Tilt down as Guido sits on the floor and is wrapped in a

sheet.
NANNY (O.S.)
(impatiently)
Nadine, quick... bring the powder.
GUIDO
Oh, Nadine. What was it you said in
Copenhagen?
Brief track forward.
525 Low angle MCU: track back as Nadine, the airline hostess,
walks forward, waving a powder dispense in the shape of a
poodle’s head, covered in ostrich feathers. She is wearing
dark glasses and a white scarf over her hat.
NADINE
(in the typically soothing
microphone monotone of
the airline hostess)
We are delighted to invite the
passengers on this flight to spend
the night in Copenhagen...
526 MCU: Guido, beneath a shower of talcum powder.

166.
NADINE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...because of a small problem with
the motor.
GUIDO
Listen to that voice, girls!
Listen!
527 As in 525. Nadine shakes more of the powder in Guido’s

direction.
NADINE
The Company will pay all expenses.
We wish everyone...
528 As in 526.
NADINE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...a wonderful night.
The sound of the women laughing.
529 CU: Luisa holding a lamp (the same one used by the
Grandmother in the previous Farmhouse sequence, 240). As she
turns, pan right, to LS, Carla and other women wrapping Guido
in a sheet. The Black Dancer carries forward a large basket
of fruit.
CARLA
Madeleine! Come help us!
Pan continues right to the Actress who claps for Saraghina

before continuing toward Carla.
ACTRESS
Saraghina!
SARAGHINA
Here I am. I’ll carry Guido.
The Black Dancer dances forward into MCU, juggling pieces of

fruit.
ACTRESS
(in French)
Oh, the poor man. The water was too
hot. He’s turned all red!
In LS, the women surround Guido, who is hidden in the sheet.
530 Low angle MCU: Carla and Saraghina looking down admiringly at
Guido, from Guido’s POV.
167.
CARLA
What nice thin legs he has!
SARAGHINA
Straight as when he was a boy!
CARLA
He likes to act like a child, but
he’s really very complicated. I
know all about it.
Track back and tilt down to Guido, being carried in the sheet
by the women. Arms folded across his chest, he is supremely
contented. Tilt up to Actress on right, MCU.
ACTRESS
(with an angry expression)
Don’t be fooled. I’m on to him.
He’s a hypocrite.
531 LS: tack on the women carrying Guido in sheet, pan following
left to right. In the foreground, the long table, the
Beautiful Unknown Woman stands with her back to the camera;
in the background, the staircase, Rossella leaning on it.
NANNY IN BLACK
He’s not a hypocrite at all. Why
should he tell everything to
strangers? Ho knows how to defend
us, doesn’t he?
Guido is carries between the long table in the foreground and

the staircase in the background.
JACQUELINE (O.S.)
(screaming)
Help, Guido, help!
GUIDO
(being set down)
Who’s screaming like that?
Guido and the women go out of focus; Gloria appears in CU,

right.
GLORIA
It’s Jacqueline. She refuses to go
upstairs with the old women, so we
put her in the cellar.
532 Pan right to extreme high angle shot down cellar stairs. A
flurry of feathers. Jacqueline, in her befeathered vaudeville
headpiece, is coming up.
168.
JACQUELINE
(still shouting, nearly
crying)
It’s a scandal! I don’t want to
talk to those hags. They’re older
than I am.
Track back and right as Jacqueline appears in MCU, then goes

left.
JACQUELINE (CONT’D)
I’m twenty-six years old. Go To the
registry in Paris!
Pan follows as she now goes right. We see the details of her
abbreviated costume; ostrich feathers at her back, a
brassiere of feathers, enormous fake pearls in her hair and
hanging in necklaces around her neck and arms. Her bangles
jingle whenever she walks, unsteady on her high heels. the
music has been lugubrious. As she circles the opening to the
cellar stairs, she again comes in CU.
Jacqueline bonbon, twenty-six years
old, July 4, 1938.
In LS, she goes toward Guido, still on the floor in his

sheet. Carla is kneeling in front of him, the others standing
behind, embarrassed. Saraghina hides behind her apron.
You don’t have the right to send me
upstairs. It’s not time yet.
Jacqueline walks to the right and executes a pathetic dance

step.
Look how agile I am! Look at my
legs!
She walks in front of Guido and wiggles her backside.
Ha, ha. Which of you has a behind
as firm as mine?
She thrusts forward her breasts.
Look at this bosom!
She kneels next to Guido.

169.
Oh, Guido, Guido, don’t send me...
533 MCU: Guido, implacable, inspecting his fingernails, then

putting on his hat.
JACQUELINE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...upstairs. I don’t want to go
upstairs.
GUIDO
It’s the rule. It’s the rule. It’s
the rule.
JACQUELINE (O.S.)
But Guido...
534 MCU: Jacqueline and Rossella. Rossella puts her hand to

Jacqueline’s chin to comfort her.
ROSSELLA
Calm down, Jacqueline. Apparently,
it’s really nice to be upstairs,
too.
JACQUELINE
It’s not true!
535 CU: Guido holds up Jacqueline’s earring without looking at

her.
GUIDO
Your earring, Jacqueline.
Her ostrich feathers and her hand appear in the frame.
JACQUELINE (O.S.)
(tearfully)
Thank you.
536 CU: Jacqueline. Pan left as she goes to Carla who appears in
profile, CU.
You’ve always liked me a lot. You
tell him... you tell him to give me
an extension. Tell him to.
CARLA
direction)
Guido, couldn’t you give Jacqueline
an extension?
170.
537 MCU: Guido, inspecting his fingernails.
GUIDO
What are you doing? Are you going
to be a pain in the ass, too?
538 Pan CU: Jacqueline leaning toward Guido.
JACQUELINE
Please, only for a year, only one
year, please, Guido!
539 CU: Guido.
GUIDO
(harshly)
No extension.
540 As in 538.
JACQUELINE
(defiantly, straightening
up)
I won’t go upstairs.
GUIDO (O.S.)
What did you say?
JACQUELINE
GUIDO (O.S.)
Say it again, if you dare.
JACQUELINE
(shouting)
541 CU: Nanny in Black sobbing in foreground, Nanny in White in

background, out of focus.
NANNY IN WHITE
Loot at her! She’s crazy. We
shouldn’t have taken her in with
us, Guido. I always said it...
Sharp pan right to another nanny and the Actress in MCU.
NANNY
Hey, girl, why don’t you study the
rule?!
Sharp pan left back to Nanny in White and Nanny in Black.

171.
NANNY IN WHITE
(reciting the rule)
“whoever passes the age limit must
go to the upper floor, where she
will be well treated, just as
before...”
Sharp pan left back to other nanny and Actress.
NANNY
“...but will live basking in her
memories.”
ACTRESS
(in French)
It’s disgusting, absurd, absolutely
unacceptable.
Pan right to Nadine, in MCU.
NADINE
We shouldn’t have accepted it from
the beginning.
Saraghina is sobbing loudly into her apron in the background.

Pan follows her as she runs right into MCU, next to Gloria,
who is smiling cruelly. When Saraghina removes the apron from
her mouth her expression becomes fierce.
SARAGHINA
(shouting)
It’s not fair!
542 CU: Guido inspecting his fingernails. Music: “The Ride of the
Valkyries” from Wagner’s Die Walküre.
ACTRESS (O.S.)
It’s a rule invented by a man...
543 Pan MCU: Actress walking left.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
...who himself doesn’t have all the
right credentials.
As she turns accusingly in Guido’s direction, Hedy appears in

yet another costume, walks around her, speaking at the same
time as the Actress.
HEDY
We’re not lemons.
172.
ACTRESS
A real man loves women and pays no
attention to their age. In France,
a man like you would be...
544 CU: Guido, a cruel smile on his face, still inspecting his
fingernails.

...a national scandal.
HEDY (O.S.)
...to throw away...
545 As in 543.
HEDY (CONT’D)
...after we’ve been squeezed.
As the Actress walks away in a huff, pan left to the

Beautiful Unknown Woman and Jacqueline in MCU, Gloria behind
them, turned away from camera.

Ah, Guido, Guido, they are
certainly right!
JACQUELINE
He’s a monster!
Gloria turns forward; pan right follows as she moves into

MCU.
GLORIA
(in English)
We’re all monsters. We are all
women created out of his
imagination.
BLACK DANCER
(shouting as she runs
left, mid-ground)
The time has come to even the
score! Hurray for Jacqueline, who
showed us the way...
546 MCU: the Black Dancer grabs hold of a hanging sheet and
prepares to swing on it.
BLACK DANCER (CONT’D)

...to freedom! Down with the
tyrant!
173.
547 As in 545. Guido looks up sternly.
BLACK DANCER (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Down with Bluebeard!
548 Low angle MS: Jacqueline, from Guido’s POV.
JACQUELINE
We have the right to be loved until
we’re seventy years old!
Pan right on the Black Dancer swinging on the sheet in the

background, LS. From this point until shot 566, the women are
alternately in darkness and bright light, a fluctuating,
erratic lighting pattern created by a swinging overhead lamp.
The Actress jumps up in CU.
ACTRESS
(in French)
Down with him!
549 MS: Guido. He tries to rise, concerned at the revolt of the

women.
JACQUELINE (O.S.)
And what...
550 As in 548. Pan right from Gloria to Guido on the floor, Carla
rising and pulling away from him.

...makes him think he’s still a
young man?
The bottom of Carla’s dressing gown fill the foreground;

Guido cowers against the wall in the background.

Let’s all say it, once and for all.
He doesn’t know how to make love.
Caresses and talk... that’s all!
ACTRESS (O.S.)
(in Italian)
He goes to sleep right away.
Carla’s skirt and another woman’s legs in foreground frame

Guido, now standing, his back to the wall, wrapped in his
sheet, brandishing a whip.
GUIDO
I’m not sleeping. I’m thinking.
174.
The frame is filled with the legs of the women, running right
and left. Track toward Guido, cracking his whip.
CARLA (O.S.)
Guido!
551 Guido and Saraghina circle each other, Guido’s back coming
into CU, Saraghina in MS, facing him menacingly, snarling
like a wild animal.

Don’t send us upstairs when we get
old!
As Guido snaps his whip at the women throughout these shots,

he gives orders as if he were an animal trainer.
552 MCU: Rossella turning right. The Nanny in White runs left,
then up the stairs after the Nanny in Black.
NANNY IN WHITE
Hurry! They’re revolting upstairs
too!
Tilt up to swinging lamp. The doorway on the landing in the

background goes out of focus as Guido’s hand, holding the
whip, appears in CU.
553 MCU: Guido aiming his whip.
554 MCU: Gloria, in foreground, receiving the lash with pleasure;

Guido swinging the whip in background, LS. Pan follows Gloria
right.
GLORIA
Oh, delicious!
(in English)
Incredible!
As Gloria exits right, Actress appears in CU, profile; Hedy

in background.
ACTRESS
(in French)
Bastard! Liar!
555 MS: Guido swinging his whip.

I came from Paris...
556 As in 554. The whip strikes away the snail antennae of the
Actress’s hairdo. She puts her hands to her head, backing
away.
175.
ACTRESS (CONT’D)
(in Italian)
What is my part? Ah! My part! Ah!
She backs into the hanging sheet and covers herself with it.
557 MCU: Guido. Pan follows him left as he turns and snaps his
whip again.

(her voice muffled by the
sheet)
Where’s my role in the film?
GUIDO
No!
558 MCU: Jacqueline, bending forward in foreground.
JACQUELINE
(weeping)
Guido, who’ll dance the conga for
you? You liked it so much!
559 As in 557, Guido whipping, barking orders.
560 As in 558. Pan follows Jacqueline as she turns and moves

right, trying to escape the whip by hiding behind Luisa.
(screaming)
Ah, Luisa! Help me!
LUISA
(calmly)
No, no, no, my dear. This concerns
my husband.
Pan left as she moves to the table, her back to camera.
LUISA (CONT’D)
If he’s decided it’s to be this
way, it’s to be this way. It’s the
rule.
She turns in Guido’s direction.
LUISA (CONT’D)
Guido, hurry up, the soup’s getting
cold.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Can’t you see I’m busy?
176.
Luisa moves left to Rossella, in MCU. Saraghina is darting

back and forth excitedly in background, LS.
LUISA
(smiling)
What an extraordinary man!
Rossella nods in agreement, then turns to Luisa.
ROSSELLA
Excuse me, but...
LUISA
He needs to act like this. He does
it almost every night.
561 CU: Hedy, wearing another extravagant headdress, yelping in

delight as Guido whips her; Guido in background, brandishing
his whip. As he walks forward into CU, the staircase and
upper landing momentarily come into view.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Do you remember me, Guido? Don’t
you remember any more?
Pan follows Guido right; the Beautiful Unknown Woman appears

in MCU and takes his hand.

Darling, but you’re wounded!
She brings his hand to her face.

I want to get you a salve.
GUIDO
I don’t want a salve.

An unguent!
Pan follows as she moves left.
GUIDO (O.S.)
I don’t want an unguent!

Some drops!
NANNY IN WHITE (O.S.)

It’s not true!
562 MCU: Nanny in White.

177.

It’s not true at all that he throws
you away like squeezed lemons.
Pan right, MS, follows Luisa and Rossella walking around

table.
NANNY IN WHITE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Quite the contrary! He’d like to
keep you all with him always. The
truth is that he’s too good, too
patient.
As Luisa and Rossella continue to stroll amiably behind the

table, we hear the crack of the whip and the screams of the
other women. Feathers are flying; Saraghina and Jacqueline
run left, behind Luisa and Rossella.
563 LS: Guido’s gigantic shadow on the wall.
564 MS: Carla walking forward, smiling as if to placate the

rambunctious child.
CARLA
No, Guido, no.
She realizes that the whip is now aimed at her, turns, tuns
to the corner of the room and crouches, shouting, “No, no,”
but laughing at the same time. Zoom into CU of Carla,
laughing heartily, her hand to her face.
565 Guido is heard making an animal trainer’s sound. In CU,

Hedy’s backside. As she moves away from the camera we see
that she is wearing a transparent body stocking festooned
with beads, and a coolie hat. Saraghina runs across the
frame; the Black Dancer runs forward and pan follows her
backside as she runs right, crouches on a table, turns,
snarls, and assumes a tigerish stance. She catches a pearl
necklace that has been thrown to her. The music of “The Ride
of the Valkyries” comes to an end; the camera pans left past
Saraghina, smiling and applauding (the sound of the other
women applauding), to Guido, walking toward the Actress, who
is still wrapped in a hanging sheet. He cracks his whip.
Luisa’s Sister and Gloria, in foreground, look at him.
GLORIA (O.S.)
(viciously, to Jacqueline)
He doesn’t like you. You’re old!
ACTRESS (O.S.)
(still muffled by the
sheet)
Please, Guido, give her the
extension.
178.
As pan continues left we see other women in LS, in other

parts of room. Then Nadine appears in MS, her microphone in
her hand.
NADINE
Dear Jacqueline, we’re so happy to
have had the opportunity of living
with you, and we wish you good luck
on the upper floors.
Nadine turns away from camera. In LS, Guido releases the

Actress from the sheet. She exits right. Implacable, his arms
crossed on his chest, Guido faces right, looking at
Jacqueline who is crawling on the floor in front of him.
Jacqueline stands.
NADINE (CONT’D)
In Guido’s name, we assure you that
you were the first vaudeville star
in his life.
Music: the Cemetery Theme. Pan left and slight track in to

MCU as Nadine again faces camera.
NADINE (CONT’D)
You have the right to sing your
last song, to dance your last
dance, with a special spotlight.
FADE OUT TO BLACK.
566 CU: Jacqueline, smiling contentedly, in the glare of a

spotlight.
JACQUELINE
Thanks, girls. You’re so sweet and
nice to me.
She turns around, waving her arms in joy.
So, do you want me to sing you a
love song? No. A sexy song would be
better. It was my specialty.
Looking off, in Guido’s direction, her tone is now desperate.
Do you remember, Guido? Do you
remember? At the Apollo Theater in
Bologna.
(Insisting)
Do you remember?
179.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(harshly)
Yes, I remember.
JACQUELINE
(laughing again)
No. A happy song would be better!
Musical fanfare. The song: Padilla’s “Ça c’est Paris.”

Dancing and singing, she backs up into LS, followed by the
spotlight and pan through remainder of shot. She dances left.
(singing, in French)
“Paris, queen...”
She stops abruptly as one of her necklaces flies off.
Oh, I’ve dropped all my pearls.
She bends over awkwardly to pick up the beads, her backside

to the camera, her legs spread widely apart, then repeats the
gesture, going from left to right, as the music continues.
Turning, she tries to take up her dance, then her song.
“Her nose...”
When she reaches the right side of the room, yet another
necklace falls and she again stops.
GUIDO
Again!
She bends to retrieve the beads, then comes forward slowly,

dejectedly.
JACQUELINE
You’re not even listening to me.
567 Track left past the table, some women in shadow, some in
silhouette, MS to LS. They are crying.
568 CU: Jacqueline.
(whispering)
Guido! Guido!
569 LS in silhouette: Guido, in a dressing gown, his back to

camera, looking in a mirror held by Luisa and one of the
nannies.
180.
570 As in 568. Jacqueline pauses, sadly, then turns and runs off.
Goodbye, Guido.
571 As in 569. Guido turns and walks forward into MS, fanning
himself with a towel. Luisa and the nanny walk to the right.
572 Low angle LS: Jacqueline going up the stairs in time to the
music, still in the spotlight. Her song is played with
renewed energy, as if in a finale. She hesitates, bending
over, her hand on her hip. Two women come down the stairs and
help her up the rest of the way. Pulling one arm away, she
turns, waving.
Goodbye!
The spotlight goes out. At the top of the stairs, in

silhouette, Jacqueline turns and waves again.
Goodbye, Guido!
The gate at the top of the stairs is closed.
573 High angle MCU: Guido, with a serious expression. He wipes

his lips with the towel and turns. Track left/pan right shows
Luisa and Rossella over his shoulder.
GUIDO
(gently)
I thought it would be so amusing.
Track/pan continues, showing the length of the table; at the

other end, some women are seated, some standing. Subdued,
abashed, they look at Guido. They maintain their serious
expressions through the rest of the sequence. Guido stands at
the head of the table, his back to the camera. Luisa crosses
behind him and sits at his right.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
I thought it might be the funniest
part of my story. I even prepared a
little speech to deliver from the
head of the table. I would have
said this: “my dears, happiness is
being able to speak the truth
without ever making anyone else
suffer.”
He sits camera is lowered to the level of his back.

181.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Carla would have played the harp,
as she does each evening.
The harp and Carla’s arms playing it appear in the

foreground. Pan left to Carla with an expression of
exaggerated sadness.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
We would have been happy, hidden
here, far from the world.
Sudden blackout on Guido and the other women as camera moves

slightly right, Carla in MCU.

All of you and me. What is it
that’s wrong?
Carla wipe a tear from her cheek.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Why...
574 The left side of the table: from foreground to background,

Rossella, the Beautiful Unknown Woman, the Black Dancer,
Luisa’s Sister.

...this sadness?

(reprovingly, to the other
women)
Don’t you see what you’ve done now?
We’ve made him feel guilty.
Track left/pan right shows the other side of the table:

Gloria, Nadine, Hedy (in yet another costume), the Actress,
finally Luisa, in MCU. She smiles nervously and wipes her
brow.
LUISA
That’s not it at all, Guido. It’s
been a wonderful evening. You
mustn’t be sad, you know. Do you
need anything?
She rises.
LUISA (CONT’D)
Now they’re all going to bed.
182.
She walks away. After briefly tracking right, the camera pans
following her through remainder of shot in LS.
LUISA (CONT’D)
And I have lots to do.
Silhouetted in the shadows, in the background, she takes down

a load of laundry from the ladder that leads to the vat.
LUISA (CONT’D)
There’s still the laundry. And all
the dishes to wash!
She walks left across the room, then throws the laundry into
a large tub.
LUISA (CONT’D)
Then I have to mend the sheets...
She turns and goes right again where she picks up a bucket.
LUISA (CONT’D)
...clean the floor...
She carries the heavy bucket further away, into a lighted

portion of the room.
LUISA (CONT’D)
...and prepare tomorrow’s
breakfast.
When she reaches the far end of the room she puts down the
bucket, turns forward and sighs.
LUISA (CONT’D)
We’re happy, all of us living
together like this, aren’t we,
Guido?
She picks up another bucket and comes forward.
LUISA (CONT’D)
At first, I didn’t understand.
She dips the bucket into a vat and pulls it out, filled with
water.
LUISA (CONT’D)
I didn’t really understand that
this is the way things should be.
She comes forward with the heavy bucket.

183.
LUISA (CONT’D)
But now...
In mid-ground, in shadow, she puts down the bucket and moves

to the right.
LUISA (CONT’D)
...you see, Guido, how good I’ve
become.
She goes right for soap and a rag.
LUISA (CONT’D)
I don’t pester you any more. I
don’t ask you for anything.
She returns left to bucket, gets down on her hands and knees
and starts scrubbing the floor. A spotlight illuminates her.
LUISA (CONT’D)
I was a bit dense, wasn’t I? It
took me twenty years to understand.
Twenty years... from the day we got
married.
She stops scrubbing and looks forward.
LUISA (CONT’D)
And you became my husband, and I
your wife.
She resumes scrubbing.
LUISA (CONT’D)
Do you remember, Guido? Do you
remember that day?
SLOW DISSOLVE TO NEXT SHOT.
AUDITORIUM OF MOVIE THEATER, NIGHT
575 CU: Guido leaning forward, three-quarter profile.
GUIDO
(whispering to himself)
If you could only be patient for a
little while longer, Luisa! But
maybe you’ve reached the end of you
rope.
Guido turns as soon as he hears Daumier’s voice.

184.
DAUMIER (O.S.)
Frankly, I would have liked to have
been able to help you with some
advice.
576 LS: the upper section of the movie theater. Guido looks at
Daumier who is seated one row behind him, a few seats away.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
This evening, I think I have
finally understood that you are
trying to solve a problem...
577 As in 575.

...that has no solution, as far as
I can see.
Guido looks forward, a wry smile on his face; he nods his

head in agreement with Daumier.

You’re trying to give individual,
clearly defined shape to a mass of
characters who, in the script, are
so rough, vague...
578 In another part of the auditorium, MS of Luisa looking

straight ahead, smoking, nervously drumming her fingers on
the seat in front of her; Rossella, smiling back in Guido’s
direction; Luisa’s Sister sitting next to her; Luisa’s Friend
in front, turning to Rossella; Enrico in the row behind them,
a few seats away.

...ephemeral...
LUISA’S FRIEND
(bored)
What are we going to se?
ROSSELLA
(turning to answer)
I don’t know. Screen tests.
LUISA’S FRIEND
(taking Luisa’s hand)
You’re not feeling well, are you?
LUISA
No, I’m fine.
185.
Luisa’s Sister whispers something to Rossella who bursts out

laughing.
579 MS: Enrico, looking in Luisa’s direction, then smiling.
ROSSELLA (O.S.)
Listen, Luisa...
580 Through the exit, LS of auditorium: Agostini is pacing in

foreground; the women and Enrico are in the lower section of
seats; a couple is seating themselves a few rows back;
Daumier and Guido are in the background.
CESARINO (O.S.)
Agostini, get up on the ramp and
dance and I’ll play the piano.
The sound of a few notes played on the piano.
581 MS: Daumier, reading his newspaper.
DAUMIER
Listen to this! “The solitary ego
that turns in circles around
itself, that feeds on itself,
finally chokes on a great cry or a
great laugh.” This was written by
Stendhal, during his stay...
582 MCU: Guido.

...in Italy. If people would read
the sayings on candy wrappers, from
time to time, instead of throwing
them away, they would spare
themselves a great many illusions.
583 The 8½ theme is played on piano. In MS: Daumier looks up from

his newspaper as Agostini enters from left foreground.
Daumier removes his glasses from his forehead when Cesarino
appears right, next to him, then puts a black hood over his
head. Pan left follows Cesarino, then Agostini, pushing
Daumier to central aisle, then up a few steps. Cesarino pulls
over a noose from frame left and places it around Daumier’s
neck.
584 CU: Cesarino adjusting noose, the back of Daumier’s hooded

head in the center, Agostini right. Cesarino and Agostini
leave the frame; the noose is pulled taut.
585 LS: Daumier, back to the camera, hanging over the auditorium.
586 As in 582.
186.
ROSSELLA (O.S.)
There he is.
587 MCU: Rossella turned right, looking up in Guido’s direction;

in profile, Luisa in foreground, looking left, in the
opposite direction; over Rossella’s shoulder, Luisa’s Sister,
also looking left.
ROSSELLA (CONT’D)
He’s seated himself by the exit,
ready to run off, as usual.
588 LS: Guido and Daumier seated in their initial positions.

Guido nods in agreement with Rossella.
589 LS: Pace, Conocchia, and the Accountant entering the

auditorium. Pan follows as they walk right, in front of
stage.
PACE
Good evening, everybody. Pardon me
for being late.
Pace looks up at Agostini on the ramp, and holds out his arms
questioningly.
PACE (CONT’D)
Well, what are you up to?
Agostini hops down; Cesarino rises from the pit and climbs
over the ramp.
PACE (CONT’D)
Guido, where are you?
GUIDO (O.S.)
I’m up here.
PACE
Come sit over here!
GUIDO (O.S.)
I’d rather stay up here.
PACE
(doffing his hat in the
direction of Luisa)
Good evening.
Pace, Conocchia, and the Accountant sit and face the screen.
187.
PACE (CONT’D)
Good, you can help us too!
(To Cesarino, who runs
toward the camera, up the
aisle)
Come on! Let’s get started!
CESARINO
Yes, right away, Boss. They skipped
the vaudeville tonight to do us a
favor.
Cesarino comes into MCU, puts his fingers into his mouth,
whistles loudly and waves in the direction of the projection
booth.
CESARINO (CONT’D)
Get going!
590 MS: left to right, Accountant and Conocchia facing away from
camera, Pace turned around in his place, looking in Guido’s
direction, Pace’s Girlfriend eating an ice cream cone.
PACE
(hading a list of the
screen tests to
Conocchia)
Young man, you’ve got to decide.
CONOCCHIA
(turning toward Guido)
I brought all the screen tests,
even the ones...
The Accountant looks toward Guido also.
PACE
(interrupting)
Look, Conocchia, there’s no more
time for fooling around. Doubts,
reconsiderations, whims... He’s had
all the time he wanted. But
tonight, he’s got to choose.
591 MCU: Guido.
GUIDO
That’s what we’re here for.
592 As in 590. Pace stands, paces, and gesticulates, his back to

camera.
188.
PACE
Exactly! Conocchia had everything
sent from Rome... the old screen
tests... the new screen tests...
593 MCU: Conocchia biting a fingernail and fanning himself with

the list of the screen tests, Pace’s Girlfriend seated
several seats away.

...even the ones shot five months
ago. Now we’re going to look at
them again, each and every one of
them.
594 MCU: Pace.
PACE (CONT’D)
(to Guido)
I want you to say: “This one is the
girlfriend, this one the wife, this
one’s the Cardinal, this one
Saraghina.”
(Raising his voice)
Is that clear?
595 As in 588. Guido waves his hands over his head, as if bending
to Pace’s will.

(angrily)
I don’t want to be the
laughingstock...
596 MS: Agostini, seated, smoking a cigar.

...of Italian cinema. And above
all, I don’t want you...
597 LS of the front of the auditorium from behind Guido, his

shoulder in right foreground MCU, his foot shaking nervously
on the back of the seat in front of him; in the distance,
Pace is striding in the center aisle. The screen looms above
him.
PACE (CONT’D)
...to be! Everyone’s waiting to
shoot you down. You haven’t got
many friends left, either on the
Left or the Right.
(Raising his voice again)
But I’m here to help you in any way
possible.
189.
The lights in the auditorium are extinguished.
598 MCU: Pace, silhouetted against screen.
PACE (CONT’D)
But production has to begin and it
has to begin right away.
He walks right, shouting up to the projection booth.
PACE (CONT’D)
Start the screen tests!
599 LS: the screen; the light shining on it is extinguished, then

replaced by the rectangle of light coming from the projector,
accompanied by the noise of the projector. This sound is
often pronounced during the screen tests. In addition, the
voices in the screen tests have been harshly recorded and are
thus distinguished from those of the characters sitting in
the auditorium.
600 Screen: CU of arms holing clapper board with the words

“Screen test Miss Olimpia.”
MAN’S VOICE
Screen test Miss Olimpia.
Slight pan left as the clapper is clapped and the board

removed, revealing, in deep shadows, a rudimentary set: a
door left with transparent glass panels, a bench right. In
LS, a woman can be seen through the glass panels, wearing
Carla’s traveling costume.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Come in, Miss Olimpia.
OLIMPIA
(entering and pausing with
her hand on the doorknob)
Should I shut it?
GUIDO (O.S.)
Yes.
She closes the door and pan follows her right.

Sway as you walk... sway your hips.
She walks to the bench, turns her back to the camera.

Put your things down there.
190.
She drops her magazine, book, and white muff on the bench.

Good. Now go to the mirror.
Pan follows her right to a full-length mirror where we see

her reflection. She is taking off her gloves.

Look pleased with yourself.
She turns around, as if modeling her dress. She lifts her

skirt above her knees.

More pleased.
A work light goes on and off in the right background.
601 Auditorium: CU of Luisa, looking intently, sadly.

Swell your chest.
Luisa lowers her eyes.

Now go to the telephone... slowly,
please.
Luisa looks up and smiles bitterly.

But don’t run! What are you running
for?
Off left, Rossella laughs; Luisa turns in her direction.
602 CU: Rossella, amused at what she sees, chuckling.
OLIMPIA (O.S.)
I’m not running.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Go... go up to the mark. Look,
there’s a mark there on the floor.
603 Screen: Olimpia walking forward in low angle MCU to CU,

looking down for the mark.
191.
OLIMPIA
(picking up telephone and
smiling)
Hello. Please give me the
concierge, please.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(speaking for the
concierge)
This is the concierge. What can I
do for you?
OLIMPIA
Um... I’s like a bottle of mineral
water... uncarbonated.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(speaking for the
concierge)
Then you want Fiuggi.
OLIMPIA
No. Fiuggi...
604 Auditorium: High angle MCU of Guido looking dejected.
OLIMPIA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...is carbonated.
He buries his face in his hat.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test, as
concierge)
No, Madame...
(As director)
Look this way, look this way.
(As concierge)
But Fiuggi is the least carbonated.
He pronounces “carbonated” with a funny accent, mimicking

Carla’s baby-talk.
OLIMPIA (O.S.)
All right. Send up some...
605 LS: the auditorium, the spectators looking forward in the

direction of the screen.

...Fiuggi.
PACE
Will this one do, Guido?
192.
The sound of a buzzer, like the one heard in shots 33, 177.
CONOCCHIA
He has to decide because she’s
leaving for England.
AGOSTINI (O.S.)
She leaves next week, Guido.
PACE’S GIRLFRIEND
But who’s this one?
PACE
(to the Girlfriend)
Shut up!
(To Guido)
Or do you prefer this one?
606 Low angle MS: Guido squirming in his seat, then bending over,
wishing he were somewhere else. During the remainder of the
screen tests we occasionally hear the voices of men (often
that of Cesarino) announcing, unintelligibly, the name of the
candidate and the number of the test, calling for silence and
for the camera to roll.

This is an important character. She
has to be immediately likable.
Isn’t that right, Guido?
Guido looks more and more uncomfortable.
607 Screen: from behind, MS of blond actress, with straight hair,

wearing a severe black dress. She is trying out for the role
of Luisa.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Miss... sit down... look exhausted.
A cigarette in her hand, she turns, facing the camera, and

sits at a metal café table with a drink on it, like the table
in 493-508.

The character is a woman who has
lost her desire to struggle. She
has stopped struggling because...
Say the line.
The camera tracks in to CU.
ACTRESS AS LUISA
Without stopping?
193.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Eh?
ACTRESS AS LUISA
Without stopping?
GUIDO (O.S.)
Oh, yes. Without stopping.
The actress pauses to concentrate.
ACTRESS AS LUISA
I’m the one who’s offering you
complete freedom. In any case, I’m
no good to you this way. I’m just a
nuisance to you.
She turns away.
608 Auditorium: MCU of Luisa looking at the screen, biting her

fingernails, right foreground; her Friend, left, MS.
ACTRESS AS LUISA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Please give it serious thought. I
feel as if I’m a burden.
LUISA’S FRIEND
Which one is she? What is she
supposed to do?
LUISA
Can’t you tell? It’s the wife.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(to the actress in the
screen test)
Relax. You’re among friends. You
knew the lines so well when you
were prompted.
As Luisa leans forward to look for a cigarette in her

handbag, Rossella appears behind her, at the right of the
frame.
ROSSELLA
Hm. Still, she’s a likable sort,
isn’t she? Sensitive, don’t you
think?
LUISA
(looking at screen while
extending her hand toward
Rossella)
Give me a cigarette.
194.
ROSSELLA
I don’t have anymore.
(Turning to her right)
Enrico, I need some supplies.
Rossella leans back; Enrico has rushed over and eagerly

offers an open pack of cigarettes.
ENRICO
Here’s a cigarette!
Luisa, Rossella, and Luisa’s Friend take cigarettes.
LUISA
Thank you.
ENRICO
You’re welcome.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(screen test)
...take it from the line, “Because
I can’t go on like this way any
more.” Action.
ACTRESS AS LUISA (O.S.)

Because I can’t go on like this way
any more.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(as himself, in screen
test, raising his voice)
OK, let’s hear it. You tell me how
I should behave.
Enrico exits frame, returning to his seat.
609 Screen: CU of Actress as Luisa.
ACTRESS AS LUISA
Like someone who doesn’t swear he’s
telling the truth when he isn’t...
every day, over and over. That
would be enough. What you actually
do is the least of the problems.
Never knowing... never, never...
610 Auditorium: MCU of Guido leaning on the back of the seat next
to him, a cigarette in his hand, his face partially lost in
shadow.
ACTRESS AS LUISA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

...once knowing the truth, not even
about the unimportant things.
195.
Guido leans forward.
GUIDO
(whispering, knowing that
Luisa can’t hear him)
Luisa, I love you.
611 As in 609.
ACTRESS AS LUISA
Lying is like breathing for you.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test)
Repeat that, please.
ACTRESS AS LUISA
(lowering her voice,
slightly)
Lying is like breathing for you.
612 Auditorium: MCU of Luisa’s Friend, Luisa’s Sister, and

Rossella with her knees up against the seat in front of her.
LUISA’S FRIEND
Oh, what nerve!
She turns right, looking in Luisa’s direction.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(to actress in screen
test)
Now stand up again... make your
expression hard, aggressive.
(To Cesarino)
Let me see the script.
CESARINO (O.S.)
(in screen test)
Here, Guido.
LUISA’S SISTER
(looking right, in Luisa’s
direction, then leaning
forward and speaking into
the Friend’s ear)
All this is taken from his life.
LUISA’S FRIEND
Of course.
Pan right. Now only Rossella and Luisa are in frame. Luisa,
looking on in stony silence, is fidgeting with the collar of
her blouse.
196.
ROSSELLA
(amused)
Oh, that’s the Princess. I know
her.
GUIDO (O.S.)
test)
Repeat this line. “Why? Aren’t I
alone now?”

Why? Aren’t I alone now?
613 CU: the Actress as Luisa.
ACTRESS AS LUISA (CONT’D)

What do you give me? What do I have
to look forward to?
GUIDO (O.S.)
test)
Look over here. Now put on you
glasses.
She puts on the glasses.

test)
Repeat this last line, “Why? Aren’t
I alone now?” Miss, you must say
it...
614 Auditorium: MCU of Enrico, serious.

test)
...aggressively, of course, but
also with deep bitterness. He
said...
615 CU: Luisa. She takes a puff of her cigarette.

test)
“Come on now. You can’t really want
a separation. Do you really want to
be alone?”
(MORE)
197.
(Lowering his voice)
But what would you do alone? And
you answer, “Why? Aren’t I alone
now?” Don’t be afraid. Go ahead.
Pan left to Luisa’s Sister and Rossella who looks in Luisa’s

direction, then toward screen.
616 LS: Guido and Daumier.
PACE (O.S.)
Guido, there is no question about
this one.

Why? Aren’t I alone now?
PACE (O.S.)
She’s perfect.
Guido spreads his arms in a gesture of uncertainty and then

buries his face in his hand.

What do you give me? What do I have
to look forward to?
PACE (O.S.)
Guido!
617 MS: Conocchia’s back, Pace in profile gesturing his

bewilderment, his Girlfriend in right background.
CONOCCHIA
(raising his hand, his
fingers spread)
This has been going on for five
months.
PACE’S GIRLFRIEND
(licking her ice cream
cone)
But they’re all so old.
PACE
(putting his finger to his
lip)
Sh!
618 Screen: CU of second actress testing for the role of Carla,

on telephone. In the remainder of this sequence, the various
actresses in the test will be referred to as “Second Carla,
Third Carla, First Saraghina, etc.”
198.
SECOND CARLA
But Fiuggi is carbonated.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(speaking for the
concierge)
No, Fiuggi is the least
carbonated...
619 MCU: Luisa looking at her watch, then up toward the screen.

(speaking for the
concierge)
...of the mineral waters.
(To the crew)
Sound!
SECOND CARLA (O.S.)

All right. Send up the Fiuggi.
Luisa yawns, rubs her eyes.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test)
Put down the telephone.
CESARINO (O.S.)
(in screen test)
Screen test, Miss Olimpia.
620 CU: Pace.
PACE
How about this one, Guido?
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test)
Repeat it, more seductively,
more...
OLIMPIA (O.S.)
You know that it’s dangerous...
621 Pan follows Luisa in LS, walking left, up the exterior aisle
toward an exit on Guido’s level. Pan left to Guido who
notices her exiting through curtains.

...to leave me alone.
199.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test, playing
himself)
Oh, really? Why? What is it that
you do?
OLIMPIA (O.S.)
Should I repeat it?
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test)
No, no, no. Put down the phone.
Track in to MCU as Guido takes a drag on his cigarette.

(in screen test)
Pull your head over to this side a
bit.
He rises to follow Luisa.

(in screen test)
Wonderful, Olimpiona. Cut.
622 From Guido’s POV, track through exit following Luisa in

lobby, LS, walking away from camera.

Luisa!
She turns and faces forward, in Guido’s direction.

Where are you going?
LUISA
I’m sleepy. I’m going to the hotel.
Good night, Guido.
She begins to exit, frame left.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Wait a minutes. Listen...
She stops, looks back in his direction.
LOBBY OF MOVIE THEATER, NIGHT
623 LS: Guido coming through the curtains of the exit.

200.
GUIDO
What’s wrong? What happened?
LUISA (O.S.)
Nothing has happened. Nothing ever
happens between you and me.
Guido is now in MS, his face completely in shadow.
GUIDO
Did something you saw in the screen
tests offend you? It’s only a film.
624 CU: Luisa.
LUISA
Oh, I know better than anyone that
it’s just a film, that it’s a
fiction... another lie, even if you
put...
625 Pan of Guido moving toward Luisa, in MCU.

...all of us in it.
GUIDO
Luisa...
LUISA (O.S.)
(raising her voice in
anger)
But as it suits you!
Pan right as Guido sits dejectedly on a staircase.

The truth is something else
altogether. And I’m the only one
who knows it.
626 As in 624.
LUISA (CONT’D)
You’re just lucky that I’ll never
have the shamelessness to tell it
to other like you do.
She looks toward him with contempt and begins walking away.
LUISA (CONT’D)
But make it... make your film.
201.
GUIDO (O.S.)
No, I won’t make it.
Luisa is now walking away from the camera, in the lobby, MS.
LUISA
Indulge yourself...
627 As in 625.

...pat yourself on the back...
GUIDO
No, I won’t make it.
LUISA (O.S.)
...make everyone think you’re
wonderful!
628 LS: Luisa standing in the lobby, looking back in Guido’s

direction.
LUISA (CONT’D)
(with utter contempt)
What can you possibly have to say
to others, you who have never been
able to tell the truth to the
person closest to you, to the woman
who’s grown old by your side.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Luisa, don’t be...
629 CU: Luisa.

...melodramatic.
LUISA
(pausing, then more
calmly)
You were right to have me come
here. We needed... a conclusion.
And you can rest assured that I’ll
never turn back. You can go
straight to hell!
She exits right.
630 As in 627. The sound of Luisa’s footsteps. Guido stands. Pan

follows him left toward the curtains that lead to the
auditorium. The buzzer sounds;
202.
he throws down his cigarette and goes through the curtains.

We hear someone singing Saraghina’s melody.
AUDITORIUM OF MOVIE THEATER, NIGHT
631 MCU: Guido regaining his seat, depressed, shaking his head
wearily. Off, Saraghina’s melody.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test)
Cut!
632 Screen: LS: in silhouette at right, First Saraghina; center,

a power console, with cables tracing over the floor.

(in screen test)
Come on now! Run... faster...
run... run... run!
Pan left follows First Saraghina as she moves behind the full-
length mirror in which Olimpia admired herself. In the
foreground, a boy, his back to the camera, wearing the cape
and hat Guido wore in the Saraghina episode.
MAN (O.S.)
The Boss told you to run!
Tugging on her shawl, chewing gum, First Saraghina comes into

MCU.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test)
You! Keep quiet!
633 Auditorium: CU of Guido, leaning forward. He looks up at the

screen, then turns away in disgust, burying his head in his
arm.

(in screen test)
Throw this idiot out!
(To First Saraghina)
Now sing.
A different voice begins to sing.
634 Off, voice continues. MS: the Accountant, Conocchia, Pace,

and Pace’s Girlfriend, sitting in a row. Slight track back
and pan right as Conocchia rises, then squats in front of
Pace to show him some papers.
203.
CONOCCHIA
Boss, you may think I’ve gone soft
in the head, but the figures... the
figures... they’re all down here.
Pace puts on his glasses and looks at the papers.
635 Screen: Second Saraghina sits on some stairs, in front of the

glass-paneled doors, in LS silhouette.
PACE (O.S.)
No, I’ll never pay this, not in a
million years! Conocchia, you have
gone soft in the head.
Camera tracks in to a high angle MCU of Second Saraghina,

eating from a plate. Only her face, her arm, a bit of her
hair, and the plate can be seen in the deep shadows.
GUIDO (O.S.)
himself as a schoolboy,
whispering)
Saraghina, look, we have the money!
Saraghina, the rumba, the rumba!
636 Auditorium: MCU of Pace turning back in Guido’s direction.

The sound of the buzzer.
PACE
Guido, say something!
637 CU: Guido leaning forward. In the screen test he is speaking

inaudibly.

(with great annoyance)
Please!
Guido rises as if to leave.

And this one, Guido?
Guido sits again.

Frankly, I preferred the one
before. She’s Neapolitan, isn’t
she, Conocchia?
204.
GUIDO
(speaking to the absent
Luisa)
But can’t you see that I’m... I’m
stammering.
Her buries his face in his hands.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
I’m stammering.
638 Screen: CU of Second Carla, on telephone.
SECOND CARLA
(serious)
When are you coming? I’m tired of
waiting.
639 CU: Fourth Carla, on telephone.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test,
commandingly)
Look right at me!
FOURTH CARLA
(with a high-pitched,
wheedling tone)
Don’t leave me alone! You know it’s
dangerous.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test)
Turn around!
640 CU: Third Carla, on telephone.
THIRD CARLA
(in a low-pitched, sexy
voice)
Don’t leave me alone! You know it’s
dangerous, darling.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test)
Look over here.
641 CU: Fifth Carla, on telephone.
FIFTH CARLA
(ending on a bit of a
threat)
What don’t you come right away!
(MORE)
205.
FIFTH CARLA (CONT'D)
You’re making me wait. You know
it’s dangerous when I have to wait.
642 CU: Guido looking forward through his hands, then hiding his
eyes behind them.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(in screen test, with
increasing anger
Louder, louder, louder!
643 Screen: CU of a large plumed fan being waved. In shots 643-

648 there is a babble of voices, the repeated sound of the
buzzer, and the intensified sound of the projector.

(in screen test)
Countess... walk... come on!
When the fan is pulled away we see, in LS, a woman dressed in

the Cardinal’s regalia in mid-distance, the glass-paneled
door and two men in the background. Guido’s shoulder is in
the foreground. He then enters the frame and goes to take the
arm of the Cardinal, indicating where he should walk, forward
right.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
(in screen test)
I told you to walk. Follow the line
traced...
THE COUNTESS TESTING FOR CARDINAL

(crankily)
Don’t touch me with your hand!
GUIDO
(in screen test)
Go this way.
644 CU: three-quarter profile of one of the Carlas, her head bent
back, laughing raucously. A clapper board with the words
“EVENING ILLUMIN” is placed on her shoulder, then drawn down
in front of her face.
645 LS: the set, the Countess testing for Cardinal standing on a
rotary platform, being turned; in foreground silhouette, some
workers; a different clapper, “EVENING ILLUM’ED” is inserted
at bottom of frame.
646 Low angle MS of Third Saraghina.

(in screen test)
Uncover your shoulders quickly.
206.
She pulls blouse off her shoulders

himself as schoolboy
Saraghina...
647 CU: one of the Carlas, walking forward.

(in screen test, as
schoolboy
...we have the money. Saraghina, we
have the money.
648 Low angle MCU: the Countess testing for Cardinal, no longer
wearing the mitre, being turned around.

(in screen test)
Stop. That’s fine.
649 Auditorium: MCU of Daumier looking slightly puzzled.

(in screen test)
Was that all right?
650 Screen: extreme low angle CU of fan. When it is pulled away

we see, in LS, the ceiling of the sound stage.
651 Auditorium: MCU of Pace, turning around.
PACE
(to Rossella)
And what’s your opinion? Come on,
speak up! This is a democracy Say
something! If he won’t talk, maybe
you’ll say something.
(Turning away and
mispronouncing a mild
French expletive)
Eh, sacré bleu!
652 Pan right follows Claudia’s Agent toward Guido, MS. He leans
over to Guido in CU. The sound track of the screen tests-the
singing of the actresses testing for Saraghina, Guido’s
instructions, the projector, etc.-persists into 654.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT
Don’t try to hid, we can find you
anywhere. How are you?
207.
GUIDO
Hi.
Pan continues right as Guido, still in CU, turns toward the

face of Claudia’s Press Agent, next to his.

Hi. I’m Conetti, from Claudia’s
publicity office. We met fifteen
years ago. Do you remember me?
GUIDO
(nodding)
Yes, yes.

(looking left, behind
Guido)
Look! She’s here.
GUIDO
(looking left)
Where is she?
653 Low angle LS: the back of the auditorium, from Guido’s POV. A
young woman wearing white, Claudia’s Secretary, takes a seat
in the back row. Claudia, wearing a dress with ostrich
feathers at the neck, is silhouetted by the light coming from
the open exit; the light of the projector floods the top of
the frame.
654 MCU, from the row behind them, of Claudia’s Press Agent,
Guido, and Claudia’s Agent turned in their seats, looking in
her direction, away from camera. Guido remains in MCU as he
stands.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
(looking down at the two
men)
Excuse me.
Tracking pan follows Guido down aisle then upstairs toward

Claudia.
655 MS: Claudia standing in profile, looking in the direction of

the screen, her secretary seated just beyond her. The
secretary rises and looks in Guido’s direction.
CLAUDIA’S SECRETARY
(in English)
He’s calling you.
208.
Claudia looks in Guido’s direction. Camera tracks forward

slightly as she walks into MCU, a broad smile on her face,
her hair brightly lit by the projection beam.
GUIDO (O.S.)
(with great sweetness)
Claudia!
CLAUDIA
How are you?
GUIDO (O.S.)
Fine. And you?
He pauses, laughs slightly.

So you finally came? Shall we go
outside?
Track follows Claudia as she turns and walks toward her

secretary.
CLAUDIA
I’d like you to meet Caroline, my
secretary.
Claudia turns back to Guido as Caroline walks into MCU.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Yes.
I’m glad to meet you.
GUIDO (O.S.)
But I’d like to speak to you alone.
All right, I’ll wait here.
Claudia’s Secretary exits left; pan follows Claudia up a few

stairs and out the door.
EXIT STAIRWAY LEADING TO STREET, NIGHT
656 MCU: track on Claudia walking downstairs.
CLAUDIA
When do we begin shooting?
GUIDO (O.S.)
Soon... very soon.
209.
She pauses at the bottom of the stairs, looks up toward

Guido.
CLAUDIA
But what part am I to play?
Music of orchestra in public square, outside, playing “Blue

Moon.”
GUIDO (O.S.)
Eh?
She laughs

I’ll tell you everything later.
Pan follows Claudia into street.
CLAUDIA
I’m very happy to be working with
you...
STREET, NIGHT
657 MCU-MS: track follows Claudia as she walks around the front
of her car.
CLAUDIA
...and I hope that I’ll be a help
to you. But I want to know
everything.
Track right shows her at car door.
CLAUDIA (CONT’D)
Where are we going now?
Pan left and tilt down, as she gets into driver’s seat.
658 MS: from outside through car window, Claudia in foreground.

She looks at Guido as he gets into car. Camera tracks closer.
CLAUDIA (CONT’D)
Well?
GUIDO
(looking at her, pausing,
then pointing ahead)
This way.
210.
659 LS: Street. Pan right follows car as it approaches, veers

right in MS, then drives away down the street past a line of
parked cars, toward a blinking traffic light, then, again in
LS, turns right. An elderly woman, smoking a cigarette, is
briefly seen walking right on the street.
DRIVING IN CLAUDIA’S CAR, NIGHT
Throughout this scene, shafts of light from the road

illuminate Guido’s eyes and forehead. He looks in Claudia’s
direction, then down or straight ahead, occasionally taking a
drag on his cigarette. Looking at Guido, then at the road,
Claudia is usually shown in three-quarter profile, her face
brightly illuminated, shining in the black night. There is
little suggestion of what lies beyond the windows of the car.
The conversation is frequently punctuated with pauses, and
facial expressions of reaction.
660 MCU: Guido. The music stops.
GUIDO
How beautiful you are! You make me
feel timid. You make my heart beat
like a schoolboy’s.
661 CU: Claudia.

You don’t believe me, do you? You
inspire true and deep respect!
Claudia! Who are you in love with?
Who’s the man in your life? Who do
you care about?
CLAUDIA
(laughing)
You.
662 CU: Guido.
GUIDO
You’ve come just in time. Why do
you smile like that?
663 As in 661. Claudia laughs again.

I can never tell if you’re
criticizing, forgiving, or teasing
me.
211.
CLAUDIA
I’m just listening. You said you
wanted to talk to me, to tell me
about the film. I don’t know
anything about it.
664 As in 662. A particularly long pause.
GUIDO
(speaking with increasing
rapidity)
Would you be able to give up
everything, to start life all over
again... to choose one thing, just
one thing, and be faithful to it...
to make it the thing that gives
meaning to your life... something
that contains everything else...
that becomes everything else just
because of your boundless faith in
it? Could you do that? Say... if I
asked you...
665 As in 663.

...Claudia...
CLAUDIA
Where are we going? I don’t know
the road. And what about you? Could
you?
The sound of water.
GUIDO (O.S.)
The springs...
666 MCU: Guido, Claudia’s hand on steering wheel in foreground.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
...must be nearby. Listen. Try
turning here.
She turns the steering wheel.
667 CU: Guido.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
No. This guy couldn’t. He wants to
take hold of everything, to devour
everything. He can’t give anything
up. He changes direction every
day...
212.
668 As in 665. Claudia is now serious.

...for fear he might miss the right
path. And he’s dying, bleeding to
death.
CLAUDIA
And is this how the film ends?
GUIDO (O.S.)
No, it begins like this. Then he
meets the girl at the springs. She
is one of those girls...
669 As in 667.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
...who pours the healing water.
She’s beautiful... both young and
ancient... a child yet already a
woman... authentic... radiant!
There is no doubt that she is his
salvation.
670 As in 668., Claudia in perfect profile, emphasizing Guido’s

POV, then looking in Guido’s direction.

You’ll be dressed in white. You’ll
wear you’re hair long, like this,
just the way it is now.
COURTYARD OF OLD BUILDING, NIGHT
671 Pan right and track forward, following the headlights of the
turning car as they play over the edge of the building, a
façade and then into the depth of the courtyard.
672 MS: Claudia right, brightly illuminated, through windshield;

Guido, left, in shadow. The sound of the car’s motor has been
replaced by that of the wind whistling.
GUIDO
Turn off the headlights.
COURTYARD OF OLD BUILDING, GUIDO’S FANTASY, NIGHT
673 As in many of the other fantasy sequences, there is no sound.

Crane up the dark façade to a brightly illuminated window on
an upper floor.
213.
In MS, Claudia, dressed in white as she was in the first

sequence at the springs, 43-49, and during Guido’s fantasy in
his bedroom, 304-315, takes a lamp from the window sill. She
turns her back to camera and walks into the bright room.
674 LS: Claudia, barefoot, coming through the doorway into the
courtyard, carrying the lamp. Pan right follows as she walks
with the particular dancelike movement of her other fantasy
scenes. She places the lamp on a table set for two in the
center of the courtyard. It is illuminated from directly
above by a spotlight.
675 MCU: Claudia looking down at table. Pan follows as she moves
left, apparently to inspect one place setting, then right to
inspect the other. She looks up, smiling, then moves left
again.
COURTYARD OF OLD BUILDING, NIGHT
676 LS: the courtyard, now without the table and Claudia. The
sound of whistling wind resumes. Camera tracks back slightly.
677 CU: Claudia in profile, seated in car as before.
CLAUDIA
And then what?
The sound of Guido’s door opening and closing. Claudia turns;

her gaze follows him right. We hear his footsteps.
678 LS: track follows Guido walking away from camera, in

courtyard. He puts on his jacket.
679 MS: Guido, his back to the camera. He stops, looks around.
680 MS: Claudia walking forward, wrapped in her flimsy, gauzy

shawl, her head bent. The car is in the background.
CLAUDIA (CONT’D)
Let’s get away from here.
681 As in 679.
CLAUDIA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

This place scares me. It doesn’t...
682 As in 680. Claudia looks up.
CLAUDIA (CONT’D)
...seem real.
214.
GUIDO (O.S.)
I like it enormously. Isn’t that
odd?
Claudia smiles, laughs, walks to the right, her back to the

camera.
CLAUDIA
I’ve understood almost nothing
about the story you told me.
She has now reached the side of the courtyard and is in LS.
CLAUDIA (CONT’D)
Listen, a man like that... the way
you describe him... who doesn’t
love anybody...
Leaning against the wall in the shadows, next to a brightly

illuminated doorway, she turns and faces forward.
CLAUDIA (CONT’D)
...no one is going to feel very
sorry for him, you know.
She moves to the right and sits on the door sill.
CLAUDIA (CONT’D)
Basically, it’s his fault.
683 CU: Guido, his head bent forward, his big black hat pulled
down on his forehead.

What right does he have to expect
anything from others?
Guido looks up.
GUIDO
Don’t you think I know that?
684 MS: Claudia sitting on sill, her head on her knees, her
ostrich-plumed mantle hanging down symmetrically on either
side of her.

You’re a bit of a bore, just like
every one else!
CLAUDIA
(looking up, laughing)
Oh, so you don’t want to hear any
criticism at all.
(MORE)
215.
CLAUDIA (CONT'D)
You look so funny in the big ugly
hat-just like an old man!
685 Low angle LS from Claudia’s POV: Guido standing in courtyard,

tying his tie.

I don’t understand. He meets a girl
who can help him come back to life,
who revives him. And he rejects
her.
GUIDO
Because he no longer believes in
it.
He turns and walks left.
CLAUDIA (O.S.)
Because he doesn’t know how to
love.
686 CU: Claudia, her head leaning against the door.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Because it’s not true that a woman
can change a man.
CLAUDIA
love.
GUIDO (O.S.)
And especially because I don’t want
to tell... another story that’s
filled with lies.
CLAUDIA
love.
687 LS: Guido, near the other side of the courtyard. He turns in
Claudia’s direction.
GUIDO
Claudia, I’m sorry I made you come
all the way up here.
He walks left.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Please...
688 MCU: now standing, Claudia turns forward.

216.

...forgive me.
CLAUDIA
What a cheat you are! So there is
not part...
689 CU: Guido.

...in the film?
GUIDO
You’re right. There is no part in
the film. There’s not even a film.
There’s nothing at all, anywhere.
As far as I’m concerned...
690 ECU: Claudia, her face completely in shadow.

...the whole thing can end right
here.
The sound of a car driving up. Claudia’s face is brightly

illuminated by the headlights.
691 LS: Guido and Claudia, Claudia’s car in the left background.
The headlights blind them. Pan follows Guido who walks
forward, right, shielding his face with his hat; Claudia
leans over to pick up her ostrich-plumed mantle.
692 LS: the archway leading into the courtyard. A convertible

sports car dives through it into MS, Cesarino at the wheel.
Agostini next to him. They speak simultaneously.
AGOSTINI
Here they are!
CESARINO
Guido, what are you doing?
AGOSTINI
Good evening, Boss.
CESARINO
Everyone’s looking for you. Where
have you run off to? By the way,
you know, we begin next week.
693 LS: Cesarino’s car, right; Claudia’s car, left; Claudia being
escorted to the left by her Publicity Agent.
217.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT
(first off, then entering
right and walking
forward)
Guido, your producer has had a
terrific idea-the most spectacular
cocktail party to ever launch a
film! And do you know where?
Music: “La Conferenza stampa del regista (The Director’s

Press Conference),” based on various themes in the film, is
played with an insistently energetic, nervous beat. It
continues into the next sequence. While the Agent is
speaking, Pace’s car pulls into the center in MS. Pace is
leaning out the window on the driver’s side, Conocchia is
seated next to him.
PACE
At the spaceship. Tomorrow
afternoon. Radio, television...
694 MS: Guido holding up his hat, trying to shield his face from
the lights. His eyes move left, following the direction of
the car.

...and the foreign press. Come on,
Guido, now we’re starting for real.
SPACESHIP SET ON THE BEACH, DAY
695 Starting from behind Guido’s car, the camera tracks back and
cranes up to reveal a whole fleet of cars converging on the
two towers, ELS. People are walking on the network of stairs
between and inside the towers, in the background.
696 LS: Guido, his arms held by Agostini and Cesarino, being
escorted left past a series of cars parked diagonally. Pan
follows as the three men approach a line of decorative posts,
connected by ribbons billowing in the wind. Just as they turn
away, heading toward the towers, Guido stops and collapses.
His companions hoist him back upright. Track behind them as
they continue walking. Guido now gesturing that he can walk
on his own. A moment later he suddenly turns forward to make
a break for it, but Agostini and Cesarino grab him around the
waist.
CESARINO
Grab him!
Track follows them toward the towers; Guido collapses again

and is dragged forward.
218.
697 MCU: track follows Guido being held up by his arms; tilt up
left to Agostini.
AGOSTINI
Come on. Get up. Walk!
Pan right to Cesarino. There is a babble of voices

encouraging Guido to walk. Claudia’s Agent appears in the
center of the frame, MS, runs backwards waving his arm, then
turns away.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT
Here he is!
Guido is lifted into the frame.
698 LS, track follows journalists running, klieg lights and posts
in the foreground, the base of one of the towers in the
background. Led by the American Journalist, the group turns
forward, in MS.
CLAUDIA’S AGENT (O.S.) (CONT’D)

He’s arrived!
AMERICAN JOURNALIST
(in English, waving)
Hello, Guido! Welcome!
A white veil is wafted in front of the camera.
699 Pan left to right, MS-LS-MS, past a table laden with bottles
and pitchers. Bartenders bow as Guido and the others quickly
move by, out of frame. A glimpse of Guido as he escapes the
clutches of Agostini and Cesarino, then flees behind the
bandstand.
AGOSTINI
Where are you going, Guido? It’s
over here.
Pan continues right, tilting up to the band playing, then

tilting down as Guido is seen behind the drummer, then
through the framework of metal poles holding up the
bandstand. He continues right, brushing himself off with his
hat. At right, sitting on a large cable core, Tilde and her
Boyfriend who jumps down and extends his hand to Guido.
Standing next to them at right, a woman wearing a black
sheath dress covered with a flimsy white gauze. She holds her
large black hat against the wind.
TILDE’S BOYFRIEND
Oh, Guido, I’m sure that today
it’ll be a beautiful...
219.
Guido, now calmer, looks around and walks forward into MCU.
Track continues as he proceeds, right to left in front of
bandstand, shaking the hands of journalists, their backs to
the camera.
AMERICAN JOURNALIST
(in Italian)
I’m very curious to hear the story
that you’re finally going to tell.
Met by Agostini, Guido walks away from camera.
700 Pan from the face of one journalist to the next, tracking in
MCU. Initially, the frenetic pattern of the pan in controlled
by Guido’s POV; then Guido himself appears in the shot,
thereby violating the conventional spatial logic.

Don’t you take yourself a little
too seriously, Mr. Anselmo (sic)?
BEARDED JOURNALIST
(in English)
Are you for or against eroticism?
A blond female journalist appears in the frame and asks an

unintelligible question.
BEARDED JOURNALIST (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Are you afraid of the atomic bomb?
Do you believe in God?
As the blond journalist exits to the right, track left

follows Guido walking between Agostini and Cesarino, LS,
pursued by the journalists. Several models, wearing flowing
capes and extravagant headdresses, are seated in foreground,
their backs to camera. As Guido passes behind the row of
models, he stops and turns angrily to Cesarino and Agostini.
GUIDO
Leave me alone! I’ll walk by
myself.
The procession continues to move away toward a row of people

sitting in the background.
701 MS: track with Guido and entourage moving forward. A

photographer walking backwards is trying to take Guido’s
picture but Guido thwarts him by making peculiar gestures
with his fingers. Pan left as photographer tries to get a
better angle and leaves the frame. LS of Maurice, dressing in
front of a mirror, Maya seated next to him, inspecting her
necklaces.
220.
702 From Guido’s POV, MS of Maurice waving at Guido, smiling

broadly. Track away from Maurice who holds up his hands, his
fingers crossed.
MAURICE
Hello there! Good luck!
703 MS: Guido, looking over his shoulder at Maurice. Guido is

then rushed out of the frame, right, by the procession.
704 Tracking pan left, MS to LS, follows Cesarino who breaks away
and jumps onto the dais. Photographers and journalists are
mid-distance. Pace is standing on the platform, right. On
left, a long table, on top of which are models of the
spaceship.
CESARINO
(to Pace)
Boss, here he is!
PACE
(walking forward and
signaling to the
journalists to have
patience)
Calm down!
Pace and Cesarino are now in MS, bending over to help Guido
onto the dais.
JOURNALIST (O.S.)
(in English)
Well, are you afraid of the atomic
bomb? Do you or don’t you believe
in God?
PACE
(to Guido)
We’ve been waiting for you for
three days. It’s winter already.
Pace and Guido continue left, toward Conocchia and Claudia’s

Publicity Agent who are already seated at the table.
CONOCCHIA
Attention, please.
There is a loud roar and laughter from the journalists. In

LS, as Guido takes his seat next to Conocchia, Conocchia
indicates to someone to move. Daumier appears in MCU, frame
left, facing the camera.
221.
705 Long rapid track, MCU-MS, past seated journalists who are
throwing out questions, gesticulating insistently, waving
pencils, and taking notes. The voices become a cacophony that
persists, nearly uninterrupted, through 734. Although most of
the dialogue is unintelligible, several words and phrases, in
Italian and English, can be distinguished: “Do you think that
pornography is an art form or...? Do you think that
pornography can be a more intense form of...? Have you ever
fallen in love with an actress in one of you films?” Behind
the row of journalists, two workmen are carrying a decorative
column.
706 MCU: track follows Daumier as he walks left in front of the

platform. Pace and the others are trying to calm the
journalists, MS.
JOURNALIST (O.S.)
Why don’t you ever make a film
about love?
When Daumier exits frame left, we see Pace trying to make

Guido stand up after he has just sat down.
707 Brief track right next to a group of journalists, to MCU of a

photographer looking through a camera with a huge lens.
708 MCU: track past Claudia’s Press Agent, then panning on Pace
and Guido.
PACE
(in English, to the crowd)
A thousand apologies for his being
late.
Pace leans over and whispers in Guido’s ear; Guido whispers

in Pace’s ear.
PACE (CONT’D)
(in Italian, addressing
crowd)
I wish to announce that...
Guido sits.
GUIDO
(protesting to Pace and
Agostini)
Tomorrow... tomorrow...
They force him to rise.
709 LS pan follows a group of journalists moving energetically

from the left to the dais on right.
222.
Their backs to the camera, they seem to want to assault Guido

who ducks down behind the table. Tilt up to Pace and the
others standing, out of the babble of voices we can hear,
“What do you think you can teach us? Do you really think that
your life can be of interest to others?...”
AMERICAN JOURNALIST
Can you honestly admit that you
have nothing to say?
A journalist mounts the dais, waving his arm.
JOURNALIST
Do you know that this film is the
story of...
Female journalist, in MCU, turns and faces the camera,

smiling cruelly. She walks into low angle CU.
FEMALE JOURNALIST
(in English, triumphantly)
He’s lost. He has nothing to say.
She laughs maniacally.
710 MS: Guido seated, protesting to Pace, Agostini, and Cesarino,

who surround him.
PACE
He wants to say something.
711 MCU-MS: the faces of the journalists, laughing mockingly.
712 CU: Conocchia, looking in Guido’s direction.
CONOCCHIA
Answer. Say something, go ahead.
713 CU: Guido. Tilt down to his inverted reflection in the glass
top of the table.

Guido, anything at all! Say
anything at all!
Pan left to Pace’s inverted reflection.
PACE
Do it for me!
714 CU: Claudia’s Press Agent speaking into Pace’s ear.

223.
PACE (CONT’D)
(repeating, to the
journalists)
I promise you...
715 From Guido’s POV, MS pan right, tilt up as more journalists

jump up on platform. One journalist in profile, CU.
JOURNALIST
(to Guido)
...this film. And afterwards,
afterwards, what will you live on?
716 From Guido’s POV, pan left to right over the journalists’
faces MCU-MS, first those below him, then those standing on
the platform.
JOURNALISTS
Are you for or against divorce?
Tell me, frankly... Is that your
basic problem... that you cannot
communicate, or is that just a
pretext?...
Mocking laughter.
717 From Guido’s POV, low angle CU of Pace, in profile,

addressing journalists.
PACE
Although your questions betray a
certain hostility, I assure you
that my director is in top form.
718 CU: Guido, confused, looking left and right.
GUIDO
What should I do? What am I
supposed to do?
719 CU: Conocchia wiping his eyes wit his handkerchief, turning
in Guido’s direction, from Guido’s POV. The sound of the
wind, heard intermittently throughout this scene, becomes
more insistent and menacing from this point through 736.
PACE (O.S.)
(addressing journalists)
...he should be treated with
respect, because...
720 CU: Guido, from Conocchia’s POV.

224.
GUIDO
(with tenderness)
Conocchia, forgive me if I treated
you badly. You were wonderful, the
best of them all.
721 As in 717.
PACE
(to the journalists)
He ponders, he considers, he
reflects.
(To Guido, with great
anger)
Speak! Answer! I’ve been paying for
your confusion, your breakdown.
722 High angle CU: Guido bending his head down, shaking it
negatively, from Pace’s POV.

I’ve been paying for everything for
months!
723 As in 721.
PACE (CONT’D)
If you don’t make this film I’ll
destroy you.
(Turning to the
Journalists)
He will now be at your disposal.
The press has always been...
724 As in 722. Reflections can be seen in the glass table.
GUIDO
(to himself)
Claudia, where are you? And your
“spirits,” Rossella?
725 Track down the table, the models of the spaceship in the
center, Guido and his party on right, journalists on left and
at back. Tilt down to table top where we see the inverted
reflection of Luisa in a white wedding dress, MCU.
LUISA
(first off, then in
reflection)
What am I supposed to do? Go away?
Disappear? For me, you will never
again be what you were before. I
will no longer be your wife. When
will you truly marry me?
225.
726 CU: Guido, three-quarter profile, frame right; Pace’s dark

overcoat in background.
GUIDO
Luisa, is it really true that you
want a separation, that you want to
leave me?
LUISA (O.S.)
But how can I go on like this,
right to the end?!
727 MCU: track right, from Luisa, her eyes downcast, to left, the
journalists asking questions.
JOURNALIST
What does your wife think about
this?
More unintelligible questions.
728 From behind, MS, Agostini, Pace with his arm around Guido’s
shoulder, Cesarino gesticulating to the journalists. Track
left as Guido sits again. A photographer is leaning on the
table opposite Guido.
AGOSTINI
(speaking in Guido’s ear)
In your right-hand pocket, Boss!
Conocchia leans over to Guido.
CONOCCHIA
So long, Guido.
729 High angle CU: Guido in profile, looking down at the table,
Agostini speaking in his ear.
AGOSTINI
I put it in your right-hand pocket.
As Agostini exits frame Guido looks up in his direction, with

the beginning of a smile on his lips.
730 Low angle MCU: Agostini, looking in Guido’s direction, with a

conspiratorial expression.
731 MS of Agostini’s right shoulder, Guido looking toward him and

nodding. Camera is lowered as Guido ducks under the table.
PACE (O.S.)
Oh, no! No one can get away with
this.
226.
732 MS: Guido crawling forward on his hands and knees. Slight
track to right as Pace leans down to shout at him.
PACE (CONT’D)
Buffoon!
733 MS: track right, behind people’s legs, following Guido’s

progress beneath the table.

Get out of there, get out of there,
you coward.
734 CU: Guido’s back as he crawls beneath the table. He looks up,
over his shoulder. Track follows as he continues to crawl
forward.
GUIDO
Just a minute. Just a minute while
I think of what I should say.
Track forward to show Guido’s face CU. He removes his

glasses, looking up to the right.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
That’s right, that’s right!
(to Pace)
I’m coming right away. I’m coming
right away.
He turns over on his back, removes a gun from his jacket

pocket and puts it to his head.
DAUMIER (O.S.)
He’s an incurable romantic.
735 The music stops, the sound of the wind increases. MS of

Guido’s Mother, her back to the camera, standing on the
beach, looking at the sea. She turns abruptly and begins
running left.
GUIDO’S MOTHER
Guido! Guido!
Track follows her, then pulls back and up, leaving her in LS,
her arms raised.
GUIDO’S MOTHER (CONT’D)

Where are you running to, you
naughty boy?
The sound of a gunshot links this shot and the next.

227.
736 As in 734. Guido is still lying beneath the table, his back
to the camera in MCU. Having shot himself, his head hits the
floor.
SPACESHIP SET ON THE BEACH, LATER THE SAME DAY, THEN EVENING
737 LS: low angle pan left from one tower to the other, streamers
blowing in the wind that whistles even more loudly. The sound
of the wind, joined at first by that of the surf, varies in
intensity until 763.
738 LS: Guido, Agostini, and worker, looking up at the towers,

the set is desolate, abandoned.
AGOSTINI
Take everything down, boys. The
film is off. In two days it has to
be all gone. You have to start
right away. Get going. Tear it
down.
Looking around, Guido walks aimlessly.
AGOSTINI (CONT’D)
(to Guido)
Is that is, Boss?
GUIDO
(waving his hand)
Yes, thanks. So long, boys. I’ll
see you on another film.
Pan follows Guido left.
MAN’S VOICE
Let’s hope so.
Guido waves at the Sailor who does a few steps of his dance.
GUIDO
So long, Sailor.
Track back as Guido walks forward, then stops to take another

look at the tower behind him. Daumier appears in MCU,
profile, frame left, sitting at a table.
DAUMIER
You did the right thing. Believe
me... today is a good day for you.
Looking straight ahead rather than at Guido, he stands.

228.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
These are difficult decisions, I
know. But we intellectuals-I say
“we” because I consider you one-we
must remain lucid right to the end.
He turns left and walks a few steps, pan/track follows him in

MCU. The beach can be seen in the background.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
There are already too many
superfluous things in the world.
It’s not a good idea to add more
disorder to disorder.
He turns, leans on a car and smokes.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
In any case, losing money is part
of the producer’s job. I
congratulate you! You had no
choice.
He leans down, opens door, and gets in on the passenger’s

side.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
And he got what he deserves. To
have so thoughtlessly embarked on
such a frivolous project!
Track forward as he leans out the window, then leans back in

and looks down.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
Believe me, you should feel neither
nostalgia nor remorse. It’s better
to destroy than create when you’re
not creating those few things that
are truly necessary. And finally,
in this world of ours, is there
anything so just and true that it
has the right to survive? For him,
a bad film is only a fiscal event.
But for you, at this point in you
life, it could have been the end.
739 Pan left follows Guido walking beside car, MS to MCU. From
here, until 755, he wears a fixed, sad expression.
229.

It’s better to knock it all down
and strew the ground with salt, as
the ancients did, to purify the
battlefields.
In profile, Guido again looks up at the tower.

What we really need is...
740 Low angle LS: the workmen on platform, throwing down a

tubular structure. Pan follows structure as it falls and hits
the ground.

...some hygiene, some cleanliness,
some disinfection.
741 As in 739. Guido get into car.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
(off, then in frame, next
to Guido)
We’re stifled by words, images,
sounds that have no right to
exist...
742 High angle MS: Guido, right foreground, in driver’s seat,

Daumier, left background.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
...that come from the void and go
back to the void. Anyone who
deserves to be called an artist
should be asked to make this single
act of faith: to educate oneself to
silence.
Track in to MCU of Guido. Daumier is now out of frame.

Do you remember Mallarmé’s praise
of the white page? And Rimbaud...
743 From behind Guido, we see Maurice in LS through the

windshield. Pan right follows Maurice as he runs excitedly to
Daumier’s window, MS.
MAURICE
(to Guido)
Wait, Guido! Wait!
230.
DAUMIER
(to Guido)
...a poet, my friend, not a movie
director. Do you know what his
finest poetry was? His refusal to
continue writing and his departure
for Africa.
MAURICE
We’re ready to begin.
Pan follows Maurice as he runs around to Guido’s side. In

MCU, he leans into Guido’s window.
MAURICE (CONT’D)
All my best wishes!
He straightens up, looks up, and waves his cane.
DAUMIER (O.S.)
If you can’t have everything,...
744 CU: the back of Claudia’s head. She is walking on the beach,
now dressed in the white costume of the girl of the springs.
From this point through 756, various characters from the film
reappear on the beach, dressed in white. Most of them look at
Guido with love and compassion.

...true perfection is in
nothingness.
Her head bent, as if in an act of devotion, Claudia turns

toward the camera.

Forgive me for making all these
learned references. But we
critics..
Claudia looks up.
745 CU: through car window, Guido’s head bent in thought.

...do what we can. Our true job
is...
746 MS: track/pan around Nannies, one of them holding the child
Guido in her arms.

...to sweep away the thousands of
abortions that every day...
231.
747 Low angle MS: Saraghina at right of frame, her arm on her
him.

...obscenely...
748 High angle LS: Guido’s Father and Mother standing in field,
right.

...try to come into the world.
749 MCU: Guido’s father and Mother.

And you would really like...
750 CU: Daumier in car, his face almost completely in shadow.
DAUMIER (CONT’D)
...to leave behind you a complete
film, just like a cripple who
leaves behind his crooked
footprint!
751 CU: track with Claudia moving left, smiling.

What a monstrous presumption to
think that others might enjoy the
squalid catalogue...
752 LS: track follows Claudia moving left on beach.

...of your mistakes! And what good
would it do you to string
together...
753 CU: track follows Carla smiling, moving right, the Cardinal,
his entourage, and Saraghina, moving right in the background.

...the tattered pieces of your
life, your vague memories, or the
faces of...
754 LS: track with Cardinal’s entourage, Saraghina, the Nannies

and the child Guido, the Grandmother, walking right.

...the people that you were never
able to love?
232.
Pan to Guido’s Father and Mother, Jacqueline, the Beautiful

Unknown Woman, and Carla, walking forward.
755 As in 745. Guido rubs his head.
GUIDO
What is this sudden joy that makes
me tremble, gives me strength,
life?
756 LS: Rossella and Luisa walking forward. Rossella is speaking.

Behind them, a section of a circus ring with lights in its
base. A long white veil blows diagonally through the frame.

Please forgive me, sweet women.
Rossella stops, then walks left. Luisa, unsmiling, walks

forward into CU as camera rises.

I didn’t understand. I didn’t know.
How right it is to accept you, to
love you! And how simple it is!
Luisa, I feel as if I’ve been
freed. Everything seems good.
Everything is meaningful.
Everything is true.
Luisa momentarily tightens her lips in emotion.

Oh, I wish I knew how to explain
myself.
757 As in 755.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
But I don’t know how to say it. So
that’s it. Everything is as it was
before!
758 LS: pan right follows Maurice (in his black costume) running,
then tilt up to men standing on platform, adjusting arc
lights.
MAURICE
Turn them on!
233.
GUIDO (O.S.)
Everything is confused again!
MAURICE (O.S.)
The lights!
GUIDO (O.S.)
But all this confusion... it’s me,
myself.
759 LS, from further away, of men, platforms, and arc lights,
part of the tower rising behind them. A large white curtain
hangs left, a white veil floats across the top of the frame.
MAURICE (O.S.)
All the lights!
GUIDO (O.S.)
Myself as I am...
760 LS: the arc lights aimed down through floating veil, the
tower with streamers, right.

...not as I would like to be. And
it doesn’t...
761 As in 757. Guido continues rubbing the side of his head.

There is a glimmer of a smile on his face.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
...frighten me any more. To tell
the truth... what I don’t know...
what I’m looking for... what I
haven’t yet found! Only this way do
I feel alive, and can I...
762 As in 756. Luisa looks down, as in response to Guido.

...look at your faithful eyes
without shame. Life is a holiday!
Let’s live it together. I can’t say
anything else, Luisa... neither to
you nor to the others. Accept me as
I am, if you can. It’s the only way
we have to try to find each other.
234.
LUISA
I don’t know if what you said is
right.
763 As in 761.

But I can try...
Music: “La Passarella di addio,” a medley of many of the

film’s themes, played in a “circus” style.

...if you help me.
764 Pan left follows procession of four clowns approaching LS to

MS, the first two playing clarinets or recorders, the third a
tuba, the fourth a sousaphone. They are followed by Guido as
schoolboy, wearing a white uniform, playing a fife. This
group of musicians continues left, away from the camera,
toward the towers and lights. They continue playing the same
tune repeatedly until the end of the film, either by
themselves, or accompanied by the orchestra on the bandstand.
765 LS: Maurice running forward, a curtain billowing behind him,

in front of the towers and lights. The group of characters
dressed in white, led by Guido’s Mother and Father, enter the
frame from right and left foreground and walk toward Maurice.
He doffs his hat and motions for them to continue.
MAURICE
Welcome back! Come forward, come,
come forward!
766 Pan right follows Maurice in MCU. His back to camera, he

waves his cane and a white curtain is raised up, filling the
frame. Maurice turns in right profile and signals with his
cane.
767 LS: Guido walking right, then facing forward, first lost in
thought, then gesticulating and talking to himself. The
raised circus ring is behind him; a long white veil flutters
over it. Guido energetically waves his hat, left, signaling
to the five musicians to come toward him, then looks around.
The musicians enter frame left; pan follows right as Guido
moves with them, showing them where he wants them to go. In
the background, a trailer and workers. Pan follows the
musicians as they circle inside the ring. Guido lags back,
then walks beside Guido as Schoolboy. As the musicians exit
right, Guido takes a megaphone from a chair and runs forward
into MCU, looking right toward the marching musicians.
235.
GUIDO
Just a minute, just a minute. I’ll
give you the signal.
Pan right follows Guido approaching the musicians, who are

moving left to right, then toward camera. As they come
closer, he moves away and then left. Now in MS, they face
left and march in place.

(to Guido as Schoolboy)
There! Now go toward the curtain.
Pan follows Guido as Schoolboy who moves right toward the

large white curtains, then turns his back to the camera while
he continues to play. Track forward as he moves left toward
the opening of the curtains.

Open them!
As the orchestra joins in, the music reaches a higher level

of intensity. The curtains part; track left shows the
staircase leading to the tower. Many of the other
participants in the film, along with the production crew, are
descending the staircase in random order. They are all
chatting amiably.

Come down, everyone!
When the procession comes into MS the camera pans left on

Cesarino, Pace, and Agostini as they walk by.
768 The Musicians walk away toward the far side of the circus
ring; Guido crosses through their line, from left to right,
to the Cardinal and his party. A spotlight is turned on Guido
as he kneels to kiss the Cardinal’s ring. In the background,
the others are standing on the ring, holding hands. Guido as
Schoolboy crosses from right foreground to left background,
followed by Guido. The Cardinal and his party retreat toward
the others who are now moving to the right on the circus
ring. The circle is closed as Maya leads the line in from the
left and joins hands with the Twelve-Year-Old Girl. Pan right
as Cesarino and Pace move towards the ring. Gloria and
Mezzabotta appear walking left, their arms around each other,
in MS in the foreground. She is talking and playing with his
nose; he is smiling contentedly. Pan follows them left MCU.
As they exit, Guido’s Father and Mother, with serious
expressions, enter left and move right, in MS. Pan follows as
they slowly head toward the ring where the others are dancing
in place. When thy are mid-distance, their backs to the
camera, Guido enters the frame MCU, his back to the camera,
looking at them.
236.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Mother!
Guido’s Mother stops and turns; Guido waves at her. She

shrugs her shoulders, then runs to catch up with the Father,
who has not stopped walking away. Guido looks down, in
resignation.
CARLA (O.S.)
Sgulp!
She giggles. As Guido turns to her, pan left shows her in MCU
profile, facing him.
CARLA (CONT’D)
Now I’ve got it. You can’t do
without us. What time will you call
me tomorrow?
GUIDO
(impatiently patting
Carla’s cheeks)
Yes, yes. Now, hurry up! Get in
line with the others.
He exits left.

Maurice!
Pan follows Carla as she ambles left. Maurice runs toward

her, doffing his hat, smiling while Guido runs in the
opposite direction, turns in LS, puts the megaphone to his
mouth and gives an order.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Come ahead, quickly!
Maurice leads Carla away from the camera, right, to the ring.
Guido faces right, speaking into the megaphone.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Stop fooling around. Everybody hold
hands! Spread out! Everyone
together, everyone together!
The orchestra strikes up a fanfare. Guido turns in its

direction and holds up his arms as a signal to begin.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Maestro!
MAURICE
Everybody hold hands!
237.
He begins laughing.
769 CU: Maurice, his cane raised, smiling his broad smile, then
leading to the left. Pan left. Maurice leaves the frame and
Carla replaces him.
770 LS: Guido walking to the right. The musicians are playing,
their backs to the camera; a photographer in front of the
ring trains his camera on the cast moving left on the ring in
time to the music, holding hands. Pan follows Guido right to
Luisa, standing next to a tubular structure. Guido takes her
hand. At first she hesitates, then accepts Guido’s gesture.
Pan left follows Guido and Luisa walking in foreground, the
cast dancing in the background. Dusk has fallen. Guido and
Luisa enter the dancing circle.
771 From the opposite side, LS of the cast dancing along the
ring, left to right, the large curtains and the scaffolding
in the background. Pan right. A man standing inside the ring
is motioning for everyone to continue moving.
772 Night. The figures, now unidentifiable, dance right in MCU.

Tilt down to the center of the ring where the four clowns and
Guido as Schoolboy are marching forward and back in time to
their music, LS. Pan and spotlight follow them as they move
left and away from camera. Guido as Schoolboy separates
himself from the others, then turns to face and conduct them
with one hand while continuing to play his fife with the
other. Crane up to the left as the clowns march off, exiting
right, leaving Guido as Schoolboy, a small figure in the
large oval of the spotlight. The lights in the surrounding
ring shine brightly in the darkness. We now hear only the
fife, accompanied by the orchestra. Pan right follows Guido
as Schoolboy and his spotlight into the dark center of the
arena. The spotlight is turned off; the boy exits right. The
remaining lights in the ring are turned off. The music
continues as the credits begin.
THE END
238.
SECTIONS OF SHOOTING SCRIPT NOT INCLUDED IN FINISHED FILM
COUNTRY CEMETERY, GUIDO’S DREAM, 105-116
Near the beginning of the sequence, just after the Mother

finishes weeding the grave (106), she addresses Guido.
MOTHER
If we don’t look after it, who
will? That way we have a clear
conscience. The most important this
is not to come empty-handed. We
mustn’t be selfish. Look at your
uncle. Sooner or later you have to
pay for it. Have you eaten? What do
you want to eat?
GUIDO
(reprovingly, almost
annoyed)
Stop it. You’ll tire yourself out.
(Then, hesitating, and in
a familiar tone of
sadness)
You’re Mother, aren’t you?
The woman stop weeding and turns to look at Guido, smiling

intensely. Moved, brimming with affection and gratitude at
being recognized, she speaks softly.
MOTHER
Guido!...
(Then in a voice trembling
with sob)
Never-it never ends! Everything was
in order just a moment ago. From
morning to night all I do is start
over from the beginning... for
nothing! Since I was married,
that’s all I’ve done! I can’t stand
it any more!...
Following the exchange with his father, Guido is again

addressed by his mother.
MOTHER (CONT’D)
(with the false
seriousness of a
journalist)
What is the extent of your
nonconformism?
239.
GUIDO
(jarred)
I don’t know.
MOTHER
Will you please list the ten
things, of a practical nature, that
bother you most in life...
GUIDO
I can’t remember...
MOTHER
Oh, Guido, Guido... why are you
behaving like this?
(Again using the tone of
the journalist)
Do you ever lie to yourself? And if
so, under what circumstances?
(Then sorrowfully)
Do you still bite your fingernails?
A small procession is passing on the cemetery path below: two

or three women in tears, a police official in an elaborate
uniform, a weeping ballerina in tutu, two clowns, and three
children licking their ice creams.
GUIDO’S HOTEL ROOM, NIGHT, 303-317
Guido opens the door and enters. He is suddenly surrounded by

a deep, unreal silence. The dark-haired girl who previously
appeared to him is turning down his bed. She is dressed as a
maid; she turns to him, smiling expectantly. For a few
moments, Guido stares at her without speaking, he too
smiling; then, making something of an effort, as if to
prevent the girl from reappearing, he speaks in a hollow
voice.
GUIDO
What is your name?
CLAUDIA
Claudia.
Guido moves slowly toward her and takes her hand. She gives
it to him, smiling, but a bit agitated.
GUIDO
Claudia...
DISSOLVE.
240.
Guido and Claudia are lying next to each other in bed. In the
unreal silence that continues to surround them, their voices
seem slightly abstract.
CLAUDIA
Do you want me to stay here so that
you can steal in to see me once in
a while? Whatever you like will be
fine. Do you want to come back next
year and start over? I’ll be
waiting for you. Or perhaps you
never want to see me again? That
too is possible, if you prefer...
Do you want me to leave with you? I
don’t want to be a bother, that’s
all...
GUIDO
Would you come away with me?
CLAUDIA
Today, if you like. I don’t even
need to return home...
GUIDO
To go away and start over...
Doesn’t this frighten you? You
know, I won’t be able to marry you.
Do you know what kind of life we’ll
have?
CLAUDIA
It would be worse if we were apart.
GUIDO
Look straight at me. I’ll tell you
in one word what I am: a coward.
CLAUDIA
I don’t believe you. And even if it
were...
Claudia kisses Guido passionately; he returns her kiss with

force.
THE FARMHOUSE KITCHEN, GUIDO’S HAREM FANTASY, 509-574
The scene is divided into four distinct locations: (1)

Described as a Flemish farmhouse, the set is first shown from
the exterior. Guido arrives by sleigh. (2) Guido enters the
kitchen and distributes the presents. Many of the women have
names different from those in the film. Among them are a
trapeze artist and a ballerina in tutu.
241.
There is no indication that Luisa is dressed like a peasant.

There is a shot from the kitchen into Carla’s sumptuous
bedroom, where Carla is singing and eating ice cream. When
Guido goes to take his bath he finds a “gift” from the other
women-Moana, an oriental girl. Luisa complains that Kiki
(Jacqueline in the film), a German soubrette, is jealous and
answers back. Guido scolds Kiki. There is no reference to her
age or to her exile “upstairs,” and very little of her dance.
After everyone sits down to eat, two of the women begin
fighting and are silences by Guido. Then, all the women turn
on him. (3) A wild animal cage in a circus. Guido is dressed
as a trainer. With his whip, he makes the “women transformed
into tigers” jump through a hoop. The tigers attack him, but
he forces them back to another cage. An invisible audience
applauds. (4) A cell and corridor in a convent. Guido bids
the women good night. After going to bed in his own cell, he
hears a woman weeping and discovers that it is Luisa. An
expression of infinite remorse, of terrible pain appears on
Guido’s face; he doesn’t dare go near her.
LUISA
(still crying softly and
desperately)
Why this shame... this
mortification? Why, Guido? Why do
you make me live like this? I am
your wife... you are my husband...
Now bitter tears streak Guido’s face too: tears of remorse,

suffering, anguish. He keeps looking at his wife, proudly.
This sequence is followed by four scenes that are not in the

film:
CHURCH, INTERIOR, DAY
A brief flashback to the wedding of Guido and Luisa, fifteen

years previously.
CAFE AT SPA, INTERIOR, DAY
Guido and Luisa are seated together, both very upset. They
have just quarreled. Luisa suddenly gets up and leaves; Guido
follows her.
STREETS OF CHIANCIANO, EXTERIOR, EVENING
Walking alone, Guido passes by shop windows. In one of them

he sees a large aquarium; women wearing breathing equipment
are swimming in it, publicizing American bathing suits. Young
men are watching. He passes by other shops and stands.
242.
A blond woman tending a shooting gallery invites Guido to

try, but he refuses. At another stand he sees the glass
coffin of a fakir. (Elements of this part of the scene appear
in the continuity, 424.) Posters announce, “The great wonder:
Fakir Toulah will be reborn for you after being dead for
forty days.” Admission is 100 lire.
The stand is empty except for a woman about fifty, perhaps

German, seated next to the glass coffin, reading a Mickey
Mouse comic book album. She looks up at the window, sees
Guido, looks down again. She is dressed simply, in a cocktail
gown. Over it, she wears a green sweater made of second-rate
wool.
FAKIR’S STAND, INTERIOR, NIGHT
Guido enters slowly. The woman rises, comes toward him and
gives him a ticket. Guido pays.
GUIDO
Are you his wife?
FAKIR’S WIFE
Yes.
Guido looks curiously at the glass coffin. A bee is buzzing

around it, its buzzing mixing with the hissing of the
defective neon lights that go on and off. Guido slowly
approaches.
GUIDO
When will he wake up?
FAKIR’S WIFE
Monday.
GUIDO
And how long has he been inside
this thing?
FAKIR’S WIFE
For twenty-five days.
The woman tries to shoo the bee away with her hand, then
turns to fix a neon light. In silence, Guido looks inside the
coffin; a little snake has awakened and is lazily crawling up
the fakir’s leg. Guido shudders slightly. He looks up slowly,
and mechanically directs his gaze straight ahead, to the
window of the stand. On the other side of the window, in the
street, he sees a dark-haired girl, elegantly dressed, who
looks just like the Claudia he has been imagining.
243.
For a moment or two, Guido is motionless, as if he fears that

what he sees is an hallucination, but the everyday noises
around him haven’t stopped. Actually, everything is solid and
real: through the window, in the street he sees two or three
girls who surround the dark-haired girl, asking her for
something. Other people stop and stand around, looking on
with curiosity. The dark-haired girl smiles, answers, while
the people who have clustered around hand her slips of paper
or autograph books that she begins to sign. Guido rapidly
goes out the door of the stand.
GUIDO
Claudia!
CLAUDIA
(waving at him and
laughing)
Hi!
Guido makes his way through the thickening crowd of people.
GUIDO
When did you arrive? Why didn’t you
let me know?
More and more besieged by her admirers, she doesn’t answer.

Still smiling, but now a little annoyed, she tries to defend
herself and to ward off her fans and the repeated requests
for autographs.
CLAUDIA
That’s all for now... please...
excuse me. Just this one and that’s
all. I can’t... please.
Guido intervenes, takes her by the arm and tries to clear a

path. Then, finding no other solution, be pulls her inside
the stand, pushing away the people who want to follow them
and closing the door.
GUIDO
Pardon me... let us through...
that’s all!
After a moment of surprise at finding herself next to the

fakir’s coffin, Claudia laughs, amused, with a nearly
childish innocence.
CLAUDIA
But what is this? Oooh! Look, look!
This scares me!
Because the people continue to crowd the street, in front of

the window, Guido turns to the fakir’s wife.
244.
GUIDO
Will you please close up... for
just a few minutes? Then we’ll go.
Here, see...
He himself pulls a curtain in front of the window, hiding the

interior from the view of the crowd. He excuses himself once
more to the woman who is disconcerted and a bit hostile.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Excuse me... just a few minutes.
He then turns to Claudia, taking her hands.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
Claudia! You’re so beautiful!
Weren’t you supposed to arrive
tomorrow? I would have met you in
the hotel.
He leans forward to kiss her on her cheeks. With spontaneity,

laughing, she kisses him back.
CLAUDIA
(eagerly)
When do we begin?
This scene dissolves to:
GUIDO’S CAR, NIGHT, 657-670
Guido is slowly driving down a dark and deserted country

road; Claudia is sitting beside him, listening attentively,
trying hard to understand, absorbed like a little girl
listening to a fairy tale.
GUIDO
He’s seen her, spoken to her, then
built on this in his imagination...
disconnected notions that he is
unable to articulate. He can’t get
at their meaning. In a word, your
character... the character of this
girl... ought to in some way
represent his romantic aspirations.
Even if he isn’t able to give her
form, to bring her to life, she’s
important to him... very important.
He can’t give her up, because if he
did, if would be like giving up all
hope. Do you understand?
He laughs, changes tone.

245.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
In fact, that’s why I asked you to
come.
A bit troubled, Claudia barely smiles.
CLAUDIA
(seriously)
But who is this girl? A student? Or
does she work? Where did he meet
her?
GUIDO
He’s supposed to have met her here.
No, she’s not a student. First I
thought that she was the daughter
of a museum guard, brought up among
old paintings... almost an ancient
image herself... really Italian.
Then, I changed my mind. Perhaps
she lives near a level-crossing.
She works at the spa, or in a
hotel. It’s a possibility.
Solid and sincere, Claudia looks at him with alarm.
CLAUDIA
A possibility? But is this role in
the film? I’ll bet you haven’t even
written it yet.
Guido answers as if he were making a playful confession, as

if he were a bit of a cheat.
GUIDO
No, it’s not written. It hasn’t
even been thought up.
Claudia doesn’t really understand if Guido is kidding her or

telling the truth, and she plays along, but is obviously
concerned.
CLAUDIA
Listen... when do I begin? And how
will you ever begin?
GUIDO
(with a feigned, playful
certainty)
Don’t worry. I’ll begin. In two
weeks.
He laughs, then changes his tone.

246.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
You know, this film is a bit
special for me. The characters must
take shape as things happen,
especially in your case... They
don’t have an autonomous life.
(Kidding her
affectionately)
Do you know what “autonomous”
means?
CLAUDIA
Autonomous? Yes, autonomous.
GUIDO
(aggressively)
You, for example, have you ever
been in love? Could you fall in
love with a man like him?
Claudia is barely ruffled and in her own well-balanced way,

she gets back to the facts.
CLAUDIA
But he’s married, isn’t he?
GUIDO
Yes. I told you that. And he even
has another woman, a mistress.
CLAUDIA
Oh! So what is it he’s looking for?
If his wife really loves him, I
don’t think he’s such a nice guy.
GUIDO
No, maybe he isn’t nice. Why does
he have to be nice?
CLAUDIA
But does he at least love his wife?
Who’s playing the wife? Does she
have a big part?
GUIDO
He doesn’t know if he loves her.
Basically, he does, a lot. But she
is the source of his constant
guilt... can you love what makes
you guilty? She had become more and
more foreign to him, like a judge
who you know thinks you’re guilty
even while he smiles.
(MORE)
247.
GUIDO (CONT'D)
And the other woman is a kind of
memory, a kind of nurturing but
destructive mother. Do you follow
me? Do you understand?
Worried, Claudia shakes her head from side to side, only half
kidding.
CLAUDIA
(candidly)
I only understand that there’s a
big confusion...
COURTYARD OF OLD BUILDING, NIGHT, 671-672
GUIDO
Sometimes I think I have everything
clearly in mind... I actually think
that the film is already
finished... perhaps because they
are my memories... my things. But
sometimes, I lose it all,
everything becomes confused...
useless... a little like my life.
What sense does it make? Oh,
well!...
Guido asks Claudia not to repeat any of this to the newspaper

men. They resume their conversation in the car.
GUIDO’S CAR, NIGHT, 676-694
Back in the car, once the doors are shut, instead of driving
off, Guido turns to look at Claudia in an entirely
professional way. She is in the shadows.
GUIDO
Have you ever tried to wear your
hair up? How do you look with your
hair up? Try it for a minute.
Claudia obeys the director at once.
CLAUDIA
I don’t like it. It’s not becoming.
GUIDO
Turn. This way. You look wonderful.
Turn the other way.
He looks at her in silence for a moment, then starts the car.

248.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
I had also thought he might picture
her in many different poses. This
way, for example... as you are now.
Then, in a meadow. Then, once, in
his room in the hotel. She goes
there unexpectedly, and they sleep
together.
CLAUDIA
But is she in love with him?
GUIDO
Yes, I think so. She must be in
love. Actually, it is exactly this-
the offer of something new-that
surprises him, that changes his
life.
CLAUDIA
You have to forgive me, but this
girl is really a little odd...
after all, she’s seen him only
once!
GUIDO
That’s just the point. It’s as if
she had always seen him. For
example, she should say to him,
“You are the first man in my life.
I’ve been waiting for you. If you
want, I’ll leave with you... if you
want, I’ll wait for you. I’ll do
anything at all, as long as I can
be with you.” Would you say such
things to a man?
CLAUDIA
(a bit troubled)
I don’t know. It depends... If I
really loved him. But then, it
depends on what you want to do.
Obviously, if that poor girl has
really fallen in love with a guy
like that, she’s in for a lot of
pain. What’s her name?
GUIDO
I’d like to call her Claudia.
CLAUDIA
But that’s my name.
249.
GUIDO
Yes. Do you mind? She must be like
you. Actually, I chose you...
Smiling, Claudia throws him a confused glance and looks a bit

upset.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
(in a different tone)
I know that I’m explaining myself
badly. OK, think of a man about
forty... like me.
CLAUDIA
Oh! You’re forty? I thought...
GUIDO
Older?
Girlishly, Claudia tries to cover up her gaffe.
CLAUDIA
No. Because you wear glasses.
Guido takes them off.
GUIDO
Like this?
CLAUDIA
Thirty-nine.
They laugh.
GUIDO
No. Seriously, now. Picture a man
of my age. Because he refuses to
face the truth, he has never wanted
to examine his feelings clearly...
or perhaps simply isn’t able to
examine them. One day he happens to
meet a girl, someone like you. How
old are you?
CLAUDIA
Twenty-one.
GUIDO
Does that seem too young?
Claudia appears frank, serious, a bit troubled.

250.
CLAUDIA
No. Why? If I really loved someone,
age wouldn’t matter.
There is a silence. Guido has slowed down so much that the

car stops, almost by itself. They are surrounded only by the
nocturnal countryside, full of crickets and rustling noises.
For a few moments, Guido seems absorbed and lost in his own
thoughts.
CLAUDIA (CONT’D)
(softly)
Well, how does it all end?
Guido rouses himself, looks at her for a moment. Then,

instead of answering, he speaks as if he were following the
thread of his thoughts.
GUIDO
He feels that there is something
behind a glass, meant just for
him... like a rebirth. That is,
this thing ought to make him
understand that he was outside
everything, outside of life. And
even though he understands the
sincerity of this offer with
dazzling clarity... he... he’s
so... so...
CLAUDIA
Cowardly?
Claudia has been frank and direct, but there is something

very personal in her tone. Guido starts slightly.
GUIDO
Well, a little too... cowardly?
Suppose that when I saw you at the
fakir’s, on the other side of the
window, I had understood that
you... you yourself, Claudia, just
as you are... were ready to... love
me. That with you, I could begin
all over again. Naturally, I don’t
know how... but suppose it had
really happened like this, and that
then I hadn’t had the courage to
break the window, because there
were people around... because I
didn’t want to be taken for a
madman. Now, do you understand?
Yes... essentially a coward.
(MORE)
251.
GUIDO (CONT'D)
And if you had waited a little,
smiling at me, and then gone
away... You know, when I saw you,
for a minute I wasn’t sure if it
was really you.
Teetering between fiction and reality, his tone has become

more and more emotional; even Claudia is touched.
CLAUDIA
(whispering)
But does he say these things to
her? If he loves her, why doesn’t
he say them to her? It would be
much simpler.
Guido stares at her in the shadows.
GUIDO
And even if he said them? This is
exactly the point. He’s so
entangled, so tired. What kind of
courage can he have? What can he
hope for? What should they do
afterwards, in your opinion? Go off
together?
There is a thoughtful silence.
CLAUDIA
(softly, troubled, but
still direct and
truthful)
Well, if he can’t love either his
wife or the other woman, his
mistress... why should he love this
one? Perhaps he isn’t able to
love... and then nothing’s of any
use.
Another brief silence, but the charm has been broken.

Starting the motor, Guido speaks in a matter-of-fact tone,
somewhere between the playful and the bitter.
GUIDO
So that’s that, it’s over. Let’s
cut the part. Or, let’s not make
the film at all.
Almost relieved, but a little worried, Claudia goes along

with the joke.
252.
CLAUDIA
It doesn’t make any sense to me. I
have a contract and you’ll have to
pay me.
GUIDO
And yet she does exist. That
girl... she exists. I know that she
exists. I know her. So there.
He applies the brakes a bit abruptly.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
I even know where she lives. She
lives over there. That house, near
the level-crossing. Now I’ll let
you see her so you’ll be convinced.
Amused like a child, a bit excited, Claudia laughs.
CLAUDIA
Where are you going? What are you
doing?
Guido helps her out of the car.
GUIDO
Get out. We’ll ring, and I’ll get
Claudia for you.
STREET AND LEVEL-CROSSING, NIGHT
The car has stopped close to a level-crossing, before which

there is a small house, closed and silent. Heading toward the
house, Guido takes Claudia by the hand. She laughs like a
little girl, exited and a little frightened.
GUIDO
Come. Where’s the bell?
Claudia pulls her hand away from Guido’s and runs back.
CLAUDIA
No, no. What will you say? At this
time of night! Don’t act crazy. In
any case, it’s not true.
But she is amused, and not really absolutely sure that

Claudia doesn’t exist. Guido rings, knocks at the door.
GUIDO
Claudia sleep up there. That’s her
room. She’s coming down now.
253.
He is interrupted by the opening of a window: an old woman,

disheveled and barely awake, leans out. Laughing and
frightened, Claudia is not sure whether she should hide in
the car. She looks on, vastly amused.
WOMAN
Who is it? What do you want?
GUIDO
Pardon me... The bookkeeper... the
one who works for the township... I
don’t know his name... does he live
here?
WOMAN
Who?
GUIDO
The township bookkeeper... I don’t
remember his name.
WOMAN
No, no. What bookkeeper? It’s only
us here.
GUIDO
I’m sorry. Please forgive me. They
told us he lives here. Good night.
The woman closes the window. Guido turns to Claudia who is

now laughing openly, like a girl.
CLAUDIA
Is that your Claudia?
Playfully, but not a bit mischievously, Guido takes her by

the hand.
GUIDO
It’s you who are Claudia.
And he tries to kiss her hair. Claudia laughs and slips into
the car, pulling away from him.
CLAUDIA
Shall we go back? I’m a bit hungry.
GUIDO
(closing the car door,
vaguely)
Yes. Let’s go back.
254.
FIRST VERSION OF FINAL SEQUENCES
It is difficult to ascertain which elements of the following

scenes were shot. There are production stills of Guido and
Luisa leaving for the train station in a car, walking near
railroad tracks, and sitting in the station, on the beach
where Guido waited for Carla, as in 65. Deena Boyer recounts
the filming of the following:
Guido’s death dream: Maurice driving a car (not a hearse) in

the lobby of hotel; Pace wrapped in sheet, made up to
resemble Oscar Wilde or Rossini, kissing the windows of the
car; Guido emerging from beneath the press conference table,
then approaching a large black curtain hanging over the
launching pad stairway.
Guido and Luisa leaving their hotel room.
Guido and Luisa in lobby, departing for train.
The dining car scene.
At a preliminary screening of the film, on November 10, 1962,

the dining car scene still concluded the film.
Dissolve to Guido on a beach, half-dressed, bleeding. An
assistant tells Guido that he is really dead. A hearse pulls
up and Guido happily gets in next to the driver, who is the
American actor made up as Guido. As the hearse pulls away,
the beach is replaced by a marvelous green valley full of
flowers. The hearse drives through a great church, splendidly
adorned for a festival, then through a long picture gallery
hung with masterpieces. These vanish and are replaced by a
magnificent public square. Then the hearse goes down a spiral
road, past scenes from Guido’s life: a statue of the
Cardinal, his hotel room with Carla waiting for him on the
bed, Luisa in the lobby, the production office, his desk in
school, the farmhouse, Saraghina on the beach. The scenes are
repeated in an accelerated rhythm. Guido screams.
GUIDO’S HOTEL ROOM, INTERIOR, DAY
Guido is packing his bags. Carini (Daumier) speaks as he does

in 738. They exit together.
CORRIDOR OF HOTEL AND PRODUCTION OFFICE, INTERIOR, DAY
Walking down the corridor with Carini, Guido stops for a

moment in the production office. It bears the marks of the
abandoned film: scattered objects, models thrown to the
floor, etc. Two people are packing up. Guido hopes they will
work together again, as in 738.
255.
LOBBY, SPA HOTEL, INTERIOR, DAY
Luisa is sitting on a couch in the nearly deserted lobby.

When Guido and Carini come out of the elevator, she collects
her things and exits. Guido has all the luggage taken out.
THE SPA GARDEN, EXTERIOR, DAY (SUNSET EFFECT)
The bus goes quickly down the street. There are fewer shops
open than before and fewer people in the street. The little
city is reacquiring its dreary, provincial look.
BUS, INTERIOR, DAY (SUNET EFFECT)
Inside the bus heading toward the station, Guido and Luisa
have begun and are continuing a bitter argument, but in a
dense and calm manner.
LUISA
But wouldn’t you feel freer, too?
Now I’m the one who’s offering you
complete freedom. In any case, I’m
no good to you at all this way. I’m
just a nuisance to you.
GUIDO
I never said that. If that were the
case, I would be the one to insist
on a separation, wouldn’t I?
(With a genuine attempt at
cordiality, almost
smiling)
Instead, you’re the one.
Luisa reacts to this with bitter resentment because she

thinks it is an effort, prompted by his selfishness, to reach
a superficial compromise.
LUISA
But I would feel freer, too. Please
think about it seriously, because I
don’t feel I can go on like this.
It’s not very pleasant, you know...
feeling that I’m always a burden to
you... forcing you to lie. I can’t
stand it any more.
GUIDO
You talk as if your life were hell,
all because of me. I don’t think
that’s true.
256.
LUISA
What do you know about it? I don’t
report to you every time I feel
desperate.
There is a pause.
GUIDO
Suppose we separate. What then?
We’ve talked about it so often. So
we separate, and then what do we
do? What would change? You would
always be my wife, I your husband.
Would you look for another man?
Tell me the truth, Luisa... would
you live with another man?
Now Luisa’s answer has a tone that is almost aggressive, that

then turns bitter.
LUISA
So you’ve understood nothing at
all. Listen to him! I want it so I
can live calmly... in peace. If
nothing else is possible, I want at
least a little serenity. I’ll have
some peace of mind. I made a
mistake... well, it’s finished,
over! It didn’t work out for me.
Worriedly, Guido looks at her as if she were a little girl.
GUIDO
By yourself? But you’re thirty-
seven, Luisa! What are you going to
do alone, at your age? Ten, twenty
years alone, until you get old...
LUISA
Why? Aren’t I alone now? What do
you give me? What do I have to look
forward to? I can begin again,
that’s all. Before it’s too late.
I’ll find something. I’ll begin
again.
GUIDO
And who would have the strength to
do that? Another life, after
fourteen years...
257.
He stops talking as the car pulls to a stop. Guido

immediately opens the door while the driver, who has already
gotten out, comes around to him. The car is parked in front
of the station.
GUIDO (CONT’D)
(hurriedly, to the driver)
Please unload immediately.
(Calling out)
Porter!
THE STATION SHED IN THE SPA CITY, EXTERIOR, NIGHT
Now Guido and Luisa are on the platform, waiting for the
train. There are not many departing passengers so the long
platform seems almost deserted in the deep evening shadow.
The bell signaling the arrival of the train rings
insistently. Guido and Luisa continue speaking, but they now
converse in even lower voices, in a tone that is even more
bewildered, anguished, emotional.
GUIDO
It’s not that we make a bad couple.
Even if divorce were possible...
Luisa, I’m sure that even if I
remarried I wouldn’t find a better
wife than you. That’s the problem.
It would be exactly the same...
actually, worse.
LUISA
That may be true for you... but how
about me? You always think only of
yourself.
GUIDO
No, it would be true for me, for
you, for everyone. Change? What
does that mean? Are you really
convinced that another husband...
another man, would be better than
me? Maybe so, but so much better as
to justify the strain of beginning
all over again? The strain, the
risk, the pain...
Luisa is quiet for a moment, overcome by deep, almost

desperate bewilderment.
LUISA
(choked up)
And so?
258.
Guido has the same disconsolate bewilderment in his voice.
GUIDO
And so, nothing.
LUISA
Can we go on like this? For how
long? Always this way, until the
end?
GUIDO
I know that there’s a
misunderstanding, a big
misunderstanding. We have to see if
it’s out fault.
The train has appeared down the tracks and comes forward
quickly, its signal light on, finally slowing to a stop. The
din increases.
LUISA
But I don’t want to go on like
this! Right to the end, always like
this.
DISSOLVE.
DINING CAR, INTERIOR, NIGHT
Guido and Luisa are seated at a table, waiting for dinner to

be served. Lost in their thoughts, they are not speaking.
There are few people at the other tables. A sense of silence
and solitude hangs over everything. The train is traveling
very fast.
Guido follows the rapid appearance and disappearance of the

nocturnal countryside beyond the window-a group of
illuminated houses, then suddenly the dark countryside again,
upon which races the outline of the train with its lighted
windows. Guido’s deformed shadow is lengthened, shortened,
disappears, reappears.
A short tunnel swallows the train for a moment. Amidst a

clanging of metal, the brightness of the windows rapidly
plays on the black walls, then is again projected on the
countryside. In the distance the dark outline of mountains
appears, still rimmed by a feeble light. In a wood enclosure,
some horses appear for a moment, still as statues in the
darkness. Guido’s shadow lengthens and shortens again,
rapidly dancing over the deserted fields.
Guido distractedly turns his gaze to the interior of the

dining car and looks at Luisa intensely.
259.
Luisa raises her eyes; she stares into his. Their gazes are
like a reciprocal question, reciprocal attempts to discover
each other... Guido again looks out the window; Luisa looks
elsewhere.
And again, the unreal, fantastic images of the night world

that the train is rapidly crossing, appear and disappear,
appear and disappear, to the rhythm of the wheels on the
rails.
Once again Guido looks at the interior of the dining car, but
now, with its tables lit from beneath pink lampshades, it
seems very long, as unreal as the landscape outside; and the
tables are filled with people. It’s a strange crowd-quiet,
composed, silent: the Father and the Mother, the Cardinal and
Saraghina, Claudia and Carla, the women of the harem and
Carini, the Fakir, the telepathists and Mezzabotta, all the
characters from Guido’s life, all together on the same
journey toward the same goal, no one refutable, no one
rejectable, all of them calmly smiling at Guido like good
companions. Guido’s face changes as he is deeply moved,
grateful. His eyes are lit as if by a sudden discovery. He
stands; his lips move as if he were uttering disconnected,
broken words.
Luisa looks at him amazed. Even the waiter who was about to
serve stops in the middle of a gesture, dumbfounded. Standing
straight up, his face lit up, Guido is speaking confusedly to
everyone, even to the audience at the movies.
GUIDO
Yes, yes. That’s right, that’s
right... I’ve got it. It’s very
easy... yes everything... is as
if... everyone together... me...
you... oh God, how can I explain
this to you? Thank you, thank you,
everyone... All we have to do is
not hold back... not object. It’s
very easy... everything is fine...
fine... if only...
He stops and looks around, bewildered.
The dining cat has regained its normal dimensions, its normal
appearance; the crowd has disappeared. A few people are
seated at the tables. Luisa and the waiter, dumbfounded, are
looking at Guido.
Embarrassed, but still very moved, Guido attempts a smile and

sits down again. He keeps his head bent, in a state of
complete and happy bewilderment, while the waiter serves him.
When the latter has gone away, he looks up at Luisa.
260.
The perception that he had for an instant has already

vanished like a dream; now he is anxiously trying to clarify
it, to confirm it, to define it, and although he is unable
to, he is still intensely moved, happy.
With a sudden gesture, he stretches his hand across the table

and clasps Luisa’s hand. He again looks toward the audience
at the movies in a last effort to communicate “something”
that is already far away, forgotten, ungraspable.
The screen slowly darkens; from the dark screen can be heard
only the secure, grandiose, powerful, unstoppable rhythm of
the train, confidently hurling itself into the night.
261.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE SHOOTING OF 8½
1962
May 9: Auditorium of Movie Theater, night, 572-622 (Miss

Olimpia’s screen test)
May 11: Hotel Room/Production Office, night, 274-288
May 13: Guido’s Hotel Room, day, 19-31
May 17: guido’s Bathroom, 32-33
May 18: Departure from Hotel (discarded first ending)
May 19: Claudia in Hotel Corridor, with bicycle (discarded)
May 21: Guido’s Hotel Room, night, 303-317
May 23: Dining Room in Carla’s Hotel, day, 74-92
May 25: Carla’s Hotel Room, day, 93-102
May 28: The Terrace and Grounds of the Spa, day, 34-64
June 4: The Terrace and Grounds of the Space, night, 148-225
June 12: The Terrace and Grounds of the Spa, day, 34-64 (the
meeting of Daumier, Mezzabotta, Gloria, and Guido); 325-351
(Guido going to meet the Cardinal)
June 15: The Elevator Car, 120-128
June 16: Carla’s Hotel Room, day, 93-104 (retakes)
June 18: The Corridor, outside the Production Office, night,

289-302
June 19: Guido’s Hotel Room, night, 474-492
June 20: Driving in Claudia’s Car, night, 660-670
June 21: The Grounds of the Spa, day, 325-351 (Guido’s

meeting with the Cardinal)
June 22: Guido’s death dream: a car in hotel corridor, driven

by Maurice (discarded)
June 26: The Thermal Baths of the Spa, day, 396-421 (the
descent down the long staircase)
June 30: Lobby of Hotel, day, 129-147

262.
July 3: Lobby departure (discarded first ending); Lobby of

Hotel, night, 248-273 (Guido on telephone)
July 4: Lobby scenes later discarded-the guests making up

games on a rainy day; the death dream, Pace, wrapped in
sheet, kissing the windows of the phantom car
July 5: Chapel in School, day, 383
July 6: Courtyard of Old Building, night, 671-694; The Dining

Room, Hotel, day, 392-395 (Guido, Daumier, the Cardinal, and
the Russian singer)
July 13: The Schoolroom, day, 379; Corridor and School

Principal’s Office, day, 372-378 (Guido on staircase)
July 14: Corridor and School Principal’s Office, day, 372-378

(Guido being examined by Principal)
July 16: Chapel in School, day, 384-389 (Guido’s confession);

departure of Guido and Luisa from Hotel (discarded first
ending); the wedding of Guido and Luisa (discarded)
July 17: Auditorium and Lobby of Movie Theater, night, 575-

655
July 23: Driving in Claudia’s Car, night 660-670
July 24: The Dining Car (discarded first ending)
July 25: Exit Stairway leading to Street, night, 656
July 27: Café in the Public Square, day, 493-508; dusk, 422-
445 (Luisa’s walk)
July 28: Street, night, 657-659
July 30: Café in the Public Square, day, 493-508 (Luisa and
Carla dance); dusk, 422-445 (Guido follows Luisa)
August 2: Café in the Public Square, dusk, 422-445 (Luisa and

Guido dance)
August 4: The Thermal Baths of the Spa, day, 396-421 (Guido’s

interview with the Cardinal)
August 6: Dining Room in Carla’s Hotel, day, 74-92 (Carla

eating chicken)
August 7: The Farmhouse, Guido’s Harem Fantasy, 509-574
August 9: Country Cemetery, Guido’s Dream, 105-116
August 11: The train Station, day, 65-73

263.
August 12: The Train Station, departure of Guido and Luisa

(discarded first ending)
August 13: The Farmhouse Bedroom, night, 239-244
August 18: The Farmhouse, Guido’s Harem Fantasy, 509-574
August 30: Auditorium of Movie Theater, night, 575-622 (the

hanging of Daumier); Lobby of Movie Theater, night, 623-630
August 31: The Farmhouse Bedroom, night, 239-244; Auditorium

of Movie Theater, night, 575-622 (the screen test for the
part of Luisa)
September 1: The Sky, 10-12; An Underpass, 1-9
September 3: The Dining Car (discarded first ending)
September 4: The Schoolyard, day 352-355
September 5: Carla’s Hotel Room, day, 318-324; 93-104
September 6: The Beach, day, 356-371
September 8: The Set of the Spaceship, night, 446-473
September 14: The Sky, 10-12; A Beach, 13-18
September 17: Spaceship Set of the Beach, later the same day,
then evening, 737-772
September 18: An Underpass, 1-9 (Guido’s flight)
September 22: The Set of the Spaceship, night, 446-473 (the

conversation between Guido and Rossella)
September 25: Spaceship Set on the Beach, day, 695-736
September 27: Guido’s death dream; he emerges from beneath

table and sees black curtain hanging over stairway (discarded
first ending)
September 28: Spaceship Set on the Beach, later the same day,
then evening, 737-772 (the dance on the circus ring, filmed
now as a possible new ending)
October 3: Spaceship Set on the Beach, day, 695-736 (Guido’s

suicide fantasy)
October 4: Spaceship Set on the Beach, later the same day,

then evening, 737-772 (Guido and Daumier)
October 5: The Terrace and Grounds of the Space, day, 35-64

(CU of Guido at spring, taking water from Claudia);
264.
Spaceship Set on the Beach, later the same day, then evening,
737-772 (Guido, Daumier, and Maurice)

then evening, 737-772 (the procession of the white-garbed
characters)
then evening, 737-772 (the parade of the clowns and young
Guido, the grand procession down the stairs of the launching
pad, the reconciliation of Guido and Luisa, the dance around
the ring)
October 12: Guido and Luisa in the Dining Car (discarded

first ending)
October 14: Guido’s final speech to characters in the Dining

Car (discarded first ending)

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The Continuity Script

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Throughout this scene, the images are marked by a start black-

2 Pan right, starting at the level of the cars’ roofs, rising

4 LS: top half of frame, a row of arms hanging out of the

5 MS: Guido continues to bang against his door. More smoke

6 MS: in another car a man, smoking a cigarette, is caressing

7 MS: Guido crawling onto the roof of his car.

8 CU: a man looking in Guido’s direction. The camera rapidly

9 MS tilts up Guido’s back as he floats, stretching out his

10 LS: following Guido as he gloats in the sky.

11 LS: from Guido’s POV, advancing toward sun and rapidly-moving

12 LS: from Guido’s POV, moving toward a structure of girders

13 LS: Claudia’s Agent, wearing a cape, riding a horse. Pan

CLAUDIA’S PRESS AGENT

Claudia’s Press Agent appears in MS. He rises from the sand,

CLAUDIA’S PRESS AGENT (CONT’D)

16 As in 14. Guido tries to untie the cord around his angle.

17 Low angle MS, then zoom into CU of Claudia’s Agent, rifling

GUIDO’S HOTEL ROOM, DAY

19 CU: Guido’s arm stretched upwards, taut with anxiety. First

From behind Guido’s head, pan left continues to an elderly

Pan right to Second Doctor, with stethoscope, seated next to

20 CU: a newspaper, being read by the First Doctor, fills the

21 CU: Guido’s back, covered with sheet. Second Doctor first

A knock at the door.

22 LS: through an etched glass partition, we see Daumier, in

Daumier starts to back out.

24 MCU: tracking Daumier entering and walking left.

SECOND DOCTOR (O.S.)

Absorbed in his own thoughts, Daumier sits in a chair on the

SECOND DOCTOR (O.S.)

26 CU: Guido’s hands; his head is hidden beneath his dressing

SECOND DOCTOR (O.S.) (CONT’D)

SECOND DOCTOR (O.S.)

Tracking pan follows the doctor’s hands as he puts his hammer

SECOND DOCTOR (O.S.) (CONT’D)

SECOND DOCTOR (CONT’D)

(When Guido begins speaking, some of the Second Doctor’s

SECOND DOCTOR (CONT’D)

While Second Doctor paces left to right, giving these

Guido enters the bathroom on the right.

32 Tilt up to bathroom mirror as Guido walk into CU. The music,

33 LS: Guido in the enormous bathroom. He scratches his head,

THE TERRACE AND GROUNDS OF THE SPA, DAY

Shots 34-41 appear to be from Guido’s POV.

34 Pan left over grounds. People are shown in a variety of

36 LS: a bearded monk, seated on one of the monumental concrete

37 Pan left: LS of a line of people, their glasses in hand,

39 Low angle LS: people walking on a staircase at the top of

41 We now hear the overture to Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

42 CU: faces of people moving in line, right to left. Guido’s

43 ELS: Claudia, dressed in a white uniform, standing in the

46 CU: Claudia smiling radiantly, moving to the right.

48 CU: Claudia bending down, out of the frame.

49 High angle CU: Claudia’s hand, holding a glass of mineral

50 As in 47. Guido is fascinated.