Garden Sequence Video (MV)

Doctor
Ah, look at how they've let this garden go.
Colonel
This is not Milan, Doctor.
Doctor
I'm all too well aware of that.
Fosca
I think it's rather beautiful.
Doctor
For these parts, maybe...
Colonel
Doctor, may I have a word with you?
Doctor
Certainly.
Colonel
Captain Bachetti, would you lend my cousin your arm?
I wish to have a word with the Doctor.
Giorgio
Of course.
Fosca
I do know how to walk. My cousin treats me like
I'm a child.
Giorgio
All the while as we strolled,
Clara -
Fosca
I hope I didn't frighten you the other day.
Giorgio
No, not at all.
I could see you reading my letter.
All the while as we strolled -
Fosca
I'm not afraid of death.
I rather think I'd welcome dying.
It's everything that follows that I dread: being shut up
in a coffin, smothered in the earth, turning into dust.
These images send me into a state of terror.
Giorgio
All I saw, all I knew.
All that I could think of was you.
(Clara enters, reading a letter)
Fosca
Even talking of this makes me...
(Momentarily, Giorgio fears she will
suffer another attack)
Giorgio
Surely if you are ill, there is every hope
you will get better.
Clara
All that I could think of was you
Fosca
Hope in my case is in rather short supply.
Clara
How ridiculous -
Giorgio
Well, then one must look to life for
whatever pleasures it can offer.
Fosca
And what might they be?
Clara
To be looking at her
Giorgio
Helping others, for example.
Fosca
Helping others!
Clara
And be thinking of you.
Fosca
I have worked in poorhouses, Captain.
Clara
How could anyone
Fosca
I felt no different.
Clara
So unbeautiful
Fosca
Pity is nothing but passive love.
Clara
Stir my memory of you?
Fosca
Dead love.
Clara
To feel a woman's touch
Giorgio
To touch a woman's hand,
Clara
Reminded me how much I long to be with you,
How long I've been without you near
Giorgio
And then to hear a woman's voice
Clara
To hold a woman's arm
To feel a woman's touch...
Giorgio
These thoughts are bad for you. You must concentrate
on everything around you that suggests life. These
trees, these flowers, the warm smell of the air -
Fosca
You make it sound so simple Captain. As if a flower
or a tree could somehow make one happy.
Clara
Perhaps it was the dress, the fragrance of her dress,
Giorgio
The light perfume of silk
That's warm from being in the sun
That mingles with a woman's own perfume
Clara
The fragrance of a woman...
Giorgio
There is no absolute happiness in anyone's life, Signora.
The only happiness we can be certain of is love.
Clara
The garden filled with you -
Fosca
Are you speaking of friendship? That kind -
Giorgio
I'm speaking of a superial kind of love -
Clara
And all that I could do, because of you,
Giorgio
The kind between two people.
Clara
Was talk of love -
Fosca
Two people...
Giorgio
Yes.
(Giorgio sings to Fosca as Clara
continues to sing the letter)
Clara, Giorgio
- Love that fills every waking moment,
Love that grows every single day,
Love that thinks everything is pure,
Everything is beautiful
Everything is possible
Clara
Love that fuses two into one,
Where we think the same thoughts,
Giorgio
Love the same things
Clara, Giorgio
Live as one.
Giorgio
Feel as one.
Clara, Giorgio
Breathe as one
Clara
Love that shuts away the world
Giorgio
Love that shuts away the world
Clara
That envelops my soul,
Giorgio
That envelops your soul,
Clara
That ennobles my life
Giorgio
Your life
Both
Love that floods
Every living moment,
Love like -
Clara
- ours
Fosca
Love like -?
Giorgio
- like wine.
An intoxication.
A great blindness, if you will.
Fosca
Yes, I have read about that kind of love. But you speak
as one who lives it.
(Music stops. She stumbles slightly; Giorgio goes
to aid her, but she pulls herself away)
I don't feel well. I must go home.
Giorgio
I'm sorry
Fosca
You can be incredibly cruel, Captain.
Giorgio
Cruel?
Fosca
To speak to me of love -
To dangle words like
"Happiness"
"Beautiful"
"Superior" -
You can't be that naive.
Giorgio
Forgive me. I have not taken -
Fosca
You with all your books
Your taste, your sensivity
I thought you'd understand.

The others - well, they're all alike.
Stupidity is their excuse,
As ugliness is mine,
But what is yours?

I've watched you from my window.
I saw you on the day that you arrived.
Perhaps it was the way you walked
The way you spoke to your men.
I saw that you were different then.
I saw that you were kind and good.
I thought you'd understood.
(Intensely)
They hear drums
You hear music
As do I
Don't you see?
We're the same
We are different,
You and I are different.
They hear only drums.

All the time I watched from my room
I would think of coming downstairs
Thinking we'd meet, thinking you'd look at me
Thinking you'd be repelled by what you saw.

Don't reject me, don't deny me, Captain
Understand me, be my friend.

They hear drums, we hear music.
Be my friend...
(Music under, fading)
Giorgio
(stunned)
Yes. Of course. You have my friendship
(Fosca grabs Giorgio's hand)
Fosca
Thank you, Captain.
Giorgio
Your hand is on fire.
Fosca
It's nothing. I have a fever. I always have fever.
(The Colonel and Doctor approach)
Colonel
Shall we make our way towards the castle?
Giorgio
Signora Fosca is not feeling well.
(The Colonel goes to her and takes her arm)
Colonel
I'm terribly sorry, my dear.
Fosca
(looking at Giorgio)
I'll be fine now.
Colonel
Of course, but we should head back nonetheless.
(Music resumes as the Colonel, the Doctor and
Fosca head off with Giorgio trailing behind)

Scene Four
The dining quarters.
Clara stands at one side of the stage with a
letter in hand, Giorgio similarly opposite her.

Clara
My darling, you did as you should. You had no choice.
Giorgio
After all, her cousin is my superior.
Clara
You must think of your career.
Giorgio
But how could I turn from such a desperate soul?
Clara
You showed pity
Giorgio
And yet I have a sinking feeling.
Clara
It is difficult for a man and a woman to be friends.
Giorgio
I sense she wants more from me.
Clara
You must take care to make your intentions clear.
Giorgio
I've opened the door
Clara
Desperation can take its toll
(Fosca is revealed on the stairs, descending;
she also carries a letter)
Fosca
Three days...
Giorgio
Should I be cruel to set myself free?
Clara
There is nothing wrong with thinking of oneself.
Fosca
Three days...
Giorgio
All I think of is you.
Clara
Keep your distance.
Giorgio
Keep my distance.
Clara
Be unavailable to her.
Giorgio
Unavailable.
Clara
Yes, aloof.
Fosca
Three days...
Giorgio
I love you so much.
Clara
I love you more.
Fosca
Three...
Giorgio
Forever yours.
Fosca
... days
Clara
As always.
Giorgio
Giorgio.
Clara
Clara.
(Clara and Giorgio exit in opposite directions.
Fosca reads from her letter as she crosses to the
table. The dining hall, with its usual habitués,
slowly comes into place behind her)
Fosca
Giorgio,
These past three days have been perhaps
the most painful of my life. I have looked
for you everywhere. No matter how poor my health,
I have made my way to the dining room, praying
you would be there. You promised me your friendship,
Giorgio. But it is clear to me that your promise
was a hollow one. I wish I could strike you from
my mind and my heart. But I cannot. You may disappear,
Giorgio, but I will not.
(She folds the letter and slips it under the
napkin at Giorgio's place setting, then sits.
Everyone follows and the scene comes to life.)
Barri
... so I applied for a new pair of horses,
but they only had bays or piebals.
Lombardi
Piebalds!
Torasso
You certainly don't want piebals.
Rizzolli
Perhaps you should go to Turin. There's a wonderful stable there -
Barri
No. That stable is no longer reputable
(Giorgio enters)
Torasso
Ah, Bachetti...
Colonel
We haven't seen you for three days.
Giorgio
Yes, sir. I decided to accompany my troops on maneuvers.
Barri
Your hard work will show us all up.
Giorgio
Nonsense.
(He sits and as he takes his napkin, the lights
elsewhere darken. He discovers the letter and is
about to open it when he looks to Fosca, who returns
the look. He immediately sticks the letter into his
pocket. The lights restore as he begins to help
himself to food.)
Excuse me, Doctor. Why do you always place that
gold coin on the table at mealtime?
Doctor
For thirty years, I've done that whenever I dine
with other officers. The first meal where no
one talks about horses or women,
(As some of the other officers chime in)
I'll surrender my golden coin.
(Laughter)
Barri
Some risk! You'll never lose it!
Rizzolli
I remember a wager that Lieutenant Barri made once -
(The lights suddenly change. Fosca grabs
Giorgio's hand as he reaches for the salt;
she draws his hand by her side and out of
view under the table)
Fosca
(to Giorgio, whispering)
I've missed you so much.
Giorgio
Please.
Fosca
You must read my letter.
Giorgio
Let go of my hand. Let go.
(Giorgio tries to free his hand
with no success; the lights restore)
Rizzolli
Well, of course there was no chance for
anyone but him to win.
Barri
No one was forced to bet, Major.
Doctor
Would you please pass the salt?
(Giorgio is extremely embarrassed, because he
still can't free his hand. Fosca passes the salt.)
Not hungry, Captain?
Giorgio
Yes, yes.
(He helps himself to some veal with his left hand)
Colonel, I've received a letter this morning.
I'm urgently required in Milan. I therefore
request a leave of at least five days.
Doctor
What?
(The table noise suddenly quiets)
Colonel
If you had asked me this in my office, I might have
refused. You've been here only a month...
Giorgio
I realised that, sir. It's of some importance.
Colonel
When do you want to leave?
Giorgio
As soon as possible.
Colonel
Very well. After all, how can I
refuse a guest at my table?
Torasso
By this time tomorrow, Bachetti,
you'll probably be in the arms
of some young beauty.
(The table fills once more with conversation
as Fosca lets go of Giorgio's hand and dissolves
into herself. Giorgio quickly turns from her and
continues with his meal as the lights slowly
fade to black.)
(In a ghostly fashion, the Soldiers perform their drill.)