LENNY BELARDO: My papacy is a failure.
You've healed the sick.
You are a saint.
CARDINAL SPENCER: They've found something wrong with me.
I'm not sure what it is.
You truly are my spiritual father.
You will go to New York to investigate the Kurtwell case.
I only know how to live inside these walls.
(MOTORCYCLE HORN HONKS)
BELARDO: My papacy won't let the harm done
to even a single child slip away into indifference.
Holy Father, reliable sources say that
Kurtwell is blackmailing you.
Is that true?
-(PLANE RUMBLING) -(CLANGING)
[TV static drones]
[bright tone]
- God isn't for you, Lenny.
God is for men who have no use for freedom.
You're wrong about abortion.
You're spreading a sorrow you don't even understand.
And that's the worst thing a human being can do.
You've made the kind of mistake
that should have been avoided at all costs:
introducing concepts that, taken by themselves, are true
but which, when lumped together,
constitute a system that's overly rigid.
- When it comes to abortion, rigidity is the only option.
There's no getting around it.
It's a crime, forbidden and punished
in the book of Exodus 21: 22-25.
You know that.
"22: When men have a fight and injure a pregnant woman
"and she suffers a miscarriage but no further injury,
"the guilty one shall be fined
"as much as the woman's husband demands,
and he shall pay in the presence of the judges.
"23: But if injury ensues, you shall pay life for life.
"24: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
"hand for hand, foot for foot.
"25: Burn for burn, wound for wound,
stripe for stripe."
The Church has always maintained this tradition,
and it is only modern laxity
that wishes to turn sins into rights.
Not to encourage them--
no one is actually in favor of abortion--
but to undermine the principle of authority.
- Oh, come on, Lenny.
You know these verses
are a little more complicated than that.
Yes, the litigant pays damages in the case of an abortion
or suffers death if the woman dies
in the course of losing the baby,
but that's not what this is about.
This is about compassion, empathy.
- Bouvier?
Are you seriously gonna waste my time
with the Bouvier nonsense?
Post-revolutionary France?
Or the bullshit of Saint Alphonsus?
- It isn't bullshit, Lenny.
That abortion is a grave moral disorder
is not open for debate.
That's what Saint John Paul II said,
and those three words--
"grave," "moral," and "disorder"--
are based on papal infallibility.
And yet, in 1591, Pope Gregory XIV,
with the Sedes Apostolica bull,
restricted excommunication
to the abortion of an ensouled fetus,
introducing a distinction that argues against
lumping together disparate situations.
- I'm sick and tired of distinctions.
- Even for Saint Thomas Aquinas
and right up until the middle of the 19th century,
abortion was said to take place
only after the ensoulment of the fetus,
and that occurs in the third month of pregnancy.
- Science is the gift of God,
and God taught us that ovulation is spontaneous.
- Ask a woman about that.
Back when it was still believed
that there were two kinds of insemination--
male insemination involving sperm,
female insemination involving eggs--
it was considered a sin not to give a woman pleasure.
But then, when it was discovered that ovulation was spontaneous,
the cost was several billion female orgasms.
- But it made psychoanalysts rich.
- The one profession that involves no work
and a great deal of money
that we let slip through our fingers.
I implore you, Lenny,
reconsider your position on abortion.
Tough in principle, soft in practice.
- Abortion is saying no to life.
- Who gives a damn about life?
Life is not some stupid centerpiece
on the side table of nothingness.
Life is meant to be used
and to be used well, to love and be loved.
And let me remind you
what Saint Alphonsus said about abortion:
in an abortion, everyone is guilty,
except for the woman.
- What if it wasn't only true of abortion?
What if, in things of life,
everyone is guilty, except for the woman?
- Are you talking about your mother?
- Who else could I be talking about?
[somber music]
♪ ♪
[bottle clatters]
♪ ♪
[spoon rapidly tapping egg]
♪ ♪
- [groans]
[spoon rapidly tapping egg]
♪ ♪
[tapping intensifies]
- [frustrated sigh]
And what is happening to me today?
- At 10:00, Robert Lee, the new chairman of the Tea Party.
At 11:15, a brief meeting
with the chancellor of Stanford University.
At 1:00, lunch with the governor
to fine-tune plans for the evening's events.
- How long has it been since you've seen your father?
- He's no longer my father. He's only my governor.
- Don't you miss him?
- He doesn't miss me. I don't miss him.
- I miss everyone.
But more than anyone else,
the person I miss is Mr. Jack Walser.
He was the superintendent of the building where we lived,
before the Lord called me to Him.
He'd divided the tenants into two categories:
the "natives" and the "nomads."
- Hmm.
- One day, Jack rang our doorbell
at 10:00 in the morning,
confident that Lucy and I would be at school.
But that day, we were in bed, sick with a fever,
happy to be safe at home.
Through the bedroom door,
I saw my mother offer him a cup of coffee,
which Jack drank it standing up
because he didn't want to get the chair wet
with his rain-drenched clothes.
No doubt, there was something bad he had come to say,
something important.
And then Mr. Walser announced to my mother
that the landlords had decided to implement
a substantial rent hike with...
With a caress.
Yeah.
With a caress.
That never really happened,
but that still came close
to brushing against my mother's drab hair
and my hair and Lucy's
and the hair of our father
lying in a hotel somewhere in the city
with his lover in his arms,
listening to the rain...
The way we were.
We nomads moved out of the apartment at night
so we wouldn't be seen by the...
by the natives,
but at the bottom of the stairs, Mr. Walser was waiting,
and he shook our hands, one by one,
and he said something to me that I've never understood,
which is why I still remember it.
He said to me,
"Always get a seat
"at the back of the train,
because it's safer."
[sighs]
Why does our Spanish prosecutor not go home to his Pope?
- I couldn't say.
- What does he do here?
- He walks. he drinks. He sleeps.
He drinks. He walks. He drinks.
- Ah, he's battling against death.
Which is the least interesting of any of the battles
we're ever summoned to fight.
[Kurtwell's hand tapping on table]
[sighs]
- It's too late.
- It's too late for what?
- For everything, Your Eminence.
[doorbell buzzes]
[footsteps approaching]
- Hello, Pete.
Uh, have you five minutes for me?
- Sure, Father Gutierrez.
- I was just wondering if you had a chance to think it over.
- Yeah. I thought it over.
And I decided I'm not gonna press charges
against Archbishop Kurtwell.
- Why--why not?
None of the others filed charges,
but at least they got plenty of cash.
You didn't even get that.
- And have you ever asked yourself
why they took the money and I didn't?
- No, I haven't. Why didn't you?
- Because I have my dignity.
- Fine.
So...
If you have so much dignity,
file charges against that man.
That man is evil incarnate.
Why are you crying now?
Pete, you know I'm right.
- Bernardo-- can I call you Bernardo?
- Yes. Of course you can.
- Forget about me.
[bell jingles]
- Hi, Freddy.
- Ciao, Bernardo.
- How's training coming along?
- I've been gradually intensifying.
- [chuckles] Nice.
Did you think over my proposal?
- What proposal?
- What do you mean, "What proposal?"
The idea of you giving me a hand in nailing Kurtwell.
Hmm? That worm just drools when he sees you.
- Not me.
I drool when I see you, Bernardo.
- All you'd have to do is go out with him one night.
You could just stop before things went too far.
And in the meantime, I'll find a hiding place
and take pictures.
Freddy.
Freddy, you are my last hope.
- Bernardo, you're gonna leave here when you're done.
But I got to spend the rest of my life here, you understand?
I can't afford to cross a man like Kurtwell.
He's one of the most powerful men in Queens.
You can understand that, right?
Don't resent me for it, Bernardo.
- I never resent anyone.
That's my main problem.
[ominous piano music]
♪ ♪
[spits]
♪ ♪
[bell jingles]
- Hello, Freddy.
What do you want, Freddy?
Just tell me what you want, and you'll have it.
- I want to become a great tennis player
and win the Grand Slam.
- Fine.
Then you'll have it.
- [laughs]
Get out of here, asshole.
♪ ♪
- But...
[sighs]
[door creaks, bell jingles]
[personal fan trilling]
- They told me the date.
It's for next week.
- It's just one day of the year, Rose, hmm?
An ordinary date.
- They're gonna empty me out, Bernardo.
[scoffs]
They've given me a 60% chance of dying.
40% chance of living.
[sighs]
And if I refuse...
They can't even begin to guess at my life expectancy.
But I'm not gonna refuse,
'cause I need to start running this hotel again.
And I can't keep doing it from here.
Through six silent security monitors.
- Isn't it nice to live...
silent and flat on your back?
- No. It's horrible.
We all deserve the right to start over, Bernardo.
[wheezing laugh]
But you know what the funny thing is?
- What is it?
- How I'll leave this place.
- How will you leave?
- [laughs] Through there.
[melancholy music]
They're gonna have to tear out the wall,
turn it all into one gigantic window,
and out I'll go.
Dangling in midair.
Lifted by a crane.
- It'll be a spectacular sight.
- [sighs]
I'll be so ashamed.
- I have to go now.
I'm going to write to the Pope.
- It sounds so surreal when you put it that way.
[door closes]
♪ ♪
[personal fan trilling]
- I'd like to put together a press release
categorically denying the rumors
about murky relations between you and Kurtwell.
A press release that states loud and clear
this Pope is blackmail-proof.
- If, as you say, this Pope is blackmail-proof,
there's no need to say so.
- That's the point, Holy Father.
On a strictly confidential basis,
I need to know myself.
Can Kurtwell blackmail you in any way?
- [laughs softly]
[slow footsteps tapping]
- Lenny...
You think you're the hinge.
But you're the door.
- ♪ Girl, you gotta nail me down ♪
♪ Pull your head up out the dirty ground ♪
♪ You're not the one who's gonna save the world ♪
♪ With your hungry mouth, artistic tilted world ♪
♪ You're not the one who's gonna spend your days ♪
♪ Lying in the sun ♪
- Ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta Maria, mater Dei.
- ♪ Girl, you should forget the feeling ♪
♪ Bite your tongue so you ♪
♪ Can get to reeling ♪ [bell tinkles]
♪ They need those modern house figures ♪
♪ With their custom make-a-wish triggers ♪
♪ They need a place where they can spend your days ♪
♪ Lying in the sun ♪
- I love you all.
- [vocalizing]
♪ ♪
- Where have Esther, Peter, and little Pius gone?
- To Ostia.
They live in a house by the beach.
Peter is a private security guard now.
- Weren't they happy here?
- Holy Father,
life in the Vatican is not much fun for young people.
Holy Father?
- Yes?
- Everyone here says that you're a saint.
- Calumny.
Show me where you live.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
When you want to,
you can come home.
- I haven't accomplished anything with Kurtwell.
- Doesn't matter. Come home.
I'll be waiting.
♪ ♪
- Archbishop, your diocese is currently undertaking
numerous projects aimed at revitalizing the neighborhood.
Can you give us more details about that?
- Well, we have put a lot of money and time
over the years into this neighborhood,
and I think that through sports,
well, we'll be able to make a contact
with the youth in the area
and--and to help instill in them
some of the values consistent with Christian life.
- Among the many sports projects
that your diocese supports, many involve tennis.
Why tennis specifically?
- [laughs] Oh, well, I...
I love tennis,
and it's been a lifelong passion of mine.
And you probably didn't know,
but this area is very famous for tennis for a long time,
and I think that tennis just offers a chance
for excellent instruction of a man's soul.
The elements of tennis-- concentration, self-worth...
there's a lot of things that go into making
a great tennis player.
And, uh, you know, it's a responsibility of the Church
to help these children grow up...
Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei,
novi et aeterni testamenti,
mysterium fidei,
qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur
in remissionem peccatorum.
Haec quotiescumque feceritis,
in mei memoriam facietis.
[bell rings]
[somber electronic music]
♪ ♪
[static crackling]
♪ ♪
Yes, I'd be glad to.
- [grunts]
- Okay.
- [grunts]
[ice skates scraping]
[upbeat pop music playing over speakers]
♪ ♪
[music stops]
[lights snap off]
- What's your name?
- David.
- David what?
- Just David.
[gentle piano music]
♪ ♪
- Why are you following me?
- I used to skate only on the weekends
and only with my family.
Then one night, we were having dinner,
and my daughter, Kate,
who was 12 at the time,
says that that meal...
Was like being in a shark tank.
That's what my wife and I had become.
A shark tank.
Now I skate alone,
even during the week, but...
it's not the same anymore.
Tanistone is my last name.
And it was my mother's last name too.
- Why are you following me?
- Haven't you discovered it yet?
You're the missing link between me
and the source of all of my problems.
[camera snaps]
[light music playing over speakers]
[pool balls clacking]
[bell jingles]
[door closes]
- What is going on?
- Why are you and the Holy Father
so determined to get me?
- Because for years, you were so determined
to get all those innocent children.
- That's libelous slander. - Hmm.
- And I could bring you up on charges tomorrow morning.
You don't have any solid evidence against me.
What else do you want?
What does Pius XIII want from me?
- The Holy Father wants from you a statement
that resembles the truth.
- The truth is, I know Lenny Belardo very well.
- Hmm. - We shared power
in New York for years.
And the truth is, he's always envied me.
He envies me my charisma because he lacks that quality.
That's the one and only statement
that resembles the truth.
- Be reasonable, please.
The Pope has no reason to envy a sick old priest
who's devastated by very grave accusations.
Your thesis doesn't hold together.
- Let me reveal something to you, Father Gutierrez.
You don't matter.
- [scoffs] - Not at all.
You can stay in Queens till the day I die,
and it won't change a thing.
The Pope can't get to the bottom of things with me,
and he knows that perfectly well.
Because it would lead to pure pandemonium.
I pity you, Gutierrez.
You're just a bit player
in a cheap piece of amateur theatricals
organized by your Pope.
[fence rattling]
- [screaming]
- [labored breathing]
[personal fan trilling]
- Our friends out there tonight,
we're glad to have you with us.
I'm David Attouche,
keeping you up to date with today's biggest hits.
- David.
- You're listening to 104.9.
- Is Kurtwell your father?
- Do you remember that girl that was skating this evening?
That was a moment.
Because only you and I saw it, out of the whole world.
I felt close to you.
I sensed that your despair was the same as mine.
That was the moment I thought to myself...
- Enjoy this next track.
- "I trust this man."
- ♪ Baby, I don't know ♪
♪ Just why I love you so ♪
- Yes, I thought,
"Here is a good man.
"And I'm a good man too.
"So I'll tell that good man
the things he wants to know."
Yes.
Kurtwell is...my father.
- [exhales]
- But that's not the point.
The point is the horror.
[upbeat pop music]
♪ ♪
- ♪ Baby, I don't know ♪
♪ Just why I love you so ♪
♪ Maybe it's just the way ♪
♪ That God made me this day ♪
[music stops]
- I'm not afraid of dying,
but because I suffer from vertigo,
I am afraid of being swung out of this place
through that hole in the wall
and being dangled in midair.
- Don't worry. Hmm?
I'll be there to comfort you.
- [sighs]
- And then I'll go back to Rome.
- [labored breathing]
You're going back to Rome?
- Yes. I'm done with my work here.
- [sighs]
You come say good-bye to me now.
- But I'm not leaving yet.
- No. No, you come say good-bye to me now.
[melancholy music]
♪ ♪
[personal fan trilling]
Breathe, Bernardo.
I'm the one who's gonna die.
[both breathing heavily]
- Rose, please.
- Bernardo, we're breathing the same air.
[both breathing heavily]
♪ ♪
- All of you... leave now.
♪ ♪
No. Not you, Lenny.
Tell it to me.
[somber music]
Just this one time.
Let me die knowing
I didn't believe in God in vain.
Tell it to me, Lenny.
- All right.
♪ ♪
[birds chirping]
♪ ♪
- Let's go say hello to Billy.
- I'd rather not. I'm scared.
- But we must.
Billy is a friend of yours. His mother is dying.
And he needs the comfort you can give him.
[doorbell rings]
- Thanks for coming, Sister Mary.
Please.
- Billy, your friends are here.
- Um, let me get you something.
- Sister Mary, can I go see Billy's mother for a minute?
I'd like to pray beside her.
- Of course.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Lord, we must talk about Billy's mother.
Now. We must talk. You and I.
And no one else can hear.
♪ ♪
[no audible dialogue]
♪ ♪
[dramatic piano tones]
♪ ♪
- [exhales]
[no audible dialogue]
[dramatic string music]
♪ ♪
- [gasps]
♪ ♪
[music stops]
♪ ♪
- Billy's mother... is still alive.
- Your mother is still alive too.
- [exhales sharply]
- And you'll find her.
- [sobbing]
- [labored breathing]
Now...
At last...
Time to die.
- [sobbing]
[sobbing continues]
[wind whooshing]
[13 & God's "Armored Scarves"]
- ♪ And so laughs the calendar ♪
♪ Day domesticate and nailed up ♪
♪ Like a hung haunted beast head boast ♪
♪ It is time taxidermed for a mankind to pet ♪
♪ ♪
♪ And so laughs the calendar ♪
♪ ♪
♪ And so laughs the calendar ♪
♪ ♪
♪ And so laughs the calendar ♪
♪ ♪
♪ So you dip your scarves in iron ♪
♪ These are troubled times and so ♪
♪ So you dip your scarves in iron ♪
♪ These are troubled times and so ♪
♪ So you dip your scarves in iron ♪
♪ These are troubled times ♪
- Bring me back!
Bring me back!
- ♪ So you dip your scarves in iron ♪
♪ Time keeps taking ♪
♪ This time keeps taking ♪
♪ Making you a plan ♪
♪ ♪
- To what do I owe the honor of your presence?
- I have orders to accompany you to the Vatican,
where you'll be given a fair trial.
We have a flight for Rome tomorrow afternoon.
- It'll only be a big waste of time.
For me and for you.
You don't have any solid evidence, you and your Pope.
None.
Only the demented ravings of a lunatic
who goes around with orange hair.
No one will believe you. No one.
- We don't just have that testimony.
- Really?
Just what do you think you have?
[somber piano music]
♪ ♪
This is Kurtwell. Hello, Lenny.
Even though you let it ring and ring,
I know you were waiting for my call.
Do you really want me to come to Rome
and be subjected to a trial and found guilty?
- I'm afraid it's absolutely necessary.
- Then one second after I land in Rome,
you're gonna see all the things I have on you
in all the newspapers of the world.
- Go right ahead.
The world will probably like it.
The world's always ready for love.
[phone clicks]
♪ ♪
- This is Archbishop Kurtwell.
Is this a bad time?
- That depends.
- I have some confidential information about the Pope.
And I have proof.
To be perfectly frank, it's more than information.
These are ticking time bombs.
- In that case, this is a very good time.
Especially for a journalist.
What's the subject?
- I'm not talking about it on the phone.
[whistle blares]
[bell tolling distantly]
You see the kind of thing we're talking about here?
Letters that our Pope wrote
to his California girlfriend over the years.
We have a Pope with a very active emotional life.
- Where did you find them?
- I took over a position
that was previously held by Belardo.
I took over his desk.
Belardo made the error of leaving these letters
at the back of a drawer.
- Did you read them all?
- Only the pertinent passages.
The steamier ones are the ones that prove
that Belardo has had a woman for years.
- You should have read them all...
and with care.
In this last one, he states
that he'll never send these letters to that woman
because he's married to God.
Do you have any evidence that they were ever mailed?
Any envelopes with canceled stamps?
- No.
No, I don't.
- Well, in that case, my good Archbishop Kurtwell,
you don't have any news for me.
No bomb, no scandal.
A stack of love letters that were never mailed isn't news.
It's strictly literature.
[doorbell rings]
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- Pack the bags.
Call the chauffeur.
- You no longer have a car.
I put in a request to have it confiscated.
The Cardinal Secretary of State accepted my request.
We are going to take the train to the airport.
- On one condition.
- What condition?
- That we sit in the last car in the train.
It's the safest.
[Flume's "Never Be Like You"]
[twinkling electronic music]
- ♪ What I would do to take away ♪
♪ This fear of being loved ♪
♪ Allegiance to the pain ♪
♪ Now I'm fucked up ♪
♪ And I'm missing you ♪
♪ He'll never be like you ♪
♪ ♪
♪ I would give anything to change ♪
♪ This fickle-minded heart ♪
♪ That loves fake shiny things ♪
♪ Now I'm fucked up ♪
♪ And I'm missing you ♪
♪ I'll never be like you ♪
♪ ♪
♪ I'm only human, can't you see ♪
♪ I made, I made a mistake ♪
♪ Please just look me in my face ♪
♪ Tell me everything's okay ♪
♪ 'Cause I got it ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ I'll never be like you ♪
- What is more beautiful, my love?
Love lost or love found?
- ♪ Please just look me in my face ♪
- Don't laugh at me, my love.
I know it.
I'm awkward and naive
when it comes to love.
[helicopter rotors whirring]
And I ask questions straight out of a pop song.
- ♪ How do I make you want to stay ♪
♪ Hate sleeping on my own ♪
♪ Missing the way you taste ♪
- This doubt overwhelms me
and undermines me, my love.
- ♪ I'll never be like you ♪
- To find... - Hey, Daniel.
- Or to lose. - How do I look?
- All around me, people don't stop yearning.
Did they lose, or did they find?
- [laughs] - I can't say.
- ♪ Now I'm fucked up ♪
♪ And I missing you ♪
♪ I'll never be like you ♪
- An orphan has no way of knowing.
An orphan lacks a first love.
A love for his mama and papa.
That's the source of his awkwardness,
his naivety.
You said to me,
on that deserted beach in California,
"You can touch my legs."
But I didn't do it.
There, my love, is love lost.
That's why I never stopped wondering since that day
where you've been
and where you are now.
And you, shining gleam of my misspent youth,
did you lose,
or did you find?
I don't know.
And I'll never know.
I can't even remember your name, my love.
And I don't have the answer.
This is how I like to imagine it, the answer.
In the end, my love,
we have no choice.
We have to find.
- ♪ Ooh, I'll never be like you ♪
♪ ♪
♪ I'm only human, can't you see ♪
♪ I made, I made a mistake ♪
- All right, love bugs.
Mommy is gonna show you something
that you didn't know Mommy can do.
[laughing]
- ♪ I'll never be like you ♪
[laughter]
- Okay, ready to catch?
- [vocalizing]
♪ ♪
♪ I'm only human, can't you see ♪
♪ I made, I made a mistake ♪
♪ Please just look me in my face ♪
♪ Tell me everything's okay ♪
♪ 'Cause I got it ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ I'll never be like you ♪
♪ ♪
[vocalizing]
♪ ♪
♪ Baby, baby, please believe me ♪
♪ Come on, take it easy ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Please don't ever leave me ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ Never be like you ♪
[bright tone]
LENNY BELARDO: You changed.
You transformed fear into anger.
Very good,
Gutierrez.
Very good.
You need to continue, archbishop.
This story isn't finished yet.
I've stopped searching for my parents.
I've stopped searching for God.
GUTIERREZ: Where is God?
In Venice.
(CHEERING)
MAN: Your Holiness.