oh, thanks. i hadn't noticed.
elena. my name's elena.
hi. why are you running?
yes, nice day. . i've got to go now. bye-bye.
father, i have sinned.
but. who.
what are you doing here?
there was a terrible rumpus at home. my mother told my father. and how could you have mistaken my voice?!
salvatore, it's awfully sweet of you. and even though i don't know you, i like you. but. i'm not in love with you.
for what?
salvatore.
you have a great future as a driver. if they don't arrest you first!!
so now how do we get home?
all right! ! for the moment it's impossible to see each other. as soon as school is out, we're going to go stay with friends in tuscany. we'll be there all summer. maybe if you came up, we could meet in secret.
i'll write to you every day. don't worry. i love you. the summer'll be over and i'll be back.
i got back today. you can't imagine the excuses i had to make up to be here.
so what'd they say?
no, salvatore. you'd better go. it's my father.
he won't be convinced, salvatore. he has other plans for me.
the son of one of his colleagues. don't act that way. we'll talk about it later. wait for me thursday at the cinema paradiso. i'll be coming with the five o'clock bus.
salvatore!
don't be silly. i'm old. don't look at me like that, please. why'd you come back?
of course i remember him. i'm sorry. you were terribly fond of him.
one or two. bur there're not all that many salvatores. i've got a son, too. he's older. and you, do you have children?
all things considered, yes. even if it wasn't what i dreamt of then.
my husband. you know him.
politics. he's the district representative. we met at the university in pisa.
i didn't want to. i had to fight tooth and nail. but in the end i won.  at that time. i was waiting for you.
nor have i. even though you disappeared.  but what's the point of talking about it? we risk being pathetic and ridiculous. you still live in rome?
i kept that date. but i was late.  i had a fight with my family. i tried to convince them again that they couldn't separate us. but it was futile. they had decided to leave sicily once and for all. which is what we did. i didn't know what to do any more, what to say. and i said yes, i'd do whatever they wanted. in return, my father promised to let me see you one last time, to say goodbye. but i hoped that by seeing each other we could take advantage of it and make a decision. i thought we would run away together. my father drove me to the movie theatre. but you weren't in the projection booth. only alfredo.
it's the first time i've had to chance to tell the story. i never mentioned it to anybody.
i told him i'd take his advice. but before i went away i left you that note.  i was on my way down the stairs.
but you disappeared all the same.
he wasn't crazy. in the beginning i was upset. i think i really hated him. but then, with time, i understood what he said. and your silence too.
what difference does it make to find an explanation? that's the way it went. but alfredo didn't betray you, he was the only one who really understood you. salvatore, if you had chosen to be with me, you'd have never made your films. and that would have been a pity! because they're wonderful, i've seen them all. but you shouldn't have gone and changed your name. you should have kept your own.
when are you leaving?
no, salvatore. there is no future. there's only the past. even meeting last night was nothing but a dream, a beautiful dream. we never did it when we were kids, remember? now that it's happened, i don't think there could have been a better ending.