The crowd was huge; we only found seats in the gallery,
the ticket price was too high for the common people.
And finally, a character that seemed to spring from hell entered the stage.
His tailcoat was crumpled, as if he had slept in it...
and never changed it for thirty years.
His ugly head, his hideous face and his cynical grin...
looked even more corpse-like under the stage lights.
His movements, so stiff, eerily wooden...
and more akin to a deranged beast, stirred embarrassment in the audience.
He showed deep signs of lasting suffering.
His expression bore signs of genius and dark, infernal wisdom.
He seemed so grotesquely humble that...
only a painful sense of compassion kept me from laughing at him.
His foot scraped the floor In a way never seen before.
How had he copied those physical deformities and his foot-dragging manner?
From a mechanical toy, perhaps?
Were his pleading eyes those of a doomed man,
or were they perhaps mocking us with the intelligence of a cunning miser?
He looked like a violin-playing vampire,
who did not want to suck the blood from our hearts,
but the money from our pockets.
All these thoughts were swept away...
when the prodigious maestro placed the violin under his chin and began to play.
My God...
Just like that time in Vienna, so long ago.
I feel that same passion, the same desire for him!
Looking up, I saw that poor Genoese man in his pitiful state.
He bowed in a ridiculous manner, and it was impossible not to love him!
Every time he played, Paganini's phallus would become erect.
Bravo!
So splendid!
Bravo!
He was in prison, didn't you know?
- For real? - Guilty of murder!
He impregnated a minor and then poisoned her!
Look at his strings!
- He played with his left hand! - With his other hand, too!
They say he never tunes his violin!
How can it be? The strings would lose tension!
He tunes them while playing!
I don't buy it, no one could do that while playing! It's impossible!
Look, he's getting another bow!
When Paganini started playing again I almost fainted.
Whether I am doing embroidery, singing, reading,
falling asleep, or even dreaming, I am with you.
But you refuse to make me happy.
Fleeing from Niccolo Is like fleeing from life.
You're hideous, I didn't even like you.
Don't think of me as an irresponsible woman, my beloved.
Your music gives endless joy, but it also creates a desperate urge to have you!
Free me from this agony, my beloved!
I can't bear it any longer!
I must go to America and Russia...
Achille...
America and Russia...
Russians cry when they hear music...
America and Russia, Russia and America...
America... America and Russia...
Achille...
Achille!
Achille...
- Achille... - Dad!
Achille, wait.
Help me walk.
Please, Dad. Please!
The most adorable girl in the world is too young.
No...
She doesn't like music.
I'm thinking about another young girl.
We must leave, Dad.
She's married, but it doesn't matter.
Thanks.
- Who's that gentleman? - What a lucky girl she is.
Such a charming man...
- If were in Angiolina's place... - Same for me.
- He's looking at me. - I adore him.
This Mr. Paganini is quite the charming fellow!
Thanks to a false promise of marriage, he had no trouble seducing the girl.
She was still far from legal age.
A diabolical act of seduction, culminating in the rape of a helpless minor.
Cold-blooded brutality.
This devil incarnate, as the prosecutor calls him,
Is a disgusting and shameless old man.
He has charmed the world and seduced countless women.
I wish I was in her place.
Angiolina got pregnant.
Paganini wanted her to have an abortion.
He convinced her she had worms,
and made her ingest a deworming mixture that nearly killed her.
Your Honor!
Niccolo's parents were extremely poor.
Malnutrition and other diseases undermined his health since childhood.
He contracted tuberculosis, which destroyed his health for good!
Although he has earned millions,
in order to save money he takes only half a dose of the medicines...
his doctor has prescribed him.
He bargains on the food he gets,
and buys rotten meat in order to pay half price for it!
I had enough of that impossible man!
- He's a criminal! - Although...
Paganini has sacrificed his entire life to art.
He sacrificed himself for us all!
He practiced the violin fourteen hours a day, until he was eighteen!
He's an animal!
If he could he would rape every girl he meets, especially the underage ones!
Constant fever, sore throat and abdominal cramps have made his life hell!
Use the proper name: syphilis!
- Gentlemen, please! - All because of his libido!
What you call avarice is only pathological fear of poverty!
Even as a rich man he has always denied himself the slightest luxury!
- This court has... - We must condemn him!
He has been using the same tailcoat for 30 years!
- This is a sham! - He keeps it in a violin box!
My client has been imprisoned for eleven weeks!
I demand his immediate release!
He's an innocent man!
This is a madhouse! You've all gone crazy!
My God, this case Is simply impossible!
Little Paganini's amazing tour!
Big Paganini came to London, getting rich and famous thanks to his violin!
But now he said it's enough, and the son will take the father's bow!
Niccolo and his violin went to the British Museum, that great place of science!
And even those who read about his music would start dancing!
Niccolo!
Come listen to young Paganini's story, everyone!
A lousy miser told Niccolo his music was too expensive!
Alas, listening to Paganini's violin made the miser empty his pockets!
Orpheus' lyre tamed the brutes, but Niccolo's violin heals the deaf and dumb!
While sailing the seas he even made a shark and a whale dance on the waters!
He even played for the lazy sunbathers,
who stood and danced like no one ever did again!
For amusement, Niccolo once played for the animals at the zoo!
Lions, bears, elephants and monkeys all danced inside their cages!
People said you had an affair with Napoleon's sister.
Yes, I've slept with every whore in Europe, my sweet.
Jerk!
I'll have you shot!
Whore!
I'm Paganini! I'll show you what I'll do with your boots and uniform!
I will destroy you.
Remember who made you colonel.
I could have you shot for desertion.
No!
Go ahead and have me shot!
Go ahead and do it!
Why did you kill that girl, darling?
Who? Who are you talking about?
I killed no one.
- Of course you did. - Who?
The one they threw you in jail for.
Oh, that one...
- Have you ever loved a woman? - Kiss me first.
No, I've never loved a woman.
I hate you...
- I hate you! I'm going back to Palermo! - Palermo?!
- I want to go home! - Go to hell!
- Let go of me! - Go to hell!
Leave me alone!
They said you killed that girl.
Mr. Germi, your attorney, was present.
Why am I so jealous?
I love you...
Yes, I love you...
Postpone the trip.
- I will make lots in Vienna and Prague. - Please!
- London and Paris, too. - Achille is born, I want our honeymoon!
I must go.
I don't need any money, neither of us do.
You never spend a dime!
We need the money.
- But for what?! - You don't understand.
For your slop? Your cheese morsels? Your stale bread?!
- You don't need money! - I must go.
You need love, not your whores!
Take me with you! Don't leave me here!
Please, my love. I must go now.
I don't want to stay here alone!
Please...
- Don't leave me alone! - I'm not.
- You'll be with our son. - Take us both with you!
No, it's too long a journey.
You're not taking us because you want to screw your whores!
- I beg you, take me with you. - Antonia, please.
- Coming along would be madness. - My beloved...
I can't take you with me.
My love, my beloved...
Try to understand, Antonia.
You'll find yourself with nothing left but your damn violin!
'Paganini kills his wife!'
No, I'm not his wife!
I'm just one of his whores!
Damn this violin!
It wasn't the devil who taught you to play it, you're the devil himself!
- I hate you! - I'm running late.
- What are you carrying today?? - A violin player.
Easy!
Faster!
Time for my little boy to take a nap.
Time for a nap.
Daddy will get your bed ready for napping.
There.
All ready, my dear.
Time for your nappy-nap.
Would you like me to play the violin?
Take your nap, the violin will watch over you.
The violin is like a puppy.
Don't you think this violin looks like a puppy?
Now listen.
I'm going to put you to sleep.
This is the noise a door makes, I know it's your favorite.
What about a donkey?
This is the old gate of an ancient castle.
You remember that fairy tale I told you?
Listen.
The violin is calling you, Achille.
In Italy, there's music everywhere.
In the earth and the sea.
In the trees and the skies.
In the houses of the poor and the palaces of the rich.
Melodies are born from fire.
From the sun, the waves and the air.
The skies of Italy are full of fire.
Italy is the land of fire.
Come, my dear, it's time to go to bed.
Daddy will help you unbutton.
Where is Mom?
Mom is no longer with us.
You must forget her.
Please.
But where is Mom?
My son...
Only now you're really my son.
The sun will shine.
Like in Genoa.
One day we'll go together to Genoa.
Mom!
Sleep, my dear.
Sleep.
Paganini bids you goodbye. Now return home for dinner.
I want to betray my husband with you!
Let's make love, you devil!
Let us touch you!
Money sucker! Money sucker!
Money sucker!
Child fucker!
Swindler! Crook!
Bite the dust!
Sweep the floor!
Little girls are his specialty!
The younger, the better!
I'm a little girl, too!
Look, he's got no teeth!
No teeth!
Take me to hell with you, handsome!
- Put that violin bow up my ass! - Yeah!
- Whoremonger! - Got any opium?
Lemme have a whiff!
Look, he's cheating!
There's some little girls playing music behind him!
- Swindler! - Let's beat him up!
- We'll show you! - You cheater!
Give us our money back!
- Give us our money! - Catch him!
We could all go to America, Mr. Paganini, what do you think?
Watson will organize the tour.
You'll play the violin, of course.
Carol and I will sing!
A smashing idea, don't you think?
We will have some beautiful costumes made and travel from one city to another.
From one theater to another, success after success.
Tell me what you think, you're such a kind man!
It would be amazing!
Carol has a marvelous voice.
And she's only thirteen.
Really?
I'll be glad to audition her.
- She's not even fourteen. - I like talented children.
Carol!
Come here!
Carol!
We don't want her to end up working in a spinning mill like her mother.
What do you think about this young girl's voice, Paganini?
Can she become the new Giuditta Pasta?
She's still a child, of course, but I'm sure you like that.
Her voice, I mean.
Her voice, I mean!
Again! Again!
No! Please, let's do it again!
Again! I'm begging you!
Where are you going?
Again! Let's do it again, please!
- It's not possible, I'm afraid. - She's my daughter!
Please, again!
Don't push, Sir! You cannot go upstairs!
Let me through or I'll call the police!
My daughter is a minor!
She's up there with that brute, don't you understand?!
He's a scoundrel! A scoundrel!
- What's his name? - Paganini! An Italian!
Again!
There is no client here with that name.
Please, don't leave! No!
Don't leave, I'm begging you! Again!
I'll send you to prison!
Where are you going? Come back here, please!
I like it so much! Come back here, please!
Let's do it again, please!
Come back here! I want you like crazy!
Again! Again!
Please, again!
Yes! Yes!
Yes, take me! I'm yours!
Again!
Come, my dear.
Bring this letter to my attorney, Mr. Germi.
At once.
We are here to execute the ruling issued by the Paris High Court,
and to collect the amount due with interest.
You owe your partner Fleury the sum of sixty thousand francs in damages,
after the Paganini Theater was forced to close because you held no concerts in it.
You hired an assassin to have Mr. Fleury killed.
I give you my solemn word that you will pay Mr. Fleury everything you owe him,
down to the last dime.
Even if it'll take having your violin confiscated.
May it be cursed and silenced forever,
that violin you only play when you are showered with gold coins!
God, I have no strength left...
Why do you never come to church?
You never show up, not even at Easter!
- You're not baptized, are you? - I don't know.
Of course you're not, your father forbade it.
My father says you torture Baby Jesus!
In your condition, you shouldn't think about your violin,
but rather about your soul.
My father doesn't want you here!
You will pay for this, you heretic.
Out!
Out, you nasty priest!
You will soon stand before God, don't you want to talk to his servant?
Get out! Get out of here!
Out! Leave our house!
Get out of here!
Out! Get out! Leave!
Out! Get out!
With his evil presence, this devil dominates the dreams of our continent.
His only interests are his violin, money and, naturally, women.
The young ones, especially. Underage, when possible.
He's obsessed with sex.
I feel no pity for him.
No! No! No!
Dad?
No!
No! No!
No!
Dad!
My father! My father!
My father is dead!
We will not allow him even an inch of...
consecrated land for his final resting place.
We'll throw the body in the river, or maybe the sea.
Subtitled by Francesco Massaccesi