Eternal

Massimo returns from his meeting with Kappler, frantically searching for gold, as a shocked Gemma, Rosa, and Sandro look on.

The local synagogue opens to collect gold: Even with a line of people, the Jewish leaders struggle to collect enough. Sandro recognizes these people from his childhood, fearful of them getting deported. Massimo leaves him in charge while he leaves for a while.

Massimo heads to the Vatican to ask Emedio for help. Emedio introduces him to Monsignor O’Flaherty, who has hidden Jewish people throughout the city and helped them emigrate from Italy.

Sandro finishes collecting gold and realizes there’s not enough. He sees Marco, Beppe, and Maria approach. He and Marco embrace, putting aside their differences. Marco donates a necklace, as does Beppe, who also adds an envelope of money to buy more gold.

Leaving the synagogue, Marco and his parents see a limousine drop off Massimo. Massimo pulls out gold necklaces as he greets Marco’s family.

Antonia, a new waitress, tells Elisabetta that a German baron has shown up for dinner, and that he’s talking about the extortion of Jewish people. Elisabetta serves the table, purposely spilling food on Kappler’s lap but making it look like an accident. She wants to donate her earnings to Massimo but gives them through a couple in the Ghetto, avoiding seeing Sandro.

Massimo and others weigh the collected gold, noting they’ve reached the goal. They ask for an extension, wishing to avoid more demands. The Nazis agree and initially claim the weight is wrong, but then weigh it again, accepting it.

Marco and his father wait, preparing to ambush a German convey speeding toward them in the countryside. Marco asks whether his mother Maria or the Nazis scare Beppe more, and his lack of an answer proves he fears Maria more. As the vehicles crash, tires deflated by nails, the Italian partisans shoot the Nazis, and Marco considers his own mortality as death surrounds them.

Elisabetta races to work and asks a passing old man if the Jewish community collected the requested gold. He declares they did, and she hugs him.

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, Nazis arrive and destroy sacred spaces in the synagogue; they take money and papers. As the Simones eat, Rosa again broaches leaving, and Massimo and Gemma give reasons to stay. Sandro agrees they must stay.

Massimo and Sandro watch in horror as Nazis arrive to take account of the synagogue’s collection. The Nazis ask about the rare works in the library. Massimo and the other Jewish leaders make plans to avoid Nazi confiscation.

Marco watches in horror as Nazis detain the carabinieri, Rome’s police force.

Nazis arrive at the synagogue and plunder rare works, throwing out some. Massimo tries to catch these works, until Sandro warns him that he will agitate the Nazis. Sandro remembers Elisabetta, calling out to a woman, thinking it’s her. He then attempts to block out her memory.

An ill Rosa is confined to her bed. Gemma and Sandro take her to the hospital, defying the curfew. Once there, the doctors sneak Rosa into a room. Sandro goes to Elisabetta’s house. Outside, he drops to his knees and hears her call his name.

Elisabetta goes to the rooftop, tending to her herbs and vegetables. Trying to coax Gnocchi from the edge, she approaches and sees Sandro below. They confess their love for each other, and she asks about the supplì she left for him. Sandro finds a tomato, taking a bite out of it. He also takes some basil, hiding it in his shirt. The pair have sex and sleep together.

Sandro wakes up early and leaves a sleeping Elisabetta. He sees the journal he bought for her birthday. Finding it empty, he writes a note to her, and goes home to his father. Sandro reiterates that he loves Elisabetta and will marry her. Massimo relents, congratulating him.

Sandro wakes to Nazis at the door, preparing to deport the Simones. They give Sandro a paper detailing their deportation. They ask about Rosa’s empty bed, and Sandro lies that she’s dead. He writes a letter to Rosa and their mother, voicing his and Massimo’s love.

Marco’s father wakes him up, telling him that the Nazis have arrived in the Ghetto, preparing to deport Jewish people. Marco points out that the Jewish community upheld their end of the bargain, but Beppe knows the Nazis will deport all the Ghetto’s residents. The two take guns, prepared to fight.

Marco and his father watch in horror as Nazis begin to round up the Ghetto’s residents. Marco asks his father to follow him, saying he has an idea.

As Sandro and his father wait in line to board a vehicle, Sandro sees his former students and eyes a possible escape.

A doctor, Gemma’s former colleague, warns her that Nazis plan to detain the hospital’s patients after they clear the Ghetto. The doctors plan to move the patients to an isolation ward.

Marco and his father discuss approaching the Ghetto from the north, while Nazis are occupied in the south. Beppe tells Marco to run faster, as rain falls.

Sandro sees the opportunity to escape disappear, as the line of Jewish people moves closer to the Nazis’ vehicles. He sees a man named Matteo and his elderly mother struggling; Aurelia, experiencing cognitive decline, yells at the Nazis and one hits her with a gun, killing her. The Nazis leave her on the ground.

Gemma walks through the hospital, observing her old place of employment. She helps move patients into the isolation ward, realizing the Nazis will recognize her as Jewish. One of the nuns offers her a way to avoid detection.

Beppe tells Marco that he has a new plan.

Gemma joins the doctors, dressed as a nun. They tell the approaching Nazis that the patients have Syndrome K, a mysterious, contagious virus, that will kill anyone who contracts it. The Nazis leave.

Waiting in line, Sandro embraces his father, and they express their love for each other. Massimo asserts the Nazis can’t steal this love.

Running away from the hospital, Gemma races toward the Ghetto in the rain. Still wearing a nun’s habit, she approaches the barricades. The Nazis turn toward her with guns.

Marco and his father realize the Jewish prisoners will be taken to the Collegio Militare before they’re transported from Italy. Marco demands to see Sandro before he’s taken, and Beppe relents.

The Nazis aim at Gemma’s head with their guns, but onlookers grab her, and a gun hits her arm. She sees Beppe and Marco, but the crowd holds her back.

Marco, Beppe, and Gemma watch as Sandro is boarded into a vehicle. Marco calls out to him, and Sandro recognizes him. As the vehicle carrying Massimo and Sandro departs, Marco weeps.

Elisabetta dreams of her and Sandro getting married, with Marco, her parents, and her cats Rico and Gnocchi present. She wakes and notices Sandro has left. She hears Nazis arrest her Jewish neighbors and leaves her apartment in a rush.

Marco and his father run within sight of the Collegio Militare, and Marco observes how close Vatican City is—wondering what the Vatican will do to help.

Elisabetta runs to the Ghetto, seeing Nazis loading Jewish prisoners into vehicles. She calls to a woman who just saw her friend forced into a vehicle. She mentions Sandro, and the woman warns her to go to the Collegio Militare.

Sandro observes the Collegio Militare, looking for a way to flee. His father tells him that his mother and sister remain safe at the hospital, asking him to sit still. Sandro notices a Gentile woman yell at the Nazis that she’s not Jewish and then joins a line to leave.

Elisabetta runs toward Collegio Militare, wracked with guilt that she didn’t see him when he left.

Marco talks to the guards at the Collegio Militare in German. He asks for information, and they tell him that the Jewish prisoners will be deported to a labor camp on Monday. He asks to see Sandro, whom he names. Marco then sees Elisabetta, and she asks him to give Sandro a note.

Marco, his family, and Gemma gather at his parents’ home, planning to save Massimo and Sandro. Knowing they can’t get into Collegio Militare, they consider other ways, including saving them from a transit camp at Fossoli. Elisabetta leaves in a hurry, joined by Marco and Beppe. She says she will take charge.

Elisabetta visits Baron Weizsäcker, the German Ambassador to the Vatican, to appeal to his love of Casa Servano to save Sandro. He provides information but refuses to help Sandro. Elisabetta threatens banning Baron Weizsäcker from Casa Servano if he doesn’t help her.

Beppe, Marco, and Elisabetta return to Beppe’s home to secret police restraining Maria and Gemma. The secret police cut Gemma’s throat, and she dies. Beppe and Marco fight them, killing them; Beppe receives a lethal wound.

After the fight, Marco calls one of Beppe’s old friends to depose of the secret police’s bodies. The two find an undertaker who will make a fake story about Beppe’s death and bury Gemma in accordance with Jewish law; she won’t be buried in the Jewish section of the cemetery. Marco puts his father’s body in a body bag, while Emedio comforts their mother. Marco voices his love for Beppe.

In the hospital, Maria tells Rosa that her brother and father have been captured by Nazis, and that Gemma and Beppe have been killed. While Rosa struggles with grief, her mother’s heroism comforts her. Emedio will help Rosa settle in Vatican City, under a different name. Maria and Rosa toast to life.

Elisabetta and Marco take a train north to free Sandro and Massimo at the transit camp. Marco reiterates that Ludovico’s hands were destroyed by Fascist men. Elisabetta feels a new sense of pride in her father, and the friends talk about their shared love for Sandro.

At the Collegio Militare, Sandro notices fellow residents Matteo and Giovanni Rotoli are absent; then, he realizes Matteo isn’t Jewish, and his son Giovanni is half-Jewish. He assumes their identities (on his father’s behalf), hoping to escape. The guards notice Sandro’s basil, connecting him to Elisabetta’s earlier mention of his name, pulling him out of the line to leave.

As Elisabetta and Marco walk toward the transit camp at Fossoli, she notices Marco can’t read. She asks what happens when he looks at letters, and says she can help him. Marco scouts out the transit camp, and they sleep in a shed.

Elisabetta walks by the camp, while Marco watches from afar. She flirts with the guards, pretending to be visiting her grandparents, and they respond eagerly.

Marco and Elisabetta discuss the guards, and she thinks they responded eagerly because they’re bored. He disagrees, and they hope Baron Weizsäcker upheld his end of the bargain—otherwise, Massimo and Sandro won’t be present.

As they spy on the camp, Marco and Elisabetta see Massimo and Sandro arrive. The guards separate the men and women, and Massimo and Sandro file into a barracks with a white sign with the number 15. Elisabetta notices Sandro’s face has been beat, and Marco grows angry.

Elisabetta approaches a familiar guard and asks him to follow her, promising sex. After they walk away, he kisses her, reaching under her dress to her distress. Marco breaks his neck.

Marco dresses as the guard, entering the camp with his head down. He walks around Sandro’s barracks and attempts to see him. He hears someone snoring and fortifies himself with his father’s memory.

As part of Marco and Elisabetta’s plan, a fire burns at the camp, fed by solvent and rags. Marco finds Massimo and Sandro, helping them escape. However, Massimo ultimately remains behind, knowing he won’t be fast enough to escape. Marco, Sandro, and Elisabetta escape together.

Sandro weeps as he considers his father. He, Marco, and Elisabetta plan to travel from Modena, rather than the nearby train station at Carpi. Marco and Elisabetta bring clothes for Sandro and papers identifying him as Giovanni Longhi, echoing the surname of his math teacher at their liceo. Elisabetta and Sandro will travel together, and Marco will travel alone.

Elisabetta and Sandro arrive at the train station together, followed by Marco who carries a gun. A pair of Nazis walk behind Sandro and Elisabetta, and Sandro freezes as he sees them. Elisabetta worries about his reaction.

The Nazis joke with Sandro, asking if Elisabetta hit him. He hesitates, and Elisabetta answers for him. The Nazis notice Sandro’s fear and demand to see his identity card. They try to arrest him, as Marco produces his gun. The Nazis shoot at Marco, and Sandro protects him. Marco kills the Nazis, and Sandro dies. Marco and Elisabetta jump on a freight train, leaving Sandro’s body behind.

Marco and Elisabetta cry on the train heading back to Rome, as the coal on the train turns them black. Marco acknowledges that his plan to die for Sandro has failed, and that Elisabetta and Sandro belong together.

At a table with his mother and brother Emedio, Marco drinks coffee and rails against prayer and God, angered by Sandro’s death. Elisabetta cries in the bathtub. Emedio tries to convince Marco that Sandro’s sacrifice embodies faith.

Marco accompanies Elisabetta to her apartment, where she’s greeted by her cats. She sees Sandro’s love note to her in her notebook. On the rooftop among her plants, she sees starlings fly through the sky, and believes Sandro’s presence remains with her.

Marco’s family attends Beppe’s funeral, surrounded by his fellow war veterans, cycling comrades, and customers. The family holds a luncheon at Beppe’s bar following the funeral, and Marco asks his mother if he can tell Rosa about Sandro’s death. Arriving at the hospital, Marco notes the hospital continues to treat Syndrome K as a real condition.

Massimo observes the hellish nature of the train ride north, which he assumes is due to the temperature. As the train decelerates, he notices other families weep and wail, but he maintains hope. He believes his son and wife live and hopes he will join them after the war.

Elisabetta makes pasta in Casa Servano, trying not to work the dough too much. She considers the increasing violence of the Nazis since Sandro’s death. She also wonders about Marco’s reading progress, as she’s been teaching him. Elisabetta uses the bathroom, noting she has missed her period.

A month passes, and Marco continues practicing writing. He shows Elisabetta his name in capital letters, which he has labored to write. Below his name, he has written another proposal to Elisabetta. As she prepares to tell him that she’s pregnant, Marco guesses it, knowing Sandro is the baby’s father. Marco says the war has transformed him, and that he wants to raise the baby as his own; Elisabetta agrees to marry him.

After Emedio marries Elisabetta and Marco, they all have a meal at Beppe’s bar. Elisabetta wore a dress that Maria gave her, which she wore to her wedding with Beppe. Rosa attends, and Maria gives a speech about ingredients, cooking, and love that everyone finds touching. She toasts to Marco’s marriage.

Marco and Elisabetta look at their newborn son, who arrived prematurely. Marco notes he looks like Sandro. He goes to tell his mother, who celebrates the birth of her grandson and Rome’s liberation. He considers the number of losses in the city, as he rides to Sandro’s old house. Marco yells to the window that he has a son, whom he will raise as his own. He considers the eternity of life and death in Rome, the eternal city.

Marco becomes an accomplished businessman, and a doctor diagnoses him as dyslexic. He thinks about his son Sandro, who resembles his birth father. He thinks about the horrors of the Holocaust and the lack of punishment for so many crimes. Kappler, the head of the SS, is imprisoned and visited by Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty; Kappler converts. Marco hears Elisabetta, three months pregnant with his child, ask about Sandro, who is playing by the river. Marco gives Elisabetta her old novel, which he found with her Olivetti typewriter, which he has refurbished. He encourages her to write a novel about families and love, like her idol Grazia Deledda—a novel called Eternal.

Elisabetta looks at Sandro as she finishes the story of his father and his birth. Marco and his daughter Nonna have gone to the market, and Sandro looks at his mother’s novel Eternal. When Marco returns, Sandro asks if Marco loves him. Marco responds that he does, and that he loved his father like a brother.

Lisa Scottoline explains the genesis of Eternal, tracing its origins to her time at the University of Pennsylvania as an English major. She separates what is fact and fiction in the novel, and links her own Italian mother to Nonna.