Passing away

• Ermete Zacconi - Guy

The film consists of three acts ^[1] :

Act 1. "Before the Wedding"

Lydia’s brother, Guy, who served as a doctor in a remote colony, arrives in Italy to attend his sister’s marriage with Count Alfred. He gets acquainted with the Count’s family and the Count’s sister Dora makes a very strong impression on him. In turn, Dora does not remain indifferent to the courageous Gui. After a while, Gui makes an offer to Dore, which she eagerly accepts. Now there are two weddings at the same time.

Act 2. The Young Doctor

Both young couples are quite happy, their life is full of pleasures and love, and time flies quickly. Once at the Dora, which contained monkeys, all animals die from an unknown disease. Dora asks Guey to cure the last surviving monkey. The monkey cannot be cured, on the same day she dies, having managed to bite Guey by the finger when he examined it. The young doctor determines that the cause of death of monkeys is tuberculosis . He thoroughly disinfects his wound from vinegar, but then forgets about it, since he believes that it is impossible to become infected. However, after some time, the symptoms of the disease also appear in him. Guy is horrified that he has contracted consumption. The duty of the doctor fights in him with a sense of love and the first prevails. Gui cannot marry Dora and infect her, and maybe the future offspring is a deadly disease. He decides to leave, hiding the reason for his departure, believing that if he talks about his ailment, they may decide that this is a hereditary disease and his sister’s marriage will be upset. Guy disappears, leaving Dora's broken heart, which suggests treason.

Act 3. “There Is No Salvation”

Very little time passes and Guy realizes that he no longer has salvation. He takes strychnine poison to break the thread of his misery. But his servant hurried to fulfill his master’s death wish and, instead of taking the letter he wrote out containing all the reasons that prompted him to disappear and seek death the next day, he takes him to the Count’s house immediately ... In horror, Dora, Lydia and Alfred rush to dying, but it's too late. They find only a terrible picture of the death throes of the dying of strychnine Gui.

• One of the first films where doctors acted as consultants. In particular, under the supervision of doctors, a scene of microscopic examinations and a scene of death from strychnine poisoning were shot ^[2] .

• Movie libretto