Character Relationship Map: The Profiteer

Characters

• Baroness Clotilde Bezzi (played by Valeria Moriconi) — protagonist

  A wealthy baroness who employs the young seminarian to care for her crippled son after he leaves the seminary. She becomes sexually involved with him, making her both his employer and an early intimat...

• Teresa Adiutori (played by Janet Ågren) — supporting

  A very devout woman who travels to Lourdes with her grandmother. At the religious site, she is seduced by the young seminarian, becoming one of the central figures in his continuing pattern of lust an...

• Parsifal (played by Giancarlo Marinangeli) — supporting

  The wheelchair-confined son of Baroness Clotilde Bezzi and Generale Augusto Bezzi, Parsifal resents his father's passivity and the way his family treats him. After saving the young seminarian from a c...

• Generale Augusto Bezzi (played by Luigi Gatti) — minor

  The husband of Baroness Clotilde Bezzi and father of Parsifal, Generale Augusto lives with the family's personal and physical troubles. His wife accuses him of avoiding responsibility, while he says h...

• Priest (played by Giancarlo Badessi) — supporting
• nonna di Teresa (played by Maria Tedeschi) — minor

  Teresa's grandmother, who accompanies her granddaughter on the visit to Lourdes. Her death at the religious site forms an important part of the episode involving Teresa and intensifies the tragic and...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Baroness Clotilde Bezzi → Priest (Professional Referral Contact) — The church's introduction connects Clotilde's household and factory with the young man's search for employment after leaving the seminary.

  Church authorities give the young man a letter of introduction to Baroness Clotilde Bezzi so that she may find work for him.

• Generale Augusto Bezzi → Parsifal (Family Father) — Their father-son bond is marked by resentment, especially because Parsifal views Augusto as passive and emotionally unavailable.

  The plot describes Parsifal as the son of Generale Augusto Bezzi and says that Parsifal resents his father's passivity.

• Baroness Clotilde Bezzi → Parsifal (Family Mother) — Clotilde manages Parsifal's care and places intense pressure on religious faith and a possible miracle to improve his condition.

  Parsifal is identified as the baroness's son, and Clotilde organizes a pilgrimage to Lourdes hoping for his cure.

• Teresa Adiutori → nonna di Teresa (Family Granddaughter) — Teresa's religious journey is tied to her grandmother's presence and vulnerable condition at the sanctuary.

  Teresa travels to Lourdes with her grandmother, who accompanies her during the pilgrimage.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Parsifal → Teresa Adiutori (Social Intimate Confidants) — Their conversation reveals Parsifal's more tender and contemplative side while creating a personal connection amid the pilgrimage.

  During the journey, Parsifal speaks with a young woman about love, marriage, and Saint Teresa of Avila's mystical language; Teresa is the identified y...

• Baroness Clotilde Bezzi → Generale Augusto Bezzi (Marital Conflict) — Their marriage is strained by opposing responses to the family's problems: Clotilde takes control, while Augusto withdraws.

  The plot states that Clotilde accuses Generale Augusto Bezzi of shirking responsibility, while he feels exhausted and wants to be left alone.

Story Analysis

A rejected religious aspirant enters a troubled family whose pilgrimage exposes the gap between hoped-for miracles and unresolved human suffering.

Plot Progression

1. Rejected Calling — The young man is refused entry to the priesthood because of his physical limitations. A letter from church authorities sends him toward the Bezzi household and a new uncertain role.
2. Household of Misfortune — The young man enters a family shaped by disability, withdrawal, superstition, and competing forms of authority. Parsifal's rescue of him briefly transforms the household's view of Parsifal.
3. Faith and Family Burdens — Clotilde struggles with the factory and household while conflict with Augusto becomes explicit. The family turns toward Lourdes, placing its hopes in a possible cure for Parsifal.
4. Road to Lourdes — The crowded pilgrimage is disturbed by illness, nightmares, and Parsifal's fear that this may be his last hope. Conversations reveal the loneliness beneath the family's religious expectations.
5. Sanctuary Without an Answer — The travelers approach Lourdes while faith, desire, and resentment remain unresolved. The provided dialogue ends before the pilgrimage's result or Parsifal's condition is disclosed.