The Shape of Water
Encyclopedia
The Shape of Water is a 1994 novel by Andrea Camilleri
, translated into English in 2002 by Stephen Sartarelli
. It is the first novel in the internationally popular Inspector Montalbano series and the first of the RAI TV Montalbano films. The episode was almost entirely shot in Sampieri, the location of the factory Fornace Penna, so-called "La Mánnara".
The film version starts off the morning after the death at the outdoor brothel with two surveyors working as garbage collectors. They discover the body and attempt to contact Attorney Rizzo in an attempt to curry favor with him and maybe get surveyor jobs by giving him the chance to move Luparello's body to avoid the embarrassment of Luparello being found at the outdoor brothel, dead with his pants down. Rizzo rebuffs the garbage men, much to their surprise as he is known to be Luparello's friend and ally.
Meanwhile one of the garbage men finds Ingrid's very valuable solid gold jewel encrusted necklace planted by Rizzo's Ingrid look alike as part of the frame up. The hand bag with her initials where she normally kept the necklace was also planted at the outdoor brothel in case somebody walked off with the necklace. Montalbano with the help of his boy hood friend and outdoor brothel pimp, Gege, and also with the help of Luparello's wife who tips Montalbano to the fact that somebody must have dressed Luparello because his underwear was on inside out, figures out that the garbage men have the necklace and also that Attorney Rizzo is the bad guy. Montalbano initially suspects Ingrid's involvement because of her sort of formerly sexual, now not sexual lover relationship with Luparello, but she convinces Montalbano that she wasn't involved and Montalbano destroys the planted evidence against her and makes sure that Rizzo pays a reward for the necklace so that the garbage man and his wife can send their sick child out of the country for medical treatment.
The story wraps up with Montalbano playing God by ignoring a gun that he finds in the beach house giving Giorgio the opportunity to revenge his uncle's betrayal by beating and killing Rizzo. In the end though Giorgio too dies in a car accident after previously having had one due to an epileptic seizure that required him to wear the neck brace which we assume is the same one that Montalbano found at the outdoor brothel which we assume was used by Rizzo and the Ingrid look alike to make Luparello appear to be alive during the act at the outdoor brothel.
Andrea Camilleri
Andrea Camilleri is an Italian writer.-Biography:Originally from Porto Empedocle, Sicily, Camilleri, began studies at the Faculty of Literature in 1944, without concluding them, meanwhile publishing poems and short stories.From 1948 to 1950 Camilleri studied stage and film direction at the Silvio...
, translated into English in 2002 by Stephen Sartarelli
Stephen Sartarelli
-Life:He graduated from Antioch College and New York University. He has translated the Inspector Montalbano series of detective novels written by the Italian writer Andrea Camilleri; these have gained considerable popularity in the US and the UK....
. It is the first novel in the internationally popular Inspector Montalbano series and the first of the RAI TV Montalbano films. The episode was almost entirely shot in Sampieri, the location of the factory Fornace Penna, so-called "La Mánnara".
Plot
Silvio Luparello, an engineer, developer and aspiring politician from an aristocratic construction family dies of a heart attack while having sex with his nephew and lover Giorgio at his beach house. The nephew panics and wanting to protect his uncle from the embarrassing circumstance of his death, and not trusting himself to be able to move his uncle's body due to his epilepsy, calls his uncles friend and political crony, Attorney Rizzo, for help. Attorney Rizzo assures the nephew he will take care of it and then instead of trying to help attempts to take advantage of the situation by betraying his friendship with Luparello by attempting to use his death to gain leverage over his political opponent, Secretary Cusumano, by attempting to cast Cusumano's Swedish daughter-in-law Ingrid as Luparello's lover and implicating her in his death at the scene of a seamy outdoor brothel.The film version starts off the morning after the death at the outdoor brothel with two surveyors working as garbage collectors. They discover the body and attempt to contact Attorney Rizzo in an attempt to curry favor with him and maybe get surveyor jobs by giving him the chance to move Luparello's body to avoid the embarrassment of Luparello being found at the outdoor brothel, dead with his pants down. Rizzo rebuffs the garbage men, much to their surprise as he is known to be Luparello's friend and ally.
Meanwhile one of the garbage men finds Ingrid's very valuable solid gold jewel encrusted necklace planted by Rizzo's Ingrid look alike as part of the frame up. The hand bag with her initials where she normally kept the necklace was also planted at the outdoor brothel in case somebody walked off with the necklace. Montalbano with the help of his boy hood friend and outdoor brothel pimp, Gege, and also with the help of Luparello's wife who tips Montalbano to the fact that somebody must have dressed Luparello because his underwear was on inside out, figures out that the garbage men have the necklace and also that Attorney Rizzo is the bad guy. Montalbano initially suspects Ingrid's involvement because of her sort of formerly sexual, now not sexual lover relationship with Luparello, but she convinces Montalbano that she wasn't involved and Montalbano destroys the planted evidence against her and makes sure that Rizzo pays a reward for the necklace so that the garbage man and his wife can send their sick child out of the country for medical treatment.
The story wraps up with Montalbano playing God by ignoring a gun that he finds in the beach house giving Giorgio the opportunity to revenge his uncle's betrayal by beating and killing Rizzo. In the end though Giorgio too dies in a car accident after previously having had one due to an epileptic seizure that required him to wear the neck brace which we assume is the same one that Montalbano found at the outdoor brothel which we assume was used by Rizzo and the Ingrid look alike to make Luparello appear to be alive during the act at the outdoor brothel.