In rehearsal the actors always referred to this long and complicated scene as the ‘sun-spot scene’. We filmed it at the point when Galileo’s daughter,
Virginia, and his housekeeper are busy with their domestic work whilst the men continue their scientific study, and Galileo reads. The unexpected arrival of Ludovico provides a clue to the fact that Galileo’s sight is failing (he can’t immediately see who the visitor is). Ludovico asks Galileo about his current work and expresses gratitude that he appears to have forsaken the scientific experiments previously proscribed by the Church. He also brings the news that the new Pope is likely to be Barberini, a man with a scientific background.
The news acts as a signal for Galileo to want to publicly resume his previously banned work into the phenomenon of sun-spots and the location of the earth in relation to the sun.
Galileo’s housekeeper, a profoundly religious woman, confronts him , revealing that she has previously caught him illicitly engaged in work that the Church has expressly forbidden, and to which he has agreed not to venture further. She tells him that these actions are selfish and threaten the future happiness of his own daughter because if he continues to defy the Church Ludovico will be forced to call off the marriage.
The men enthusiastically prepare to resume their forbidden work . Ludovico leaves, with Galileo’s reprimand and self-justification for pursuing the truth despite the consequences ringing in his ears.
The work of the teacher and his students begins in earnest with Galileo stressing the need to question everything. Virginia enters and immediately realises that her fiancé has gone. She is distraught, knowing that her father has effectively sent him away and he will never return. She is one casualty of her father’s relentless pursuit of the truth.
