Terrorized by Guido, her drunken and brutal father, Marie receives assurance from her dying mother that the Madonna will always protect her. The father reels in just after the mother has expired, too drunk to realize the woman is dead, and finding the whiskey bottle empty, abuses the child. Marie appeals to the image of the Madonna and Guido, in a frenzy of rage, smashes it on the floor. Horrified at the sacrilege, Marie screams.