Between Miracles (1971) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Benedict survives a dangerous fall into a ravine during his first communion procession. After the host gets stuck in his throat and he flees in panic, he plummets into the ravine. The villagers, who had already believed him to be blessed due to the unusual circumstances of his childhood, proclaim his survival a miracle and carry him in a procession dressed as a saint.

Foreshadowing: The film establishes early that the villagers already view Benedict as special due to his orphan status and theStrict religious environment, making them prone to interpreting any event as divine intervention.

• first communion
• miracle
• ravine
• village
• saint

Benedict's aunt sees an opportunity to rid herself of the burden she has been caring for. The attention and reverence the villagers give Benedict after the miracle provides the perfect cover for her to send him away. She manipulates the situation to have him sent to a Franciscan monastery, effectively abandoning her responsibility while appearing to support his religious calling.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes show the aunt's resentment toward caring for the orphan, and her secret life creates tension with her religious facade.

• aunt
• monastery
• franciscan
• burden
• send away

While working in the fields, a snake bites a schoolteacher visiting the monastery. Benedict saves her by sucking the venom from her leg, an act that he interprets as the divine sign the friars had been waiting for. He uses this moment as justification to leave religious life, seeing it as confirmation that his true calling lies elsewhere.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, a traveling salesman Uncle Checco shows Benedict a nude photo, stirring his desires for the outside world and creating internal conflict about his vocation.

• sign
• snake bite
• schoolteacher
• monastery
• leave

Benedict is overwhelmed by a series of events: he has been living with Joan Micheli for six years without marrying her, Joan becomes pregnant, and he witnesses the strange scene of Immacolata (Joan's mother) performing last rites on Oreste, the atheist pharmacist, including kissing a crucifix. This combination of personal responsibility, religious guilt, and witnessing what he perceives as a hypocritical conversion triggers his despair, leading him to attempt suicide by jumping from a cliff.

Foreshadowing: Throughout the film, Benedict struggles with the tension between his religious upbringing and his desires. His failure to formalize his relationship with Joan and the impending fatherhood weigh heavily on him.

• suicide
• cliff
• Oreste
• last rites
• despair

After Benedict's suicide attempt, he is rushed to surgery and survives. The surgeon declares the operation successful and proclaims "It was a miracle!" This creates an ironic circularity: the same label that defined Benedict's life from childhood now saves it. The twist highlights how the concept of miracles has both burdened and ultimately saved his life, leaving his future uncertain but alive.

Foreshadowing: The film opens with the hospital scene and the phrase "miracle" hangs over Benedict's entire life, creating the cyclical ending that ties his story together.

• miracle
• hospital
• surgery
• survival
• irony

Benedict and Joan begin living together as husband and wife, but several factors prevent formal marriage: Benedict's internal conflict about leaving his religious past, Immacolata's manipulation of the situation for social advantage, and his own uncertainty about committing to a secular life. The six-year period represents his attempt to bridge his religious upbringing with his desires, but he never fully resolves this internal struggle.

Foreshadowing: Benedict's romance with Joan begins as a way to find belonging, but his religious guilt and Immacolata's interference constantly complicate their relationship.

• Joan
• six years
• marriage
• living together
• Immacolata

Immacolata is a manipulative woman driven by social climbing. At the hospital, she hopes Benedict will die so she can push her daughter Joan toward a more advantageous marriage to a lawyer friend of the family. She views Benedict as an obstacle to social advancement rather than as a potential son-in-law, and she constantly seeks opportunities to improve the family's standing.

Foreshadowing: Immacolata's character is established early as someone who calculates relationships for social and economic gain, viewing her daughters as vehicles for advancement.

• Immacolata
• mother
• die
• marriage
• lawyer

The snake bite scene serves as a symbolic turning point for Benedict. While officially interpreted as the "sign" he was waiting for to leave the monastery, the act of sucking venom from a woman's leg carries obvious sexual undertones. It represents his awakening desires and the moment he chooses personal freedom over religious restraint, using religious language to justify following his impulses.

Foreshadowing: This scene follows directly after Benedict sees the nude photo in Uncle Checco's car, connecting his awakening desires to his decision to leave.

• snake
• venom
• desire
• sign
• awakening

On the eve of Benedict's first communion, the aunt's lover Giovanni is briefly hidden in the closet when the boy enters unexpectedly. This childhood moment creates confusion between sin and sanctity in Benedict's mind. The aunt tells him not to confess this to the priest, instructing him that honesty would offend the "celestial friends" (saints), establishing early how religious authority can be weaponized to hide corruption.

Foreshadowing: This scene establishes the aunt's hypocrisy and sets up Benedict's lifelong confusion about sexuality, guilt, and religious truth.

• aunt
• lover
• Giovanni
• closet
• confession

Oreste Micheli is established throughout the film as an atheist pharmacist who doubts faith and tries to pull Benedict toward secular life. When Oreste suffers a heart attack, Immacolata performs last rites on him, including kissing a crucifix. This apparent hypocrisy, witnessing a lifelong atheist seemingly convert at death, shocks Benedict and contributes to his breakdown, as it represents the same kind of religious performance he has always been surrounded by.

Foreshadowing: Oreste's character is consistently portrayed as a counterpoint to religious beliefs, making his apparent last-minute conversion feel false and manipulative to Benedict.

• Oreste
• crucifix
• last rites
• atheist
• shock