Original subtitles

Sometimes, I admit to myself that it's possible

I will never be able to finish my life's work.

My one and only book.

There will be nothing.

And I will die alone.

What are you doing here, Father Dominic?

I have a migraine.

I thought a walk might help.

But in your pyjamas on Christmas Eve?

Don't catch cold.

Look!

With the first opportunity, I'll...

What will you do as the first opportunity?

The first opportunity... I have... I have... It's in the drawer.

I saved it for... The first opportunity.

I will open the blue envelope.

Not here.

Here, in Piatra Nams.

Where everyone knows me, but somewhere far away.

Bucharest, perhaps?

At Easter.

Universal.

Universal.

The Easter edition.

Universal.

War clouds over Romania.

The pit of my earth.

The Dominic.

The eye seems intact, but I don't know if he is blind or not.

I don't even know if he is conscious, if he hears or if he understands what he hears.

If you understand what I say, squeeze my finger.

I'm Doctor Roman Stanchulescu.

I'm here to help you.

Good.

We wish to find out your age.

For every ten years, squeeze my finger once.

Ten?

Twenty.

Twenty.

Thirty.

Forty.

Fifty.

Sixty.

Seventy.

Seventy years old.

Seventy.

I would have thought less.

Well, in this larval state, it's hard to estimate.

I've never met anyone like you.

You want to know absolutely everything.

Now, try to imagine conceiving a passion for something.

Having one desire, dedicating your life to it, and then failing.

I'm twenty-six.

I have no accomplishments.

I've made no discoveries.

I'm a failure.

Do you have a wife?

No.

Nephew?

Yes.

Nephew.

Nephew.

Do you want us to inform your nephew about your condition?

No.

Let us know the first letter of your name.

Continue.

I am going to say the alphabet.

A.

D.

C.

D.

D.

D.

D.

He doesn't live in Bucharest.

He has only one relative, a distant one.

And he has no wife.

Thank you.

He'll accept any test.

No matter how dangerous or painful.

To verify whether the optic nerve was damaged.

That's interesting.

How old did you say he was?

Seventy.

He's hiding his age.

He's a young man in the prime of his life.

I came here for an education.

What did you think about the lecture?

Professor Matej is getting senile.

He told us the same thing three or four times.

I didn't notice.

I was asleep.

Is it true?

Failure, success.

Such extremes, Dominic.

You yourself told me about Shantakirti.

The concept of tetralemma logic.

The four possibilities.

What you say is so.

Or it is not so.

It's also so and not so combined.

Or it's neither so nor not so combined.

You know, I've never told you this, but...

after Chavannes' lecture in Paris, I waited to see him.

I was hoping that he would accept me as a student.

And he told me that if I didn't master Chinese, Sanskrit, Tibetan and Japanese,

I would never become a great Orientalist.

But didn't you tell him you wanted to study only the Chinese language?

I did.

I told him that I'd been studying Chinese for six months, six hours a day.

He stepped up to the blackboard.

He wrote some twenty characters.

And he asked me to pronounce them one by one, and then translate the passage.

In order to master Chinese, one must have the memory of a Mandarin.

Photographic memory.

The memory of a Mandarin.

I remember hearing about another case.

A priest hit by lightning, burned over his whole

body, and who survived many years afterwards.

True, he was left blind, and mute.

As our man is also, probably.

Don't talk so loud.

Maybe he can hear you.

I want him to hear me.

Let's see how he'll react.

Maybe he isn't mute at all.

Not mute!

Try to pronounce any word.

Anything.

Envelope.

Blue.

Envelope.

Envelope.

Ha.

Ha.

The teeth.

They're barely holding.

Call the dentist right now and see if the x-rays are ready.

What's next?

He may be forced to negotiate with Hitler.

France is abandoning us to the Nazis.

He's right.

His x-rays have come in.

You really should take a look at them.

The roots are healthy, but they are being pushed up by new ones.

So we feel you are out of danger.

Only now do you begin to become an interesting case.

You understand why, don't you?

The way the lightning struck you, you had to have been

killed on the spot or else you have died of asphyxiation.

At best, you'd be left...

paralyzed?

Mute?

Or blind?

You are lucky.

I'll give you that.

Yes.

We had ordered a set of dentures to allow

you to eat and the baffle to speak normally.

But the x-rays show that, um, a new set of teeth are ready to appear.

It's impossible.

Yes.

It's simply impossible.

And yet the x-rays are clear.

You are getting new teeth.

This is no longer a case of a living dead man, but of something else.

What exactly?

We still don't know.

Your recovery is amazing.

Oh.

I don't want to tire you out.

Get some rest.

I'll be back tomorrow.

News stories and feature articles are starting to appear in different papers.

The majority of them absurd, ridiculous.

What are you doing?

New teeth.

But you must help us understand this.

We have to know more about you, who you are, what your profession is,

what's your real age.

Please cooperate a little more.

Were you so stubborn when you were young?

Always.

What is this you insist on writing, young man?

Well, I've almost finished with...

Antiquity.

The Middle Ages.

But the most exciting part.

The origins.

The origins of language.

But when will you finish it, Dominic?

You need ten lifetimes to do it all.

The origins of language, human

consciousness, even the idea of time itself.

This would call for years of research.

And what with the inexperience of our provincial librarians.

I'm terribly sorry, Professor.

I have an appointment.

I...

I really must run.

It's brilliant.

Brilliant.

But...

Laura, I'm so sorry.

I completely forgot.

We have to talk, Dominic.

It's very important for both of us, and I can't hide it any longer.

Of course.

It's snowing.

Should we go to the Café Select?

No.

And please don't interrupt.

It's not what you think.

I feel that you aren't mine.

That you are never here with me.

That you...

That you live in another time.

I'm not thinking of your research, which in spite of what you believe does interest me.

I wanted to help you with that.

But you keep yourself shut away in an alien world when I can't enter.

So for my sake and for yours, we should break our engagement and separate.

No.

Laura, no.

We are still young.

We both love life.

You'll have more time for your research.

You'll see later.

Tell the professor what he wants to know.

Tell him you need a new identity.

Tell him you need a new identity.

Tell him you need a new identity.

All right, you can go.

I'll be here all afternoon.

I understand that you are willing to speak to me candidly.

You don't have to make a great effort.

The words you cannot pronounce, you can write.

My name...

is Dominique Maté.

On January the 8th...

I reached the age of 70.

I am a teacher, Pietro Nemz.

I live on Strada Episcopal at number 18.

It is my house.

It contains...

a library of...

some...

8,000 volumes.

Which I have willed to the Lycée.

You're 70 years old?

Yes.

Extraordinary.

If...

If you require further proof... I can tell you the...

titles of the books on my desk... or any other...

There's an album of photographs somewhere?

More precisely...

with pictures of you when you were young?

And some clothing?

I implore you to be very, very discreet.

Agents from the Secret Service...

they'll never believe I'm past 70 and...

therefore they'll never believe I am who I say I am.

Of course.

We'll be very careful.

Everything can happen if... you're interrogated by them.

I won't let that happen.

It's true, though.

These are difficult times... in Romania.

In truth...

I came here with the intention... of committing suicide.

I had saved an envelope... with enough strychnine in it...

to end my empty life.

Please.

Could you find me... a fictitious identity?

That's not a problem.

When your beard comes off... you'll look like a man of 35... or older.

Or 40 at most.

Don't worry.

You're handsome without the beard, you know?

I have your jacket.

If you like...

you can take me to the movies sometime.

The sleeves are too short.

And the tie is no good.

They look like an old man's clothes.

Go with him.

I've seen that car before.

Last night in my dream.

Some people might say it's a bad omen.

I'm not superstitious.

They're waiting for us.

They're waiting for us.

Welcome.

Thank you, Doctor.

There's wild roses somewhere.

I want you to note down... all that passes through your mind.

All the books you've read... all the languages you know... everything.

All the memories.

No matter how insignificant.

If you aren't in the mood to write... or if you have too much to say...

use this device.

German.

I'm sorry to say.

A wire recorder.

How do I operate this?

How do I operate this?

Memories are unbelievable.

When he passed away... and he made us another fact... the paper doesn't relate...

to the appearance... of his What is the freedom.

The freedom?

I don't know...

Every time I'm against it... I'm always looking for the one...

I have a surprise for you.

Soon you'll receive all the things from your home in Pietermans.

Your reference books, dictionaries, personal belongings.

Ah.

The watch she gave me.

I've brought your family album.

The one with your pictures from Lycee and the university.

What are you thinking?

What kind of memories?

What

kind of associations?

When I look at that photograph...

I sense the heat...

of that morning.

The fragrance of the old Ander.

The loudest scent.

Soap on her skin.

It's unforgettable.

She married someone else, you know.

And then, a year later, she died.

Childbirth.

It was awful.

It's a kind of hypernesia... with lateral effects.

It's...

too much.

It's useless.

It seems useless because we don't know yet what to do with it.

With this fantastic recovery of memory.

It's useless.

Soon it will be learned that someone, an old man of unknown origin, was struck

by lightning and after ten weeks appeared perfectly healthy and young again.

Let's hope the rest will not be found out.

The anterior basal diameter 19cm.

The anterior posterior diameter 19cm.

The length of the face 12cm.

The height of the face 12cm.

The length of the nose 6cm.

And the length of the nose 6cm.

I warned you there would be a sort of international consultation.

They had to see first hand.

They couldn't believe the reports I published in La Presse Medicalne.

Well, I wasn't expecting such questions.

Especially since I was still in the hospital and I had

no way of confirming or ruling out sexual possibilities.

Excuse me.

In your notebooks you speak of erotic dreams.

Are you sure they were dreams?

I don't know.

But if I've confused erotic dreams with real experiences,

my life is far more interesting than I'd imagined.

Good.

We value this information.

Thank you.

But in the case of the young lady in room six, my friend...

That woman was imposed on us by the Secret Service.

What young lady in room six?

Have we met somehow before?

Of course we've met before.

Several times, in fact.

I am impressed you are very discreet.

When?

When?

Most recently last night, in room six.

Your room is next door.

Lao Tzu-Chu.

Chu-Ku-Xian.

Li-Chiang.

Tzu-Tan.

Zhuang Tzu-Chu.

Meng-Zhang.

Ming-Zhou.

Mei-Zhou.

Oh, wow.

Oh, my.

We're back.

Once again.

This way.

Over here.

Hey, another car.

You, another car.

Another car.

Hope you're having fun.

Bye.

Let's go.

Thanks, dear.

I'll see you later.

Bye.

Take care.

Bye.

For you to be confused with others.

For people to think you can't distinguish dream from reality.

Who's taking care of me?

Do you think all you've gone through is due to chance?

Who's watching over me?

It doesn't matter now.

You'll find out later.

Besides, you've guessed some of it already.

Otherwise, why haven't you told the professor about...

certain dreams, like this?

Stop!

If you know someone else exists, why have you never referred to it?

I must not think, I must not think, I must not think of anything...

I must not think, I must not think of anything...

Yes.

Yes, you learn more quickly, more profoundly in sleep.

You told the professor that in sleep you continued your studies of the daytime.

Little by little, you discovered you'd mastered Chinese.

Just as later, you discovered you'd mastered other languages.

I'm beginning to understand what's happening to me.

Yeah.

Good.

The enormous concentration of electricity that exploded directly above me...

...regenerated me and...

...amplified fabulously all my mental faculties.

But this electrical discharge also made

possible the emergence of a new personality.

Sort of...

...double.

Yes.

The formula of the double is...

...correct and useful.

But don't be in a hurry to tell the professor.

The next...marshal.

What can I say?

The man was about to cross the street.

He was seventy or eighty years old.

He said he'd seen a man.

He wanted to cross the street.

The young lady in room six disappeared two days ago.

Your companion of a night.

Or several.

I'm afraid it was several.

Do you love me?

Yes.

I must be a murderer.

Tell me how you expect me.

You're becoming more difficult.

You are my 사람 and my goddess.

She recorded all your conversations and transmitted them to the Gestapo.

And when she asked you questions in Russian, Polish, or

German, you replied without difficulty in all those languages.

It's probable that...

But, after listening to the recordings, someone

high up in the Reich decided to kidnap you.

Kidnap me?

You have become the most valuable human specimen

existing today on the face of the Earth.

Come, have your chicken.

All the medical schools in the world would like to study you.

That's a sort of guinea pig.

Professor.

We are doing all we can to prevent it.

Professor.

In your office, you must come.

Please, Professor, immediately.

We are disturbed over your level of cooperation, Herr Professor.

As you see, your government has instructed you to relinquish

the patient and all relevant files to our custody.

I'm sorry, I cannot comply with this one.

Cannot comply?

I will not turn over the patient himself as his doctor.

His condition won't allow transfer at this time.

I'll return with the German doctor.

Good.

You're behaving as you should.

In order to create the necessary confusion.

The double.

It always answers the questions I'm ready to ask.

Like a true guardian angel.

That's a correct and useful formula.

Are there others?

Many.

For example, along with angels and guardian angels, there are powers.

Archangels.

Seraphim.

Cherubim.

Intermediary beings.

Pyrexorals.

Intermediary between consciousness and unconsciousness.

Well, of course.

But also between nature and man.

Man and the divine.

Reason and Eros.

Feminine and masculine.

Darkness and light.

Matter and spirit.

So it's come back to my old passion again.

Philosophy of religion.

Yes.

For you it will always come back to that.

But I can't believe in the objective reality

of the person with whom I'm conversing.

I can only think of him as my double.

Well, in a sense, that's what he is.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't exist in an objective way independently.

Well, I'd like to be convinced, but...

In metaphysical controversies, empirical proofs, it loses that value.

But wouldn't you enjoy receiving a few fresh roses picked from the garden?

I've always liked roses.

Well, where would you like me to put them?

Not in the vase.

At any rate.

One right here.

In my hand.

As I'm holding it now.

Open.

And another on my knee.

The third rose.

Where do you want me to put the third rose?

Let's see.

Things are more serious than we thought.

We know now why the Gestapo will try anything.

Anything in order to get their hands on you.

Why?

Among the intimates of Goebbels, there is an enigmatic and ambiguous person.

A certain Dr. Josef Rudolph.

Hang these off.

Dr. Rudolph believes that electrocution by a current of at least a million volts

could produce a radical mutation of the human species.

Word of this experiment has reached the ear of Adolf

Hitler, who has become personally interested in your case.

Come, come, come!

Attention!

The experiment begins now!

They want us to lend you to them for a period of time.

Time, Dominic.

We are running out of time.

Passport control.

Please get out.

Take all your luggage.

The passport.

Please.

An order has just come in from Vienna, saying that

relatives of certain nationalities should be held back.

But why?

I have a valid passport and a visa.

Please go back!

Come on.

Just a few more hours and we'll see you at home.

Yes.

Go on.

See?

My cooperation with the Nazis is only symbolic.

What do you want?

Hitler.

Thank you.

Geneva.

1941.

May the 7th.

Dominique Maté.

Dictation.

The documents in the Geneva safety deposit box summarise my life, which was

profoundly changed in the spring of 1938, in front

of the Gare du Nord railroad station in Bucharest.

My first experiences were described and analysed by Professor Roman Stanjulescu in

reports which were confiscated by the Nazis.

The war rages around me.

I am a fugitive in neutral Switzerland, encircled by the Axis powers.

My Romanian homeland has made a pact with the

devil, Adolf Hitler, and may soon be under siege.

I've lost contact with my dear friend, Professor

Stanjulescu, which could mean that he's been killed.

I live in fear, dreading what awaits in the alleyways, eluding capture by my wits,

moving from hotel to rooming house, always working on my book.

November the 30th, 1941.

Zurich.

Dominique Maté.

I have explained in Portfolio B how I

instinctually found the talent to preserve myself.

Living like a secret agent, I discovered abilities to

forge documents, change addresses, and prepare disguises.

Shortly before he disappeared, Professor Stanjulescu arranged a bank

account for me in Geneva, under the name of William Pedersen.

Now, without him, these funds will be depleted.

Oh, good morning, Mr. Pedersen.

And I will have to find other means.

February the 20th, 1942.

Bern.

I must face the undeniable and chilling truth that I am a mutant.

Like a character in a science fiction novel,

I am a strange superman of the future.

I have access to knowledge unavailable to mankind, powers I don't fully understand.

Despite this, I try to behave as an ordinary intellectual, working to complete

my book, documenting the origin of language and human consciousness.

I began to realize that with any text I had before

me, if I wanted to know the content, I simply knew it.

Lake Campione, October the 23rd, 1942.

I found I could augment my income, winning just enough not to arouse suspicion.

Nothing is as it seems.

I am the proof of that.

Dominic Mattei?

Dominic Mattei.

I trust no one.

Look, please.

I think these were taken at the clinic of Dr. Stancilescu.

In 1938.

And to think, ten months ago, on January 8th, you turned 74 years old.

Eleven again.

You're trying to look older, too.

Those glasses aren't even prescription.

I still don't... Thank you.

I still don't know with whom I have the pleasure to be speaking.

I'm Ted Jones, Jr. I'm a correspondent for Life magazine.

Listen, Switzerland is entirely surrounded by the Axis powers.

I'm cashing out.

Thank you.

I'm on special assignment for the United States.

I really think you're confusing me with someone else.

We can protect your identity completely.

I have a very powerful organization behind me, I know I can be of some service to you.

We can pay you, or we can make some arrangements

for you, anything that might help you.

You know, your English is perfect, but you're not saying anything.

I'm afraid I must remain neutral in all of this now, if you'll excuse me.

If someone were to tell me that there exist among us authentic magicians,

saints, bodhisattvas, or anyone endowed with

miraculous powers, I would believe them.

In a certain sense, what you say is true.

But you've attained the freedom to accept or reject these new conditions,

to use them to finish your life's work.

Or not.

Have you decided?

To use them for good...

or for evil?

Have you decided?

Despite my precautions, I was afraid I would inadvertently give myself away,

conversing with professors and colleagues at the university.

I knew more than any of them, and understood

things they never even suspected existed.

I know you're a good friend of the Romanian professor Stanchulescu.

I'm very sorry, I heard he died in a plane crash, an accident.

But we can talk about this when my friend gets here.

I told him to come at nine o'clock.

Your friend?

Dr. Monroe.

The director of an important gerontology foundation.

He's Swiss.

Like me.

Like you.

You know, I do have a name.

Would you like to know it?

Be careful.

He knows who you are.

Hello, I'm Dr. Monroe.

Head of the foundation investigating materials of Professor Stanchulescu.

I'm afraid I've no idea to what you're referring.

The belief that youth and life can be prolonged in

anywhere other than by the purely biochemical ones.

You do know what I'm referring to?

No, I'm sorry.

Methods proposed by the Nazi Dr. Rudolph.

Electrocution by means of a million or more volts.

Insane.

Fortunately, I believe that method was never tried.

But our informant said that Professor Stanchulescu had worked with a somewhat

analogous case of rejuvenation induced by a bolt of lightning.

We know who you are, Mr. Dominique Marte.

Now, I have a prior engagement I really must run.

I'm terribly sorry.

I know.

Perhaps we could have dinner.

Later tonight!

Mr. Marte?

What do we do with time?

That question, what do we do with time, expresses

the supreme ambiguity of the human condition.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

An opportunity has been given to us.

We, the human race.

We?

No.

You and I both know what is coming.

Atomic warfare.

Cataclysmic destruction.

But unlike the others.

I'm trying to find a meaning to this impending catastrophe.

Think of me as a last European optimist.

This can be our life's work.

Please.

There are a few of us who since 1938 have known that you exist.

The fact that you appeared all of a sudden means that you have a special mission.

And that you possess means of knowledge much superior to those available to us.

You are gravely mistaken.

What is indispensable to a truly human existence?

For instance, the accidental artistic treasury.

Music and poetry.

But also a part of classic philosophy.

And above all, science.

Post-historic man will be allergic to science for at least one or two centuries.

No.

Always science.

Science.

Science above all.

Dominic.

I'm surprised at you.

Dominic.

Don't believe anything he says.

Halt die Klappe!

Ich werde ihm die Wahrheit sagen.

Come Dominic.

Join me in this work.

He is Dr. Josef Rudolf.

Hitler's most dedicated scientist.

Adolf Hitler.

If you actually knew him.

If you had ever been with him in his presence.

If I could describe it to you.

Oh well.

You will meet him soon enough.

No!

The Gestapo had Sanchelescu killed and Rudolf was the one... Trade!

Verdammte Vergnügen!

You have no choice in the matter.

Dominic.

Du weißt.

Ich hole nicht in meinen Träumen.

Forgive me.

Please forgive me.

Bitte.

It's true what he says.

You really have no choice in the matter.

Geneva, 1955.

20th of August.

10.31 AM.

Dominic Maté.

I've decided to stop making notes in English.

And instead to use an artificial language of my own invention.

A little pause... and we are back.

A little pause... and we are back.

A little pause...

and we are back.

Maybe I can help.

I'm Veronica.

What's your name?

Dominique.

With her, you use your real name.

Thank you.

I can only guess what happened.

When the big storm broke out, they were probably on the road that runs under the

mountain wall... where most of the lightning struck.

I'm afraid they could have been buried in a rock slide or...

a close strike of lightning.

It could cause a house attack.

Your name?

Martin Audrecourt.

Passport, please.

You know, I can always go in a taxi by myself.

If I need help, I'll call from the first service station.

I don't think they could have had time to reach the shelter.

They should have taken refuge in...

one of the crevices in the wall.

There's their car.

There's a woman over here.

She's dead.

Veronica?

What happened?

Are you all right?

San 103 007 008 006 009 0010 k How can it be?

San 103 007 008 003 0011 004 005 006 005 000 The Freund good night.

Stay well.

Om...

Shanti shanti shanti.

Thats Bill.

She's had a shock.

She's suffering from amnesia.

What language is that?

What is she speaking?

It's an Indian language, I think.

Her papers identify her as Veronika Buehler, age 25.

Occupation school teacher living in Lyshtal, Canton, Balkan Pine.

Excuse me.

Please.

You are the only one who can calm her and speak her language, mister?

Otterko.

I'm a student of linguistics.

Namaste.

Namaste.

Kaatva masi?

Saham po brahmanyasmi.

Rupini nama.

Good morning.

What can you tell us, Mr. Rodrigo?

A young woman believes she is living in northeastern India, 14 centuries ago.

She feels that she has spent several months in a cave, meditating.

Now, this is where she was when a big storm broke out.

And she saw lightning strike above her on the mountain.

Many large rocks were dislodged, blocking the mouth of the cave.

Is that all?

She asserts her name is Rupini.

Daughter of Nagapatha.

Descended from one of the first families to convert to Buddhism.

She became a disciple of the philosopher Chandorkirti.

Which is why she was in the cave, copying down his works.

I see.

Would you mind if I discuss this a moment with my colleagues?

Not at all.

We will invite some doctors from Zurich, Basel and Geneva to come to see her.

Hi.

If I might make a suggestion.

Yes.

Perhaps some experts from the Oriental Institute in Rome might be necessary.

Necessary for what?

Well, to confirm if what she's saying is fact.

Fact?

Exactly.

Good morning.

This is Professor Giuseppe Tucci of the Oriental Institute in Rome.

I am her assistant, Blasi.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Professor Tucci, it's an honor.

Before we begin, who wrote the telegram that included some of the particulars?

I did, Professor.

You're a Sanskritist?

Not exactly, excuse me.

But I have an interest in Oriental studies.

I came only because of your report.

Thank you.

Have had a good time?

Good afternoon.

We've had some of her remarks translated into English.

The young woman's knowledge of Madhyamaka philosophy

and her master Chandrakirti is convincing.

The discussion only became delicate whenever Rupini asked what had happened to

her, where she was, and why no one understood her.

What did you tell her, Professor?

I always start by talking about Maya.

Cosmic illusion.

The great magic.

Actually, it's not a dream.

I told her.

But it takes part in the illusory nature of dreaming.

Because it is the future.

Therefore, time.

Now, time is, par excellence, unreal.

I don't believe I convinced her, but fortunately

she's enthusiastic about logic and dialectics.

And that's mainly why we discussed it.

Professor, all this can be called...

how to say it...

fact.

Fact.

Hmm.

I would suggest a journey to India, more precisely to the province of Uttar

Pradesh, to the caves where Rupini claims to have meditated.

I shall thank the Oriental Institute of Rome, of

which I'm president, which sponsored the expedition.

And young man, I think you should accompany us to India.

I'd be delighted, Professor.

Perfecto.

It's been understood that she will be put

into a deep sleep before leaving the clinic.

And will continue to sleep until we reach the vicinity of the caves.

Going!

Luci, Luci, look here!

Piano.

We're

very close to the frontier of Nepal.

According to Rupini's account, this is where

we'll find the cave where she would meditate.

We are very fortunate in having a pandit from

Gorakhpur, familiar with the Madhyamic philosophy.

He'll be on her side when she awakens.

Namaste.

Namaste.

Everyone, hide themselves, presto, andiamo.

Andiamo.

A R Stay back.

Hide yourself.

Are you all right?

Floronic.

La grotta è questa.

Ma l'entrata è bloccata.

I don't think you'll be needing me... for a while.

She is awake, but she has not opened her eyes.

Didn't we... didn't we ask directions of you today?

My name is Veronica Bühler.

And I speak three languages.

German, French and English.

Have you ever tried to learn any Oriental language?

Never.

Or have you ever...

read anything about India or Indian culture?

Some popular books.

Like?

Rudyard Kipling, I think.

The German book.

Have you ever heard the name... Rupini?

No.

In an earlier existence, Veronica Bühler had been Rupini.

I would say for the vast majority of the Orientalists,

a clear example of the transmigration of the soul.

Young man, your opinion.

As a neophyte Orientalist, I can only cite some classical

unique conceptions from Upanishads to Gautama Buddha.

Excuse me.

It is precisely in the Upanishads, in the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya

Upanishad, that one can find this belief for the first time.

This is karma, isn't it?

But it's hard for me to believe that I ever existed before.

How did you say?

Metempsychosis.

Metempsychosis.

It absolutely doesn't make sense to me.

Maybe...

What?

Maybe I was possessed by an evil spirit.

Well...

They never leave us alone.

It's all so confusing.

I'm afraid I'm going crazy.

Hello, Miss Veronica.

Just an interview.

That's enough.

Let's go.

Taxi!

Just drive.

Drive.

Anywhere.

I...

I think we should get away.

I think we should go somewhere.

We should be alone.

We should go to a somewhat beautiful Mediterranean island.

Dominique, that would make me very, very happy.

What kind of birds do they have in Malta?

That's the Maltese falcon.

Thank you.

No, it's fine.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks very much.

Thank you.

Finally alone.

Dominique, it's beautiful here.

Yes, it is.

When I first opened my eyes and saw you, I confess I was thinking if I were three

or four years older and if you were to ask me to marry him,

I would say yes.

Veronica, my love.

Is it true?

Yes.

I've always loved you.

Veronica.

Nen.

Nen.

Do you understand it?

Nen, I love you.

Not in a bad way.

In a good way.

But I love you too.

You know.

Do you understand it?

I don't know this language.

Ancient.

Beyond.

Why else did you have to know her?

Herak-nehuy-mair-sexy-kick.

Veronica.

I've got you, Lana.

It's all right.

I've got you, Hera.

I love you, darling.

I love you.

I love you, too.

I'm tired of this.

I'm tired of this.

Was that Rupini's voice?

Yes.

She's moving back in time from Sanskrit to earlier languages.

That was Egyptian.

Perhaps you'll take us back to a time before history.

Perhaps you'll take us back to a time before history.

The origins of language, which is where I've always wanted to go but I never could.

But it's helping me finish my work.

Good.

Good, I want to help you.

You know, I'm...

I'm 88 years old, really.

If I added up all the years Rupini lived, I'd be older than you.

Well then, let's go dancing.

I

don't think we'll be recognized, even with our pictures in all those magazines.

Well, our pictures are still appearing.

Let me see.

What's the matter?

I feel tired all the time.

And I don't understand why.

Something is happening inside me.

I can feel it.

She's right.

The paramedia mystic ecstasies have exhausted her.

I'm Bane.

Ad

fama si, Rupini.

I was so worried.

Yes.

I

want to know what Rupini knows.

She knows things...

that we don't understand yet.

Let me go.

No.

Let me go.

No.

Believe

me.

Never.

Don't ever leave me.

Never.

Veronica.

A stranger in your dream was probably Shiva, and in his hand, a skull.

Well, for Shiva is both creator and destroyer combined.

Dominic, there's someone who looks like you spying on us.

I didn't notice anyone.

By the gate.

Come and look.

There's no one there.

Maybe I was mistaken.

You've been in the sun too long.

It's a good sign.

I'm 88 years old, really.

She's in a hyper-suggestive state.

Tell her you love her.

Tell her that you've always loved her.

I love you.

I've always loved you.

It's Sumerian.

No, it's Babylonian.

After Egyptian and Babylonian, there followed probably a sample of

Proto-Elamite and one of Sumerian.

She is descending deeper and deeper into the past.

How far back will she go?

Your life's work will finally have what was missing.

Every night for two weeks, Veronica went further back in time.

Through unknown languages.

Unwritten history.

A dream.

Getting closer.

And closer.

To the inarticulate moment...

of the beginning.

But at what cost?

Madame is not suffering from anything.

Anything at all.

Are you sure, Doctor?

Yes.

I've prescribed a series of shots with vitamins and minerals.

Perhaps it's the nervous condition that precedes menopause in certain women.

Just how old do you take her to be, Doctor?

Late forties, more or less.

She's twenty-five.

Where have all the mirrors gone?

Bring one to me.

Veronica, you're not well.

Bring a mirror to me, Dominic, please.

Maybe that one.

I should have understood this from the beginning.

One more regression.

To reach the proto-language.

Your life's work will be complete.

You know I'm right.

It's only natural.

Dominic?

Dominic?

Look.

Come sit with me.

Come sit with me.

Veronica, I am to blame for this.

No, it's me.

Listen to me.

Listen to me and don't interrupt.

Me?

Listen to me, listen to me.

I continue to live with you, but I ultimately will have perished.

I can't tell you more, but I assure you...

in reality, you haven't aged.

The moment I disappear from your life, your youth and your beauty will return.

Don't leave me, Dominic.

Please, don't leave me.

I was doomed to lose everything that I love.

But I'd rather lose you, young and beautiful,

the way you were, the way you will be again.

Without me.

And to watch you perish in my arms.

You promised me you would never leave me.

I am...

going to leave you.

If you leave me...

I will die without you.

If in a few months you don't find yourself as you were...

last autumn, I'll come back.

The minute I receive your telegram, I'll come back.

Three or four months, just wait.

Somewhere.

Far away from me.

Don't leave me, please.

Dominic.

The 310 train from Bukhoresh to Yash will depart in five minutes.

The 310 train from Bukhoresh to Yash will depart in five minutes.

Good evening.

Audrey, come on.

Sign here, please.

Thank you.

On the second floor, room 19.

Thank you.

By the way, do you know if the Café Select still exists?

How could it not exist?

It's an historic monument.

Of course.

Have you heard of Professor Dominique Maté?

You know, I was born here.

Then you know that he frequented Café Select...

the whole time he was professor here in Piedra Nantes.

That's right.

Here's your key.

19?

Yes, second floor.

All right.

Welcome home.

Café Select.

Wow.

Mom, mom.

Mom.

Will we hold mom soon?

Yes,flor.

Couldn't even lose their meaning in the absolute being coincides with non-being.

Yes, but what no one dares to say is that in the horizon of these philosophies

atomic walls must be if not justified at least, No, I reject that.

The true meaning of nuclear catastrophe can only be this...

the mutation of the human species and the arrival of the new man.

Yes, but atomic wars will destroy populations...

civilizations.

That is the price to be paid.

How can you even say that?

The resulting electromagnetic pulse will create

an unlimited potential for post-historic man.

Yes, but it could go the other way and provoke a regression in the species.

All that matters is knowledge...

and the perfection of the human being.

So you're saying that the end justifies the means.

There is no other way.

Just as there was no other way for Veronica.

Just aging and suffering and then death.

There was no other way.

That's why you've never finished your book.

Why you'll always be a failure.

No.

Save me!

Save me, Dominic!

Dominic, what have you done?

Isham, blame me!

Where did I go different?

Isham, blame me!

Ha, there is Shanti... Shanti...

He is the one who brought me to this world.

Yes, you have brought me to this world.

And the third rose.

Where shall I put the third rose?

Where shall I put it?

Dominic?

Dominic Matei?

Cocon Dominic Matei?

Is it you?

Praise God, you've returned!

Dr. Nicolache, look.

He's in the hospital.

Who's back?

Coccone Dominique is here.

In other words, the story begins all over again.

Oh, Frankie.

Dominique?

I'm dreaming.

Look, it's you.

I'm dreaming.

When I wake up it seems like I've just begun to dream indeed.

It's like a story of... Schwanze and the butterfly.

The story of Schwanze and the butterfly?

Yes.

A king who was dreaming that he was a butterfly.

That dreamed he was a king.

He was dreaming he was a butterfly.

I know very well that I'm... I'm dreaming.

And in a minute or two I'll wake up.

You are awake, Coccone Dominique, but you are tired.

In fact, you look very tired.

All right.

Between December the 20th, 1938, and this evening, many things have happened.

That is correct.

And this is when it is happening, Coccone Dominique.

This is December 20th, 1938.

I don't dare tell you what year we are really living in.

We who are outside this dream.

I know that if I were to make the effort, I would wake up.

You are not dreaming, Coccone Dominique.

You are here with us, your friends.

You are at the Café Select.

This is what we imagine would happen when Coccone Dominique comes to his senses.

When he recovers, you will see.

He'll go straight to the Café Select.

Good luck.

Good luck.

Good luck.

But if I'm not dreaming, then you'd know about...

Hiroshima.

Of the hydrogen bomb.

Of Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who...

landed and walked on the moon.

Last summer, in July.

Dominique.

Dominique.

It's true.

You've come.

You've come back.

Welcome.

You look good.

Welcome, old friend.

It's like that story of...

the Chinese philosopher.

You know, the one I told you about many times.

Which Chinese philosopher?

The name escapes me now.

The one with the butterfly.

But it's too long to repeat.

I'd call for a sleigh to take you home.

I don't need a sleigh.

I'm going on foot.

And next time the problem arises, I shall know how to answer.

What problem, dear Dominique?

The problem which worries all of us.

Dominique?

Dominique, is it your kid?

Is it your kid?

The kid?

Dominique?

Should I lock the door up?

The飯 Paradise nice guy hasn't come back yet.

He went to the Café Select.

I'll call.

Yes, he came here.

He went into the back room.

No one was there.

He stayed only a few minutes.

And left without saying goodnight.

He held his hand to his mouth.

Where do you want me to put the third rose?