All language subtitles for Altered.States.1980.Criterion.1080p.BluRay.x265.HEVC.EAC3-SARTRE_Legendas01.ENG

The tank itself
was unusual in that it was vertical

and looked like an old boiler.

Inside the tank, the subject wore
a heavy glass bubble

and you would've thought
the whole contraption uncomfortable,

to say the least.

It was, however, effective.

Of the 23 students tested,
only two found the experience unpleasant.

Some even called it exhilarating.

A number of students hallucinated.

Dr. Jessup found
the encephalographic evidence

especially interesting.

And one Saturday afternoon,
in April 1967,

he decided to try
the experience for himself.

Arthur. Hey, Arthur.

Are you there?
Can you hear me, Arthur?

Arthur, answer me.

Is that it? You want me
to come in and get you out?

Yeah. Well...

I wanna get a look at those EEG tracings.

How do you feel?

Not bad.

I hallucinated like a son of a bitch.

A variety of dream states,
mystical states.

A lot of religious allegory,
mostly out of Revelation.

You were in there close to five hours.

It felt like an hour.

- I'd like to try that myself sometime.
- You should. You'll like it.

Did we have any communication?

Oh, sure. I kept checking you out
like you told me to.

How'd I respond?

Very orderly.

At one point you were crying.

- You mean, actually crying?
- Yeah.

You were sobbing.
There were tears on your face.

And, uh, I asked you what was going on,

you said you were re-experiencing
your father's death.

- Did you make notes?
- It's all there.

I'd like to try this again
next week, Arthur.

Do you think you could
make it again next week?

Yeah.

What are we looking for?

I don't know... yet.

There's really very little literature
on this kind of research.

There's some good people in the field:
Tart, Ornstein, Deikman.

But most of it is radical-hip stuff,
drug-culture apologias.

Obviously, the first thing to do is set up
some sensible methodology,

see if we can study these experiences
under controlled laboratory conditions.

It will not interfere with the work
we're doing with Hobart.

Uh, what are we getting into?
Sensory deprivation?

Isolation studies?

I mean, you know, where will
we be going with the tank stuff?

We're not writing up a grant, Arthur.
Strictly bootlegging, just for kicks.

As long as we've got the use of this tank,
let's play around with it.

Let's find out where it takes us.

It's fascinating stuff, Arthur.
I think we ought to get into it.

I didn't even know
they had one of those isolation tanks

at New York Hospital.

Must be some guy
in the Psychology Department

doing sensory-deprivation studies.

What's, uh, Jessup doing with it?

You've got me.

He's been taking students
out of his classes and testing them.

He's been doing this
for three, four months.

- Did you know, uh...
- Arthur?

...Jessup was into this kind of stuff?

- Not till you just told me.
- Arthur?

- What do you want, honey?
- How long are you gonna let it ring?

Well, it's okay, I'll get it.

He's the last guy in the world I figured
to be screwing around with anything

as flaky as altered states
of consciousness.

Well, let's face it.
Jessup is pretty flaky himself.

That's him.

Arthur says you're very shy.
He wants me to draw you out.

Draw me out?
That doesn't sound like Arthur.

Well, what he actually said was,
you were a high-handed, arrogant prick.

A little nuts but brilliant...

and that if I ever got you talking,
I would find you fascinating.

That sounds more like Arthur.

He says you're doing some work with him
and Alan Hobart at Payne-Whitney.

- Yes.
- Well, what sort of work?

Toxic metabolite stuff.

We're more or less replicating
Heath's and Friedhoffs strategies,

trying to find maverick substances
specific to schizophrenia.

I think we're chasing our tails.

- What do you do?
- I'm a physical anthropologist.

I'm sweating out my dissertation.

- Where?
- Columbia.

Holloway, and that bunch.

You're kind of young for a PhD,
aren't you?

- I'm 24.
- That's still pretty good.

I didn't get my PhD till I was 25
and I'm supposed to be a whiz kid.

I'm a whiz kid too.

Anthropology seems
to attract good-looking women.

So you don't think
schizophrenia can be reduced

to a single etiological agent?

I'm not even sure it's a disease.

You think madness is simply
another state of consciousness?

There's a body of evidence
to support that.

You don't like to talk
about your work, do you?

As a rule, no.

I've always been interested
in interior experiences,

especially the religious experience.

The only reason I'm working
with schizophrenics now

is that religious experience is
so significant in schizophrenia.

There's only so much you can do
with animals.

I worked with monkeys for two years,
but monkeys can't tell you what's going on

inside their consciousness.
You need human beings for that.

And you are not allowed
to ablate human beings

and you can't stick electrodes
in their skulls,

so I have to use some kind
of trance-inducing technique

and the isolation tank seemed
the least risky.

Listen, I'd like to go home
with you tonight.

Would that be all right with you?

I've got a roommate.

We'll be confined
to the living room couch.

Oh.

What's wrong
with the living room couch?

You tend to slip off a lot.

I'm sure we'll manage.

I'm sure we will.

So, whenever you want to go there,
you'll let me know. Hm?

How about right now?

What are you thinking about?

God...

Jesus, crucifixions.

As a rule, do you usually think
about Christ and crucifixions

under sexual stress?

When I was 9 years old,
I used to see visions.

Visions of saints and angels,
even Christ himself.

Of course I don't do that anymore...

not since I was 16.

Were your parents religious?

Anything but.

My father was an aeronautical engineer.

My mother, a clinical psychologist.

What happened?

I mean, how did a little kid
who saw visions of Christ

turn into a physiologist teaching
at the Cornell Medical College?

I stopped believing. It was very dramatic.

My father died a protracted
and painful death of cancer.

I was 16 years old
and very fond of my father.

I used to race to the hospital
every day after school...

and sit in his room, doing my homework.

He was very heavily sedated.

The last few weeks he was in coma.

One day I thought
I heard him say something.

I got up and leaned over him,
my ear an inch away from his lips.

"'Did you say something, Pop?"'

Then I heard the word
he was desperately trying to say,

a soft hiss of a word.

He was saying:

"Terrible."

"Terrible."

So the end was terrible
even for the good people like my father.

So the purpose of all our suffering
was just more suffering.

By dinnertime, I had dispensed
with God altogether.

I never saw another vision.

I haven't told anybody about this
in ten years.

I'm telling you now
because I want you to know

what sort of a nut
you might be getting mixed up with.

Arthur was right.

You are a fascinating bastard.

- Hi.
- Hi.

Well, it's settled.

Metcalfe spoke to Spencer again
this morning and it's definite.

- The job's mine.
- Hmm.

So I'll be in Nairobi,
doing my post-doc work July and August,

and in September,
I'll be teaching at Harvard.

Oh, terrific.

So, looks like we'll both be teaching
at Harvard in September.

Looks that way.

Well, you can't get
any tidier than that, can you?

We're gonna be together in Boston,
and I think we should get married.

You know, of course, I'm supposed
to be at least little bit nuts.

A little bit?

You're an unmitigated madman.

You don't have to tell me
how weird you are.

I know how weird you are.

I'm the girl in your bed
the past two months.

Even sex is a mystical experience for you.

You carry on like a flagellant,
which can be very nice,

but I sometimes wonder if it's me
that's being made love to.

I feel like I'm being harpooned
by some raging monk

in the act of receiving God.

And you are a Faust freak, Eddie.

You'd sell your soul
to find the great truth.

Well, human life doesn't
have great truths.

We're born in doubt, we spend our lives
persuading ourselves we're alive.

And one way we do that is,
we love each other like I love you.

I can't imagine living without you.

So let's get married.

And if it turns out to be a disaster,
it'll be a disaster.

We'll shake hands and say goodbye.

He's giving her dimethyltryptamine.
It takes effect in about a minute

and she'll trip out
for about half an hour.

Do you feel different now?

Yes.

Less anxious?

Much less.

Do you have any special feelings?

I feel...

like my heart is being touched by Christ.

There's a lot of religious delusion
among acute schizophrenics.

Some guys say schizophrenics are
physically different from the rest of us.

It's almost
as if they were trying to change

their physical selves to adapt

to their schizophrenic image
of themselves.

All right, we'll get married
since it's that important to you.

I'm not comfortable with women
and I'm not likely to find anyone

half as remarkable as you again.

I think I can make
a reasonably good husband.

I don't want to lose you, you see.

I suppose that's the closest thing
to a declaration of love

that I will ever get out of you.

Am I really that weird in bed?

Sometimes.

Shall I try to change?

No, I kind of like it.

- Want me to take over now?
- Daddy, I'm tired.

Then we'll give the little lady a ride!

- Hey, Mason, be careful.
- Whoa-oh!

- How you doing, Eddie?
- Hi, Mason. How about a beer?

Oh, if I didn't see this,
I wouldn't believe it!

You weren't supposed
to be here till next week!

What's your name?
My name's Mason Parrish.

This is Margaret.

This is Mason, this is the Rosenberg
I'm always telling you about.

Mason Parrish, nice to meet you.

Look at the family man!

- Eddie, you look so wonderful.
- Sylvia, I don't believe it.

Not again. When did this happen?

- Well, it's a long story.
- You look wonderful.

Have you found a place yet?

We got a nice little place
near Huntington Field.

Oh, my God, it's been seven years
since we moved to San Francisco.

- Arthur's gonna teach at Boston U.
- So Eddie's been telling me.

- I cannot believe it's been seven years.
- I hear you just got associate professor.

- Yeah, terrific.
- You guys must be loaded.

- Two professors--
- Oh, listen,

we've got a place in Maine
you can use for the summer.

I'm going to Africa again in June.
Eddie will be in Mexico.

Listen, do you know
a guy named Eccheverria?

University of Mexico?
Says he worked with you in California.

Sure. A very bright young guy.

Well, he's here in Boston
at the Botanical Museum.

We'll all have to get together.
I'm going back to Mexico with him in June.

What's in Mexico?

Eccheverria's got this witch doctor
down there, the Hinchi Indians.

They're an isolated tribe
in Central Mexico who still practice

the ancient Toltec rituals,
sacred mushroom ceremonies,

that kind of thing.

Apparently, they use some kind
of hallucinatory drug

that is supposed to evoke
a common experience in all users.

Maggie's falling asleep on the couch.

- Will you take care of her?
- Sure.

Did you ever get
into an isolation tank since New York?

No. Did you?

No, but I've just found out
that they've got one here

at the medical school.

I didn't think anybody was doing
those kind of studies anymore.

I thought we did
some pretty interesting stuff in that tank

in New York for the couple of months
we played around with it.

Maybe when I get back from Mexico,
we'll get into it again.

Why not?

A terrific housekeeper she's not.

- They're getting a divorce, you know?
- Who?

I don't know if they're actually
getting a divorce or just splitting up.

She and the kids are moving
to a furnished place in Cambridge.

That's why this place is such a mess.

They're moving her stuff
into storage tomorrow.

Then she's going off to Africa
for a year with the kids.

And he's going to Mexico.

And when she comes back,
she's gonna live in Cambridge

and he's staying here.

It's him wants the divorce, not her.

Listen, I'm surprised
they stayed together this long.

When did all this happen?

She just told me five minutes ago.

What about all those letters
she kept writing us

about how happy they were?

Don't ask me. She's still crazy about him.

He's still crazy.

- Listen, Sylvia just--
- Shh.

Sylvia just told me
you're getting a divorce.

Well, we're getting separated.

And we probably won't get around
to the divorce until next year.

Well, look, I mean, I know
it's none of my business, but why?

You're married to one
of the great women of the world

who adores you.

My God, if anybody has it made,
you have.

You're a respected and admired figure,

a full professor on the faculty
of the Harvard Medical School.

For God's sake, Arthur.
Is that how you imagine me?

A respected and admired figure?

A devoted father? A loving husband?

Well, I've also published
nearly two papers a year

for the last seven years
and not a fundamental piece

of work in the lot.

I sit around the living rooms
of other young married faculty members,

talking infantile masturbation,

who's sucking up
to the head of the department,

whose tenure is hanging by a thread.

Emily is quite content
to go on with this life.

She insists she's in love with me,
whatever that is.

What she means is,
she prefers the senseless pain

we inflict on each other to the pain
we would otherwise inflict on ourselves.

But I'm not afraid of that solitary pain.

In fact, if I don't strip myself
of all this clatter and clutter

and ridiculous ritual,
I shall go out of my fucking mind.

Does that answer your question, Arthur?

What question was that?

- You asked me why I was getting divorced.
- Oh, listen, it's your life.

I'm sorry I even asked.

Listen, why don't I call Eccheverria,
and we'll all go out and have some dinner?

As a matter of fact, Eduardo,
my year in India was disappointing.

No matter how you slice it,
yoga's a state-specific technology

operating in the service
of an a priori belief system...

We scientists have
a moral obligation to the public

as well as to our own research.

It just never occurred to baboons
that they could shorten that time

to five minutes if they used a stick.

Originally, man was
just another savanna-living primate

like the baboon.

What dignifies the yogic practices

is that the belief system itself
is not truly religious.

There is no Buddhist God, per se.

It is the self, the individual mind
that contains immortality

and ultimate truth.

What the hell is not religious about that?

You've simply replaced God
with the original self.

Yes, but we've localized it.

At least I know where the self is.
It's in our own minds.

It's a form of human energy.

Our atoms are 6 billion years old.

We've got 6 billion years
of memory in our minds.

Memory is energy!
It doesn't disappear. It's still in there.

There's a physiological pathway
to our earlier consciousnesses.

There has to be. And I'm telling you,
it's in the goddamned limbic system.

Jessup, you're a whacko!

What's whacko about it, Mason?
I'm a man in search of his true self.

How archetypically American can you get?

Everybody's looking
for their true selves.

We're all trying to fulfill ourselves,

understand ourselves,
get in touch with ourselves,

face the reality of ourselves,
explore ourselves,

expand ourselves.

Ever since we dispensed with God,
we've got nothing but ourselves

to explain
this meaningless horror of life.

You're a whacko.

Well, I think
that the true self...

that original self, that first self is
a real, mensurate, quantifiable thing,

tangible and incarnate.

And I'm going to find the fucker.

What are their chemical properties?

I mean, are they safe?

The mushrooms are almost
certainly a man it a muscaria,

a very powerful psychedelic
and a little dangerous.

It contains belladonna alkaloids,

atropine, scopolamine.

The sinicuichi plant is highly regarded

among a number of Indian tribes.

I've seen it as far north as Chihuahua.

The Indians say it evokes old memories,

even ancient ones,

and the Hinchis call it
"The First Flower."

The first in the sense of primordial?

Yes. In the sense of the most ancient.

I'd like to try it.

Do you think
they'd let me join their ritual?

Well, they seem like agreeable people.

Mmm.

He says it's all right for you
to participate in their ceremony.

Good. Ask him what kind
of an experience I can expect.

Are they gathering
these mushrooms for the ritual?

No, they're being harvested
for next year. Brujo!

Uh, your soul will return
to the first soul.

Ask him what this first soul
will look like.

It's unborn stuff.

Uh, then you will propel into the void.

You will see a spot.

Uh, the spot will become a crack.

This is the crack between the nothing.

And out of this nothing will come
your unborn soul.

He wants you to hold the root.

Put out your hand with the palm up.

Eduardo!

- Ah, Jesus Christ.
- You all right?

We only have their word I killed a lizard.

- Oh, no.
- You didn't see it!

And I have no recollection of it!

And this whole hideous business
is just a joke

the Indians have played on me
to make the gringo look like a fool.

Look, you asked me what happened
and I told you.

You drank the mixture
and you went outside.

After a while, there was a scream
and some dogs were barking.

I shouted after you.

The screaming stopped.

And The Brujo yelled at me
to come back and forget it.

Oh, bullshit!

Then why did you ask The Brujo
to give you the mixture

to take back to Boston?

I thought I'd like Arthur to analyze,
maybe synthesize it.

The noise is stupefying.

The sun became black...

as sack cloth.

The full moon became like blood.

And the great mountain,
burning with fire...

was thrown into the sea.

Then the beast ascends

from the bottomless pit.

The angel of the bottomless pit.

His name is Abaddon.

Abaddon.

- He's off the wall.
- Are you okay?

Get this stuff! It's new!

It's deafening! The noise is deafening!

Can you hear me above this noise?

Oh, my God. The most unbelievable thing
I've ever seen.

I'm watching the birth agony
of a mountain!

- Oh, my God.
- Are you okay?

I'm fine. Really, I'm fine.

Do you want me to bring you down now?

- What happens now?
- He's blacked out.

These blackouts can get,
uh, pretty freaky.

Sometimes they last as long as four hours.

When he comes out of it,
he's as chipper as a bird,

but he doesn't remember a thing.

Just how dangerous is this stuff
he brought back from Mexico?

No, I didn't say dangerous,
just said it was weird.

It hangs around too long,
and what's really screwy is,

it heads straight for the brain.

Well, I don't believe this.

You guys are shooting up
with an untested drug

that stacks up in the brain
and works in the nucleus of the cell,

and you don't call that dangerous?

For the record, uh,
we don't actually shoot up.

- Eddie drinks a 10-milligram per cc--
- It's gonna stop right now.

You guys are supposed
to be reputable scientists,

not two kids in the dorm
freaking out on Mexican mushrooms.

Why do you think I called you for?
Let's see you stop him.

This ain't LSD, Goddamn it.

This ain't no serotonin antagonist
you're drinking.

How many grams of that stuff
do you think you've already got in you?

Two? Three?

You could be working up
one hell of a case of cancer

with a truck load
of antimetabolites in you.

The Hinchi Indians have been drinking
that stuff for centuries

with no special incidence of cancer.

Fuck the Hinchi Indians!

Now you don't know anything
about those mushrooms!

Sounds to me like
they have fantastic staying powers!

We've shot up at least 30 rats
with that stuff.

Some of them have a whopping load in them,

and none of them have been
noticeably affected.

Where are we going now?

I thought we were
gonna get something to eat.

- Eddie wants to show me an isolation tank.
- "Isolation tank."

You guys get flakier
every time I talk to you.

I thought all that isolation tank stuff
went out in the '60s

with Timothy Leary
and all them other gurus.

Will you shut up for a minute
and let somebody else say something?

What happens
during these blackout periods is,

you get the feeling
of phenomenal acceleration,

like you're being shot out
over millions, billions of years.

Time simply obliterates.

You sense the hallucination is going on,
but you get no images.

I wanna break through
that blackout barrier.

I wanna know what those images are
that I know are going on,

but I can't see.

We can't raise the dosage of the drug
because we're close to toxic levels now.

So the only way
to intensify the experience is

to take the 200 milligrams
in conjunction with the tank.

A lot more things I'd like to do
to that drug before you take it again.

I'd like to do a half-life determination.

- That would take us a year!
- Know the transport system.

I'd like to find some analogues.

All I know is, this Mexican stuff
is an extraordinary substance

and every instinct I have tells me
I'm onto something hot here

and that another 200 milligrams
isn't gonna kill anybody.

There it is.

Oh, it's horizontal.

It's smaller than the one
we had in New York.

If they're doing sleep studies,
it must be wired for sound.

I don't think anybody's used it in years,

but I checked it out yesterday
and it works.

It won't take a week
to get this place cleaned.

You could get your ass in a sling
if it ever gets out you're using

an untested drug on human subjects.

Don't worry so much, Mason.
Nothing's gonna happen to me.

Let's get a quick hamburger.

I told one the kids in my class
I might see her tonight.

All right!

Do what you wanna do.
I think you're both irresponsible as hell.

Don't call me anymore, Arthur,
and tell me you're worried about

Eddie putting all this shit into him.

I'm telling you right now,
don't you put any more

of that shit into him until you know
a hell of a lot more about it.

I've offered you the use of my lab
and all the rats you can cut!

That's as much as I wanna be implicated
in your dumb experiments.

Get your own dumb hamburger.

I already got my own date
I'm an hour late for.

I already did these first three.
You do the rest.

Well, well, well.

Couldn't resist, right?

Well, somebody's got to keep
an eye on you two sorcerers.

What have you got in there,
some kind of salt solution?

Ten percent magnesium sulfate,
for buoyancy.

- Weird, man.
- Uh, excuse me. Mason.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

Okay, you're fine.

Wednesday, January 7th, 4:28 p.m.

Okay, this is terrific.

He went into beta like a shot.
No spindling, nothing.

Grasslands, savannas.

I feel...

I am actually alive
and inside this landscape.

A density of woodlands about a mile away.

Beyond that,
mountains that seem to be smoking.

Newly born mountains,
Cenozoic, latter Tertiary.

I'm in an edge-area.

Utter tranquility but alive.

Life in the trees. Life in the sedge.

Oh, my God, the birth of man.

That's got to be it!

My God! There it is. Um...

Uh, uh, a pro to-human.

The first and original truly-human form,

um, tiny, perhaps 4 feet high,
completely furred,

chimp-like but erect.

No knuckle walking. Shorter arms.
He's moving along so gracefully.

There's, um, two, three of them.

Uh, heh, bipedal, tiny, little,

furred humanoid creatures.

A chunk of lava in their hands,

they're, um, stalking
or hunting something.

For Christ's sake.

- Are you okay, Eddie?
- I'm becoming one of them.

I'm no longer observing.

I'm one of them.

Um...

Killing! I'm killing a goat.

I'm killing.

I'm eating.

I'm eating the blood--

Hot flesh of a goat.

Are you okay?

Beautiful. Beautiful.

Do you wanna come down?

No!

Sounded like he was having
a bad trip to me.

Some of these tank trips
can get pretty creepy.

What the hell was that?

You okay?

Beautiful.

- Do you wanna stop this?
- No.

Do you want me
to leave you alone?

Yeah.

I thought you said these things
don't last more than four hours.

- It's a quarter to 9.
- He's coming out.

I don't like being out of contact
for these long periods of time, Eddie.

I think he's in shock.

He must have had a seizure,
hit his head or something.

Now, hold on.

What do you want blood tests for?

- What's he saying?
- "Buccal smear, blood for a karyotype,

also, uh, pictures
for the Goodman and Sarich lab.

Pictures of my neck. Now.

- Before I... reconstitute."
- Before he what?

Before he reconstitutes.

Well, then take his damn blood
and maybe he'll let me

have a look at him.

Do you mind if I examine
your neck for a minute?

- Any masses?
- No.

Oh! Stop talking shit!

You trying to say your dumb hallucination
has externalized?

What'd he write?

"Not common aphasia.

Time-space,
fallout from the hallucination."

You are a fucking flake, Jessup!

Get dressed, I'm gonna
take you over to the Brigham

and do a complete workup on you.

You are a very sick dude,
you dumb son of a bitch.

I'm gonna look down your throat,
do some skull films,

get a CAT scan,
maybe even an arteriogram,

and I'd like an unbiased eye
to look at those EEG tracings.

What's he say?

"X-ray!"

All right, finish up with him, Arthur,
and let's get him over to X-ray.

Be right back.

Is it possible
it's purely mechanical?

If it isn't neurological,
it's got to be mechanical.

I'd like some plain films
of this guy's neck.

A PA, a lateral, and oblique.

- Jesus, doctor, I'm backed up to my ass.
- Just take the damn pictures!

- This is an emergency.
- Okay.

Might be a TIA.

I guess we'd better not tell Eddie
he had blood all over his face

when he came out of the tank.

He'll claim it was...

goat's blood from that goat
he was eating in his hallucination.

Oh, for Christ's sake,
you know you're really getting

- as weird as he is.
- What do you think happened?

Uh, he's not the type
for hysterical conversion,

so I'm thinking seizure.

He came out of that tank in a fugue state
and had blood all over his face.

He must have had a seizure
while in the tank,

bit his lip while convulsing,
and is postictally aphasic.

I thought maybe he had a vascular insult,
a stroke, flipped an embolus.

But neurologically he's intact,
so I'm thinking seizure now.

Mm-hmm.

Now you just take it easy.

None of us are so terrific
at reading x-rays.

- What are you guys looking for?
- Just put these in an envelope.

Who's reading tonight in Radiology?

Dr. Wissenschaft.

I want someone to look at those x-rays
who can read them, Eddie.

I'd rather not have everyone
in the Brigham on this.

It's bad enough
we've got this nosy x-ray technician.

- Are you all right?
- I'm fine, Mason.

I tried to indicate
this was just a transient thing.

A transient ischemic attack,
that's all it was.

- He's got his voice back.
- It wasn't an ischemic attack!

It wasn't a seizure.
You saw the x-rays, Mason.

There was clearly something
anterior to the larynx

that looked like a laryngeal sac.

That's strictly simian. I obviously
regressed to some quasi-simian creature.

I'm gonna show these to someone
who can read them right.

You're reading it wrong.
That's all there is to it.

'Cause no one's gonna tell me
you de-differentiated

your goddamn genetic structure
for four goddamn hours

and then reconstituted!

I'm a professor of endocrinology
at the Harvard Medical School.

I'm an attending physician
at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital!

I'm a contributing editor
to the American Journal of Endocrinology.

And I'm a fellow and vice president

of the Eastern Association
of Endocrinologists!

And president of the Journal Club!

And I'm not gonna listen to any more
of your cabalistic, quantum,

frigging dumb, limbo mumbo-jumbo!

I'm gonna show these to a radiologist!

Do me a favor.

Conclusion,
bilateral aspiration pneumonia.

- Do me a favor. Take a look at these.
- What's the story in this case?

A 35-year-old white man,

acute onset of aphasia,
no history of trauma.

What are you looking for?

It looks to me like the architecture
is somewhat abnormal.

Somewhat?

This guy's a fucking gorilla.

- You okay, Dr. Jessup?
- Yes.

Ah!

Are you all right, Dr. Jessup?

I'm fine.

I just want to make a few notes.

Mr. Daniel Craig, Mr. Daniel Craig.

Emily!

My God, you look so marvelous.

How have you been, Eddie?

Just fine. You?

Fine.

Look, there's your dad.

- Are you gonna drive us to our new house?
- You bet your life.

And depending on how nice you are,
may even take you to a Chinese restaurant.

Anyway, don't let
anybody tell you baboons

aren't occasionally carnivorous.

I observed instances of predation

which involved
the unmistakable behavior of hunters.

A pair of baboons killed
the Thomson's gazelle and ate it.

There was even a rudimentary communication
between the two baboons,

so I've become fascinated
with the work being done

on nonverbal communications with apes.

I've been corresponding with the Gardners
at the University of Nevada.

I may just go out
and spend a couple of weeks there

this summer.

I've got nothing else to do
except write up my report.

I don't suppose you recorded
any of those baboon sounds?

Yes, of course I did. Why?

I'd like very much to hear them.

Of course.

Mrs. Tally said she'll be here
tomorrow morning at 10:30

to help you put everything away.

She wanted to know if you wanted her
to come back to work steady.

I got a letter from Mason
about a week ago,

just before we left Nairobi.

He says that you've been working
with a very complex drug

which you brought back from Mexico.

It hasn't been thoroughly tested yet
and is dangerous as hell.

What else did Mason write you?

He says that over the past year,
you've taken about 2 grams

of that drug yourself and that you had
a very unusual instance

of genetic regression
about three months ago.

You may have leukemia or lymphoma.

He's been trying to get you
into the hospital

for a complete workup,
but you've refused to go.

He's worried stiff
that you're cracking up.

He thinks
you're behaving very strangely...

and he begged me to talk to you
about this when I got back.

Mason is pathologically incapable
of keeping his mouth shut about anything.

He's also a stupid, starched,

- doctrinaire idiot!
- Mason is a first-rate doctor!

It's not leukemia!

Or any other kind of cancer!

I've let him do a liver-spleen scan on me
and a CAT scan.

I have been probed, scoped, and palpated.

Mason's had a mirror
down my throat or up my ass

every half hour for the last three months,

and there is no evidence,
no suggestion whatsoever of cancer!

What else did Mason write you?

Which of these has
the baboon vocalizations on them?

- I'd like to hear them.
- Why?

Did Mason write to you that
during that instance of regression

I went through, I had an aphasic
experience for about four hours?

The only sounds I could get out
were clicks and grunts.

I've got a good hunch they're very much

like the baboon vocalizations
on your tapes.

Mason said you took blood tests
and the lab report showed

some characteristics
of simian blood group systems.

They also picked up antigens
specific to man.

I'd like to see that data.

I mean, for God's sake, the thing to do

is for me to get back
to that isolation tank and try it again.

Let's see if it happens again.
None of us really believed it happened.

After three months,
I'm beginning to wonder

if it ever happened myself.

But, oh, no, they won't go
back to the tank.

Mason's taken over the whole project.

He's got Arthur up in his lab every day,
fractionating rats' brains.

What the hell am I supposed to do
while they're fractionating rats' brains?

Mommy.

Everybody thinks your father's going nuts.

Mommy,
when are we going to eat?

Run along now and play with Grace.

I am convinced that the regression

was triggered
by an act of consciousness.

When I was in the tank,
I entered another consciousness.

I became another self,
a more primitive self,

and the drug, in some way,

triggered the externalization
of that other, more primitive self.

At least look at my data.

Of course. Maybe tomorrow afternoon.
Would tomorrow--?

- Don't patronize me!
- I'm not!

It's just possible I'm not mad, you know!

I'm asking you to make
a small quantum jump with me

to accept one deviant concept

that our other states of consciousness
are as real as our waking state

and that that reality can be externalized!

- You're screaming.
- I know.

I've been getting this patronizing shit
from Arthur and Mason

for three months, and I'm sick of it.

We've got millions of years stored away
in that computer bank

we call our minds.

We have got trillions
of dormant genes in us,

our whole evolutionary past.

Perhaps I've tapped into that!

For God's sake, all I'm saying is,
I wanna get back to that tank

and repeat the experiment.

The most elementary laboratory behavior!
Repeat the experiment. Confirm it!

I would like other responsible scientists
with me when I do it.

I would like
a little consensual validation on this.

We may have demonstrated
a whole new force in nature.

For God's sake, don't you agree
it merits further investigation?

I've got all the tapes, notes,
and everything in my place.

What time would you like to come
and look at the stuff tomorrow?

2, 2:30.

Oh.

I just want to get the girls.
I'll be right back.

- I'll get it.
- I'll get it!

No, no, I will.

- It's 8:30.
- Hello?

Get washed and changed right now,

and I don't want any trouble
from either of you tonight. Understand?

Hello?

Oh, Mason. Thank you for calling.

I assume you've spoken to Arthur.

No, no, I just got back
from dinner with the kids.

Well, I just don't know what to say.

I think you're absolutely right.
I think he's on the verge of a breakdown.

He was here all afternoon
and carried on like a madman,

and then he just disappeared.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't be this panicky,
but I just am very worried.

- What's the trouble?
- There's an animal loose in the basement!

What kind of animal?

Monkey, I think!

Charlie! Charlie Thomas!

Where are you?

Okay, listen, we've got
an animal loose down here

in the B-building basement.

I'm heading to the north corridor.

It leads to the boiler room,
so you guys come down the other way.

Now watch your step.
He's a pretty good-sized ape.

Call the animal rooms and find out
what the hell he's doing down here.

He must be in here somewhere.

I'm gonna take a look up here.

What the--? Get out! Get out of here!

Hey! Get out of here!

What were you doing in the tank room?

I remember large fragments
of what happened but not all of it.

You'll have to be patient with me.

I've had Mason looking
all over Boston for you all night.

It's okay. I'm all right.

I suppose getting a call at 2:30
in the morning from the police...

to the effect your husband
has been found sleeping naked

in the city zoo might have
caused you some concern.

Yes, I think you could say that.

And Mason's been writing you
this whole time,

telling you
I'm having a nervous breakdown,

and you figured
I finally flipped out altogether.

I'm sorry, Emily. Forgive me.

I know what a harrowing day
I've caused you.

I suppose
you've been sitting here all this time,

trying to figure out
how to get me to a psychiatrist.

As a matter of fact, I have.

I don't know how you've put up
with me all these years.

I loved you.

My God, Emily,
I don't know how to tell you this.

I really don't.

The implications are staggering.

Apparently, I entered
a very primitive consciousness.

And all I can remember
is what was comprehensible

to that consciousness.
I don't remember, at least not clearly,

how I got out of the tank room.

The first thing I remember are the dogs.

I followed a pack of wild dogs to the zoo.

That's how I got there.

In the zoo, I hunted down, killed,
and ate a small sheep.

I was utterly primal.

I consisted of nothing more
than the will to survive,

to live through the night, to eat...

to drink...

to sleep.

It was the most supremely
satisfying time of my life.

I may have killed a man tonight.

I remember...

beating on a, uh...

Man, you don't know the trouble
I had getting these clothes.

I had to go down to the security office.

They want you to call
the security office right now.

There was some kind of ape loose
in your isolation tank room tonight.

Do you know anything about that?
This ape almost killed a security guard.

You didn't bring some ape
to that tank room tonight, did you?

Your watch and stuff are
in your jacket pocket. You all right?

Is he all right?

Tell Mason what you've been telling me.

I want to hear Mason's views on all this.

I think Mason's views
will be predictable.

My God!
There it is, uh, a pro to-human.

The first and original
truly-human form. Um...

Tiny. Perhaps 4 feet high.

Completely furred.

Chimp-like but erect.

No knuckle walking. Shorter arms.
He's moving along so gracefully.

There's, uh, two, three of them.

Uh, heh, bipedal, tiny...

I'm killing...

I'm killing a goat.

I'm killing.

I'm eating-- Hot flesh.

I'm eating the blood of a goat.

Are you okay?

Beautiful. Beautiful.

It sounded like
he was having a bad trip to me.

Some of these tank trips
can get pretty creepy.

What the hell was that?

Did I wake you? It's Emily.

Eddie, I'm in a kind of wild panic.
I need to talk to you.

I don't know how even
to put this into words,

but I'm beginning to think
what happened to you

last Friday night was not just
a hallucinatory experience.

I've got this gut feeling
that something phenomenological

did actually happen,
that there was some kind

of genetic transformation.

I don't know why I think this is
in defiance of all rationality,

but I do, and now that I do,
I'm terrified.

I mean, really terrified.

- Petrified.
- So am I.

I don't want you doing
this experiment again next week.

I have to find out
if it actually happened.

I'm asking you to put the experiment off
until we understand a little more,

in order to minimize the risk.

No way you can understand this
before the event.

You have to work back
from the event itself.

But you may be causing yourself
irreversible genetic damage!

We're not dealing with genetics.

We're beyond mass and matter here,
beyond even energy.

What we're back to is the first thought!

I'm trying to tell you, I love you.

I know that.

And I'm trying to tell you,
this is an all-bets-are-off sort of thing.

We may be opening a black box

that may scrap
our whole picture of space-time.

We might even have a link
to another universe.

For God's sake, Emily, you're a scientist.
You must know how I feel.

Yes, I know how you feel.

It's very late, Eddie.
Would you like to stay here tonight?

I could do with a little love
and a little reassurance right now.

You'll stay, won't you?

If I come out of that tank anthropoid,

I'll be in a very primitive state
and impossible to relate to,

so sedate me while I'm still in the tank.

Otherwise, you'll have
to chase me around and subdue me.

Okay.

I'll tell you one thing.

You come out of that tank
looking like an ape,

then I'm going over to Mass Mental
and commit myself.

If it happens, we'll bring him down
with a big bolus of Amytal.

What do you mean, if it happens?

If it happens,
everybody keeps saying if it happens!

Do you think something's gonna happen?
'Cause if you do, I'd like to know.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just nervous as hell.

Listen, so am I.

Anything happen?

I just checked him ten minutes ago.

Did you order chicken or turkey?

I know you ordered turkey.
I hope chicken's all right.

Look, I've got nearly 11.
That's more than two hours now.

I think we should stop this.

I'll tell you frankly,
I'm really frightened!

We could be screwing up
his whole genetic structure!

Now how do we stop this?

- You bring him down, Arthur?
- He's gonna be sore as hell.

We should never have let him do it.

I don't know how we let him talk us
into this in the first place.

We were humoring him,
but we know he's not crazy.

And we all know, deep in our hearts,

that he may be onto something
beyond our own comprehension!

Now, because I believe him,
I want this thing stopped!

Oh, shit.

Eddie!

Eddie!

No!

Eddie! No! No!

No, no!

Eddie!

Oh!

Eddie!

Eddie!

Eddie!

His signs are all good.

He'll probably sleep a day or two,
come out a little stuporous.

He's got a whopping load of drugs in him.

It's not uncommon
for a psychedelic experience like this

to whack you out for a couple days.

You'd hardly, hardly call this
just a psychedelic experience.

His heart is good.
His pressure is good.

I'm more worried about you
than I am about him.

I'm all right.

Of all the goddamn men
in this whole world,

why do I have to love this one?

I can't get him out of me.

Do you know how many men I tried
to fall in love with this past year?

But it won't work.
No matter who I'm in bed with,

I have to imagine it's him
or nothing happens.

No matter who I'm eating with
or walking with,

there's always this pain
because it isn't... him.

I'm possessed by him.

Oh, it's crazy!

I think that's the way
it's supposed to be.

But he doesn't give a damn about me.

Emily, you're the only thing
he cares about--

No, Mason!

I was never real to him.

Nothing in the human condition
was ever real to him.

I mean, he's a truth lover.

Reality to Eddie is only
that which is changeless,

immutably constant.

What happened to Eddie tonight,
that was Eddie's idea of love.

That's consummation.

He finally got it off with God.

He finally embraced the absolute,

was finally ravished by truth,

and it goddamned near destroyed him.

He never loved me.
You knew him as well as I did.

We were all bits
of transitory matter to him.

All right, now, you're going into shock.
I'm gonna get you something.

We reached a point tonight
where physical science

just breaks down.

We're in blue skies!

Tonight was history
and what are we gonna do about it?

I'm gonna do nothing about it!
Tonight scared the hell out of me.

That tank just blew up!

Whatever happened
inside that tank released

a hell of a lot of energy.

For God's sake,
let's drop this goddamn thing.

- I don't wanna talk about it.
- I can't help it!

You may wanna go to sleep right now,

but the way I feel, I don't expect
to go to sleep for a year.

I'm on fucking fire!

I am in there, mopping up
the goddamned tank room,

and I would like to know why.

Do you believe
in supernatural agencies, Mason?

No, sir, I do not.

Then what we saw tonight
was a physical phenomenon,

an inexplicable physical phenomenon!

I don't know if it's phenomenological,
then it's explicable.

I've got to know why.
Let me talk, for Christ sake!

I have been in there mopping up
that goddamn tank room

for the last three hours,

and I would like to tell you
what I would like to do!

We have got to repeat this
with other human subjects.

We need a selective sample.

We will put up a notice
in the Student Union for volunteers.

- Oh, God...
- And get five or six subjects.

And go back to square one with them
and step up the doses of the drug

in a graduated fashion
and check them against Eddie's values.

We could even get a grant,
for Christ's sake!

The big, moral,
science-for-the-people man.

And here you are,
willing to use an untested drug

- on innocent human beings!
- Please stop shouting!

How are you?

Would you like to go back to sleep?

Yes.

Would you mind if Mason had
a quick look at you first?

It's a good idea.

Maybe you ought to have
a quick look at him, Mason.

Oh, I hope it isn't the kids.

Hello?

Everything's fine, Arthur. He's fine.

- It's Arthur. Are you fine?
- Yes.

Arthur, I'll call you back
when I'm more awake.

Everything's fine.

God, I wonder what time it is.

I should call the kids.

I can't tell you
how much you mean to me...

how much I need you and the kids.

I just wanted you to know that.

You saved me.
You redeemed me from the pit.

I was in it, Emily.

I was in that ultimate moment of terror
that is the beginning of life.

It is nothing.

Simple, hideous nothing.

The final truth of all things
is that there is no final truth.

Truth is what's transitory.

It's human life that is real.

I don't wanna frighten you, Emily,

but what I'm trying to tell you
is that that moment of terror

is a real and living horror,
living and growing within me now.

And the only thing that keeps it
from devouring me is you.

Why don't you just come back to us?

Mmm. It's too late.

I don't think I can get out of it anymore.

I can't live with it.
The pain is too great.

Defy it, Eddie!

You made it real. You can make it unreal.

If you love me, Eddie... If you love me!

Eddie! Defy it!

I love you, Emily.