Original subtitles

The spirit of the time...Time

She's dead.

(He shouts) Holz! Echeverria!

(Knocking / distant voices)

Adolfo's... by the door.

Darling I promise. Come.

Darling how was I?

- Sublime. - Really? Oh kiss me!

(Sighs)

Guess who madame?

(Sighs) Lilies.

It has to be him again.

"'Divine one. Ever more tightly around our two souls

draws the thread between your voice and my ear."'

"'Yours eternally Emmanuel Droz."'

- You know what to do. - Yes. The same as all the others.

He could at least change his florist.

Oh darling why worry about it? I don't even know who the man is.

Quick!

- Inside or outside? - Oh! Oh inside!

(Sighs) Take me!

(Gasps) Quick!

(Clock chimes)

Ritorno subito.

Ti juro.

Guardami.

(Cicadas chirrup)

(Audience murmurs)

(Orchestra tunes up)

'Malvina.'

'Nightingale.'

'You will sing forever...

...in my cage.'

(Applause)

(Applause)

(Plucking)

(Orchestra strikes up)

(She sings in Italian)

(She gasps)

(Glass rattles)

Don't move!

(Hubbub)

Halt!

(Man shouts)

She's dead.

Holz! Echeverria!

She will never sing... to your music again.

(Gull screeches)

(Birdsong)

(Bird calls)

(Water laps)

'Malvina.'

'My beautiful Lazarus.'

'I've come to lift the stone.'

'To raise your voice.'

(Cicadas chirrup)

(Birdsong)

(Door opens)

Malvina... everything's ready.

All that remains to be addressed...

...is the tuning.

(Train whistle)

'I'd received a letter. It was signed "Doctor Emmanuel Droz".'

"'Dear Mr Fernandez I wish to obtain your services most urgently."'

"'I assure you that the work will be professionally stimulating

and worthy of your skills."'

'He promised me that one of his men would meet me at the station.'

(Cicadas chirrup)

'As I looked around me it felt as though I'd been here before.'

'But when and how I cannot say.'

(Man shouts)

(Crow caws)

(Man speaks in foreign tongue)

(Shouts in foreign tongue)

(Speaks in foreign tongue)

(Shouts)

(Speaks)

(Shouts)

(Shouts)

- (Speaks) - (Shouts)

(Shouts)

(Man speaks gibberish)

(Gull screeches)

(Birdsong)

Emmanuel... the piano tuner is here.

So how many pianos does Doctor Droz have?

Pianos? There are no pianos here.

But I'm sure the Doctor will give you his instructions himself tomorrow.

These are your quarters.

(Birdsong)

Look. Here we are.

There you are... and here I am.

And over there... are the gardeners.

And here now is the Doctor...

approaching to welcome you to Villa Azucena.

Don Felisberto Fernandez...

...the Piano Tuner of Earthquakes.

It's unlocked.

(Whistles)

'So no pianos to tune.'

'Has the Doctor brought me here under false pretences? '

'And that fresco.'

'Was it me stepping into a painting already painted? '

(Speaks in a foreign tongue)

(Cicadas chirrup)

(Rhythmic tapping)

(Tapping stops)

(Distant murmuring)

(Man grunts)

(Howling)

- (Man grunts) - (All grunt)

- (Man grunts) - (All grunt)

(Distorted singing in the distance)

(Cicadas chirrup)

'The next morning Assumpta the housekeeper

escorted me to meet Doctor Droz.'

Mr Fernandez do you believe in dreams?

Yes I do.

And?

Someone once told me that certain signs in dreams

could no more explain a dream

than the postman's knock could explain what's... what's in a letter.

Oh.

I suppose that would certainly depend on how hard the postman knocked.

And for how long.

(Laughs)

I had a dream last night Mr Fernandez and it was of you.

I dreamt dogs were chasing me through the estate.

We ran and ran down rows of trees.

The more I ran the more excited the dogs became.

Their noses were at my heels. And suddenly I stopped.

But the dogs all ran past and nothing happened.

I... I was...

totally devastated.

Then I looked behind me...

and you were standing there...

...completely rigid.

Asleep... with a handkerchief in your mouth.

And you were trying to shout something

but only saliva dribbled out.

What I'd like to know is why did you have a handkerchief in your mouth?

(Bird screeches)

Oh well. (laughs)

Why would anyone sleep with a handkerchief in their mouth anyway?

Look here we are.

And here's Doctor Droz.

The piano tuner.

And here the last of the replies to your invitation.

They have all accepted.

- Oh excellent. Excellent. - (Man) Doctor.

Doctor. Doctor. Echeverria's gone missing.

L-L-Later Holz er... later.

(Clicks fingers)

Fernandez Felisberto at...

'The Doctor then led me to the first automaton.'

Feel that.

Water.

All my automata function by hydraulics.

Then you're not blind?

No I'm not blind.

But I assure you Doctor my touch my ear

are no less sensitive for my being sighted.

And as I understand it now

you didn't bring me here for your pianos anyway.

(Laughs) Mr Felisberto since there are no pianos to tune

I've given you automata instead.

In these machines...

...Mr Felisberto...

...is contained the Dream.

That of music.

The most rational irrationality of all.

Of which I Droz... am the heart.

Sheer artifice Mr Felisberto.

And all this... dependent upon nature.

'The Doctor told me that there are seven automata in total.'

'And that there was very little time left... '

Before the final performance.

- Final performance? - Unique.

Timed for a very special hour.

And... with very special guests.

I'm sure you will understand the urgency of my request.

'So I was to work on automata not pianos.'

'I accepted the challenge.'

Mr Felisberto bear in mind...

'He explained to me that they were not toys

but delicate and precious instruments.'

'And that I was to pay special attention

to their musical and sound qualities.'

Please.

'He then presented me with a set of special tools.'

I bid you good day.

(Cicadas chirrup)

(Gull screeches)

(Whistles)

(Droz) Echeverria!

(Droz) I'll find you!

(Droz) Echeverria!

(Cicadas chirrup)

Adolfo.

Is that you?

(Gull screeches)

(Man shouts)

(Cicadas chirrup)

Lost piano tuner?

Smell the gums of conifers.

Shut your eyes... and listen.

Which is the true forest Mr Fernandez?

This one?

Or that one?

The last one.

(Sighs) How flattering Mr Fernandez.

Yes. I... "The forest inside the forest."

I was certain you'd lose your way.

Not while my senses are being so well explored.

Who is Doctor Droz?

- Who is Doctor Droz? - Yes.

He's a forest no one can inhabit.

Oh that's er... that's not what you meant is it?

Doctor Droz is what they call an alienist...

a healer of broken minds.

And as the Doctor himself puts it

a man of science whose great passion is music.

But that's the official version.

And the unofficial?

I'm his living writing paper.

And this place?

It's an asylum.

Or rather a sanctuary

for those who have undergone the most fatal of traumas.

Those people you saw earlier we call them the gardeners.

But they are patients here who thanks to Doctor Droz

have been given back to themselves.

Oh don't look so serious Mr Fernandez.

After a while you get used to the confusion.

'On my way back from the first automaton I spied through the trees

high up on the hillside

what appeared to be the ruins of a baroque grotto.'

Am I disturbing you Mr Felisberto?

It's real isn't it?

Do you think it was planned?

No.

1755. It was the earthquake in Lisbon.

(Droz) And the tremors were felt as far as Salamanca.

How would you know such a thing Mr Felisberto?

It's my only gift.

I can hear anything between a sneeze and infinity.

No doubt you come from a long line of piano tuners.

For three centuries we Fernandezes have never had children.

Then... how were you born?

Ah Doctor... that's the secret of our sainted mothers.

'It seemed the Doctor and I had reached an understanding.'

So we have destiny to thank

for permitting us to be what we will become to each other.

(Man shouts in a foreign tongue)

(Shouting continues)

(Cicadas chirrup)

(Man shouts in a foreign tongue)

'End of my first day at the Villa Azucena.'

'To my surprise I have entirely retuned the first automaton.'

'The Doctor was right when he admitted that he failed to predict

the effects of the sea air upon his machines.'

'And then I was close to fainting from repeatedly holding my breath

while I scraped an almost microscopic mould

off the most intricate flywheel imaginable.'

'The Doctor's constructs are almost frightening in their subtlety.'

'The machine revealed a little row of singing teeth

that miraculously still retain their pitch.'

'Lt's true they are not pianos

but I'm certainly enjoying the privilege

of working on these mechanical marvels.'

'He said not to call them toys

but I still cannot quite see their purpose.'

And was that singing I heard last night?

(Speaks Spanish)

(Speaks Spanish)

(Speaks Spanish)

(Earring tinkles)

You play the black keys and I'll sing the white.

(She stomps)

(She speaks Spanish)

(Stomps / speaks Spanish)

- (Droz) I think of you... - (she speaks Spanish)

...as a powerful tree shivering in a stormy sky.

Very hard from the roots upwards

which are plunged into the quivering matter of life itself.

(Stomps / speaks Spanish)

It rises as if drawn by the gulf of the heights.

(Speaks Spanish)

And shudders as the wind stirs the leaves along its backbone...

...as my fingernails mount the tender furrows of your back...

(whispers in Spanish)

...from the dampness of your thighs...

(she moans)

...to the nape... of your neck.

(She sighs)

(She sighs)

(Distorted singing in the distance)

'The next morning as I was working on the second automaton

I'm thinking that I was a little out of my depth.'

(Tapping)

(Sighs)

Here is the ormolu magnet you asked for.

The Doctor told me to tell you that under no account

were you to let the echoes slip behind the vibrating plates.

And that you should remove your thumb first.

And that you'd know what he meant by that.

(Sighs)

Was that singing I heard last night?

Maybe it was your teeth Mr Fernandez.

Or maybe I was dreaming.

(Sighs)

Well...

it was certainly beautiful.

(Fork vibrates)

(Rumbling)

(Banging)

(Banging)

(Banging)

(Banging intensifies)

Malvina!

(Cicadas chirrup)

(He sighs)

(Footsteps)

(Woman sings in the distance)

(Woman sings operatically)

(Cracking)

(Footsteps)

Malvina.

Malvina!

There is a voice. I saw her last night.

- Who is she? - Oh you mean the Emperor's Canary.

Madame van Stille. The singer.

- Do you know her? - No.

Hmm. Well... (sighs)

The Doctor says she has had a severe trauma

and needs complete calm and seclusion.

For my part all I know

is that the Doctor is helping her to readapt to the stage.

Forgive me but how do you believe he goes about such a thing?

- The Doctor's method for her? - Hmm.

This I don't know.

But he does have an expert knowledge of the electricity in women.

- And er... does this include you? - (Fork vibrates)

For me the Doctor's passions are like the rays of the sun

when they are caught in a magnifying glass

and they immediately set fire

to whatever object they find in their way.

And you? Did you catch fire?

Oh yes.

But then the fire eventually burns itself out and...

and you just learn how to smoulder.

So erm no need for the fire brigade huh Mr Fernandez?

Enough. I should leave you... with the Doctor's toys.

Doctor...!

(Cicadas chirrup)

'I went looking for the Doctor

and found his mysterious patient instead.'

Madame.

Madame? Madame?

Adolfo?

(Softly) I'm sorry.

Madame I didn't mean to disturb you.

It's me Felisberto the piano tuner.

It's beautiful here.

I wanted to tell you about myself.

I come from over there.

I must leave now.

(Softly) Goodbye.

(Cicadas chirrup)

Doctor.

Good morning. This part.

(Laughs)

No rats get in only... rust.

Have you ever heard of Megaloponera foetens Mr Felisberto?

It's an ant that lives in the Cameroonian rainforests.

A forager of the forest floor which from time to time becomes infected

through inhaling the microscopic spore of a fungus

that rains down from the trees above

and lodges in its tiny brain... where it starts to grow.

Troubled and disoriented this ant is driven to leave the forest floor

and starts to climb up the stems of ferns and creepers

till it reaches some seemingly pre-determined height.

At which point it clamps its mandibles onto the plant

and waits there...

...until it dies.

As for the fungus it lives on eating the dead creature's brain

and infiltrating its entire nervous system.

Until at length some few weeks later

it excretes a sort of spike through the remains of the insect's head.

And this rampant prong teems with spores

which in their turn shed themselves onto the ground below

raining down for the next unsuspecting floor-foraging ant.

(Sighs)

(Whistles)

(Cicadas chirrup)

(Knocking)

'Three days have passed already.'

'Nothing is as it seems.'

'The Doctor's insect story...

...that woman on the bench Malvina

calling out for someone who isn't there

yet singing so beautifully.'

'And the strange dreams that come to me in the night.'

'Perhaps even these automata are not what they pretend to be.'

(Whistles)

(Bird calls)

Loitering with intent piano tuner?

I wouldn't be if I had a shoelace.

You don't waste any time getting under people's feet do you?

Often when I lace up my shoes

I notice only afterwards that my tongue

which I'd assumed was inside is still hanging outside.

But then you probably weren't paying attention.

So where do you think my tongue is now?

(Assumpta) Who loves me follows me.

(Chuckles softly)

You're not being distracted are you Mr Felisberto?

No. No no. On the contrary... I'm totally absorbed.

It feels like I'm living in someone else's imagination.

Has she shown you her tongue yet?

(Laughs)

She is incorrigible isn't she Mr Felisberto? (laughs)

So I needn't ask...

...if we are on schedule?

You needn't Doctor.

I thought as much.

Doctor Droz are you preparing another automaton?

In a manner of speaking yes.

Is it an opera?

(Laughs) Let's just say it's my own small contribution

to the operatic canon.

Then that would explain the voice I've heard at night.

It is very special I believe to you.

There's no country no city no theatre no recital

I have not been to for that voice.

And now it's here.

There is where I hear it from. What a beautiful soul it must take

to produce a voice like that.

Soul Mr Felisberto?

(Distant shouting)

(Sighs) There's a big word.

Ah.

How you compliment me.

- My every instinct. - (Distant shouting)

The fourth machine is awaiting you.

There's not much time.

(Distant shouting)

(Shouting)

(Shouts)

(Cicadas chirrup)

(Crow caws)

(Cicadas chirrup)

(Thunder)

(She gasps)

- (Cicadas chirrup) - (She sighs)

Here. It's me Felisberto the piano tuner.

Be quiet so I can hear.

(Cicadas chirrup)

(Softly) Adolfo.

(Sighs) All these lights these people the guests.

Tomorrow we marry.

Everyone can hear it in my voice.

The Doctor he...

I'm sure the Doctor has your best interests at heart.

They say it's bad luck

to look at each other on the eve of your wedding.

(Felisberto) But that's just superstition.

(Malvina) No his eyes...

The Doctor...

His eyes...

...following me burning me.

(Gasps)

I was singing and then...

and then I turned towards you.

Towards me?

And the walls slid away.

And then?

I'm neither in this world nor the next.

Tell me... who I am.

Tell me if I'm me.

(Waves lap)

The singer.

I saw the piano tuner with the singer...

...this afternoon on the bench.

She called him Adolfo.

And did he answer?

Oh he seemed to love it being called Adolfo.

Adolfo!

Do you think Adolfo's his middle name?

Don Felisberto Adolfo Fernandez.

Adolfo Carino. (gasps)

No?

- I wonder if he can sing. - I think not.

Then he could whistle.

What might he whistle then?

Emmanuel he could whistle a tango.

With all that facial excreta and ecstatic nose bleeds!

I think not.

But er maybe there's a role for you Assumpta.

Oh. I already have one.

I've always had one...

...Emmanuel.

Of course.

The illustrious whore.

Whose garments are wiped clean by the epileptic's saliva.

Oh but we did already that one Emmanuel.

Last year.

You're forgetting.

Maybe your hammer is erm needing... fresh leather?

(Distant shouting) Assumpta!

(Distant shouting)

(Felisberto) 'That night the gardeners' shouts

led me to another automaton.'

'Malvina.'

'She looked at me she saw me

she spoke to me she held my hand.'

'But she called me someone else's name.'

(Assumpta) 'ls that why she's here? '

'Because this Adolfo abandoned her

and then she tried to take her own life? '

(Whistling)

So everything's fodder for tangos huh Mr Felisberto?

Forgive me Doctor I've been here...

Mr Felisberto I must draw your attention to the fact

that the woman with whom you were seen

trying to engage in conversation yesterday is a patient of mine.

The lady has suffered a grave illness.

Her condition shall we say might even be described as er

terminal.

So you will kindly desist

from importuning her any further.

- Importuning? That's the last... - Have I made myself clear?

Good.

(Felisberto) 'Then to my surprise the Doctor invited me

to play a small but special role in his opera.'

'He explained that it would be a reconstruction

of Madame van Stille's trauma and that only by using this therapy

could he ever hope to bring her back to her more natural self.'

And what was her trauma if I may be so bold?

Oh tragically...

...her fiancé broke off their relationship

the very day before they were due to be married.

Of course I'd do anything to help Madame Malvina

but as I said my voice is hopeless.

I can't sing.

You needn't.

You will whistle.

(Thud)

I am like certain feminine opera fans who listen only with their clitoris.

Look closely at that triangular muscle.

These vocal folds...

...made up from nerves blood vessels and membranes.

Then imagine Malvina's.

As delicate as ripening grapes.

A scent just waiting

anticipating

dreaming of succumbing to pollutions of mist and fogs

upon the coolest slopes.

Malvasia.

Mammolo.

Marzemino.

And this sublime prolonged weight of her vocal cords

around my music

slowly breaking the cap of its skin...

...oozing swollen juices

crushed and glistening vanillas.

(Felisberto) 'Doctor

clearly it's you who's inhaled the spore

of Malvina's voice.'

(Mumbles)

Malvina.

Adolfo.

See?

Good. Once more.

How many times more?

Kiss me.

The Doctor rests every afternoon from three to five.

Madame? Malvina?

- It's me Felisberto. - Piano tuner.

(Malvina) Yes.

Do you... hear that?

The rocks.

I can hear them at night.

Malvina?

Where is Adolfo?

The dead love the most love longest.

Malvina.

Adolfo's by the door.

Can you see him?

- Yes. There by the door. - Hmm.

Table.

Vase.

And in it?

Orchids.

There's a window.

Yes a window.

Round window with a girl dropping confetti.

With a girl dropping confetti.

In this room.

'With a girl dropping confetti.'

- In this room. - 'With a girl dropping confetti.'

- In this room. - 'With a girl dropping confetti.'

What happened?

With a girl...

(Felisberto) 'I found steps which led me beneath the stage.'

'Everything she spoke about had been there.'

'The door the orchids the round window.'

'Were they all part

of the Doctor's reconstruction

for the final performance? '

(Howling)

(Crash of thunder)

(Distant shouting)

'I saw my face.'

'My reflection.'

'And then for a second everything seemed to sag.'

(Piercing whistle)

But that's my whistle in there.

See my little floor-foraging ant?

Didn't I tell you?

Here. I'll give you a hand.

Well Doctor your machine

it swallowed my whistle.

And somehow

my reflection.

Did you not think me capable?

But I might...

But I might need it.

(Droz) 'Real illnesses here

are absolutely essential for the imagination.'

'Higher.'

'Higher still.'

'Back. Back.'

'Yes. And around.'

(Felisberto) 'Yesterday afternoon I saw two suns.'

'And my watch has stopped.'

(Thunder)

(Droz) 'Higher.'

'Higher still.'

'It clamps its mandibles onto the plant

and waits there until it dies.'

'As for the fungus it lives on.'

'Ln older kingdoms they used to put out the eyes of birds

to make them sing better.'

(Felisberto) 'But here is the king Droz who is telling the stories.'

'One every day for six days.'

'The seventh story the seventh automaton

will surely surely spell the end.'

'No... '

'No he can't get away with it.'

'He mustn't! He's the evil one! '

'He's the one who must perish! Not the innocent princess! '

'Not the innocent princess! '

I know what has to be done. It's the door.

The carriage.

I must have left the carriage while I was sleeping.

Malvina. Malvina!

Are you listening to me?

Act three.

You're burning.

I love you.

Feel me...

...Adolfo.

You shouldn't be here!

The Doctor is coming.

Has she remembered your name yet?

(Laughter)

(Felisberto) 'Droz is laughing at me.'

(Laughter slows down)

(Laughter stops)

If all the automata here depend on my power to tune them

then it is also in my power to mistune them.

Droz is making me guess all the correct alignments.

Yesterday a calendar told me

there will be an eclipse tomorrow.

Its trajectory will flood along this path straight to the stage.

Shh!

It's timed to coincide with the opening of the door.

Assumpta will you share a drink with me?

Poisoned chalice Emmanuel?

(Droz) Bitter

on the back of the tongue.

Verging... towards leather.

And even violets.

Or violence.

Why not?

Quite.

(Droz) Violets.

(Glass hums)

(Felisberto whispers) The door.

(Felisberto) 'And the tremors... '

(Droz) '... were felt as far as Salamanca.'

Felisberto Fernandez Piano Tuner of Earthquakes.

(Distant thunder)

Then you've chosen to leave me to sadness.

To an even lesser role.

The future.

'Assumpta listen carefully.'

'Soon very soon

Villa Azucena will have become little more

than a memory.'

It will accumulate its infinity

here just behind your eyes.

By who else Emmanuel? By who else if not by you?

(Speaks foreign tongue)

(Droz) 'I will at last revenge the stench

of waving handkerchiefs at the opera houses

that have denied my music.'

Adolfo.

(Bird sings)

(Very slow very quiet music)

(Mechanical music)

(Slow music)

(Mechanical music)

(Slow music)

(Mechanical music)

(Louder music)

(Operatic singing)

(Brass music)

(Operatic singing)

(Droz) She's dead.

Holz Echeverria!

(Whispering)

(Thunder)

(Gasping)

I can hear them at night.

(Droz) Sing Malvina!

Sing!

Adolfo...

Malvina it's me.

Adolfo's by the door.

(Thunder)

(Adolfo) Malvina!

(Droz) Assumpta soon Villa Azucena

will have become little more than a memory.

(Felisberto) 'I never saved Malvina.'

'I never made it past the sixth automaton.'

'Didn't Droz tell me he was capable of such a thing? '

'And my love for Malvina was this only an illusion? '

'These thoughts preserve me now here inside the sixth automaton

where I dream mechanically with the tides amongst the rocks

where they can never separate us.'

Malvina.

The dead love the most love the longest.