All-Round Appraiser Q: The Eyes of Mona Lisa Page #2

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I'm on a story.

Hey, wail!

Over there.

Ms Rinda?

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening.

l am Odilon Boyer...

...Curator of the Louvre.

I thank you for coming all this way.

You will be tested to see...

...if you can find the real Mona Lisa.

They're using the real Mona Lisa.

Look.

Wow!

Incredible, huh?

We have several Mona Lisas here.

But only one is the true Mona Lisa.

Your test consists in finding it.

'We will find one of several Lisas

is a moaner.'

That can't be right.

Huh?

This is weird.

We will conduct you to the test area.

Are you all right?

I'm excited about assessing the real Mona Lisa.

Yeah. So am I.

I'm sorry, but you can't go in.

I can't go in?

Your answer, Miss?

Um...

The ones in that room...

...are all...

imitations.

All imitations.

Panel, poster.

Corridor pillar, panel.

Real Mona Lisa.

'Panel'?

Excellent.

Congratulations, Miss.

We were told you are a genius.

Excellent.

Thank you very much!

How did you know that was the real one?

I just fell that one was different somehow.

- Cheers.

-Cheers.

That's nice.

I'm sorry about the watch.

From the tan lines,

you'd worn it since you got it.

It's important to you.

But you're not wearing it now.

Did you pay your own way here?

I'll write a good story and get it out of hock.

Let's eat.

Hello, Riko Rinda.

I'm Misa Ryusenji. How do you do.

I asked at the hotel.

We're the only two Japanese who qualified.

How do you do.

'Tokyo University of the Arts

Lecturer and Researcher.'

'National Museum of Ethnology,

Research Associate.'

'All-round Appraiser Q'?

Yes.

That's really something.

I was almost fooled this time.

You've taken the test before?

I qualified as an Acting Curator

for the Raphael Exhibition.

This is Richard Bret.

He'll be instructing us in Japan.

Congratulations.

I'm told you are a genius.

I have great hopes.

The Mona Lisa adventure begins.

Do you speak French?

The lectures are in French.

We'll have 20 days of instruction

before the final test.

It's important material.

We're the only ones allowed in.

No interpreters.

I'm not an interpreter.

I'm Ogasawara, a journalist.

I'm covering this story.

There's no press in the lectures.

No?

Where did you study art, Ms Rinda?

Independently.

And that's how you could tell

the real Mona Lisa?

You certainly are 'all-round'.

The lectures will be here.

That's where we're going.

Out in Karuizawa.

We stay there?

Have a good trip back to Japan.

We'll see you in Japan, Ms Rinda. Good luck.

Right.

I don't like her.

"First day of lectures"

We will first train your instincts.

We will use a da Vinci drawing...

...to be shown with the Mona Lisa.

There it is.

This is how we prepare at the Louvre.

Only one of these drawings is genuine.

What's he saying?

We're supposed to work together

and find the real one.

First, you choose two of them

that you think are fake.

All right.

Rely more on your intuition.

Choose based on your instincts.

The top one, second from the left...

...and the fourth row, top.

Misa...

...choose an imitation from those two.

Now from your two I choose one

that I think is fake.

Then we repeat.

One of us chooses two drawings,

and the other eliminates one.

The fakes are removed,

until we arrive at the real one.

Now I choose two that I think are imitations.

Use your intuition.

Pick one you think is fake.

There are two left.

Misa, choose the real one.

Let's see which is the real one.

Show us the back.

That's a fake?

And the other...

That's genuine.

Instant judgment is important...

...in spotting a counterfeit.

It's almost a physical sensation.

With repeated practice...

...you will become more accurate.

Let's try it once again.

Hey, you!

Yes?

What are you doing?

Sight-seeing.

No pictures here, please.

I'm sorry.

That's all for today.

Give me a break, will you?

I can't interpret for you

and concentrate at the same time.

I'm sorry.

A curator who can't speak French is a joke.

I'm not interpreting any more.

You're on your own.

'French Grammar"

ls Ms Rinda from around here?

Riko?

She's from Hateruma Island.

In Okinawa?

Believe it or not,

her marks in school were awful.

They were?

Between you and me, she seems

to have been kind of stupid.

I can't believe that!

That's what she said.

Before she came to Tokyo...

Why don't you just go to Tokyo

and try to get a job?

Look at these marks!

I wonder what the problem is...

The teaching, maybe?

As your teacher...

...l've worked hard with you for three years.

You've taken more of my time

than any student I've ever had!

You like painting, don't you?

Yes!

I love that one painter...Kilimangelo?

'Michelangelo'.

Yes! Leonardo Michelangelo!

You're mixed up!

And Suzanne.

'Cezanne'!

'Cezanne? 'Suzanne?

Just one thing...

If you go to Tokyo,

keep out of the 'water trade'.

You mean don't sell water?

SO no convenience stores...

No! Sell all the bottled water you want.

The 'water trade' means...

An aquarium? Don't worry. I hate orcas, anyway.

She thought the sex trade

meant working in an aquarium.

She learned about appraising from working here?

The owner realized she had talent.

Do you know 'mnemonics'?

'Mnemonics'?

The owner taught her to use them.

You use feelings to help you remember things.

You associate images and remember

how you feel about them.

No?

No...

It's like you take a strong emotion

and use that to help you remember.

'A strong emotion'...

A certain smell might make you cry...

A smell makes you cry?

There. That's all for today.

Excuse me?

About what you were saying...

'Since nature has no contour lines...

'...he uses a blurring technique...

'...achieved through color gradations.'

ls that right'?

Exactly.

Not at all.

Feel free to ask questions.

'With her prodigious memory,

at the age of 20...

...she went into business for herself"

as 'All-round Appraiser Q'."

"Honing her logical skills,

she took on the errors of...'

Um...

Keep going.

Right!

'Letters found hidden in Mona Lisa's eye'?

'Da Vinci initials "L" and "V"

confirmed in pupil...

'...of Mona Lisa's right eye.'

'L' and 'V'?

Riko?

What is it?

'L' and 'V' in her eye?

Yes, so they say.

The details are here...

...in this article.

It's in French.

Can you read it?

Yes.

Experts examining the letters...

...experienced a loss of function...

...of the occipital lobe.

It's an important part of the brain...

...that processes vision and color.

The experts who saw those letters...

...suffered loss of cognition...

...and psychological problems.

Or so it says.

ls that possible?

Perhaps.

What we can say for sure is that...

...Leonardo knew a lot about anatomy.

Could he have implanted a mechanism...

...to affect the brain? It's possible.

It's a fascinating question.

What are you doing?

M. Bret gave me permission.

He said if I look long enough,

I might hit on something.

Such dedication!

I've never seen anyone

learn French as fast as you did.

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