Eternity and a Day

Alexandre, are you coming?

We're going to the island.

- Where?

- To the island.

We're going to dive

to see the ancient city.

Later, we'll go up

to the rock...

and we'll greet the passing boats.

What do you know

of the ancient city?

Grandfather says that

that happy city was swallowed

by an earthquake...

and that it has slept under the sea

for centuries.

It comes out of the water

once a month

and for very a short time...

when the morning star regrets

to have to leave the Earth...

and stops and contemplates it.

And all stops then...

Time also stops.

Time... what is it?

Grandfather says that

time is a child...

that plays dice

on the shore.

Are you coming then?

ETERNITY AND A DAY

Alexandre!

You fell asleep there...

And you haven't eaten anything!

I have a taste of salt...

the taste of the sea in my mouth.

So, this is our last day...

Let me come with you,

tomorrow, to the hospital.

Ourania, don't make things harder...

After all, doesn't everything end

sooner or later?

Coffee is served

in the office...

I've also packed your suitcase.

It's not too full, I hope. It's useless...

You know it well.

Ourania...

Thanks for the 3 years

that you spent here.

Without you, I don't know

what I would have become.

The dog has eaten.

For the last few months

my only contact with the world

has been this unknown neighbour of mine,

who always answers to me

with the same music.

Who are they?

What are they like?

One morning,

I wanted to go and meet them,

but then I changed my mind.

Maybe it's better

not to meet them and imagine them.

Will it be a hermit

like me?

Or perhaps a little girl

before leaving to school

plays with the unknown neighbour.

All passed by so quickly!

This suspect pain...

my stubbornness to want to learn,

to want to know...

then the darkness...

the silence around me...

the silence.

All made me believe

that before the end of winter

with the ethereal

silhouettes of the boats,

and their sudden

breakthroughs in the sky,

with the lovers along the promenade,

in the declining sun,

and the hypocritical promise

of the spring,

all made me believe

that before the end of winter...

My only regret, Anna...

- but is it only one? -

...is not to have finished anything.

I left all as a draft,

shattered words here and there.

Get on!

Where do you come from?

Do you speak Greek?

Do you want me to take you

somewhere?

Hello dad.

What brings you here on Sunday?

No one answers at yours.

I've called for 15 days.

I was worried.

What happened?

I must leave for a while.

I don't know where to leave

the dog, Katrina.

Do you want to drink something?

- There's some coffee...

- I've also brought you

- some of your mother's old letters.

- My mother's letters?

You're leaving, you said?

Where are you going?

You know that Nikos doesn't want

animals in the house.

And your work, how is it going?

My work?

On "The Free Besieged"

of Solomos.

Your third project,

you left it incomplete

after mom's death.

Isn't it what you were working on?

Besides,

I've never understood

how come that a great writer like you

abandoned his work all of a sudden...

to finish an incomplete

19th century poem.

Don't tell me

that you've dropped it too!

I don't know,

maybe I couldn't find the words...

This one has no envelope.

Why?

Shall I read it?

"September 20th, 1966".

My day!

Mom often spoke to me

of that day.

"You were still sleeping

when I woke up.

"I watched you breathe.

"Were you dreaming, Alexandre?

"You moved your hand slightly

as to look for me.

"Your eyelids blinked,

then you dove back into sleep.

"A little tear came from your eye.

"it rolled, it travelled.

"From aside, the baby uttered

a little moan.

"A door moved.

"I went to the veranda

"and cried."

Hello Anna.

I'm having strange dreams,

in these days.

- Did you cry, Anna?

- That's nothing.

You cried.

It's nothing.

What's wrong?

- Anna, you cried.

- It's nothing.

So?

- How do I look?

- As beautiful as a summer day!

Liar! And the overweight

due to my pregnancy?

Is that dress new?

- Don't you remember?

- No.

You brought it to me

from one of your journeys.

You only think about your book!

When will you send it to the editor,

so we can stay together?

"...I wish I could keep that moment

"pin it up like a butterfly

to prevent it from flying."

They're coming!

Go to dress! Quickly!

Go to dress!

"I'm writing to you in front of the sea,

motionless, stunned.

"In the house you can feel

the hot milk and the humid jasmine.

"I write to you, I speak to you...

"I feel so close to you,

"who feel threatened and resist me.

"Do you think that I threaten your world,

Alexandre?

"Yet,

I am only a woman in love."

Is the little one sleeping?

She's with her other

grandmother, on the beach.

Grandmother... Like me!

My God, how old have I grown?

See, my daughter, by playing

the part of the naive all the time,

your mother got naive.

She always plays the naive...

Hecuba,

Clytemnestra...

My wife always loves to exaggerate.

Dad, stop teasing her all the time!

- How will you call her?

- Did you decide it?

Elni or Katrina...

But her grandmother

will have the last word!

You shine, you know.

My little Anna a mom!

I am going to put the flowers

in a vase.

As far as I remember,

the house hasn't changed.

This will be the last

careless summer, Alkos!

What do you mean?

Everybody speaks of an intervention

of the army before the elections,

but you politicians,

you play dumb!

"At night, I looked at you.

"I didn't know if you were sleeping or quiet.

"I was afraid

of what you could think,

"afraid of invading your silence.

"So I let my body speak,

"- the only language I know -

"because only that way

you don't feel threatened.

"I am only a woman in love,

Alexandre."

And wheres the lucky father hiding?

Plunged in is thoughts, uncle, as always.

He's there without being there.

As children we had to speak

in a low voice when he was working.

Father got angry when someone

disturbed his beloved son!

And now, if you want

to see the little wonder,

follow me!

She's beautiful, isn't she?

"I walked naked on the sand.

"The wind blew,

"a boat passed by.

"You weren't getting up.

"I could still feel your heat on my body.

"I didn't dare dream

that you were dreaming of me!

"Oh! Alexandre...

"If I could have believed it

only for an instant,

"I would have let myself go and a scream."

Did you say something, dad?

Are you already leaving?

I had not understood...

Hello.

I'm glad you came,

I wanted to speak with you.

You know, we sold

the house on the beach.

The house?... You sold it?

Tomorrow morning, I'll give them the keys

and the bulldozer will start working.

Is that your dog?

I am going to dress.

Don't take it so much to heart, dad!

What's wrong with you?

You look so pale.

Do you remember

our first journey?

Maybe you were fifteen.

The two of us in Yannina

for that damn tennis championship!

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