The Red Turtle Page #9

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Further on.

The son has changed direction again.

Now he climbs onto some rocks, walking along the line of rocks which leads

to the far end of the island. We recognize the place, of course. They are the

rocks he dived from one day when he was a teenager, and the ones he fell

from one morning when he was still a child.

He sits down, at the far end of the island, as if caught in the canopy of

heaven.

He thinks as he contemplates the sky.

It is in this silent face-to-face with the stars that he finds the strength to

make his decision.

His parents are lying near the place where they've sought refuge since the

catastrophe, the one where they all prepared dinner.

They look up at the sound of footsteps.

First, the mother sits up, then the father.

They watch their child coming and sitting not far from them.

A pause.

The young man lowers his head. He looks both sad and determined.

The mother and father look at him, somewhat overcome. They understood

that their son decided to leave.

The father turns to his wife.

The island, at night, surrounded by the sea, under the stars.

The dawn sky.

An albatross hovers in the first light of day.

It's daytime.

The son slips his bottle of fresh water into his bag and says goodbye to his

parents. All three of them are on the beach.

The son hugs his mother, then his father.

Some crabs watch.

The son enters the water.

He reaches the coral reef where his three turtle friends are waiting for him.

He turns one last time to his parents to say goodbye, then dives into the

water and joins the turtles.

Standing on the beach, the mother and father watch him go.

Seen from the sky, the child swims off, among the turtles.

A little later in the day. It's still broad daylight.

The parents are lying on the grass.

The father is on his back, the mother is curled up.

She cries silently, as if the tears won't stop.

The father comes and huddles up against her. He puts his arm around her.

She squeezes the man's hand and shuts her eyes. Maybe she can manage to

sleep now.

The big bamboos of the forest swing in the gentle sea breeze.

Fade to black

III. 6. Old age and death of the parents.

Another day. The lagoon seen from the sky.

The woman and the man swim quietly, side by side, in the big transparent

space.

Lap dissolve

The island in the middle of the ocean.

Lap dissolve

The father sits up on the hill. He looks much more older now: 60 years old

maybe. He’s dreaming, lost in his thoughts.

He sees something below. He looks: that is his wife coming back from her

daily sea bath.

She’s coming up to the beach, her eyes are wet, she’s got water until her

waist.

She is around 55, but she is perfectly fit. She’s particularly beautiful as she’s

getting out of water. She sees him and sends him a lovely smile.

The man smiles in return.

Lap dissolve

Migrating birds fly past above the sea.

Seen from the top, it’s a cloud of silent birds passing, as many points from an

abstract composition.

Lap dissolve

The big field. The couple have a stroll in the high grass. The woman holds

her man’s arm.

Lap dissolve

The beach lightened by a sunset.

The man and the woman are around 80 and 75 years. They walk slowly

along the seashore towards us.

The woman stops.

The man does one or two more steps, then he turns back to her,

interrogatively.

The woman stretches out her two hands towards him as if to invite him to

dance.

The man hesitates and eventually lets it go.

They dance a little waltz, just like it, for nothing, for fun, on the beach.

Lap dissolve

Night.

The old man is lying on his back, on the beach heights. The woman is asleep,

not far from him.

He watches the starred sky.

He turns his head to the ocean.

His eyes close slowly.

The woman wakes up; she feels that something’s changed. She sits next to

the man and touches tenderly his motionless face.

She looks down. She is very sad.

The lagoon. The quiet moment just before dawn.

The woman is standing up in the lagoon; the still water reaches her waist.

She lets her down in the water until she’s completely submerged.

Only her long floating hair is visible on the surface.

She stands up.

A moment later the woman sits next to the man’s body. She watches the

ocean. The sun rises.

She lies down on the sand, close to the man, and softly lies down her hand

into the open hand of the man.

The hand of the man and the arm of the woman united turn into a turtle

paw.

The woman is again a big red turtle.

The turtle turns slowly towards the sea.

It descends the beach.

When she reaches the edge, she lets herself slip into the water quietly and

begins to swim towards the horizon.

During a few seconds, the top of the shell is still visible before getting down

under the smooth surface.

The turtle disappeared into the ocean.

T H E E N D:

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