Youth Without Youth Page #2

our engagement and separate.

No.

Laura, no.

We are still young.

We both love life.

You will have more time

for your research.

You'll see later.

Tell the professor

what he wants to know.

Tell him you need

a new identity.

All right, you can go.

I'll be here all afternoon.

I understand

that you are willing

to speak to me candidly.

You don't have to make

a great effort.

The words you cannot pronounce,

you can write.

My name...

is Dominic Matei.

On January the 8th...

I reached the age of 70.

I am a teacher

in Piatra Neamt.

I live on Strada Episcopiei

at Number 18.

It is my house.

It contains a library of...

some 8,000 volumes...

which I have willed

to the lyce.

You're 70 years old?

Extraordinary.

If...

If you require further proof,

I can tell you the...

titles of the books

on my desk or any other...

There's an album

of photographs somewhere?

More precisely, with pictures

of you when you were young?

And some, uh, clothing?

I implore you

to be very, very discreet.

Agents from the Secret Service,

they'll never believe

I'm past 70

and therefore they'll never

believe I am who I say I am.

Of course.

We'll be very careful.

Anything can happen

if you're interrogated by them.

I won't let that happen.

It's true, though,

these are difficult times

in Romania.

In truth...

I came here with the intention

of committing suicide.

I had saved an envelope

with enough strychnine in it

to end my empty life.

Please...

could you find me

a fictitious identity?

That's not a problem.

When your beard comes off,

you'll look like a man of 35,

or, um, 40, at most.

Don't worry.

You're handsome

without the beard, you know?

I have your jacket.

If you like, you can take me

to the movies sometime.

The sleeves are

too short.

And the tie is no good.

They look like

an old man's clothes.

Go with him.

I've seen that car before.

Last night in my dream.

Some people might say

that's a bad omen.

I'm not superstitious.

They're waiting for us.

Professor.

Welcome. Thank you, doctor.

There's wild roses

somewhere.

I want you to note down

all that passes through your mind.

All the books you've read,

all the languages you know,

everything, all the memories,

no matter how insignificant.

If you aren't in the mood

to write,

or if you have

too much to say,

use this device.

German, I'm sorry to say.

A wire recorder.

How do I operate this?

How do I operate this?

My memory...

My memory is unbelievable.

I have a surprise for you.

Soon you'll receive

all the things

from your home

in Piatra Neamt:

your reference books,

dictionaries,

personal belongings.

Ah.

The watch she gave me.

I've brought

your family album.

The one with your pictures

from lyce and the university.

What are you thinking?

What kind of memories?

What kind of associations?

When I look

at that photograph,

I sense the heat

of that morning.

The fragrance of the oleander.

Laura's scent.

Soap...

on her skin.

It's unforgettable.

She married someone else,

you know.

And a year later

she died in childbirth.

It was awful.

It's a kind of hypermnesia

with lateral effects.

It's...

too much,

and it's useless.

It seems useless

because we don't know yet

what to do with it,

with this fantastic

recovery of memory.

It's useless.

Soon it will be learned

that someone,

an old man of unknown origin,

was struck by lightning

and after 10 weeks

appeared perfectly healthy

and young again.

Let's hope the rest

will not be found out.

The anterior-posterior

diameter, 19 centimeters.

The height of the face,

And the length of

the nose, 6 centimeters.

The sexual

organs look like those of a man of 40.

They are fully functional.

My opinion:
the patient

is clinically youthful.

I warned you there would be

a sort of international

consultation.

They had to see firsthand.

They couldn't believe

the reports

I published

in La Presse Mdicale.

Well, I wasn't expecting

such questions.

Especially since I was still

in the hospital and had no way

of confirming or ruling out

sexual possibilities.

Excuse me.

In your notebooks,

you speak of erotic dreams.

Are you sure they were dreams?

I don't know.

But if I've confused erotic

dreams with real experiences,

my life is far more interesting

than I'd imagined.

Good,

we value this information.

Thank you.

But in the case

of the young lady in Room 6,

my friend,

that woman was imposed on us

by the Secret Service.

What young lady in Room 6?

Have we met

somewhere before?

Of course we've met before.

Several times, in fact.

I am impressed.

You are very discreet.

Where?

And when?

Most recently,

last night in Room 6.

Your room is next door.

Open up!

Second floor is clear.

Sir...

- Over here.

Over here or there?

- Hey, get out of the car.

Hey, you, stop

the car. Stop the car.

Don't worry.

It had to happen

like this,

for you to be confused

with others,

for people to think you can't

distinguish dream from reality.

Who is taking care of me?

Did you think all you've gone

through is due to chance?

Who is watching over me?

It doesn't matter now.

You'll find out later.

Besides, you've guessed

some of it already.

Otherwise, why haven't you

told the professor

about...

certain dreams like this?

Stop.

If you know

someone else exists,

why have you never

referred to it?

I must not think,

I must not think,

I must not think

of anything.

I must not think,

I must not think of anything.

I must not think,

I must not think of anything.

I must not think,

I must not think...

Yes.

You learn more quickly,

more profoundly, in sleep.

You told the professor

that in sleep

you continued your studies

of the daytime.

Little by little, you discovered

you'd mastered Chinese,

just as later, you discovered

you'd mastered other languages.

I'm beginning to understand

what's happening to me.

Yes.

Good.

The enormous concentration

of electricity that exploded

directly above me

regenerated me and...

amplified fabulously

all my mental faculties.

But this electrical discharge

also made possible

the emergence of a new

personality, a sort of...

double.

Yes.

The formula of the double

is... correct and useful.

But don't be in a hurry

to tell the professor.

So, what I can say?

A man was about to

cross the street.

He was 70 or 80 years old.

The young lady

in Room 6

disappeared

two days ago.

Your companion of a night,

or several.

I'm afraid it was several.

Do you love me?

Yes, more than I could

have imagined.

Tell me how you desire me,

how you long for me.

You are my dream

and my goddess.

She recorded all your conversations

and transmitted them

to the Gestapo.

And when she asked you

questions

in Russian, Polish

or German,

you replied without difficulty

in all those languages.

It's probable that after

listening to the recordings,

someone high up in the Reich

decided to kidnap you.

Kidnap me?

You have become

the most valuable human specimen

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