It's never still, never...
never, never.
I can't look at the sea for long and...
not lose interest in what happened on land.
At times, I wonder...
if work is worth the effort put into it.
Don't you think it's ridiculous?
My eyes are wet, I think.
What should I use my eyes for?
To look at what?
You wonder what to look at.
I wonder how to live.
Same thing.
The doctor!
He's coming for the one who screamed.
What scream?
I don't know, someone was screaming before.
What scream? The ship wasn't here yet!
What do you mean it wasn't here?
It arrived when you were taking care of the fireplace.
You're crazy, it was here already!
Did you hear it?
I don't know.
Are we kidding?
Perhaps you read it!
Think so?
Perhaps.
I heard it.
Let's forget about it, please.
What does it matter?
It matters!
Someone yelled. Linda didn't invent it.
All right, Giuliana, you're right.
Don't say "yes" as if I were...
Giuliana, who could have screamed? There's only the sea!
Linda, why did you say "perhaps"?
I did?
Damn!
No doubts, it's smallpox, cholera or leprosy!
Don't exaggerate!
One or two flags for epidemics?
One.
Let's go.
Please, Ugo, let's go!
Come on, it's probably a precaution.
-A case of colic! -Let's wait for the doctor!
We do know him. You know him, too. We'll ask me how come...
We won't ask a thing. Where are my gloves?
Let's go. Let's go.
Do you have my bag?
On the steps.
I'll get it.
Don't go! Forget it! I don't care!
But, I have all my shots already.
I don't want you to!
It's no risk.
I say no!
Giuliana, come on. Get into the car. I'll go.
Corrado, wait. I'll go.
Let's go.
Forgive me, Ugo. A mistake.
Didn't you see the ship? First you're scared, then...
No, I didn't see it.
All I wanted was...
to drive home.
It was the fog,
and I made a mistake.
I swear it, Ugo.
Why should you cry?
That's nice!
I'll pack. How long will you be gone?
Five or six days.
All right.
Mommy, how much is one plus one?
Two, of course!
No! Look.
Let's see.
Careful.
Now count!
One! It's true!
Look at that!
While I'm away, you can ask Linda to stay over.
Why?
So you're not alone if you wake up at night.
Yes, yes.
I'll tell her.
Better not.
Like it?
See?
You see...
how it turns!
- Put it upright. - Yes.
Do you know why it stays up?
- There's a gyroscope in it. - What's a gyroscope?
They put them on ships.
To steady them on rough seas.
Good-bye.
It's half the price for men and equipment.
He'll go to Buenos Aires, but that's fine.
What do you take along?
Generators, trucks, pipes,
the factory equipment...
No, your things...
your personal things.
Nothing.
Two or three bags.
If I were to leave,
I'd take everything.
All I see and have...
at hand every day...
even ashtrays.
But then, why leave?
You would only...
miss everything... your street, your city.
When one reads ads...
"Cause Departure Selling"
it seems an excuse to abandon everything...
or almost.
Why? That shouldn't be!
How do you know what you'll need?
And then... the things, the people,
will they be there when you return?
Will they be the same?
Perhaps... I won't come back.
Were I to leave not to return,
I'd take you, too.
Because...
you're part of me...
of what I have around.
Had Ugo looked at me the way you do,
he'd have found out a lot.
About the accident?
And the girl in the hospital?
It was you!
I was ashamed to admit it.
Not even Ugo knows.
The doctors promised not to tell.
I tried to kill myself.
Remember the Medicina worker?
Yes.
He was in the hospital with me...
and very sick.
Did he too...
try to die?
Him? No.
He must be well now.
And how are you?
Fine.
As you see, Patagonia is near the South Pole.
We get to Buenos Aires...
then we fly to Commodoro Riva Davia.
From there, in our trucks some 300 miles inland...
from Cateta Olivia.
And housing?
- Who guarantees our wages? - One at a time. One at a time.
What?
And the housing?
Prefabs with every comfort.
How do we know you'll pay up to the end?
What about guarantees? A deposit in a bank...
or something?
We'll discuss that, too, in a minute.
One thing at a time, be patient.
Is there a hospital?
Yes, well-equipped and an ltalian doctor, too.
He's from Turin.
When can we send for our wives?
After a year. But you can phone once a month.
Who pays?
The company. Unless you call more often...
- And the sports newspapers? - They're available.
You'll get...
all ltalian newspapers...
but a little late.
Is there TV?
Yes, sure, the TV. You're there to work, not to watch TV.
But if we have TV it's better, right?
Do women there go bare-breasted?
Yeah, sure, you wish. You'd really like that, wouldn't you?
He says he can't stand. His legs.
What is it?
What happened?
What hurts?
Here?
Here then.
Here?
Does that hurt?
I don't feel it.
You don't feel it?
If I do this?
I know.
You don't want to go to kindergarten.
Look, how pretty!
Come see the nice ship!
It's so big...
all white.
Come...
Love...
If you don't say what hurts, what can I do?
Tell me... what hurts?
Madam, let me try to pick him up.
Yes, try it.
Here.
Oh my God, you can't stand.
Love, please tell me.
How else can I help?
Hold him up.
It's not possible.
Come here.
Love,
how did it start?
Tell me.
You woke up this way?
Or was it last night? Tell me, love.
A thermometer.
Did he get his fourth polio shot?
Sure, the doctor said so.
Then why 24 hours for the diagnosis?
I won't wait.
I can't wait that long.
I'll call another doctor.
I'm tired of this game.
Draw me a new picture.
Why don't you tell me a story?
I've told you all those I know.
Why not yesterday's?
Which one?
About the kite.
Why not rest a little?
I'll tell it later.
Once there was a girl on an island.
She was bored with grownups, who scared her.
She didn't like boys, all pretending to be grownups.
So, she was always alone,
among the cormorants,
the seagulls...
and wild rabbits.
She had found a little isolated beach...
where the sea was transparent...
and the sand pink.
She loved that spot.
Nature's colors were so lovely,
and there was no sound.
She left...
when the sun went down.
One morning...
a boat appeared.
Not one of the usual boats,
a real sailing ship...
one of those that braved the seas and the storms of this world.
And, who knows... of other worlds.
From afar, it looked splendid.
As it approached, it became mysterious.
She saw no one aboard.
It stopped a while...
then veered...
and sailed away...
silently, just as it had come.
She was used to people's strange ways...
and was not surprised.
But, no sooner back on shore... there!
All right for one mystery, but not two!
Who was singing?
The beach was deserted.
But the voice was there...
Now near. Now far.
Then it seemed to come from the sea,
an inlet among the rocks,
many rocks that...
she had never realized,
looked like flesh.
And the voice...
at that point...
was so sweet.
Who was singing?
Everybody.
Everything.
Miss. Miss. Miss.
The magazines.
But, then...
Why...
did you tell me...
What's his room number?
Pardon? Whose?
What do you mean "whose"?
Don't you remember the name?
The name?
The name... The name, I don't...
Corrado.
The engineer, Mr. Zeller? Room 309.
First register, please!
Your son?
He's fine.
He doesn't need me.
I need him.
What is it?
Everything hurts... my hair,
my eyes,
my throat, my mouth...
Am I shaking?
A little. Perhaps it's the cold.
Yes, I'm cold.
So cold.
I'm cold.
You don't love me, do you?
Why do you ask?
I don't really know.
I never get enough.
Why do I always need other people?
I must be stupid.
That's why I don't make it.
I'd like...
all the people who ever loved me...
here, around me...
like a wall.
Giuliana, tell me what happened.
Nothing.
Just think...
nothing!
I'm not well.
I'll never get well.
Never.
You think about it too much.
It's a sickness like any other.
We all suffer from it...
more or less.
We all need help.
Who knows whether...
somewhere in this world one could be better off.
Perhaps nowhere.
You may be right.
It's go, go, go, only to end up back where we started.
It's happening to me.
I'm just as I was six years ago.
Yet, I don't know...
if this makes me want to leave or stay.
When are you leaving?
I don't know.
- What are you looking at? - There.
At times, I'd like to assault someone.
What's so bad about that?
At times, I too...
Help me.
Help me, please.
I'm afraid I won't make it.
I'm scared.
Calm down. What are you scared of?
Of the streets, of factories,
of colors, of people, of everything.
Giuliana, what are you planning to do?
Nothing.
It's absurd.
Don't worry about me. Everybody does...
The doctors keep talking about me!
But I feel sick...
when I'm left alone.
I can't take it any more!
I've done everything...
to "readjust to reality"...
as they say in the hospital.
It's seems I've succeeded, as I've...
even managed...
to be an unfaithful wife.
Don't think that, Giuliana.
Sure, just don't think.
Fine solution!
There's something terrible about reality...
and I don't know what.
Nobody tells me.
You haven't helped me either, Corrado.
Excuse me... tell me...
I didn't want to.
Does this ship take passengers?
No, I really haven't decided yet.
I can't decide.
I'm not a single woman.
But, at times,
I feel... separated.
Not from my husband, no.
The bodies... are... separated.
If you pinch me,
you don't suffer.
What was I saying?
Oh, yes.
I have been sick, but...
I must not think of it.
That is...
I have to think...
that all that happens to me...
is my life.
That's it!
I'm sorry.
Forgive me.
Valerio!
Let's go, Valerio.
- Why is it doing that? - I don't know.
Watch out.
Why is that smoke yellow?
Because it's poisonous.
Then, if a little bird flies through there, it dies!
By now the little birds know. They don't fly through there any more.
Let's go.