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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, Katérina.
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?
Eléni or Katérina...
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, Alékos!
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 where’s 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!
You lost and you started crying.
We had no choice, father...
Only two people, Nikos and me, in that immense house...
damaged by the earthquake and surrounded by buildings.
We walked hand in hand along the banks of the lake.
I tried everything...
you were inconsolable!
A glass of water, please, and a sandwich.
I have a clandestine kid on board...
So what?
A little refugee from Albania... of Greek origin apparently.
So what?
How long does it take from here to the Albanian border?
2 hours... Maybe more if it snows. You need to cross the mountain.
Why don't you ask that bus-driver?
He's going to Pentalofo in the north, not far from the border.
He ran away! They do it all the time!
The cops keep catching them and send them back home...
All in vain! They keep crossing the mountains.
How did you come to Greece?
Don't you want to tell me?
Is your village far from the border?
- Do you have a family over there? - My grandmother.
That bus goes to Pentalofo, close to the border.
I could not leave you there after all that. Do you understand?
I'm leaving on a journey tomorrow. I don't have the time...
Once there, the driver will find you a taxi to get to the border.
Don't you want to go to your grandmother's?
# Little exiled bird
# and unhappy
# a foreign country is happy to have you
# and I long for you
# What can I send you my little flower? #
Did you say "my little flower"?
Repeat...
What did you say? The song... Say it again!
I could not leave you like that. I had to find a solution.
I know what you want,
but I can't leave you like that!
I just can't!
Hello.
A glass of water.
Where can I find a taxi to take the child to the border?
It won't be easy to find, the road is terrible.
My son-in-law has a taxi. Shall I call him?
Yes.
He'll be here in 10 minutes.
Giorgos, 4 rakis and something to eat!
# If I send you an apple, it'll rot
# If I send you a quince it'll dry
# a bunch of white grapes will lose its beads along the way
# I'll send you a tear in a... #
What's wrong? You're trembling!
Were you afraid of the police?
No.
It's yours.
Remember those words, on the motorway...
"korphoula mou"?
Do you know what a poet is?
If I had the time, I would tell to you the story of a poet...
who used to buy words.
I understand.
Let's go. You are going to freeze...
Let's go.
The armed gangs came down to the streets.
The men shot all night.
They entered the houses,
the babies cried...
The empty village...
The passage is up there.
My buddy Sélim knew it, he had already crossed it.
There are a few signs left by some grown-ups,
some plastic bags hanging from the trees.
If you don't know it, you get lost. The snow eats you up.
From a bag to another,
you arrive to a bare plateau.
Sélim started screaming...
because I didn't know it and started walking.
"There are hidden bombs there, bonehead! " - he tells me.
"Get down! "
I did.
He took a big stone...
and threw it in front of him
then he crouched down before it fell on the snow.
Nothing happened,
so we advanced up to the stone.
He had me crouch down,
took the stone...
and threw it farther.
I was afraid, I was cold...
We started walking again.
And that way, throwing the stone,
we reached the other side.
We saw the lights far away.
I don't have anybody. I lied.
I have to leave tomorrow, I told you.
You've fooled me again!
A sandwich, please!
Thank you.
Don't you ever eat?
Sometimes.
- I know what a poet is. - Do you?
I see...
Once there was a poet,
last century.
A great poet.
He was Greek...
but he grew up and lived in Italy.
One day, he learned that the Greek...
who were under the Ottoman, had put on their weapons
to conquer back their freedom.
Then inside he felt
his lost country, the years of his childhood on the island,
his mother's face who still lived there, wake up inside.
He had no peace anymore. He walked and was delirious.
Every night, he dreamt of his mother
in her bridal white dress,
who called him.
I made up my mind!
I'm leaving for Greece. I cannot stay here.
After so many centuries, the Greek put on their weapons.
What can a poet do?
Sing the revolution,
cry over the dead
invoke the lost face of freedom.
The following day, he took a boat in Venice
and went back to Greece, in Zante...
his island.
He recognised the faces, the colours, the perfumes...
his house...
but he didn't know the language.
He wanted to sing the revolution,
but he couldn't speak his mother's language.
Then he started going through the popular districts...
the fields, the fishermen's villages,
noting the words that he heard,
and paying for those that he heard for the first time.
The news spread everywhere.
"The poet buys words! "
From then on, wherever he went,
the poor of all the island gathered, old and young
and seized him to sell him words.
Abyss...
Fragrant...
Dew...
Stream...
Nightingales...
Sky...
Wave...
Lake...
Unknown...
Embalm...
Most light...
Tell me, last night, what did you see?
A night enamelled with prodigies.
a night full of magic.
Most... light.
And so he wrote his” Hymn to liberty".
Of course, he also wrote other poems...
among which a very long, incomplete one
that he called "The Free Besieged".
He spent the rest of his life trying to finish it.
But he never did. He lacked some words.
I brought the dog, Ourania.
I didn't have anywhere to leave him.
My son is getting married.
Forgive me, I didn't want to spoil your feast.
I don't know where to leave him. I am sorry...
Let me come with you tomorrow.
The bride is beautiful!
You know, my daughter and her husband sold the house on the beach.
I wish I...
I think he's hungry.
I see you smiling but you are sad.
Do you want me to bring you a few words?
They'll cost you alot!
Stranger...
Stranger... exile.
Stranger everywhere...
Do you understand that word?
No.
The women at the village said it.
Do you want me to bring you others?
Where? On the island, Anna?
Mom, I am afraid that the sun can hurt you!
I've been dreaming of your father, lately.
Every night.
I miss him so much!
He left too early.
- You were on journey, as usual! - My first book was published in France.
You were never too close to him.
You always contradicted him,
and he suffered for that.
But I returned as soon as I could.
What are you two plotting?
Your hat, mother.
- I should have stayed with the baby. - Melpo and the children are with her.
I should have stayed with the baby!
Melpo is with her. don't worry!
"I try to kidnap you between a book and another.
"You live your life close to us, your daughter and me...
"but not with us.
"I know than one day you will leave.
"The wind pushes your eyes away.
"but today, give me this day
"as if it was the last.
"Give me this day!"
What are you thinking of?
I am going to climb up there!
Traitor!
Why you are angry, Anna? Please! it won't take long.
Please...
It won't take me long.
Traitor!
Christos... Vassilis... Alexandre... Summer '39.
Good evening.
Good evening, doctor...
Sorry, I was distracted.
I was worried for you. I feared that...
It's spreading faster than you thought… isn't it?
My body doesn't obey anymore...
my body, whose edges vanish in the mirror
and become a shade.
I'll go to the hospital tomorrow. You said: when the pain gets strong.
See...
I didn't know how to tell you,
my position was not easy...
I had such an admiration for you!
Our generation grew up reading your books and your poems.
I have to go...
Someone's waiting for me.
Why did you disappear? I looked for you...
What happened?
Sélim...
Good evening.
Who let you in? It's forbidden, don't you know?
A "boy of the red lights" was brought here this afternoon...
He was run over by a bus on the boulevard.
It's forbidden, I tell you.
Listen, the coroner knows me.
Does he?
Let me call him.
Hey! Sélim.
What a pity you can't be with us tonight.
Hey, Sélim!
I'm scared, Sélim. The sea is so big!
What waits for us in the place where you're going, Sélim?
What does the place where we'll all go look like?
Mountains or ravines, police or soldiers,
we never look back.
All I can see is the sea, now, the endless sea.
In the night I saw my mother in front of her door, in tears.
It was Christmas. The bells rang. The snow fell on the mountain.
If you only were here to speak to us again
of all those ports, Marseille or Naples,
of this vast world.
Hey! Sélim, speak, speak to us, speaks of this vast world.
Hey! Sélim, speak, speak to us...
Good evening!
Good evening. I'll be right back.
I'll leave you alone, it's better.
Mother...
Forgive me for not coming before.
You know, there's always something...
Mother...
I came to say goodbye.
I'm leaving.
The table is set!
I'm coming!
Maria, take good care of my big brother!
I'm not worth the effort! But others are...
Where were you? Your father-in-law got worried.
No, I didn't! But your mother...
And the left wing, Alexandre, what do they say?
About what?
Come, call the children!
The table is set. Alexandre is here!
What does the world look like, seen from above?
Magical!
- Am I late, mom? - You'll never grow up.
As a child you always ran away too. The table is set.
- Where is Anna? - I've seen her go that way.
Anna! Let's go to take refuge in the cave up there.
I am going to look for Anna!
Where are you going, Anna?
You lost your head!
Away, away, to the open sea...
"your island travels.
"One of your shirts forgotten on the balcony trembles in the wind.
"Oh you, protected by the shadow of a room
"kidnapped by the voices of the night,
"I look at you with closed eyes,
"I listen to you with sealed ears.
"With no mouth, I implore you."
The table settings...
the silver plate...
my dowry...
my dowry.
Where did you put them?
They were still there yesterday.
Yesterday...
they were still there.
Why mother...
nothing happens as we wish?
Why?
Why does one have to rot
in silence...
torn between pain and desire?
Why did I live my life in exile?
Why, when I felt at home...
only when I could speak my own language?
My language,
when I could find the lost words...
or bring the forgotten words out of the silence.
Why only at that very moment...
could I hear the echo of my own footsteps in the house?
Why?
Tell me, mother,
why can't one learn to love?
I wanted to say goodbye.
Are you leaving tonight?
Are you going to leave in the dead of night?
I thought...
You made me think...
You're leaving as well. I won't have anybody anymore.
You will.
You will go on a big journey soon,
the ports... the whole world.
Goodbye.
Stay with me!
You have 2 hours before the boat leaves.
I only have tonight.
Stay with me.
I'm scared!
I am scared as well.
Stay with me.
Shall we catch it?
"The bodyless".
50 drachmas more.
Two for students.
Maria, why do you leave while I'm speaking to you?
You don't have any reason to get annoyed.
We need new ways, Maria...
new ways of speech. And if we can't find them, none is better!
I love you, I love you with all my heart...
but you lead an absurd life.
You show off with that writer...
All the newspapers speak of you, and I'm tired of it!
And yet I love you! But why do you leave while I'm speaking?
"Conservatory".
Trembling with dew, the last star before the dawn
announced a radiant sun.
No trace either of clouds or mist
in the endless sky.
The breath of the breeze
was so soft to the face
that it seemed to whisper to the petals of my heart,
"Life is sweet".
and...
life is sweet.
Tell me...
tomorrow... how long will it last?
It's time, isn't it?
"Argadini".
What did you say?
It means: very late.
Very late.
Very late in the night.
I must leave.
Goodbye!
"I'm writing to you in front of the sea,
"again and again...
"I write to you, I speak to you.
"One day, when you remember this day...
"remember
"that I watched it with full eyes...
"that I caressed it with both hands.
"I am here waiting for you, trembling.
"Give me this day."
Alexandre!
Anna...
Wanna dance?
You don't like it, I know,
but today is my day.
I won't go to the hospital.
I won't go to the hospital, Anna.
I won't.
I'd like to make projects for tomorrow.
The unknown neighbour will always answer to me with the same music...
and there will be someone
to sell me words.
Tomorrow...
What is tomorrow, Anna?
I have asked you one day: "How long will tomorrow last?"
and you answered to me:
Eternity and a day.
I couldn't hear you.
What did you say?
Eternity and a day.
My passage to the other side, tonight,
with words, I brought you back.
You are there.
and all is true, and waiting
for the truth.
For the truth.
My little flower...
Stranger...
Me...
Very late...
My little flower...
Stranger...
Me...
Very late...
My little flower...
My little flower.
# Translation from French: lyliakar Special thanks to Alessandra for helping me with Greek #
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