UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD
1999 was the year
the Indian nuclear satellite went out of control.
No one knew where it might land.
It soared above the ozone layer like a lethal bird of prey.
The whole world was alarmed.
Only Claire couldn't care less.
At the time, she was living her own nightmare.
The same dream arrived each night.
She was gliding over an unknown land, pleasantly at first,
but then the gliding would turn into falling,
the falling into panic, and then she'd wake up.
♪ Fallin', fallin' ♪
♪ Gonna drop like a stone ♪
♪ Fallin' through the atmosphere ♪
♪ On a warm afternoon ♪
Hey!
♪ If lovers discover ♪
♪ That everyone dies ♪
♪ So don't tell me Please hold me ♪
♪ It's a dangerous lie ♪
♪ Daddy, dear Let's get out of here ♪
♪ I'm scared ♪
♪ 10:00, nighttime in New York ♪
♪ It's weird ♪
♪ If you're looking for trouble ♪
♪ Well, that's what you will find ♪
♪ Mom and Pop They will fuck you up ♪
♪ For sure ♪
♪ Love so deep Kills you in your sleep ♪
♪ It's true ♪
♪ And love keeps us together ♪
♪ And love will keep us alive ♪
♪ And we are criminals ♪
♪ That never broke no laws ♪
♪ And all we needed was ♪
♪ A net to break our fall ♪
Pietro?
- Are you still here? - You saw that guy
in the green room, remember?
He's a creep.
He won't wake up.
Sustained-release drugs. Fucking dangerous.
Would you mind?
Phoning Dr. Fabrini again? Sure.
Pietro, again? You should be in bed.
I don't sleep anymore, Doctor. Sleeping is out.
All of us who knew Claire well
loved for her optimism, her energy and her courage.
We remembered these things about her, just as we liked to forget
her capacity for self-destruction.
They were all part of her, and we accepted them.
When Claire had left me,
I had shut myself off completely.
I didn't see anybody
and avoided leaving the apartment.
In my solitude, things happened to me.
I started to pray again, as I had done long ago,
hesitantly at first, but accepting the good that it did me.
And out of this peace
came the beginning of my first novel.
Claire was its leading character.
It began, "For two months, Claire had drifted through the parties,
the designer drugs, the one-night stands,
seeking excuses to obliterate herself,
until she realized that if she was to go on living,
she couldn't go on living like this.
Hello, Claire.
Your dashboard computer system is now on-line.
Performing car initialization.
Press "one" to activate the electronic map service.
♪ Summer kisses, winter tears ♪
♪ That was what she gave to me ♪
♪ Never thought I'd travel all alone ♪
♪ The trail of memories ♪
♪ Happy hours, lonely years ♪
A friendly reminder that you are over the speed limit, Claire.
♪ For I still recall the summer sun ♪
♪ Through all the winter rain ♪
♪ The fire of love, the fire of love ♪
♪ Can burn from afar ♪
♪ And nothing can light The dark of the night ♪
♪ Like a falling star ♪
♪ Summer kisses, winter tears ♪
♪ Like the stars, they fade away ♪
♪ Leaving me to spend my lonely nights ♪
♪ With dreams of yesterday ♪
♪ Leaving me ♪
♪ The fire of love ♪
♪ The fire of love can burn ♪
Traffic congested for the next 30 kilometers.
Unable to provide alternative route.
I'm sorry, Claire.
The satellite emergency created traffic jams
wherever people fled from areas of possible impact,
like the south of France.
Only Claire, impatient as ever, fled the traffic jam
and chose to thrust herself into the unknown.
In doing so, she changed the direction of her life.
Of all our lives.
♪ Into the world I plunge ♪
♪ Through my headphones ♪
♪ Escape to the streetlight ♪
♪ I begin to believe in destiny ♪
♪ When my surroundings ♪
♪ In rhythm with me ♪
♪ I'm just a grain of sand Walking in a sea of people ♪
♪ I look around me And my name is just someone ♪
♪ For a moment in time, I belong ♪
♪ When my heart beats ♪
You are leaving the map zone database. You're on your own...
Claire.
♪ So move with me ♪
♪ I'm strong enough ♪
♪ To be weak ♪
♪ In your arms ♪
♪ Move with me I'm strong enough ♪
♪ To be real ♪
♪ In your arms ♪
♪ Whispering as I was driving ♪
♪ Quietly the car was rolling Like a bullet ♪
♪ I was feeling the speed Moving me faster ♪
♪ Addicted to the rhythm On my ghetto blaster ♪
♪ That's me supposing ♪
♪ That the clarity of thought ♪
♪ Is clear enough ♪
♪ Got me tripping ♪
♪ Can I keep you ♪
♪ Next to me ♪
♪ Till the end of the world? ♪
♪ Move with me I'm strong enough... ♪
Claire felt strangely light.
She knew she'd been meant to die here, on the high plateau of the Lozère.
It was a miracle she was alive.
The angels had somehow made a mistake in their accounting
and had left her with a precious gift.
She had been given a whole new life,
which she could use this time to be a better person.
She could be of service.
All she needed was an opportunity, a mission.
Shit.
She didn't see us, Raymond.
Sorry, but we haven't been introduced.
- Claire Tourneur. - I'm Raymond. He's Chico.
My dear Chico, you could apologize to Madame Tourneur.
- You okay? - No. Not okay at all!
Sorry. I acted like an idiot.
Sorry.
Is your car still driveable?
People are always labeling you.
You say, "Rock and roll," and they ask you, "What type?"
We just do rock and roll. I'm a drummer.
Have you ever heard him play?
He's been driving me nuts for 15 years.
It's the same for Raymond.
As soon as he says he's Buddhist, people start hallucinating.
- He can't stand it. - No connection.
- No harm in being Buddhist. - For his work, there is.
So what's your job?
Ha! The job is...
...fucking, fucking.
♪ To explain the division of the senses ♪
- I could go for a draft beer. - For a change.
- We could stop there. - ♪ The radiance of time ♪
♪ In the beginning-est dream ♪
♪ Halls of disorder ♪
♪ Where we are swept to encircle dawn ♪
♪ Strapped in a low car ♪
♪ Racing through silence ♪
♪ Trumpeting bliss ♪
♪ You could kiss the world ♪
♪ Good-bye ♪
Leave that!
Don't touch that!
Who's there?
Me.
We gotta talk.
Your bag's heavy.
With this, I'm rich.
You can buy me a coffee in Rome.
Did you look carefully? It's 50,000.
Just what I was saying: the price of a cappuccino.
This'll cover half a cow in Ethiopia.
- You been there? - Yes.
Where else you been?
Sort of everywhere.
I don't live anywhere.
Anyway, no place I wanna go. Oh, yeah, except to America.
How much is in here?
Count it. I'm leaving it here.
Sleep on it.
Perfect.
Claire's head was spinning.
Was this a trap or exactly the opportunity she was looking for?
She spent another sleepless night keeping her nightmares at bay.
Anyway, I don't believe that people ever offer free services.
- And you're a Buddhist. - A realist.
So?
I'd agree to 30%.
No, money's been counted and traced.
Oh, calm down, Raymond.
If you change your mind, I don't care.
No sweat.
If the address is false, we'll know how to find you.
So no point trying to double-cross us.
We don't know who'll collect the money.
If you wanna find me, get a drink,
or listen to a little music...
Yeah, you never know.
Here's the music I play.
It's only a demo.
Thank you, Chico.
- Put it in savings. - Don't you worry.
Okay, so long, babe.
Claire thought about her future
as she drove down from the high plateau towards Saint-Étienne.
Her share of that money could buy her an apartment on the Seine,
a quiet life, a view of the Eiffel Tower.
- But did she really want all this? - Take a break, Claire.
So where is she now?
She oughta be between Saint-Étienne...
- and Lyon. - The suburbs.
Hey, so, another 15 minutes?
Minimum. It has to dry.
You were really lucky. Great car.
Hurry up, okay?
♪ Let's go, rock a while ♪
Do you have any idea what time you'll go over, Günther?
- No. - Be sure it's after dark, okay?
- Okay, I'll be careful. - Okay.
- How is Anton? - Anton? He's okay.
He's okay? My eyes! Can you hold on one second?
- Sam! - Ow!
- Can I help you? - Are you still there?
- Where are you? - Hold on a second, Günther.
Yeah, it's my eyes.
I can't see anything.
Well, it's better already.
You have sad eyes.
I'm not a sad man though.
Günther.
Sam?
I'm gonna go now, okay?
- Okay. - And, um, I'll see you tomorrow.
Give my love to Anton and Irina, will you, please?
Okay. Bye, bye.
Hello, it's Eugene.
- But I'm not home. - And neither am I.
But if you would like to leave a message on our new machine,
please... please feel free to do so
- after you hear the... - Beep!
You idiot.
You didn't want to have a conversation with yourself?
Thanks for the help.
Stay here. Wait for me.
Hello, Makiko. How are you? Is Gene with you?
No, I haven't seen him since you went away.
You know that apartment across from you? Did they sell it?
It's still there. Claire, are you okay?
Please come back. I'm so sorry.
- Oh, Makiko. - Excuse me.
- Where'd he go? - Who?
- The bloke who was on the phone. - The what?
The guy who was here just a minute ago.
- You didn't see him? - Who are you talking to?
Claire?
No. I was on the phone myself.
- Hello? Hello? - No worries, mate.
Makiko, I've got to go. I'll call you tomorrow.
Wait a moment!
Hey, wait. I have to cut off the foam.
- It'll hold till Paris, right? - Yeah, no problem.
If you wanna attract attention, with all that whipped cream...
- Hi. Me again. - Hi.
Um...
Would you, uh, give me a lift?
I don't think that's a very good idea.
Oh.
There's a guy looking for you.
- Yeah, I know. - He's got a gun.
I know.
Oh!
Could you go? He's coming.
Please, go.
Go!
What's he after?
- He wants to kill me. - What for?
I borrowed some money I can't pay back.
From him?
No, not from him. From, uh, some tough guys.
It's incredible. I just seem to attract criminals.
Hey, I'm not a criminal.
- I might not even be attracted to you. - Sure.
You're just a regular guy with a wife and a kid.
That's right.
This must be the beginning of a new trend.
I haven't met anyone with a straight job for weeks.
Where have you been?
Everywhere.
And back.
- You tired? - Me? Never.
Hey, I could drive.
- Really. It'd be a pleasure. - Show me your wife and kid.
- Huh? - Go on. You must have a picture.
Okay.
You can drive.
He's got your eyes.
Sorry. You okay?
Mm. It went with the windshield.
That must've been some crash.
- Shit! - What the hell is going on?
- You've got to help me. - I'd love to, but how can I explain it?
- What? - The car, the damage.
- That's not it. - What is it then? The bag?
Mm.
What should I do?
I don't know. Just talk to them. Keep them away.
I'll try.
Hey, there, fellas. How's it going? Do you speak any English?
- Yes, a little. - I'm American.
You had an accident?
- Then go on. Have a nice trip. - Drive carefully.
- Okay, thank you. - Good-bye.
Au revoir!
I told them we were on our honeymoon.
And they believed it?
So, who am I married to?
Dope pusher or a bank robber?
Take your pick.
- Would you mind if I put on some music? - No, go ahead.
That is beautiful.
Who are they?
They're Pygmy children.
- Pygmy? - Yeah. It's the truth.
They're young pygmies from Cameroon.
I've been listening to that for weeks.
I've never heard anything like it.
- My mother recorded that. - In Cameroon?
Yeah. What do you do?
Everything. Nothing.
If I say I'm a singer, you'll ask me what I've done.
Nothing. I destroyed all the tapes.
I broke up with my boyfriend.
He fucked my best friend. I went to Italy.
And now I'm on my way back to Paris.
Back to square one.
- Sort of. - Good luck.
That's what I need.
And you? What do you do?
I travel.
And... I see.
Mm-hmm.
All overland access to Paris
is restricted to commercial transportation.
For private traffic, please use SOUTERRAIN tunnels.
Charges will be applied to your credit card.
Good evening.
How long did I sleep?
Um, 500 kilometers.
I haven't slept so long in weeks.
I dreamed I was pregnant.
I was tumbling around with...
I felt very light.
What did it mean?
I don't know. Maybe you want to get pregnant.
This is as far as I go.
- If you're staying in Paris... - No, I'm not.
- I'm Claire. - Oh.
Claire Tourneur.
I'm Trevor McPhee.
You saved my life.
Good luck with your life, Trevor.
And I hope you learn to sleep.
We'll see.
Oh, it's you, Claire.
You smoke now?
Home is where you go when you run out of places,
so Claire came back to the apartment that she'd shared with me.
Whether she had returned for an hour or a day
didn't matter to me.
I just thanked God that she was back,
safe and sound.
Oh, it's you.
I crashed the Rover.
Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?
No. I'm fine.
I'm sorry.
No, Claire. I'm sorry.
I haven't seen her since then.
Oh, I know, Gene. I know.
Actually, um...
I haven't seen anybody since you left.
I was just worried about you.
It looks... different.
I tried to paint you out.
Didn't work.
I couldn't stop thinking about you.
I never loved anyone like I love you.
You believe that?
Yes.
I do.
Where did you go?
I went to Venice.
I stayed with Luca.
I went to a lot of parties.
I cried a lot.
I forgot how nice you smelled.
You seem so different.
I'm rich now.
Christ.
Did you read about the bank robbery at Nice?
No.
The guys who did it crashed into your car.
I had to drive them to the next town.
Then they told me they'd robbed a bank,
and asked me to take the money up to Paris.
We'll call the police.
No. I don't want to.
Gene, 30 percent of this is mine.
Come on, Claire.
They robbed a bank. They're not going to have any problem robbing it back from you.
They're not like you think. Actually, they're nice guys.
No, really.
One of them is a very good drummer.
But they were desperate.
So I thought, why not?
I could buy that apartment opposite Makiko.
Why do you need to buy an apartment?
I just want my own place, that's all.
It's all different currencies.
I thought you'd help me work out what it's worth
so I know how much is mine.
And I might give you a cut.
Oh, no.
What is it?
My hitchhiker robbed me.
Your hitchhiker, hmm?
Well, he left an IOU.
But he was a really nice guy.
You seem to know a lot of really nice guys.
I trusted him.
Sure, and then he robbed you.
Come on, you can't be upset about having stolen money stolen.
Hi, Claire. Hi, Gene.
Um, so, Claire,
I have arranged with a real estate agent
to see the apartment tomorrow afternoon.
Please meet me there at 2:00 p.m.
It's raining a lot now.
I hope you are not outside.
Seven at...
point 552...
is...
Just a minute. Let me... I'll just put this with the subtotal here.
I love loving you.
That's a good song title.
Ah, it's too corny.
Depends.
What is this?
Pygmies.
This is really stupid.
You couldn't sell it, so you put the price up?
But it's very reasonable in this current situation.
I can show you other properties.
This is the only one I want.
I like your view.
Oh, I like it too.
It wasn't meant to happen.
You were singing, so we went to the movies.
I'm not angry with you, Makiko.
Come on. You're my friend.
But I have done something terrible.
I must make it right.
Don't be stupid. This is 1999.
I can get the apartment.
She will never find anyone to buy it at that price.
I'll get her to knock it down.
"You can't get angry
about having stolen money stolen."
What?
Nothing.
I'll get the painter to put pressure on her too.
I can go to my bank manager.
We have a special relationship.
He is going crazy because no one is borrowing money anymore.
Interest rates are too high.
He will give you a special rate.
Nineteen percent-- Claire, where are you going?
Dang, is she gone?
Okay, just watch the house until I get to Berlin.
M-A-N-G-E-R Strasse.
Two-six. Twenty-six.
Mangerstrasse. Okay?
Then follow him.
No, it's none of your business.
Re-dialing. Hold on.
Hello.
Hi.
Hi there. Winter's the name, missing people's the game.
- Can I find someone for you? - No.
Maybe. I don't know.
It's much less expensive than you'd think.
I'll think about it.
THANK YOU CALL DURATION: 00:00:25 - 2.5 ECUS
I'm going to Berlin.
Tonight?
A friend is in trouble.
You don't have any friends in Berlin.
Well...
friends can travel.
I'll go with you.
No, Gene. You can't.
I was worried right away.
I knew Claire's self destructiveness.
I knew if there was danger, she would throw herself right into it.
If there was a chance to get hurt, she would grab it.
What was she letting herself in for?
Claire never doubted she would find the man named Trevor in Berlin.
Any sane person like myself would have told her
that she was chasing a projection of her own imagination,
but Claire never listened much to that sort of reasonable thinking.
She was impulsive and stubborn,
and she was in love with the idea of being in love.
So the only thing she was worried about was not if she could find Trevor McPhee
but only what she would do when she'd finally found him.
Berlin was a big city now. Ten million people lived in the area.
You couldn't even take a taxi anymore.
So she had to pedal.
All the great minds were persecuted.
A hundred years from now,
they will have you on a postage stamp.
So this day is a great day in history...
and your family is very proud
to be with you on this day when you see our faces.
I know I'm talking too much.
Anton, it's Edith this is for, not Henry.
I'm coming to her.
Hello, dear Edith.
- Hello. - Hello.
Thanks for the music, but you still owe the bank.
I thought I deserved my share.
We'll sort it out later.
You're being followed.
Really?
Not me, the black guy in the street.
Show me.
Who is that? Where'd she come from?
What hotel are you in?
The Adlon.
Can you wait? I'll meet you there. We'll have dinner.
It's a promise.
Uncle Anton, I'm gonna have to...
I'm gonna have to go.
So, you're a friend of Sam's.
No, of Trevor's.
♪ Calling all angels ♪
♪ Walk me through this one ♪
♪ Don't leave me alone ♪
♪ Calling all angels ♪
Look at them.
We're on the eve of destruction, and all they give a damn about
is laughing, drinking, carousing.
Don't they realize that this satellite business
could mean the end of the world as we know it?
If it was the end of the world, why shouldn't we go down laughing?
I could fall in love with you right now.
Don't.
Then I'll love you in my dreams.
I will remember you too.
One day, I will no longer be alive.
And when that day comes, remember me as I am now.
♪ 'Cause we're not sure ♪
♪ How ♪
♪ This goes ♪
Of course, Trevor McPhee did not show up.
Claire could have come back to Paris, but she had a mission now:
to find and protect Trevor.
And she did have one lead.
I got him.
He's a big one. Eighty-five thousand dollars.
He's wanted?
There's an opal mining syndicate in Australia
offering a very tasty finder's fee for his capture.
What did he do?
Apparently, he stole some opal.
He stole from me too.
How much?
I'd rather not disclose that.
I just want to find him.
Well, normally I charge four and a half thousand to retrieve it for you,
but seeing as I'm going to collect a big reward from these people here...
and assuming you're free...
to assist me...
I'll get your money back for three grand.
Maybe you're after the man, not the money. Doesn't matter, decide later.
What I'm really worried about is...
there's a hit man chasing him.
Then we'd better get him fast, and first.
"Fast and First," my middle names.
Our Tricky Trevor is flying to Lisbon, Portugal. See?
Do you want your money back?
Come, sweetie. Get your hat.
We are on the next flight behind him.
You playing or staying?
Love or money-- either way, you win.
You are a poet, Mr. Winter,
and you know it.
Please, can I have an aspirin? I have a splitting headache.
Yes, sure.
She'd always imagined a detective
would be some sort of a tough guy...
a Sam Spade or a Philip Marlowe.
But the truth was, Philip Winter was a bleeding heart
whose professional specialty was locating missing children.
So what exactly is your relationship?
Lovers?
I'm sorry to disappoint you.
I know him about as well as I know you.
I'm not disappointed.
On the contrary.
What's next?
I said no. No is no.
No, no, no.
Listen. Look.
I got him.
His credit card company was off-line for eight hours, but now I got in.
He's at the Alhambra Hotel.
So, what do we do?
Gently, gently, catchy monkey.
Winter was inexperienced.
He thought the cat was in the bag, the chase was over.
He felt fat and prosperous, so he was happy
to allow his client a private interview with his quarry.
I'm not the one who robs banks. You are.
First you stole from me, and then you stood me up.
You just happened to... to wander in here today, to find me?
That's... That's three countries in three days, baby.
Oh, don't call me "baby."
You just happened to be having your car fixed in the south of France,
you just happened to wander into my uncle's house in Berlin...
- I was trying to save your life. - You just happened
to be having breakfast in Lisbon?
That's... That's quite a coincidence.
What agency are you with?
I don't need to chase you.
There's a detective outside who is chasing you.
And anyway, it's no big deal finding you.
Every time you use your credit cards, bells start ringing.
What's so funny?
I really like you.
That's why I'm having so much trouble getting it through my skull
that you're an agent.
If I was really an agent,
I wouldn't need to hire a bounty hunter to find you.
- A bounty hunter? - Yes.
The guys you stole the opals from put out a reward on you.
Would this bounty hunter of yours be willing to let us go for a little walk?
With money, Mr. McPhee, all things are possible.
How...
How about this?
Would this do it?
Hey. Wait-Wait a minute. Wait!
Damn it.
Crap.
Why are people chasing you?
Because they want to know where I'm going.
What'd you say?
I told her it's the way you get married in your country.
Yeah. Yeah.
Honeymoon. Honeymoon.
Ah! Ha-ha! Bravo!
When I say no, I mean no.
Get out.
You work for me! Get out!
You're small fry.
These guys in Australia will pay me $85,000 for him.
- Plus you owe me $3,000, okay? - Fuck you!
I knew this would get me in trouble.
Put it down on the chair!
I hate guns.
Put it down.
Now, come over here.
Slowly. By the foot of the bed.
Unlock me.
Give me your hand.
Put it through there. Claire, help me.
Give me the key.
No!
Hey.
Yeah. Just a second.
Okay, where's my opal?
No, Claire, no.
I'm sorry. You're making things too dangerous for me.
Trevor, wait. We'll just pay him off.
I have money.
Put that back.
You can find these in the garbage downstairs, where they belong.
Trevor!
You bastard!
You just lost me 85,000 bucks.
This will cover my expenses.
Turn around.
♪ Summer kisses, winter tears ♪
♪ That was what he gave to me ♪
♪ Never thought I'd travel all alone ♪
♪ The trail of memories ♪
♪ Happy hours, lonely years ♪
♪ But I guess I can't complain ♪
♪ For I still recall the summer sun Through all the... ♪
What Claire felt,
she knew she could never justify or explain to anyone.
What she had was like a crush, the sort of nagging pain
she thought she'd abandoned when she was 16.
She was determined to follow her mission through,
no matter where it led her.
What was the alternative? A return to her old self?
She hated the very idea.
No worries, mate. I'll take it up meself. What floor am I at?
Sixth floor, sir. You can take the elevator.
No, don't tell her where I am. Please don't tell her.
Do you remember the last time?
You're still here?
You can't leave without me.
"You can't leave without me."
You hire me, you fire me. You abuse me and confuse me.
You cost me a year's rent. How can I afford to take you with me?
I never want to see her again.
She's hurt me too much.
She can have the car.
I don't know. I'll get a job.
I'm broke.
He thought I was working with you. That's why he took my money.
- It's all your fault. - I can't lend you the plane fare to Paris,
but I can offer you Moscow.
You sit in the bar at the Ukraina.
I'll catch him, then I'll take you out to dinner.
Deal?
Deal.
Here's your coffee. Would you like something else?
Hi, Gene.
Hello, Claire.
Guess what. I need money: $5,000.
Can you wire it to the Hotel Ukraina in Moscow?
Slow down, Claire.
I don't have much time, Gene. My card is running out.
Uh, guess who's here.
Hey, Chico.
- Hello, Claire. - How's Raymond?
Claire, where are you?
I'm on the plane to Moscow.
Mm.
O-L-I-V-I...
What is it? I've forgotten it. R...
I am not sharing your room.
You expect me to pay for two rooms?
- I expect you to pay for mine. - You realize how...
There's no need to argue with strangers.
Gene!
There are no rooms available.
Take a look around. There's nothing left. The convention's taken them all.
- Gene, this is... - Winter.
There's not a single room left in all of Moscow.
Winter is my name. What's your game?
What?
- He's a detective. - Find yourself a couch.
That's all we can offer.
Over there. 1,500 rubles a night.
1,500 rubles a night?
Take it or leave it.
We'll take it.
It's my fishing program.
It's keyed to our man's passport and credit card.
The minute he rents a car or crosses a border...
It's most impressive, Mr. Winter.
But wouldn't you say he's crossing rather a lot of borders tonight?
Ugh. The Eastern Bloc.
Nothing but trouble. It's a malfunction.
They have these advanced Vietnamese chips now.
What are you gonna do about it?
I have to find a local guy tomorrow.
Who is this Trevor McPhee character?
A tall, handsome stranger from Australia with an American accent.
What has he done?
Better ask the client.
That's exactly what I'm going to do.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Anytime.
I know you don't sleep.
I still love you.
But it's a different sort of love, that's all.
It's like a ladder.
I'm like a ladder?
Like a ladder with a broken step.
And every time I see you,
I know I lost my life when the step broke.
Well. I'm sorry.
And I forgive you. But I can't trust you again.
I can understand you and see how you are made
and feel affection for you, but...
As far as you're concerned, it's over.
Your hitchhiker, this man who stole your money...
did you have an affair with him?
Do you love him?
I'll get over it.
So this is the place, huh?
Right.
Your Eastern Bloc program is out of date.
You try and save money, it only costs you money.
So, I'll give you a good price on the update.
Trevor McPhee-- is that what you said?
Mm-hmm.
- No. - This is Trevor McPhee.
You chase your man, you'll get no reward.
This guy is traveling with Trevor McPhee's ID.
Who is he then?
May I?
I'm the Bear, the Bounty Bear.
I find them here, I find them there.
I can find them anywhere.
The Bear-- Advanced Bounty Bank Programming.
Searching.
I'm searching.
I'm searching
Give me a minute.
I am identifying.
I got him.
This is your guy.
That's him.
Finder's fee: $500,000.
Vietnamese chips. Too bad you can't afford it.
How do we know that price belongs to that face?
You have to trust me.
Is that so hard?
What do you want to do?
I just want my money back.
How much would it cost to set me up with one of these, hard and soft?
Gene?
No, no, no, please. Marry her.
Slap her around. But don't go chasing after this guy.
She's not going to fuck you. She wants to fuck him.
I don't think you quite understand the nature of our relationship.
Besides which, you are out of your depth.
You buy a computer from this icicle, you think you're a detective?
When you get back from Moscow, you'll be broke.
They will have repossessed your car. Your electricity will be turned off.
Your computers will be down. Your garbage won't be picked up anymore.
Mr. Winter, admit it.
You'd love it, but you can't afford it.
To be effective, you need a detective to make one of these work for you.
I'm going back to Berlin.
You'd better ask yourself what you are going to do with the tiger...
when you catch him.
Wait a minute, Mr. Winter.
I want my opal back, please.
Just my expenses. Five grand.
Sometimes Claire must have thought she'd invented that face,
invented Trevor McPhee, and that she had projected onto him
the person she thought she could become.
But when she considered this, she panicked and just worked harder,
extending her stay in Moscow from one day to two,
from two to three, always finding one more hotel and one more concierge.
- You're winning. - Yeah. About bloody time too.
I already paid for the carpet.
Haven't I seen you somewhere before?
Possible.
Anyway, what are you going to do with all that money?
Well, we could start with a drink.
With Winter gone, I was now Claire's guardian angel.
No, I was fooling myself. I just wanted her back.
So I was kind to her, waited for her to exhaust her crush,
pretended to help her find the only man on earth I didn't want her to find.
Unfortunately, my Bounty Bear found him in no time.
But I was at least was able to prove that my competitor had a bad character.
His name was Sam Farber, not Trevor McPhee.
He was wanted for industrial espionage by the US government.
I have seen you somewhere before.
In the South of France.
You're Sam Farber's girlfriend, aren't you?
You mean... Trevor?
McPhee.
That's him too.
You tell him that he is in breach
of his service agreement with the Sunset Lab at Palo Alto.
The camera was developed
in their time, with government funds.
He's a scientist?
He robbed me, he betrayed me,
he took all my money, and I'm not his girlfriend.
But you're going to tell me where he is, right?
If I knew where he was, I wouldn't be here with you.
I would be with him. I would be making love with him.
Why did I say that?
I've given you pantetheine phosphate.
It's a truth drug.
That's okay.
I've given you five sleeping pills myself.
Oh, you bitch.
- Is he really a criminal? - Waiter...
- Coffee. - So what? I'm a criminal too.
I was involved in the bank robbery at Nice Airport.
They got Raymond, but Chico is still okay.
What I am really worried about
is that the cops will get Gene's address.
He's innocent, and I am really a blonde.
Look, cut the bullshit.
Don't go to sleep. I want to know what Trevor did.
I... I told you al... already.
They never work that well for me.
I think he's a spy.
I didn't think they had spies anymore. I mean, we are here in Moscow in 1999.
Actually, I'm not a tourist, I'm a burglar.
I have stolen these things
to protect the man who has stolen my money.
I had it...
...from other guys who had stolen it
from the people who had stolen it from a bank.
Are you following me?
You know we can't be together again.
You know our baby can't be born now.
That's even sadder than we are.
It's like a river that will never run
or a whole day that will never happen.
Why do you keep being so good? Why are you so sweet and kind?
Are you doing it to punish me?
I'm searching.
Give me a minute.
I got him!
He's getting on the Trans-Siberian.
Sam Farber has booked a seat on the train to Beijing
leaving Moscow tonight at 2310.
The accounting is getting very complicated.
I'll say good-bye now.
Anyway, it would be really painful
face to face for me too.
I still love you, broken ladder.
♪ You see me in a foreign face ♪
♪ In ships that sink without a trace ♪
♪ In your father's doubt ♪
Excuse me.
♪ Behind the burning cross ♪
♪ Begrudged imagined loss ♪
♪ When you run to me ♪
♪ Run to me, run to me ♪
♪ You try to fly ♪
♪ But you cannot fly ♪
Excuse me.
♪ You run from me ♪
♪ Run from me, run from me ♪
♪ I am the adversary ♪
♪ I am your foe ♪
♪ I go where you go ♪
♪ Between ideals and fact ♪
♪ Between the thought and the act ♪
♪ Grow to hate your face ♪
♪ Will you sell all you own ♪
♪ To sit in a shadow by a throne? ♪
♪ Will you run to me ♪
♪ Run to me, run to me ♪
♪ You try to fly ♪
♪ But you cannot fly ♪
♪ You try to hide ♪
♪ But I'm by your side ♪
♪ You try to run from me ♪
♪ Run from me, run from me ♪
♪ I am the adversary ♪
♪ I am your foe ♪
♪ I go where you go ♪
Trevor?
Trevor!
There was not another train for three days.
Claire, of course, couldn't wait. Within ten minutes,
she was on the back of a motorcycle traveling southeast towards Beijing.
If she'd gone northwest, she could've found Trevor.
It's unbelievable, Mom, how Sam found me here in Siberia, of all places.
I wish you didn't have to see me in such an ugly place.
But I'm afraid... this is what the world looks like.
I wish Sam could've found me at home in Lisbon with the kids.
Instead, Claire recorded some of her journey through China for me.
Four days later, she spent a fortune video-faxing the tape to me in Paris.
♪ Frère Jacques, frère Jacques ♪
♪ Dormez-vous? ♪
♪ Sonnez le matines ♪
♪ Ding, dong, dong Ding, dong, dong ♪
Uh...
- What's your name? - What's your name?
- No, you. - You.
You!
- Claire. Claire. - Claire.
- Claire Tourneur. - Claire Tourneur.
- Okay! - Yes!
So, Gene, I'm learning Chinese. I can say already, uh,
ní hao.
Ní hao means "How are you?"
So, Gene, that was my home movie.
I'm in Beijing now,
at the Tiananmen Hotel, room 1407.
Please phone me as soon as you get in.
I'll be waiting for your call.
Hello, Claire. It's me. I just got in.
I got your message, and, uh, I guess you need something else from the fridge.
I don't need anything, Gene.
I'm lost.
So you reached a dead end, is that right?
I've lost his trace.
If you're looking for him in Beijing, I'm not surprised.
Then where should I look?
God, you never give up, do you?
Why don't you just come home and forget all about it?
Look at me, Gene. I'm Claire. What do you expect?
All right.
- Do you remember the Children's Theatre? - He's in Tokyo?
Yeah. I'll meet you there on Tuesday evening, all right?
World News Network brings you this news update.
The protest against an American plan to shoot down the stray nuclear satellite
escalated last night with the assassination
of the American ambassador to the United Nations in Berlin.
The last terrifying minutes of the ambassador's life
have been captured on this videotape, recorded by the assassin himself.
If the United States shoots down the satellite,
it will cause a chain reaction.
The whole world could explode.
Let our deaths be a signal,
a final warning.
Leave the satellite alone!
I'm in no hurry to be a corpse,
but I will sacrifice our lives,
because the fate of the entire planet
depends on what the Americans do.
So good-bye!
For World News Network, this is Nomi Morris in Berlin.
Good morning.
I thought you'd never come. Where is he?
Hey, how about, um,
"It's nice to see you" or "I like your suit"?
I hate your suit.
But it is nice to see you.
Remember the first time we came to Tokyo?
It was the summer of '94.
Our first summer.
Rained all the time.
We saw the Rolling Stones' last concert.
Yeah, but of course it wasn't their last concert, was it?
A gaijin called McPhee-san
or Farber-san staying in the hotel?
- Mr. Farber? - Yes, Mr. Farber.
Mr. Farber is in 7151.
I think he's saying the seventh floor. I'm not sure.
Can you write it, please?
Excuse me. That section is for men only. Excuse me!
That way.
Thank you.
Hey, senorita! Wait a minute!
Maybe she's French?
There's a foreign woman here!
This section is for men only, miss.
Women can't be here.
This section is for men only. Women can't be here!
- Men only! - Women can't be here.
Hey, lady! Lady!
Lady!
Somebody! Come on!
Wait.
Run away!
Oh, are you still playing detective?
Or are you just a bellboy?
Where's Claire?
Oh, I saw some guy chasing her, but that's nothing new.
Are you taking the piss again?
Better to be pissed off than pissed on.
Your friend Krasikova sold us out to the highest bidder.
CIA, KGB, Yakuza bounty-hunters--
who knows who's in on this deal?
Yeah, this is where computer programming ends
and real detective work begins.
- Look, we don't have much time. - "We"?
Are you implying you want to hire me?
Hire you?
Certainly not.
Sayonara.
♪ Some things we plan ♪
♪ We sit and we invent And we plot and cook up ♪
♪ Others are works of inspiration Of poetry ♪
♪ And it was this genius hand That pushed me up the hotel stairs ♪
♪ To say my last good-bye ♪
♪ To a hair white as snow And pale blue eyes ♪
♪ Saying, "I gotta go. I gotta go" ♪
Do you know who I am?
Weren't you the angel in Lisbon?
I am the angel again.
Then would you take me out of here?
Please?
♪ I said, thank you, girl ♪
♪ Thank you, girl ♪
♪ I'll love you Till the end of the world ♪
♪ With your eyes black as coal ♪
♪ And your long, dark hair ♪
- Gene, I'm sorry. - It's okay.
You're safe.
I need my bags.
What for?
Claire, I don't like this.
I don't like this at all.
You know you'd be better off with me.
You don't know him.
Do you?
He needs me now.
Then he'll need these too.
Thanks.
Oh, that helps.
It's cooler.
They kept moving all night,
until they could be sure that nobody was following them anymore.
Eventually they found themselves in a train leaving Tokyo.
They didn't know the destination. Claire had bought the ticket
at the station in Shinjuku by pointing at a symbol that she could not read.
- Where are we going? - I don't know.
All Claire knew was that she had finally found her mission.
The man she loved was almost blind
and needed her.
Early morning, in November of 1999, I'd lost Claire's trace.
I'd been walking around Tokyo for hours, until daybreak,
telling myself that if Claire had left my life, perhaps permanently,
I had no right to keep following her.
And then I realized that I myself had been followed.
Come on. Don't give up. We'll find her.
"We"?
You and me.
Okay. Me. Want some tea?
Look, I couldn't afford to pay you even if I wanted to. I'm sorry.
If you can drive a car, you don't need to pay me.
Where would we be driving a car?
Where the opals come from.
Where's that?
Coober Pedy, South Australia.
Ninety-five percent of the world's opal comes from there.
Take the luggage.
Enjoy your stay.
They look quite tired.
I wonder if they're in love.
Yeah.
Claire and Trevor had arrived in the mountain town of Hakone
and had found a traditional inn, a ryokan.
They slept the whole night and through the next day as well.
They had no way of knowing that by chance, they had come to the right place.
The owner of the ryokan was Mr. Mori,
a man with a great passion for his herb garden.
You need herbs.
SEVEN
Put them on his eyes.
Thank you very much.
I will explain.
Every night, one.
I understand. Thank you so much.
Herbs weren't the only gift Mr. Mori gave them.
He showed Claire his universe of mountains, trees and flowers.
Once he told her,
"I have learned one thing:
The eye does not see the same as the heart."
THREE
For the first time in her life, Claire was fulfilled.
She was finally being of service.
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
I already know a lot about you.
I know about the camera.
I know you stole it.
My real name is Samuel Farber.
I'm the son of Dr. Henry Farber.
That camera...
was invented by him.
The US government wanted it...
but he didn't trust the uses they'd put it to.
They're trying to steal it from us.
That camera...
takes pictures...
that blind people can see.
My... My mother is blind.
What I am doing is...
collecting images...
for her to see.
All I want is for my mother to see...
and for my father to know that I love him.
You could have told me that before.
I love you.
Let's go!
Have you ever been to San Francisco?
- Oh. Is that where we're going? - Yes. I have to record my sister, Elsa.
I've been there a few times. I'll take you to my favorite bar: Tosca's.
- They serve brandy with hot chocolate. - That sounds dangerous.
Not as dangerous as what you've been through.
What we've been through.
Are the indicators green yet?
I had the indicators on green, but they keep going red.
Just let your eye movements follow the computer.
The indicator grids will turn green.
Start again.
And your mother could actually see what I see? Trevor?
- Sam. - Sam.
The camera records what you see...
but it also records how your brain reacts
in response to what your eyes see.
It records the biochemical event of seeing.
The more you concentrate,
the more clearly the computer can read and transmit
your experience of seeing.
This hurts like hell.
My eyes are on fire already.
No wonder you were almost blind.
♪ Come on, baby ♪
♪ Let's do the twist ♪
♪ Come on, baby ♪
♪ Let's do the twist ♪
- The red one. We'll take it. - You like the red one?
- I don't believe it. You both agree? - The windshield wipers work?
The windshield... everything.... Do you work, buddy? Huh?
Come on. Somebody show me some plastic, and we all go home.
No, no, no, no, no. There's not gonna be any plastic. We got cash.
Hey, don't be an asshole, okay?
Don't call him an asshole.
I'll call him anything I want, "mamzelle."
No. No, you won't. We want this car, and we want to pay cash.
No one wants cash. Who wants cash? Bernie doesn't want cash!
- Well, I want to pay cash. - Hey!
You give me cash, you put me in jeopardy. Oh, no. No. You risk my life.
You give me cash, somebody puts a knife in my back,
- they cut me open, leave me bleeding. - I think you are exaggerating.
Oh, you think I am exaggerating, yeah?
Okay. Good.
How's that! Okay? Come on, asshole!
Come on. Make me rich. Give it to Bernie.
Oh! Oh, you want to play, huh? Get over there, you crazy bitch!
Oh! Oh, bonanza!
Oh, look at this.
Come on. I'll take it all now, all right? What's in here, huh?
- What is that? - No!
Go on, get out of my lot, you assholes!
Go on, before I call my pals at the precinct.
The two of you deserve each other, you know that?
Get the hell out of here.
Go on. Get a credit card, asshole!
♪ We're humans from Earth ♪
♪ You have nothing at all to fear ♪
♪ I think we're gonna like it here ♪
♪ We're looking for A planet with atmosphere ♪
- Will you come over to my house? - Elsa, we can't come over to your place.
You might still be under surveillance, and I can't take the risk.
I can't tell you how fed up I am with all those secrets
and science and "us against the world."
I haven't been harassed for three years.
I don't want it to start again.
You have to do it for Mom. Just this one last time.
You'll be the last to record. If you don't, she'll never see you.
Look, I'll find a safe place. I'll call you back. Is this number safe?
Sam, this is the accountant's line.
I'll get back to you.
I'll try Chico again.
♪ Bought Manhattan for a string of beads ♪
♪ Brought along some gadgets For you to see ♪
♪ Here's a crazy little thing we call TV ♪
...nuclear explosion in space could be harmless,
but is that true?
In fact, many experts predict that such an explosion
will set off a chain reaction among the defensive satellites
already deployed.
Just watch out for the flash in the sky.
This is Jim Haygood, live from the UN.
Wow, can't believe this.
Incredible. It was in the cards!
You're calling from where? San Francisco? No...
How can you know that?
Today I saw a fortune teller. She predicted this.
So then you know you're lending me some money?
Babe, she told me things that are way more incredible than that.
Chico, I'm totally broke. I'm in deep shit.
So it seems you don't you want my body, you want my loot?
What's it say up here? "Sponsor"?
Okay, give me the address.
Mission Bell Motel.
He's coming here.
This is terrible. I feel so bad.
Why?
He wants to be my sponsor.
His fortune teller told him I would be the one to lead him to be
Top of the Pops.
Top of the Pops?
Oh!
Whoa.
Top of the Pops.
This is not... funny.
We don't have enough money to buy a hamburger.
Mm, mm, mm.
What?
Hey, get the fuck out of my face, okay?
Get the fuck out of my face, you understand?
Goddamn... Come on, man!
Look, this is it.
Go on, then! Bye!
Go!
Wyatt, get back in here. I got something for you.
You, up! Get up! Get up!
Keep those hands up! Up against the wall!
What do you got? Huh? What do you got? Huh?
What do you got, Miss America? Want to tell me about it?
- I've got nothing. I'm not from here. - I know. You're from Scumbag Land.
You got something, and I want it. Don't move!
♪ Waves of regret and waves of joy ♪
♪ I reached out for the one I tried to destroy ♪
♪ You, you said you'd wait ♪
♪ Till the end of the world ♪
Claire?
Let's go. Quick.
Sam remembered Tosca's,
the bar Claire had mentioned which served brandy in hot chocolate.
The story goes, he lived on these drinks for three days and three nights,
waiting for Claire.
He still carried the bag that she'd used to transport stolen money
from the South of France to Paris.
It still had the tracer attached to it.
Chico had no trouble finding him.
♪ He's got his work ♪
♪ And she comes easy ♪
♪ They each come around ♪
♪ When the other is gone ♪
♪ Me, I think I got stuck ♪
♪ Somewhere in between ♪
♪ I wouldn't confide in the prodigal son ♪
♪ The die has been cast ♪
♪ The battle is won ♪
♪ The bullets were blanks A double-aught gun ♪
♪ I couldn't admit to a minute of fun ♪
♪ They come and they come And they come and they come ♪
♪ I accepted with a gentle tongue ♪
♪ No words spoken ♪
♪ No need to speak ♪
♪ Take it, stomp twice, ring the bell ♪
♪ Tether that ring and phrase ♪
♪ Enough with the rifle and talk already ♪
♪ We all know what it means ♪
♪ Take this conversation To your great divide ♪
♪ I can only swallow what I ate ♪
♪ And I don't hate him ♪
♪ And I don't hate her ♪
♪ They come and they come And they come and they come ♪
♪ I accepted with a gentle tongue ♪
♪ No heart broken ♪
♪ No need to speak ♪
♪ Don't talk to me about being alone ♪
♪ Don't talk to me... ♪
Where have you been?
Don't ask.
Never ask.
Chico!
Our savior.
I always wanted to come to America.
Majestic, fantastic,
bam, ping, pong, plastic America!
How did you find us?
I bought a car, and I just tried all the bars.
♪ I've lived in cotton I was born into cotton ♪
♪ Without going to the fields ♪
♪ I was just so lazy That they brushed my teeth ♪
♪ Nice pink gums ♪
♪ Except that ♪
♪ I'm a terrible blues singer ♪
♪ No, no, no, no, no, no ♪
♪ I'm lost in fact ♪
♪ I win two out of two times ♪
♪ I'm much better at poker ♪
♪ Or any other game ♪
♪ I'm never the one they want ♪
♪ But on the other hand I sing the blues so badly ♪
♪ Oh, no, no, no, no, no ♪
No, no, it's no use.
I can't even focus.
I'm sorry, Elsa.
Go ahead, Elsa.
So relieved.
So mad at you guys.
We thought you were dead.
I was finally getting used to it.
So weird that this is finally happening now.
I used to have a dream where...
Henry would give you back your sight, just like he always said he would.
And then you'd see my face,
and there'd be something wrong with it,
and you'd say,
"No, but this is not my daughter."
I'd say,
"But I am.
I am."
I'm so happy that you'll see me.
Wish I looked better for you.
Five years ago, I was still good looking.
Hey.
That's incredible.
Look at my face.
My mother will see my face.
Heidi?
Come here.
This is Heidi.
Hey, I'm five.
You ran away before she was born.
She has your mouth, Mother.
This is absolutely incredible.
Two days ago, I was in Marseille. I was bored out of my mind.
And now, we're heading off to Australia.
- Hey, what's your name? - Luther.
- You know how to drive, Luther? - Yeah, I know how to drive.
- You do? - Yeah.
There's the key.
- It's a normal automatic. - I see that.
- This is your day. - This is my car?
Go on!
- It works? - Yeah, it works.
- Australia, here we come. - Thank you.
The blind will see, the lame will walk.
Walk this, you beautiful man.
Ah! Thank you.
All right!
You know how to drive this thing?
He knows how to drive this thing.
We'll see.
Look at this car. Man done gave me a car.
Have fun, Luther!
I'll do my best! I hope it's got gas in it.
Chico's money got them out of America unnoticed,
onto a Korean freighter leaving for Sydney.
The journey took three weeks.
It was a quiet trip, a sort of a honeymoon.
Claire still had no idea where they were going.
Sam wouldn't tell her.
For Chico, the trip was a little too quiet,
so he called a friend.
- Chico. - Raymond, hi.
- So what's new? - I'm happy to see you.
So? Tell me.
I'm on a Korean boat going from San Francisco to Sydney!
- You couldn't find a simpler way? - It's a long way, so I get a bit bored.
- So what the hell do you do? - I play cards with the sailors.
Yeah. Did you win?
They're really great, you know? I didn't always win.
- So it'll come out of your share. - No problem.
"No problem"! I'm in the hospital. I can't play cards.
Raymond.
Why did you call me? You know why?
If it's to tell me this crap, I'm hanging up.
Listen, Raymond. The way you're being--
Now I have a little bike. A little motorbike.
You know what it's called? A Solex!
♪ It can't go that fast Beautiful thing ♪
♪ What's for sure Is that we'll be safe ♪
♪ Hey, we don't give a damn We couldn't care less ♪
♪ Hey, we don't give a damn damn damn About anything ♪
♪ Hey, we don't give a damn We couldn't care less ♪
♪ Hey, we don't give a damn damn damn About anything ♪
It's not the mags, it's not the injectors, it's not the plugs.
Got to be fuel pump.
Yeah. It's got to be the fuel pump.
Have you got a...
a 7/16ths?
That's him.
Hi, Claire. Guess what.
I got the real estate agent to sell you the apartment
at the original price.
So it's all yours if you still want it.
But you must let me know by Friday.
Friday!
Makiko, it all seems like a long time ago.
So much has changed. I'm in Australia now. Look.
You don't want to buy an apartment anymore, Claire?
No. I don't even know if I'm coming back.
But no matter where I go, I'll always keep you in my heart.
Searching.
I'm searching.
Give me a minute.
I got her. Claire Tourneur is making
- a credit-card call from a public phone - I can't believe it.
in Coober Pedy, South Australia.
You want mine too?
She's right here in Coober Pedy. She just made a phone call.
No!
Winter, you really are a genius.
I got a nose, and I know where it goes.
What does your nose tell you? Where do we go? How do we find Claire?
This is a one-horse town.
If we just drive around, we're bound to find them.
Buggered.
Full of dirt.
With the UN in complete disarray,
the US has threatened to shoot the rogue satellite
out of the sky.
International reaction has been horrified at the unforeseeable consequences
of such an act.
David, this is futile.
The vanes are chipped.
I'm gonna go see Adam. Maybe he's got another pump.
Okay.
♪ Life's like Sanskrit read to a pony ♪
♪ I see you in my mind's eye Strangling on your tongue ♪
♪ What good is knowing such devotion? ♪
♪ I've been around I know what makes things run ♪
♪ What good is Seeing Eye chocolate? ♪
♪ What good's a computerized nose? ♪
♪ And what good was cancer in April? Why, no good ♪
♪ No good at all ♪
♪ What good's a war without killing? ♪
Get in there.
♪ What good is rain that falls up? ♪
♪ What good's A disease that won't hurt you? ♪
♪ Why, no good, I guess ♪
♪ No good at all ♪
♪ What good are these thoughts That I'm thinking? ♪
♪ It must be better Not to be thinking at all ♪
♪ A Styrofoam lover With emotions of concrete ♪
♪ No, not much ♪
♪ Not much at all ♪
♪ What's good is life without living? ♪
Trevor?
♪ You loved a life Others throw away nightly ♪
♪ It's not fair ♪
♪ Not fair at all ♪
♪ What's good? ♪
♪ Oh, baby, what's good? ♪
♪ What's good? ♪
Okay, okay!
- Hit him! - Come on!
Hit him! Hit him!
♪ Hey, baby, what's good? ♪
♪ What's good? ♪
- ♪ What's good? ♪ - ♪ What's good? ♪
♪ Not much at all What's good? ♪
♪ What's good? ♪
- ♪ What's good? ♪ - ♪ Life's good ♪
- ♪ Life's good ♪
All right, break it up!
- ♪ What's good? ♪ - ♪ Life's good ♪
♪ But not fair at all ♪
And what is your name?
His real name is Farber.
Sam Farber.
Probably.
...A-B...
I need a drink!
I wanted to put an end to the myth of Trevor McPhee.
As a direct consequence, bells started ringing all over the place,
- as far away as Moscow... - Sam Farber?
...and as close as the local motel.
- "Sam Farber." - Who's that?
See you later.
This guy Burt had been competent enough to be hired
by some opal miners to track down Trevor McPhee,
but he was way over his head when he tried to cash in...
...on the search for Sam Farber.
Now, let's have another yarn.
Creating a disturbance in a public place.
Oh, is that so strange in Coober Pedy? That's no reason to put them in jail.
This is a famous writer, Eugene Fitzpatrick.
- French writer. - Doesn't concern me.
Of course I've seen the camera. I've even operated it myself.
I've done some recording in San Francisco.
Ah. So where is it now?
So, where is is now? Where is it now?
Good question.
His main tool was a truth drug.
He just loved the truth. He sought it all the time.
Where is the camera?
No, no, no.
English. Speak English.
It's there in the bag, right in front of you.
Cut it out!
Where is Sam Farber now?
Ah, at least one of us is where we deserve to be.
You are so wrong.
If you were any more wrong,
you'd have ears growing out of your armpits.
I am neither a spy nor a jewel thief.
What are you then?
You don't know?
You followed me all the way around the world,
and you don't know who I am?
If you hurt her...
I'll kill you.
Chico, what would I do without you?
It's true. You're an odd guardian angel for me.
Yet the first time I saw you, I thought, "Shit, what an asshole.
Caused a car crash, yet goes to pee."
I can't stand this!
- Your drug's not bad. - I can't stop talking.
Got any more? I'd love some.
This is maddening.
Sam would want me to take care of this bag.
- Okay? - Mm.
Do you want a ride?
You see? No problem. Just a few sleeping pills.
Claire. Claire?
Claire!
Hmm?
Are you okay? Did he hurt you?
Mm.
Chico... came in time.
The bag-- did you hide the bag?
David took the... bag.
No problem. She's okay. She took some sleeping pills.
What did you do to your leg?
Claire, can you hear me?
Mm-hmm.
It's you.
Broken ladder.
Hey, Sam.
Just tell me where you're going. I want to be there.
- Really. - No. No, I can't.
I'm really sorry, Chico. I can't.
Do you love him?
Yes, I do.
Well...
I hope he loves you.
Can you give me a hand?
- Of course, Mr. Mechanic. - Good.
Good.
Where is your bag?
My bag? It's traveling separately.
Good-bye.
Thanks, mate.
Thanks, what?
Thanks, mate.
"Thanks, mate."
I've got them on my tracer. Let's go!
Very good!
Come on. Let's get going!
I've said good-bye!
Couple of hours, you'll meet my mother and my father.
You can speak French with my mother.
They did it.
They shot down the satellite.
My computer's wiped.
Mine too.
All electromagnetic circuits get wiped by a nuclear blast.
Computer memories too.
It's the NEMP effect.
It's the end of the world.
Bastards!
Two years of my life just... wiped!
Oh, who cares about your work?
What do you think is going to happen to Goethe? Think about that.
Goethe, gone forever.
Goethe. What the fuck would you know about Goethe?
What do you know about me?
You think I'm just a pigeon in a hole?
It's the end of the world.
No?
Tighten your seat belt. We have to go down.
♪ Caught sight of my reflection ♪
♪ I caught it in the window ♪
♪ I saw the darkness in my heart ♪
♪ I saw the signs of my undoing ♪
♪ They had been there from the start ♪
♪ And the darkness still has work to do ♪
♪ The knotted cord's untying ♪
♪ The heated, the holy ♪
♪ Oh, they're sitting there on high ♪
♪ Looking down ♪
♪ So secure with what they're buying ♪
♪ In the blood of Eden ♪
♪ Lie the woman and the man ♪
♪ With the man in the woman ♪
♪ The woman in the man ♪
♪ In the blood of Eden ♪
♪ Lie the woman and the man ♪
♪ We wanted the union ♪
♪ Oh, the union of the woman ♪
♪ The woman and the man ♪
The last of it.
♪ And my grip is surely slipping ♪
♪ I think I've lost my hold ♪
♪ Yes, I think I've lost my hold ♪
♪ I cannot get insurance anymore ♪
♪ They don't take credit ♪
♪ Only gold ♪
♪ Is that a diamond or a crucifix I see? ♪
♪ You hold so tightly in your hand ♪
♪ And all the while, the distance grows ♪
♪ Between you and me ♪
♪ I do not understand ♪
♪ In the blood of Eden ♪
♪ Lie the woman and the man ♪
♪ The man in the woman ♪
♪ The woman in the man ♪
♪ In the blood of Eden ♪
♪ Lie the woman and the man ♪
♪ We wanted the union ♪
♪ Oh, the union of the woman ♪
♪ The woman and the man ♪
♪ At my request ♪
♪ You take me in ♪
♪ In that tenderness ♪
♪ I am floating away ♪
♪ No certainty ♪
♪ Nothing to rely on ♪
♪ Holding still ♪
♪ For a moment ♪
♪ What a moment this is ♪
♪ Oh, for a moment ♪
♪ Of forgetting ♪
♪ A moment of bliss ♪
♪ And I can hear the distant thunder ♪
♪ Of a million unheard souls ♪
The country they moved through
had already been abandoned years ago
in the terrible droughts of the mid-'90s.
There was no one around to confirm or deny their fears,
but all phenomena-- the stopped watches,
the failure of the plane's engine and all of its electrical circuits--
were consistent with only one thing: a nuclear blast.
They kept on moving, with one destination: home,
sustained by the belief that it was still there,
that Sam's mother and father were still alive.
♪ Well, I'm knocking on Death's door ♪
♪ Will I take my rest ♪
♪ Among the blessed? ♪
♪ Mother, are you waiting? ♪
♪ Father, are you pacing? ♪
♪ I'm coming home ♪
♪ I'm knocking on Death's door ♪
♪ Will I take my rest ♪
♪ In my Sunday best? ♪
♪ Mother, are you anxious? ♪
♪ Father, are you gracious? ♪
♪ I'm coming home ♪
The appearance of a hand-cranked diesel vehicle
did not contradict the evidence of a nuclear blast,
but at least they knew they were not the only people left on Earth.
In fact, it was the hand-cranked engine
that saved the day.
It's David!
Yeah, and Buzzer.
- Hey, Claire! Sam! - Climb on down.
Climb down!
- Good luck to you, Gabriel. - Good-bye.
- It was the nuclear satellite. - We know.
- Hey, Claire! - It's wiped out the radio.
- Gene! - Brought the plane down.
Hello, brother.
- How are you, Sam? - Doing okay. The camera okay?
- Yeah, it is. - Buzzer, Buzzer.
- Claire, this is my old friend, Buzzer. - Claire.
Buzzer. How you doing, Claire?
Oh, God, I'm glad you're safe.
Thank God you're alive.
- Hey! - Hey!
- Everybody's here. - Hey, Mr. Winter.
- Lots of missing persons, huh? - Let's get in there, please.
- Okay. - Sorry, Sam. We got to get moving, mate.
- I can do that. - It might be radioactive anytime.
- Has there been any reading taken? - Nothing, mate.
All's we know is that nothing electric works.
And if we didn't have this hand-cranker, we'd be going nowhere.
These are bloody dangerous times, mate.
What is he singing?
He's singing the country.
The country is like their bible.
It's like...
that tree is Jonah...
that rock is the whale.
Everything is part of a story.
He's the custodian of this stretch of the country,
of this part of the story.
If he doesn't keep it alive...
by telling it...
it'll die.
And so will he.
It was just then,
as we ran before the fatal winds that might bring about
the actual end of the world,
that I realized that the loss of my novel had freed me...
freed me to write it anew,
not dwelling on the past, as I had done,
but looking out into the future.
So I started all over again and wrote down the new beginning:
"1999 was the year
the Indian nuclear satellite went out of control.
No one knew where it might land.
It soared above the ozone layer..."
There's a car coming.
Maisie.
What happened to your leg?
It's nothing, Mother. I want you to meet Claire.
Claire Tourneur.
My mother.
Edith Mbatjana.
And this is her sister,
Maisie Mbatjana.
- Hello. - Hello.
I am so very happy to meet you.
Terrible things have taken place.
But sometimes the greatest happiness happens in the worst times.
What are you two doing out here? You shouldn't be here.
That's what I've been telling her for the past three days.
But she had an intuition.
You know my intuitions.
Roll on! Let's get out of there!
The longer we stand here, the more dangerous it is.
Gonna be safer up the road at the Center. Come on!
Jesus!
Maggie, Linda, it's good to be home.
Linda. Maggie.
Sam, is Claire behind?
Claire? Claire?
Should like it here, mate. They're a really friendly mob, eh?
Look who's back.
You were right, Edith.
Hello, sweetheart. Any readings yet?
- No, not yet. - Yeah?
- How far away were you when... - 250 miles.
- You're clean. - Great.
Mother...
You wouldn't want to see the radiation cases I've been reading up on.
Bloody books are giving me nightmares.
- You're clean, Auntie. - Thank you.
Claire, this is our doctor, Lydia.
Lydia, this is Claire.
- Hello, Claire. - Hello.
You're all clean.
Mr. Fitzpatrick?
Would you give me a hand, please?
Good old diesel.
Flash bag you got there, mate.
He's a pretty flash character.
- What about my bag? - Beautiful.
Where youse from, anyway?
- Ireland. - Berlin.
I bet you come a long way to get here.
Should get on pretty good with the doc. Farber, that is.
He's a bit of a weirdo, but so is a lot of people around here, eh?
- Let me give you a hand with your bags. - It's okay.
Hurry up, Sam. I'll stay with Claire.
You see, Claire, the wooden construction...
- Sam! - What's new, Peter?
The plane crashed, and, uh...
- That's where Henry and I live. - Good to have you home.
- You hurt your leg. - Not bad. Come look.
On the left at the back,
do you see a gray metallic door?
That's the entrance to Henry's laboratory.
Farber.
I knew there was a pretty girl in it somewhere.
Farber...
this is Claire Tourneur.
It's a great pleasure to meet you, Claire.
I completely forgive you for keeping us waiting.
Well...
here's what you've been waiting for.
Oh.
Finally, huh?
It's incredible, isn't it?
the computers at the Cultural Center are all wiped by this Indian stupidity.
Thirty-five languages just gone.
But our digital tapes are untouched, thank God.
Nice to see you, Father.
Oh, Sam. I'm sorry.
I've become like my own father.
Well, that's what happens when you get old, you see?
Well, you've been through a lot for us, Sam.
I know you think we take it for granted, but we don't.
So get some rest. The Second Seeing can wait.
No, let's do it now.
Wait, Sam...
Sammy, you're injured.
- Sam, maybe you shouldn't rush it. - No, let's do it.
All right. If he feels up to it, he may as well do it.
So just give me a minute. Ned?
Farber, don't do this to him!
No, I know.
This one. My brother, Anton.
Obsessive man.
What's wrong?
He's always been like this. I always forget. I...
I always behave badly.
Doesn't he know what you've been through for him?
Probably not.
Then someone should tell him.
The whole family's been through a lot.
But I'm the only one who got you.
Well now, what are we going to do with you mob?
You can't stay out here.
Got to find you a place to stay.
Very, very beautiful.
When Father went into hiding, the laboratory was built inside this cave.
Only the Mbantua people knew about it.
Without them, none of this would have been possible.
Father came here first 40 years ago as a young ophthalmologist.
Oh. Oh. Just a minute.
Uh, excuse me.
I wonder if you'd mind if I borrowed the typewriter.
Sure, you can. The kids only play with it anyway.
Come on.
The return of the writer.
It's fantastic.
This may startle you.
Karl?
- Sam. - Karl.
This is the computer whiz
who first came with my father when he left the Sunset Institute in California.
He transferred and deleted all father's files from the institute's computer.
Thanksgiving weekend, 1995.
Took three days and nights on-line.
He's a genius. When they came here,
they had nothing but 2,000 gigabytes of memory and the goggles.
It took them four years, starting from scratch, to build this place.
- Sam, let's wait one more day. - No.
- Sam, we're both so tired. - No.
Lydia works here. She keeps an eye on the medical side.
Peter...
Peter is my father's skin-brother. He's my Aboriginal father.
It's good to have you with us, Claire.
Yeah.
Ned, Claire. Claire, Ned.
Video. Electronics, you ask Ned.
Ronda: biochemist. She monitors the brain waves during the experiment.
Are you ready?
Bang. You are.
- What does this mean? - You haven't seen this program before?
- No. - Well, we're working on this one now.
Oh, yeah.
- Henry... - Hmm?
- Now, calm down. - Okay.
And stay calm.
Okay, okay.
Kiss me.
Set everything to zero dB and record it at two megabytes.
Don't push him away this time.
I'd rather never see anyone in our family.
I mean this.
I'd rather never see a single face
than lose him again.
I hear you.
His is the face I most wanted to see.
And that's the gift you didn't think of giving me.
Please, Schatz, it doesn't help us to become emotional now.
All right.
If you're calm, I'm calm.
I'm calm.
How about a cup of coffee, Henry?
Oh, no. Caffeine is just what you don't need.
You can have lemon cordial.
- I've modified the PRZ. - You got that, Karl.
Two-megabyte sample.
Are you ready, my mother?
Yes, Sammy.
Mm.
Then let's do it.
Yes.
- Take care. - You too. I love you.
Has someone got Sam a drink?
What's happening here?
You can't do this today. Edith is too tired for this.
Tired? Edith Eisner?
No.
This is Edith Eisner. I quote her biography:
"Edith Eisner is tireless," unquote.
Ah. She sat there on the track waiting for this young fellow for three days.
Three days and three nights.
She sat through a nuclear catastrophe. That's the sort of woman she is.
She's indestructible.
- Sam, do you have a drink? - Oh, God.
It's okay, Mom.
Edith, why are you rushing this?
I'm fine, Maisie. Look after Sam.
You can die from this, sister.
I'd rather die from this than from anything else.
This is men's business.
It's Henry's and Sam's business, so it's my business.
Please, go, Maisie.
Go.
This is wrong!
That old man's going to steal your dreaming one day.
This is none of your business, woman. Stay out of it.
Henry knows what he's doing. Let them see it through.
Where have you been, Lydia? He doesn't need crutches now. Prepare him.
You can give him, uh, ten milliwatts.
Oh, no, make it 20.
Is Auntie Maisie all right?
Yeah, she's okay.
Silly bugger. You shouldn't be doing this now.
I don't believe this.
I haven't seen these people for... 14 years.
This is my sister-in-law. This is Irina.
She's an extraordinary woman.
Here is Anton, my brother Anton.
He's 82 year-- He's your brother too, Peter.
- Incredible. - He needs a haircut.
- God, 14 years! - What is she doing to him?
Relaxing him. It's laser puncture.
You can't achieve maximum concentration unless the body is drained of energy.
That's what I need.
Who doesn't nowadays?
Tick, tick, tick.
Here comes the radiation.
When we touch the earth, it's gonna kill us.
What's going on?
We are just about ready, Schatz.
Primary image fully recovered, Dr. Farber.
- Move it into virtual? - Yes, go ahead. Ronda?
Everything's fine here.
Okay. Rolling.
Do you mind?
Come here, young lady.
You see, the computer is now downloading
the data from Sam's recording in Berlin into my system.
Then Sam has to look at it again,
and the computer has to compare the brain activity
of the Second Seeing to that of the first one,
thereby extracting only what is relevant to the image,
which then, hopefully, will be transmitted into the receiving brain.
Understand?
This is very, very disciplined work for the eyes.
I did some recording myself.
- Oh? - It's very exhausting.
Scanning procedure in five seconds.
Five, four, three,
two, one, zero.
- Ned, it's on your side. - No, it's not.
Ned, remember what happened last time.
- Is that what she's seeing at the moment? - Oh, no.
There is so much information for the computer to process.
Look, what he's looking at is about a minute ahead
of what we're seeing on the big screen.
That's the amount of time it takes for the computer
to re-establish all the information.
But that isn't very good.
God! We're not going to transmit that.
- Open it up all the way, Ned. - I already did. It's gone back to green.
Ah, he's tired.
No, it's gone back to red.
It's not enough, but...
Has it started?
No. Still on recognition phase, Edi.
Just wait.
Henry...
Stay calm.
I'm always calm!
So, this day is a great day in history...
and your family is very proud
to be with you on this day,
when you see our faces.
I-I know I am talking too much.
Anton, it's Edith this is for, not Henry.
I'm coming to her.
Hello, dear Edith.
If only we could be with you and share this moment with you.
Well...
It wasn't as simple as just putting in a tape
and playing it back.
Whoever had initially recorded the images had to see them again.
The first time, the computer had recorded the act of seeing.
Now it was reading the act of remembering.
In theory, these two grids of information,
together with the actual video recordings of the event,
enabled the computer to translate these images into brain waves again
and to reproduce them in the blind person's visual cortex.
- Dr. Farber... - Yeah?
Very poor retention here. It's not even 20%.
We can't transmit that simulation. It'll just upset her too much.
Ronda?
Brain activity unfocused. These waves are too low.
He's just not on it.
I've CRC'ed the entire system. Nothing wrong on the inside.
His concentration is only red. It's not enough.
- You're only red! - Well, hurry, Henry!
Don't talk to me!
You're a user, Henry.
You use your wife.
You use your son.
You use my people.
Empty your mind! Stop thinking!
- You're making it worse! - I have nothing to work with.
There's no shape, no definition, no color.
Empty your mind, for Pete's sake!
Look only at the still point. There's nothing but the still point!
Shit!
Well, there you are.
It was crazy to do it when you were tired, Sam!
What did you say?
It's crazy to do it when you are tired.
However, in science there's always tomorrow.
Don't patronize me, you pathetic old man!
Pathetic old man?
You just never could stand up to pressure, young man!
- You're both acting like children. - Why don't I remember what you're like?
When you disappeared from America and I thought you were dead or in jail,
I lost a whole year of my life looking for you!
- Oh, I never said thank you, huh? - That's right! Never!
I lost my wife and my only child for you!
Sam, what could I have done? What could I have done?
You could have trusted me!
You could have admitted you were wrong, for once in your life!
That's enough.
Stop it, both of you.
I'm sorry, Edi.
Every time I work with him, I go wrong.
Whatever I do, every single time.
I'm sorry.
Didn't work, did it?
Bloody good thing too.
What's wrong?
This whole journey...
for nothing.
Good evening.
Charming chap, your new boyfriend.
You don't know what he's going through.
This is your son?
It hurts every time I see a small boy.
If I'm in an airport,
I look at a little kid, my eyes well up with tears.
It's like a sickness.
It's ridiculous.
My arms ache to hold him.
Literally. Here, and here.
He's dead?
No.
No, he's just...
He didn't used to be like this. I mean, he was always like this, but...
but there was something else too.
He was always full of himself,
but he could always find something to do for other people.
These people love him.
He helped them beat trachoma. He worked his guts out to achieve that.
And it was...
selfless.
But he's an egotist, and he's obsessed.
I'm like him. I'm obsessive.
I neglected my family...
my own wife and my child.
We broke up on a pay phone in Coober Pedy.
Nothing was worth shit anymore.
When I did find my parents, with David's help,
it was almost by accident,
and I was so angry with Henry I could've punched him in the nose.
After a while, I just wanted to get the hell out of here.
That's why I volunteered...
to record the tapes.
It wasn't because I'm a great guy.
I haven't been a nice guy in a long time.
I can't see the point of all this strutting and fretting.
We're all as good as dead.
Not in my book, we're not.
I'm not dead in here, and neither are you.
I'm saving your ass, Winter.
Writing won't help.
Your stories won't help me.
Winter, the future is always a fiction.
I'm more worried about...
...reality...
than fiction.
I'm worried about the present, Mr. Fitzpatrick.
The present will look after itself.
But it's our duty to realize the future with our imagination.
Holy shit. You look like you've been through hell.
This must be heaven.
You're clean. No radiation.
Come on. I'll fix you up.
Christmas went by unnoticed.
Those nights in December of 1999 were filled with silent anxiety.
The radios gave nothing but static.
We did not know if the great cities of the world still existed,
if our parents, our children, our friends were still alive,
or burned, or sick.
We all shared the same fears,
but nobody dared talk about it.
I continued to write my novel. I wrote like a maniac.
I wrote about our fears. I wrote about our hopes.
I wrote about Claire.
I wrote about Chico and Winter and Burt.
I wrote about the Farber family and their pride and selfishness.
I wrote about the Aboriginal people.
I wrote about myself too.
I wrote so that none of what happened to us would ever be forgotten.
I wrote day and night.
No.
See you later, dear.
Claire could not understand how the failure of the experiment
could possibly matter that much, compared to the fate of the world.
But such were the passions of the Farber family,
that the experiments seemed of greater importance
than the end of time itself.
Ned?
Good morning. Let's go through the tapes together.
It was all Sam thought about.
He blamed himself, even in his dreams.
Wake up, Sam. Come on, fuzzy face.
Let me sleep, for God's sake!
How can I do this shit if I'm too tired?
Let me sleep. I can't... I can't transfer the images.
And if I can't, then there's been no point to any of it.
Good morning.
Ah. I'm Karl. I work here.
I'm Eugene.
Well, make yourself at home.
Thank you.
It's nice.
What do you do?
I'm a genius.
Morning, mate.
I can't stop thinking about Raymond.
He's gonna be furious when he finds out about the money.
You kept some for him, no?
Not much. But you know me. I'll return it.
Hey!
Thanks, mate.
Thanks, what?
Thanks, mate.
If I understand this correctly...
you recorded some tape of his sister,
which means you could transmit it to his mother.
Am I correct?
I'm the only one who can.
Then what's the problem?
If you can make her see it, then do it.
Why would Sam care? He should be... he should be happy.
Ned, sync-lock for recovery.
Scanning procedure standing by.
All right.
You want to go through this again, Claire?
No, Henry, I'm fine.
- Ned? - Sixty-five percent retention.
- Seventy-five and still rising. - That's beautiful, beautiful.
- Ronda? - Everything's perfect.
Peaking at 93.
Wow. That's very impressive. She's a natural.
Store-cards full. Combining into simulation.
I used to... have a dream
where Henry would give you back your sight,
just like he always said he would.
I can't trust the simulator. I just can't trust it.
Don't do anything.
Second Seeing, rolling straight through to transmission, Henry?
Okay. Lydia, any objections?
Edith's heart's fine. BP good. Respiration normal. Everything's okay.
- Ronda? - Waves are good. She's in the curl.
All right. Track it.
Go to transmission.
In ten, nine,
eight, seven, six,
five, four, three,
two, one, now.
Colors.
Blue.
Yellow.
Red.
A person...
sitting...
by a window.
Blue hair band.
Yellow dress.
She's sitting, hands folded.
Could she be... our daughter?
Henry?
Are there shadows on the wall?
And a jug on the table.
Red curtain.
Oh.
What a lovely face.
Henry!
Look at her face!
Sound coming up, Dr. Farber.
Go ahead, Elsa.
I'm so relieved.
So mad at you guys.
We thought you were dead.
It's so weird that all this is finally happening now.
Can't think of anything to say.
I love you, Mother.
You're the wisest,
sweetest, strongest woman.
I'm so happy that you'll get to see me.
Heidi?
Come here.
This is Heidi.
I'm five.
You remember when she was born?
She has your mouth.
Will you tell Grandma a story?
Tell her about your... your cat.
Will you tell her about your cat?
Mm-hmm.
She likes to play with her little yarn ball,
and she only eats string cheese.
And she caught a...
- rat. - Only one.
- Only one rat. - We don't have many rats at our house.
Elsa, I've got to stop.
My eyes hurt too much.
Henry...
thank you.
Congratulations, Edi.
Henry, congratulations.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Hey. You're not writing about us?
No.
Like this.
And when you breathe-- when you get to that stage, that is--
you push in right here.
You push your stomach in, and that powers the breathing,
so you can keep it going all the time, nonstop.
This day is a great day in history.
And your family is very proud
to be with you on this day,
when you see our faces.
I-I know I am talking too much.
Anton, it's Edith this is for, not Henry.
I'm coming to her.
Hello, dear Edith.
What a breakthrough for you, dear Edith.
If only we could be with you and share this moment with you.
Well, in a way we are.
Every second I was seeing...
I was watching all those people,
wondering, are they still alive?
Mrs. Farber...
I have just witnessed a miracle.
And so have you.
Of course they're still alive.
Only miracles make sense.
Is he still there?
Yeah, he's still there.
A big, old fellow?
Yeah, he's a big, old fellow.
He's a wedge-tail.
Ah. Iritza.
Mm-hmm.
He'll find his prey soon.
He doesn't seem to be in any hurry about it.
I could record him. You could see him.
I know him.
What about Father's face?
Henry? I know him even better.
You've never seen Henry's face.
I know him.
Where is everybody?
The elders have gone to sit down with the young people
to explain some law business.
They want to make sure everything is passed on.
They're afraid of the radiation.
They call it "the poison from the sky."
They don't understand it, but they know it will destroy our country.
They want to make sure everything is passed on.
People painting song lines,
telling stories,
recording details of sacred sites.
They're pushing everything out, like a dying moth pushing out eggs.
"Come into my parlor," said the spider to the fly.
♪ Oh, no, thanks, Mr. Longshanks ♪
♪ I have other fish to fry ♪
- Thank you, Sammy. - You're welcome.
Here we go.
And now you will see Nora.
Unbelievable, Mom, how Sam found me here in Siberia,
of all places.
I wish you didn't have to see me in such an ugly place.
But I'm afraid this is what the world looks like.
Very good, Samuel. Bravo.
You liked that? I'm really glad.
Just getting a concentrated image in that situation is really difficult.
- In Siberia, was it cold? - No. Forget about the cold.
The cold was the least of the problems. It was my eyes.
- Your eyes? - Yeah. After recording
Dr. Fukosowa in Tokyo, I couldn't see.
- I was literally blind. - Was it the focusing?
No. It's the programming.
The programming is too harsh on the retina.
But after all, this was just a prototype.
When you first walked into my office in Berlin...
who'd have thought we'd end up here?
You are a missing person yourself now, Mr. Winter.
Mm-hmm.
Here I am, for better or for worse.
In any reasonable culture, I would be perceived as
fantastically beautiful, don't you think?
There must be a planet somewhere where they have the correct aesthetic,
where all those young faces with smooth skin would be considered
terribly ugly, and this...
all these folds and spots and wrinkles...
well, it's wisdom, eh?
So it's beautiful, even sexy.
I'll tell you, Edith, I-I, uh,
actually feel a little shy.
Well, that's enough, Sam.
I'd like to do it again.
Damn it.
What are you laughing at?
- I've always found you sexy, Father. - Shh! Shut up!
Edith Eisner had been eight years old when she'd lost her sight.
The experience of seeing the world again was exhilarating,
but it was also confusing and sad.
The world she discovered was darker and uglier that she could've imagined.
It would've been ungracious for her to mention this.
Her grief was only there for those with eyes to see it.
- You're not hungry, darling? - No.
Wait a minute, you fellas!
At the end of the first week,
we registered signs of low-level radiation in the air.
The contamination was insignificant,
but it was a defeat for the optimists amongst us.
The reason Henry and I are so close
to the Mbantua people
is that, a long time ago,
nearly 40 years,
I came to write a book on the Mbantua women.
So you both had work here?
I came for my work.
He followed me because he loved me.
I loved him too. Very much.
We first met in Lisbon.
I was 12. He was 14.
We were running from the Nazis.
By yourselves?
I was with my parents.
He had lost his.
Our lives are filled with sad stories,
and good ones too.
We were teenaged lovers.
You followed some of our adventure chasing Sam.
Berlin, Paris,
Lisbon,
and then America.
We had American babies.
You must have missed them when you had to hide.
Very badly.
And Sam lost his little boy.
Yes.
Your grandson.
- He says it's our fault. - No. Of course it's not.
He thinks it's our fault.
He'll never be aggressive with me, but always with Henry.
That's how it always is.
Boys, men...
It was on that same evening that I realized
that this had been the purpose of our journey:
neither to prove my love for Claire
nor the search for a blind woman's sight.
The purpose of our journey had been so that this music might bloom here,
on the edge of what was possibly the end of the world.
And as I played, and as I watched the Mbantua people
seek refuge from the radiation in the caves of Dr.Farber's laboratory,
I felt that what were playing was a prayer,
a prayer for the wounded planet, Earth.
Thank you, Claire.
You must be very tired.
Schatz, this is wonderful.
You notice how the images are becoming so much clearer?
This is a very smart little computer.
Listen, Edi, I was wondering if you have the strength to do--
- No, Farber, she hasn't. - Quiet, Maisie.
Of course I have.
Hello, girls. How is everything?
Hey, Madelaine, how are you?
Oh!
Thank you, Karl.
Has anyone thought about
the possible side effects of this whole thing?
Old man Farber cares only about his work.
Everything and everyone else takes a second place.
He wants his Nobel Prize.
For making blind people see?
You're joking. The potential for this device is awesome.
It can take visual information straight from the brain.
Once they do that,
they can suck out our dreams and look at them like television.
That's impossible.
That's what they said to Galileo.
"So he refused to return the manuscript of Noa Noa,
the book Gauguin wrote about his stay in Tahiti,
so it would stay in France.
He gave it to the Paris Museum of Modern Art."
Ah, yes.
"It's a curious adventure that"--
For a writer, you don't type very fast.
How do you spell "nuisance"?
I like it better when you're depressed, Winter.
Peter?
Yes, Edith.
How far have you got with your dictionary?
The word I'm at is ingerir.
"Face."
Hmm.
You've got the Dr. Stanley J. top-of-the-hour traffic.
Sig alert inbound on the San Bernardino.
The 10 and the 405-- you know how it is.
A quick look at weather for this Friday, December 31, 1999,
the last day of the century.
It's okay. It's okay!
It was in space! The blast was all in space!
We have a crystal radio! It was in the radio station.
In a glass case. Listen, listen.
You got to listen to this... in the earphones.
Can I put them on you?
The world is still alive!
It was the eve of the year 2000.
There must've been parties all over the world.
But no celebration could've been happier than this one,
in central Australia, on the land of the Mbantua people.
But as we sang and danced, we couldn't know that one of us
was not going to follow us into the new millennium.
This is insane.
Just when you've found out the world is okay,
you're singing yourself to death.
The world is not okay.
You know the world is not okay.
You can't just... decide to die.
I don't decide anything.
I just let go.
Sorry, mein Liebchen.
We've been pushing you too hard.
No, Henry.
There's nothing to be sorry for.
Life ends.
But I've seen, finally...
after all these years.
This is our story, my darling.
What a chase it has been.
What a dance.
Schatz, don't do this to me, please.
Shh.
Listen.
Listen to them singing.
♪ I won't forget a single day Believe me ♪
♪ I bless the light ♪
♪ I bless the light that lights on you Believe me ♪
♪ Although you're gone ♪
♪ You're with me every single day Believe me ♪
♪ Days I'll remember all my life ♪
♪ Days when you can't see Wrong from right ♪
♪ You took my life ♪
♪ But then I knew that very soon You'd leave me ♪
♪ But it's all right ♪
♪ Now I'm not frightened of this world Believe me ♪
♪ I wish today would be tomorrow ♪
♪ The night is dark It just brings sorrow ♪
♪ Let it wait ♪
♪ Thank you for the days ♪
♪ Those endless days Those sacred days you gave me ♪
♪ I'm thinking of the days ♪
♪ I won't forget a single day Believe me ♪
♪ Days I'll remember all my life ♪
♪ Days when you can't see Wrong from right ♪
♪ You took my life ♪
♪ But then I knew that very soon You'd leave me ♪
♪ But it's all right ♪
♪ Now I'm not frightened of this world Believe me ♪
♪ Days ♪
♪ Thank you for the days ♪
♪ Those endless days Those sacred days you gave me ♪
♪ I'm thinking of the days ♪
♪ I won't forget a single day Believe me ♪
♪ I bless the light ♪
♪ I bless the light that shines on you Believe me ♪
♪ Although you're gone ♪
♪ You're with me every single day Believe me ♪
♪ Days ♪
Umbnjana!
My child!
Fellas, go now.
Women's business.
When Edith Mbatjana was buried
in the earth of the Kangaroo Plain,
her husband followed the Aboriginal traditions for death,
but after the ceremony, he neglected those for mourning.
it occurred to no one that he might be attempting
to break more serious taboos.
You come along now, Henry. You come away from here.
You know this is wrong for you to be here.
Wrong for you, Peter, but okay for me.
You know, I'm a white fellow, you know.
- Good-bye, Sam. - Take care of yourself, Chico.
Good-bye, Fitzpatrick.
Do detectives write, Mr. Winter?
Hmm. It depends on the expense.
Well, keep in touch.
It was February of the year 2000.
The time had come for partings.
Winter, Chico, Buzzer, Burt and Lydia all went home,
thinking the story was over.
Claire and Sam finally felt that they left their old lives behind them.
They were looking forward to a life together that just seemed to be beginning.
Hello!
I stuck around.
I didn't feel like going back to Paris anyway.
I'd found a heartfelt solitude which allowed me to work
in a very disciplined way.
I moved into the now-defunct radio station to write
what I thought was going to be the last chapter of my novel.
But no one knew that Dr. Farber was pursuing a new line of research
which would take us all on to another journey,
down dangerous pathways,
down into the garden of dreams itself.
This is Nobel Prize matter.
- For making people see, yes. - Yeah.
If that's what you want, fine. I'll stay.
- Good. - I'll even help you write the papers.
- Fine. - But turn it around.
We're leaving, and this old man's leaving with us.
- Don't you think that's his decision? - No.
That's our people's decision, Dr. Farber. You want to record pictures of his dreams.
- Did I ever hurt your people? - You're my brother, Henry.
That never changes, never.
You helped our people, and for that I thank you.
But I didn't understand what you wanted. If Ronda hadn't have--
Peter, no one ever did this before in the history of our planet.
- And a damn good job too. - Yeah.
Imagine what you could hang on your walls instead of my people's paintings.
You could exhibit the inside of our heads, our dreamings,
and all our old people's secret knowledge.
You know that, Henry.
You think we want you walking through our dreamings with your fancy cameras?
You're leaving too, Ned?
Yes. I'm going with my people.
God almighty!
It's okay. He's in deep sleep.
No!
What's he doing?
He's trying to record his own dreams.
The technology is the same.
He takes his brain's signals and turns them into pictures on a screen.
That doesn't look very promising.
We'll see.
At first, only Dr. Farber could see the promise of his experiments.
He and Karl worked around the clock.
But the fruit of their labor seemed to be nothing more
than a chaotic rhythm of digital noise, colors and lights.
But eventually, shapes began to emerge.
Herr Dr. Jung.
Herr Dr. Freud.
Oh, if only you could see us now.
When Sam could see the computer slowly finding its way
through this new universe,
he realized that in order to continue successfully,
his father couldn't remain the only subject of his own experiments.
Sam knew what he was expected to do.
Don't hurt him.
He is my son.
You see, we know you.
We know how your brain sees.
And we're smart.
We learn.
What was just electricity to us yesterday is color today, and movement.
Ah!
A dream.
I shouldn't be seeing this.
Ronda? Oh, Claire.
Look at this.
We've made progress.
A cacophony of brain waves transformed into a symphony of colors and shapes.
Biochemical images.
If I were Sam, this would make me feel like honey.
Music of the spheres.
This is so beautiful.
"Beautiful"? Wallpaper is beautiful.
You're now looking at the human soul singing to itself.
To its own god!
I don't know about "god."
But... the god within us.
Look at it. It needs nothing.
- It needs everything. - Oh! Nothing! Nothing, dear.
It will eat us up alive.
Never.
- We should really stop this. - Stop it? How could we stop it?
This is all we've ever wanted. This is what we feed on.
How could we ever turn away from this?
We don't have the right.
Shit. There it goes again.
Look, that's his face. It's Sam's face.
I can see that.
- He's frightened. - Maybe.
- Can't you see? - You know what I think is going on here?
I think the computer is doing it. The computer is interpreting.
It's trying to transmit a visual equivalent of the dreamer's emotion.
When did you ever see your own face in your dream, huh?
I often see myself in my dreams.
- You do? - You don't?
Never.
Aren't you? Come on.
Aren't you even curious to know about your dreams?
- Of course she is. - It's not very clear to me.
- Is that all? The computer will learn. - If that's the worry, relax.
- We'll have them clear as crystal. - Relax.
- Any day. - I don't really like my dreams.
Mostly, they're nightmares.
You have to look at it as if you were going to another planet, or...
It's like you'll be the first woman to walk--
- On Venus. - On Venus.
- Venus. - Yes.
You're not trying to tell us you're going to turn down
- a chance to see your own dreams? - Come on!
- And then we quit? - Huh?
- And then we quit? - And then we quit. And then we quit.
- What does that mean? - And then we quit.
All right then. Yes, then we quit.
- You'll do it? - It's a deal.
- Will you do it? - Once?
- Tonight? - Once.
- Oh! - Oh! That's the way. Is that a promise?
- No, she doesn't trust us. - She's trying to.
She doesn't...
Listen-- Oh, no, no, no, no.
Claire was in no position to deny Henry Farber
the chance of recording her dreams.
Based on her successful transmission to Edith,
she was the perfect candidate.
She had transmitted more detailed visual information in her first seeing,
provided more coherent memory patterns in her second.
The computer considered her technically compatible.
What is the baud rate?
It's okay. There's no danger of overload.
Good.
Who could have known that sleeping inside her
was the propensity for addiction?
Look.
Look, it's me. I'm in front of the house
we used to live in when I was four years old.
I must have dreamed that all my life, and I've never remembered.
I want to see this again.
Why don't you let us work on this, Claire?
We'll have a much better image in... You see, my suggestion is...
Sam, did you see that? It was me, when I was little.
Um, just a minute.
I suggest we work on it and analyze it,
and if it's successful, I'm sure it'll be quite easy.
I'll put it through.
Once she saw the lost world of her childhood,
she was helpless against the desire to see more.
What if we take the total movement
and limit it to the sight-line aspect ratio?
If we take the primary dream data...
In the weeks that followed, the laboratory became a beehive of activity.
The computer constantly processed huge amounts of data.
While one person slept, the others huddled around monitors,
waiting, watching, wanting to see a dream.
Soon they were hooked, all of them.
They lived to see their dreams, and when they slept,
they dreamed about their dreams.
They had arrived at the island of dreams together,
but in a short time, they were oceans apart.
I watched helplessly as Claire and Sam were drowning
in their own nocturnal imagery.
They ignored each other and neglected themselves.
The dreams which should have been flushed away
with the first yawn were now their only diet,
and thus became more and more concentrated.
They made monsters for themselves that they could neither tolerate
nor do without.
Each time I get to this part of this dream, it gets blurry.
I'll dream this again. I can make that clearer.
No, I can steer it into a whole new direction.
They wandered in and out of lost worlds.
Feelings and figures emerged from the forgotten past.
Their dreams became black holes of isolation.
They suffered, finally, from a complete loss of reality.
The child I am is so happy, and then I fall.
Why does she always fall?
Don't leave me all alone.
Why do you leave her so alone?
The fall!
Wait.
The solitude.
The fear.
Hello, Claire.
How are you?
- Can I see? - No.
- Please? - No.
♪ No equation ♪
♪ To explain the division of the senses ♪
♪ No sound to reflect ♪
♪ The radiance of time ♪
♪ The beginning-est dream ♪
♪ Halls of disorder ♪
♪ Where we are swept to encircle dawn ♪
♪ Strapped in a low car ♪
♪ Racing through silence ♪
♪ Trumpeting bliss ♪
♪ You could kiss the world ♪
♪ Good-bye ♪
♪ Standing outside the courthouse In the rain ♪
♪ Seemed like a lost soul ♪
♪ From the chapel of dreams ♪
There's a line that should never be crossed.
And we passed it a long time ago.
We're out of here.
By the time I came to rescue Claire,
the only thing she cared about was having fresh batteries
for her video monitor.
Good luck.
Stop!
If I'd given Claire the batteries for her monitor,
then I could've been her friend.
But I wouldn't, so I was her enemy.
She would not let me touch her.
She would not led me feed her.
I wanted to help Claire, but I didn't know how.
I thought she had to sweat them all out, all those false images she had absorbed.
She'd fallen into the deep well of narcissism,
and she had to climb out towards the light by herself.
Make it work.
Gene, can't you make it work?
I can't, Claire. It's dead.
I'm dead.
My heart is dead!
I'd always cherished the beginning of the Gospel according to John:
"In the beginning was the word."
I was now afraid that the apocalypse would read,
"In the end, there were only images."
I didn't know the cure for the disease of images.
All I knew was how to write.
Winter had said to me,
"Words won't help us now, Mr. Fitzpatrick."
But words were all I had.
Somebody must've collected the $500,000 reward from the CIA.
In another 20 years, the US government might tell me who it was.
But not now. Not in this book.
All I found out was that two men landed in a helicopter
and took Dr. Farber back to the United States.
I finally understood why Henry had wanted to transform
brain waves into images.
His wife existed only in his dreams.
He had sought her there and had found her--
well, not really her, his memory of her,
and his vision of himself.
It's time to pack up.
Where is your son now, Dr. Farber?
No.
No!
No! No!
Split from myself.
I am...
split from myself.
My heart.
My heart is fading...
The birds.
- In the beginning was the word. - The birds!
"Words won't help us now, Mr. Fitzpatrick."
I believed in words, and I believed in the magic
and healing power of storytelling.
So I did the only thing I could do:
I continued to write Claire's story,
hoping that she could read it one day.
I wrote her healthy. I wrote her happy.
I prayed that the truth of the words
might still the screaming white birds in the sky.
For several hours, the government agents looked for Sam
and circled over the maze into which he had fled.
They might've found him if he had wanted to be found,
but it was impossible to rescue a man
lost in the labyrinth of his own soul.
Now it's time to get that shit out of your system once and for all.
Come on.
I'll take you to the old fellas that I know.
You will sleep between them.
They will take your dream.
Come on.
I'll take you.
You're my brother.
Come.
You don't say.
I know, I know.
Rock.
♪ Fly, don't bother me ♪
♪ Shoo, fly ♪
♪ Don't bother me ♪
♪ Ten thousand fleets Sweep over thee in the bay ♪
Well, how do you like it?
But now...
What happens now?
Oh.
That's for you to invent.
The Dance Around the Planet, you call it.
Yeah.
I watched you dance.
It was only later that I realized
Sam Farber had been inside the ransacked laboratory
at exactly the same time Claire and I had stood at the broken bridge
on the other side of the gap.
It was perhaps the last time the pair of them would be so close.
On that April morning, I no longer had a competitor for her heart,
and yet Claire and I had moved beyond all that.
There's no going back.
We were not going to be a couple again, not with each other
or with anybody else for quite a while.
But we were always going to be friends.
I wanted to see Claire grow old.
More than anything, I hoped she was now on the path
to being that better person she had sworn to become.
♪ I tried to reach you ♪
♪ On Valentine's Day ♪
♪ But how could I reach you ♪
♪ When you're so far away? ♪
♪ Don't make me a victim ♪
♪ Don't make me your clown ♪
♪ With my arms reaching out ♪
♪ And my head hanging down ♪
♪ We can't go on ♪
♪ Touching the flame ♪
♪ Breaking the rules ♪
♪ Of the game ♪
I wrote an ending for my novel whereby Sam and Claire would meet again
in that same bar in San Francisco, Tosca's.
I wrote it, but tore the pages apart
and wrote the truth instead.
♪ I bring you this cross ♪
♪ I carved out of wood ♪
Sam did return to San Francisco,
only to find that he had lost his wife and son for good.
♪ That I'd change ♪
♪ If I could ♪
He never found his father again, only his grave.
Dr. Farber had died keeping the secrets
of his dream machine for himself.
♪ Don't know What they do with their lives ♪
♪ Over there ♪
♪ We can't go on ♪
♪ Hiding the pain ♪
As for Claire, the next time I heard from her,
she was working for Green-Space.
Her extraordinary vision had found her a place on their space observatory.
She and her crew mates orbited the Earth,
watching the oceans for pollution crimes.
She stayed up there for six months.
She spent her 30th birthday in space.
Hello, Claire.
Happy birthday.
It's me. I'm in New York, and the book came out today. What do you think?
Uh! I don't have much time. Operator, can we have the conference call, please?
You ready, guys?
One, two, three, four...
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
♪ Happy birthday, dear Claire ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
♪ We can't go on ♪
♪ Touching the flame ♪
♪ Breaking the rules ♪
♪ Of the game ♪
In memory of my father and brother. For my mother, Barbara, Hella and Michael.
♪ Haven't seen you in quite a while ♪
♪ I was down the hold just passing time ♪
♪ Last time we met was a low-lit room ♪
♪ We were as close together As a bride and groom ♪
♪ We ate the food and we drank the wine ♪
♪ Everybody having a good time ♪
♪ Except you ♪
♪ You were talking about The end of the world ♪
♪ I took the money ♪
♪ I spiked your drink ♪
♪ You miss too much these days If you stop to think ♪
♪ You lead me on With those innocent eyes ♪
♪ You know I love The element of surprise ♪
♪ In the garden, I was playing the tart ♪
♪ I kissed your lips And broke your heart ♪
♪ You ♪
♪ You were acting Like it was the end of the world ♪
♪ Love, love, love ♪
♪ Love, love ♪
♪ Love, love, love ♪
♪ Love, love ♪
♪ Love, love, love ♪
♪ In my dream I was drowning my sorrows ♪
♪ But my sorrows, they learned to swim ♪
♪ Surrounding me ♪
♪ Going down on me ♪
♪ Spilling over the brim ♪
♪ Waves of regret and waves of joy ♪
♪ I reached out for the one I had tried to destroy ♪
♪ You, you said you'd wait ♪
♪ Till the end of the world ♪