On Top of the Whale (1982) - full transcript
A parody of anthropology, linguistics, and cultural imperialism. The film follows an unlikely team of linguists into the wilds of an ersatz Patagonia to study the last speakers of a dying language. That language apparently consists of a single word, which therefore means everything.
HOLLAND.
LATE 20th CENTURY
1st May. All the tables
on the beach were booked
By bribery, we got
a table...
...only a kilometer
from the official stand
An excellent position
to view the manoeuvres...
...of the Netherlands
Soviet Republic...
...Democratic Federal
Burgundy...
...and the Socialist
United States of Ireland
I saw Narcisso
for the first time
Look, he's got a better
table than us
He must be
an official guest
We're official guests, too
He must be a guest of
Workers' Philips
That doesn't make him
better than us
I expected the worst
I didn't know the day
would be so surprising
He wouldn't come
to our table...
...so I decided
to go to him
Wonderful, isn't it?
- What will you speak?
- French
My favourite language.
A pity no one uses it
I don't speak Dutch
ON TOP OF THE WHALE
A FILM ABOUT SURVIVAL
I have a house just like
on this postcard
In Patagonia
Isn't it wonderful?
Just the same house
as my grandparents'
This was a coincidence
That morning Eva had
told me her dream
She had returned to her
grandfather's home...
...with me and a strange
man who was her husband
Even stranger, in fact
we had planned a visit...
...to her grandfather's
house, now a monument...
...after the Democratic
Evangelicals' chairman...
...(the Dutch Communists)
had stayed a night there
Madam says you are
an anthropologist
What is your
specialization?
Collective telepathy...
...among primitive tribes
in South America...
...and Workers'
Philips staff
- Does it exist?
- Certainly
It's bad?
As a sociologist, I cannot
make value judgments
Sociometry identifies...
...four interlinked
phenomena:
the prophetic dreams
of Indian tribes...
...weekend delirium
of Workers' Philips staff...
...increased drug
trafficking...
...and Leninist literature
as a best-seller
Very interesting
Haven't you had contact
with Indians?
I spent four years with
the Caonize Indians
In my house in Patagonia...
...live the last two
surviving Yachanes Indians
My kid
From then on we were
inseparable
We met daily in Haarlem
at Hotel Malcolm X...
...or May Heroes Beach,
or in nightclubs...
...named after Bloody
Week in The Hague
...extinct in 1970
The last two?
Are you sure they
are Yachanes?
Yes, I am certain, they
are like family to me
May I kiss him?
Freely
We eventually accepted
the invitation...
...of Narcisso Cambos,
communist millionaire
Scenario and direction
Don Narcisso
What a mess here
You should lock up
the house
Look at this mess, bastard
I can't take it any more,
do you hear me?
Don't you understand
what I say?
Your shoes will get filthy
in that shit
Then your mother
will be angry
It's called
The Gobbling Cat
All he does is find
everything amusing
I knew you would say that
I knew you would say
you knew
I know everything that's
going to be said
Anthropologist
Don't look
I'm going to stand up
now...
...and look at them
The moment I saw Eva,
I said:
"You're the man for her"
I love her very much
I really love her
Why? Do you fancy her?
You're jealous.
Extremely jealous
Nothing wrong with that.
I am never jealous
My God, not more suffering
You mustn't confuse
appearance with reality
The relationship between
myself and Eva...
...is more complicated
than it appears
I love her dearly...
...but in a completely
negative way
Eva is the opposite...
...of the woman I find
most hateful
So I love her
I know. I envy you
My God, the Virgin again
She saved my life
She saved me from the
abyss I had plunged into
She helps me find
my work again
She saved my life
I have a cassette. Would
you like to hear it?
Paprika
They are here
Good evening
These friends of mine
have come to visit you
"Good evening".
How do you say that?
What has your boss brought
for you? A present
If he eats that, he'll
get Patagonian colic
What do you say?
Thank you
Very good. You are
very intelligent
It takes intellectual
labor...
Sit down
In the name of the Father,
Son and Holy Ghost. Amen
Good idea. Rather late,
but very interesting
Incredible. He doesn't
trust anyone
Ask why Indians
must be beaten
Ask him in English
He's much more interesting
than the Indians
More dangerous
But also more loyal
You have to know him,
then you realise
I hope you know he's
very dangerous
Yes, but very loyal
A pathological case
He hasn't a clue
3rd April. Slept badly.
Fighting in the night
What is this?
And this?
Narcisso, I won't be
a minute
And what's this?
Come on,
it's nice outside
We'll eat, so please
leave that now
To get to know them well,
you mustn't go on too long
But I must question them
But you mustn't tire
them out
All right, never mind
Ours...
...see the others...
...reincarnation, hunger,
war, rain, summer...
Walk in bad weather,
freighter, dog...
...what others think
of you...
...rock on your head
if you insult an elder
Beating a child to death
on a rock
Eclipse of the sun
and moon, stars
Sea, earth, mother...
...Republic of Chile,
Argentina, canned fruit...
...son, dog, song sung
by others
Fatal conflict between
two tribes, death...
...Puntanela hospital,
river stones...
...light of the moon
Sea of whales...
...woman, fire-water,
sun, deaf...
...artillery fire
Menstruation, walking with
no sense of direction...
...thirst, endless...
...god of the mountain,
raw meat
Evenings alone
Strong emotion at sunset
Sheep...
...question and answer
game...
...explanation of the
meaning of life, violin
Thirty glasses of
fire-water in the morning
A thirty-year hangover
Stop it
Hand me that
My tongue...
Dug, but found no trace
of the many skeletons...
...Narcisso says are
buried around the house
Found many beer bottles,
3 radios, rabbit skulls
The dictionary comprises
sixty words...
...as does the Wilkins
dictionary
Both are in exactly
the same order
7th April. Mistake; the
skulls are not ritual...
...but rabbit stew has
cannibal cult links
1st May. Workers' Day
Early meditation
on the Chicago martyrs
Afternoon: reading from
"State and Revolution"
Evening: political talk.
We fast until Monday
Please go away
3rd May. Slept badly,
due to an air-raid
Adam and Eden have
buried all our mirrors
Luis lashed them, then
all three of them cried
Thomas Bridge's 300,000
word dictionary...
...is derived from 60
root words; metaphors...
...double and triple
metaphors
Don't go too close, they
may be dangerous, strange
Are proletarians
always strange?
Too much exploitation
has made them strange
The pain has turned them
insane
Do all proletarians of
the world unite...
...because the pain has
made them insane?
No, that's something else
Quiet, I understand
- What did you do?
- I don't now
- In which language?
- I don't know
5th May. Woken by
whispering at 3 a.m.
I heard a baby cry, then
Adam and Eden laughed
Now I understand
everything
The 60 Yagan words are
an arithmetical system
They add, subtract,
multiply and divide...
...according to rules
which clarify everything
Shut up!
I'll cut that tongue out
now if you don't shut up
7th May. Each month Adam
and Eden exchange names
9th May. Good
They are telepathic,
like Narcisso, I think
So what?
The terrible truth: one
human exploits another
Alphonso Alberquerque's
commentaries...
...made Adam and Eden
laugh incessantly
12th May. They continued
taking photos...
...each having a
different name
Today's rain hasn't the
same name as yesterday's
There is no water,
or fire, no whips...
...only situations,
all different
14th May
Double, triple metaphors
are no coincidence
They mean the intuition
of 2 and 3 as spoken
They are incapable of
more modern thought...
...because conception of
the singular eludes them
They are convinced that
1 is an even number...
...so regression
is infinite
20th May. They bury
the mirrors again
21st May. Naval battle:
Chile versus Argentina
Heavy shelling at night
23rd May
Every word or saying
tacitly contains others
Tacit metaphors speak
between spoken metaphors
Ignorant chatterboxes:
silence means more said
24th May. I opened
my heart to Eden
I spoke German, so he
wouldn't understand
He placed my hand on his
heart, speaking Italian:
"Every heartbeat
has a name"
27th May
Every day they construct
a different language...
...a Gothic cathedral
Dreamt up at night,
forgotten by morning
Proof that too much
culture...
...leads to barbarism
and hinders development
2nd June. The world is
contained in 60 words
Each implies the whole
in its own perspective
Denying singularity, two
things are said at once
Each double reflection
of the world...
...implies 59 second
degree reflections
The intelligent become
increasingly silent
25th June. Illusion
The Indians' language
is non-existent
I found the documents
today
They are recessives,
not pure Indians
Nothing they do or say
has meaning
The whole world
deceives me
I deserve a holiday
in Romania
And Eva has decided
she doesn't love me
I shall not return
Things change sex
in the mirror
All things are divided
into sexes
So are all movements.
This is male
This is female
The bet is over
Not with the kitchen knife
please don't cut out
your tongue
I must tell you something
My life has changed...
...since that
disastrous bet
I discover a friend
in you...
...and myself here
When traveling, I always
wonder: who am I?
Where do I come from?
Where is my fatherland?
I was searching, but you
found a new world for me
I had violent tendencies,
but a child's heart
But now I am determined...
...to give up everything
and write
But not in Spanish
I was always cynical.
I laughed at everyone
But now I feel
responsible...
...for this country, these
Indians in Patagonia...
...massacred by
our ancestors
In this novel I want to
write about who I am...
...who you are...
...as homage to this
noble race...
...which has seen so much
bloodshed...
...that Patagonia
resembled a battlefield
It is delightful to meet
the world's finest people
People of the world
The loneliness
in this hole...
...would be unbearable
Loneliness...
unbearable
Your visit today
is deeply moving
Deeply... visit
Your visit moves my soul
Soul... moves
The daily conversations
made apparent...
A final judgment
of the people will reveal...
Mozart was a genius...
...but it came too easily
to him
His good fortune was
his weakness
Mozart was reactionary
Beethoven revolutionary,
because he showed...
...the desperate
petit bourgeoisie
But his music offered
no way out
But Beethoven sells
more records
Beethoven is played
by musicians...
...closer to the people
I have returned
Eva and Narcisso have
changed drastically
The suicide of Luis must
have shocked them deeply
I forget everything when
I set foot in the house
Hours later I'll return
to my hotel
I can still view,
review, hear, rehearse
...the images and words
I no longer comprehend
Greetings, friends
How are you?
Well?
You have traveled widely
You know Spinoza...
...who left Spain
for Holland
He had good ideas.
What happened to them?
You have been to Germany.
You know Hegel
A good man
You have learned much
How did you learn
so many languages?
You have a good memory
What will you do with
what I know...
...and what you said?
What more than all those
others we talked about?
I am leaving
LATE 20th CENTURY
1st May. All the tables
on the beach were booked
By bribery, we got
a table...
...only a kilometer
from the official stand
An excellent position
to view the manoeuvres...
...of the Netherlands
Soviet Republic...
...Democratic Federal
Burgundy...
...and the Socialist
United States of Ireland
I saw Narcisso
for the first time
Look, he's got a better
table than us
He must be
an official guest
We're official guests, too
He must be a guest of
Workers' Philips
That doesn't make him
better than us
I expected the worst
I didn't know the day
would be so surprising
He wouldn't come
to our table...
...so I decided
to go to him
Wonderful, isn't it?
- What will you speak?
- French
My favourite language.
A pity no one uses it
I don't speak Dutch
ON TOP OF THE WHALE
A FILM ABOUT SURVIVAL
I have a house just like
on this postcard
In Patagonia
Isn't it wonderful?
Just the same house
as my grandparents'
This was a coincidence
That morning Eva had
told me her dream
She had returned to her
grandfather's home...
...with me and a strange
man who was her husband
Even stranger, in fact
we had planned a visit...
...to her grandfather's
house, now a monument...
...after the Democratic
Evangelicals' chairman...
...(the Dutch Communists)
had stayed a night there
Madam says you are
an anthropologist
What is your
specialization?
Collective telepathy...
...among primitive tribes
in South America...
...and Workers'
Philips staff
- Does it exist?
- Certainly
It's bad?
As a sociologist, I cannot
make value judgments
Sociometry identifies...
...four interlinked
phenomena:
the prophetic dreams
of Indian tribes...
...weekend delirium
of Workers' Philips staff...
...increased drug
trafficking...
...and Leninist literature
as a best-seller
Very interesting
Haven't you had contact
with Indians?
I spent four years with
the Caonize Indians
In my house in Patagonia...
...live the last two
surviving Yachanes Indians
My kid
From then on we were
inseparable
We met daily in Haarlem
at Hotel Malcolm X...
...or May Heroes Beach,
or in nightclubs...
...named after Bloody
Week in The Hague
...extinct in 1970
The last two?
Are you sure they
are Yachanes?
Yes, I am certain, they
are like family to me
May I kiss him?
Freely
We eventually accepted
the invitation...
...of Narcisso Cambos,
communist millionaire
Scenario and direction
Don Narcisso
What a mess here
You should lock up
the house
Look at this mess, bastard
I can't take it any more,
do you hear me?
Don't you understand
what I say?
Your shoes will get filthy
in that shit
Then your mother
will be angry
It's called
The Gobbling Cat
All he does is find
everything amusing
I knew you would say that
I knew you would say
you knew
I know everything that's
going to be said
Anthropologist
Don't look
I'm going to stand up
now...
...and look at them
The moment I saw Eva,
I said:
"You're the man for her"
I love her very much
I really love her
Why? Do you fancy her?
You're jealous.
Extremely jealous
Nothing wrong with that.
I am never jealous
My God, not more suffering
You mustn't confuse
appearance with reality
The relationship between
myself and Eva...
...is more complicated
than it appears
I love her dearly...
...but in a completely
negative way
Eva is the opposite...
...of the woman I find
most hateful
So I love her
I know. I envy you
My God, the Virgin again
She saved my life
She saved me from the
abyss I had plunged into
She helps me find
my work again
She saved my life
I have a cassette. Would
you like to hear it?
Paprika
They are here
Good evening
These friends of mine
have come to visit you
"Good evening".
How do you say that?
What has your boss brought
for you? A present
If he eats that, he'll
get Patagonian colic
What do you say?
Thank you
Very good. You are
very intelligent
It takes intellectual
labor...
Sit down
In the name of the Father,
Son and Holy Ghost. Amen
Good idea. Rather late,
but very interesting
Incredible. He doesn't
trust anyone
Ask why Indians
must be beaten
Ask him in English
He's much more interesting
than the Indians
More dangerous
But also more loyal
You have to know him,
then you realise
I hope you know he's
very dangerous
Yes, but very loyal
A pathological case
He hasn't a clue
3rd April. Slept badly.
Fighting in the night
What is this?
And this?
Narcisso, I won't be
a minute
And what's this?
Come on,
it's nice outside
We'll eat, so please
leave that now
To get to know them well,
you mustn't go on too long
But I must question them
But you mustn't tire
them out
All right, never mind
Ours...
...see the others...
...reincarnation, hunger,
war, rain, summer...
Walk in bad weather,
freighter, dog...
...what others think
of you...
...rock on your head
if you insult an elder
Beating a child to death
on a rock
Eclipse of the sun
and moon, stars
Sea, earth, mother...
...Republic of Chile,
Argentina, canned fruit...
...son, dog, song sung
by others
Fatal conflict between
two tribes, death...
...Puntanela hospital,
river stones...
...light of the moon
Sea of whales...
...woman, fire-water,
sun, deaf...
...artillery fire
Menstruation, walking with
no sense of direction...
...thirst, endless...
...god of the mountain,
raw meat
Evenings alone
Strong emotion at sunset
Sheep...
...question and answer
game...
...explanation of the
meaning of life, violin
Thirty glasses of
fire-water in the morning
A thirty-year hangover
Stop it
Hand me that
My tongue...
Dug, but found no trace
of the many skeletons...
...Narcisso says are
buried around the house
Found many beer bottles,
3 radios, rabbit skulls
The dictionary comprises
sixty words...
...as does the Wilkins
dictionary
Both are in exactly
the same order
7th April. Mistake; the
skulls are not ritual...
...but rabbit stew has
cannibal cult links
1st May. Workers' Day
Early meditation
on the Chicago martyrs
Afternoon: reading from
"State and Revolution"
Evening: political talk.
We fast until Monday
Please go away
3rd May. Slept badly,
due to an air-raid
Adam and Eden have
buried all our mirrors
Luis lashed them, then
all three of them cried
Thomas Bridge's 300,000
word dictionary...
...is derived from 60
root words; metaphors...
...double and triple
metaphors
Don't go too close, they
may be dangerous, strange
Are proletarians
always strange?
Too much exploitation
has made them strange
The pain has turned them
insane
Do all proletarians of
the world unite...
...because the pain has
made them insane?
No, that's something else
Quiet, I understand
- What did you do?
- I don't now
- In which language?
- I don't know
5th May. Woken by
whispering at 3 a.m.
I heard a baby cry, then
Adam and Eden laughed
Now I understand
everything
The 60 Yagan words are
an arithmetical system
They add, subtract,
multiply and divide...
...according to rules
which clarify everything
Shut up!
I'll cut that tongue out
now if you don't shut up
7th May. Each month Adam
and Eden exchange names
9th May. Good
They are telepathic,
like Narcisso, I think
So what?
The terrible truth: one
human exploits another
Alphonso Alberquerque's
commentaries...
...made Adam and Eden
laugh incessantly
12th May. They continued
taking photos...
...each having a
different name
Today's rain hasn't the
same name as yesterday's
There is no water,
or fire, no whips...
...only situations,
all different
14th May
Double, triple metaphors
are no coincidence
They mean the intuition
of 2 and 3 as spoken
They are incapable of
more modern thought...
...because conception of
the singular eludes them
They are convinced that
1 is an even number...
...so regression
is infinite
20th May. They bury
the mirrors again
21st May. Naval battle:
Chile versus Argentina
Heavy shelling at night
23rd May
Every word or saying
tacitly contains others
Tacit metaphors speak
between spoken metaphors
Ignorant chatterboxes:
silence means more said
24th May. I opened
my heart to Eden
I spoke German, so he
wouldn't understand
He placed my hand on his
heart, speaking Italian:
"Every heartbeat
has a name"
27th May
Every day they construct
a different language...
...a Gothic cathedral
Dreamt up at night,
forgotten by morning
Proof that too much
culture...
...leads to barbarism
and hinders development
2nd June. The world is
contained in 60 words
Each implies the whole
in its own perspective
Denying singularity, two
things are said at once
Each double reflection
of the world...
...implies 59 second
degree reflections
The intelligent become
increasingly silent
25th June. Illusion
The Indians' language
is non-existent
I found the documents
today
They are recessives,
not pure Indians
Nothing they do or say
has meaning
The whole world
deceives me
I deserve a holiday
in Romania
And Eva has decided
she doesn't love me
I shall not return
Things change sex
in the mirror
All things are divided
into sexes
So are all movements.
This is male
This is female
The bet is over
Not with the kitchen knife
please don't cut out
your tongue
I must tell you something
My life has changed...
...since that
disastrous bet
I discover a friend
in you...
...and myself here
When traveling, I always
wonder: who am I?
Where do I come from?
Where is my fatherland?
I was searching, but you
found a new world for me
I had violent tendencies,
but a child's heart
But now I am determined...
...to give up everything
and write
But not in Spanish
I was always cynical.
I laughed at everyone
But now I feel
responsible...
...for this country, these
Indians in Patagonia...
...massacred by
our ancestors
In this novel I want to
write about who I am...
...who you are...
...as homage to this
noble race...
...which has seen so much
bloodshed...
...that Patagonia
resembled a battlefield
It is delightful to meet
the world's finest people
People of the world
The loneliness
in this hole...
...would be unbearable
Loneliness...
unbearable
Your visit today
is deeply moving
Deeply... visit
Your visit moves my soul
Soul... moves
The daily conversations
made apparent...
A final judgment
of the people will reveal...
Mozart was a genius...
...but it came too easily
to him
His good fortune was
his weakness
Mozart was reactionary
Beethoven revolutionary,
because he showed...
...the desperate
petit bourgeoisie
But his music offered
no way out
But Beethoven sells
more records
Beethoven is played
by musicians...
...closer to the people
I have returned
Eva and Narcisso have
changed drastically
The suicide of Luis must
have shocked them deeply
I forget everything when
I set foot in the house
Hours later I'll return
to my hotel
I can still view,
review, hear, rehearse
...the images and words
I no longer comprehend
Greetings, friends
How are you?
Well?
You have traveled widely
You know Spinoza...
...who left Spain
for Holland
He had good ideas.
What happened to them?
You have been to Germany.
You know Hegel
A good man
You have learned much
How did you learn
so many languages?
You have a good memory
What will you do with
what I know...
...and what you said?
What more than all those
others we talked about?
I am leaving