Enticing, Sugary, Boundless or Songs and Dances About Death (2017) - full transcript

In a delicate and humane manner, this film touches upon a very serious issue: how to stop fearing death while being in love with life. We talk (and laugh) about this subject with the protagonists of this film, modern geniuses and ordinary people from different parts of the world.

More, more, more, more...

That's it!

Hey, who were bringing out that little stuff?

Drag it right here

Note, we also have clouds

That's what I mean, and we need
the clouds to get through here

Exactly

Listen, when are you assembling the mountains?

Do we need all the mountains?

It's written “FOREST” on the front: it's a forest then

No, it's written - 2SR, PR, L



That's what it is

Ok, let’s start to put up those we understood about

I have a friend

He has great wide fields and much livestock

A day will come and my friend will die

And all of his livestock will someday die

I have a brother

He has a big family and many children

A day will come and my brother will die

My father is a great warrior

A day will come and he will die

My mother is the most beautiful woman and she will die

A day will come and I will die

They're coming out



Zaza, I'll meet you by the gate

So let's do a quick sound test

Time...

Well, you know, I'm a composer, I work with time all the time

I mean it's organizing sounds in space and time,
and that's what you're doing as a composer, so...

You know, I was diagnosed with a serious illness about seven months ago

But I have no symptoms

So I feel like... It's a strange situation to be in

Because you feel absolutely fine,
but you're told that you're dying

But... I thought I was going to live forever too

Until the doctor told me

And then... And then
you start to realize it's finite

So, sometimes, when I'm taking a two-hour nap

Because the medications exhaust me sometimes

I feel a little guilty

Because I'll never get those two hours back

That's two hours off of my tab

And sometimes I let a day slip by
when I don't do anything productive

And then I'm thinking, wow I can't believe I did that,
now I let a day slip by

I just assumed that once I got that diagnosis
I would be in a constant state of the present

But it's exhausting to live in the present all the time

I think now it just feels more natural

I've just gone back to my regular life, but with a little bit more urgency

Unfortunately - Fellini

Then, five months later - Masina

Then - Andrei Tarkovsky

Francesco Rosi died two years after Tonino

Look how nicely you are lit up by the sun - it's marvelous!

You know what this is called? This yellow stuff?
Violaciocca

I understood everything.
There is nothing more to understand

We often spoke all night

And at 6 a.m. Fellini called already, so sleep was out of question

Fellini had to tell his dreams

This is my watch, see?

They stopped at precisely that moment

Not at any other moment, you understand

I know, they could've stopped by themselves, but the battery was full

They just did it, and...

I have to be there

And only write: “Tonino”

We didn't get it first... Then... Then...

But he wasn’t afraid to die?

He was

Of course

What's up with this weather, right?

The air is warm

The air contains the scent of all that are blooming in May

The days in May are long enough

They're even longer in June...

But when July comes, you already feel the winter

Because winter is so close

And when September comes... It's done

We will have a sun tomorrow!

Tomorrow?

It would be nice

Well, there is the sun now as well

We just don't see it, because it's behind the clouds

Starting in 1988, when Tonino moved to Pennabilli

I practically lived with him

I woke up and went to Tonino immediately

He would say... Well, where will we go?

We will go where there is NOTHING

I can't find it...

What are you looking for?

A book about the archeological finds of Montefeltro

A magazine or a book?

A book, I remember, it was lying here

There it is!

Ohhh! My little star!

Hello, my love, do you still have a fever?

No

Sit over there

Take off your jacket

Hello, let's play

See how beautiful she is

Don't make faces

Your personalities are so similar...

Whenever I take pictures of her, she always makes
the worst faces in the world

Seriously, now, cut it out!

I cut Tonino's hair and mustache

I'll drink too

I also drink a little wine with you guys

We took walks...

During the daytime, around 3:30 or 4p.m.

We made our way to Casalecchio

Went to a little restaurant there

And we ate papardelle

It’s like tagliatelle, but wider

With wild boar sauce

And boar meat - there on the inside

You should try it

Do you miss him?

It's not as an empty space inside of me, which would be too easy to say

That ravine over there, it's not the entrance to hell,
It’s the entrance to heaven

(whispering) Should we film it or not?

And now, on the 13th, there will be a camping trip in memory of Tonino

Hey, what are you doing there, behind my back?

Get out

Tonino always told me: You are all incorrect

You can never be elegant

And you have to

Accentuate your mistakes

Don't try to be elegant

It comes easily to me

It's not hard at all

You must write all of this down

I love you so much

Sisters

"Beauty hides in mistakes"

Yes - "in mistakes and imperfections"

I want to talk about my close friend, Enrica Antonioni

Oh no

On your birthday
it is me who should be speaking about you

We lived our lives side by side

Because Michelangeo Antonioni and Tonino Guerra
were often together

Not just when they worked together

What does "TO LIVE" mean to you?

To me personally?

It's strange because...

A few days ago, I remembered something
about Michelangelo

He asked me...

It was one of the first questions he ever asked me

Enrica, what is "TO LIVE" to you?

I was 18 years old, and he was 40 years older

I replied...

Life is a dance...

I was 18 years old

A dance? Yes, when you dance...

You dance with different people

In different places

You dance, because...

You want to live!

To live a life, which you don't know yet

You want to experience all aspects of life

Meanwhile they're singing over there...

Today my answer is absolutely different

If Michelangelo asked me today

Enrica, what is life?

I would say, life is like walking up a mountain

Being present in this movement, this constant journey

So you can reach a higher summit, always a higher summit

Listen, could someone also go to
the Tonino Guerra Association. I need the book of the Odyssey

What do you need? The Odyssey book

Yes... but my hair is too dirty

She came from above

Where the almond trees danced

And put a flower between my lips

As my mother had done

When she put the first violet from her flowerpots

Between father's lips

He held it all day there

Flowering between his words

And your lips should tremble

Well, they will tremble for the premiere

He understood what "LIVING" means

This word "LIVING"

What does "LIVING" mean to you?

Not an easy question

It's a hard question, but...

Living is an adventure

To answer what is taking place

To find an answer to everything that happens

To keep going, to keep reacting

Never give up

Exectly - to never give up!

Singing: Those like us never give up!
We must sing after the performance

Definitely! Let it be our hymn!

Give me one...

I like your jacket, I want one too, where did you get it?

I'll copy it, I've been looking for one like it for a while...

Ahh, yes?

Those like us never give up...

Gianni: Those like us don't talk much

Those like uuuuuuuuus

Don't ever speeeeeeeak

Well, my voice has gone

Let me teach you

Those like us never give up...

Go!

Can we go?

Yes, no one coming from this side

What about over there? Go, go...

Come on, you can go

Look at this place I've brought you to

How beautiful it is!

Do you see, how it's beaitiful there?

Over there is Old Mountain

eh, life is beautiful!
Is it?

Tonino made these sketches, you know, kind of his diary

Sketches, all these and...

...was telling me - after I'm gone, when you're bored, look in

I think this is my portrait

There are also Fellini's letters

They're unbelievable

There, Federico writes about "Amarcord"

Dear Tonino, I read the Rex and School episodes

I laughed until I cried, he says, and then writes

Bravo, my little Tonino

...That's it

Enough... I told everything... Enough

Every time he performed, he began with this

It was a motto, understand?

You have always do something for others

Because he believed that this was a meaning of life

To do something for others

It finally let me go, girls, it was hard...

I couldn't cry

Tonino... I never said this to anyone

Tonino... I want to say it now

Tonino - in the latest periods of his life

Searched for abandoned Roman roads,

He wanted to find old people
who lived alone near those roads

To go and talk to them

He would ask: "How do you spend your days?"

He wanted to know if they suffered

If they were afraid of the future

He wasn’t afraid,

But deep inside, Tonino was always afraid of dying,

Always...

We're entering Tuscany

We're in Tuscany already!

Camera - one, one, one

That's not a square over there

Big passé, over the top, the second leg too

I, as an artist, working on this performance

I can't capture the plotline

From beginning to end

So, who is who, what happens because of what, why?

So you come to rehearsal, and you don’t know what happens next?

No. This time - we don't

This is the first time we have to think, what will happen tomorrow?

A beast does not understand what death mean

You slaughter the beast and that is it, it dies

But a person understands when you slaughter him

A person does not want to die

And a beast? What does it know?

Yet it feels, that it coming...

Before the death it becomes...

...aggressive

It feels something, some possibility

that the end is coming

Why does the person live?

So one can multiply

So that the family line may continue

What for to live else?

There he is, my Father

Coming!

Where is their car?

On the mountain

Good day to you

Good day

Well, what's up guys?

My name is Tania

This is Zhenia

Charmed

This is Slava

Take, take, take them

Bring the horse out

Take them

And the little one?

He is coming

Stop, stay!

Do you make a salted cheese?

We do!

Shortly you will taste it

Stay

So?

Let me tell

I wrote many, it's from my volume

Tell me one

Who doesn't know that in Popovka?..

How was it?

How old are you?

I am seventy-four

How old were you when you first sat on a horse?

How old? I was seven

One could be an evil, just like a person

One is obedient, another is not obedient

We do not have black ones, the wolf ate them

The wolf ate them, and now there are no black ones

May God strike you

Why did you not herd?

I did herd, he fled

May God strike you

What about my son? He is fool as hell

Forgive me, what fuckery there be

He drinks, he drinks his whole life

He drinks his whole life

Had two wives, one left, second one left

There is no one for me to count on

What young people we have, my father chanted

Our son, like an acorn, is already a burden

What, pray tell, disgusts you about youth?

What's it to do with the acorn? Mother chants

What's it to do with the acorn?

Coldly father stares, the words fly from his lips

Don't you know, from an acorn an oak will spring?

Do I sing it right?

How old is this house, how long have you lived here?

The house is a century old

I have lived here for 40 years

Forty two, second

But you are not lonely here?

The winter is mighty lonely, but otherwise...

I have a wife, a woman

And where?

She will come from the village, in spring, the month of May

Right now, it's +1 degree Celsius in the capital

Ukrainian radio continues its broadcast
from the Parliament session hall
Colleagues

Colleagues...

The microphone was turned off, this wasn't part of the speech,

The next draft resolution concerns canceling
the Ukrainian Parliament resolution

of October 6, 2016 - 32, 12, DP1

Everyone who supports this resolution in general, I ask you to vote

Please, let us vote

57 vote "yes", the resolution has not passed

It doesn’t want... That's how you load it... Right, right

Right, let us tie it

Do it, one-two

Take it... So very heavy

Yes it is heavy, so what?

This one goes differently, Yurka, put the front here

Front ahead

We have not thought how we would die

But if you do think about it? Are you afraid?

When the candle burns down, that is when we die

Anything could happened... A horse can kick you
a sick dog can bite you

And that is it... You die

The coffin and that's it...

And in you go - to the hole, they dig the hole, they cover it, and so

So you think, there is nothing there? That if you die, that's it?

That's it

What if you knew you had only one day left?
What would you do that day?

I would live well

What does "WELL" mean?

It means - well

I would buy food, I would make myself full on my last day

And that is it

And then the candle burns down, and in you go

When you were young

How did it go with the boys?

Many boys admire you?

Who? The boys?

Yes, when you were young

I had the one man only ever

Then I had two daughters, and that was that

Those are all my men

Those are all my men

My husband is dead for twenty years now

And so alone am I

Alone in this house I live, I work, I spin

I do it to live tgrough my days

I will say a truth

I do not know for how am I going to live

Will I live to see the evening, will I see tomorrow?

Or for how long?

My husband started to...

There, where we keep a wood

He went to mow down the field

He mowed from there, where we feed the animals

My daughter's son, he was fileding with him

He was about five yers old

I walked to the sun, to milk the cow, up there

He comes running like "Grandma, come, Grandpa Kisiv fell"

I come running, but it is over

His eyes flung open, so is his mouth
All that’s left of grandpa

He lies dead

I do not know, did he have time to mow from
the well to the barn... Dead

He did not tell me he was going to die

He was not ill, all was well

But he died, and that is it

Later, when I die, that is how I will also be

They will take me to the village, they will put me in a hole

And this house will stand empty, nobody to inhabit in

My sister has two sons. We have three children, I mean I do...

Do any of them go to school?

Sasha goes, Tanya goes, Vitaly is educated at home

How do they go to school? Isn't it far?

They go on foot, through the forest

There is a road

Are you not afraid, that they go alone through the woods?

I am afraid, the wolves tread there

How frightening... Yes

It would scared the death out of me, I swear

Well, It's prohibited to kill the wolves

They cannot be shot here

If it were legal, we will shoot them all

My daughter walked alone to day

That frightens me

She walks out of the house, and who knows,
if she return alive or not

A wolf on the road may eat her, he may not, I do not know that

This night two gave birth

I will pick them up now

This night? Whoa!

This is how you pull it on

Now it is on a safety catch

Where the wolf treads, you put it on the prints he leaves

So his paw is caught

Like so and - so

And it will be dragged by him

Until he is worn down

So that he is exhausted

For if you tie him down in place

He will chew off his own paw and walk on three

I had it happen to two, they walked away without a paw

Nobody has ever or will ever escape death

You blink and it's over

And you are not afraid?

Me - no

Nothing to fear there

We all die

We had a president who wanted to conquer our country
and maybe not to die

He wanted to conquer Ukraine,
but had to ran to a different country

But he will have to die too one day

For where will he go?... To death

Dying is...

If you are born, you die, that is all

Fuck, father, you're a right criminal

That president have to see it

Actually, a lot is happening around you every day

To notice that moment, that's important

When it's raining, you may not notice it
because it's rained for three days straight

And then, in a single moment

You pay specific attention to this rain

You see the raindrops, you see this thing

It's three seconds, but they genuinely touch you, yeah?

You let yourself experience every little detail

And what if it's a flower?

There are a million flowers around

And you shift gears - and oh, a flower, and it grows so interestingly

Everything around stops being important, your attention is all there

So you made shoes for famous people too?

For women and for men?

Yes, yes, there were lots of them...

The last time I made 125 pairs

For the Bolshoi Theater

I had a soloist from Azerbaijan

She brought her old shoes over

And asked for a pair just like them

But I understood right away, that she was very prideful

How did you understand this?

Well, by her shoes

Shoes tell everything about a person

Show me any pair of shoes, and I will tell you everything
about their wearer, their personality, what kind of a person they are

Shoes do not lie, it's people who lie

That's the kind of trade I'm in

Pass this along

Excuse me, respect to you

What do these shoes tell you?

Well, these shoes are very...

...Old

But it looks as they were never worn though

How can a person live like that?

How can one live that kind of life?

My father lived as he could,
and maybe was happier than many others

I don't like it when I immediately start to...

...think of the end result

I don't know what will happen

This morning, I didn't know what I would draw

Then I remembered this sketch

And it's like a reincarnation, because on this canvas

There was a drawing of an old factory

I turned the drawing around and began this

I don't erase all of the traces

I want... this, for example...

This girl is looking down, skyscrapers here, right?

And I need this theme, and then another one

As if I'm sorry to cover everything with a new layer

I leave it... So like in life, you let something remain,
but some memories you erase completely

I tell him, what don't I have? I have enough of everything

No food or wine deficit, my clothes are all OK

As for apples - I have a ton of those

What a great ball

Oh, it will be a very heavy one

It should be 16 kilograms

Too heavy would be bad, we won't be able to pick it up

That's why it should be 16 kilograms exactly

Maybe we can make it lighter?

If it's too light, it will fly away from a single kick

16 means 16

So you can bear witness to this many times,
so you can grow stronger

So you can be happy, be fruitful, can evolve

So you never lack for kindness and happiness

Let the Almighty Jesus Christ help you

Wait, drink some wine

It's not good to lie to a priest

To Georgia!

To Ukraine!

To Italy!

I'm really Italian, I'm not joking

I'm not surprised

Your neighbor was Italian or something?

No, the neighbor had nothing to do with it

Let's fill it up and have everyone drink

What are you talking about, it will hold a lot

OK, quiet everyone, what the priest does
is what everyone must to do as well

Sure, we've taken communion already, so it's OK to die

Those who have been to confession, can drink

I've confessed, so I can drink

...Those no longer afraid of death

A difficult fight awaits us

What fight? Our village needs to win definitely

...We aren't as many as the enemy, we must be sly

I don't know how, somebody needs to distract them

Three Gurian brothers worked in a wheat field

Their work was going well, and so they sang

I love dirt

When from this dirt I step out to a clean color

Most of the time this clean color is
blue, ultramarine

Sky blue

I think that blue has a depth

Dirt does not

This dirt is like chaos

From there I go to clean lines and beauty

But first I must emerge from the chaos

When he came home...
so he walks in like that

And somehow he feels it,
that there is something new on the easel

I'm standing there too, and I'm interested, of course

Not interested in what he will say, but in the facial expression
he will have, when he looks

Nico, what do you think, is it a good likeness?

Well, you can recognize that it's me

What?

Hilarous! There is no wine, and you brought water

Wine, wine, wine

Isn't wine your job today?

Why are you checking up on what's in my hands?

Water was brought instead of wine, how can you not laugh

If our hosts don't have wine, they should have said so,
we would have brought it ourselves

OK, the wine was in the fridge, I didn't want it to get warm

Oh, now the host is looking for an excuse

Finally, at last

Daddy, but you said it would be a very small get-together

Let's go, I'll introduce you to the film crew

If you were singing your last song ever,
which one would you choose?

The last one ever?

It's a question like...

The last song?

I feel that you no longer think of me, my love

This is an open get-together, if anyone wants to say something
you can ask for permission and say it

Greetings to you all

Good health to you, my dear

I want to tell you about our friend, who was more than a friend

Giorgi Beridze was

Director of Photography

He began this film with us

Unfortunately, Giorgi has left us... unfortunately

It has come to pass that Giorgi is not with us today

And I hope...

I hope a day will come when we will meet again

Of course you will meet

You can't escape from that day

Good health to you! In memory of Giorgi!

Thank you, good health to you

We would like to commemorate with a song your friend,
who is our friend as well now

Our life is like twilight

The farther you go, the darker it grows

What is our life?

It will fly away like a bird

What is our life?

Like a bird it will fly away

And night will come quicker than you expect

And my life, like a bird, will fly away as well

What is our life?

Like a bird It will fly away

And grass will cover up again the place where we lived

But the grass will grow green again also after us

For someone the day is shorter

Even if you believed that the way is still long to go

The rifle will be chewed through by rust, not earth

And the life of the human heart is made shorter by grief

Bottomless death will come

And it will disarm you in a second, no sense in resisting

And the other plot

Tania is filming mom, who's gathering strawberries

We're not doing a close-up?

You know what was hard?

He was always coming and going, coming and going

When you want to say something to the person you're close to

Give him more hugs, spend more time with him

And there is always no time,

And suddenly you understand, it's over

Nobody can take anything with them to the world beyond

Nobody can take anything with them

Because nobody has ever done it till now

My poem, my poem

I must say to you

I may die, but my poem will remain as a memory of me

The world will rejoice and suffer

will love and will part ways

All will sing

Even as I rot in a grave

On August 17, my father died

The heat was terrible - everything around on fire

My dead father is lying in the middle of the room

And my mother, she is a fat woman

Is that like a very important detail?

Let me finish

So, it's hot, my mother is sitting next to my dead father

Here are my sisters, my daughters-in-law

And everyone is weeping hysterically,
you know, as we use to do here

Mom was... red all over

Mom takes out her hankerchief and wipes herself

And the dead man is right there

Yes, her husband is lying there dead

Mom is wiping away sweat, she can't handle it anymore

Hey, she asks my sister

When will the funeral take place already?

Now, this is happening on Monday

On Saturday, my sister says

Mom begins to count - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Oh, she says, by that point, you will bury me with him

That's how hot it was - she said that we will all die this way

She wasn't worried about my father any more, she worried about herself

My father was paralyzed

He was afraid of death

That's why he slept during the day,
and stayed up at night, so he wouldn't die

Tamuna, what is your favorite word in Georgian?

You want me to say it in Georgian?

Yes

სივრცეში

სივრცეში

Space?

If our dad were here, what would you say?

We would go eat ice cream

Let's put up some clouds?

Hey, where is the shore going to be?

Wherever we put it