Gandahar (1987) - full transcript
Gandahar is a utopian world of rare beauty and tranquility, the result of extensive mutation and genetic experimentation. But the perfect peace is shattered when a mysterious evil force invades this idyllic serenity, turning people into stone with petrifying rays. The Council of Women hold court and decide to send Sylvain, son of Queen Ambisextra, on a mission to destroy the enemy. Together with the beautiful and adventurous Arielle, the enemy that Sylvain eventually discovers very far from his home is the ultimate failure of Gandaharian scientific experimentation. It is a giant brain known as the Metamorphis, which has created an indestructible army of metal men to destroy Gandahar. Sylvain must battle the Metamorphis, but not until 1000 years in the future.
One less mirror bird
to watch over Jasper.
Murdered like the others were.
Who did it? And why?
To keep us from
learning what threatens us.
Without the eyes of the mirror birds,
we can't see what's going on in our land.
Our screens aren't powerful enough.
I've been warning you about this.
But no one would care at Jasper.
It's the pride of our civilisation
to prefer birds to machines!
And natural order to
technical solutions, of course...
...but it seems that we may have
to pay too dearly, and too soon.
The Council has taken
emergency action.
We're sending our best agent.
Which one?
Sylvain.
Syl? But he is not
experienced enough!
I've taught him, and
I am certain about it.
He is very capable.
Surely there are more experienced
and more capable agents than him.
The Council has ruled.
Besides, he's already here.
Agent Sylvain... Syl,
as friends call you.
You've been chosen for an important,
difficult and dangerous mission
- I'd give my life...
- We don't want you to die.
But to return and inform us.
An unknown enemy
menaces Gandahar.
You must find out where this
enemy is, who this enemy is...
...determine its
plans and power...
...assess its weaponry
and methods...
...guess its secrets,
find its weakness...
...if it has any.
I'm not happy to see you go.
It's too dangerous. But we
did have to send our best agent.
Exactly where are
you sending me?
Your target is vast...
...the Circumscribing Ocean.
Most of the mirror
birds were killed there.
One bird saw the invader. Here's
the image it was able to transmit.
Can we play it in reverse?
More slowly?
I also hoped to identify the aggressor.
But with these metallic reflections...
We've been foolish to expect...
...that our happiness would
last forever at Gandahar.
And it has been lasting so long
that we've forgotten how to fight.
No doubt about it. He
was will be from Gandahar.
Impossible! I have never
seen a being who looks...
Gandahar, I tell you.
Gandahar, but before...
Unbelievable!
He was will be
alive... but very weak.
He was will be very careless
to fly so far from Jasper.
No, not careless. Courageous!
Maybe he was sent.
Do you think those in Jasper
have wakened to the danger?
- Who were you?
- I am!
I am a son of Gandahar!
A soldier.
- And a prisoner of the enemy.
- Enemy?
- Where did you come from?
- From Jasper!
They were will be
always so smug in Jasper.
They certainly were
when they did this to us.
Quiet!
Now, do you really
believe we are the enemy?
I do!
- Ready to attack you?
- Yes.
- Capable of defeating you?
- No!
Can you guess who we are?
With these bodies,
these heads...
...these misshapen limbs
assembled without care.
The... Deformed?
Those that Jasper
calls the Deformed!
- Not the deformed, the malformed.
- The result of monstrous errors.
- From the games of chance.
- The wretched mutants!
We also came from Gandahar.
Once, you and me were alike.
The victims of your research
in the field of genetics...
I would never have imagined.
We became an embarrassment,
and were banished underground...
...like so many other failures.
As a child, I learned about you.
- But I would never imagine...
- Of course! No one would imagine!
- Forgive me for having taken you...
- For the enemies you're trying to find?
I forgive you... and
understand you.
The real enemy
has never been seen.
Never!
But we can hear them
through these tunnels.
The Ears of the Earth.
Shayol! I was will
be at your command!
I have chosen you to
lead Sylvain out there...
...until you reach the noise
I was will be at your command!
Why do you say "was will
be" instead of simply "I am"?
The Deformed are
terrified of the present.
Why is it?
Perhaps it's atavistic.
We keep degrading.
At the time of the first genetic
errors, we had the gift of foresight.
Unfortunately, we've lost it.
There is nothing left other than a
double prophecy, doubly obscure.
In 1,000 years, Gandahar was
destroyed and all of its people killed
1,000 years ago, it will be
saved and the inevitable avoided.
In 1,000 years,
Gandahar was destroyed...
1,000 years ago,
Gandahar will be saved...
Past in future,
and future in past?
But what does it mean?
We don't understand it any better
than you, but it has become our nature...
...and the past-future has become
our way of speaking and believing.
Shayol!
Are these women
and children dead?
Petrified on the spot!
Annihilated!
No! Don't turn me to stone!
Don't turn me to stone!
- Don't steal my body!
- It's not something I would do!
I've fought them, Ambisextra.
But they are made of metal!
Airelle... Your name is
as beautiful as you are!
And what is your name?
Sylvain, friends call
me Syl. I am an agent.
- Of Ambisextra?
- How do you know?
I've never seen you in Jasper!
I live far away
from the capital...
...in a fishermen's village
I would show it to you, if
we get out of this prison.
- I was carelessly fishing with my flute.
- Flute?
- Do you want to learn it?
- If we get a chance...
When they shot at me,
I didn't feel any pain.
My body became
hard and insensitive
I fainted and woke up in here...
...right before you did.
What is it?
What's happening?
It's all gone quiet...
Syl! Syl, help, it's turning!
Our prison is turning!
Don't try to
resist, roll with it!
I have a gun. With
one last grain in it.
Syl, what is it?
I hope it works!
What a monster!
A sorn?
It's impossible...
In theory, the species has
been extinct from our planet.
Don't be afraid. Sorns
are not carnivores.
He's going to eat us!
You are so beautiful, Airelle!
So are you, hero!
- How do sorns reproduce?
- They lay eggs.
- Our sorn is a lady.
- A lady?
- How would you know?
- Intuition.
She's not just a
lady, she's a mother.
She took our prison for an
egg, and us for the hatchlings.
- That explains it.
- Of course, it does.
So she was fighting with the metal men
to get back what she took for her eggs!
My grain made the egg hatch, so
she thought we were her progeny.
That's why she groomed us.
I expect her to feed us soon!
Poor Syl, the brave
soldier has become a chick!
Mysterious metal men
attacked my village...
...you were sent
to investigate...
...we were both captured...
...and put in the same cell...
...and then freed
by a lady sorn...
...and now, it looks like I
am falling in love with you.
I used to be stupid and
way too self-confident.
And I expected this to be just
another reconnaissance mission.
But things have been
happening so fast.
I am afraid,
Airelle. Yes, afraid!
If I fail, Gandahar will die.
The metal men are extremely
strong, but obviously very stupid.
- They cannot win!
- And I don't want to lose you!
I'm not that easy
to lose, you'll see.
No, I won't. You'll be
nice and wait for me, OK?
Syl, let's not argue,
I'll go where you go.
You would get in the
way, I'll go on my own!
Out of the question, soldier!
Those who are meant to
be together will stay together.
Empty!
Inexplicably empty!
No flesh, no skeleton.
Nothing living, nothing mechanical.
No gears, no circuits, no nothing.
And yet they can move and
fight. They can use weapons.
And their heads!
Let's take a look!
It's a real army!
I didn't know they were so
powerful, so well equipped...
...and so well organised for
the purpose of destroying us.
Gandahar won't stand
much of a chance!
We've got a real advantage.
They are empty. Without
brains, without hearts.
That's how it happened
I must have been carried by
one of these cold monsters...
Luckily for us, the sorn
hacked them to pieces!
I don't like that door.
It doesn't close
or open anything.
Yet, they disappear
as they go through it.
- There must be an explanation.
- We must find it.
Oh, it's terrible!
They went in as petrified statues,
and they come out as metal men.
This door transforms the people of
Gandahar into the robots who kill them.
Men of metal! Men of metal!
Our mission has been a success.
Our losses do not matter.
The loss of metal men
should not be grieved.
Death only has meaning for weak
beings, in love with the individual self.
The "I" does not exist!
The "I" does not exist!
I am you, you are us.
Us are Him
I am you, you are us.
Us are Him!
We are Him, the
Great Procreator...
...the source of our energy,
and soon the master of the world.
Soon, Gandahar will
finally be a thing of the past!
Gandahar!
Civilisation of pleasure!
Kingdom of waste and licence!
The Great Procreator will take
back what you don't deserve.
Before the final annihilation...
...our delegates will
travel over the Ocean...
...to prove our
complete submission...
...and renew our power and
our strength thanks to Him!
Hear me! Hear me!
Tonight you must stay
disconnected until we embark.
Long live the Great Procreator!
Long live the Great Procreator!
The Great Procreator? Total
annihilation? He's insane!
I'm afraid he's quite serious. The
annihilation must refer to the eggs.
The Great Procreator
must be their master.
And he is somewhere in
the Circumscribing Ocean.
We must go with them!
- Unbelievable!
- It has been since the beginning.
They've taken their heads off?
They've been told to
disconnect, they just obey.
- Would you be able to swim that far?
- I'll be there first!
You smell as good as the sea.
- And you swim like a siren.
- A siren?
It's a creature from the
terrestrial mythology.
An irresistible creature.
We who only exist
by and for your will...
...we are executing your orders.
Gandahar will become
what you want it to be.
Our attacks have
been successful.
Many Gandaharians
have been transformed...
...as you have ordered us.
The civilisation of wasteful
pleasure will soon disappear.
And now, men of metal...
...be ready to draw strength from
the substance of the Great Procreator.
Long live the Great Procreator!
Why doesn't the Great
Procreator say anything?
- Gods rarely respond.
- That's because they do not exist.
That thing will
probably take us too...
It's going to swallow us!
Sylvain!
The body that contains
us doesn't know ours.
Those who inhabit us
are inhabited in turn.
And all these bodies, one inside
another, are the body of Eternity.
- What is it?
- A terrestrial poem that I like a lot.
Hello, Sylvain!
- Who is speaking?
- You know very well.
Are you the leader...
...the god of the metallic
carcasses who worship you?
Neither leader, nor god.
It's true that they worship me
as a god, whereas I am only a...
Murderer!
If I were what you think I am,
how would you still be alive?
Think about it
I know who you are, where
you're from, what you're after...
...and I allowed you to approach
me and even to insult me. Odd, isn't it?
- Are you the master of the metal men?
- That's what they think.
Are they obeying your orders?
They think they've received them.
Sometimes I believe I've given them.
Are you for or against
this war of extermination?
It would be physically unpleasant
for me, should the men of metal fail.
And yet I would not
like to see Gandahar die.
It must be my
sentimental disposition.
- That's admirable.
- Yes, child of Jasper!
We are cousins, in a
sense. I am the Metamorphis.
- Who are you?
- Airelle.
Your name is as
beautiful as you are.
And you? What's your name?
What's your name?
You smell as good as the sea.
And you swim like a siren.
- A siren?
- An irresistible creature.
- No, Syl!
- Leave Airelle alone!
I've just looked in her dreams.
It seems she only dreams of you.
That's something a brain
could not understand.
You are just a brain,
aren't you, Metamorphis?
One that regrets to be living...
If you're from Gandahar, why
would you not help us defend it?
We can't defeat the men of metal
on our own, but you could easily...
Easily! Really?
You get carried away!
I have to think!
I must first understand this
connection between me and them!
The one that would make
their failure unpleasant?
I told you that I have to think!
He didn't promise
anything. He has to think.
But it's already unbelievable
that he didn't kill us...
...and let us go back to Jasper,
and even helped us with it.
The wings are getting
less and less stretched.
And less and less like wings.
Look!
Gandaharians flee from their homes.
They hope to find refuge in Jasper.
Syl! A mirror bird!
It will spread the
news of our arrival.
This time, it's the end.
Bye-bye, amorphous Metamorphis!
- So?
- You'll be half surprised.
The flying beast and the
brain of the metal men...
...are of the same nature.
The only difference
is the age of the cells.
It's a huge difference,
incomprehensible.
And Metamorphis
pretended he didn't know
"I must find the connection”."
Well, here it is for
you, Metamorphis...
These killers, these metallic
beasts are born of you.
Nothing can stop
them, not even death.
Priority message.
Would Ambisextra and the Council
proceed to the central laboratory.
Priority, priority.
Ambisextra and the Council.
Well, Blaminhor, any news?
Perhaps I've figured
it out. Have a look!
Jasper, Department of Research.
Experiment - Biotype.
Code name - Metamorphis.
The experimental brain is
growing extremely rapidly.
Ifs volume doubled
within a few days.
However, its capacity is inferior
to that of the ordinary brain.
Due to its size, we
had to transfer it...
...to a special platform in
the Circumscribing Ocean.
The brain experienced
profound changes.
Most amazingly, it can
acquire its own senses.
Vision...
...touch...
...and others of the kind
that are unknown to us.
Monstrous!
For reasons of security, it was
decided to stop the experiment.
But would it be possible
to destroy Metamorphis?
Logically, it was Metamorphis
who destroyed his creators
Jasper disengaged
from these experiments...
...and the monster was
abandoned in the Ocean.
Abandoned!
His cells continued to proliferate,
forming the brains of the metal men.
Thus, Gandahar produced its own
mortal enemy without knowing it.
They disconnect at night.
It only gives us respite.
Sylvain must kill Metamorphis!
Wait a minute. Metamorphis
let us go back to Jasper.
That proves he's not aware of
the connection with the metal men
I'll talk to him.
I'll convince him.
- And if he doesn't listen?
- Then, I'll kill him.
- How?
- I've created the ultimate weapon.
At least, I think so.
One injection must suffice.
- I've been waiting for you.
- Monster.
Liar! You knew
that the metal men...
I know what you want to say,
that the men of metal are my tools
I also know something that you
don't. They come from the future!
I've seen them in action.
Their victims are petrified,
imprisoned and converted into monsters.
Do you want to understand?
Do you want to save Jasper?
Do you want to kill me?
Leave that ridiculous
syringe alone and listen.
I repeat, this invasion is
coming from the future.
It's absurd! Unbelievable!
What do you know of time,
of its continuity, its traps...
...its false perspectives,
its apparent paradoxes...
...its relation to space?
So Jasper is a victim of an
invasion that hasn't yet occurred?
It's nonsense!
That's another logic.
The invasion has occurred even
though it might be coming from the future.
- And how?
- Through the Door.
- What door?
- The Door of Time!
You've seen it, yet
you didn't understand it.
Can you go both ways
through this Door of Time?
As with any door...
So the prisoners are
carried into the future.
- Why, Metamorphis?
- I don't know it yet.
- Give me a proof of your good will!
- A proof? You've got one!
You're alive
I could destroy you
the moment you came!
But I'd been waiting for this
encounter as much as you had.
- Is it a new trap?
- It's not a trap, Syl.
But it will become one, and
I don't want to be caught in it
I do not want to become an insane
tyrant ruling over an army of killers.
Syl, I want you to
overcome me in 1,000 years!
Why not now?
Because I do not want it,
and you're not capable of it
I am not vulnerable.
Not yet
- I'll see you in 1,000 years.
- It's impossible. I'll be dead!
You'll be neither
dead nor alive...
...but hibernating at
the bottom of the ocean.
On the appointed day,
on the appointed hour...
...you will wake up, just as you
are now - young, strong, determined.
You will try to overcome
the old Metamorphis...
...and his army of metal men.
If you succeed,
Jasper will be saved!
And I will stay a
prisoner of the future.
Exiled from my time,
away from those I love.
A mere professional
risk, soldier.
But you may still have a
chance to return to the present.
The Door of Time.
The Door of Time!
- No news from Sylvain?
- We've completely lost contact.
The Council considers
his mission to be over.
- For what reason?
- We can't wait any longer.
- There is no hope.
- Wait!
Wait a bit longer.
How do you know
that Syl has failed?
The metal men
haven't stopped killing.
It can't be so simple.
Syl...
Hurry up.
Please hurry up, my darling!
Are the Deformed going to resign
to being destroyed by the metal men?
We were will be capable
of fighting and winning...
Winning? Winning what?
The war was will be going on inside
of our bodies forever, without victory.
Then it was will be
death without struggle?
No, Shayol, no!
Here is our struggle!
We have succeeded...
...but not for
long. What a pity!
Our power has its limits.
We could use this
power to help Jasper.
They never helped us.
They have never acknowledged
our existence, never until now.
In the face of deadly menace,
everything changes quickly.
Gandahar must remember that
the Deformed are Gandaharians.
Oh, mirror birds,
the guarding birds...
...the birds of vision...
...deliver us from the
impending destruction.
Take Jasper away
from the ground.
Farewell, Gandahar! We've
been so happy living here.
In 1,000 years,
Gandahar was destroyed...
...and all its people killed
1,000 years ago,
Gandahar will be saved...
...and the inevitable avoided.
In 1,000 years,
Gandahar was destroyed...
...and all its people killed
1,000 years ago,
Gandahar will be saved...
...and the inevitable avoided.
Here I am, Metamorphis.
The thousand years have passed.
I awoke on the appointed day on
the appointed hour, as you wanted.
And I will now do
what you wanted.
Who sent you?
- Were you will be from Gandahar?
- I were will be.
And you were will be my friends.
Syl, the warrior, I know you!
I know you too!
We met during my first
mission, about 1,000 years ago
1,000 years ago?
1,000 years or one day...
...it doesn't matter once you've
passed through the Door of Time.
The petrifying rays, the eggs,
the journey into the future.
We were converted into
something else altogether.
They sorted us
when we arrived...
...the normal to one side,
the monstrous to the other.
We monstrous ones, the lucky ones,
were found unusable, unrecoverable.
They relegated us to the
underworld, just like at Jasper.
And the others?
The Gandaharians with
beautiful faces and perfect bodies?
Yes, those who looked like me.
For once they had to
regret they didn't look like us.
- Were they systematically wiped out?
- Worse than that.
- You'd better not know about it.
- But I have to know!
I have to understand,
so that I can stop this.
Soldier, no one doubts your
courage and your qualities.
But how would you
overcome such power?
- Where are we?
- In the city of the metal men!
Don't you recognise it?
Nothing existed around Metamorphis
except the Circumscribing Ocean.
Now it is all covered by metal,
except for the Door of Time.
Still more prisoners.
The machine
drains life from them.
I must see what
they're going through.
- How can you imagine such horror!
- And such absurdity!
Such a complicated
system of extermination.
On the contrary,
it's terrifyingly logical
1,000 years have passed.
Metamorphis has become very
old, and his cells no longer reproduce.
To keep on living,
he needs new cells.
The petrifaction, the eggs, the
Door of Time are necessary...
To deliver the substance
and keep it intact.
Intact, until it is needed.
The invasion of metal men who ravaged
the planet, it comes from Metamorphis.
Could Metamorphis have changed
into metal, like everything around us?
What if it was not actual metal?
Our limited powers
will allow us to see!
Dead cells...
...agglomerated...
...fossilised.
Degenerate cells of
Metamorphis that...
We know of others
...that metallise with ageing.
Metamorphis is afraid
of what's happening.
- That's why he wants me to kill him.
- He wanted!
Will he still honour your
agreement from 1,000 years ago?
I'll take the risk. I
have no other choice.
You had will have allies...
While you'll confront
him, we'll attack.
The highest priority is the
reservoir that feeds Metamorphis.
Once disconnected,
he'll lose strength.
We must also free the prisoners.
But first things first.
Let's take care
of the metal men.
You can leave me now.
It's personal
- I'll go with you.
- No.
It's personal, I say.
It's the beginning of the end.
Don't you try to bury
me too soon, soldier...
These cells will fall off like scales,
covering everything around me...
...and brand new ones will
replace them indefinitely.
And you will kill indefinitely!
- This substance is that of your victims.
- It's very practical!
Remember! You asked
me to kill you in 1,000 years
I've never said
anything so ridiculous!
- Are you going senile with age?
- I haven't aged...
I'll never age!
- And you've come to kill me?
- Yes, I have!
As Metamorphis asked
me, when he was still lucid.
Looks like the sages of Jasper put
all their wisdom into one syringe...
The ultimate weapon!
Why don't we test it?
On you, for example.
The reservoir is out!
I am losing the left
hemisphere. Alarm!
The cortex gave way!
Double security
circuit badly damaged!
Calling all posts!
How quiet!
Silence at last...
Complete silence...
Why is the sun
black this morning?
The snow is falling.
It's swirling.
It covers everything.
The pain subsides...
...and the fatigue.
How can I sleep...
How can I, without
the dream of explosion?
The roaring water!
To all men of metal!
Destroy the Door of Time!
Who opened the
drawers of my memory?
Everything is
scattered at random.
Why did I have to be born?
It hurts... it hurts!
It's too late for the present.
No, no... not alone
in this freezing ocean.
I am a Gandaharian too.
Wait for me, wait for me.
What good did it do
to kill the Metamorphis?
Gandahar is in ruins,
Jasper is decapitated...
...and its people are petrified
or lost somewhere in the future.
We can find them.
When? In 1,000 years?
The mirror bird!
Jasper has been saved?
to watch over Jasper.
Murdered like the others were.
Who did it? And why?
To keep us from
learning what threatens us.
Without the eyes of the mirror birds,
we can't see what's going on in our land.
Our screens aren't powerful enough.
I've been warning you about this.
But no one would care at Jasper.
It's the pride of our civilisation
to prefer birds to machines!
And natural order to
technical solutions, of course...
...but it seems that we may have
to pay too dearly, and too soon.
The Council has taken
emergency action.
We're sending our best agent.
Which one?
Sylvain.
Syl? But he is not
experienced enough!
I've taught him, and
I am certain about it.
He is very capable.
Surely there are more experienced
and more capable agents than him.
The Council has ruled.
Besides, he's already here.
Agent Sylvain... Syl,
as friends call you.
You've been chosen for an important,
difficult and dangerous mission
- I'd give my life...
- We don't want you to die.
But to return and inform us.
An unknown enemy
menaces Gandahar.
You must find out where this
enemy is, who this enemy is...
...determine its
plans and power...
...assess its weaponry
and methods...
...guess its secrets,
find its weakness...
...if it has any.
I'm not happy to see you go.
It's too dangerous. But we
did have to send our best agent.
Exactly where are
you sending me?
Your target is vast...
...the Circumscribing Ocean.
Most of the mirror
birds were killed there.
One bird saw the invader. Here's
the image it was able to transmit.
Can we play it in reverse?
More slowly?
I also hoped to identify the aggressor.
But with these metallic reflections...
We've been foolish to expect...
...that our happiness would
last forever at Gandahar.
And it has been lasting so long
that we've forgotten how to fight.
No doubt about it. He
was will be from Gandahar.
Impossible! I have never
seen a being who looks...
Gandahar, I tell you.
Gandahar, but before...
Unbelievable!
He was will be
alive... but very weak.
He was will be very careless
to fly so far from Jasper.
No, not careless. Courageous!
Maybe he was sent.
Do you think those in Jasper
have wakened to the danger?
- Who were you?
- I am!
I am a son of Gandahar!
A soldier.
- And a prisoner of the enemy.
- Enemy?
- Where did you come from?
- From Jasper!
They were will be
always so smug in Jasper.
They certainly were
when they did this to us.
Quiet!
Now, do you really
believe we are the enemy?
I do!
- Ready to attack you?
- Yes.
- Capable of defeating you?
- No!
Can you guess who we are?
With these bodies,
these heads...
...these misshapen limbs
assembled without care.
The... Deformed?
Those that Jasper
calls the Deformed!
- Not the deformed, the malformed.
- The result of monstrous errors.
- From the games of chance.
- The wretched mutants!
We also came from Gandahar.
Once, you and me were alike.
The victims of your research
in the field of genetics...
I would never have imagined.
We became an embarrassment,
and were banished underground...
...like so many other failures.
As a child, I learned about you.
- But I would never imagine...
- Of course! No one would imagine!
- Forgive me for having taken you...
- For the enemies you're trying to find?
I forgive you... and
understand you.
The real enemy
has never been seen.
Never!
But we can hear them
through these tunnels.
The Ears of the Earth.
Shayol! I was will
be at your command!
I have chosen you to
lead Sylvain out there...
...until you reach the noise
I was will be at your command!
Why do you say "was will
be" instead of simply "I am"?
The Deformed are
terrified of the present.
Why is it?
Perhaps it's atavistic.
We keep degrading.
At the time of the first genetic
errors, we had the gift of foresight.
Unfortunately, we've lost it.
There is nothing left other than a
double prophecy, doubly obscure.
In 1,000 years, Gandahar was
destroyed and all of its people killed
1,000 years ago, it will be
saved and the inevitable avoided.
In 1,000 years,
Gandahar was destroyed...
1,000 years ago,
Gandahar will be saved...
Past in future,
and future in past?
But what does it mean?
We don't understand it any better
than you, but it has become our nature...
...and the past-future has become
our way of speaking and believing.
Shayol!
Are these women
and children dead?
Petrified on the spot!
Annihilated!
No! Don't turn me to stone!
Don't turn me to stone!
- Don't steal my body!
- It's not something I would do!
I've fought them, Ambisextra.
But they are made of metal!
Airelle... Your name is
as beautiful as you are!
And what is your name?
Sylvain, friends call
me Syl. I am an agent.
- Of Ambisextra?
- How do you know?
I've never seen you in Jasper!
I live far away
from the capital...
...in a fishermen's village
I would show it to you, if
we get out of this prison.
- I was carelessly fishing with my flute.
- Flute?
- Do you want to learn it?
- If we get a chance...
When they shot at me,
I didn't feel any pain.
My body became
hard and insensitive
I fainted and woke up in here...
...right before you did.
What is it?
What's happening?
It's all gone quiet...
Syl! Syl, help, it's turning!
Our prison is turning!
Don't try to
resist, roll with it!
I have a gun. With
one last grain in it.
Syl, what is it?
I hope it works!
What a monster!
A sorn?
It's impossible...
In theory, the species has
been extinct from our planet.
Don't be afraid. Sorns
are not carnivores.
He's going to eat us!
You are so beautiful, Airelle!
So are you, hero!
- How do sorns reproduce?
- They lay eggs.
- Our sorn is a lady.
- A lady?
- How would you know?
- Intuition.
She's not just a
lady, she's a mother.
She took our prison for an
egg, and us for the hatchlings.
- That explains it.
- Of course, it does.
So she was fighting with the metal men
to get back what she took for her eggs!
My grain made the egg hatch, so
she thought we were her progeny.
That's why she groomed us.
I expect her to feed us soon!
Poor Syl, the brave
soldier has become a chick!
Mysterious metal men
attacked my village...
...you were sent
to investigate...
...we were both captured...
...and put in the same cell...
...and then freed
by a lady sorn...
...and now, it looks like I
am falling in love with you.
I used to be stupid and
way too self-confident.
And I expected this to be just
another reconnaissance mission.
But things have been
happening so fast.
I am afraid,
Airelle. Yes, afraid!
If I fail, Gandahar will die.
The metal men are extremely
strong, but obviously very stupid.
- They cannot win!
- And I don't want to lose you!
I'm not that easy
to lose, you'll see.
No, I won't. You'll be
nice and wait for me, OK?
Syl, let's not argue,
I'll go where you go.
You would get in the
way, I'll go on my own!
Out of the question, soldier!
Those who are meant to
be together will stay together.
Empty!
Inexplicably empty!
No flesh, no skeleton.
Nothing living, nothing mechanical.
No gears, no circuits, no nothing.
And yet they can move and
fight. They can use weapons.
And their heads!
Let's take a look!
It's a real army!
I didn't know they were so
powerful, so well equipped...
...and so well organised for
the purpose of destroying us.
Gandahar won't stand
much of a chance!
We've got a real advantage.
They are empty. Without
brains, without hearts.
That's how it happened
I must have been carried by
one of these cold monsters...
Luckily for us, the sorn
hacked them to pieces!
I don't like that door.
It doesn't close
or open anything.
Yet, they disappear
as they go through it.
- There must be an explanation.
- We must find it.
Oh, it's terrible!
They went in as petrified statues,
and they come out as metal men.
This door transforms the people of
Gandahar into the robots who kill them.
Men of metal! Men of metal!
Our mission has been a success.
Our losses do not matter.
The loss of metal men
should not be grieved.
Death only has meaning for weak
beings, in love with the individual self.
The "I" does not exist!
The "I" does not exist!
I am you, you are us.
Us are Him
I am you, you are us.
Us are Him!
We are Him, the
Great Procreator...
...the source of our energy,
and soon the master of the world.
Soon, Gandahar will
finally be a thing of the past!
Gandahar!
Civilisation of pleasure!
Kingdom of waste and licence!
The Great Procreator will take
back what you don't deserve.
Before the final annihilation...
...our delegates will
travel over the Ocean...
...to prove our
complete submission...
...and renew our power and
our strength thanks to Him!
Hear me! Hear me!
Tonight you must stay
disconnected until we embark.
Long live the Great Procreator!
Long live the Great Procreator!
The Great Procreator? Total
annihilation? He's insane!
I'm afraid he's quite serious. The
annihilation must refer to the eggs.
The Great Procreator
must be their master.
And he is somewhere in
the Circumscribing Ocean.
We must go with them!
- Unbelievable!
- It has been since the beginning.
They've taken their heads off?
They've been told to
disconnect, they just obey.
- Would you be able to swim that far?
- I'll be there first!
You smell as good as the sea.
- And you swim like a siren.
- A siren?
It's a creature from the
terrestrial mythology.
An irresistible creature.
We who only exist
by and for your will...
...we are executing your orders.
Gandahar will become
what you want it to be.
Our attacks have
been successful.
Many Gandaharians
have been transformed...
...as you have ordered us.
The civilisation of wasteful
pleasure will soon disappear.
And now, men of metal...
...be ready to draw strength from
the substance of the Great Procreator.
Long live the Great Procreator!
Why doesn't the Great
Procreator say anything?
- Gods rarely respond.
- That's because they do not exist.
That thing will
probably take us too...
It's going to swallow us!
Sylvain!
The body that contains
us doesn't know ours.
Those who inhabit us
are inhabited in turn.
And all these bodies, one inside
another, are the body of Eternity.
- What is it?
- A terrestrial poem that I like a lot.
Hello, Sylvain!
- Who is speaking?
- You know very well.
Are you the leader...
...the god of the metallic
carcasses who worship you?
Neither leader, nor god.
It's true that they worship me
as a god, whereas I am only a...
Murderer!
If I were what you think I am,
how would you still be alive?
Think about it
I know who you are, where
you're from, what you're after...
...and I allowed you to approach
me and even to insult me. Odd, isn't it?
- Are you the master of the metal men?
- That's what they think.
Are they obeying your orders?
They think they've received them.
Sometimes I believe I've given them.
Are you for or against
this war of extermination?
It would be physically unpleasant
for me, should the men of metal fail.
And yet I would not
like to see Gandahar die.
It must be my
sentimental disposition.
- That's admirable.
- Yes, child of Jasper!
We are cousins, in a
sense. I am the Metamorphis.
- Who are you?
- Airelle.
Your name is as
beautiful as you are.
And you? What's your name?
What's your name?
You smell as good as the sea.
And you swim like a siren.
- A siren?
- An irresistible creature.
- No, Syl!
- Leave Airelle alone!
I've just looked in her dreams.
It seems she only dreams of you.
That's something a brain
could not understand.
You are just a brain,
aren't you, Metamorphis?
One that regrets to be living...
If you're from Gandahar, why
would you not help us defend it?
We can't defeat the men of metal
on our own, but you could easily...
Easily! Really?
You get carried away!
I have to think!
I must first understand this
connection between me and them!
The one that would make
their failure unpleasant?
I told you that I have to think!
He didn't promise
anything. He has to think.
But it's already unbelievable
that he didn't kill us...
...and let us go back to Jasper,
and even helped us with it.
The wings are getting
less and less stretched.
And less and less like wings.
Look!
Gandaharians flee from their homes.
They hope to find refuge in Jasper.
Syl! A mirror bird!
It will spread the
news of our arrival.
This time, it's the end.
Bye-bye, amorphous Metamorphis!
- So?
- You'll be half surprised.
The flying beast and the
brain of the metal men...
...are of the same nature.
The only difference
is the age of the cells.
It's a huge difference,
incomprehensible.
And Metamorphis
pretended he didn't know
"I must find the connection”."
Well, here it is for
you, Metamorphis...
These killers, these metallic
beasts are born of you.
Nothing can stop
them, not even death.
Priority message.
Would Ambisextra and the Council
proceed to the central laboratory.
Priority, priority.
Ambisextra and the Council.
Well, Blaminhor, any news?
Perhaps I've figured
it out. Have a look!
Jasper, Department of Research.
Experiment - Biotype.
Code name - Metamorphis.
The experimental brain is
growing extremely rapidly.
Ifs volume doubled
within a few days.
However, its capacity is inferior
to that of the ordinary brain.
Due to its size, we
had to transfer it...
...to a special platform in
the Circumscribing Ocean.
The brain experienced
profound changes.
Most amazingly, it can
acquire its own senses.
Vision...
...touch...
...and others of the kind
that are unknown to us.
Monstrous!
For reasons of security, it was
decided to stop the experiment.
But would it be possible
to destroy Metamorphis?
Logically, it was Metamorphis
who destroyed his creators
Jasper disengaged
from these experiments...
...and the monster was
abandoned in the Ocean.
Abandoned!
His cells continued to proliferate,
forming the brains of the metal men.
Thus, Gandahar produced its own
mortal enemy without knowing it.
They disconnect at night.
It only gives us respite.
Sylvain must kill Metamorphis!
Wait a minute. Metamorphis
let us go back to Jasper.
That proves he's not aware of
the connection with the metal men
I'll talk to him.
I'll convince him.
- And if he doesn't listen?
- Then, I'll kill him.
- How?
- I've created the ultimate weapon.
At least, I think so.
One injection must suffice.
- I've been waiting for you.
- Monster.
Liar! You knew
that the metal men...
I know what you want to say,
that the men of metal are my tools
I also know something that you
don't. They come from the future!
I've seen them in action.
Their victims are petrified,
imprisoned and converted into monsters.
Do you want to understand?
Do you want to save Jasper?
Do you want to kill me?
Leave that ridiculous
syringe alone and listen.
I repeat, this invasion is
coming from the future.
It's absurd! Unbelievable!
What do you know of time,
of its continuity, its traps...
...its false perspectives,
its apparent paradoxes...
...its relation to space?
So Jasper is a victim of an
invasion that hasn't yet occurred?
It's nonsense!
That's another logic.
The invasion has occurred even
though it might be coming from the future.
- And how?
- Through the Door.
- What door?
- The Door of Time!
You've seen it, yet
you didn't understand it.
Can you go both ways
through this Door of Time?
As with any door...
So the prisoners are
carried into the future.
- Why, Metamorphis?
- I don't know it yet.
- Give me a proof of your good will!
- A proof? You've got one!
You're alive
I could destroy you
the moment you came!
But I'd been waiting for this
encounter as much as you had.
- Is it a new trap?
- It's not a trap, Syl.
But it will become one, and
I don't want to be caught in it
I do not want to become an insane
tyrant ruling over an army of killers.
Syl, I want you to
overcome me in 1,000 years!
Why not now?
Because I do not want it,
and you're not capable of it
I am not vulnerable.
Not yet
- I'll see you in 1,000 years.
- It's impossible. I'll be dead!
You'll be neither
dead nor alive...
...but hibernating at
the bottom of the ocean.
On the appointed day,
on the appointed hour...
...you will wake up, just as you
are now - young, strong, determined.
You will try to overcome
the old Metamorphis...
...and his army of metal men.
If you succeed,
Jasper will be saved!
And I will stay a
prisoner of the future.
Exiled from my time,
away from those I love.
A mere professional
risk, soldier.
But you may still have a
chance to return to the present.
The Door of Time.
The Door of Time!
- No news from Sylvain?
- We've completely lost contact.
The Council considers
his mission to be over.
- For what reason?
- We can't wait any longer.
- There is no hope.
- Wait!
Wait a bit longer.
How do you know
that Syl has failed?
The metal men
haven't stopped killing.
It can't be so simple.
Syl...
Hurry up.
Please hurry up, my darling!
Are the Deformed going to resign
to being destroyed by the metal men?
We were will be capable
of fighting and winning...
Winning? Winning what?
The war was will be going on inside
of our bodies forever, without victory.
Then it was will be
death without struggle?
No, Shayol, no!
Here is our struggle!
We have succeeded...
...but not for
long. What a pity!
Our power has its limits.
We could use this
power to help Jasper.
They never helped us.
They have never acknowledged
our existence, never until now.
In the face of deadly menace,
everything changes quickly.
Gandahar must remember that
the Deformed are Gandaharians.
Oh, mirror birds,
the guarding birds...
...the birds of vision...
...deliver us from the
impending destruction.
Take Jasper away
from the ground.
Farewell, Gandahar! We've
been so happy living here.
In 1,000 years,
Gandahar was destroyed...
...and all its people killed
1,000 years ago,
Gandahar will be saved...
...and the inevitable avoided.
In 1,000 years,
Gandahar was destroyed...
...and all its people killed
1,000 years ago,
Gandahar will be saved...
...and the inevitable avoided.
Here I am, Metamorphis.
The thousand years have passed.
I awoke on the appointed day on
the appointed hour, as you wanted.
And I will now do
what you wanted.
Who sent you?
- Were you will be from Gandahar?
- I were will be.
And you were will be my friends.
Syl, the warrior, I know you!
I know you too!
We met during my first
mission, about 1,000 years ago
1,000 years ago?
1,000 years or one day...
...it doesn't matter once you've
passed through the Door of Time.
The petrifying rays, the eggs,
the journey into the future.
We were converted into
something else altogether.
They sorted us
when we arrived...
...the normal to one side,
the monstrous to the other.
We monstrous ones, the lucky ones,
were found unusable, unrecoverable.
They relegated us to the
underworld, just like at Jasper.
And the others?
The Gandaharians with
beautiful faces and perfect bodies?
Yes, those who looked like me.
For once they had to
regret they didn't look like us.
- Were they systematically wiped out?
- Worse than that.
- You'd better not know about it.
- But I have to know!
I have to understand,
so that I can stop this.
Soldier, no one doubts your
courage and your qualities.
But how would you
overcome such power?
- Where are we?
- In the city of the metal men!
Don't you recognise it?
Nothing existed around Metamorphis
except the Circumscribing Ocean.
Now it is all covered by metal,
except for the Door of Time.
Still more prisoners.
The machine
drains life from them.
I must see what
they're going through.
- How can you imagine such horror!
- And such absurdity!
Such a complicated
system of extermination.
On the contrary,
it's terrifyingly logical
1,000 years have passed.
Metamorphis has become very
old, and his cells no longer reproduce.
To keep on living,
he needs new cells.
The petrifaction, the eggs, the
Door of Time are necessary...
To deliver the substance
and keep it intact.
Intact, until it is needed.
The invasion of metal men who ravaged
the planet, it comes from Metamorphis.
Could Metamorphis have changed
into metal, like everything around us?
What if it was not actual metal?
Our limited powers
will allow us to see!
Dead cells...
...agglomerated...
...fossilised.
Degenerate cells of
Metamorphis that...
We know of others
...that metallise with ageing.
Metamorphis is afraid
of what's happening.
- That's why he wants me to kill him.
- He wanted!
Will he still honour your
agreement from 1,000 years ago?
I'll take the risk. I
have no other choice.
You had will have allies...
While you'll confront
him, we'll attack.
The highest priority is the
reservoir that feeds Metamorphis.
Once disconnected,
he'll lose strength.
We must also free the prisoners.
But first things first.
Let's take care
of the metal men.
You can leave me now.
It's personal
- I'll go with you.
- No.
It's personal, I say.
It's the beginning of the end.
Don't you try to bury
me too soon, soldier...
These cells will fall off like scales,
covering everything around me...
...and brand new ones will
replace them indefinitely.
And you will kill indefinitely!
- This substance is that of your victims.
- It's very practical!
Remember! You asked
me to kill you in 1,000 years
I've never said
anything so ridiculous!
- Are you going senile with age?
- I haven't aged...
I'll never age!
- And you've come to kill me?
- Yes, I have!
As Metamorphis asked
me, when he was still lucid.
Looks like the sages of Jasper put
all their wisdom into one syringe...
The ultimate weapon!
Why don't we test it?
On you, for example.
The reservoir is out!
I am losing the left
hemisphere. Alarm!
The cortex gave way!
Double security
circuit badly damaged!
Calling all posts!
How quiet!
Silence at last...
Complete silence...
Why is the sun
black this morning?
The snow is falling.
It's swirling.
It covers everything.
The pain subsides...
...and the fatigue.
How can I sleep...
How can I, without
the dream of explosion?
The roaring water!
To all men of metal!
Destroy the Door of Time!
Who opened the
drawers of my memory?
Everything is
scattered at random.
Why did I have to be born?
It hurts... it hurts!
It's too late for the present.
No, no... not alone
in this freezing ocean.
I am a Gandaharian too.
Wait for me, wait for me.
What good did it do
to kill the Metamorphis?
Gandahar is in ruins,
Jasper is decapitated...
...and its people are petrified
or lost somewhere in the future.
We can find them.
When? In 1,000 years?
The mirror bird!
Jasper has been saved?