Nocturne indien (1989) - full transcript

Khajurao Hotel,
57 Suklaji Street, BOMBAY

King Edwards Hospital,
85 Naogi College Boulevard, BOMBAY

Taj Mahal Hotel,
Apollo Quay, BOMBAY

1st Class Lounge,
Victoria Station, BOMBAY

This statue depicts the circle of life.

And all the rubbish and the filth...

the inferior and pathological
has to pass through...

to reach a higher sphere of life.

To reach beauty.

I hope that in the another life you
too will be re-incarnated...

a member of the "German Master Race".



Theosophic Society,
12 Adayar Boulevard, MADRAS

Bus stop, on the road from
Madras to Goa, UNKNOWN LOCATION

S. Boaventura Archdiocese,
Calangute Road, Panaji, GOA

Calangute Beach,
about 20 kms from Panaji, GOA

Fort Aguada Hotel,
Sinquerim Village, GOA

Excuse the trite remark,
but I feel like we know each other.

Me too.

You look remarkably like someone I know.

Yes?

May I ask who?

I don't know.

I can't remember.

Maybe you - I don't know.

Well, you've unmasked me -
it is indeed me!



So I can spend the night in your delightful company,
given that we already know each other.

Stop, stop. A tropical evening,
palm trees... don't use it to your advantage.

You know, I'm very sensitive to compliments
to start with, I never resist.

So here, like this?
That would not be very princely of you at all.

Cheers.

Don't you think you're
moving a bit fast?

What makes you think that I will
accept your dinner invitation?

No! I didn't intend for it to be on me, no.
I have hardly any money left.

I really have spent too much lately.

No. I suggest we share the bill.

We're both alone, it's logical for us to keep each
other company. And we already know each other...

You have an irresistible
manner of wooing a woman.

No, I don't intend to woo you either.
I assure you - not at all. Not at all.

Rather I am thinking of

a meal, a conversation between
friends, from equal to equal.

No, please.

Woo me.

Tell me kind things.

Talk to me about all
that is nice - I need it.

What's going on?

Where did you come from?
Where were you before coming here?

Calcutta. I was working
for a month in Calcutta.

What type of work?

I was taking photos of abjection.

Abjection, pain, poverty,
suffering - call it what you like.

Why did you do it?

I take photos.
It's my job. I'm paid for it.

Have you ever been to Calcutta?

No.

Don't go. Don't ever
make that mistake.

Don't you think that we should experience life
to the fullest? Especially you, with a job like yours.

No. We should see as little as possible.

Can I sit here? I would like to
see the other tables. May I?

Lobster - a very good idea. Wonderful.

I've told you what I was doing.
And you, what do you do?

What do I do? Well...

Well?

Suppose I'm in the
process of writing a film.

A film?

A script. A story.

You're a filmmaker?

No, no, no. It's just an experiment,
something I wanted to try out.

No, I do something else for a job.

I'm a dead rat seeker.

Pardon?

Don't panic! What I call dead rats is
in fact old archives, old chronicles.

I look for things that have been
swallowed up. That's my job.

I, also, am paid for such work.

Bon app?tit.

No, no, thank you, I've had too much.

Come on, one for the road.

So, I'm very intrigued. Tell me about this film.

First of all, I didn't say I was in
the process of writing it, I said "suppose"...

And it's not really a film.

There's a bit here, a bit there.
It's not even a real story;

it's just pieces of story.

A few years ago I
published a book of photos.

On the first page, a close-up of a young
black man lifting his arms to the skies.

Joyful, as if he had won the 100 metres.

And then on the second page, the same
photo, but the whole photo this time.

In fact, a policeman has just shot him.

One second after the click of my camera,
the young man was dead.

There was only one caption in this book;
it read "Beware of selected pieces".

So please, no selected pieces.

Tell me about the subject of your film.

OK, let's say that the subject is
me losing my way in India. There you go.

No, that's not sufficient -
you're not getting away with that.

That can't be the extent of it.

Yes it is. Yes, I am someone
who has lost himself in India.

And then, there's someone else too.
Someone who is looking for me.

But I do not have the least
intention of letting myself be found.

The other guy, I saw him coming.
I have followed him day by day.

I know everything about him.

On the other hand, he knows
almost nothing about me.

He has but a few clues,
some signals, some pieces...

And you - who are you? In the film I mean.

It is not disclosed.

Given that I don't want to be found, to say
who I am doesn't make up part of the game.

Does he know you,
the guy who's looking for you?

Yes. He knew me in the past.

Suppose that we had been great friends.

But that was a long time ago -
it's outside the scope of the story.

And why is he so insistent in his search for you?

Who knows? It's hard to say.
Even as the writer of the story I don't know.

He must be searching for a past,
an answer, something that eluded him formerly.

Actually, he's searching for himself...

which happens often in films.
That's cinema for you!

And there are actually two women as well.

At last! It's getting interesting...

No, unfortunately not. They are also outside
the scope of the story. They're not part of it.

But in your film everything is
outside the scope of the story!

Can you tell me what
is left within its scope?

Yes.

One man is looking for another.
Someone is looking for me.

This search is all
there is, nothing else.

His journey: Paris, Bombay, Madras.

The encounters that
make up part of such journeys.

And then at the end,
he arrives in Goa.

Ah, in Goa!

Fascinating. So?

So he drifts a bit
more here and there,

and then one evening,
he understands everything.

Everything?

Why he couldn't find me.

And why was that?

I had changed my name.

And how did he find you?

I don't know. Perhaps by chance.

But it wasn't as hard as that.
I had taken his name and translated it.

What was his name?

A nice name. "Rossignol" - nice.

And then?

From that point on, it's easy
for him to know where I am.

He pretends that he's in on things with me and
is told that I am in a luxury hotel on the coast.

In a place like this, for example.

If you like. It could
even be this very place.

So from now on, we are part of the set.

You will need to narrate
really, really well.

What are you doing?

I'm asking for the bill.

You can't do that!

But if you want to know the ending,
I need to show you in real life.

I can't simply tell the story -
we need to leave the table. So we'll pay.

You're in cahoots with the waiter.

No, I swear it's not me. Really.

I'm not an idiot. But it doesn't
matter. I want the ending.

This way - let's go to
the other side of the pool.

So let's say it will be in this hotel...

An evening like this evening;
hot and fragrant.

I would be dining with a pretty woman.
Someone like you, for example.

At this table, here.

And then at some point...

At some point?

I see him. Over there.

At the table that we were at beforehand.

He is with a woman too.

I can only see the back of her.
She reminds me of another woman. Two women even.

He looks at me without moving.

He looks happy.

He's smiling at me.

Perhaps he thinks that he
recognises the woman I am with too.

He's thinking about the two women.
The two same women.

So you do eventually meet each other?

No.

Not really.

Now that he has found me,
he no longer wants to find me.

And I don't want him to find me either.

Thus both of us are
thinking exactly the same thing.

And we keep looking at each other,
without anyone realising.

Especially not the
woman who is with him...

or the woman who is with me.

Just like me earlier on.

And then?

And then he gets up and he
leaves with the woman, that's all.

That's all?

Yes, that's all - that's the end.

What else can happen?

Is that really all that happens?

You're sure that you don't
have another ending?

No, really. I'm sorry,
I can't see the solution.

Yes. Yes, I forgot.

It was him who paid the bill before
leaving. For the four of them.

How long are you staying?

- I leave tomorrow.
- So soon?

Yes, my dead rats
are waiting for me.

And I never stay more than
one night in the same hotel.

Is it a film, or has it
just happened in real life?

Good night.