O ergenis (1997) - full transcript
Trapped in a sluggish, mundane, and above all, uneventful life, Theodoros, an aspiring photographer and disillusioned thirty-five-year-old bank teller, senses that he is not enough for his free-spirited wife, Sophie. Then, one gloomy winter afternoon, Sophie vanishes without a trace, and what is even more baffling, her laconic, hand-written farewell note can only mean one thing: she will never come back home. And, before long, the cryptic and shamelessly corrupt procurer who goes by the name of "Juan" enters the picture, bringing to light a shocking revelation. Of course, he claims that he wants to be of assistance; however, he, too, has ulterior motives. Now, whether he likes it or not, a perplexed and at-the-end-of-his-tether Theodoros has no other choice but to do Juan's bidding, in high hopes of finding the whereabouts of his missing wife. Will Theodoros, the reluctant bachelor, ever reunite with Sophie?
The following text has been sent
to 145 destinations.
Publishing houses, newspapers,
magazines...
...radio stations and TVchannels.
To my relatives and acquaintances.
And to the Police.
If you're a journalist
I defy you to publish it.
If you're a radio or TVnews writer
don't hesitate to air it.
If you're a mere citizen,
try to spread this story around
to as many people as you possibly can.
Spreading this might as well
be the only way of
preventing the victimization
of even more people.
THE BACHELOR
I saw a man falling...
...falling...
I saw a man falling...
...falling...
I saw a man falling...
...but I had no time for a wish...
...I had no time for a wish...
Sophie?
One day, in early December
two years ago
I came home from work
and Sophie was not there.
She usually came back before me
and I found her there upon my return.
Sophie could have very well gone
somewhere without me knowing
as she usually did latetly.
But... there was one thing
that left me frozen as soon as I saw it.
Life sentence
Sophie
Her things were all there.
There was no indication that
Sophie was really gone.
But there was something
she would have taken with her
at any rate.
She had left.
She had disappeared.
Up to that day, Sophie
was my wife.
What happiness!
Sunday morning...
Not having to go to work...
...and waking up to an
Argentinian tango.
Thyrohormone of 1 mg...
These I must never forget to take.
One a day...
For life...
I am sentenced for life!
To love you...
You?
Life sentence.
Thyrohormone!
When we first met each other
this was our little,
strictly private joke.
How many years had passed
since the time when we used
this bizarre code word
to describe our endless love?
Besides her pill, which she
had to take daily
she had a real passion.
Almost an obsession with Spanish,
Latin America and Argentinian tangos.
At that time, we were both
working in the bank.
We were mere clerks
in the same branch.
Sophie was born in '65.
So was I.
Another coincidence, we both
had no siblings.
One more:
We both came from small county towns.
That's where we grew up and
where our parents were living.
We were both living alone in Athens.
Thodorino...
Ever thought of us two
stealing from the bank?
Just by pressing the wrong keys
every time, change mostly...
For example, 256 or 356?
Or even less than that.
How many bankbooks do you
update daily, just count them...
Every year we could be tango
dancing in Buenos Aires!
First you nagged me into finding
a flat in the skyscraper.
So as to be high above and look down
below on them all
and not be miserable.
Now you want to rip off the bank?
Isn't tango dancing enough for you,
here... now?
In Buenos...
...Aires!
Which prize did you get
in that competition?
I've told you so many times.
The third one!
If you'd had me as a model,
it would have been the first one.
If you hadn't given up, perhaps today
you'd be a famous photographer.
Perhaps I'd be a famous
photo modeI, too.
Back to "Apple of debate",
ladies and gentlemen
let's move on to our next guest,
Mr. Petros Fortysome.
I was in High SchooI with
this guy Fortysome.
...a star of the media.
Mr. Fortysome, good evening...
Good evening.
- He's often on TV, this man.
- Really?
What does he do on TV?
Well... he says things...
He looks older than you.
He's thirty five.
His name is Fortysome.
...they perhaps relate to our
overall lifestyle.
Mr. Tsimas, although you have already
labelled me as a neo-cynical...
Turn it up, I want to hear him.
My own slogan...
my trademark really...
could be phrased as follows...
A man who gets married lives his life
like a dog and dies like a human being
while, on the other hand
he who never marries lives like a human
being and dies like a dog.
If I were not married,
I'd be your follower.
Why did you change it?
It's fun.
I can't stand Fortysome nonsense!
I'm turning in, I'm sleepy.
When will we work on a baby?
When will we have a baby?
Thodorino...
The money we make is not
even enough for ourselves.
The baby can be on hold
for a little longer.
There's no rush, is there?
Is there?
Besides, I want many children,
not just one.
I have an idea.
Let's save money and buy a vesseI.
I'd rather we had a tour
around Latin America.
A house on an island is better.
In Patmos, what do you say?
A tour of Latin America.
Please, it's my life's wish!
Argentina, Paraguay, Peru...
I'm bored of Athens.
All these, of course, we had to do
during our leave
and by summing up our salaries.
Could it ever be possible?
Only a poor reflection of those dreams
we made, ever managed to come true.
Our trip to Barcelona, instead of
a tour of Latin America
and some other minor stuff.
Our life remained ordinary
and meaningless
compared to our ambitious plans.
In September...
that same night perhaps...
Sophie got pregnant.
That same month
we brought my father down to Athens
with advanced lung cancer.
He stayed with us at home
and every afternoon,
Sophie and I
went through the sad duty
of taking him for radiation treatment.
Already, since early November
Sophie had been transferred to
our neighbourhood branch.
She had asked for this herself.
I remained in the main branch.
In mid-November
without asking me,
in secrecy and silence, perhaps
even kept from her own self,
Sophie had an abortion.
We drifted steadily apart.
Losing our contact more and more.
As if it wasn't our choice...
As if some external circumstances
compelled us to it.
I had taken up photography again.
I took shots within the appartment.
Closeups, objects.
The angle was such that
the model got distorted.
Looking at the photo afterwards,
you couldn't really tell what it was.
Let's go, we'Il miss class!
Food's in the oven.
Sophie went out with a group of
women friends of hers.
There was one detestable old friend
who got this idea of workouts
in her mind.
That's the picture frame I had
about Sophie's life, in all that period.
Workouts and friends.
I was later to find out that I was
absolutely wrong about it.
Hello?
Mr. Dimitriadis?
Speaking.
Sophie... is doing fine.
Who is on the phone?
- Juan.
- Who?
You don't know me.
My name is Juan.
Juan?
Who are you?
Why is your name Juan if you're Greek?
What's your connection to Sophie?
If you want and I'm sure you do...
I could tell you the truth,
save you the trouble of searching...
Who are you?
What do you know about Sophie?
We'll talk more in person.
At Cleo Maternity Clinic, at 5.
This afternoon.
Go up to the top floor.
At the restaurant.
Hello?
Hello!
Hello!
Now why would he want to meet me
in a Maternity Clinic?
Sophie's pregnant?
From him?
She's having an abortion again?
Then why would they ask me
to be there too?
I hope I didn't scare you.
Sit.
Where's Sohie?
Which room?
Want to eat or drink something?
She's not here in the clinic.
I chose this place
for no reason really.
I'm used to it I guess.
You see, I come here fairly often.
There's always some mishap
with the girls.
The customers, no!
Using a condom is a must for them!
Mishaps refer exclusively to myself.
Think of how many kids I'd have...
Girls and condoms and customers.
What are you talking about?
This crazy man is raving!
What's all this gibberish for?
Why the Spanish pseudonyms?
They're my assistants,
you understand.
We need them, for the time
being, at least.
When you hear what I have to tell you
you may come up with a stupid reaction.
One can never be sure...
Say what you want to say.
My ears are wide open.
I'm listening!
If not hating me already...
you will be.
Sure as hell.
That's how it usually goes.
You're not the first one, you see.
Believe me, though.
I feeI for you deeply!
How can I put it...
Like you're my little brother,
that close.
Because for me, you're something
more than a mere ally.
It sounds strange to you
right now, right?
But you'Il see,
that's how it is.
Your wife, dear Carlo...
My name's not Carlo!
Are you insane?
Where is Sophie?
Who are you?
Sophie is a secondary
character in this.
Whereas you...
If it wasn't for you or men like you...
I'd be done for.
Where's Sophie?
Your wife, dear Carlo...
is keeping company
to severaI rich men,
mainly foreigners...
who reside at the big hotels
of Athens.
In case the customer, for any reason,
does not want to take the girI to
his room, we also have a flat!
Who are you, guys?
I don't believe a word of this.
I think Sophie is in here.
I want you to study these photos.
At home!
At your leisure.
They may convince you.
Although I doubt they will...
My phone number.
You'll need it!
I'm sure.
Alright then.
Tell me where Sophie is,
'cause I don't believe a word you said.
Don't make me sad.
You're proving yourself so inferior
to what I expected...
You're desperately too much like
all the other husbands I've known,
you all react alike!
Why won't you be a little different?
Show some originality?
I just couldn't believe it!
That scum with the Spanish pseudonym
might as well be a pimp.
He might even be devil himself.
But my Sophie?
Could it ever be possible that
she had lowered herself so
as to be a courtesan?
Now you're getting it!
Now you're getting it!
No...
No...
No and no again!
And another billion times...
No...
The photos Juan gave me
were of questionable authenticity.
Vague, too.
That might not even be Sophie.
Or they might have been photo-edited.
It happens much too often.
My head was about to burst.
Sophie was not giving
any sign of life.
Go to the police?
I wouldn't even think of it.
If what Juan said turned out
to be the truth
I could imagine being ridiculed
by policemen's mocking looks.
I wouldn't stand all that shame.
I'd feel horribly humiliated.
Disgraced down to the lowest point.
The only person in the world
that could help me find Sophie
was unfortunately Juan.
I heard it from Juan that
one afternoon
he met us for the first time,
me and Sophie,
then he followed us home.
This, always according to Juan,
happened 3 months before
her disappearance
that is in September.
After that
he started following Sophie.
How much is it?
The jacket's 200 and
the skirt 150.
I'll browse a little.
Yes, please?
- The dress in the window.
- Size?
Well, the lady's size.
That'll be a... 38?
38 or 40...
Thanks for cooperating.
Your taste is very good.
Are you paying by card?
Cash!
For you!
I bought it for you!
I saw the yearning
in your eyes for it...
It is your size.
Unless of course you lied.
I'm not going to accept it.
Do not insist.
Do you always deny what
you really yearn for?
Why do you always have these
dark glasses on?
Who are you hiding from?
I take it it's not me 'cause I bump
into you for a month now.
No...
Not from you.
On the contrary.
I hide myself from the day.
I don't like it.
I only like the night.
You like the night...
Normally, people should be living
all day in the countryside
and come down to the city
only at night.
Why only at night?
Because when night falls, you cannot
see anything in the countryside.
You cannot see the trees or the sea
or the mountains...
Whereas in the city?
In the city...
All the lights are on!
Men go out to look for women
and women to look for men.
Well, you didn't wait
untiI dark, did you?
Behind dark glasses
day looks like night.
Besides, the countryside means
nothing to me anymore.
Now I only like the night.
So?
What else goes on at night?
A crowd of whores are
on the streetwalk.
You've seen the cars stopping
in front of the girls, haven't you?
Each one's looking for the whore
they can afford.
Thieves go out the steaI,
killers to kill...
Everything changes at night, you see.
People don't go out to work
like in daytime.
They go out for different reasonsss...
More private onesss...
As if the rules of the game change
and all turns upside down...
It's all black and white
in life, anyway.
That's my life theory.
Black and white!
By the time they left the cafe
Sophie was already in love with him.
You're talking strangely!
Juan insisted on this.
What did she really like
about this man?
His nose?
After all
I don't believe love is triggered
by someone's looks.
Main thing is that Sophie was
magnetized by this man.
She became his mistress.
My husband was greatly talented
in photography.
His obsession with it was...
one of the main reasons
I fell in love with him.
And?
He gave up on his passion
for my sake.
His talent, the...
only thing he was obviously
born to do...
How fortunate...
for me...
I'm sure this suit would
fit you perfectly!
I don't want it.
I don't want it, I dont want it,
I don't want it!
Yes.
I was destined to hear from Juan
that this was actually the focus point
of Sophie's problem with me.
She had no esteem for me anymore.
Sophie had really had high hopes
on me and my silly hobby.
That dress was followed by
new, much more expensive gifts.
Seeing all that cash flowing
from her lover's pockets
Sophie was tempted...
...seduced...
...depraved.
Juan's generosity
must have undoubtedly
played a major part shaping things
the way they turned out later on.
Think!
You have absolutely no talent!
Your life?
You already know it by now.
What can you expect
from a life like this?
Ajob like this?
Salary based?
You're going to die having achieved
only a 10 per cent of your dreams...
or even less...
I'm asking you, then...
Don't you want money?
ReaI money?
Not knowing how to spend it all?
How many times so far
have you not...
made love with your husband
unwillingly?
Remember.
How many times that
you didn't feel like doing it?
Some of those you faked it,
you even pretended that...
you liked it...
Of course, so as not
to hurt him, make him sad...
So?
Was it that terrible?
That unbearable?
You don't say...
Deep down you must admit
it was quite simple...
Piece of cake...
Pleasurable no...
Endurable though.
Tolerable, almost easy.
Especially...
if you consider the price for it.
We're talking big money...
ReaI big...
Not knowing how to spend it all...
Don't misjudge her.
It is only human.
Human indeed!
How many in this world
are capable of resisting
the invincible temptation of money?
Especially when partnered with love.
Perhaps only a few demented ones.
You are a bum...
You're rude.
But it's alright.
I understand.
It's a tight spot you're in.
I sympathize with you.
Let me tell you,
listen, this is the main thing
in this story.
And these things are not so easy
to express, to verbalize.
You belong in a speciaI category
of people, in a race...
not rare...
it's not what I mean,
there's plenty like you...
Just speciaI.
What do I mean by that?
Your kind happens to be the most
appropriate for my work.
IdeaI!
You, dear Carlo, are my best providers!
Because you and the likes of you
have a little...
let me see, not a disease
or a handicap...
call it a peculiarity
and its essence lies in this phrase:
You cannot be alone,
you cannot be a bachelor.
Believe it. It's experience talking
through me right now!
Do you understand?
Do you?
In your face I found one of
my best providers!
You're a source for me, Carlo!
As long as you live and exist
you'll be working for me!
Unintentionally or even
against your will!
Hasta Luego, Carlos!
For some time now,
I was utterly desperate
and had given up trying to find
Sophie again.
Juan's phone was not
in use any more.
As if he never had existed.
I got drunk. Every day.
Trying to figure out what all that was,
happening to me.
If it was all real or perhaps
a dream that I had.
At the end of that year
I believe I had so much whisky
more than I'd ever had
in my life until then.
Carlo!
How many times do I have to tell you
my name's not Carlo?
All the same, you're listening to
some fine old Argentinian tangos!
No, I'm not!
And for the last time, my name's
not Carlo, agreed?
It was horrible!
The man who was responsible
for my complete degradation
was calling me only to
degrade me some more.
Most probably he was exercising
some irresistible appeal on me!
There's no other explanation why
I didn't hang up on him
or why, driven by a somewhat dark force,
I accepted to meet him
in that gym.
Carlo!
I'm glad you came.
Could we skip courtesy?
What do you want from me?
Why did you call me?
We love you!
And we care about you more
than you can imagine!
I promise you from now on
that I, as well as the boys here,
will be your guardian angels.
You see, we don't want you
to be harmed in anyway...
No way at all!
Not one hair of yours be
touched by anyone!
We'Il guard you better than the
apples of our own eyes!
Are you through?
You know what your problem is, man?
You have too huge a prick!
And you don't know how to use it!
That's why I'Il cut it off and
stick it up your ass.
And since some of it will
still be left out
I'll have you fed with the rest of it.
Same old story...
I know what you need,
same as others that is...
You too want to feel the naiI marks
with your own fingers.
You want the living proof, too?
Where is she? Will you tell me
where Sophie is?
That's a no-no, Carlo.
You must live with it.
You won't see Sophie again.
But you'll get what I said earlier.
Living proof.
Let's have a drink.
Yes?
Yes.
With potatoes, mom!
Alright.
OK, bye.
Eating at mom's, wimp?
You must give up whisky
and drink vodka. It's pure
and you don't stink after having it.
Does its job... Perfect!
I want to see her.
Just once.
Once...
Sophie's lost for you, Carlo.
You better accept it.
Don't be sad, though...
You're not made to be a bachelor...
You know what bachelor means?
He who is unwed!
He who has no family and on the whole
he who lives alone!
You're not going to be alone for long.
I guarantee that.
Or anyway, if I can risk forseeing this
you'll soon find a new woman.
You've lost Sophie.
Very soon, someone will
take her place.
Very soon.
This too is distinctive
of your spieces.
Another feature is that the women you
choose or vice versa,
are ideaI for my business!
They're perfect!
Born for what I want them to be.
That's why whenever I bump into
a guy like you
I celebrate the occasion, in a way.
That's why I called you tonight.
You are insane and...
definitely have some
sexuaI disability.
You don't believe me, do you?
Living proof...
that's what you want.
You'll have it.
Soon enough.
I want Sophie.
Not Sophie...
Living proof.
You may go.
We'll notify you.
Fine, then.
Juan was indeed a panderer.
He had his henchmen
and his whores.
Besides all that,
how could I ever accept
belonging to a certain human cast?
How could I believe that preposterous
theory he had come up with?
I refused to believe all that
and I doubted all
lust like an unbeliever doubts
the existence of God.
How's your wife doing?
She's very well, thank you.
We have missed her.
Hello?
At eight o'clock. Today.
- This evening.
- What's this about?
About what we said.
- I don't understand...
- No problem.
At 8.
Be ready.
- Go down and you'll see.
- What do you mean "down"?
To the street, outside your home
Just come down from your flat.
And...
Carlo?
I hope you enjoy yourself.
You hear me?
Let yourself go!
Living proof is a privilege.
Don't let it go to waste.
No... I don't think so.
No chance of Sophie showing up...
It's something else.
A proof... A living one, too...
Good evening!
- It smells like medical stuff...
- It's nothing. Are you ready?
- Ready?
- I need you to lean forward.
A bit more.
I felt a soaked thing
on my nose and mouth.
The smell scorched my larynx.
I lost consciousness.
When I came round
I was in a bedroom.
My head was aching as if it had
been worked over with a hammer.
Hi!
I'm Dolores.
Care for a drink?
Music?
My head is killing me.
Loosen your head up.
A Sophie, you know her?
I know none by that name.
Why don't you try to loosen up?
Is it OK if we talk a little first?
What do you know about me?
Next to nothing.
I know you must have a nice time.
Enjoy yourself.
That's why you're here.
Were you married?
Listen...
We'll make a deaI, OK?
I'll tell you what I can
then you'll tell me what
you want us to do.
So, I know your name's Carlo.
I also know that your ex-wife
is now one of ours.
I don't know which one of us
she is and I don't care to.
Also I know you're here
for the living proof.
This means you can enjoy
the maximum that we offer.
Now you tell me what you
want us to do.
Something you've never done before.
Not even with your wife.
Something you've never dared to do...
Something you were
scared of asking her.
Well?
I'm waiting.
Will you think of something?
You know...
My head's about to burst and...
It's the truth.
There's nothing I hadn't done
with my wife.
Nothing that I...
hadn't dared to...
...ask her.
It's the truth.
I swear it is.
This cannot be possible.
It cannot be.
There must be something.
Some...
...secret desire of yours...
A thing you never told anybody...
That's what you want?
That's what you want?
Yes!
Who are you?
Dolores.
No...
No...
You're...
...Juan!
Yes!
Juan!
Who are you?
Juan!
You like it, eh... Juan?
You like it, Juan?
Yes!
Not sure how much time passed.
I was alone in the room.
I looked at the bed legs.
Dolores'silky gown was gone.
I picked up my own clothes
and put them on.
Are you alright?
He's on the roof.
The enormous guy leaned by me
and that pervasive medical smell
hit my nostrils once again.
I fought weakly to break away
but the handsome guy twisted
my arm up high
making me scream from pain.
I lost consciousness once again.
We're there!
When I came round I was
in the same Mercedes
which was parked on the
street where my home is.
As if we'd never left that spot.
Sorry if I hurt you back there.
But you see, we're only
following orders.
All the same, I hope you
had a nice time.
I walked out of the lift,
I got my keys out of my pocket
and stood before my door.
And then
I felt like crying.
Because, without realizing it
and although I was holding my keys
I reached for the doorbell.
From habit, like in the old days
when I rang and Sophie answered it.
Nevermore...
Nevermore...
On New Year's Eve,
right on the changing of the year
my phone rang.
I thought it might be Juan
and I ran, so to speak,
to pick up the receiver.
Because, after the living proof
I'd completely lost track of him
although I tried to meet him
in every way possible.
It was as if the earth
had swallowed him up.
No.
It was not Juan.
This time it was Sophie.
Sophie...
Thodorino?
I love you much too much!
Very much!
I love you for life!
Thodorino?
You hear?
Thyrohormone of 1 mg...
You hate me?
One milligram.
I cannot forget you.
I'll never forget you.
I think about you all the time.
Grab some paper.
I want you to write something.
Ready?
1-4-5...
0-1...
2-2-1-0...
0-5...
1-2...
9-3.
The account is in your name.
"Credit Bank"
Not in our bank.
This is my present.
For the New Year.
Thodorino?
Are you laughing?
You're laughing?
You tell this motherfucker that
if I bump into him I'll fuck his face
and I'll run his brains out!
Come now, Thodorino...
Tell him that!
That and...
And a Happy New Year!
What's the name of this little
Thodorino you got between your legs?
Carlo!
Say, what do you want?
Something we never happened
to do up to now.
Something you never dared,
that you were scared of asking me.
Talk dirty to me...
Tell me about my balls...
Your balls...
I want them in, too!
Fuck me... Frig me...
I'm your whore, Carlo.
Fuck me...
Screw me...
I'm your whore, Carlo.
Shut it!
Screw me!
Shut up!
I'm your whore, Carlo!
Shut up!
Shut it...
Shut up!
Shut it!
You're dead!
You forget by flying away...
...faded faces...
...fairy grannies, tired out elves...
...couples jumping off the rooftops...
...Paradise with the lights out...
...cops flying over the city...
...you're learning how to live
without me...
During the first two months of the new
year I drove around like a madman.
I took the car at night
and plastered as I was
I would look around for what had
seemed to me like a cigarette banner
from what my eye had caught
on the roof of that
mysterious appartment
where I had... enjoyed the privilege
of the living proof...
In the meanwhile
my legs had got used to leading me
to all the big hotel bars in the city.
They just took me there themselves
me being unable to resist.
Deep inside, I sure hoped
to find Sophie in there.
A vodka.
With ice!
For one and a half year
I would drink like a sponge
every single day
and I kept feeling dry all the time
as if I had holes in my body
and all I knocked back would
pour out of them instantly...
As if I had no way of quenching
my thirst in the centuries to come.
All this sickening nonsense...
All these unsubstantiaI theories...
that bum Juan had
obviously invented them
meaning to scare me...
or simply to frame up
his disgusting role
with some sort of charm...
For Sophie's acceptance
to do as she did
I didn't neccessarily have to belong
to a certain human category...
Sophie...
did this at her own will
and it was definitely
her choice.
Even Juan...
whom she supposedly had fallen for
was, in my opinion, just a pretext.
Not the reason.
You think so?
Yes, I do think so.
These things simply don't happen.
I'll climb back...
...on the rope...
...the tightrope...
...and it's a secret I have...
...how I always manage
making the same mistake...
One night
during that two or three-month period
of my bar tour of duty...
I was driving back home,
drunk as always,
when suddenly
I couldn't believe my eyes.
I bumped face to face into Juan.
Do you know a certain Juan?
What is he, a Spaniard?
A tall guy, he just walked in
before I did.
Will you have something?
Is there another door besides this one?
No. That's the one everyone uses.
Then give me a vodka. With ice.
Now's your chance!
Are you of the opinion that we
shouldn't waste chances?
Me?
Nothing but.
My life's a string of wasted chances.
Mine too.
Then we're a match. Cheers!
Oh, we forgot introductions!
I'm Eva!
I'm Theodoros Dimitriadis.
Or Thodoris or Thodorinos or Carlo!
I am a bank clerk...
I absolutely hate this job but
I'll still be quite young when
I get a good pension.
So I'll be able to drink
since early morning.
Ajob is a job.
You know one who's not shitty?
Life begins when you leave the office.
Are you married?
I've already had a failure
of a marriage.
I got married very young,
around 20
but it was too short-lived.
Since then I've had 3 more
serious relationships.
With the last one, Manolis
we tried to make money.
Real money.
This was our dream.
First we set up a bar in Mykonos.
Then we ran a small hotel
some 15 rooms altogether.
Manolis had signed too many checks,
he'd borrowed money.
To pay off debts we had to
sell everything out.
Finally he got locked up.
If only you could see him in jaiI...
He was so scared
that his face got wrinkled and he
looked like a rat. Disgusting!
When I saw him in there...
I lost all respect of him.
His true self was revealed to me
and I saw that
in fact he was only
a timid tiny little flame.
A little flame I once
mistook for a fire.
I don't know how to say that.
It may sound a bit cocky
but it's the truth.
I think that in life so far
I never ever was scared.
In all honesty!
It is impossible by nature
for me to have this feeling.
What's fear?
Something edible?
Ever since childhood I instinctually
detested anyone who was scared.
So you can guess how I felt
when I saw Manolis shitting his pants.
I almost threw up!
I never set foot there again.
I crossed him out.
And of course, since then I don't even
want to hear about money again!
Let them stay away from me!
I believe this is a sort of disease,
chasing after reaI money...
Trying to make a fortune...
And some people are simply incurable,
suffering for a lifetime.
If you gave them one more life,
they'd spend it the same way again.
While others... get cured one day.
Like me for example.
For me it's over now,
I'm done with this disease!
Not that I don't like money.
Who in the world can say they don't?
But I won't chase after it.
In my life, I'm never going
to do that again!
I talk too much?
No.
You?
Are you married?
Not any more.
Although divorce is not out yet.
My wife left me for
a rich businessman.
Don't know exactly what
his business is.
His father...
...is a ship owner, that's for sure.
I hope at least she's in love with him
not his money.
So do I but...
I don't think it is so.
In that case...
Let's wish her to be cured of that
disease the soonest possible.
Truth is...
Love's is disease, too...
Sometimes, a more serious one perhaps...
But I prefer it.
Here's to the disease of love.
Here's to that sweet disease!
What's your name again?
Theodoriadis?
Di-mi-tri-a-dis.
Thodoris.
Thodoris, Theodoriadis. You mind
if I call you Theodoriadis?
How about a car ride?
And who's driving?
Not me.
I don't feeI very well.
I'm diseased...
Not with money...
You know...
I'm talking about that other one...
The sweet disease...
More or less, Olga was actually
an antipode to Sophie.
I felt like screaming with joy
or like calling Juan,
although he had disappeared from
the face of the earth
and inviting him to come running
and meet Eva.
Run!
I've found a woman, who was born to do
the job you want her for.
Perfect for it!
Run before it's too late!
And you'll see that I'm your
best provider...
The source!
In all that time
I don't recall her ever addressing me
by my real name.
Come on, Theodoriadis!
Always by that unnatural fabrication
which was a combination
of my real surname
and my first name.
During the time we lived together
Eva and I had so much alcohol
good enough to make
an elephant drunk!
That's how Sophie took it.
She mistook my silly hobby of
photography for a talent.
A talent is an obligation.
If one has it, they're
imprisoned by it
and cannot escape its claws.
One who has a talent doesn't conider or
talk about quitting work in the bank.
They simply quit because they
cannot do otherwise.
I do not agree, Theodoriadis.
I'm sorry telling you, but...
Although I have no talent myself.
I don't have to be talented to see
what goes with the reaI talented ones.
We've read so many interviews,
autobiographies...
Did you ever see anyone
resembling another?
All sorts of major and minor artists.
They either work in banks
or they starve or even have billions...
You don't have to give up your work
to be a major one.
It all depends, it's a relevant thing.
There's no recipe, I believe.
How did you ever decide to get
a flat all the way up here?
Well, that's a long story...
Where did you find these?
In the loft. Shouldn't I?
Sorry!
Your wife was very pretty.
I don't want you to touch these, OK?
They're just bad memories.
They belong in the loft!
Well, at least leave the Spanish
learning tapes.
Especially the Spanish tapes!
I hate Spanish!
In mid-November,
all of a sudden...
without a warning
Eva...
disappeared...
How's Mrs. Eva?
I haven't seen her for long.
She's away on a trip.
To Latin America.
Lucky she!
Where exactly?
In Buenos Aires.
It wasn't a joke. It was as if
I wasn't lying.
At first,
right after Eva's inexplicable
disappearance
I tried very hard to convince
even myself that
indeed Eva was away on a trip
and that one day she'd
be back again.
Later on,
when I realized that she had
left me for good
and even worse without letting
me know the reason for it
I was hurt even more
and I sank into depression.
Come down here, Theodoriadis!
It's Eva speaking!
I know you need to ask me about a
million things, Theodoriadis, but...
You have to let me tell you
my story first.
Or you won't be able to
understand any of this.
So, get in the car.
And not a word untiI I've finished.
I want to tell you about
something I eye-witnessed.
When I was a child.
5 years old.
My father was an Army Officer.
Of the Infantry.
His nerves were twisted.
He was at home on sick leave.
Although there was no chance he
could recover from his illness.
Of course I was very little at the time
and I had quite a vague idea
about all those things.
A few words like...
insane...
leave...
were flickering in my mind without
me exactly understanding them.
My father was obsessed with hunting.
On that day...
Olga!
I returned home early.
Consider that since then
from that age untiI today
I've never been scared again.
To tell you the pure truth
sometimes I think that
in my life
whenever I got to a deadend
whenever I found myself at a crossroads
I've always chosen the road that
scared me somehow.
Or at any case the one that I sensed
would scare me.
You had a breakdown?
PetroI for the car but
we're thirsty too.
What a night!
All this rain!
My life choices have
always depended
on how provocative
they seemed to me.
How possible it was for them
to scare me.
3 stars good enough for you?
Don't know if you're following.
Super?
Fill it up?
To cut it short and
spare you the suspense...
Same thing exactly happened...
with Juan, too.
Remember last November?
While you were off to your village
to see that piece of land
of your father's...
That's when this man first
appeared before me.
He was awfully pushy too,
he wouldn't let me go, well okay...
Juan's a helluva stud...
But you know me well enough,
I'm not that type...
One night stands mean nothing to me.
In my book the real hard-on
is a monogamous affair.
That one night thing...
I can do that myself.
I don't need a guy on top of me
sweating and thrashing about.
Oh well, then...
This man...
at times he has a gaze
so hypnotising...
It's the gaze of a snake
that looks at you...
and manages to defraud you.
So he was staring at me with that look
and without a warning
he suddenly made his proposaI
this 'n' that, there's this org.
you'll make that much...
Customers such and such...
He laid it all out raw.
At first I was shocked by his
nerve and insolence.
This uninhibited cynicism of his...
When all of a sudden
I felt something.
How can I explain it to you,
Theodoriadis...
I felt that there was something
about his proposaI...
that got me scared inconceivably...
And now here come
my conclusions.
The fear I was afraid of feeling...
I didn't feeI it at all.
Of anything.
Nowhere at all.
Only disgust!
UntiI finally your own self
gets disgusted with you.
So I got up and left.
I got some info on your wife too.
I don't believe I met her.
Although I met a few girls.
Juan talked to me about her
at some point.
Don't let him terrorize you.
Shit on him, Theodoriadis...
Don't pay any attention to
what he's telling you.
He's a jerk.
He may be clever but at the same time
the man's a jerk!
Just imagine, when I told him
I was walking out
he lost his temper and
started threatening me.
- What about?
- About my life.
Are you scared?
Who?
Me!
And I told him to go fuck himself.
WelI, if you'll excuse me,
Theodoriadis...
I'm not feeling well.
Can I go back home alone?
Don't know but...
since I left...
I'm in exessive hypertension
I can't be with anyone, my nerves are
stressed inconceivably and...
I need to be constantly on the move.
I'm sorry!
I may call you one day.
A tragic death occured last night
at around 2 after midnight
30-year-old Eva Mouriki, a private
employee, who was living in Athens.
Our reporter says the victim had visited
the Parnetha Casino earlier last night
and had also won a substantial
amount of money.
Then she got into her car which
at a certain road turn
went off the track resulting to
a fall over a cliff.
Police have stated that an option of
suicide is also being considered.
The new Public State Bond Auction
was conducted yesterday
at a price of 300 billion drachmas.
The amount of bids offered totalled to
761, 5 billion drachmas.
- Police Department?
- City Police.
Hello?
Is this 1-0-0?
Yes, I'm listening.
My name's Theodoriadis...
Eeem... Dimitriadis...
I'm sorry...
I have a serious accusation to make.
I know Eva Mouriki's murderer!
Who is she?
Isn't that the Police? You don't know?
The one who was killed in Parnetha!
It was in the news, on TV
just now, half an hour ago!
That was no suicide!
She was murdered!
Hold it, sir! Who are you?
Give me your name.
I know the killers. It's Juan!
Juan? What are you
talking about?
You find it strange that this bum's
called Juan while he's Greek...
Your ID please!
Give me your name and address!
Your ID please!
I had become a big
questionmark myself!
Had Eva committed suicide or
had she been murdered?
Was I in danger too?
Was all this
a succession of nightmarish coincidences
or perhaps that tramp Juan was right?
Can you please look
what's in this account?
He's not forty,
he's thirty-five!
That's why he says he still
has a bit of a way to go!
Dimitriadis?
Theodoros!
It means a gift from God!
It's three millions.
- Come again?
- 3 millions.
Withdrawing all!
I decided never to set foot
to work again.
I decided to lock myself in
for good
and not go out at all.
What was it that Juan had told me?
"You cannot be a bachelor"
OK then.
I might once have been a married man
and I might have not yet been
divorced from Sophie
but that was just a formality and
a secondary issue.
In fact I was all alone and now
I was about to become a bachelor
in every sense of the word.
The perfect bachelor!
The ideal one!
I'll tear Juan's theory into shreds!
I'll show him the real Dimitriadis!
As a matter of fact
so much alone...
so atrociously alone...
as I was those four last months
I had not been in my life
ever before...
Well, sometimes
I would happen to go out for
some shopping or cigarettes
but I'd never stroll away
from home
as if some invisible string
held me tied.
If we stick around this place
we're whacked already...
Seeing that little jar
with its odd content
I don't know why
but I felt this absolute certainty that
it was brought for me by them.
Yes.
And this cockroach means something...
They're trying to tell me something.
Or is this a prank from
the neighborhood kids?
Whatever it may be, I'm keeping it!
I've decided.
It'll keep me company, ha-ha!
I've just got me a pet!
Athens is turning into hell due to
the extended heat wave
the temperature will reach 40 degrees
Celsius tomorrow.
The Ministry of Health advises
light clothing, plenty of liquids,
frequent showers, small quantities
of light meals,
make sure your food
is adequately salted
refrain from alcoholic beverage
consumption,
elderly people and those with
respiratory difficulties
should restrict their exits if only to
the absolutely necessary ones
and make sure you wear a hat.
Sometimes, mostly at night
I'd wander staggering
in the oddest of places
just for the sake of being outside,
watching other people
even from afar,
getting some encouragement.
And then, drunk as I was
I soon felt like a wreck
and after a while
I was again back at home.
My place of martyrdom.
So much solitude is hardly bearable.
All that arid territory...
I immediately had to find a refuge,
one suitable to my condition.
A hangout.
An oasis whatever...
Even in hell itself...
UFO
BILLIARDS
- Can one have a drink here?
- You name it!
- A vodka.
- Of course.
- With ice!
- With ice, of course!
How did I ever find this joint?
I couldn't have found a shittier one!
And the owner
that extra fat turd...
Perfect!
Swell!
In here
no way I could ever meet a substitute
for Sophie and Eva...
In here, I may become
sick of myself
I may become even worse than this turd
but I'll refute Juan's theory
completely.
That fucked up theory of Juan's
I'll screw it up!
That's the main problem we got here,
presumably...
All the sewage disposal pipes
pass through my store.
I've complained to the building
manager 100 times already.
I even made a speech at the
flat owners' meeting about it
but nothing's being done.
You know what my main problem is?
I tell them.
If a customer, presumably, is
far too sensitive
he may even want to throw up
listening to that thing.
Then he'll get up
and go to the toilet for upchucking.
Then...
Can you imagine, I tell them,
what happens then?
They were staring at me
like idiots.
Then, I tell them...
while the customer will be returning
to his table relieved
there's a great big possibility
that he has enough time presumably
to hear his own puke going
over his head
through these pipes, right?
Then, sure thing is that he'll
want to throw up again, right?
So, the same thing will happen again!
Over and over again!
Thousands of times,
untiI kingdom come.
And why do you get drunk, paI?
Me, presumably, I have this
problem with the child.
My wife died at childbirth and she
left it to me as a gift, presumably...
It is mongolian and as you know
there's no cure for this thing.
It'll be like this until kingdom come...
You, presumably, what are
you trying to forget?
My wife.
She is... disabled.
And she sits inside all day long.
On a wheelchair.
She got it four years ago.
And you know whose fault it was?
Do you?
Mine. And nobody else's.
Dunno how it happened.
She probably got in between
the two cars by mistake
I didn't notice...
So, I stepped on it
to get the car out
the car launched backwards
and hraaak!
I mushed her legs!
What do the doctors say?
There's no cure?
In cases like these,
science works miracles.
She won't get up, presumably?
Never again.
Not even in kingdom come, presumably.
You know...
Just because my wife stays,
sits inside all day...
she gets all garrulous and
wants us to talk endlessly.
She's a reaI pain!
So I get up, leave and come over here.
I don't feeI like talking!
I'm sorry about that, OK?
You know which is the most
difficult operation?
A heart transplant?
The most difficult operation
is to remove the cock from
a woman's brain!
It must have been a Friday
May the 28th
around 7 pm.
It was really hot that day,
sort of a mini heatwave.
And although I could barely move
with that fucking heat wave
I got up and went to the super market
when I realised that I had ran out of
marmalade, ethanol bottles and vodka.
Remember me?
From High SchooI?
It's Thodoris Dimitriadis.
Dimitriadis...
What's happened to you, Dimitriadis?
I hardly recognized you!
I'm too hot and...
And I don't like changing clothes!
Now, please, don't leave yet.
It's really important.
I need to talk to you.
I've lost my wife and I haven't managed
to recover ever since.
I've locked myself in
and I don't go out much.
Sort of rock bottom phase.
I'm losing it.
There's a joint down here. It's in
the basement so it must be cooI.
Too hot out here.
- Well, I...
- It's not far. We'll walk there.
For less than a minute.
They'll steaI it.
As soon as I saw you in there
I recognized you, Fortysome..
I've seen you on TV
a couple of times.
I saw you in a program
where you spoke against marriage.
Long ago.
That's what I want to ask you about.
Concerning my wife.
What about her?
It's a long story, you won't believe it.
Nobody can.
She became...
a whore!
Why?
That's why I'd really like never
to marry again, Fortysome.
To live by myself from now on,
but this...
No way I can manage this.
This man... is after me.
He's dangerous.
He's trying to destroy me.
Whichever woman I find he'll finally
take her from me! You don't believe me?
But who?
Who'll take her?
Juan!
Juan?
The pimp...
In all honesty.
I couldn't believe it, either, untiI...
I saw it.
I went to that place,
to their brotheI...
I spoke with Sophie, too.
Just imagine, she even sent me money!
All this time I've been living off
this fucking money!
Then, I met another woman.
I was in love with her.
He took her away, too.
Two vodkas!
- With ice!
- With ice, of course!
I AM SERBIAN
Come now, off you go!
Serbian, presumably...
What on earth is this place?
What have you got me into?
I can't stay long.
I have a date...
Some other time perhaps...
But...
You know...
See that you pulI yourself
together, Thodoris.
You shouldn't slum around such
places, it's like going downhill...
It smells awfuI...
You must help me, Fortysome.
Say something.
I'm all mixed-up!
What can I say?
The things you say are...
preposterous.
But even if it is so.
Forget it and move on.
The world is swarming with women!
You'll lay down and die, then?
I'm telling you,
this guy is after me.
He took Sophie away, then Eva.
Look at me!
Just look at me!
I am the living proof, myself!
I have this phobia, this paranoia...
that he's right after all...
that it's just my fate.
That I can no way live by myself...
be a bachelor...
Of alI things!
Hey, you...
This is no Middle East, take off the
yashmak, we're living in Europe.
Fate my ass!
This is a run of
certain coincidences...
- If you'd been through all that you
wouldn't speak so! - Get with it!
Make a "click!" in your mind
and move on!
You drink too much!
I'd advise you to cut down on it,
if you care to listen.
I don't think it's good for you.
These drinks... that I bought...
you know what I see in them?
Nana's lips.
Wet and somehow...
sort of swollen by alcohol...
You thought I'd get drunk
and talk nonsense?
I'm doing it for Nana. I was on my way
to her actually, she lives near here.
Nana's flat will be all cooI now
and we'll go...
straight into the bedroom!
I prefer visiting her flat than
her coming to mine.
As if something in there is
more stimulating...
more arousing, habituation kills
stimulation.
Habituation not only with people
but also with spaces!
I like Nana's bedroom for another
reason as well.
It's a multi-sided room,
a pentagon actually.
So...
I'm aroused by this disproportion,
being among 5 and not 4 walls.
You'Il say, how's all this
relevant to our subject?
Yes, it is, indeed!
Because I haven't yet told you
who Nana is.
Well, Nana is divorced and lives with
her son, Velissarios, only 6 years old!
I usually see her in the mornings
when Velissarios is at schooI.
Of course I forgot to mention
the most important thing.
Nana is no ordinary woman.
She is a top modeI!
The hottest number!
CLICK
The women we love
Suddenly...
I imagined myself being with Nana
in the pentagonal, disproportionate
and stimulating room...
that Fortysome had so graphically
described for me.
With Nana, supposedly
we were not simply lovers
but also living together in that flat,
all three of us.
Myself, she and little Velissarios.
A voice started roaring in my head.
What are you fantasizing?
Could this ever be possible?
You've only just heard
about this woman
and you're already married to her?
Juan's right after all...
No way you can be a bachelor.
You see now?
I'm not ashamed to confess that.
I'm happy living by myself!
Being a bachelor!
You scram, too!
I only came to fill up your glasses,
my treat presumably...
This man's my wife's brother.
Doctors said that she must have
both her legs cut off!
Up from the pelvis! I'm going mad!
So fuck you and your treat!
Get the hell out!
I swear not to come to your table again
presumably... untiI kingdom come!
You can have my balls and scram!
I won't set foot again
in your shithouse!
Why's that, presumably...?
Hey, man...
What did you tell that poor man?
Cut off legs and the like...
Why alI that swearing?
Are you crazy?
Go on your way.
Go back to your bachelor happiness,
boy and don't give a shit!
I'm in no mood, thanks a bunch, now
scram before I become any nastier.
What do you mean?
Scram!
No, I want to know what you mean!
This is your way of saying thanks?
I ducked my plan and followed you
and agreed to go
into that shithouse...
Beat it!
Did you hear me,
you happy arsehole?
Just...
beat...
it!
Fortysome...
that decorative houseplant...
It is him and not Dolores
who is the living proof actually...
Juan's theory stands by all means.
Fortysome belongs to a type of men
quite different from me.
Me, I'll never manage...
As long as I live and exist, I'll be
working in Juan's behalf eternally...
From that same night on
I locked myself in
and for the last two and a half weeks
I've been writing non-stop.
This is my story...
which explains the reasons why
I decided to do
what I'll already have done...
by the time you're holding
one of the 145 copies...
of this text.
I know that most of you
won't believe me.
They will consider all of these
satanic coincidences
as a product of my imagination,
as sickly games of my mind...
In the worst case, only some
may believe me
when it's all too late.
When they feel the consequences
of this story on their own skin...
JUAN
CARLO
I'd very much like being alive
if only to see all those who will
attend my funeral...
Naturally...
she is crying...
but she's also really afraid
that any of the relatives
may recognize her...
Any acquaintance we had in common...
She's definitely afraid...
but she wouldn't stand
not coming, either...
Behind those dark glasses
Juan's eyes are pointing at Nana...
"Mmmm"... the worm is thinking...
"Interesting"...
Big, sort of swollen lips...
and her body...
She's almost perfect...
He's saying all this because
his expert eyes
have not seen Fortysome yet...
Pity...
I hadn't noticed him...
Too bad, it can't be done...
The more I look at him
the surer I become.
This man... was born a bachelor!
And he'll remain a bachelor
till the day he dies.
Therefore, his dearie's no good for us.
Pity...
And I thought I'd found
another purebred!
Well... That's life!
I wish everybody was like
the late Dimitriadis...
English subs by neverever for 'tik
Oct 2014
to 145 destinations.
Publishing houses, newspapers,
magazines...
...radio stations and TVchannels.
To my relatives and acquaintances.
And to the Police.
If you're a journalist
I defy you to publish it.
If you're a radio or TVnews writer
don't hesitate to air it.
If you're a mere citizen,
try to spread this story around
to as many people as you possibly can.
Spreading this might as well
be the only way of
preventing the victimization
of even more people.
THE BACHELOR
I saw a man falling...
...falling...
I saw a man falling...
...falling...
I saw a man falling...
...but I had no time for a wish...
...I had no time for a wish...
Sophie?
One day, in early December
two years ago
I came home from work
and Sophie was not there.
She usually came back before me
and I found her there upon my return.
Sophie could have very well gone
somewhere without me knowing
as she usually did latetly.
But... there was one thing
that left me frozen as soon as I saw it.
Life sentence
Sophie
Her things were all there.
There was no indication that
Sophie was really gone.
But there was something
she would have taken with her
at any rate.
She had left.
She had disappeared.
Up to that day, Sophie
was my wife.
What happiness!
Sunday morning...
Not having to go to work...
...and waking up to an
Argentinian tango.
Thyrohormone of 1 mg...
These I must never forget to take.
One a day...
For life...
I am sentenced for life!
To love you...
You?
Life sentence.
Thyrohormone!
When we first met each other
this was our little,
strictly private joke.
How many years had passed
since the time when we used
this bizarre code word
to describe our endless love?
Besides her pill, which she
had to take daily
she had a real passion.
Almost an obsession with Spanish,
Latin America and Argentinian tangos.
At that time, we were both
working in the bank.
We were mere clerks
in the same branch.
Sophie was born in '65.
So was I.
Another coincidence, we both
had no siblings.
One more:
We both came from small county towns.
That's where we grew up and
where our parents were living.
We were both living alone in Athens.
Thodorino...
Ever thought of us two
stealing from the bank?
Just by pressing the wrong keys
every time, change mostly...
For example, 256 or 356?
Or even less than that.
How many bankbooks do you
update daily, just count them...
Every year we could be tango
dancing in Buenos Aires!
First you nagged me into finding
a flat in the skyscraper.
So as to be high above and look down
below on them all
and not be miserable.
Now you want to rip off the bank?
Isn't tango dancing enough for you,
here... now?
In Buenos...
...Aires!
Which prize did you get
in that competition?
I've told you so many times.
The third one!
If you'd had me as a model,
it would have been the first one.
If you hadn't given up, perhaps today
you'd be a famous photographer.
Perhaps I'd be a famous
photo modeI, too.
Back to "Apple of debate",
ladies and gentlemen
let's move on to our next guest,
Mr. Petros Fortysome.
I was in High SchooI with
this guy Fortysome.
...a star of the media.
Mr. Fortysome, good evening...
Good evening.
- He's often on TV, this man.
- Really?
What does he do on TV?
Well... he says things...
He looks older than you.
He's thirty five.
His name is Fortysome.
...they perhaps relate to our
overall lifestyle.
Mr. Tsimas, although you have already
labelled me as a neo-cynical...
Turn it up, I want to hear him.
My own slogan...
my trademark really...
could be phrased as follows...
A man who gets married lives his life
like a dog and dies like a human being
while, on the other hand
he who never marries lives like a human
being and dies like a dog.
If I were not married,
I'd be your follower.
Why did you change it?
It's fun.
I can't stand Fortysome nonsense!
I'm turning in, I'm sleepy.
When will we work on a baby?
When will we have a baby?
Thodorino...
The money we make is not
even enough for ourselves.
The baby can be on hold
for a little longer.
There's no rush, is there?
Is there?
Besides, I want many children,
not just one.
I have an idea.
Let's save money and buy a vesseI.
I'd rather we had a tour
around Latin America.
A house on an island is better.
In Patmos, what do you say?
A tour of Latin America.
Please, it's my life's wish!
Argentina, Paraguay, Peru...
I'm bored of Athens.
All these, of course, we had to do
during our leave
and by summing up our salaries.
Could it ever be possible?
Only a poor reflection of those dreams
we made, ever managed to come true.
Our trip to Barcelona, instead of
a tour of Latin America
and some other minor stuff.
Our life remained ordinary
and meaningless
compared to our ambitious plans.
In September...
that same night perhaps...
Sophie got pregnant.
That same month
we brought my father down to Athens
with advanced lung cancer.
He stayed with us at home
and every afternoon,
Sophie and I
went through the sad duty
of taking him for radiation treatment.
Already, since early November
Sophie had been transferred to
our neighbourhood branch.
She had asked for this herself.
I remained in the main branch.
In mid-November
without asking me,
in secrecy and silence, perhaps
even kept from her own self,
Sophie had an abortion.
We drifted steadily apart.
Losing our contact more and more.
As if it wasn't our choice...
As if some external circumstances
compelled us to it.
I had taken up photography again.
I took shots within the appartment.
Closeups, objects.
The angle was such that
the model got distorted.
Looking at the photo afterwards,
you couldn't really tell what it was.
Let's go, we'Il miss class!
Food's in the oven.
Sophie went out with a group of
women friends of hers.
There was one detestable old friend
who got this idea of workouts
in her mind.
That's the picture frame I had
about Sophie's life, in all that period.
Workouts and friends.
I was later to find out that I was
absolutely wrong about it.
Hello?
Mr. Dimitriadis?
Speaking.
Sophie... is doing fine.
Who is on the phone?
- Juan.
- Who?
You don't know me.
My name is Juan.
Juan?
Who are you?
Why is your name Juan if you're Greek?
What's your connection to Sophie?
If you want and I'm sure you do...
I could tell you the truth,
save you the trouble of searching...
Who are you?
What do you know about Sophie?
We'll talk more in person.
At Cleo Maternity Clinic, at 5.
This afternoon.
Go up to the top floor.
At the restaurant.
Hello?
Hello!
Hello!
Now why would he want to meet me
in a Maternity Clinic?
Sophie's pregnant?
From him?
She's having an abortion again?
Then why would they ask me
to be there too?
I hope I didn't scare you.
Sit.
Where's Sohie?
Which room?
Want to eat or drink something?
She's not here in the clinic.
I chose this place
for no reason really.
I'm used to it I guess.
You see, I come here fairly often.
There's always some mishap
with the girls.
The customers, no!
Using a condom is a must for them!
Mishaps refer exclusively to myself.
Think of how many kids I'd have...
Girls and condoms and customers.
What are you talking about?
This crazy man is raving!
What's all this gibberish for?
Why the Spanish pseudonyms?
They're my assistants,
you understand.
We need them, for the time
being, at least.
When you hear what I have to tell you
you may come up with a stupid reaction.
One can never be sure...
Say what you want to say.
My ears are wide open.
I'm listening!
If not hating me already...
you will be.
Sure as hell.
That's how it usually goes.
You're not the first one, you see.
Believe me, though.
I feeI for you deeply!
How can I put it...
Like you're my little brother,
that close.
Because for me, you're something
more than a mere ally.
It sounds strange to you
right now, right?
But you'Il see,
that's how it is.
Your wife, dear Carlo...
My name's not Carlo!
Are you insane?
Where is Sophie?
Who are you?
Sophie is a secondary
character in this.
Whereas you...
If it wasn't for you or men like you...
I'd be done for.
Where's Sophie?
Your wife, dear Carlo...
is keeping company
to severaI rich men,
mainly foreigners...
who reside at the big hotels
of Athens.
In case the customer, for any reason,
does not want to take the girI to
his room, we also have a flat!
Who are you, guys?
I don't believe a word of this.
I think Sophie is in here.
I want you to study these photos.
At home!
At your leisure.
They may convince you.
Although I doubt they will...
My phone number.
You'll need it!
I'm sure.
Alright then.
Tell me where Sophie is,
'cause I don't believe a word you said.
Don't make me sad.
You're proving yourself so inferior
to what I expected...
You're desperately too much like
all the other husbands I've known,
you all react alike!
Why won't you be a little different?
Show some originality?
I just couldn't believe it!
That scum with the Spanish pseudonym
might as well be a pimp.
He might even be devil himself.
But my Sophie?
Could it ever be possible that
she had lowered herself so
as to be a courtesan?
Now you're getting it!
Now you're getting it!
No...
No...
No and no again!
And another billion times...
No...
The photos Juan gave me
were of questionable authenticity.
Vague, too.
That might not even be Sophie.
Or they might have been photo-edited.
It happens much too often.
My head was about to burst.
Sophie was not giving
any sign of life.
Go to the police?
I wouldn't even think of it.
If what Juan said turned out
to be the truth
I could imagine being ridiculed
by policemen's mocking looks.
I wouldn't stand all that shame.
I'd feel horribly humiliated.
Disgraced down to the lowest point.
The only person in the world
that could help me find Sophie
was unfortunately Juan.
I heard it from Juan that
one afternoon
he met us for the first time,
me and Sophie,
then he followed us home.
This, always according to Juan,
happened 3 months before
her disappearance
that is in September.
After that
he started following Sophie.
How much is it?
The jacket's 200 and
the skirt 150.
I'll browse a little.
Yes, please?
- The dress in the window.
- Size?
Well, the lady's size.
That'll be a... 38?
38 or 40...
Thanks for cooperating.
Your taste is very good.
Are you paying by card?
Cash!
For you!
I bought it for you!
I saw the yearning
in your eyes for it...
It is your size.
Unless of course you lied.
I'm not going to accept it.
Do not insist.
Do you always deny what
you really yearn for?
Why do you always have these
dark glasses on?
Who are you hiding from?
I take it it's not me 'cause I bump
into you for a month now.
No...
Not from you.
On the contrary.
I hide myself from the day.
I don't like it.
I only like the night.
You like the night...
Normally, people should be living
all day in the countryside
and come down to the city
only at night.
Why only at night?
Because when night falls, you cannot
see anything in the countryside.
You cannot see the trees or the sea
or the mountains...
Whereas in the city?
In the city...
All the lights are on!
Men go out to look for women
and women to look for men.
Well, you didn't wait
untiI dark, did you?
Behind dark glasses
day looks like night.
Besides, the countryside means
nothing to me anymore.
Now I only like the night.
So?
What else goes on at night?
A crowd of whores are
on the streetwalk.
You've seen the cars stopping
in front of the girls, haven't you?
Each one's looking for the whore
they can afford.
Thieves go out the steaI,
killers to kill...
Everything changes at night, you see.
People don't go out to work
like in daytime.
They go out for different reasonsss...
More private onesss...
As if the rules of the game change
and all turns upside down...
It's all black and white
in life, anyway.
That's my life theory.
Black and white!
By the time they left the cafe
Sophie was already in love with him.
You're talking strangely!
Juan insisted on this.
What did she really like
about this man?
His nose?
After all
I don't believe love is triggered
by someone's looks.
Main thing is that Sophie was
magnetized by this man.
She became his mistress.
My husband was greatly talented
in photography.
His obsession with it was...
one of the main reasons
I fell in love with him.
And?
He gave up on his passion
for my sake.
His talent, the...
only thing he was obviously
born to do...
How fortunate...
for me...
I'm sure this suit would
fit you perfectly!
I don't want it.
I don't want it, I dont want it,
I don't want it!
Yes.
I was destined to hear from Juan
that this was actually the focus point
of Sophie's problem with me.
She had no esteem for me anymore.
Sophie had really had high hopes
on me and my silly hobby.
That dress was followed by
new, much more expensive gifts.
Seeing all that cash flowing
from her lover's pockets
Sophie was tempted...
...seduced...
...depraved.
Juan's generosity
must have undoubtedly
played a major part shaping things
the way they turned out later on.
Think!
You have absolutely no talent!
Your life?
You already know it by now.
What can you expect
from a life like this?
Ajob like this?
Salary based?
You're going to die having achieved
only a 10 per cent of your dreams...
or even less...
I'm asking you, then...
Don't you want money?
ReaI money?
Not knowing how to spend it all?
How many times so far
have you not...
made love with your husband
unwillingly?
Remember.
How many times that
you didn't feel like doing it?
Some of those you faked it,
you even pretended that...
you liked it...
Of course, so as not
to hurt him, make him sad...
So?
Was it that terrible?
That unbearable?
You don't say...
Deep down you must admit
it was quite simple...
Piece of cake...
Pleasurable no...
Endurable though.
Tolerable, almost easy.
Especially...
if you consider the price for it.
We're talking big money...
ReaI big...
Not knowing how to spend it all...
Don't misjudge her.
It is only human.
Human indeed!
How many in this world
are capable of resisting
the invincible temptation of money?
Especially when partnered with love.
Perhaps only a few demented ones.
You are a bum...
You're rude.
But it's alright.
I understand.
It's a tight spot you're in.
I sympathize with you.
Let me tell you,
listen, this is the main thing
in this story.
And these things are not so easy
to express, to verbalize.
You belong in a speciaI category
of people, in a race...
not rare...
it's not what I mean,
there's plenty like you...
Just speciaI.
What do I mean by that?
Your kind happens to be the most
appropriate for my work.
IdeaI!
You, dear Carlo, are my best providers!
Because you and the likes of you
have a little...
let me see, not a disease
or a handicap...
call it a peculiarity
and its essence lies in this phrase:
You cannot be alone,
you cannot be a bachelor.
Believe it. It's experience talking
through me right now!
Do you understand?
Do you?
In your face I found one of
my best providers!
You're a source for me, Carlo!
As long as you live and exist
you'll be working for me!
Unintentionally or even
against your will!
Hasta Luego, Carlos!
For some time now,
I was utterly desperate
and had given up trying to find
Sophie again.
Juan's phone was not
in use any more.
As if he never had existed.
I got drunk. Every day.
Trying to figure out what all that was,
happening to me.
If it was all real or perhaps
a dream that I had.
At the end of that year
I believe I had so much whisky
more than I'd ever had
in my life until then.
Carlo!
How many times do I have to tell you
my name's not Carlo?
All the same, you're listening to
some fine old Argentinian tangos!
No, I'm not!
And for the last time, my name's
not Carlo, agreed?
It was horrible!
The man who was responsible
for my complete degradation
was calling me only to
degrade me some more.
Most probably he was exercising
some irresistible appeal on me!
There's no other explanation why
I didn't hang up on him
or why, driven by a somewhat dark force,
I accepted to meet him
in that gym.
Carlo!
I'm glad you came.
Could we skip courtesy?
What do you want from me?
Why did you call me?
We love you!
And we care about you more
than you can imagine!
I promise you from now on
that I, as well as the boys here,
will be your guardian angels.
You see, we don't want you
to be harmed in anyway...
No way at all!
Not one hair of yours be
touched by anyone!
We'Il guard you better than the
apples of our own eyes!
Are you through?
You know what your problem is, man?
You have too huge a prick!
And you don't know how to use it!
That's why I'Il cut it off and
stick it up your ass.
And since some of it will
still be left out
I'll have you fed with the rest of it.
Same old story...
I know what you need,
same as others that is...
You too want to feel the naiI marks
with your own fingers.
You want the living proof, too?
Where is she? Will you tell me
where Sophie is?
That's a no-no, Carlo.
You must live with it.
You won't see Sophie again.
But you'll get what I said earlier.
Living proof.
Let's have a drink.
Yes?
Yes.
With potatoes, mom!
Alright.
OK, bye.
Eating at mom's, wimp?
You must give up whisky
and drink vodka. It's pure
and you don't stink after having it.
Does its job... Perfect!
I want to see her.
Just once.
Once...
Sophie's lost for you, Carlo.
You better accept it.
Don't be sad, though...
You're not made to be a bachelor...
You know what bachelor means?
He who is unwed!
He who has no family and on the whole
he who lives alone!
You're not going to be alone for long.
I guarantee that.
Or anyway, if I can risk forseeing this
you'll soon find a new woman.
You've lost Sophie.
Very soon, someone will
take her place.
Very soon.
This too is distinctive
of your spieces.
Another feature is that the women you
choose or vice versa,
are ideaI for my business!
They're perfect!
Born for what I want them to be.
That's why whenever I bump into
a guy like you
I celebrate the occasion, in a way.
That's why I called you tonight.
You are insane and...
definitely have some
sexuaI disability.
You don't believe me, do you?
Living proof...
that's what you want.
You'll have it.
Soon enough.
I want Sophie.
Not Sophie...
Living proof.
You may go.
We'll notify you.
Fine, then.
Juan was indeed a panderer.
He had his henchmen
and his whores.
Besides all that,
how could I ever accept
belonging to a certain human cast?
How could I believe that preposterous
theory he had come up with?
I refused to believe all that
and I doubted all
lust like an unbeliever doubts
the existence of God.
How's your wife doing?
She's very well, thank you.
We have missed her.
Hello?
At eight o'clock. Today.
- This evening.
- What's this about?
About what we said.
- I don't understand...
- No problem.
At 8.
Be ready.
- Go down and you'll see.
- What do you mean "down"?
To the street, outside your home
Just come down from your flat.
And...
Carlo?
I hope you enjoy yourself.
You hear me?
Let yourself go!
Living proof is a privilege.
Don't let it go to waste.
No... I don't think so.
No chance of Sophie showing up...
It's something else.
A proof... A living one, too...
Good evening!
- It smells like medical stuff...
- It's nothing. Are you ready?
- Ready?
- I need you to lean forward.
A bit more.
I felt a soaked thing
on my nose and mouth.
The smell scorched my larynx.
I lost consciousness.
When I came round
I was in a bedroom.
My head was aching as if it had
been worked over with a hammer.
Hi!
I'm Dolores.
Care for a drink?
Music?
My head is killing me.
Loosen your head up.
A Sophie, you know her?
I know none by that name.
Why don't you try to loosen up?
Is it OK if we talk a little first?
What do you know about me?
Next to nothing.
I know you must have a nice time.
Enjoy yourself.
That's why you're here.
Were you married?
Listen...
We'll make a deaI, OK?
I'll tell you what I can
then you'll tell me what
you want us to do.
So, I know your name's Carlo.
I also know that your ex-wife
is now one of ours.
I don't know which one of us
she is and I don't care to.
Also I know you're here
for the living proof.
This means you can enjoy
the maximum that we offer.
Now you tell me what you
want us to do.
Something you've never done before.
Not even with your wife.
Something you've never dared to do...
Something you were
scared of asking her.
Well?
I'm waiting.
Will you think of something?
You know...
My head's about to burst and...
It's the truth.
There's nothing I hadn't done
with my wife.
Nothing that I...
hadn't dared to...
...ask her.
It's the truth.
I swear it is.
This cannot be possible.
It cannot be.
There must be something.
Some...
...secret desire of yours...
A thing you never told anybody...
That's what you want?
That's what you want?
Yes!
Who are you?
Dolores.
No...
No...
You're...
...Juan!
Yes!
Juan!
Who are you?
Juan!
You like it, eh... Juan?
You like it, Juan?
Yes!
Not sure how much time passed.
I was alone in the room.
I looked at the bed legs.
Dolores'silky gown was gone.
I picked up my own clothes
and put them on.
Are you alright?
He's on the roof.
The enormous guy leaned by me
and that pervasive medical smell
hit my nostrils once again.
I fought weakly to break away
but the handsome guy twisted
my arm up high
making me scream from pain.
I lost consciousness once again.
We're there!
When I came round I was
in the same Mercedes
which was parked on the
street where my home is.
As if we'd never left that spot.
Sorry if I hurt you back there.
But you see, we're only
following orders.
All the same, I hope you
had a nice time.
I walked out of the lift,
I got my keys out of my pocket
and stood before my door.
And then
I felt like crying.
Because, without realizing it
and although I was holding my keys
I reached for the doorbell.
From habit, like in the old days
when I rang and Sophie answered it.
Nevermore...
Nevermore...
On New Year's Eve,
right on the changing of the year
my phone rang.
I thought it might be Juan
and I ran, so to speak,
to pick up the receiver.
Because, after the living proof
I'd completely lost track of him
although I tried to meet him
in every way possible.
It was as if the earth
had swallowed him up.
No.
It was not Juan.
This time it was Sophie.
Sophie...
Thodorino?
I love you much too much!
Very much!
I love you for life!
Thodorino?
You hear?
Thyrohormone of 1 mg...
You hate me?
One milligram.
I cannot forget you.
I'll never forget you.
I think about you all the time.
Grab some paper.
I want you to write something.
Ready?
1-4-5...
0-1...
2-2-1-0...
0-5...
1-2...
9-3.
The account is in your name.
"Credit Bank"
Not in our bank.
This is my present.
For the New Year.
Thodorino?
Are you laughing?
You're laughing?
You tell this motherfucker that
if I bump into him I'll fuck his face
and I'll run his brains out!
Come now, Thodorino...
Tell him that!
That and...
And a Happy New Year!
What's the name of this little
Thodorino you got between your legs?
Carlo!
Say, what do you want?
Something we never happened
to do up to now.
Something you never dared,
that you were scared of asking me.
Talk dirty to me...
Tell me about my balls...
Your balls...
I want them in, too!
Fuck me... Frig me...
I'm your whore, Carlo.
Fuck me...
Screw me...
I'm your whore, Carlo.
Shut it!
Screw me!
Shut up!
I'm your whore, Carlo!
Shut up!
Shut it...
Shut up!
Shut it!
You're dead!
You forget by flying away...
...faded faces...
...fairy grannies, tired out elves...
...couples jumping off the rooftops...
...Paradise with the lights out...
...cops flying over the city...
...you're learning how to live
without me...
During the first two months of the new
year I drove around like a madman.
I took the car at night
and plastered as I was
I would look around for what had
seemed to me like a cigarette banner
from what my eye had caught
on the roof of that
mysterious appartment
where I had... enjoyed the privilege
of the living proof...
In the meanwhile
my legs had got used to leading me
to all the big hotel bars in the city.
They just took me there themselves
me being unable to resist.
Deep inside, I sure hoped
to find Sophie in there.
A vodka.
With ice!
For one and a half year
I would drink like a sponge
every single day
and I kept feeling dry all the time
as if I had holes in my body
and all I knocked back would
pour out of them instantly...
As if I had no way of quenching
my thirst in the centuries to come.
All this sickening nonsense...
All these unsubstantiaI theories...
that bum Juan had
obviously invented them
meaning to scare me...
or simply to frame up
his disgusting role
with some sort of charm...
For Sophie's acceptance
to do as she did
I didn't neccessarily have to belong
to a certain human category...
Sophie...
did this at her own will
and it was definitely
her choice.
Even Juan...
whom she supposedly had fallen for
was, in my opinion, just a pretext.
Not the reason.
You think so?
Yes, I do think so.
These things simply don't happen.
I'll climb back...
...on the rope...
...the tightrope...
...and it's a secret I have...
...how I always manage
making the same mistake...
One night
during that two or three-month period
of my bar tour of duty...
I was driving back home,
drunk as always,
when suddenly
I couldn't believe my eyes.
I bumped face to face into Juan.
Do you know a certain Juan?
What is he, a Spaniard?
A tall guy, he just walked in
before I did.
Will you have something?
Is there another door besides this one?
No. That's the one everyone uses.
Then give me a vodka. With ice.
Now's your chance!
Are you of the opinion that we
shouldn't waste chances?
Me?
Nothing but.
My life's a string of wasted chances.
Mine too.
Then we're a match. Cheers!
Oh, we forgot introductions!
I'm Eva!
I'm Theodoros Dimitriadis.
Or Thodoris or Thodorinos or Carlo!
I am a bank clerk...
I absolutely hate this job but
I'll still be quite young when
I get a good pension.
So I'll be able to drink
since early morning.
Ajob is a job.
You know one who's not shitty?
Life begins when you leave the office.
Are you married?
I've already had a failure
of a marriage.
I got married very young,
around 20
but it was too short-lived.
Since then I've had 3 more
serious relationships.
With the last one, Manolis
we tried to make money.
Real money.
This was our dream.
First we set up a bar in Mykonos.
Then we ran a small hotel
some 15 rooms altogether.
Manolis had signed too many checks,
he'd borrowed money.
To pay off debts we had to
sell everything out.
Finally he got locked up.
If only you could see him in jaiI...
He was so scared
that his face got wrinkled and he
looked like a rat. Disgusting!
When I saw him in there...
I lost all respect of him.
His true self was revealed to me
and I saw that
in fact he was only
a timid tiny little flame.
A little flame I once
mistook for a fire.
I don't know how to say that.
It may sound a bit cocky
but it's the truth.
I think that in life so far
I never ever was scared.
In all honesty!
It is impossible by nature
for me to have this feeling.
What's fear?
Something edible?
Ever since childhood I instinctually
detested anyone who was scared.
So you can guess how I felt
when I saw Manolis shitting his pants.
I almost threw up!
I never set foot there again.
I crossed him out.
And of course, since then I don't even
want to hear about money again!
Let them stay away from me!
I believe this is a sort of disease,
chasing after reaI money...
Trying to make a fortune...
And some people are simply incurable,
suffering for a lifetime.
If you gave them one more life,
they'd spend it the same way again.
While others... get cured one day.
Like me for example.
For me it's over now,
I'm done with this disease!
Not that I don't like money.
Who in the world can say they don't?
But I won't chase after it.
In my life, I'm never going
to do that again!
I talk too much?
No.
You?
Are you married?
Not any more.
Although divorce is not out yet.
My wife left me for
a rich businessman.
Don't know exactly what
his business is.
His father...
...is a ship owner, that's for sure.
I hope at least she's in love with him
not his money.
So do I but...
I don't think it is so.
In that case...
Let's wish her to be cured of that
disease the soonest possible.
Truth is...
Love's is disease, too...
Sometimes, a more serious one perhaps...
But I prefer it.
Here's to the disease of love.
Here's to that sweet disease!
What's your name again?
Theodoriadis?
Di-mi-tri-a-dis.
Thodoris.
Thodoris, Theodoriadis. You mind
if I call you Theodoriadis?
How about a car ride?
And who's driving?
Not me.
I don't feeI very well.
I'm diseased...
Not with money...
You know...
I'm talking about that other one...
The sweet disease...
More or less, Olga was actually
an antipode to Sophie.
I felt like screaming with joy
or like calling Juan,
although he had disappeared from
the face of the earth
and inviting him to come running
and meet Eva.
Run!
I've found a woman, who was born to do
the job you want her for.
Perfect for it!
Run before it's too late!
And you'll see that I'm your
best provider...
The source!
In all that time
I don't recall her ever addressing me
by my real name.
Come on, Theodoriadis!
Always by that unnatural fabrication
which was a combination
of my real surname
and my first name.
During the time we lived together
Eva and I had so much alcohol
good enough to make
an elephant drunk!
That's how Sophie took it.
She mistook my silly hobby of
photography for a talent.
A talent is an obligation.
If one has it, they're
imprisoned by it
and cannot escape its claws.
One who has a talent doesn't conider or
talk about quitting work in the bank.
They simply quit because they
cannot do otherwise.
I do not agree, Theodoriadis.
I'm sorry telling you, but...
Although I have no talent myself.
I don't have to be talented to see
what goes with the reaI talented ones.
We've read so many interviews,
autobiographies...
Did you ever see anyone
resembling another?
All sorts of major and minor artists.
They either work in banks
or they starve or even have billions...
You don't have to give up your work
to be a major one.
It all depends, it's a relevant thing.
There's no recipe, I believe.
How did you ever decide to get
a flat all the way up here?
Well, that's a long story...
Where did you find these?
In the loft. Shouldn't I?
Sorry!
Your wife was very pretty.
I don't want you to touch these, OK?
They're just bad memories.
They belong in the loft!
Well, at least leave the Spanish
learning tapes.
Especially the Spanish tapes!
I hate Spanish!
In mid-November,
all of a sudden...
without a warning
Eva...
disappeared...
How's Mrs. Eva?
I haven't seen her for long.
She's away on a trip.
To Latin America.
Lucky she!
Where exactly?
In Buenos Aires.
It wasn't a joke. It was as if
I wasn't lying.
At first,
right after Eva's inexplicable
disappearance
I tried very hard to convince
even myself that
indeed Eva was away on a trip
and that one day she'd
be back again.
Later on,
when I realized that she had
left me for good
and even worse without letting
me know the reason for it
I was hurt even more
and I sank into depression.
Come down here, Theodoriadis!
It's Eva speaking!
I know you need to ask me about a
million things, Theodoriadis, but...
You have to let me tell you
my story first.
Or you won't be able to
understand any of this.
So, get in the car.
And not a word untiI I've finished.
I want to tell you about
something I eye-witnessed.
When I was a child.
5 years old.
My father was an Army Officer.
Of the Infantry.
His nerves were twisted.
He was at home on sick leave.
Although there was no chance he
could recover from his illness.
Of course I was very little at the time
and I had quite a vague idea
about all those things.
A few words like...
insane...
leave...
were flickering in my mind without
me exactly understanding them.
My father was obsessed with hunting.
On that day...
Olga!
I returned home early.
Consider that since then
from that age untiI today
I've never been scared again.
To tell you the pure truth
sometimes I think that
in my life
whenever I got to a deadend
whenever I found myself at a crossroads
I've always chosen the road that
scared me somehow.
Or at any case the one that I sensed
would scare me.
You had a breakdown?
PetroI for the car but
we're thirsty too.
What a night!
All this rain!
My life choices have
always depended
on how provocative
they seemed to me.
How possible it was for them
to scare me.
3 stars good enough for you?
Don't know if you're following.
Super?
Fill it up?
To cut it short and
spare you the suspense...
Same thing exactly happened...
with Juan, too.
Remember last November?
While you were off to your village
to see that piece of land
of your father's...
That's when this man first
appeared before me.
He was awfully pushy too,
he wouldn't let me go, well okay...
Juan's a helluva stud...
But you know me well enough,
I'm not that type...
One night stands mean nothing to me.
In my book the real hard-on
is a monogamous affair.
That one night thing...
I can do that myself.
I don't need a guy on top of me
sweating and thrashing about.
Oh well, then...
This man...
at times he has a gaze
so hypnotising...
It's the gaze of a snake
that looks at you...
and manages to defraud you.
So he was staring at me with that look
and without a warning
he suddenly made his proposaI
this 'n' that, there's this org.
you'll make that much...
Customers such and such...
He laid it all out raw.
At first I was shocked by his
nerve and insolence.
This uninhibited cynicism of his...
When all of a sudden
I felt something.
How can I explain it to you,
Theodoriadis...
I felt that there was something
about his proposaI...
that got me scared inconceivably...
And now here come
my conclusions.
The fear I was afraid of feeling...
I didn't feeI it at all.
Of anything.
Nowhere at all.
Only disgust!
UntiI finally your own self
gets disgusted with you.
So I got up and left.
I got some info on your wife too.
I don't believe I met her.
Although I met a few girls.
Juan talked to me about her
at some point.
Don't let him terrorize you.
Shit on him, Theodoriadis...
Don't pay any attention to
what he's telling you.
He's a jerk.
He may be clever but at the same time
the man's a jerk!
Just imagine, when I told him
I was walking out
he lost his temper and
started threatening me.
- What about?
- About my life.
Are you scared?
Who?
Me!
And I told him to go fuck himself.
WelI, if you'll excuse me,
Theodoriadis...
I'm not feeling well.
Can I go back home alone?
Don't know but...
since I left...
I'm in exessive hypertension
I can't be with anyone, my nerves are
stressed inconceivably and...
I need to be constantly on the move.
I'm sorry!
I may call you one day.
A tragic death occured last night
at around 2 after midnight
30-year-old Eva Mouriki, a private
employee, who was living in Athens.
Our reporter says the victim had visited
the Parnetha Casino earlier last night
and had also won a substantial
amount of money.
Then she got into her car which
at a certain road turn
went off the track resulting to
a fall over a cliff.
Police have stated that an option of
suicide is also being considered.
The new Public State Bond Auction
was conducted yesterday
at a price of 300 billion drachmas.
The amount of bids offered totalled to
761, 5 billion drachmas.
- Police Department?
- City Police.
Hello?
Is this 1-0-0?
Yes, I'm listening.
My name's Theodoriadis...
Eeem... Dimitriadis...
I'm sorry...
I have a serious accusation to make.
I know Eva Mouriki's murderer!
Who is she?
Isn't that the Police? You don't know?
The one who was killed in Parnetha!
It was in the news, on TV
just now, half an hour ago!
That was no suicide!
She was murdered!
Hold it, sir! Who are you?
Give me your name.
I know the killers. It's Juan!
Juan? What are you
talking about?
You find it strange that this bum's
called Juan while he's Greek...
Your ID please!
Give me your name and address!
Your ID please!
I had become a big
questionmark myself!
Had Eva committed suicide or
had she been murdered?
Was I in danger too?
Was all this
a succession of nightmarish coincidences
or perhaps that tramp Juan was right?
Can you please look
what's in this account?
He's not forty,
he's thirty-five!
That's why he says he still
has a bit of a way to go!
Dimitriadis?
Theodoros!
It means a gift from God!
It's three millions.
- Come again?
- 3 millions.
Withdrawing all!
I decided never to set foot
to work again.
I decided to lock myself in
for good
and not go out at all.
What was it that Juan had told me?
"You cannot be a bachelor"
OK then.
I might once have been a married man
and I might have not yet been
divorced from Sophie
but that was just a formality and
a secondary issue.
In fact I was all alone and now
I was about to become a bachelor
in every sense of the word.
The perfect bachelor!
The ideal one!
I'll tear Juan's theory into shreds!
I'll show him the real Dimitriadis!
As a matter of fact
so much alone...
so atrociously alone...
as I was those four last months
I had not been in my life
ever before...
Well, sometimes
I would happen to go out for
some shopping or cigarettes
but I'd never stroll away
from home
as if some invisible string
held me tied.
If we stick around this place
we're whacked already...
Seeing that little jar
with its odd content
I don't know why
but I felt this absolute certainty that
it was brought for me by them.
Yes.
And this cockroach means something...
They're trying to tell me something.
Or is this a prank from
the neighborhood kids?
Whatever it may be, I'm keeping it!
I've decided.
It'll keep me company, ha-ha!
I've just got me a pet!
Athens is turning into hell due to
the extended heat wave
the temperature will reach 40 degrees
Celsius tomorrow.
The Ministry of Health advises
light clothing, plenty of liquids,
frequent showers, small quantities
of light meals,
make sure your food
is adequately salted
refrain from alcoholic beverage
consumption,
elderly people and those with
respiratory difficulties
should restrict their exits if only to
the absolutely necessary ones
and make sure you wear a hat.
Sometimes, mostly at night
I'd wander staggering
in the oddest of places
just for the sake of being outside,
watching other people
even from afar,
getting some encouragement.
And then, drunk as I was
I soon felt like a wreck
and after a while
I was again back at home.
My place of martyrdom.
So much solitude is hardly bearable.
All that arid territory...
I immediately had to find a refuge,
one suitable to my condition.
A hangout.
An oasis whatever...
Even in hell itself...
UFO
BILLIARDS
- Can one have a drink here?
- You name it!
- A vodka.
- Of course.
- With ice!
- With ice, of course!
How did I ever find this joint?
I couldn't have found a shittier one!
And the owner
that extra fat turd...
Perfect!
Swell!
In here
no way I could ever meet a substitute
for Sophie and Eva...
In here, I may become
sick of myself
I may become even worse than this turd
but I'll refute Juan's theory
completely.
That fucked up theory of Juan's
I'll screw it up!
That's the main problem we got here,
presumably...
All the sewage disposal pipes
pass through my store.
I've complained to the building
manager 100 times already.
I even made a speech at the
flat owners' meeting about it
but nothing's being done.
You know what my main problem is?
I tell them.
If a customer, presumably, is
far too sensitive
he may even want to throw up
listening to that thing.
Then he'll get up
and go to the toilet for upchucking.
Then...
Can you imagine, I tell them,
what happens then?
They were staring at me
like idiots.
Then, I tell them...
while the customer will be returning
to his table relieved
there's a great big possibility
that he has enough time presumably
to hear his own puke going
over his head
through these pipes, right?
Then, sure thing is that he'll
want to throw up again, right?
So, the same thing will happen again!
Over and over again!
Thousands of times,
untiI kingdom come.
And why do you get drunk, paI?
Me, presumably, I have this
problem with the child.
My wife died at childbirth and she
left it to me as a gift, presumably...
It is mongolian and as you know
there's no cure for this thing.
It'll be like this until kingdom come...
You, presumably, what are
you trying to forget?
My wife.
She is... disabled.
And she sits inside all day long.
On a wheelchair.
She got it four years ago.
And you know whose fault it was?
Do you?
Mine. And nobody else's.
Dunno how it happened.
She probably got in between
the two cars by mistake
I didn't notice...
So, I stepped on it
to get the car out
the car launched backwards
and hraaak!
I mushed her legs!
What do the doctors say?
There's no cure?
In cases like these,
science works miracles.
She won't get up, presumably?
Never again.
Not even in kingdom come, presumably.
You know...
Just because my wife stays,
sits inside all day...
she gets all garrulous and
wants us to talk endlessly.
She's a reaI pain!
So I get up, leave and come over here.
I don't feeI like talking!
I'm sorry about that, OK?
You know which is the most
difficult operation?
A heart transplant?
The most difficult operation
is to remove the cock from
a woman's brain!
It must have been a Friday
May the 28th
around 7 pm.
It was really hot that day,
sort of a mini heatwave.
And although I could barely move
with that fucking heat wave
I got up and went to the super market
when I realised that I had ran out of
marmalade, ethanol bottles and vodka.
Remember me?
From High SchooI?
It's Thodoris Dimitriadis.
Dimitriadis...
What's happened to you, Dimitriadis?
I hardly recognized you!
I'm too hot and...
And I don't like changing clothes!
Now, please, don't leave yet.
It's really important.
I need to talk to you.
I've lost my wife and I haven't managed
to recover ever since.
I've locked myself in
and I don't go out much.
Sort of rock bottom phase.
I'm losing it.
There's a joint down here. It's in
the basement so it must be cooI.
Too hot out here.
- Well, I...
- It's not far. We'll walk there.
For less than a minute.
They'll steaI it.
As soon as I saw you in there
I recognized you, Fortysome..
I've seen you on TV
a couple of times.
I saw you in a program
where you spoke against marriage.
Long ago.
That's what I want to ask you about.
Concerning my wife.
What about her?
It's a long story, you won't believe it.
Nobody can.
She became...
a whore!
Why?
That's why I'd really like never
to marry again, Fortysome.
To live by myself from now on,
but this...
No way I can manage this.
This man... is after me.
He's dangerous.
He's trying to destroy me.
Whichever woman I find he'll finally
take her from me! You don't believe me?
But who?
Who'll take her?
Juan!
Juan?
The pimp...
In all honesty.
I couldn't believe it, either, untiI...
I saw it.
I went to that place,
to their brotheI...
I spoke with Sophie, too.
Just imagine, she even sent me money!
All this time I've been living off
this fucking money!
Then, I met another woman.
I was in love with her.
He took her away, too.
Two vodkas!
- With ice!
- With ice, of course!
I AM SERBIAN
Come now, off you go!
Serbian, presumably...
What on earth is this place?
What have you got me into?
I can't stay long.
I have a date...
Some other time perhaps...
But...
You know...
See that you pulI yourself
together, Thodoris.
You shouldn't slum around such
places, it's like going downhill...
It smells awfuI...
You must help me, Fortysome.
Say something.
I'm all mixed-up!
What can I say?
The things you say are...
preposterous.
But even if it is so.
Forget it and move on.
The world is swarming with women!
You'll lay down and die, then?
I'm telling you,
this guy is after me.
He took Sophie away, then Eva.
Look at me!
Just look at me!
I am the living proof, myself!
I have this phobia, this paranoia...
that he's right after all...
that it's just my fate.
That I can no way live by myself...
be a bachelor...
Of alI things!
Hey, you...
This is no Middle East, take off the
yashmak, we're living in Europe.
Fate my ass!
This is a run of
certain coincidences...
- If you'd been through all that you
wouldn't speak so! - Get with it!
Make a "click!" in your mind
and move on!
You drink too much!
I'd advise you to cut down on it,
if you care to listen.
I don't think it's good for you.
These drinks... that I bought...
you know what I see in them?
Nana's lips.
Wet and somehow...
sort of swollen by alcohol...
You thought I'd get drunk
and talk nonsense?
I'm doing it for Nana. I was on my way
to her actually, she lives near here.
Nana's flat will be all cooI now
and we'll go...
straight into the bedroom!
I prefer visiting her flat than
her coming to mine.
As if something in there is
more stimulating...
more arousing, habituation kills
stimulation.
Habituation not only with people
but also with spaces!
I like Nana's bedroom for another
reason as well.
It's a multi-sided room,
a pentagon actually.
So...
I'm aroused by this disproportion,
being among 5 and not 4 walls.
You'Il say, how's all this
relevant to our subject?
Yes, it is, indeed!
Because I haven't yet told you
who Nana is.
Well, Nana is divorced and lives with
her son, Velissarios, only 6 years old!
I usually see her in the mornings
when Velissarios is at schooI.
Of course I forgot to mention
the most important thing.
Nana is no ordinary woman.
She is a top modeI!
The hottest number!
CLICK
The women we love
Suddenly...
I imagined myself being with Nana
in the pentagonal, disproportionate
and stimulating room...
that Fortysome had so graphically
described for me.
With Nana, supposedly
we were not simply lovers
but also living together in that flat,
all three of us.
Myself, she and little Velissarios.
A voice started roaring in my head.
What are you fantasizing?
Could this ever be possible?
You've only just heard
about this woman
and you're already married to her?
Juan's right after all...
No way you can be a bachelor.
You see now?
I'm not ashamed to confess that.
I'm happy living by myself!
Being a bachelor!
You scram, too!
I only came to fill up your glasses,
my treat presumably...
This man's my wife's brother.
Doctors said that she must have
both her legs cut off!
Up from the pelvis! I'm going mad!
So fuck you and your treat!
Get the hell out!
I swear not to come to your table again
presumably... untiI kingdom come!
You can have my balls and scram!
I won't set foot again
in your shithouse!
Why's that, presumably...?
Hey, man...
What did you tell that poor man?
Cut off legs and the like...
Why alI that swearing?
Are you crazy?
Go on your way.
Go back to your bachelor happiness,
boy and don't give a shit!
I'm in no mood, thanks a bunch, now
scram before I become any nastier.
What do you mean?
Scram!
No, I want to know what you mean!
This is your way of saying thanks?
I ducked my plan and followed you
and agreed to go
into that shithouse...
Beat it!
Did you hear me,
you happy arsehole?
Just...
beat...
it!
Fortysome...
that decorative houseplant...
It is him and not Dolores
who is the living proof actually...
Juan's theory stands by all means.
Fortysome belongs to a type of men
quite different from me.
Me, I'll never manage...
As long as I live and exist, I'll be
working in Juan's behalf eternally...
From that same night on
I locked myself in
and for the last two and a half weeks
I've been writing non-stop.
This is my story...
which explains the reasons why
I decided to do
what I'll already have done...
by the time you're holding
one of the 145 copies...
of this text.
I know that most of you
won't believe me.
They will consider all of these
satanic coincidences
as a product of my imagination,
as sickly games of my mind...
In the worst case, only some
may believe me
when it's all too late.
When they feel the consequences
of this story on their own skin...
JUAN
CARLO
I'd very much like being alive
if only to see all those who will
attend my funeral...
Naturally...
she is crying...
but she's also really afraid
that any of the relatives
may recognize her...
Any acquaintance we had in common...
She's definitely afraid...
but she wouldn't stand
not coming, either...
Behind those dark glasses
Juan's eyes are pointing at Nana...
"Mmmm"... the worm is thinking...
"Interesting"...
Big, sort of swollen lips...
and her body...
She's almost perfect...
He's saying all this because
his expert eyes
have not seen Fortysome yet...
Pity...
I hadn't noticed him...
Too bad, it can't be done...
The more I look at him
the surer I become.
This man... was born a bachelor!
And he'll remain a bachelor
till the day he dies.
Therefore, his dearie's no good for us.
Pity...
And I thought I'd found
another purebred!
Well... That's life!
I wish everybody was like
the late Dimitriadis...
English subs by neverever for 'tik
Oct 2014