Twice Upon a Time (1968) - full transcript

''And now you will see a young girl in a train.

Then I will tell you some short stories.

Then we will discuss the pharmacy sequence.

At the end there will be a real fall.
For the sequence about the man, we will simultaneously see

an extreme close-up of the sky,
some birds, a city block,
the man in a street,

the man sleeping,
the man dreaming.

We will also see a city,
some unidentifiable place,
commonplace conversations.
Tonight will be the end of meaning.
Ladies and gentlemen, good evening.

One day I meet a man by chance. We are together.

I lose all memory of body and soul.

The man teaches me everything again, like a child.

Once I've relearned everything,



I don't recognize him any more.

Story 2:

One day, I am in the street,

and suddenly I don't feel well.

Then I feel really unwell.
I call out to someone:
''You must help me!''

Story 3:

One day I go into a pharmacy to buy some soap.

They show me two.
One was wrapped prettily but had too strong a scent.

The other smelled sweet but had awful packaging.

Which should I choose?
Story 4:

All the images
in our imagination are real.
Story 5:

There is no story 5.

There is no sto-

I'd like some soap please.
I don't know.



I'll buy this one.
Thank you.

Some soap, please.
I don't know.
(in Spanish) How much is this one?
(in Spanish) and this one?

(in Spanish) This one.

(in Spanish) Thank you. Goodbye.
Hello, I would like some soap, please.
I don?t know.
(something in Spanish; not sure what)
Thank you.
Achilles and the Tortoise
For the third time, the Tortoise went to see Achilles.
Finally, Achilles accepted. The race began.
The Tortoise was ten metres ahead of the man,
who smiled and moved ten times faster than the Tortoise.
Achilles went ten metres, the Tortoise went one.
Achilles one metre and the Tortoise a decimetre.

Achilles a centimetre and the Tortoise a millimetre.
Achilles a millimetre and the Tortoise one-tenth of a millimetre.

Achilles will never catch the Tortoise.
Achilles couldn't believe this.
He laughed at the Tortoise.
He didn't want to believe it.
He told the Tortoise that movement clearly existed.
He kicked the Tortoise into the air.
But when he left, his eyes were sombre
and he stared at his feet, completely lost.
All subsequent dialogue is in Spanish.
(in Spanish until end) Truth:

We repress this wild characteristic,
This cold ambition,
Because if we ever dream (and we will:
because we live in a singular world, in which to live is to dream.)
The experience taught me about the man in your life-dreams,
what he remembers before awakening.
The king dreams himself king and lives in this lie,
Disposing and governing.
The applause he receives is written in the wind,
but death reduces it to ashes.
A stepmother's luck! Men do everything to reign
to avoid(?) awakening in the dream of death!
The rich man dreams of his wealth, which covers tributaries;
The poor who suffers dreams of his misery and poverty;
He who works and has ambition dreams of beginning to prosper;
Dreams that bless and offend.
In conclusion, everyone on Earth dreams what they are,
even if some do not understand it.
I dream that I am here, shackled.
But I also dreamed that I was in another, more agreeable place.
What is life? Folly. What is life? An illusion.
A shadow. A fiction.
And the greatest good is almost nothing, because life is no more than a dream.
And dreams are dreams.