AUTUMN - 1994
The rural school employs
a strict teaching method.
Eight different grades of pupils,
divided into two rooms.
On the right, Miss R
teaches the younger children.
On the other side, Mr S
is in charge of the older children.
Today, Mr S breaks
the rigorous school schedule.
Instead of telling his students
to open their books,
he says
they won't be reading today.
The class falls silent,
as if the pupils were afraid.
He is going to talk about
something very important
You won't be reading today.
I'm going to tell you about
something very important,
so I want you all to listen.
Interrupting the silence,
he clears his throat
and continues in a solemn voice.
Today, I'm going to tell you
about Martin Luther King.
Hi, kids.
How are you?
Fine.
I'm Maria. I'vejust finished
cleaning the house...
Elisa Kiseljak
turns eleven this winter.
But that's four months away,
four months is a long time.
So she's not thinking about it.
Not yet
At her cousirs First Communion
she wore a new white and blue dress
and she tried not to dirty it.
Her little sister had
exactly the same dress, identical.
Elisa doesn't like
that they dress the same.
Her sister asks their father
if she can sleep over
at her cousirs house.
The father agrees.
Elisa Kiseljak leaves with
her father and her older brother.
It's dark when they get outside.
Very dark.
Elisa stares at the squares
on the pavement.
One, two, three, four, five.
Every five she has to jump
or she'll go to hell.
Come on, Elisa.
The following morning,
like every Saturday,
they get up late,
without any hurry,
and Elisa,
her dad and her big brother
have breakfast
in their usual caf.
Afterwards, they walk
to their dad's friend's house.
They ring to tell the friend
and his kids to come down.
The friend's wife answers
with a metallic voice.
- Hello.
- Hi, it's us.
Come on up.
Okay. Let's go.
Let's take the stairs,
it's the first floor.
Hello!
Hello, sweetie.
Hello.
Wow, you've grown.
What do you feed him?
Vitamins and minerals.
Keep your eye on this one,
he climbs everywhere.
Don't worry.
A kiss.
Bye, sweetie.
I've got it.
See you later.
Ready?
He gives his right hand to his
daughter and the left to his son.
Elisa's father tries to do the same,
with the same ease,
but it doesn't really work.
Elisa Kiseljak and her brother
find it funny,
their father doesn't know
how to do things like that
When Elisa sees her brother
coming out of the museum,
she quickly gets off the big wheel,
She thanks the man who is whistling,
with a friendly smile.
- Hello, sweetie.
- Hello.
Were you cold up there?
- Why can't we go on the rollercoaster?
- There was hardly any queue.
Another day.
They all had lunch
at the usual restaurant.
Their father's friend's wife too.
Elisa's father asks them
up to his place.
Will you come to mine
for another coffee?
His friend's wife
and their children can't go.
They have to visit grandmother.
Their father's friend decides to go.
I think I will.
Elisa is upset with her father.
He didn't insist enough
that they all come up.
She wanted to play
with the friend's daughter.
The four of them
walk back slowly,
feeling dozy after their lunch.
In the lounge there are
two worn leather sofas,
a silver television,
a lamp hanging immobile
from the ceiling,
a portrait of a lady with
a violet hat and orange scarf,
a lacquer coffee table
and a rug.
The father serves his friend
some coffee.
Rememberthe restaurant
I told you about?
- We could go there next time.
- The seafood place.
- The seafood is excellent.
- Yes, good idea.
Dad, I'm going out on the terrace.
- What are you going to do there?
- Nothing, I'm bored.
Can I?
Yes.
Close the doorthough, please.
And you, Elisa? Are you bored?
The father had a bit too much
to drink at lunch
and will soon fall asleep,
and a few minutes later
Elisa will be raped.
Then she'll lose her memory
and the conversation between
the friend and her dad won't matter.
The father's friend is a jeweller.
He lives in an expensive
part of town.
They're people with money.
You can see it
in her father's friend.
In the aftershave he uses,
in his clothes,
in the type of haircut he has,
in his hands,
in the food he orders,
and even in the way he sighs.
When he sees Elisa crying,
he whispers in her ear.
If you stop crying,
I'll give you a silver bracelet.
- How are you?
- Fine.
The brother comes back inside.
He doesn't notice what's happened.
Nobody could have noticed.
The brother comes in
and the father wakes up.
He makes room for him on the sofa.
And as he has to move,
he stands up completely
and invites his friend to the bar.
The friend accepts, stands up,
and the two of them leave.
I'll be back soon.
Then, later on, when it's dark,
seeing that her father
has not returned,
they go down to the bar
to ask him for money
to go eat at the usual restaurant
The next day, Elisa feels
a slight pain in her stomach,
as if something
had made her sick,
She's gone with herfather
and brother
to collect her little sister
from their cousirs house.
Then, as always,
they go back to the station,
where the father
will say goodbye,
until the next time
fifteen days later.
- Bye, bye.
- Bye, Dad!
Yes, press the button.
- See you, son.
- Thanks. Bye.
Bye.
Bon voyage. Bon voyage.
When the train starts,
they open the biscuits
their dad gave them,
like every Sunday
when they go back to mum's house,
and they eat them,
and no one looks at them,
as if it were not so uncommon
for three kids to travel alone.
- Hello, Mum.
- Hello, Mum.
- Hello, sweetie.
- Hello.
Let's go, quickly,
I'm badly parked.
- Your hands are cold.
- Yes, I've been waiting long.
- So, was it good?
- Yes.
- You fell asleep, I suppose?
- Yes.
- So you had a good time?
- Yes, very good.
When their mother asks them
if they had a good time,
how the Communion went,
and what they did with their dad,
the brother explains that they went
to the amusement park
and the robotmuseum.
The little sister says she went
to her cousirs house
and that they stayed up late.
But Elisa is silent,
she doesn't say anything.
And when her mother asks...
What about you, Elisa?
Elisa?
I saw Dad's friend.
He said he'd give me
a silver bracelet.
How come you're awake?
Are you okay?
What?
Are you okay?
Yes, Mum.
Sure?
Sure.
Then get dressed.
Elisa stays in bed a while,
although she doesn't sleep any more.
All week, whenever her mother
goes in to wake her for school,
Elisa is already awake and
her mother asks her if she's okay.
Come on.
- Did you pick up the sandwiches?
- Yes.
- Good. Have a nice day.
- Thanks, mum.
- Do you have basketball today?
- I don't know yet.
Well, you let me know.
- Bye, Elisa, have a good day.
- Bye.
You too, Mum.
A proportion of the water
which falls on the ground as rain
evaporates.
Some of it filters into the ground
and some of it runs over
the earth's surface
forming water courses
which we call rivers.
Rivers are currents of fresh water
which flow
into the sea,
into another river or into a lake.
If there's something wrong,
you can talk to me.
Dad's friend said he would
give me a silver bracelet.
Mum!
It's the second time
she's said that in a week.
Her mother thinks it strange that
Elisa thinks about it so much.
But then the little sister calls her
from the lounge,
and she goes inside
and forgets what she was thinking.
But on Monday she remembers,
and goes to see Mr S,
Elisa's teacher,
to tell him that she's
acting a little strangely.
He says that he will
keep an eye on her,
and they will speak again soon.
No idea whatsoever?
But you did study?
Hello?
Ah, yes.
Mr S tells her that Elisa
has failed her science exam.
And have you told her?
He says that her daughter
didn't react to having failed
and that she seems a bit withered.
Withered?
That was the word he used.
It seems
an unusual word to use,
as ifthe teacher
were translating as he spoke.
But that was what he said.
Does she seem strange to you?
She's almost eleven. She probably
just had an argument with her mates.
- Did she mention anything?
- No, we hardly talk.
I don't think she's well.
Let me do my homework,
and stop worrying.
- Are you sure there's nothing wrong?
- Sure.
- You don't want to tell me?
- I'm okay, Mum.
I've got loads of books
to read for school,
that's why I'm always awake
in the mornings.
Okay, Elisa...
I'll finish this.
You go and study.
Since last weekend
when she came to see you.
Do you know what it could be?
No, I don't know him.
Yes, she hasn't stopped
telling me,
he's supposed to give her
a silver bracelet.
Are you seeing him again?
Then ask him.
The following weekend,
the father makes a decision.
He takes Elisa by the hand and they
go to his friends jewellery shop.
But the girl starts to cry,
and says she doesn't want to go in.
She asks herfather to go alone
and bring her the bracelet
But the father says
she has to choose her favourite
and thank his friend personally.
- Let me go.
- Elisa, listen.
Please.
Don't make me go in, Dad.
- I'm scared.
- It's all right.
Thank you.
Hello.
The father had to force her
to go to their usual restaurant.
She really didn't want to.
When they finish lunch,
the four of them will go
to the station in the father's car.
They'll buy a tin of biscuits,
the fatherwill clown around
on the platform,
and the kids will laugh until
the train starts. Just like always.
Then they'll sit down
and eat the biscuits,
and no one will look at them,
as if it were not so uncommon
for three kids to travel alone.
Yes, I asked her again
but she just started crying.
No, I'd preferto wait.
I don't want to upset her.
Yes, let's wait a few days
and see what happens.
Yes, I'll give you a call
if there's any news.
Okay.
Yes, yes.
Bye.
I didn't mention it because...
you're a family friend,
and it didn't seem right.
And where did you meet?
And when was it?
Afew months ago.
I didn't think
I'd ever meet anyone else.
And what about the kids?
They'll stay with their mum.
A few months later,
at one of their regular meetings,
the friend tells Elisa's father
that he's leaving his wife
and moving abroad
with a younger woman.
I haven't decided where,
somewhere far away.
I never would have thought it.
The father will never again
go to the friend's house.
And, after a while,
he won't even talk about him,
or his wife or his children,
ever again.
It will be as if
he has forgotten them all,
as if that family never existed.
The father will move
to a smaller apartment,
he'll make new friends,
many of whom won't have children,
and they'll never return
to the amusement park.
Elisa decides she never wants
to wear that dress again,
because it's a dress
for little girls.
She finds it corny,
and she's sure none of her
classmates would wear it either.
Elisa wants to be
like her friends now.
"The terrible emotions
of the last four weeks
began to have an effect on her.
She was a bag of nerves,
and the slightest noise
would make her jump.
She stayed locked in her room
for five days,
and in the end she decided
she would stop worrying about
the blood stain
on the floor of the library.
The Otis family didn't want her.
They clearly
didn't deserve her either. "
Over the next few days,
things returned to
how they were before,
the mother began thinking about
other things and so did Elisa.
And on theirfree afternoons,
Elisa and her friend
went to the stables
to learn how to ride horses.
Elisa liked village life
because she enjoyed little things
and she had a good time.
Elisa failed all her exams
and it feels strange
to go back to school.
Her brother and sister
are pleased,
because she had always got
the highestmarks,
and thought
she was the cleverest
But she doesn't talk about it.
She just failed all her exams.
We should explain to her.
Yes, I'll bring her in.
Elisa.
Sit down.
You know that you've failed?
But I've spoken with your mother,
and I've decided to keep your marks
so that you pass the year.
I want you to go to university,
but you'll have to work hard,
I don't want you to let me down.
"I've decided to keep your marks
so that you pass the year.
I want you to go to university. "
Elisa didn't understand at the time
why Mr S said that.
Many years would go by
before she could understood why.
What's the main course?
Macaroni.
Elisa got an eight out of ten.
She's going to study in Barcelona.
It's lucky you didn't study,
isn't it, Elisa?
Mum, did you
collect the car today?
I forgot. Can you go?
Yes, I'll go tomorrow morning.
- Where will you live?
- Under a bridge.
At your father's flat.
I've spoken to him,
it's no problem.
Pass me the bread, please.
Thanks.
Elisa tells her mother that she'd
rather live in a hall of residence
than in herfather's old flat
Lots of my friends do.
The mother doesn't understand
and asks her why.
Elisa says she's afraid
of the swing on the terrace.
I don't like that swing.
Which swing?
The one on the terrace.
It scares me.
Elisa, sweetie.
Anyway, the flat is empty.
Your father sold the furniture
and threw everything else out.
You'll have the whole place
to yourself.
You'll be much better off there.
- You've packed everything.
- Well...
Listen, you be good,
and take care in the city.
Have fun!
- Help yourself to my clothes.
- Okay.
We'll come and see you,
you can count on it.
- Bye.
- Bye.
The day Elisa leaves the village
to go to study in the city
she sees her school teacher
and she suddenly understands
why he's there.
It took many years for her to see
everything he had done for her.
As soon as you arrive, okay?
Bye.
Elisa Kiseljak is all grown up
and she shares many things
with her university friends.
She also talks about
her favourite books
and the ones she plans to buy
with her savings.
She goes to old bookshops
and buys second-hand books.
And gradually fills up a bookshelf
which she'll have to leave behind
when she goes to study abroad.
She'll go far away
and stay there for a long time.
Life is different now.
Elisa reads alone
in her father's old flat.
Reading in silence gives her
a strange feeling in her stomach,
like a sleeping threat
that lasts a long time.
But she has to get used to it
- Okay. How much is it?
- 19 euros, 30.
- Here. Keep the change.
- Thanks a lot.
Thanks.
Elisa finally goes abroad to study,
and once there, many months later,
Elisa will call her mother,
terrified, and will say to her:
"Mum, help me, I've just
remembered something horrible. "
AFTER THE FATHER'S FRIEND
TOLD ELISA KISELJAK THAT HE WOULD
GIVE HERA SILVER BRACELE
It's difficult to do it like this.
Thanks.
Use some paper,
it'll spread better.
Stop!
It's a messy business this baking.
Shall we put chocolate on top,
or just leave it like this?
Leave it like that.
- You want some more?
- No.
Elisa, are you okay?
Are you in there?
I'll be right out, Elisa.
What?
I'll be right out.
You didn't ruin my life,
you just made me hurt my feet!
Elisa, what are you doing?
Open up,
or I'll knock the door down!
What are you saying, Elisa?
How could you knock it down?
You're only small.
Elisa, turn the water off!
It's hurting me!
Elisa, come out,
or I'll call the police!
Elisa!
Will you stop
banging on the door?
I'm trying to take a shower.
Do you understand?
They won't lock me up.
Ljust remembered something
which happened 14 years ago
and I'm really scared.
Scared of what?
Of how it will affect me.
It will pass.
Everything does.
What happened fourteen years ago?
You should get dressed.
Promise me
you'll get me out of here.
Promise me.
I promise.
Get dressed.
Here.
My name is Elisa, okay?
And no one has ever raped me!
Mum?
Yes.
No, fine.
Mum...
Mum, I need your help.
I just remembered something awful.
I don't know,
perhaps I'm obsessed.
But when I close my eyes
I see him there staring at me.
"They won't believe you,
no one will believe you. "
And I open them to scare him...
And he's still here.
It's horrible.
Elisa...
listen.
He will go away, you'll see.
He will go away.
What was it that mademe remember?
I still don't understand it all.
Before speaking with my dad
I want to reconstruct it all.
I don't want
to only half understand.
I want to know
when I'll stop feeling scared
and if, at some point,
I'll stop seeing the face
of his friend in front of me.
Day and night,
whether I'm awake or asleep.
Always.
I'm scared I won't be strong enough.
I'm scared because it is something
very few people can help me with.
Perhaps I'll never
speak about it again.
If I don't speak about it again
I might forget again.
I'm going to call Dad.
Do you everthink about someone
like Martin Luther King?
Never.
He was a great man, wasrt he?
Yes.
A brave man.
Yes...
A brave man.
Dad.
Did you remember?
No, Elisa.
And believe me, I'm sorry.