Sometimes I admit to
myself that it's possible
I will never be able
to finish my life's work.
My one and only book.
And that in the end,
without her...
...there will be nothing.
And I will die alone.
What are you doing here,
Coane Dominic?
I have a migraine.
I thought a walk might help.
But in your pajamas
on Christmas Eve?
Don't catch cold. Look.
At the first opportunity,
I'll...
What do you do
at the first opportunity?
At the first
opportunity, I have to- I have-
It's in the drawer.
I- I have saved-
I saved it for-
At the first opportunity,
I will open the blue envelope.
Not here in Piatra Neamt
where everyone knows me,
but somewhere far away.
Bucharest perhaps.
At Easter.
Universal.
Universal.
Special Easter
edition. Universal.
War clouds over Romania.
Oh, it's pouring.
Universal.
He was struck by lightning.
Call an ambulance.
Call for some help.
Look, who knows
what sins he has committed
that God would strike him
on Easter.
They say whoever dies during
Easter goes straight to heaven.
Dominic.
Oh...
I will wish you.
You know what I mean. I mean...
I will love you
until the day I die.
The eye seems intact,
but I don't know
if he is blind or not.
I don't even know
if he's conscious,
if he hears or
if he understands what he hears.
If you understand what I say,
squeeze my finger.
I'm Dr. Roman Stanciulescu.
I'm here to help you.
Good.
We wish to find out
your age.
For every 10 years,
squeeze my finger once.
Ten.
Twenty.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Forty.
Forty.
Fifty.
Fifty.
Sixty.
Sixty.
Seventy.
Seventy.
Seventy years old.
Seventy. I would
have thought less.
Well, in this larval state,
it's hard to estimate.
I've never
met anyone like you.
You want to know
absolutely everything.
Laura, try to imagine
conceiving a passion
for something,
having one desire,
dedicating your life to it
and then failing.
I am 26.
I have no accomplishments,
I've made no discoveries.
I'm a failure.
Do you have a wife?
No.
- No.
Nephew?
Yes.
- Nephew.
Nephew.
- Do you want us
to inform your nephew
about your condition?
No.
Let us know the first letter
of your name. Continue.
I am going to say
the alphabet.
A, B, C, D...
D.
- D.
He doesn't live
in Bucharest.
He has only one relative,
a distant one,
and he has no wife.
Thank you.
He'll accept any test,
no matter how dangerous
or painful,
to verify whether
the optic nerve was damaged.
That's interesting.
How old did you say he was?
Seventy.
He's hiding his age.
He's a young man
in the prime of his life.
I didn't come here...
I came here for an education.
- Come.
What did you think
about the lecture?
Professor Matei
is getting senile.
He told us the same thing
three or four times.
I didn't
notice. I was asleep.
Let's go get
something to eat.
Is it true?
Failure, success.
Such extremes, Dominic.
You yourself taught me
about Chandrakirti.
The concept of tetralemma logic,
the four possibilities.
What you say is so,
or it is not so,
it's also so
and not so combined, heh,
or it's neither so
nor not so combined.
You know,
I've never told you this,
but Dr. Chavannes' lecture
in Paris...
I waited to see him.
I was hoping that he would
accept me as a student.
And he told me that if I didn't
master Chinese, Sanskrit,
Tibetan and Japanese,
I would never become
a great Oriental list.
But didn't you tell him
you wanted to study
only the Chinese language?
I did.
I told him that
I'd been studying Chinese
for six months,
six hours a day.
He stepped up
to the blackboard.
He wrote
some 20 characters on it,
and he asked me
to pronounce them
one by one
and then translate the passage.
In order to master Chinese,
one must have
the memory of Mandarin.
Photographic memory.
A memory of a Mandarin.
I remember hearing
about another case,
a priest hit by lightning.
Burned over his whole body
and would survive
many years afterwards.
True, he was left
blind and mute,
as our man is also probably.
Don't talk so loud.
Maybe he can hear you.
I want him to hear me.
Let's see how he'll react.
Maybe he isn't mute at all.
No!
Not mute! Not mute!
Try to pronounce any word,
anything.
Blue envelope.
Envelope...
The teeth,
they're barely holding.
Call the dentist right now
and see if the x-rays are ready.
What's next?
"Romania may be forced
to negotiate with Hitler. "
France is abandoning us
to the Nazis.
He is right.
His x-rays have come in.
You really should
take a look at them.
The roots are healthy, but they
are being pushed up by new ones.
So we feel you're out
of danger.
Only now do you begin
to become an interesting case.
You understand why,
don't you?
The way the lightning
struck you,
you had to have been killed
on the spot,
or else to have died
of asphyxiation.
At best you'd
be left paralyzed,
mute or blind.
You are lucky,
I'll give you that.
Yes.
We had ordered a set of dentures
to allow you to eat
and above all,
to speak normally.
But the x-rays show
that, uh,
a new set of teeth
are ready to appear.
It's impossible.
Yes. It's simply impossible.
And yet the x-rays are clear.
You are getting new teeth.
This is no longer a case
of a living dead man,
but of something else.
What, exactly,
we still don't know.
Your recovery is amazing.
I don't want to tire you out.
Get some rest.
I'll be back tomorrow.
News stories
and feature articles
are starting to appear
in different papers,
the majority of them absurd,
ridiculous.
What are you doing?
New teeth!
But you must help us
understand this.
We have to know more about you,
who you are,
what your profession is.
What's your real age?
Please cooperate
a little more.
Were you so stubborn
when you were young?
Always.
What is this you
insist on writing, young man?
Well, I've almost finished
with antiquity, the Middle Ages.
But the most exciting part,
the origins.
The origins of language, of-
But when will
you finish it, Dominic?
He needs 10 lifetimes
to do it all.
The origins of
language, human consciousness,
even the idea
of time itself.
This would call for years
of research.
And what with the inexperience
of our provincial...
...librarians.
I'm terribly sorry,
professor.
I have an appointment.
I really must run.
He's brilliant. Brilliant. But-
Laura, I'm so sorry.
I completely forgot.
We have to talk,
Dominic.
It's very important
for both of us,
and I can't hide it
any longer.
Of course.
It's snowing. Should we go
to the Caf Select?
No. And please don't interrupt.
It's not what you think.
I feel that you aren't mine,
that you are never here with me.
That you-
That you live in another time.
I'm not thinking
of your research,
which in spite of what
you believe, does interest me.
I wanted to help you
with that.
But you keep yourself shut away
in an alien world,
one I can't enter.
So for my sake and for yours,
we should break
our engagement and separate.
No.
Laura, no.
We are still young.
We both love life.
You will have more time
for your research.
You'll see later.
Tell the professor
what he wants to know.
Tell him you need
a new identity.
All right, you can go.
I'll be here all afternoon.
I understand
that you are willing
to speak to me candidly.
You don't have to make
a great effort.
The words you cannot pronounce,
you can write.
My name...
is Dominic Matei.
On January the 8th...
I reached the age of 70.
I am a teacher
in Piatra Neamt.
I live on Strada Episcopiei
at Number 18.
It is my house.
It contains a library of...
some 8,000 volumes...
which I have willed
to the lyce.
You're 70 years old?
Extraordinary.
If...
If you require further proof,
I can tell you the...
titles of the books
on my desk or any other...
There's an album
of photographs somewhere?
More precisely, with pictures
of you when you were young?
And some, uh, clothing?
I implore you
to be very, very discreet.
Agents from the Secret Service,
they'll never believe
I'm past 70
and therefore they'll never
believe I am who I say I am.
Of course.
We'll be very careful.
Anything can happen
if you're interrogated by them.
I won't let that happen.
It's true, though,
these are difficult times
in Romania.
In truth...
I came here with the intention
of committing suicide.
I had saved an envelope
with enough strychnine in it
to end my empty life.
Please...
could you find me
a fictitious identity?
That's not a problem.
When your beard comes off,
you'll look like a man of 35,
or, um, 40, at most.
Don't worry.
You're handsome
without the beard, you know?
I have your jacket.
If you like, you can take me
to the movies sometime.
The sleeves are
too short.
And the tie is no good.
They look like
an old man's clothes.
Go with him.
I've seen that car before.
Last night in my dream.
Some people might say
that's a bad omen.
I'm not superstitious.
They're waiting for us.
Professor.
Welcome. Thank you, doctor.
There's wild roses
somewhere.
I want you to note down
all that passes through your mind.
All the books you've read,
all the languages you know,
everything, all the memories,
no matter how insignificant.
If you aren't in the mood
to write,
or if you have
too much to say,
use this device.
German, I'm sorry to say.
A wire recorder.
How do I operate this?
How do I operate this?
My memory...
My memory is unbelievable.
I have a surprise for you.
Soon you'll receive
all the things
from your home
in Piatra Neamt:
your reference books,
dictionaries,
personal belongings.
Ah.
The watch she gave me.
I've brought
your family album.
The one with your pictures
from lyce and the university.
What are you thinking?
What kind of memories?
What kind of associations?
When I look
at that photograph,
I sense the heat
of that morning.
The fragrance of the oleander.
Laura's scent.
Soap...
on her skin.
It's unforgettable.
She married someone else,
you know.
And a year later
she died in childbirth.
It was awful.
It's a kind of hypermnesia
with lateral effects.
It's...
too much,
and it's useless.
It seems useless
because we don't know yet
what to do with it,
with this fantastic
recovery of memory.
It's useless.
Soon it will be learned
that someone,
an old man of unknown origin,
was struck by lightning
and after 10 weeks
appeared perfectly healthy
and young again.
Let's hope the rest
will not be found out.
The anterior-posterior
diameter, 19 centimeters.
The height of the face,
And the length of
the nose, 6 centimeters.
The sexual
organs look like those of a man of 40.
They are fully functional.
My opinion: the patient
is clinically youthful.
I warned you there would be
a sort of international
consultation.
They had to see firsthand.
They couldn't believe
the reports
I published
in La Presse Mdicale.
Well, I wasn't expecting
such questions.
Especially since I was still
in the hospital and had no way
of confirming or ruling out
sexual possibilities.
Excuse me.
In your notebooks,
you speak of erotic dreams.
Are you sure they were dreams?
I don't know.
But if I've confused erotic
dreams with real experiences,
my life is far more interesting
than I'd imagined.
Good,
we value this information.
Thank you.
But in the case
of the young lady in Room 6,
my friend,
that woman was imposed on us
by the Secret Service.
What young lady in Room 6?
Have we met
somewhere before?
Of course we've met before.
Several times, in fact.
I am impressed.
You are very discreet.
Where?
And when?
Most recently,
last night in Room 6.
Your room is next door.
Open up!
Second floor is clear.
Sir...
- Over here.
Over here or there?
- Hey, get out of the car.
Hey, you, stop
the car. Stop the car.
Don't worry.
It had to happen
like this,
for you to be confused
with others,
for people to think you can't
distinguish dream from reality.
Who is taking care of me?
Did you think all you've gone
through is due to chance?
Who is watching over me?
It doesn't matter now.
You'll find out later.
Besides, you've guessed
some of it already.
Otherwise, why haven't you
told the professor
about...
certain dreams like this?
Stop.
If you know
someone else exists,
why have you never
referred to it?
I must not think,
I must not think,
I must not think
of anything.
I must not think,
I must not think of anything.
I must not think,
I must not think of anything.
I must not think,
I must not think...
Yes.
You learn more quickly,
more profoundly, in sleep.
You told the professor
that in sleep
you continued your studies
of the daytime.
Little by little, you discovered
you'd mastered Chinese,
just as later, you discovered
you'd mastered other languages.
I'm beginning to understand
what's happening to me.
Yes.
Good.
The enormous concentration
of electricity that exploded
directly above me
regenerated me and...
amplified fabulously
all my mental faculties.
But this electrical discharge
also made possible
the emergence of a new
personality, a sort of...
double.
Yes.
The formula of the double
is... correct and useful.
But don't be in a hurry
to tell the professor.
So, what I can say?
A man was about to
cross the street.
He was 70 or 80 years old.
The young lady
in Room 6
disappeared
two days ago.
Your companion of a night,
or several.
I'm afraid it was several.
Do you love me?
Yes, more than I could
have imagined.
Tell me how you desire me,
how you long for me.
You are my dream
and my goddess.
She recorded all your conversations
and transmitted them
to the Gestapo.
And when she asked you
questions
in Russian, Polish
or German,
you replied without difficulty
in all those languages.
It's probable that after
listening to the recordings,
someone high up in the Reich
decided to kidnap you.
Kidnap me?
You have become
the most valuable human specimen
existing today
on the face of the earth.
Come, have your chicken.
All the medical schools
in the world
would like to study you.
As a sort of guinea pig.
- Professor.
We are doing all we can
to prevent that.
Professor, ahem,
in your office,
you must come.
Please, professor,
immediately.
We are disturbed over your level
of cooperation, Herr Professor.
As you see, your government
has instructed you
to relinquish
the patient
and all relevant files
to our custody.
I'm sorry, I cannot
comply with this one.
"Cannot comply"?
I will not turn over
the patient himself.
As his doctor,
his condition won't allow
transfer at this time.
I'll return
with a German doctor.
Good.
You're behaving as you should
in order to create
the necessary confusion.
The double.
He always answers the questions
I'm ready to ask.
Like a true
guardian angel.
Now that's a correct
and useful formula.
Are there others?
Many.
For example?
Along with angels and guardian
angels, there are powers:
Archangels,
seraphim, cherubim.
Intermediary beings
par excellence.
Intermediary
between consciousness
and unconsciousness?
Well, of course.
But also between
nature and man,
man and the divine,
reason and Eros.
Feminine and masculine,
darkness and light,
matter and spirit.
So it's come back
to my old passion again:
philosophy of religion.
Yes,
for you it will always
come back to that.
But I can't believe
in the objective reality
of the person
with whom I'm conversing. I-
I can only think of him
as my double.
Well, in a sense,
that's what he is, but...
that doesn't mean
he doesn't exist
in an objective way
independently.
Oh, I'd like to be convinced,
but-
In metaphysical controversies,
empirical proofs
lose their value, but...
wouldn't you enjoy receiving
a few fresh roses
picked from the garden?
I've always liked roses.
Well, where would you like me
to put them?
Not in the vase,
at any rate.
One right here
in my hand...
as I'm holding it now, open.
And another on my knee?
The third rose.
Where do you want me
to put the third rose?
Let's see.
Things are more serious
than we thought.
We know now why the Gestapo
will try anything,
anything, in order to get
their hands on you.
Why?
Among the intimates
of Goebbels,
there is an enigmatic
and ambiguous person,
a certain Dr. Josef Rudolf.
Dr. Rudolf believes that
electrocution by a current
of at least a million volts
could produce
a radical mutation
of the human species.
Word of these experiments
has reached the ear
of Adolf Hitler,
who has become personally
interested in your case.
Attention!
The experiment begins!
They want
us to lend you to them
for a period of time.
God help me.
Time, Dominic,
we are running out of time.
Austrian-Swiss
border. Passport control.
Please disembark
with all luggage.
An order has just come in
from Vienna
that certain nationals
will be detained.
But why? I have
a valid passport and visa.
Please take a step back.
Go on!
My cooperation with the Nazis
is only symbolic.
Go ahead.
Thank you.
Geneva.
1941, May the 7th.
Dominic Matei, dictation.
The documents in the Geneva
safety-deposit box
summarize my life,
which was profoundly changed
in the spring of 1938,
in front of the Gara de Nord
railway station
in Bucharest.
My first experiences
were described and analyzed
by Professor Roman Stanciulescu,
in reports which were
confiscated by the Nazis.
The war rages around me.
I am a fugitive
in neutral Switzerland,
encircled by the Axis powers.
My Romanian homeland has
made a pact with the devil,
Adolf Hitler,
and may soon be under siege.
I've lost contact
with my dear friend,
Professor Stanciulescu,
which could mean
that he's been killed.
I live in fear,
dreading what awaits
in the alleyways.
Eluding capture by my wits,
moving from hotel
to rooming house,
always working on my book.
November the 30th, 1941.
Zurich. Dominic Matei.
I have explained
in portfolio B
how I instinctually
found the talent
to preserve myself.
Living like a secret agent,
I discovered abilities
to forge documents,
change addresses
and prepare disguises.
Shortly before he disappeared,
Professor Stanciulescu
arranged a bank account
for me in Geneva
under the name
of William Pedersen.
Now, without him,
these funds will be depleted.
Oh, good morning,
Mr. Pedersen.
And I will have
to find other means.
February the 20th, 1942.
Bern.
I must face the undeniable
and chilling truth,
that I am a mutant.
Like a character
in a science-fiction novel,
I am a strange superman
of the future.
I have access to knowledge
unavailable to mankind.
Powers I don't fully
understand.
Despite this, I try to behave
as an ordinary intellectual,
working to complete my book,
documenting the origin
of language
and human consciousness.
I began to realize that
with any text I had before me,
if I wanted to know
the content,
I simply... knew it.
Lake Campione.
October the 23rd, 1942.
I found I could augment
my income.
Winning just enough
not to arouse suspicion.
No more bets.
Nothing is as it seems,
I am the proof of that.
We've got a winner.
Dominic Matei?
Dominic Matei.
I trust no one.
Look at these.
See? These were taken
at the clinic
of Dr. Stanciulescu...
in 1938.
And to think, 10 months ago,
on January 8th,
you turned 74 years old.
Eleven again.
You're trying
to look older too.
Those glasses aren't
even prescription.
I still don't- Thank you.
I still don't know
with whom I have the pleasure
to be speaking.
Ted Jones, Jr.
I'm a correspondent
for LIFE magazine.
Listen.
Switzerland is entirely
surrounded by the Axis powers.
I'm cashing out.
Thank you.
I'm on special assignment
for the United States.
I really think you're
confusing me with someone else.
We can protect your identity,
completely.
I have a very powerful
organization behind me.
I know I can be
of some service to you.
We can pay you, or we can make
some arrangements for you,
anything that might help you.
You know,
your English is perfect,
but you're not saying anything.
I'm afraid I must remain
neutral in all of this.
Now, if you'll excuse me.
If someone were to tell me
that there exist among us
authentic magicians, saints,
bodhisattvas,
or anyone endowed
with miraculous powers,
I would believe them.
In a certain sense,
what you say is true.
But you've attained
the freedom to accept
or reject
these new conditions
to use them to finish
your life's work, or not.
Have you decided?
To use them for good
or for evil.
Have you decided?
Despite my precautions,
I was afraid
I would inadvertently
give myself away
conversing with professors
and colleagues
at the university.
I knew more than any of them
and understood things
they never even
suspected existed.
I know you're
a good friend
of the Romanian
Professor Stanciulescu.
I'm very sorry. I heard he died
in a plane crash, an accident.
But we can talk about this
when my friend gets here.
I told him to come at 9:00.
Your friend?
Dr. Monroe.
The director of an important
gerontology foundation.
He's Swiss, like me.
Like you.
You know,
I do have a name.
Would you like to know it?
Be careful.
He knows who you are.
Hello, I'm Dr. Monroe.
Head of the foundation
investigating
the materials
of Professor Stanciulescu.
I'm afraid I have no idea
to what you're referring.
The belief that youth and life
can be prolonged in any way
other than by the purely
biochemical ones.
You do know
what I'm referring to?
No, I'm sorry.
Methods proposed
by that Nazi, Dr. Rudolf.
Electrocution by means
of a million or more volts.
Insane.
Fortunately, I believe
that method was never tried.
But our informants said
that Professor Stanciulescu
had worked with a somewhat
analogous case of rejuvenation
induced by a bolt
of lightning.
We know who you are,
Mr. Dominic Matei.
Now, I have a prior engagement,
I really must run.
I'm terribly sorry.
- I know.
Perhaps we could have dinner.
Later tonight?
Mr. Matei?
What do we do with time?
That question,
"what do we do with time"
expresses the supreme ambiguity
of the human condition.
I have no idea
what you're talking about.
An opportunity has been
given to us.
We, the human race.
"We"?
No.
You and I both know
what is coming:
atomic warfare,
cataclysmic destruction.
But unlike the others,
I'm trying to find a meaning
to this impending catastrophe.
Think of me as the last
European optimist.
This can be our life's work.
Please.
There are a few of us who since
The fact that you appeared
all of a sudden
means that you have
a special mission
and that you possess means
of knowledge much superior
to those available to us.
You are gravely mistaken.
What is indispensable
to a truly human existence?
For instance,
the Occidental artistic
treasury, music and poetry,
but also a part
of classic philosophy,
and above all, science.
Post-historic man
will be allergic to science
for at least
one or two centuries.
No, always science.
Science above all.
Dominic.
I'm surprised at you.
Dominic, don't believe
anything he says.
Shut up!
I will tell him the truth.
Come, Dominic,
join me in this work.
He is Dr. Josef Rudolf,
Hitler's most
dedicated scientist.
Adolf Hitler?
If you actually knew him...
If you had ever been with him,
in his presence...
If I could describe it to you...
Well, uh,
you will meet him soon enough.
No! The Gestapo
had Stanciulescu killed
and Rudolf was the one-
Traitor!
You have no choice
in the matter.
Dominic.
You were
the honey in my dreams.
Forgive me. Please, forgive me.
It's true what he says.
You really have no choice
in the matter.
Geneva 1955, 20th of August,
about 10:31 a. m.
Dominic Matei.
I've decided to stop
making notes in English
and instead to use
an artificial language
of my own invention.
Now I can describe paradoxical situations...
impossible to express in any existing language.
This will permit me to reveal facts...
I have not dared to confess in writing.
This language will only be deciphered...
by means of a perfected computer.
So my testimony is addressed to the future...
let us say in the year 2010.
But to whom?
The coming nuclear wars...
will destroy many civilizations...
Undoubtedly, this will unleash...
a wave of deep pessimism, historically unprecedented.
A general despondency.
My testimony, deciphered in the future...
could counter the despair...
because it shows the potential of humanity:
a species superior to Homo sapiens,
born in a far-off future.
This depends on the preservation
of the material in the safe-deposit box.
I don't know how this will be assured.
But I do not doubt that the material
will be preserved.
Otherwise,
my life would have no meaning.
Hello!
Excuse me,
what's the best way
up to the top?
Is it Laura?
She's afraid of curvy roads.
I really don't think
you should go on.
There's a storm coming in.
We're used to mountain storms.
And anyway, we can't wait.
It is.
Our vacation will
be over in a few days.
Maybe I can help.
That's it.
That's it.
I'm Veronica.
What's your name?
Dominic.
With her,
you use your real name.
Thank you.
Be careful.
Goodbye, Dominic.
I can only guess what happened.
When the big storm broke out,
they were probably
on the road
that runs under
the mountain wall,
where most
of the lightning struck.
I'm afraid they could have
been buried in a rockslide
or a close strike of lightning
can cause a heart attack.
Your name?
Martin Audricourt.
Passport, please.
You know, I can always
go in a taxi by myself.
If I need help, I'll call
from the first service station.
I don't think they could
have had time to reach the shelter.
They could have taken refuge
in one of the crevices
in the wall.
Oh, there's their car.
There's a woman
over here.
She's dead.
Om, shanti
Shanti
Veronica?
What happened?
Are you all right?
Sanskrit.
How can it be?
She's had a shock.
She's suffering from amnesia.
What language is that?
What is she speaking?
It's an Indian language,
I think.
Her papers identify her
as Veronica Buehler, age 25.
Occupation: school teacher.
Living in Liestal,
Canton Ble-Campagne.
Excuse me.
- Please.
You're the only one
who can calm her
and speak her language,
Mr...?
Audricourt.
I'm a student of linguistics.
Greetings.
What is your name?
It is a pleasure
to make your acquaintance.
My name is Rupini.
Thank you.
Good morning.
What can you tell us,
Mr. Audricourt?
The young woman believes
she is living
in northeastern India
She feels
that she has spent
several months
in a cave meditating.
Now, this is where she was
when a big storm broke out
and she saw lightning strike
above her on the mountain.
Many large rocks were dislodged,
blocking the mouth of the cave.
Is that all?
She asserts her name
is Rupini,
daughter of Nagabhatta,
descended from one of the first
families to convert to Buddhism.
She became a disciple
of the philosopher Chandrakirti,
which is why she was in the cave
copying down his works.
I see.
Would you mind if I discuss this
a moment with my colleagues?
Not at all.
We will invite
some doctors from, uh,
Zurich, Basel and Geneva
to come to see her.
I...
If I might make a suggestion?
Yes.
Perhaps some experts from
the Oriental Institute in Rome
might be necessary.
Necessary for what?
Well, to confirm
if what she's saying is fact.
Fact?
Exactly.
I present to
you Professor Giuseppe Tucci
from the Oriental Institute
in Rome.
I am Blasi, his assistant.
Professor
Tucci, it's an honor.
Before we begin,
who wrote the telegram
that included
some of the particulars?
I did, professor.
You're a Sanskritist?
Not exactly. Excuse me.
Uh, but I have an interest
in Oriental studies.
I came only because
of your report.
Thank you.
You did well.
Well-being, your ladyship.
Welcome to both of you.
Where am I?
Why doesn't anybody
understand me?
As in dreams, the mind presents
the appearance of duality.
We've had some of her
remarks translated into English.
The young woman's knowledge
of Madhyamika philosophy
and her master, Chandrakirti,
is convincing.
The discussion only became
delicate whenever Rupini
asked what had happened to her,
where she was
and why no one understood her.
What did you tell her,
professor?
I always
begin by reminding of Maya.
The cosmic illusion.
The great witch.
Actually it's
not a dream, I told her,
but it takes part
in the illusory nature
of dreaming,
because it is the future,
therefore, of time.
Now, time is
par excellence unreal.
I don't believe
I convinced her.
But fortunately, she's, uh,
enthusiastic about logic
and dialectics,
and that's mainly
what we discussed.
Uh, professor,
could all this possibly be...?
How shall I say?
Fact?
"Fact"?
Mmm.
I would suggest
a journey to India,
more precisely to the province
of Uttar Pradesh,
to the caves where Rupini
claims to have meditated.
I should think
the Oriental Institute of Rome,
of which I am president,
would sponsor the expedition.
And, young man,
I think you should
accompany us to India.
I'd be delighted,
professor.
It's been understood she will
be put into a deep sleep
before leaving the clinic
and will continue
to sleep
until we reach the vicinity
of the caves.
Start rolling. Rolling!
Tucci! Tucci, look here!
We are very close
to the frontier of Nepal.
According to Rupini's account,
this is where we'll find the
cave where she would meditate.
We are very fortunate in having
a pandit from Gorakhpur
familiar with
the Madhyamika philosophy.
He'll be at her side
when she awakens.
Everyone,
hide themselves.
No form,
no feeling,
no thought,
no choice,
no consciousness.
Gone, gone,
gone beyond,
completely gone.
Enlightenment.
So be it.
Welcome.
Why did it take you so long?
I was already here.
I know this place.
Stay back. Hide yourself.
Over here!
Ah!
Oh, God.
Are you all right?
Just be still. Lay still.
Just rest.
Veronica.
She recognized it.
This is the cave!
But the entrance is blocked.
I don't think
you'll be needing me for a while.
She is awake,
but she has not
opened her eyes.
Greetings.
How are you feeling, Rupini?
Didn't we-? Didn't
we ask directions of you today?
My name is Veronica Buehler,
and I speak three languages:
German, French and English.
Have you ever tried to
learn any Oriental language?
Never.
Or have you ever read anything
about India
or Indian culture?
Some popular books.
Like?
Heh. Rudyard Kipling,
I think?
The Jungle Book.
Have you ever heard
the name Rupini?
No.
In an earlier existence,
Veronica Buehler
had been Rupini.
I would say, for the vast
majority of the Oriental lists,
a clear example of
the transmigration of the soul.
And, young man, your opinion?
As a neophyte Oriental list,
I can only cite some classical
Indian conceptions,
from Upanishads
to Gautama Buddha.
Excuse me. It is
precisely in the Upanishads
in the Brhadaranyaka
and Chandogya Upanishads
that one can find this belief
for the first time.
This is karma, isn't it?
But it's hard for me to believe
that I ever existed before.
How did you say?
Metempsychosis.
Metempsychosis.
- Mm-hm.
That absolutely
doesn't make sense to me.
Maybe...
What?
Maybe I was possessed
by an evil spirit.
Well...
They never leave us alone.
It's all so confusing.
I'm afraid
I'm going crazy.
Hello, Miss Veronica,
just an interview.
That's enough. Let's go.
Taxi!
Just drive, drive anywhere.
I- I think
we should get away. I...
I think we should go somewhere.
We should be alone.
We should go to, uh,
somewhere beautiful,
a Mediterranean island.
Dominic, that would make me
very, very happy.
Look, that bird.
What kind of birds
do they have in Malta?
That's a Maltese falcon.
Welcome.
Thank you.
No, that's fine.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks very much.
Finally alone.
Dominic,
it's beautiful here.
Yes, it is.
When I first opened my eyes
and saw you...
I confess I was thinking,
if I were three
or four years older and...
if he were
to ask me to marry him...
I would say yes.
Veronica.
My love.
Is it true?
Yes.
I've always loved you.
Veronica?
Do you understand it?
I don't know this language.
Ancient... Beyond...
Why else did you have
to know her?
Veronica?
Veronica...
It's all right.
That's all right.
It's all right.
I've got you.
I've got you.
I've got you, darling.
I've got you, Laura.
It's all right.
I've got you.
I've got you, darling.
I've got you, Laura.
I love you, darling.
I love you.
Was that Rupini's voice?
Mm-hm. Yes.
She's moving back in time
from Sanskrit
to earlier languages.
That was Egyptian.
Perhaps you'll take us back
to a time before history.
The origins of language,
which is where I've always
wanted to go, but I never could.
But it's helping me
finish my work.
Good.
Good. I want to help you.
You know, I'm...
I'm 88 years old, really.
If I added up all the years
Rupini lived,
I'd be older than you.
Well, then let's go dancing.
Thank you.
I don't think
we'll be recognized,
even with our pictures
in all those magazines.
Well, our pictures
are still appearing.
Let me see.
What's the matter?
I feel tired all the time,
and I don't understand why.
Something is happening
inside me. I can feel it.
And she's right.
The Para mediumistic ecstasies
have exhausted her.
Champagne?
Veronica?
Veronica!
No! Veronica, don't!
Veronica!
I was so worried!
What is it?
It was a dream.
A bad dream.
What was-? What was it?
I was somewhere beside a river,
and someone,
a stranger with a head
like a dog,
was coming toward me.
And in his hand, he-
He had...
Explain it to me!
I want to know
what Rupini knows.
She knows things
that we don't understand yet.
No. Let me-
No, no!
Don't ever leave me.
I'll never leave you.
Don't ever leave me.
I'll never leave you.
Don't ever leave me.
I'll never leave you.
Veronica.
The stranger in your dream
was probably Shiva.
And in his hand, a skull.
For Shiva is both creator
and destroyer combined.
Dominic?
There's someone
who looks like you
spying on us.
I didn't notice anyone.
By the gate.
Come and look.
There's no one there.
Maybe I was mistaken.
You've been in the sun too long.
Let's go inside.
I'm 88 years old, really.
She's in a
hyper-suggestive state.
Tell her you love her.
Tell her that you've
always loved her.
I love you.
I've always loved you.
That's Sumerian.
No, it's Babylonian.
After Egyptian and Babylonian,
there followed probably
a sample of proto-Elamite
and one of Sumerian.
She is descending
deeper and deeper
into the past.
But how far back will she go?
Your life's work will
finally have what was missing.
Every night for two weeks,
Veronica went
further back in time.
Through unknown languages...
unwritten history.
Getting closer...
and closer...
to the inarticulate moment...
of the beginning.
But at what cost?
Madam is not suffering
from anything,
anything at all.
Are you sure, doctor?
Yes. I've prescribed
a series of shots
with vitamins and minerals.
Perhaps it's...
the nervous condition
that precedes menopause
in certain women.
Well, just how old do you
take her to be, doctor?
Late 40s, more or less.
She's 25.
Where have all
the mirrors gone?
Bring one to me.
Veronica, you're not well.
Bring a mirror to me,
Dominic, please.
Maybe that one.
I should have understood this
from the beginning.
One more regression,
she'll reach
the protolanguage.
Your life's work
will be complete.
You know I'm right.
Dominic?
Dominic?
Look.
Come sit with me.
Come sit with me.
Veronica.
Veronica, I'm to blame for this.
No, it's me.
Listen to me. Listen to me
and don't interrupt.
Please, listen.
Listen to me.
If I continue to live with you,
by autumn
you will have perished.
I can't tell you more.
But I assure you,
in reality, you haven't aged.
The moment I disappear
from your life,
your youth and your beauty
will return.
Don't leave me, Dominic.
Please, don't leave me.
I was doomed to lose everything
that I love.
But I'd rather lose you young
and beautiful, the way you were,
the way you will be again
without me,
than to watch you perish
in my arms.
You promised me
you would never leave me.
I am going to leave you.
If you leave me,
I will die without you.
If in a few months,
you don't find yourself
as you were last autumn,
I'll come back.
The minute I receive
your telegram, I'll come back.
Three or four months,
just wait-
Somewhere...
far away from me.
Don't leave me.
Please. Please.
Dominic.
The 3:10 train
from Bucuresti to lasi
will depart in five minutes.
The 3:10 train
from Bucuresti to lasi
will depart in five minutes.
Good evening.
Audricourt.
Sign here, please.
Thank you.
On the second floor, Room 19.
Thank you.
By the way,
do you know if the Caf Select
still exists?
How could it not exist?
It's an historic monument.
Of course.
Have you heard
of Professor Dominic Matei?
You know,
I was born here.
Then you know that
he frequented Caf Select
the whole time he was
professor here in Piatra Neamt.
That's right.
Here's your key.
Nineteen?
The second floor.
All right.
Welcome home.
Caf Select.
Maman.
Maman.
Maman.
Maman.
"Good and
evil lose their meaning,
"and in the absolute
being coincides
with nonbeing. "
Yes, but what no one dares
to say
is that in the horizon
of these philosophies,
atomic wars must be,
if not justified,
at least accepted.
No, I reject that.
True meaning of nuclear
catastrophe can only be this:
The mutation
of the human species,
and the arrival
of the new man.
Yes, but atomic wars
will destroy populations,
civilizations.
That is the price to be paid.
How can you even say that?
The resulting electromagnetic
pulse will create
an unlimited potential
for post-historic man.
Yes, but it could go
the other way
and provoke a regression
in the species.
All that matters is knowledge
and the perfection
of the human being.
So you're saying that the end
justifies the means?
There is no other way.
Just as there was no other way
for Veronica, just aging
and suffering and then death.
There was no other way.
That's why you've never
finished your book,
why you'll always be a failure.
No.
Dominic, what have you done?
Oh, Dominic.
Save me.
Save me, Dominic.
Dominic, what have you done?
What have you done?
And the third rose?
Where shall
I put the third rose?
Oh, where shall I put it?
Dominic?
Dominic Matei?
Cuconul Dominic Matei?
Is it you?
Praise God,
you've returned.
Dr. Neculache, look.
He's back.
Cuconul Dominic is here.
In other words,
the story begins
all over again.
Old friend.
Dominic?
Look, it's you.
- I'm dreaming.
I am dreaming.
When I wake up,
it will seem like
I've just begun to dream indeed.
It's like, uh,
the story of Chuang-tzu
and the butterfly.
The story of Chuang-tzu
and the butterfly?
Yes.
A king who was dreaming
that he was a butterfly
that dreamed he was a king,
who was dreaming
he was a butterfly.
I know very well
that I'm-
I'm dreaming,
and in a minute or two
I will wake up.
You are awake, Cucoane Dominic,
but you are tired.
In fact, you look very tired.
All right.
Between December the 20th, 1938,
and this evening,
many things have happened.
That is when it is happening,
Cucoane Dominic.
This is December 20th, 1938.
I don't dare tell you
what year we are
really living in,
we who are outside this dream.
I know that if I were to make
the effort, I would wake up.
You are not dreaming,
Coane Dominic.
You're here with us,
your friends.
You're at the Caf Select.
This is what we imagined
would happen.
When Conul Dominic
comes to his senses,
when he recovers,
you'll see.
He'll go straight
to the Caf Select.
But if I'm not dreaming,
then you'd know about...
Hiroshima.
Of the hydrogen bomb,
of Neil Armstrong,
the astronaut who landed
and walked on the moon...
...last summer in July.
Dominic!
Dominic, it's true.
You've come back.
Welcome.
You look good.
Welcome, old friend.
It's like that story of, uh,
the Chinese philosopher,
you know, the one
I've told you about many times.
Which Chinese philosopher?
The name escapes me now.
The one with the butterfly.
Well, it's too long to repeat.
I'll call for a sleigh
to take you home.
I don't need a sleigh.
I'm going on foot.
The next time
the problem arises,
I shall know how to answer.
What problem, dear Dominic?
The problem which worries
all of us.
Dominic?
Is it your teeth?
Is it your teeth? Dominic?
Should I lock up
the door?
The guest in Room 19
hasn't come back yet.
He went to the Caf Select.
I'll call.
Yes, he came here.
He went into the backroom.
Uh, no one was there,
so he stayed only
a few minutes
and left without
saying good night.
He was, uh, holding
his hand to his mouth.
And the third?
Where do you want me to put
the third rose?