"N TOOK THE DICE..." "An image..." "An image slides back and forth in my head for some time, for a long time, no doubt:" "that of two girls, tall, blonde, hair cut short... and they are like sisters." "One of them, I think I know who she is." "A third year student, seen occasionally at the university." "She is called..." "Suddenly I've forgotten her name." "The other, I'm sure I've never seen." "Yet the image slides again, into my head:" "these two girls, side by side with their long legs and their golden hair." "What has always seemed strange, when I tell a story, on TV for example, that which they call a screenplay, is that things are linked from start to finish, logically." "Well composed, continuous." "One feels they've made an effort there, in the studios, so that everything is in order:" "each event in its place, exactly." "Bound by the law of cause and effect..." "That which precedes and that which follows." "And, meanwhile, I see, once again, these two girls, who pass by, for no reason." "For no reason." "Let me try to explain." "These stories that you see on TV that are linked in such a way, so logical, continuous, reassuring, are made only to put you to sleep." "When real things happen around you, you notice that everything is different." "A cop show, on TV, always ends by putting in its right place, each element of the investigation, and there is never one missing or one too many, however small." "All is explained at the end." "All becomes clear." "The whole is transformed into an object smooth and closed, round... like a sort of egg, unbreakable and transparent." "Like a kind of food, sterilized, hygienic and without taste." "The history of France, for schoolchildren... something..." "like death." "In real life or the newspapers, reading true stories of crime or passion, or everyday news, it's never like that." "Something always remains incomprehensible." "people enigmatic, right to the end, stubborn little details, that don't fit with the rest... which destroy the construction of the police, of lawyers and psychologists." "Then, most of the time, one prefers to forget..." "these fragments that don't match." "One pretends not to have seen them, one looks away, shyly." "Because otherwise, there would be no story possible, neither truth nor justice." "Moreover, the accused might do it on purpose, to confuse and escape justice." "But I don't do it on purpose." "What attracts me irresistibly, watching people and things around me, unable to look away, is that which I cannot understand, words out of context, suspended gestures, images taken unawares." "Images whose proximity appears to be due to chance;" "everything that resists my explanation." "This story, for example, that I'll start to tell, that I will try to tell..." "To tell you." "The guy in the boat you don't recognize, but it's me." "I have a beard, and a big hat, to hide my face as much as possible." "Or perhaps also, because of the summer sun." "The lad who has just embarked from the large sailboat, is one of the Cortez brothers, the elder of the two." "They look like twins, apart from the beard.." "Me, down there, I watch." "I watch who comes and goes, never missing a detail." "And now... here..." "I talk." "Him, I don't know exactly what he does." "He's not one of us." "Neither relative nor professor." "He wanders around, lurking everywhere just like a cop." "A private eye, or a TV reporter, waiting for his camera crew to arrive." "Our city is double, like most of the cites round here." "Always this man, watching." "as if he were the narrator and not me." "Western construction, more or less modern, borders the sea." "and a vast ancient quarter... that has fully preserved the traditional Arab architecture." "The same contradictions are found in the clothing... and daily customs." "This is the other Cortez brother." "He is easily distinguished from the first, as he has no beard." "My name is N. K., but everyone calls me N. for short, as if it were an initial, of "Nemo" for example, or "navigator" or "narrator"... or wicked "Napoleon"." "The place where I live looks directly onto the beach, and further away, the port." "It's a good observation point." "And is convenient in the summer, when one can bathe all day." "But the beach is dangerous." "The water is unpredictable beneath its smooth and placid surface." "And there are often accidents." "We are used to them, and no longer take much notice." "And the most prudent, never stray too far from the shore... splashing, in the shallow waters, protected from the hidden faults, where suddenly, without warning, one is immediately dragged down by deep, invisible currents" "Did I say who this girl was?" "In any case, for the moment, her name escapes me." "but I know she is more or less engaged to the second Cortez brother." "The one without the beard." "Sometimes I think none of this exists." "That I've invented it all." "Seeing from the window, friends who were bathing, playing their usual stupid games." "The Cortez brothers, giving themselves airs, as they do so well..." "And big Boris who pretends to be dead." "And then the stranger, hanging around for some time watching from a distance, or certainly, watching the beautiful blonde, while her body plunges into the transparent waters." "I'll call her Eve, because..." "I don't remember her real name," "It seems like a TV ad for a wonderfully relaxing bathe." "And now, let us imagine... that this stranger is neither a policeman nor a reporter, but is in reality preparing some dark deed, a kidnapping, or some more complicated scheme." "And that the young Eve, who is now dressed after bathing and crosses now on foot the Medina to return home, will soon fall into the trap." "When, where and how..." "We shall see." "Heavy, locked doors, windows too high, with strong iron bars." "Images of another world still haunt the imagination through these streets, still echoing to the sighs of the white slaves once captured by fine corsairs whose gaudy ships are still anchored in port." "Perhaps the trap is this little picture." "However there's a reward, an object fallen from the sky." "And Cortez, what's he doing lying on the ground?" "He said he was waiting for me." "It must be one of his canvases, inspired by postcards." "In my opinion the body lying nearby was part of the painting." "I only took the painted canvas." "And didn't he make a move to get your attention?" "No, he stayed on the ground, looking at me." "He must be jealous of his brother." "They are too much alike.." "Perhaps." "He scares me." "Have you noticed?" "They have exactly the same voice." "Yes." "No... almost." "So the picture is an affront to the scornful brothers, for attracting the favor of the chosen one." "But it could also be a sort of mark or sign, not a gift or reward, but on the contrary... the starting point of a search, or quest, a treasure hunt or TV game show... the first stages of which have just unrolled before your eyes." "Eve was carried along though the alleys, found a picture, hung it on the wall of her room," "But the spies, the envious, that the object interests, already multiply around her." "And now she must show vigilance and imagination." "if she wants to continue the game we follow, on the small screen." "Dear viewers, who are going on holiday, or staying at home, perhaps there's a problem you've not thought of." "And yet you've no doubt noted:" "in the office or bar, in the street, around you, at home, on yourself." "objects disappear as if by magic." "I look..." "therefore I steal." "All's for the taking, for him who must speak." "Take." "And be not taken." "If someone sees me, I blame myself." "I steal..." "and no one sees me." "Against this thief, this small miracle will ensure your peace of mind." "And that day we saw for the first time, at the university cafe, considered more or less our domain, forbidden to the old, that man of whom I've spoken, who's been around the last few days... and who seems like a cop working undercover for narcotics." "Go and see if I've been followed." "I remember." "It was the day we played a version of Blind Man's Buff." "Larissa." "The younger of the Cortez brothers must recognize his fiancée from all the girls of the group." "Sonia." "Approaching in silence, one after the other, and then rising on tiptoe touching him, as they pass, only with their lips..." "without saying anything." "Marina." "Eve." "There I understood, it was a first test set..." "Sonia." "Not by the boy, but by Eve herself, for the possession of the painting." "Marina." "If you like I'll teach you a game of fancy but also of luck, like yours, but played with cards and a gun loaded with blanks." "It's called the Game of Redemption." "One starts off by drawing straws." "It was without doubt the result of this ordeal that set Eve on the path in which she has been enmeshed." "Shot." "Fear." "Shot." "Broken mirror." "Pure water." "Way through the maze." "Prison." "Victim." "Shot." "No!" "Let go of me!" "Abducted by the cruel knights... languishes in her cell among the other prisoners of the dream." "The man who hung around our group, and pretended to involve himself in our games, now reveals... his true face." "The trials of the girls now continues, so far from us." "At the cafe today, we are feeling low." "If only we could find the place they are imprisoned." "To start by releasing the captives and killing the kidnapper!" "I am shut up in the middle of a half ruined Medersa, in the middle of the sands." "From above, however one can understand nothing." "No, she's not here either." "It's definitely the wrong place." "Or they've taken her elsewhere." "We might as well give up." " Don't you think?" " No, we must continue." "I'm sure we'll find her." "Wanna bet?" "You seem to know where she's hiding." "Or is confined, rather." "You know everything!" "I understand!" "Search alone if you've got her scent." "Why not?" "But you'd better not find yourself near me." "You go and tell them that I've gone back to town." "D'you understand, idiot?" " Where are you really going?" " Where I please." "And watch out if you follow me." "Eve..." "Listen." "Come here." "I've brought you a magic powder, which gives victims superhuman strength." "Put it in your water." "When you have had a sip, break the prison bars as if they were straws." "But if someone wants to do you harm approach their lips, you will see them immediately, unmasked... and overthrown." "The magic powder works immediately." "Eve receives the new powers of the dream factory." "But hurry." "The other competitors continue on their way, to retake the picture, arrive first at the next stage." "Faster!" "Faster still!" "But here, unfortunately, arriving too soon, Boris, of the fake drowning." "You wonder who it is." "It's me," "I am the first to reach your prison, after crossing fire and sea." "Come on." "Stand up." "I knew you'd come to free me." "I love you." "Yes." "From the depths of my heart, for a long time.." "You can be sure of my love." "Drink my water and you'll know my thoughts." "The most secret." "Funeral March for the death of our friend Boris." "But Eve hasn't yet appeared." "Neither at the cafe nor the mathematics class." "And if her friends are sad it's not because of the fake death of the fake drowner, but because her absence is prolonged." "Undoubling." "Double." "Compassionate sister." "Reflection in the water." "Now, the force returns." "Eve triumphant, makes her return." "But now let us return to the author of the abduction." "I pursue him myself." "Narrator." "Voyeur." "Message." "Bicycle." "2, 6, 5." "Boat pulled to the shore." "Stranger." "Message." "5, 6, 1." "Message." "Stranger." "Blocks of stone." "6, 2, 3." "Stranger." "Boat pulled to the shore." "Bicycle upside down." "4, 1, 5." "Heroine." "Blocks of stone." "Stranger." "The stranger has plunged into the water and seems to have vanished." "or even jumped into the truck as it was passing?" "4, 1, 5." "Heroine." "Blocks of stone." "Message." " Ah, you're here?" " Yes, see." "They crossed the group of houses towards the beach." "The narrative seems to have got lost." "Eve too perhaps." "She seems to have given up, at least for the now, the race." "Here is a playful rival, who hadn't seemed dangerous, and uses this time to mark an important point, and threatens to outdistance the favorite." "Will Eve succeed in regaining the lead against this last minute competitor?" "Here she is, behind the casual appearance of an ordinary tourist looking for souvenirs, following a prescribed itinerary thinking mistakenly, of having lost the thread, at the same time as all traces of the manipulator after his plunge into the troubled waters of the port." "Yes." "That's it." "She's on the right track." "East or West?" "West." "And straight on." "So." "What's she doing?" "This time, I think she's on the right track." "It seems that you're up against the second Cortez." "and meanwhile Sonia has stolen the map." "Why are you fighting?" "I think he's cheating." "He helps her, giving her information." "It's not fair, since he has the map." "He hopes to replace his brother in the heart of the beauty, by playing the savior." "And now?" "But Eve is so tired by the successive trials of the route that she weakens again." "Distressed, and completely lost." "She is disorientated above all by the impression of logic that escapes her, in an inexorable development, whose order is fixed by someone else." "and that resembles a nightmare." "Useless." "She feels that her powers of intervention are abandoning her." "You see her at home, ready to drop everything." "Happily her boyfriend, Cortez no. 1, who is also her fiancé, as I've already said, urges her not to be discouraged so close to her goal." "I'll accompany you for a bit but then I'll have to leave you." "Yes, I know." " And you know where you're going?" " Straight on." "It's not always easy." "What are you looking for exactly?" "It wasn't specified." "A familiar sign, no doubt." "An identical object." "Around someone." "Are you there?" "I think I'm lost." "No." "Be brave a bit longer!" " Can't you help me a bit?" " You know that's impossible." "Don't go, Why not stay with me?" "Because..." "Because it's forbidden." "Because it's forbidden by the rules of the game." "TV GAMES" "BRAVO!" "YOU HAVE WON A WASHING MACHINE!" "." " Was that the last test?" " Yes." "To find the postcard." "You wouldn't say it was the same postcard." "Yes, there's something different." "The light perhaps is a bit changed." "It represents the house in the Medina where the picture was discovered." "The place has no importance." "It's the journey that matters, not the goal." "TV game shows are always stupid." "A washing machine!" "Even more ridiculous than I thought." "As they say..." "Or rather now..." "What I said." "This face which looked at the small TV screen continues to look for a possible solution." "through the maze of alleys and gestures, words and faces." "... V equals zero up to infinity -6 to the power of V," "Factorial N + 2V over Factorial 3V + 2;" "T to the power 3V + 2." "But already the faces merge and the words are lost." "It's true that the itinerary so ardently, so passionately combined, leads to nothing else." "And already the roads fork again, turn back, jumble, repass again by the same point." "And the faces, glimpsed here and there return to their empty appearance, and the city to its insignificance;" "and landscapes to their flatness." "So it was just a game." "But who was playing?" "I placed the dice on the table, in the middle of the red felt, in front of me..." "Three dice... each having six sides." "Chance has its own laws..." "They say." "Dear viewers, trice." "You who are leaving your home or stay in front of the screen," "There is perhaps a little thing which you haven't thought of." "A game means nothing in advance." "It's the player who invents the game." "and the player is you." "The images that your eyes steal here and there are only images." "They have no meaning attached as an inherent nature." "They have no other significance than that which you choose to give." "An order that's reassuring, or desperate." "It's you who make it." "Out of laziness..." "Or fear." "Subtitles:" "Corvusalbus"