"Hello, How are you3" "Fine,fine... I've just got here." "Yes, I'm at the driveway." "No, not yet." "Because I stopped for gas." "No, no, I got here in under two hours." "No, every gas station all the way from Luján wasout." "But I'm here now." "Nice time, by the way." "No, I mean, nice time for shooting, for coming back, for everything." "Can you hear me3 Yeah, yeah, now I can." "Oh, have you read the new scene?" "Yeah, maybe." "Yeah, well, we'd have to talk it over more calmly, but I think the problem with that is how to shoot it." "Well, I'm gonna try." "Kiss." "Bye." "ANOTHER ROUND" "ANOTHER ROUND" "Congratulations." " On the contest you won." " Oh..." "Why' 'scented Night"?" "MONDAY" "Nobody ever remembers anything." "Ever." "It can be rescued." "But I don'twant to be a museum piece." "Besides, my name isn't even in the story." "sometimes Conti changed the names..." "Maybe he didn't like my last name." "And the love story isn't true." "I wouldn't send letters hidden in cluster bombs." " l wouldn't send letters, period." "That's your problem." "Actually, I don't know if I'm gonna shoot the story that way." "What I'm interested in is this thing about fireworks." "so you think you have to learn to make them yourself?" "You're not one of those actors who drink vinegar to play TB-stricken?" "It's not the same thing, Uncle." "I have to know how to shoot that." "Well, I guess you know best." "But I'm not sure I remember." "Did I tell you why I quit3" "Don't know if you or someone else did." "But I sort of know the story." "The celebration was getting ridiculous." "In this country, the upperclass and the new rich are the same." "Fireworks for a park inauguration..." "And with an artificial lake." "And all forwhat?" "For that poor kid to drown." "He was a maid's kid." "They threw him in and he couldn't swim." "When that son of a bitch told me that the party would go on, and tried to force me to laungh the fireworks all the same I told him to fuck off and came home." "And I never worked in that again." "Or in anything." "I thought the kid hadn't died." "What's the difference?" " l don't know." " Neither do I." "tuesday" "tuesday" "What are you doing here?" "I came to see how you were doing." "so you were on TV?" "I was told your name came uponTV the day of the wake, is that right?" "Yeah, that's why I couldn't come." "I was hired to direct a rockshow broadcast." "Whose show?" "David Bowie's." "Oh, the fag, he's afag." "sometimes." "Look at you." "To think I thought you'd be a writer." "Actually we all thought that." "Then you went for filmmaking and I thought," ""well, he's gonna do those diffcult, intellectual pictures"" "And you ended up shooting rock shows." "Now I'm gonna make a movie." "It's an adaptation of a Conti story." "Anyway, I never bought the artist thing." "I thought it was just a line to pick up broads." "I don't know how that paid off, not very well, I think." "You've got a bad memory." "The only one who took that shit seriously was Martín." "'Cause Federico would have gone crazy anyway, with or without books." "That's the way it goes, it's hereditary." "How did Federico take it?" "What?" "The stuff about Martín." "I don't know, honestly, I don't." "He hasn't left the house in years." "He goes from the terrace to the living-room and back." "Anyway, he wasn't going to jump, he's crazy but not an asshole." "That's the difference when it comesto Martín." "It's the difference between a madman and an asshole." "Have you seen him?" "Didn't you say he doesn't go out?" " Do you want some mate?" " No, thanks." "Whisky?" "Whisky?" "I have to empty several bottles so that I can use them." " Okay." "Where's your bathroom?" "straight ahead." "Do you make them for sale?" "Yeah, people love them." "They sell very well." "Anyway, it's just for fun." "If it was a business" "I'd have to get empty bottles, not buy them full." "Thanks." "It's been a longtime since you last came Over." "A long time." "However, it seems to me I've seen you recently." "I don't think so." "You don't?" "Right, you never liked to travel." "People change." "But no, I never liked it." "so what made you come here?" "The stuff about Martín?" "No, I'm gonna shoot a film in Chacabuco." "Here?" "Yeah." "It's an adaptation of a Conti story..." "What famous actorsare in it?" "I don't know if I'll use any." "I thought I'd use local people." "Maybe you can use people from... I don't think so, though." "Most were assholes from school." "Martín had written a play and Federico was directing it." " l need girls, but..." " God,what a way to waste time..." "You know, I heard on the radio that a writer called Martín... is coming to give a lecture." "Martín, Martín who?" "some other writer named Martín." "I don't know who it can be." "Hey, why didn't you get married?" "I don't know." "We thought that was the first symptom." "Of what?" "That he was not feeling well." "Things were not good between us at that time." "We hardly ever fucked..." "Don't blush!" "I'm telling you what happened!" "And I thought he was with someone else." "He was rehearsing that play with the girl sfrom school, so I thought..." "I don't know..." "The thing is he dropped the wedding and bailed.Went south, apparently." "How do you know?" "No, we don't know anything." "We assume." "I say h ewent south because he liked it there a lot, he was always talking about that..." "Then they found him dead in a hotel with a bottle of pills." "And the letter doesn't say anything." "But he left me a letter." ", But it's full of bullshit really." "That he felt like a stranger in this world that he thought what he had studied in college sucked," "that he didn't find what he was after or wasn't after what he found." "All bullshit he didn't give a damn 'about us all." ", At the end of the letter there's a really nice line." "It's underlined." "It goes," ", "When the end is near there are no longer, images of memory, only words"." "Or the othe rway around, I can't quite remember it." "What?" "What are you laughing at?" "Don't laugh." "What are you laughing at, you asshole!" "Don't laugh!" "go away!" "." "wednesday That thing about how when your sight goes you develop the othe rsenses... is a vile lie." "My hearing used to be better than it is now." "You're such an asshole maybe you can see and don't'realize." "Let's see what's in front of your eyes?" "An idiot who's shaking his hand... and thinks that ifl gues sthat right I'll be happy." "son of a bitch." "But now everything's changed." "I used to dream of music." "Wonderful music, magnificent, even delicate." "But when I opened my eyes, I used to forget everything." "It happens to all ofus." "As you can well image, that magnificent music is nothing but crap." "But once I remembered it all." "It was easy, a melody that repeated itself over and over." "The only thing that changed was the orchestration." "And it ended with cymbals, brass, strings... lt was something really amazing." "I ran overto Bimbo Marsiletti's,for him to write it down for me and assoon as I started to sing it he turned to me... , and said:"You dumb-ass that's Ravei's Boiero!" "."." " Apparently it was very famous." " O fcourse." "What?" "You know it?" "Yeah, inTV we use it to suggest a gay ambience." "so I can get the copyright, right?" "The thing is, when I lost my sight, I never dreamt of music again." "I could almost say I now dream with no sound." "What do you dream of?" "Women." ", Women who are nice, wonderful" ", oblivious and distant just likethat bolero." "Hi, how are you?" "No, not much." "You know what?" "I found some notebooks from when I was little." "some drawings, things I used towrite... I mean, actually my mother is always bugging me with that... and she showed them to me." "some arefrom school not all of them, though'." "But you won't be able to see them." "Anyway, he spends thewhole day on the terrace." "Why" scented Night"?" "In winter too?" "Yeah, they say that from the top.." "you hear the sound, but not the fury, and that's why it's easier for God." "Did you like that one?" "Actually, I came up with that myself." "It didn't sound like Federico." ", It didn't sound like him but it applies to him." "Anyway, if you make a subjective film about God, you can have it." "At most, you can drop my name in some interview and that's it." "sure, I'll bear it in mind." "I think he's in love with María." "You know, the day he found out they were getting married, it was the only time in five years that he got drunk." "He drank brandy." "By the second glass he couldn't find the terrace." "He went out on the balcony and started yelling." "He wa syelling?" "What was he yelling?" "That there was nothing to do, that everybody should go backto sleep." "He wa scursing," " Drunktalk." " Pointless, too." " Come again?" "Yeah, they didn't get married." "Martín killed himself..." "Did Fede go to the wake?" "No, but he likes to think he did." "And that María looked at him." "I let him." "That wake was a failure." "No one showed up." "thursday Why don't you come by the house some time?" "But don't tell him I told you to." "As if you're going because you want to." "Do you recognize me3" " schizophrenia." " sorry?" "schizophrenia was my diagnosis." "Amnesia would be the opposite thing." "How are you doing?" "I'm getting by." "You?" "Is it true about the movie?" "Ordid you come to bring a flowerto Martín's grave and are embarrassed?" "I'm making an adaptation of"scented Night"." "If you're embarrassed, I understand." "I also watched the burial from afar." "Nobody noticed?" "María saw me we waved to each o'ther." ", she's not as hot as shewas before is she?" "I haven't seen her lately." "My brother told me you'd come, and I should act surprised." ", But I'm not much of an actor you know." "He's not much of a director, either." "He lies to the actors a lot." "Do you alwaystell the truth?" "Yeah.The pay is the same, so why complicate one's life." "Besides, they would do it badly anyway, only with conviction." "so it's about doing it well, but not believing a word you say." "Like those guys who while fucking.." "go over Boca's goals in their minds, so that they don't come too quickly." "Then they don't know if they fucked a model or my grandmother." "Art, soccer, your grandmother..." "That's a lot of antiques, Fede." "sex fits in that category for me now." "As if there were many other things to do in this town." "According to the town rumor mill, I've fucked." "How come?" "Oh, some spited husband..." "No." "But I thought some day a father might knock on thed oor." "Oh, I think I get it." "Anyway, nothing was real." "It was all 'cause of Martín." "He invented that bullshit for me." "Evidently he had too much time on his hands." "But he never had a dime." "María ended up covered in debt." "It's just that we were working in the school's theater workshop." " With the school girls." " sure." "And he went about saying I fucked them." " All ofthem?" " No, not all ofthem." "What an asshole, that guy, as if those minor abuse accusations had bothered me." "I wish.The loony bin is worse." "Your brother said they hadn't committed you." "But they thought about it." "He wanted us to believe we were all actors he manipulated." "Not just the girls, you see?" "Even I even though I was directing... he said I had to be part of the scene, like an orchestra conductor." "To apologize for the lie, he said... that as the whole town, thought I'd fucked them I had to be happy 'cause people envied me." "Hell of an argument." "Not to mention the play's plot." "An anachronistic delirium... lt started with a shipwreck, or something likethat." "Then there was an old man who lived with his daughteron an island... and took revenge for a conspiracy, with the help ofhis library." "And all that with a happy ending." "It rings a bell..." "What title did he give it?" "It had no title." "He said it would comeout of rehearsals." "How sophisticated." "'Cause he was thinking that stupid shit, he'd forget about María, who was ultimately all he had." "she's well preserved, huh?" "so they say." "Did that play open?" "No." "After the rumors, I left." "Then the girls started leaving gradually... and... then he left." "He went down south." "Patagonia is in fashion." "so, are you gonna be working with some famous actress?" "If theyfall into the trap..." "You're gonna bring them here?" "Poorwomen..." "Whatwere you thinking?" "Making a period movie... lt's not a period movie." "Oh, even worse." "Why" scented Night"?" "In san Luis?" "Oh, great." "I was dying to see you." "so swing by, you can stayatthe hotel." "What's one day to you?" "sure, as if I were that busy." "Well, I am busy, but..." "Well, do this:" "let me know when you're coming and I'll pick you up." "sure." "Oh, great, okayt hen." "I'll be waiting." "Kiss." "Bye." "FRIDAY" "He's gonna love talking to you." "We agreed to meet." "Bye, see you later." "Well, you know, things came up." "I don't think I'll be done with this until half past eleven, or twelve." " We'd have to meet later." " It's fine by me, I go to bed really late." "I'll rescue you and we'll go for coffee." "I liked the road thing, and the way the towns pop up." "Even more so at night, 'cause then it's like a sort of story." "The lights provide like an intrigue:" "they announce the town is coming up, and then the town is there..." "And then, over here the church caught my eye." "And the san Martín monument but that's a person a lweaknes so fm'ine." "Everything you say sounds likea passage from Conti." "From A la Diestra." "He describes the trip just like you." "He even ends up in the monument." "Well, he must write it better." "Anyway, if it's so much alike, it means that things haven't changed much here in 30 years." "Don't you remember if I ordered coffee or tea?" "You never have coffee." "That's why." "I'm trying to see what I can find here that I can shoot." "And there's not much left." "It's turning into an all-interior shot movie... so you're not gonna shoot here." "I think I will." "I don't see why." "I don't see why Conti, either." "Well, I'm from here, Martín." "It's like I owe it." "And why is Conti to blame for that?" "What are you doing with Conti?" "What if it were all like that?" " Like how?" " Like you say it is." " l hope not." " so why do you say that?" "It's what I think." "I don't have to think what you say." " l think what I say." "The other way around." " so, why" scented Night"?" " l always liked it." "Especially the beginning." ""A man's life is a wretched draft a little handful of sadness that fits in a few lines.._'" "Excuse me which one is"scente'd Night"?" "The one about the old craftsman... who falls in love with a much younger girl," "but never confesses it to her and..." "Oh, I know, the one about the fireworks." "Right, 'cause there's something about fleetingness, right?" "'Cause in that story there's this matterabout papers, letters..." "But fireworks are also light, you know what I mean?" ", I think that film can take that Martín, you know..." "Waiter, could I have another one?" "But Conti left and you're coming back..." "However, Conti came and went, and wrote about going around and around." "He wrote with nostalgia because he couldn't come back." "I gues syou know why you're interested... in the Conti who came back and not the one who left." "Tomorrow I'm going home." "Then I don't know." " Can I pay you now?" "As you wish." "should I bring the coffee over anyway?" "Never mind. I'll drink it here." "Keep the change." "Thank you." "Anyway, don't take it badly." "It's your film and you know best." "It's just that I wanted to talk to a writer." "Because it's an adaptation..." "Look, I gotta go now." "But if you're in BuenosAires, call me, and we'll get together..." "Okay." "But you're more or less clear on what I'm saying..." "Not much, not much..." "What part?" "To tell you the truth, nothing." "I'm not clear on anything." "I don't know if you're interested in "scented Night'_ in Conti, in the fact that Conti is a disappeared person, that he's from Chacabuco just like you..." "There's a little of everyything in it..." "Look, man Conti is not a local product... for you to display in the movie as in a shop window." "saturday saturday" "Hello?" "No.Who do you wish to speak to?" "Oh, yeah." "Just a minute." "It's for you." "Will there be rehearsal?" "I don't think so." "No one's come for days." "Anyway, I like being here." " Is this the play?" "Yes." "I think I know it." "Martín must have shown it to you while he was writing it." "I'm not sure." " Let's see, shall we do part of it?" " All right." "You know this part?" ""The horrible scene of the shipwreck.._'?" "Yeah, yeah." "The horrible scene of the shipwreck, which moved you to mercy so deeply, I arranged, with the resources of my art," "and I took such trouble that no soul has been lost... among those you heard screaming and saw sinking in that ship." "Come, sit over here, by myside." "I have other things to tell you." "Manytimes have you started to tell me who I am but you always stopped and flummoxed me by saying:"Not yet"." "The time has come." "The moment when you must get your ears ready and pay attention." "Remember the time when we didn't yet live in this cave?" "No, I don't think you can." "You were only three." "Of course i remember, father!" "." "What do you remember?" "Another house?" "Other people?" "What things or images are still engraved in your memory?" "Distant things." "More like dreams than like certainties in my memory." "For instance, weren't there four or five women who looked after me?" "There were more, Miranda." "How can you remember that?" "Tell me, what else do you see in the abyss of the past?" "If you remember something, from before we came here you'll also remember how we came..." "No, that I don't remember." "Twelve years went by, Miranda." "Twelve years." "Your father was the Duke of Milan at that time..." "Ha!" "As if you were my father?" "see?" "That's what I don't like about the theater." "Anything goes." "some people think just the opposite." "Luckily you're in filmmaking." "Do you know me?" "Yeah, sure. sebastián Pagani." "Martín and Federico said manyt hing sabout you." "Anyway, I knew who you were before that." "They said things about me?" "Good things or bad things?" "What a shame maybethe play will never open." "Don't you remember where you'd read it?" "somewhere." "Anyway, Martín was no good for the theater." "His stories are way better." "You know stories by him?" "Yeah, I helped him with some." "You're a writer too?" " No." "Come on." "The movie theater here is not in business anymore, is it?" "sometimes it is." "The screen comes down from here." ", You weren't at the burial or the wake." "No, I couldn't be there. I had to work." "Oh, right. I saw a little bit of that rockshow that you shot." "I mean, that you broadcast, I don't know." "Oh, it got here?" "What did you think of it?" "It was great..." "You could see..." "everything." "That's the problem." "Beg your pardon?" " l'm gonna shoot a film..." " Oh, yeah, I know." "so why"scented Night"?" "Come here." "Yeah, actuallyit's better than the play of mine that didn't open." "It wasn't very good." "The stories are way better." "I'm sure." "Well, you must know them." "For sure." "Did you know Fede never left the house again?" "I haven't seen him." "But he surely did the right thing leaving the play." "Yeah, it wasn't going to work." "You know all this was used to lift the floor?" "They say it went up to the same level as the stage." "Martín wanted to fix it." "He wanted everything to be mixed up." "The actors, the audience..." "No..." "For me thething about Haroldo Conti having been born here is a lie." "Nothing ever happens here." "Come on, tell me." "Martín wanted something with you." ", No, I don't know what do I know." "But in the stories he did." "And when he was shooting too." "_ No!" ". i told dreams some things that happened to me, that could have happened to me." "He asked me for stories." "sometimes I made them up, but he could tell." "And what did Martín sayin the videos?" "Nothing." "He never let me shoot him." "I once did tape him for a few seconds from far away." "But he noticed right away and almost killed me." "I have to see that." "I don't think you can." "He erased most of the videos." "Anyway, there are still the stories." "I'll take you tomorrow, if you want." "No, I'll go now." "Alone." "It's already very late." "But I have the key." "sunday" "Oh, he didn't erase that one." "some he couldn't erase." "The bolster, he said." "What's the bolster?" "You know about that... I have no idea." "What do you have there?" "They're the stories." "Maybe it's better for you to take them, instead of the family." "You can make a film with one ofthem." "Yeah, sure." "They're the ones he wrote with me." "If you shoot any of them you'll call me, right?" "Maybe." "ANOTHER ROUND"