" There's a problem downstairs." " Wait." " Will you shoot me?" " OK." "Look through here and press the red button." "No, wait." " Now?" " Yes, now." "Come on." "Wait." "IN THE WHITE CITY" "One beer." "Beer." " You speak English?" " No." " French, a bit." " That's fine." "That clock over there goes backwards." "No, it goes alright." " The world is going backwards." " Yeah?" "Interesting." "If all clocks went backwards... the world would work properly." "Yes." " You work in a ship?" " No." "In a floating factory with some madmen." " You're mad too?" " I don't know." " Is this a hotel?" " Yes." " Any rooms available?" " Yes." "I'll take one for tonight." " A guest, speaks French." " Good afternoon." "304 is beautiful, this way." "Take over." " You're not needed at the bar." " Fine." "You have to be pretty for the bar." "Looking like that, you can only be a cleaner." "What's the difference?" "Cleaning is not like attending the bar." " Don't you see?" " No, I don't see." "Dress up, put on some make up." "Cleaning here is not like attending the bar." "Make it visible in the salary." " What?" " It's two different salaries." "What are you saying?" "Listen." "I'm the same here, at the bar and in the rooms." "If you don't like it, bad luck, I don't care." "I always do my job, at the bar or cleaning rooms." "Don't push me with that make up thing." "I'll wear make up if I want to." "You make the rules about my work, and it's always well done." "What do you want?" " What?" " What do you want?" " This man is mine." " No, it's mine." "What?" "Why?" "Why not?" "What?" " Why not?" " Get out of here." "He was with me." "Go ahead." " Can I make the bed?" " No." "Fine." "I'll clean up the basin." "What are you doing?" "I don't like having pictures made of me!" " Your ship ain't sailing?" " It can't without me." " You also clean the rooms?" " Yes." "That's why I get mad at the boss." "I can't close it." "Bloody package." ""It seems I'm not able to write." "I have got some images, but I can't write." "I've had a dream." "I dreamt I left the ship, went into town... and rented a room... without knowing why." "And I stayed there, waiting, unable to move." "I dreamt the city was white, the room was also white... and loneliness and calm were white too." "I' m tired." "I wish I could learn again to talk about things."" ""The room was white, and loneliness and calm were white too." "I'm tired." "I wish I could learn again to talk about things." "I think of you." "I love you very much."" "I feel fine." "I'm free." "I don't do anything, but I'm not on vacation." "When on vacation you do things, you arrange your free time." "I don't." "I don't do anything." "My adress:" "Mayling list, Lisbon." "The Shipping Company asked regarding your whereabouts." "What shall I tell them?" "Nothing." "Nothing at all." "Shall I tell them you created an inner world of your own... and you'll tell me about it at some point?" "I'd love it if you told me." "I don't know how to grasp that "I don't do anything"." "I don't think I'll get to understand it." "Maybe that's the reason why I work." "I love you and everything turns around inside my head." "If you wanna play, deal cards better." "A beer!" " Hi." " I've walked a lot." "When I walk a lot, I think about things." "Very interesting things." "I've thought about you." "What's your name?" "Paul, and you are Rosa." " How do you know?" " I just know." "Were you expecting me?" "In a way." "The bar is closing." "I buy you a drink upstairs, in my room." "Not here." " At your place?" " It's very small." "So much the better." "I must go to work." "Hurry or I'll be late." " I'm on vacation." " I'm not." "My ship is in the Atlantic, or the Pacific." " I'm a desertor." " What?" "I'm in the mood for sleeping, walking, dreaming, sleeping, not moving." "You're not on vacation." "You sell dope." "A sailor was arrested at the boarding house for doing that." "I sell nothing." "I stayed for you." "Really?" "Yes, really." "For you... and also for me." "Lock it and leave the key at the bar." "Where are you from?" "Me?" "I was born here, near the castle." "My father was a peasant's son." "He came to Lisbon to become a baker, and met my mother." " What does she do?" " My mother?" "She makes other people's laundry." "And you?" "My father was a peasant's son too." "He left the countryside, was more interested in machinery." "So he became a mechanic." "My mother is Italian." "She left Switzerland when she was 14." "Worked for some rich people." " You got any siblings?" " Yes, and you?" "Three brothers and one sister." " And you?" " One brother." "What do your brothers do?" "They live abroad." "Two of them are..." "I don't know, plumbers, mechanics..." "I don't know the right word." "The others work in a restaurant in Canada." "And your brother?" "He works in a ship too, he's a sailor." "It's open." "How is it like, when you're out in the sea?" "The cabin is tiny and outside it's huge, infinite." "That's why sailors are nuts." "You never know what day it is." "Don't you enjoy travelling any more?" "I don't travel." "I spend 8 hours every day with noisy machines, at 50º and, when the sea is twirling... it's like being inside a moving factory." "Then, we stop at some horrible places to download the cargo." "Some travels." "The best wine of all is the one you haven't drunk yet." "He's not paying much attention to me." "He prefers to eat." "And you don't think I'm right?" "You know what they say about sailors?" "I better don't say it or he'll kill me." "Isn't that so?" "Three fingers is the limit, it's almost finished." "Three fingers is the limit." "From here on, you ask for a new one." "You know how important this measure is?" "You know?" "He woukldn't know." "It's the distance between the vagina and the anus." "What?" "What did he say?" "Tell me." "Here's a waitress... with a black diamond between her legs." "I don't think she's what's keeping me still, but I love two women at the same time." "I feel confusion and happiness." "I've been with Marianne for a week." "I'm happy I'm one of the two women you love." "The other one can talk to you, touch you." "I see pictures, get weird letters from Lisbon, sometimes from Yoklahoma." "You saw it?" " What?" " That guy's wallet." "He's alone." "Yep." "Let's go!" "Well." "Fuck!" " You had it all in your wallet?" " Yep." "Even dollars." "You have nothing left?" "Not a penny." "Nothing." "What will you do?" "A romantic film." " A beautiful one." " Yep." "A beautiful romantic film." "What will you eat?" "I'll manage." "Drop that." "I tried to steal some fruit and got caught." "Buy me a sandwich." " That's not the problem." " It's the problem indeed!" "The being hungry issue is solved." "What's the other one?" "It's you." " Hi, you speak French?" " A little." "I've been told I could sell my watch here." "Wait." "Samuel, come here." "Someone wants to sell a watch." " Good afternoon." " Hi." "I want to sell my watch." "It's Swiss, solid gold." "How much?" "Ten thousand." " Ten?" " Yes." "Three thousand." "No, no." "It's not possible." "I paid one thousand Swiss francs for it." "All right, five." "Five?" "OK, hold on." " Five and some scotch." " Fine." "Come." "No." "Why?" " I don't sleep with strangers." " What?" "Are you crazy?" "I'm not, you are." "What are you doing here, who are you?" "My skipper said I'm an axolotl." "A what?" "An axolotl." "What is that?" "I don't know." "It might be an animal... or a tree." "A tree, rather." "A mistery." ""Dear Paul:" "You asked me once why your skipper called you... an axolotl, and what was it." "It's not a tree, but a salamander's larva... that lives in some lakes in Mexico." "There's a quote of Julio Cortázar in the dictionary" ""What fascinated me was their stillness... the first time I saw the axolotl, and I soon thought I understood their secret will:" "To abolish space and time with an indifferent quietness." "They seemed to be spying on something, some remote extinguished realm, a time of an aloof and absolute freedom... when the world belonged to the axolotl."" "Mr Jose." "I haven't seen Rosa in two days." "She comes one day and the next day she doesn't show up." "That's the way people are." "I don't know anything." " She doesn't like working here any more." " Not any more." "Will you buy me something?" " What?" " Beer." " Where are you from?" " Cascais, Nuevo Mexico." " Cascais." " Nuevo Mexico." " Ñaca, ñaca." " Ñaca, ñaca?" "You understand me?" "Time has decomposed." "I drink in the mornings, but there's no longer mornings afternoons or nights." "I also drink in the afternoons, and also at nights." "I sleep in the daytime, nothing really exists." "Silence is heavy and light." "Three fingers separate... a woman's vagina from her anus." "I'm a liar who wants to be sincere." "I didn't ask you how long your cock is." "One day you'll go away." " I never said that." " But you'll go away." "Maybe I'll go too." "Where will you go?" "I'll find a job in France." "I have friends there." "I worked there." "I love you." "And I love you." "But you won't be here for ever." "I'll sleep at home tonight." "Why?" " É melhor." " What?" "É melhor." " É melhor." " It's better." " Besser." " What?" "Migliore, mejor." "É melhor." " Bye." " Bye." "Go now!" " What do you want?" " Where's my wallet?" " What are you doing?" " I want my money." "My money." "My money." "Don't do anything foolish." "I'm going to kill you." "Rosa." "Have you seen the guy in 304?" "Not in last eight days." "He sailed?" " He didn't pay." " I don't know." " Mr José." " What happened to you?" "Nothing really, a little accident." "And Rosa?" "She's gone." " She's gone?" " To France." "To France?" " You have her address?" " No." "I'm going upstairs." "She flew." "Fuck." "Shit." "What do you want?" " Rosa's address in France." " I don't know." "And her parents'?" "Yes, that one I have, just a minute." "Thanks." "Good morning." " Good morning." " How do you do?" " Are you Rosa's parents?" " Yes." "I'm a friend of Rosa's." "I'd like to know Rosa's address in France." "We don't have it." "She's always going from one place to another." "She doesn't call us, we don't know anything." " You don't have it?" " No." " Thank you." " You're welcome." "If you're going to come home, come back soon or don't come back at all." "If you come, you'll have to tell me everything and we'll talk about us." "It's almost certain we'll have a war." "We may lose it, but History teaches us... that those who lose a war are strengthened by it." "I will also talk about me." "I'm waiting for your answer and your love." "No mail." "Zico?" "Zico plays well, he's very good." "Rossi!" "Get out of here." "The referee's lost it." "He's an asshole." "Brazil has lost to Italy." "They don't know, they haven't seen it." "But..." "In Brazil they have Zico." "He's a fine player." "Great champions." "But you're not interested." "I'm not either." "I don't care!" "Mr Jose, I'm leaving." "I'll send by mail what I owe you, do you believe me?" "I do." "But I don't have the train fare money." "I'm selling you this." " What could I do with that?" " I don't know." "Will you buy this?" "This is German, and this is Japanese, they're good." "They fit in your pocket." "Great, ha?" " How much do you want?" " Five thousand." "It's not bad." "All right, yes." "People are weird, but that's life." "Do you have some paper, please?" " Paper?" " Writing paper." " Big or small?" " Big." "A pen?" "A pen?" " A fountain pen?" " Yes." "Thank you." " A post office?" " Down there." " Down there?" " At the bottom of the stairs." "Thank you." "I'm going to emerge... to the surface... again." "Stop." "Rosa... is gone." "I don't have a clue... where to." "Stop." "The only country..." "I really love... is the sea." "Stop." "I love it." "Stop." "I love you." "I embrace you tenderly." "A woman's body is too wide." "Stop." "So there'll be a war between us." "Stop." "Memory... and oblivion come from one single source." "Women are too beautiful." "Stop." "Trains are not in time." "I don't know more than I used to." "Stop."