"The Woman of the Ganges is in a way two films." "Parallel to the film played out in images... is played out a purely vocal film... unaccompanied by images." "To avoid any contempt... we would like to let the spectator know... that the two Voices Off of women... do not belong at all to the characters which appear in the images." "We can add that the characters seen in the images... are entirely unaware of the existence of the two women... in the story who manifest themselves only in the dialogue which they hold." "Can anyone see him?" "These men of the beach." "Who then?" "This woman." "Dressed in black." "Do they recognize him?" "They look at him." "He returned to S. Thala." "Why?" "To see the place where they had loved?" "Do you think?" "But why return?" "After so many years." "He still had this room in this hotel?" "Did they lose their memory?" "Yes." "Their memory is now outside." "Ashes." "Yes." "This smell of fire in S. Thala in the evening..." "Is it her we think we see on the seashore?" "Sometimes you could believe..." "It was said she had died." "Who knows..." "She was once maybe this young girl of S. Thala..." "When you think about what it was..." "Such a mad love.." "Where did they meet?" "I forgot." "One morning." "Playing Tennis." "Here." "At S. Thala." "She was 18 years old." "He was the son of rich landowners." "He did nothing." "The marriage was supposed to take place in the fall." "Ah yes... there was this ball." "The grand ball of the season." "Casino of S. Thala." "That's right." "This ball..." "Such a love..." "Such desire..." "Sometimes, doesn't the wish to die come to you?" "Yes." "It's cold..." "The hotel is so big..." "We are alone..." "Come close to me." "What a desert surrounds us some days..." "What are we waiting for?" "Here..." "He never returned." "Never." "You arrived yesterday morning." "That's right..." "You live at the hotel... there." "That's right..." "It's not the first time you're coming here." "...I mean  I remember..." "That's it." "I remember." "What?" "Everything all of it..." "The light...." "What's happening?" "..the light went out..." "Something is going to happen..." "This is not possible..." "I'm lost I passed the distance the hour..." "Where are we?" "This is S. Thala." "Until the river." "And after the river?" "After the river it is still S. Thala." "I was afraid." "The sea was rising." "I was afraid." "Did anyone tell you?" "...She needs to sleep, or she'll die." "They sleep on the island." "Over there." "I don't recognize you." "She arrived late to this ball..." "In the middle of the night..." "Her daughter was with her.." "The other woman...?" "Yes." "Dressed in black..." "Almost old already." "Ugly." "Skinny." "Do you remember...?" "Little... very little..." "She comes from the Indies..." "From the embassies..." "She crosses the ball..." "Absent..." "Ah yes..." "Behind her..." "the Ganges...?" "the beggars...?" "Around her... this space... the hunger...?" "Yes..." "Yes..." "I remember..." "He said to the young girl:" "" I must invite this woman to dance..."?" "Yes..." "They dance." "Where is the young girl?" "Behind the green plants of the bar." "She watches..." "The young girl... she knows that she will be abandoned...?" "Yes." "That she will be killed...?" "He followed the other woman to the Indies?" "Yes." "After her death he left the Indies." "He married." "He had children." "You should sleep rest yourself..." "It's day...?" "Oily weather." "Cloudy." "Don't think about it..." "Come near me..." "Yes." "What love it was." "What desire..." "Three days, three nights that he is here..." "You know..." "He came here to kill himself." "And then he saw her." "He was that she was still there..." "He must have been there a long time..." "How cold it is..." "I made a fire." "Approach..." "It's strange..." "Sometimes, I can't recognize you well..." "Sometimes also..." "I remember things that I did not live..." "She never healed?" "Never, no." "Yet, it is around the hotel that we see her these days..." "Always closer, one could say..." "One could say..." "Me too, another memory sometimes comes to me..." "There are people you would say..." "No..." "It's only the sand... the sea..." "It's nothing..." "Today the air smells like salt, like iodine..." "Don't you think?" "Such an impossible desire... terrible..." "Such a love..." "Do you still have this desire to die?" "Still." "And then I forget..." "I look..." "He loved her still through the other woman..." "the other love.." "there were other names before..." "Other places..." "Before it was S. Thala until the river..." "Now after the river, still S. Thala..." "There is light, there, on the sea..." "This morning, there was a dead dog..." "I saw it..." "I thought that you'd seen it..." "The sea carried it away..." "It's raining there, after the light." "Always this smell of algae, of rain..." "She loved him more than anything in the world." "Yes." "Until she understood that he left her." "Killed her." "What are you crying about?" "About it all..." "Such desire" "Whole..." "Mortal..." "She had many lovers..." "Properties..." "Married several times..." "Yes... recently... here..." "at S. Thala..." "Yes..." "To a doctor." "They met at high school..." ""... in the light of a blue parasol..."" ""barefoot on the stone of the terrace..." "in a summer dress..."" "Do you remember?" "What life then..." "How does one know not to be dead?" "I hear you breathing..." "What did the German named one say?" "that already... that since always... this region of sentiment was not the some for the young girl of S. Thala" "Don't come." "Regret nothing." "Say..." "I am staying at S. Thala." "Always." "Still here." "After, she married a musician, she had children..." "After this ball...?" "Yes." "Somewhere else." "For years." "Then a second time..." "Do you remember...?" "Ah yes..." "At the exit to the cinema... this couple she followed..." "This ambulance went to get her from the rye fields..." "It was before... other places..." "Yes." "Michael Richardson would pass his summers at S. Thala," "The woman from the Indies only came occasionally." "That summer..." "Only love..." "No suffering..." "No sign of suffering..." "Why did you come to S. Thala?" "A voyage." "Do you hear?" "..." "That tune..." "No..." "Nothing..." "Listen carefully..." "I hear nothing..." "Nothing..." "There was a tune..." "at that moment..." "Do you remember...?" "That summer..." "A tune to dance to..." "They played it all the time, here, at S. Thala..." "During that ball?" "Only love..." "This ball..." "Only desire..." "No suffering." "No sign of suffering." "How beautiful you are... dressed in white... what a surprise..." "I would like to visit the woman from the Ganges..." "How I love you..." "How I desire you..." "Always the same calm..." "Absent..." "She stands there in the monsoon's heat..." "dressed in black..." "The embassy's garden looks over the Ganges..." "These fences?" "The tennis courts." "This smell of flowers?" "Leprosy." "Black Night at Lahore." "Michael Richardson, sometimes... played piano in the evenings  this tune from S. Thala." "Somewhere, does life go on?" "Yes." "What is he doing?" "You know, he's guarding." "The sea?" "No." "The movement of the light?" "No." "The movement of the water?" "No..." "Memory...?" "Maybe..." "Where are you?" "I'm here..." "Close to you..." "I can no longer hear the sound of the sea..." "What do you hear...?" "The noise of a ball." "The dance...?" "Yes." "Where is the young girl?" "Behind the green plants at the bar." "She watches them..." "She watches..." "What's happening all of a sudden?" "This emptiness..." "I'm afraid..." "It's nothing." "Okay..." "Come near me..." "The young girl understands." "Don't cry..." "Don't be afraid anymore..." "Who's there?" "!" "Who's there?" "!" "Michael Richardson..." "She's looking for me... she saw the light... she's coming..." "We need only wait for her..." "Did he recognize you, him?" "Yes." "It lasted but a second." "You aren't eating anymore..." "You are sleeping poorly.." "It's the anger." "It's nothing." "Against who?" "God." "God, in general." "How I love you." "Do you remember?" "Yes." "It was a country of sand." "Of wind." "The fields were behind the sea." "The wind remained..." "The same..." "The wind of S. Thala..." "We crossed by train to go on vacation, in the summer." "Only love..." "There was... him..." "Michael Richardson..." "Anne-Marie Stretter..." "Lola Valerie Stein..." "The little girls, Irina, Sara..." "There was Tatiana Karl..." "and the others... all the others... those from the Indies..." "the musicians... all these people... all these parties..." "and these balls..." "How old were you?" "18 years old." "Whatever past I had..." "Whatever love I lived..." "I remember..." "Whatever past...?" "Whatever love...?" "Yes." "Michael Richardson." "The man from the Indies." "You recognized me?" "No." "It lasted but a second." "Someone is shouting." "Far..." "Near the Ganges..." "A woman...?" "Yes." "In the heat of the monsoon, she goes... she walks..." "What is she shouting?" "words with no end..." "She's laughing..." "She let them leave...?" "She didn't say anything?" "Nothing." "At the end of the ball, she shouted..." "I'm sure of it..." "But what?" "That she wanted to follow..." "In order to not stop seeing them..." "Seeing them." "Love..." "They didn't hear her shout?" "No." "Someone's asking for you." "Someone's asking for you in the hall." "A woman." "I said that you were in your room..." "What's that?" "The fire." "It's far." "It burns often..." "It's always burning somewhere..." "I don't understand..." "You've stopped..." "I ask myself... if even at the beginning..." "What's that?" "The fire." "Where is it?" "Far." "There's something else..." "I'm sure there's something else..." "Talk to me..." "I beg of you..." "How long has it been going on?" "Always." "Are you making fun of me?" "No." "I wanted to say..." "I've only known it for a few days..." "I pity you..." "I want an explanation..." "I have a right to it I think." "What do you reproach of me?" "Nothing..." "Understand..." "It's an event... of a general order..." "You're doing it on purpose!" "You mean...?" "It's serious...?" "And I didn't have any doubts..." "What does it mean...?" "Nothing..." "I know you..." "You won't do it..." "The kids are in the hall." "I'm not going to return." "Never?" "Never." "Why?" "Why?" "I no longer want anything." "...what is that...?" "People have arrived." "Because of the fire." "...let's leave..." "I can't anymore I'm afraid..." "How's the weather?" "The wind calmed." "A wintery weather." "A woman arrived with children." "They left again." "You don't have anything left either." "She's crying." "Why cry?" "She's crying over you." "About the whole thing..." "Your hands are black." "It's the fire." "... fire..." "You are being looked for." "You will be killed." "We cannot die." "...we cannot..." "It's true." "... nothing anymore either." "Nothing." "You came here to kill yourself...?" "... and then you saw that we was still here?" "She's been here for a long long time..." "And you, you should have known..." "You should have known that she was here." "Who is he?" "He guards us." "He guards us." "He brings us back." "Sometimes he goes beyond S. Thala." "We know." "We wait." "Sometimes he gets lost..." "I get lost..." "I forget the time..." "I am afraid..." "He's crazy." "... when the sea rises..." "I'm afraid..." "She was very young... a love  love..." "I still have a room here at the hotel." "They don't have a room anymore." "They have nothing." "Nothing." "You lost your memory..." "All memory?" "Our memory is still here.." "It is..." "It is outside now... spread out... burnt..." "Listen..." "We are being called..." "You're leaving?" "Did anyone tell you?" "She must sleep or she'll die..." "Where is she..." "Look..." "Someone is walking..." "on the seashore..." "A woman?" "Yes." "She's following someone." "The Voyager?" "Yes." "Why is she following him?" "She follows what moves... what goes..." "She doesn't know who?" "No." "She'll never know?" "Never." "You are so young... and I love you so much..." "I love you more than anything in the world." "If I asked you... would you accept to kill me...?" "Yes." "Are you looking for something?" "Can I help you?" "You've been here for a long time?" "Seventeen years." "Why?" "Are you looking for someone?" "I'm looking." "La Potiniere is that way?" "There are no more balls." "We are in winter." "I can show it to you if you wish." "Follow me." "You have memories I see..." "Do you recognize her...?" "No." "At this distance..." "I'm sorry..." "Do you recognize her?" "Look again." "There is no one." "Would you care to repeat it?" "Lola Valerie Stein." "Mademoiselle Stein dies ten years ago." "I must be making a mistake." "You came." "I thought you had left." "I was looking for you." "We would have left with him." "Or the police would have brought us back." "Where were you?" "You went to cry?" "You went to ask?" "Yes." "What's he doing?" "You know..." "he's guarding..." "The sea?" "No..." "The movement of the tides?" "The movement of light?" "No..." "The sand?" "The wind?" "Sometimes he gets lost..." "You only need to wait..." "he'll be back..." "She... she recognizes him still?" "Yes." "You know what?" "Without him she is afraid" "He... he was always crazy." "Her..." "She... no..." "I think..." "Before that... before.... she knew other men...?" "Someone told you?" "Yes... here... in S. Thala... a ball... it was other places... before..." "She was eighteen years old." "Michael Richardson." "Here... in S. Thala..." "Look, he's leaving again..." "He will return..." "Yes... he returns every time..." "Mi...chael..." "Ri...chard...son..." "They are dead now" "Yes?" "Someone's singing." "Tell me... this tune... this tune... tell me..." "No."