"SOME PICTURES..." "I've brought some pictures." "They're not always as expressive as I'd like them to be, but they're the only ones I have for explaining an experience." "taken by José Luis between the Summer and Winter of 2004" "In the City of Sylvia." "...In the City of Sylvia" "The image of a frontier." "These are the doors of the bar where I met Sylvia." "She remembered some Spanish words learnt while studying at the University of Salamanca." "This way we used to alternate languages in our conversation of which I barely have any memory." "MEMORY 1" "MEMORY 1 She had studied in Salamanca for several months." "MEMORY 2" "MEMORY 2 She loved the sound of her name in Spanish:" "SYLVIA" "MEMORY 3" "MEMORY 3 She began to work as a nurse in a hospital" "That's all." "...or almost all." "I went to the bar Les Aviateurs, at night, at different times ...and I didn't see her." "I have two pieces of material evidence from that meeting:" "The address of a book-shop on a coaster" "...and the match-box from the bar." "I've imagined a hidden angle and the possibility of a phone number on it..." "I don't have a clear image of her face." "And, if I were to meet her today, I might not recognize her." "22 years have gone by..." "Yet, as headwinds are blowing..." "I come back to this city with the secret purpose of finding her." "It's been 22 years since I came here in the course of a literary pilgrimage in my youth... following the track of a gunshot... that awakened my adolescence and accompanied it." "I found a cheap room in an old 17th century building" "Room number 7 had two windows." "One over the old Strasbourg, the other over the horse of the Conservatory." "In this place, I read about his adventures as a youth in this city" "His relationship with the daughter of a priest of the city." "It was on this occasion that I met Sylvia." "August, 1982" "August, 2004" "The recommended book-shop... 23rd August - New attempts to find Sylvia..." "I check out the hospitals in the city their doors... in the Protestant area" "The Civil Hospital: a city within a city..." "If her professional life hadn't changed, my hopes would have laid in this compound." "26th August, from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m." "I take down some notes for a possible documentary." "On returning... the image of a young girl..." "At 1 p.m. 22 Novembre Street, angle with Kleber Square" "When the face disappeared, a form appeared ...a flux of life that evokes the missing person." "One could make a film on these grounds." "27th August - Other décors in the city of Sylvia." "30th August" "Other doors, new hopes..." "I kept track of the comings and goings of the staff at Porte des Lions." "The Young Goethe attended anatomy classes to confront the horror of blood and viscera." "Part of his strategy to fight fear." "He'd also go up the cathedral's tower to tame his vertigo and from that perch, to compose poetry on the Alsacian landscape." "1st Sep. " "At 6 p.m. Outdoors café in front of Porte des Lions" "Other faces..." "In the city of Sylvia." "The enigma of a face" "The unknown beauty..." "The somnambulist descending the stairs..." "Images that escort me in my journey." "2nd September " "The art of engraving a face..." "Having a look at the portraits of Place du Château, I notice a woman finishing her coffee" "Attracted by her expression, I decide to follow her." "At the crossing of the Corbeau Bridge, I lose her." "Quai Finkwiller, near the towers of the ancient prison..." "I've searched for her and imagined her alive behind one of these windows." "Our eyes met..." "I retraced the same itinerary." "I scrutinized the names of the streets," "I deduced their meanings and liaisons," "I went all over them again... 6th Sep. - Parc de l'Orangerie" "8th Sep., 10 p.m. - While going out from the restaurant on my way home, near Line 6 a woman is waiting for the tram." "I wonder if it's her..." "Sylvia after 22 years?" "8, 10, 12 years might have got a hold over this face... but I'm looking for a face after 22 years... a face that might not exist, a face over which time hasn't had a hold." "Yet, it could be her... 9th Sep. " "I return to the Odysseum tram stop, where I lost her." "10:15 a.m. The waiting." "10:25 a.m." "They're waiting... 10th Sep. 8:40 p.m. - Tramway Line 6" "14th Sep. 9:30 a.m.- Tramway Line 6" "During the trip, I dream of the possibility of a film with this passenger of Line 6." "16th Sep. - 12 p.m." " Not far from Odysseum, on Quai Hultz." "... I think I recognize her passing by on her bicycle." "Is it possible...?" "17th Sep. 12 p.m." " Waiting on Quai Hultz." "Other cyclists pass by." "The erratic horse that punctuates my days..." "Statue of Homer" "With uncertainty, I attend to the revelation of an identity" "The cyclists on their way... will soon have a face." "Every corner of the street reminds me of the missing one." "... Life goes on despite all its roars." "This pursuit leads my steps." "I'm looking for a face in a certain city a face within a décor." "Next Spring, I'll have to take these notes again and develop them ...meet Sylvia again." "Now, I must leave..." "Coming back" "Coming back 2nd PART" "10th Oct. - Sunday in the park" "11th Oct. " "Among the accumulated mail I find a short story sent by a friend." "THE VISION " "The elusive image of a woman glimpsed in the subway ...orbits in the memories of a man during his whole life." "... That unknown woman of the subway a vague image, almost a reflection..." "The vision of hardly a second fleeting and elusive;" "...indelible forever..." "THE VISION - He had only seen her once" "Others he had compared them all with the image engraved in his memory" "He had met many attractive women" "Others versus the engraved image engraved image unknown" "...the feeling of having allowed it to escape from his life." "...the most crucial instant of his existence." "...the woman that destiny had chosen..." "Madrid, 27th Oct.- Hotel Suecia, room 19" "Other women" "Madrid, 1st Nov." " Hotel Viena, room 715" "11.30 a.m." "The woman that destiny had chosen a vague image, almost a reflection that destiny had chosen..." "He had only seen her once." "The poet Dante Alighieri had a vision that left a mark on his life and in his work." "Her name was Beatrice." "The revelation took place someday in 1274." "Both of them were 9 years old." "Beatrice died when she was 24." "And love turned to mystic adoration." "In her eyes my lady carries love, and everything she stares at, becomes noble" "I cross the bridge towards the city of Beatrice." "In the church, 700 years ago, a woman came between the eyes of the poet and Beatrice." "From this experience was born "La Vita Nova":" "the story of a secret love that was to persist beyond death." "In her eyes my lady carries love, and everything she stares at becomes noble  everything she stares at..." "3:30 p.m." " A female reader on Via Corso" "Not far from there... another female reader at Piazza S. Givanini" "...and this woman who seemed so far away... smiled and looked at me... before returning to the eternal spring" "The city has lost its Beatrice..." "Laura..." "In the city of Beatrice." "13th Nov. - A bridge leads to the city of Laura." "The poet F. Petrarch had a vision ...her name was Laura." "He dedicated most of his work to her, using words similar in sound to her name:" "laurel, aura, 'or' (gold)..." "He ended up perceiving her as an alienation that kept him far from God." "And so he decided to devote himself to Virgin Mary, giving her the face of Laura." "This story starts in Ste." "Claire's church." "...where he saw her for the first time." "Vegetation takes the place of the scene." "The poet found himself near the cedar" "and on the left hand side of the altar, Laura." "Maybe this was the angle of vision he had when he discovered Laura." "It's a hypothesis... another possible angle... another..." "Laura was there." "677 years ago." "In the middle of vegetation," "...a laurel." "16:00 - Parc de la Citadelle" "There's not a single image of Laura." "...nor any certainty about her identity." "...only the poet's evidence." "The secret of a face" "The secret of a face" "...only the poet's evidence." "Like this, o sadness, I'm looking for, my lady, tirelessly, in others your true and desired form." "I'm looking for in others form true form desired" "I'm looking for in others your true and desired form" "Cheerful or thoughtful" "accompanied or solitary ladies that pass you by while talking away," "Where's my life and where's my death then?" "...I'm looking for" "...in others" "...your true and desired form." "I've imagined my whole life with this unknown lady" "to marry... to have children... to grow old together... all life long..." "677 years ago... in the city of Laura." "16th June - 10:20 a.m., Rue Ste." "Hélène, Strasbourg" "2nd Sep. - 5:40 a.m., Quai St. Nicolas" "20th Oct. - 11 a.m., Calle de la Plata, Mallorca" "20th Sep. - 1 a.m., Paiva Road, Lisbon" "2nd Nov. - 6:50 p.m., Bolonia" "A film in this city..." "He had only seen her once." "But he's never forgotten her." "Now he wanders about her city." "A woman leads to another woman who in turn leads to another..." "The absolute under the invocation of a secret image:" "she will not appear... but there'll remain the cafés, façades, bridges, channels, markets, hospitals, tramways and the suburbs... and the graffiti proclaiming the love for a woman, and the notices for the missing one... and other faces capable of evoking that one... and there'll also be the shop-keepers, the book-keepers, waiters, ice-cream men," "portrayed ones, students, children, lovers, tourists, homeless..." "City and face... location and character... décor and face... face-fiction... décor-documentary..." "A provisional title: "In the City of Sylvia"."