Original subtitles

The following text has been sent to 145 destinations.

Publishing houses, newspapers, magazines...

...radio stations and TVchannels.

To my relatives and acquaintances. And to the Police.

If you're a journalist I defy you to publish it.

If you're a radio or TVnews writer don't hesitate to air it.

If you're a mere citizen, try to spread this story around

to as many people as you possibly can.

Spreading this might as well be the only way of

preventing the victimization of even more people.

THE BACHELOR

I saw a man falling...

...falling...

I saw a man falling...

...falling...

I saw a man falling...

...but I had no time for a wish...

...I had no time for a wish...

Sophie?

One day, in early December two years ago

I came home from work and Sophie was not there.

She usually came back before me and I found her there upon my return.

Sophie could have very well gone somewhere without me knowing

as she usually did latetly.

But... there was one thing

that left me frozen as soon as I saw it.

Life sentence Sophie

Her things were all there.

There was no indication that Sophie was really gone.

But there was something

she would have taken with her at any rate.

She had left. She had disappeared.

Up to that day, Sophie was my wife.

What happiness!

Sunday morning...

Not having to go to work...

...and waking up to an Argentinian tango.

Thyrohormone of 1 mg...

These I must never forget to take.

One a day...

For life...

I am sentenced for life!

To love you...

You?

Life sentence.

Thyrohormone!

When we first met each other

this was our little, strictly private joke.

How many years had passed since the time when we used

this bizarre code word

to describe our endless love?

Besides her pill, which she had to take daily

she had a real passion.

Almost an obsession with Spanish,

Latin America and Argentinian tangos.

At that time, we were both working in the bank.

We were mere clerks in the same branch.

Sophie was born in '65. So was I.

Another coincidence, we both had no siblings.

One more:

We both came from small county towns.

That's where we grew up and where our parents were living.

We were both living alone in Athens.

Thodorino...

Ever thought of us two stealing from the bank?

Just by pressing the wrong keys every time, change mostly...

For example, 256 or 356?

Or even less than that.

How many bankbooks do you update daily, just count them...

Every year we could be tango dancing in Buenos Aires!

First you nagged me into finding a flat in the skyscraper.

So as to be high above and look down below on them all

and not be miserable. Now you want to rip off the bank?

Isn't tango dancing enough for you, here... now?

In Buenos...

...Aires!

Which prize did you get in that competition?

I've told you so many times. The third one!

If you'd had me as a model, it would have been the first one.

If you hadn't given up, perhaps today you'd be a famous photographer.

Perhaps I'd be a famous photo modeI, too.

Back to "Apple of debate", ladies and gentlemen

let's move on to our next guest, Mr. Petros Fortysome.

I was in High SchooI with this guy Fortysome.

...a star of the media.

Mr. Fortysome, good evening...

Good evening.

- He's often on TV, this man. - Really?

What does he do on TV?

Well... he says things...

He looks older than you.

He's thirty five.

His name is Fortysome.

...they perhaps relate to our overall lifestyle.

Mr. Tsimas, although you have already labelled me as a neo-cynical...

Turn it up, I want to hear him.

My own slogan...

my trademark really...

could be phrased as follows...

A man who gets married lives his life like a dog and dies like a human being

while, on the other hand

he who never marries lives like a human being and dies like a dog.

If I were not married, I'd be your follower.

Why did you change it? It's fun.

I can't stand Fortysome nonsense!

I'm turning in, I'm sleepy.

When will we work on a baby?

When will we have a baby?

Thodorino...

The money we make is not even enough for ourselves.

The baby can be on hold for a little longer.

There's no rush, is there?

Is there?

Besides, I want many children, not just one.

I have an idea.

Let's save money and buy a vesseI.

I'd rather we had a tour around Latin America.

A house on an island is better. In Patmos, what do you say?

A tour of Latin America. Please, it's my life's wish!

Argentina, Paraguay, Peru...

I'm bored of Athens.

All these, of course, we had to do during our leave

and by summing up our salaries.

Could it ever be possible?

Only a poor reflection of those dreams we made, ever managed to come true.

Our trip to Barcelona, instead of a tour of Latin America

and some other minor stuff.

Our life remained ordinary and meaningless

compared to our ambitious plans.

In September...

that same night perhaps...

Sophie got pregnant.

That same month

we brought my father down to Athens with advanced lung cancer.

He stayed with us at home

and every afternoon, Sophie and I

went through the sad duty of taking him for radiation treatment.

Already, since early November

Sophie had been transferred to our neighbourhood branch.

She had asked for this herself.

I remained in the main branch.

In mid-November without asking me,

in secrecy and silence, perhaps even kept from her own self,

Sophie had an abortion.

We drifted steadily apart.

Losing our contact more and more.

As if it wasn't our choice...

As if some external circumstances compelled us to it.

I had taken up photography again.

I took shots within the appartment.

Closeups, objects.

The angle was such that the model got distorted.

Looking at the photo afterwards, you couldn't really tell what it was.

Let's go, we'Il miss class! Food's in the oven.

Sophie went out with a group of women friends of hers.

There was one detestable old friend

who got this idea of workouts in her mind.

That's the picture frame I had about Sophie's life, in all that period.

Workouts and friends.

I was later to find out that I was absolutely wrong about it.

Hello?

Mr. Dimitriadis?

Speaking.

Sophie... is doing fine.

Who is on the phone?

- Juan. - Who?

You don't know me. My name is Juan.

Juan?

Who are you?

Why is your name Juan if you're Greek? What's your connection to Sophie?

If you want and I'm sure you do...

I could tell you the truth, save you the trouble of searching...

Who are you? What do you know about Sophie?

We'll talk more in person. At Cleo Maternity Clinic, at 5.

This afternoon.

Go up to the top floor.

At the restaurant.

Hello?

Hello!

Hello!

Now why would he want to meet me in a Maternity Clinic?

Sophie's pregnant?

From him?

She's having an abortion again?

Then why would they ask me to be there too?

I hope I didn't scare you.

Sit.

Where's Sohie? Which room?

Want to eat or drink something?

She's not here in the clinic.

I chose this place for no reason really.

I'm used to it I guess.

You see, I come here fairly often.

There's always some mishap with the girls.

The customers, no! Using a condom is a must for them!

Mishaps refer exclusively to myself.

Think of how many kids I'd have...

Girls and condoms and customers. What are you talking about?

This crazy man is raving!

What's all this gibberish for?

Why the Spanish pseudonyms?

They're my assistants, you understand.

We need them, for the time being, at least.

When you hear what I have to tell you

you may come up with a stupid reaction.

One can never be sure...

Say what you want to say. My ears are wide open.

I'm listening!

If not hating me already...

you will be.

Sure as hell.

That's how it usually goes.

You're not the first one, you see.

Believe me, though.

I feeI for you deeply!

How can I put it...

Like you're my little brother, that close.

Because for me, you're something more than a mere ally.

It sounds strange to you right now, right?

But you'Il see, that's how it is.

Your wife, dear Carlo...

My name's not Carlo! Are you insane?

Where is Sophie? Who are you?

Sophie is a secondary character in this.

Whereas you...

If it wasn't for you or men like you...

I'd be done for.

Where's Sophie?

Your wife, dear Carlo...

is keeping company to severaI rich men,

mainly foreigners...

who reside at the big hotels of Athens.

In case the customer, for any reason,

does not want to take the girI to his room, we also have a flat!

Who are you, guys?

I don't believe a word of this. I think Sophie is in here.

I want you to study these photos.

At home!

At your leisure.

They may convince you.

Although I doubt they will...

My phone number.

You'll need it!

I'm sure.

Alright then.

Tell me where Sophie is, 'cause I don't believe a word you said.

Don't make me sad.

You're proving yourself so inferior to what I expected...

You're desperately too much like all the other husbands I've known,

you all react alike!

Why won't you be a little different?

Show some originality?

I just couldn't believe it!

That scum with the Spanish pseudonym

might as well be a pimp.

He might even be devil himself.

But my Sophie?

Could it ever be possible that

she had lowered herself so as to be a courtesan?

Now you're getting it!

Now you're getting it!

No...

No...

No and no again!

And another billion times...

No...

The photos Juan gave me

were of questionable authenticity.

Vague, too.

That might not even be Sophie.

Or they might have been photo-edited.

It happens much too often.

My head was about to burst.

Sophie was not giving any sign of life.

Go to the police? I wouldn't even think of it.

If what Juan said turned out to be the truth

I could imagine being ridiculed by policemen's mocking looks.

I wouldn't stand all that shame.

I'd feel horribly humiliated.

Disgraced down to the lowest point.

The only person in the world

that could help me find Sophie

was unfortunately Juan.

I heard it from Juan that one afternoon

he met us for the first time, me and Sophie,

then he followed us home.

This, always according to Juan,

happened 3 months before her disappearance

that is in September.

After that

he started following Sophie.

How much is it?

The jacket's 200 and the skirt 150.

I'll browse a little.

Yes, please?

- The dress in the window. - Size?

Well, the lady's size.

That'll be a... 38?

38 or 40...

Thanks for cooperating.

Your taste is very good.

Are you paying by card?

Cash!

For you!

I bought it for you!

I saw the yearning in your eyes for it...

It is your size.

Unless of course you lied.

I'm not going to accept it.

Do not insist.

Do you always deny what you really yearn for?

Why do you always have these dark glasses on?

Who are you hiding from?

I take it it's not me 'cause I bump into you for a month now.

No...

Not from you.

On the contrary.

I hide myself from the day.

I don't like it. I only like the night.

You like the night...

Normally, people should be living all day in the countryside

and come down to the city only at night.

Why only at night?

Because when night falls, you cannot see anything in the countryside.

You cannot see the trees or the sea or the mountains...

Whereas in the city?

In the city...

All the lights are on!

Men go out to look for women and women to look for men.

Well, you didn't wait untiI dark, did you?

Behind dark glasses day looks like night.

Besides, the countryside means nothing to me anymore.

Now I only like the night.

So?

What else goes on at night?

A crowd of whores are on the streetwalk.

You've seen the cars stopping in front of the girls, haven't you?

Each one's looking for the whore they can afford.

Thieves go out the steaI, killers to kill...

Everything changes at night, you see.

People don't go out to work like in daytime.

They go out for different reasonsss...

More private onesss...

As if the rules of the game change and all turns upside down...

It's all black and white in life, anyway.

That's my life theory.

Black and white!

By the time they left the cafe

Sophie was already in love with him.

You're talking strangely!

Juan insisted on this.

What did she really like about this man?

His nose?

After all

I don't believe love is triggered by someone's looks.

Main thing is that Sophie was magnetized by this man.

She became his mistress.

My husband was greatly talented in photography.

His obsession with it was...

one of the main reasons I fell in love with him.

And?

He gave up on his passion for my sake.

His talent, the...

only thing he was obviously born to do...

How fortunate...

for me...

I'm sure this suit would fit you perfectly!

I don't want it.

I don't want it, I dont want it, I don't want it!

Yes.

I was destined to hear from Juan

that this was actually the focus point of Sophie's problem with me.

She had no esteem for me anymore.

Sophie had really had high hopes on me and my silly hobby.

That dress was followed by

new, much more expensive gifts.

Seeing all that cash flowing from her lover's pockets

Sophie was tempted...

...seduced...

...depraved.

Juan's generosity

must have undoubtedly

played a major part shaping things the way they turned out later on.

Think!

You have absolutely no talent!

Your life?

You already know it by now.

What can you expect from a life like this?

Ajob like this?

Salary based?

You're going to die having achieved only a 10 per cent of your dreams...

or even less...

I'm asking you, then...

Don't you want money?

ReaI money?

Not knowing how to spend it all?

How many times so far have you not...

made love with your husband unwillingly?

Remember.

How many times that you didn't feel like doing it?

Some of those you faked it, you even pretended that...

you liked it...

Of course, so as not to hurt him, make him sad...

So?

Was it that terrible?

That unbearable?

You don't say...

Deep down you must admit it was quite simple...

Piece of cake...

Pleasurable no...

Endurable though.

Tolerable, almost easy.

Especially...

if you consider the price for it.

We're talking big money...

ReaI big...

Not knowing how to spend it all...

Don't misjudge her.

It is only human. Human indeed!

How many in this world are capable of resisting

the invincible temptation of money?

Especially when partnered with love.

Perhaps only a few demented ones.

You are a bum...

You're rude.

But it's alright.

I understand.

It's a tight spot you're in.

I sympathize with you.

Let me tell you,

listen, this is the main thing in this story.

And these things are not so easy to express, to verbalize.

You belong in a speciaI category of people, in a race...

not rare...

it's not what I mean, there's plenty like you...

Just speciaI. What do I mean by that?

Your kind happens to be the most appropriate for my work.

IdeaI!

You, dear Carlo, are my best providers!

Because you and the likes of you have a little...

let me see, not a disease or a handicap...

call it a peculiarity

and its essence lies in this phrase:

You cannot be alone, you cannot be a bachelor.

Believe it. It's experience talking through me right now!

Do you understand? Do you?

In your face I found one of my best providers!

You're a source for me, Carlo!

As long as you live and exist you'll be working for me!

Unintentionally or even against your will!

Hasta Luego, Carlos!

For some time now, I was utterly desperate

and had given up trying to find Sophie again.

Juan's phone was not in use any more.

As if he never had existed.

I got drunk. Every day.

Trying to figure out what all that was, happening to me.

If it was all real or perhaps a dream that I had.

At the end of that year

I believe I had so much whisky

more than I'd ever had in my life until then.

Carlo!

How many times do I have to tell you my name's not Carlo?

All the same, you're listening to some fine old Argentinian tangos!

No, I'm not!

And for the last time, my name's not Carlo, agreed?

It was horrible!

The man who was responsible for my complete degradation

was calling me only to degrade me some more.

Most probably he was exercising some irresistible appeal on me!

There's no other explanation why I didn't hang up on him

or why, driven by a somewhat dark force, I accepted to meet him

in that gym.

Carlo!

I'm glad you came.

Could we skip courtesy?

What do you want from me? Why did you call me?

We love you!

And we care about you more than you can imagine!

I promise you from now on

that I, as well as the boys here,

will be your guardian angels.

You see, we don't want you to be harmed in anyway...

No way at all!

Not one hair of yours be touched by anyone!

We'Il guard you better than the apples of our own eyes!

Are you through?

You know what your problem is, man?

You have too huge a prick!

And you don't know how to use it!

That's why I'Il cut it off and stick it up your ass.

And since some of it will still be left out

I'll have you fed with the rest of it.

Same old story...

I know what you need, same as others that is...

You too want to feel the naiI marks with your own fingers.

You want the living proof, too?

Where is she? Will you tell me where Sophie is?

That's a no-no, Carlo.

You must live with it.

You won't see Sophie again.

But you'll get what I said earlier.

Living proof.

Let's have a drink.

Yes?

Yes.

With potatoes, mom!

Alright.

OK, bye.

Eating at mom's, wimp?

You must give up whisky and drink vodka. It's pure

and you don't stink after having it.

Does its job... Perfect!

I want to see her.

Just once.

Once...

Sophie's lost for you, Carlo. You better accept it.

Don't be sad, though...

You're not made to be a bachelor...

You know what bachelor means?

He who is unwed!

He who has no family and on the whole he who lives alone!

You're not going to be alone for long. I guarantee that.

Or anyway, if I can risk forseeing this

you'll soon find a new woman.

You've lost Sophie.

Very soon, someone will take her place.

Very soon.

This too is distinctive of your spieces.

Another feature is that the women you choose or vice versa,

are ideaI for my business! They're perfect!

Born for what I want them to be.

That's why whenever I bump into a guy like you

I celebrate the occasion, in a way. That's why I called you tonight.

You are insane and...

definitely have some sexuaI disability.

You don't believe me, do you?

Living proof... that's what you want.

You'll have it.

Soon enough.

I want Sophie.

Not Sophie...

Living proof.

You may go.

We'll notify you.

Fine, then.

Juan was indeed a panderer.

He had his henchmen and his whores.

Besides all that,

how could I ever accept

belonging to a certain human cast?

How could I believe that preposterous theory he had come up with?

I refused to believe all that and I doubted all

lust like an unbeliever doubts the existence of God.

How's your wife doing?

She's very well, thank you.

We have missed her.

Hello?

At eight o'clock. Today.

- This evening. - What's this about?

About what we said.

- I don't understand... - No problem.

At 8.

Be ready.

- Go down and you'll see. - What do you mean "down"?

To the street, outside your home Just come down from your flat.

And...

Carlo?

I hope you enjoy yourself.

You hear me?

Let yourself go!

Living proof is a privilege.

Don't let it go to waste.

No... I don't think so.

No chance of Sophie showing up...

It's something else.

A proof... A living one, too...

Good evening!

- It smells like medical stuff... - It's nothing. Are you ready?

- Ready? - I need you to lean forward.

A bit more.

I felt a soaked thing on my nose and mouth.

The smell scorched my larynx.

I lost consciousness.

When I came round I was in a bedroom.

My head was aching as if it had been worked over with a hammer.

Hi!

I'm Dolores.

Care for a drink?

Music?

My head is killing me.

Loosen your head up.

A Sophie, you know her?

I know none by that name.

Why don't you try to loosen up?

Is it OK if we talk a little first?

What do you know about me?

Next to nothing.

I know you must have a nice time.

Enjoy yourself.

That's why you're here.

Were you married?

Listen...

We'll make a deaI, OK?

I'll tell you what I can

then you'll tell me what you want us to do.

So, I know your name's Carlo.

I also know that your ex-wife is now one of ours.

I don't know which one of us she is and I don't care to.

Also I know you're here for the living proof.

This means you can enjoy the maximum that we offer.

Now you tell me what you want us to do.

Something you've never done before.

Not even with your wife.

Something you've never dared to do...

Something you were scared of asking her.

Well?

I'm waiting.

Will you think of something?

You know...

My head's about to burst and...

It's the truth.

There's nothing I hadn't done with my wife.

Nothing that I...

hadn't dared to...

...ask her.

It's the truth.

I swear it is.

This cannot be possible.

It cannot be.

There must be something.

Some...

...secret desire of yours...

A thing you never told anybody...

That's what you want?

That's what you want?

Yes!

Who are you?

Dolores.

No...

No...

You're...

...Juan!

Yes!

Juan!

Who are you?

Juan!

You like it, eh... Juan?

You like it, Juan?

Yes!

Not sure how much time passed.

I was alone in the room.

I looked at the bed legs.

Dolores'silky gown was gone.

I picked up my own clothes and put them on.

Are you alright?

He's on the roof.

The enormous guy leaned by me

and that pervasive medical smell

hit my nostrils once again.

I fought weakly to break away

but the handsome guy twisted my arm up high

making me scream from pain.

I lost consciousness once again.

We're there!

When I came round I was in the same Mercedes

which was parked on the street where my home is.

As if we'd never left that spot.

Sorry if I hurt you back there.

But you see, we're only following orders.

All the same, I hope you had a nice time.

I walked out of the lift,

I got my keys out of my pocket and stood before my door.

And then

I felt like crying.

Because, without realizing it and although I was holding my keys

I reached for the doorbell.

From habit, like in the old days

when I rang and Sophie answered it.

Nevermore...

Nevermore...

On New Year's Eve,

right on the changing of the year my phone rang.

I thought it might be Juan and I ran, so to speak,

to pick up the receiver.

Because, after the living proof

I'd completely lost track of him

although I tried to meet him in every way possible.

It was as if the earth had swallowed him up.

No.

It was not Juan.

This time it was Sophie.

Sophie...

Thodorino?

I love you much too much!

Very much!

I love you for life!

Thodorino?

You hear?

Thyrohormone of 1 mg...

You hate me?

One milligram.

I cannot forget you.

I'll never forget you.

I think about you all the time.

Grab some paper.

I want you to write something.

Ready?

1-4-5...

0-1...

2-2-1-0...

0-5...

1-2...

9-3.

The account is in your name.

"Credit Bank"

Not in our bank.

This is my present.

For the New Year.

Thodorino?

Are you laughing?

You're laughing?

You tell this motherfucker that if I bump into him I'll fuck his face

and I'll run his brains out!

Come now, Thodorino...

Tell him that!

That and...

And a Happy New Year!

What's the name of this little Thodorino you got between your legs?

Carlo!

Say, what do you want?

Something we never happened to do up to now.

Something you never dared,

that you were scared of asking me.

Talk dirty to me...

Tell me about my balls...

Your balls...

I want them in, too!

Fuck me... Frig me...

I'm your whore, Carlo.

Fuck me...

Screw me...

I'm your whore, Carlo.

Shut it!

Screw me!

Shut up!

I'm your whore, Carlo!

Shut up!

Shut it...

Shut up!

Shut it!

You're dead!

You forget by flying away...

...faded faces...

...fairy grannies, tired out elves...

...couples jumping off the rooftops...

...Paradise with the lights out...

...cops flying over the city...

...you're learning how to live without me...

During the first two months of the new year I drove around like a madman.

I took the car at night and plastered as I was

I would look around for what had seemed to me like a cigarette banner

from what my eye had caught

on the roof of that mysterious appartment

where I had... enjoyed the privilege

of the living proof...

In the meanwhile

my legs had got used to leading me to all the big hotel bars in the city.

They just took me there themselves

me being unable to resist.

Deep inside, I sure hoped to find Sophie in there.

A vodka.

With ice!

For one and a half year

I would drink like a sponge every single day

and I kept feeling dry all the time

as if I had holes in my body

and all I knocked back would pour out of them instantly...

As if I had no way of quenching my thirst in the centuries to come.

All this sickening nonsense...

All these unsubstantiaI theories...

that bum Juan had obviously invented them

meaning to scare me...

or simply to frame up his disgusting role

with some sort of charm...

For Sophie's acceptance to do as she did

I didn't neccessarily have to belong to a certain human category...

Sophie...

did this at her own will

and it was definitely her choice.

Even Juan...

whom she supposedly had fallen for

was, in my opinion, just a pretext.

Not the reason.

You think so?

Yes, I do think so.

These things simply don't happen.

I'll climb back...

...on the rope...

...the tightrope...

...and it's a secret I have...

...how I always manage making the same mistake...

One night

during that two or three-month period of my bar tour of duty...

I was driving back home, drunk as always,

when suddenly

I couldn't believe my eyes.

I bumped face to face into Juan.

Do you know a certain Juan?

What is he, a Spaniard?

A tall guy, he just walked in before I did.

Will you have something?

Is there another door besides this one?

No. That's the one everyone uses.

Then give me a vodka. With ice.

Now's your chance!

Are you of the opinion that we shouldn't waste chances?

Me?

Nothing but.

My life's a string of wasted chances.

Mine too.

Then we're a match. Cheers!

Oh, we forgot introductions!

I'm Eva!

I'm Theodoros Dimitriadis.

Or Thodoris or Thodorinos or Carlo!

I am a bank clerk...

I absolutely hate this job but

I'll still be quite young when I get a good pension.

So I'll be able to drink since early morning.

Ajob is a job.

You know one who's not shitty?

Life begins when you leave the office.

Are you married?

I've already had a failure of a marriage.

I got married very young, around 20

but it was too short-lived.

Since then I've had 3 more serious relationships.

With the last one, Manolis

we tried to make money.

Real money.

This was our dream.

First we set up a bar in Mykonos.

Then we ran a small hotel some 15 rooms altogether.

Manolis had signed too many checks, he'd borrowed money.

To pay off debts we had to sell everything out.

Finally he got locked up.

If only you could see him in jaiI...

He was so scared

that his face got wrinkled and he looked like a rat. Disgusting!

When I saw him in there...

I lost all respect of him.

His true self was revealed to me and I saw that

in fact he was only a timid tiny little flame.

A little flame I once mistook for a fire.

I don't know how to say that.

It may sound a bit cocky but it's the truth.

I think that in life so far

I never ever was scared.

In all honesty!

It is impossible by nature for me to have this feeling.

What's fear? Something edible?

Ever since childhood I instinctually detested anyone who was scared.

So you can guess how I felt

when I saw Manolis shitting his pants.

I almost threw up!

I never set foot there again.

I crossed him out.

And of course, since then I don't even want to hear about money again!

Let them stay away from me!

I believe this is a sort of disease, chasing after reaI money...

Trying to make a fortune...

And some people are simply incurable, suffering for a lifetime.

If you gave them one more life, they'd spend it the same way again.

While others... get cured one day.

Like me for example.

For me it's over now, I'm done with this disease!

Not that I don't like money.

Who in the world can say they don't?

But I won't chase after it.

In my life, I'm never going to do that again!

I talk too much?

No.

You?

Are you married?

Not any more.

Although divorce is not out yet.

My wife left me for a rich businessman.

Don't know exactly what his business is.

His father...

...is a ship owner, that's for sure.

I hope at least she's in love with him not his money.

So do I but... I don't think it is so.

In that case...

Let's wish her to be cured of that disease the soonest possible.

Truth is...

Love's is disease, too...

Sometimes, a more serious one perhaps...

But I prefer it.

Here's to the disease of love.

Here's to that sweet disease!

What's your name again? Theodoriadis?

Di-mi-tri-a-dis.

Thodoris.

Thodoris, Theodoriadis. You mind if I call you Theodoriadis?

How about a car ride?

And who's driving?

Not me.

I don't feeI very well.

I'm diseased...

Not with money...

You know...

I'm talking about that other one...

The sweet disease...

More or less, Olga was actually an antipode to Sophie.

I felt like screaming with joy

or like calling Juan,

although he had disappeared from the face of the earth

and inviting him to come running and meet Eva.

Run!

I've found a woman, who was born to do the job you want her for.

Perfect for it!

Run before it's too late!

And you'll see that I'm your best provider...

The source!

In all that time

I don't recall her ever addressing me by my real name.

Come on, Theodoriadis!

Always by that unnatural fabrication

which was a combination of my real surname

and my first name.

During the time we lived together

Eva and I had so much alcohol

good enough to make an elephant drunk!

That's how Sophie took it.

She mistook my silly hobby of photography for a talent.

A talent is an obligation.

If one has it, they're imprisoned by it

and cannot escape its claws.

One who has a talent doesn't conider or talk about quitting work in the bank.

They simply quit because they cannot do otherwise.

I do not agree, Theodoriadis. I'm sorry telling you, but...

Although I have no talent myself.

I don't have to be talented to see what goes with the reaI talented ones.

We've read so many interviews, autobiographies...

Did you ever see anyone resembling another?

All sorts of major and minor artists. They either work in banks

or they starve or even have billions...

You don't have to give up your work to be a major one.

It all depends, it's a relevant thing.

There's no recipe, I believe.

How did you ever decide to get a flat all the way up here?

Well, that's a long story...

Where did you find these?

In the loft. Shouldn't I? Sorry!

Your wife was very pretty.

I don't want you to touch these, OK?

They're just bad memories. They belong in the loft!

Well, at least leave the Spanish learning tapes.

Especially the Spanish tapes! I hate Spanish!

In mid-November, all of a sudden...

without a warning

Eva...

disappeared...

How's Mrs. Eva?

I haven't seen her for long.

She's away on a trip. To Latin America.

Lucky she! Where exactly?

In Buenos Aires.

It wasn't a joke. It was as if I wasn't lying.

At first,

right after Eva's inexplicable disappearance

I tried very hard to convince even myself that

indeed Eva was away on a trip

and that one day she'd be back again.

Later on,

when I realized that she had left me for good

and even worse without letting me know the reason for it

I was hurt even more

and I sank into depression.

Come down here, Theodoriadis!

It's Eva speaking!

I know you need to ask me about a million things, Theodoriadis, but...

You have to let me tell you my story first.

Or you won't be able to understand any of this.

So, get in the car.

And not a word untiI I've finished.

I want to tell you about something I eye-witnessed.

When I was a child.

5 years old.

My father was an Army Officer. Of the Infantry.

His nerves were twisted.

He was at home on sick leave.

Although there was no chance he could recover from his illness.

Of course I was very little at the time

and I had quite a vague idea about all those things.

A few words like...

insane...

leave...

were flickering in my mind without me exactly understanding them.

My father was obsessed with hunting.

On that day...

Olga!

I returned home early.

Consider that since then

from that age untiI today

I've never been scared again.

To tell you the pure truth

sometimes I think that in my life

whenever I got to a deadend

whenever I found myself at a crossroads

I've always chosen the road that scared me somehow.

Or at any case the one that I sensed would scare me.

You had a breakdown?

PetroI for the car but we're thirsty too.

What a night!

All this rain!

My life choices have always depended

on how provocative they seemed to me.

How possible it was for them to scare me.

3 stars good enough for you?

Don't know if you're following.

Super? Fill it up?

To cut it short and spare you the suspense...

Same thing exactly happened...

with Juan, too.

Remember last November?

While you were off to your village

to see that piece of land of your father's...

That's when this man first appeared before me.

He was awfully pushy too, he wouldn't let me go, well okay...

Juan's a helluva stud...

But you know me well enough, I'm not that type...

One night stands mean nothing to me.

In my book the real hard-on is a monogamous affair.

That one night thing...

I can do that myself.

I don't need a guy on top of me sweating and thrashing about.

Oh well, then...

This man...

at times he has a gaze so hypnotising...

It's the gaze of a snake that looks at you...

and manages to defraud you.

So he was staring at me with that look and without a warning

he suddenly made his proposaI this 'n' that, there's this org.

you'll make that much...

Customers such and such...

He laid it all out raw.

At first I was shocked by his nerve and insolence.

This uninhibited cynicism of his...

When all of a sudden I felt something.

How can I explain it to you, Theodoriadis...

I felt that there was something about his proposaI...

that got me scared inconceivably...

And now here come my conclusions.

The fear I was afraid of feeling...

I didn't feeI it at all.

Of anything.

Nowhere at all.

Only disgust!

UntiI finally your own self gets disgusted with you.

So I got up and left.

I got some info on your wife too.

I don't believe I met her.

Although I met a few girls.

Juan talked to me about her at some point.

Don't let him terrorize you.

Shit on him, Theodoriadis...

Don't pay any attention to what he's telling you.

He's a jerk.

He may be clever but at the same time the man's a jerk!

Just imagine, when I told him I was walking out

he lost his temper and started threatening me.

- What about? - About my life.

Are you scared?

Who?

Me!

And I told him to go fuck himself.

WelI, if you'll excuse me, Theodoriadis...

I'm not feeling well.

Can I go back home alone?

Don't know but... since I left...

I'm in exessive hypertension

I can't be with anyone, my nerves are stressed inconceivably and...

I need to be constantly on the move.

I'm sorry!

I may call you one day.

A tragic death occured last night at around 2 after midnight

30-year-old Eva Mouriki, a private employee, who was living in Athens.

Our reporter says the victim had visited the Parnetha Casino earlier last night

and had also won a substantial amount of money.

Then she got into her car which at a certain road turn

went off the track resulting to a fall over a cliff.

Police have stated that an option of suicide is also being considered.

The new Public State Bond Auction was conducted yesterday

at a price of 300 billion drachmas.

The amount of bids offered totalled to 761, 5 billion drachmas.

- Police Department? - City Police.

Hello? Is this 1-0-0?

Yes, I'm listening.

My name's Theodoriadis... Eeem... Dimitriadis...

I'm sorry... I have a serious accusation to make.

I know Eva Mouriki's murderer!

Who is she?

Isn't that the Police? You don't know? The one who was killed in Parnetha!

It was in the news, on TV just now, half an hour ago!

That was no suicide! She was murdered!

Hold it, sir! Who are you? Give me your name.

I know the killers. It's Juan!

Juan? What are you talking about?

You find it strange that this bum's called Juan while he's Greek...

Your ID please! Give me your name and address!

Your ID please!

I had become a big questionmark myself!

Had Eva committed suicide or had she been murdered?

Was I in danger too?

Was all this

a succession of nightmarish coincidences

or perhaps that tramp Juan was right?

Can you please look

what's in this account?

He's not forty, he's thirty-five!

That's why he says he still has a bit of a way to go!

Dimitriadis?

Theodoros!

It means a gift from God!

It's three millions.

- Come again? - 3 millions.

Withdrawing all!

I decided never to set foot to work again.

I decided to lock myself in for good

and not go out at all.

What was it that Juan had told me?

"You cannot be a bachelor"

OK then.

I might once have been a married man

and I might have not yet been divorced from Sophie

but that was just a formality and a secondary issue.

In fact I was all alone and now

I was about to become a bachelor in every sense of the word.

The perfect bachelor! The ideal one!

I'll tear Juan's theory into shreds!

I'll show him the real Dimitriadis!

As a matter of fact

so much alone...

so atrociously alone...

as I was those four last months

I had not been in my life ever before...

Well, sometimes

I would happen to go out for some shopping or cigarettes

but I'd never stroll away from home

as if some invisible string held me tied.

If we stick around this place we're whacked already...

Seeing that little jar with its odd content

I don't know why

but I felt this absolute certainty that it was brought for me by them.

Yes.

And this cockroach means something...

They're trying to tell me something.

Or is this a prank from the neighborhood kids?

Whatever it may be, I'm keeping it! I've decided.

It'll keep me company, ha-ha!

I've just got me a pet!

Athens is turning into hell due to the extended heat wave

the temperature will reach 40 degrees Celsius tomorrow.

The Ministry of Health advises light clothing, plenty of liquids,

frequent showers, small quantities of light meals,

make sure your food is adequately salted

refrain from alcoholic beverage consumption,

elderly people and those with respiratory difficulties

should restrict their exits if only to the absolutely necessary ones

and make sure you wear a hat.

Sometimes, mostly at night

I'd wander staggering in the oddest of places

just for the sake of being outside,

watching other people even from afar,

getting some encouragement.

And then, drunk as I was

I soon felt like a wreck and after a while

I was again back at home.

My place of martyrdom.

So much solitude is hardly bearable. All that arid territory...

I immediately had to find a refuge,

one suitable to my condition.

A hangout.

An oasis whatever...

Even in hell itself...

UFO BILLIARDS

- Can one have a drink here? - You name it!

- A vodka. - Of course.

- With ice! - With ice, of course!

How did I ever find this joint?

I couldn't have found a shittier one!

And the owner

that extra fat turd...

Perfect!

Swell!

In here

no way I could ever meet a substitute for Sophie and Eva...

In here, I may become sick of myself

I may become even worse than this turd

but I'll refute Juan's theory completely.

That fucked up theory of Juan's

I'll screw it up!

That's the main problem we got here, presumably...

All the sewage disposal pipes pass through my store.

I've complained to the building manager 100 times already.

I even made a speech at the flat owners' meeting about it

but nothing's being done.

You know what my main problem is? I tell them.

If a customer, presumably, is far too sensitive

he may even want to throw up listening to that thing.

Then he'll get up

and go to the toilet for upchucking.

Then...

Can you imagine, I tell them, what happens then?

They were staring at me like idiots.

Then, I tell them...

while the customer will be returning to his table relieved

there's a great big possibility that he has enough time presumably

to hear his own puke going over his head

through these pipes, right?

Then, sure thing is that he'll want to throw up again, right?

So, the same thing will happen again!

Over and over again!

Thousands of times, untiI kingdom come.

And why do you get drunk, paI?

Me, presumably, I have this problem with the child.

My wife died at childbirth and she left it to me as a gift, presumably...

It is mongolian and as you know

there's no cure for this thing.

It'll be like this until kingdom come...

You, presumably, what are you trying to forget?

My wife.

She is... disabled.

And she sits inside all day long.

On a wheelchair.

She got it four years ago.

And you know whose fault it was? Do you?

Mine. And nobody else's.

Dunno how it happened.

She probably got in between the two cars by mistake

I didn't notice...

So, I stepped on it to get the car out

the car launched backwards

and hraaak!

I mushed her legs!

What do the doctors say?

There's no cure?

In cases like these, science works miracles.

She won't get up, presumably?

Never again.

Not even in kingdom come, presumably.

You know...

Just because my wife stays, sits inside all day...

she gets all garrulous and wants us to talk endlessly.

She's a reaI pain!

So I get up, leave and come over here.

I don't feeI like talking!

I'm sorry about that, OK?

You know which is the most difficult operation?

A heart transplant?

The most difficult operation

is to remove the cock from a woman's brain!

It must have been a Friday

May the 28th

around 7 pm.

It was really hot that day, sort of a mini heatwave.

And although I could barely move with that fucking heat wave

I got up and went to the super market

when I realised that I had ran out of marmalade, ethanol bottles and vodka.

Remember me?

From High SchooI?

It's Thodoris Dimitriadis.

Dimitriadis...

What's happened to you, Dimitriadis? I hardly recognized you!

I'm too hot and...

And I don't like changing clothes!

Now, please, don't leave yet.

It's really important. I need to talk to you.

I've lost my wife and I haven't managed to recover ever since.

I've locked myself in and I don't go out much.

Sort of rock bottom phase.

I'm losing it.

There's a joint down here. It's in the basement so it must be cooI.

Too hot out here.

- Well, I... - It's not far. We'll walk there.

For less than a minute.

They'll steaI it.

As soon as I saw you in there I recognized you, Fortysome..

I've seen you on TV a couple of times.

I saw you in a program

where you spoke against marriage.

Long ago.

That's what I want to ask you about.

Concerning my wife.

What about her?

It's a long story, you won't believe it. Nobody can.

She became...

a whore!

Why?

That's why I'd really like never to marry again, Fortysome.

To live by myself from now on, but this...

No way I can manage this.

This man... is after me.

He's dangerous. He's trying to destroy me.

Whichever woman I find he'll finally take her from me! You don't believe me?

But who? Who'll take her?

Juan!

Juan?

The pimp...

In all honesty. I couldn't believe it, either, untiI...

I saw it.

I went to that place, to their brotheI...

I spoke with Sophie, too.

Just imagine, she even sent me money!

All this time I've been living off this fucking money!

Then, I met another woman.

I was in love with her.

He took her away, too.

Two vodkas!

- With ice! - With ice, of course!

I AM SERBIAN

Come now, off you go!

Serbian, presumably...

What on earth is this place? What have you got me into?

I can't stay long.

I have a date...

Some other time perhaps...

But...

You know...

See that you pulI yourself together, Thodoris.

You shouldn't slum around such places, it's like going downhill...

It smells awfuI...

You must help me, Fortysome. Say something.

I'm all mixed-up!

What can I say? The things you say are...

preposterous.

But even if it is so.

Forget it and move on. The world is swarming with women!

You'll lay down and die, then?

I'm telling you, this guy is after me.

He took Sophie away, then Eva.

Look at me! Just look at me!

I am the living proof, myself!

I have this phobia, this paranoia...

that he's right after all...

that it's just my fate.

That I can no way live by myself...

be a bachelor...

Of alI things! Hey, you...

This is no Middle East, take off the yashmak, we're living in Europe.

Fate my ass!

This is a run of certain coincidences...

- If you'd been through all that you wouldn't speak so! - Get with it!

Make a "click!" in your mind and move on!

You drink too much!

I'd advise you to cut down on it, if you care to listen.

I don't think it's good for you.

These drinks... that I bought...

you know what I see in them?

Nana's lips.

Wet and somehow...

sort of swollen by alcohol...

You thought I'd get drunk and talk nonsense?

I'm doing it for Nana. I was on my way to her actually, she lives near here.

Nana's flat will be all cooI now and we'll go...

straight into the bedroom!

I prefer visiting her flat than her coming to mine.

As if something in there is more stimulating...

more arousing, habituation kills stimulation.

Habituation not only with people but also with spaces!

I like Nana's bedroom for another reason as well.

It's a multi-sided room, a pentagon actually.

So...

I'm aroused by this disproportion, being among 5 and not 4 walls.

You'Il say, how's all this relevant to our subject?

Yes, it is, indeed!

Because I haven't yet told you who Nana is.

Well, Nana is divorced and lives with her son, Velissarios, only 6 years old!

I usually see her in the mornings when Velissarios is at schooI.

Of course I forgot to mention the most important thing.

Nana is no ordinary woman.

She is a top modeI!

The hottest number!

CLICK The women we love

Suddenly...

I imagined myself being with Nana

in the pentagonal, disproportionate and stimulating room...

that Fortysome had so graphically described for me.

With Nana, supposedly

we were not simply lovers

but also living together in that flat, all three of us.

Myself, she and little Velissarios.

A voice started roaring in my head.

What are you fantasizing? Could this ever be possible?

You've only just heard about this woman

and you're already married to her?

Juan's right after all...

No way you can be a bachelor.

You see now?

I'm not ashamed to confess that. I'm happy living by myself!

Being a bachelor!

You scram, too!

I only came to fill up your glasses, my treat presumably...

This man's my wife's brother.

Doctors said that she must have both her legs cut off!

Up from the pelvis! I'm going mad!

So fuck you and your treat!

Get the hell out!

I swear not to come to your table again presumably... untiI kingdom come!

You can have my balls and scram!

I won't set foot again in your shithouse!

Why's that, presumably...?

Hey, man...

What did you tell that poor man? Cut off legs and the like...

Why alI that swearing? Are you crazy?

Go on your way.

Go back to your bachelor happiness, boy and don't give a shit!

I'm in no mood, thanks a bunch, now scram before I become any nastier.

What do you mean?

Scram!

No, I want to know what you mean!

This is your way of saying thanks?

I ducked my plan and followed you

and agreed to go into that shithouse...

Beat it!

Did you hear me, you happy arsehole?

Just...

beat...

it!

Fortysome...

that decorative houseplant...

It is him and not Dolores

who is the living proof actually...

Juan's theory stands by all means.

Fortysome belongs to a type of men quite different from me.

Me, I'll never manage...

As long as I live and exist, I'll be working in Juan's behalf eternally...

From that same night on

I locked myself in

and for the last two and a half weeks I've been writing non-stop.

This is my story...

which explains the reasons why I decided to do

what I'll already have done...

by the time you're holding

one of the 145 copies...

of this text.

I know that most of you won't believe me.

They will consider all of these satanic coincidences

as a product of my imagination, as sickly games of my mind...

In the worst case, only some may believe me

when it's all too late.

When they feel the consequences of this story on their own skin...

JUAN CARLO

I'd very much like being alive

if only to see all those who will attend my funeral...

Naturally...

she is crying...

but she's also really afraid

that any of the relatives may recognize her...

Any acquaintance we had in common...

She's definitely afraid...

but she wouldn't stand not coming, either...

Behind those dark glasses

Juan's eyes are pointing at Nana...

"Mmmm"... the worm is thinking...

"Interesting"...

Big, sort of swollen lips...

and her body...

She's almost perfect...

He's saying all this because his expert eyes

have not seen Fortysome yet...

Pity...

I hadn't noticed him...

Too bad, it can't be done...

The more I look at him the surer I become.

This man... was born a bachelor!

And he'll remain a bachelor

till the day he dies.

Therefore, his dearie's no good for us.

Pity...

And I thought I'd found another purebred!

Well... That's life!

I wish everybody was like the late Dimitriadis...

English subs by neverever for 'tik Oct 2014