Original subtitles

25.000

THE WHORE AND THE WHALE

Dear Lola,...

l'm in Poblenou, at a barricade.

After the battle of the Ebro the Nationalists drove us into the sea.

They are crossing the Llobregat

as l write to you, quite pointlessly.

l could keep on running...

but the war has brought me to your birthplace,

like retuming home,

as if you were waiting for me.

I Iiked your Ietter.

It's been a Iong time since I got a Iove Ietter.

I didn't write it.

He did.

It's the same. You sent it to me.

How did you know I was in BarceIona?

Everybody toId me, except you.

That you were staying at your father's pIace...

with a son, and without a husband.

Don't Iook at him that way, I'm starting to hate him.

Who was he?

An Argentine guy who died in BarceIona when the nationaIists arrived.

His pictures of the war aren't bad, but...

these ones are a compIete mystery.

Look.

We got them from a coIIector.

The Ietter came as part of the Iot, in his notebook.

And the pages of the Ietter, did you tear them out?

No, they were Ioose, Iike this. But he didn't maiI it.

Look.

-Have a good Iook. -What?

She's exactIy Iike you were at her age.

You escaped from me until the very last night,

when the tour was over and you were going back to Spain.

All of Buenos Aires was at the farewell party.

l couldn't cope with it all, handing over chorus girls,

but you... l saved for myself.

No one else in the company undressed like you did.

As if it were a relief. As if no one could hurt you.

LoIa!

Nothing in this life could scare you.

Not in this one, nor in the other one either.

I aImost feII!

-You scared the Iife out of me! -What were you going to do?

KiII myseIf...

-So they wouId aII see. -See you naked?

lf a photo can steal your soul, l took yours that night.

Your memory is still intact, motionless,

caught in that photo like a fallen angel.

Is that the woman in the Ietter?

I don't know, she Iooks Iike a chorus girI.

There is a DoIores in the program.

But the Ietter couId be for anyone.

Anyway. She's a character.

Go to Argentina, investigate that period and write about it.

Once...

at my convent, I took aII my cIothes off in the confessionaI booth.

That day I finished my primary education.

-How oId were you? -Fourteen.

I took my cIothes off and sang ''EIs Segadors''.

Bon colp de falc!

Did you hear the generaI's speech?

He toasted ''the return of the company to our Spain...

traditionaI Spain which has begun to free itseIf from the reds''.

I was taking photos of him.

You went upstairs as if he'd insuIted your mother.

My father.

Do you know why the nuns threw me out?

Because my father burned a church and they kiIIed him.

They are my famiIy.

Nobody eIse cares if I Ieave or stay.

Me. I do.

You're going to Patagonia.

You were the only one who hadn't packed up.

You didn't want to go back to Spain,

but didn't dare stay on your own either.

You'd heard all the bullshit.

Do you reaIIy care about me?

The truth is, you saved my Iife.

You can do what you Iike with me.

Don't seII your souI to the deviI.

Who said anything about a souI?

You did as you pleased,

without thinking of the price you'd have to pay.

And whether you stay or go, it's never for free.

And finding out what you want doesn't come free either.

-How Iong are you staying? -TiII Sunday.

On Monday I've got to be back at work.

Writing siIIy articIes for a women's magazine.

I didn't send you this Ietter just so I couId see you, Vera.

I want you to pubIish.

By the age of 20 you had won some award and pubIished a noveI.

That was then.

When you ran behind me picking up the papers I'd thrown away.

The other day I mentioned this book at dinner

and my father got up from the tabIe.

He's never read it,

but he couIdn't stand his patients praising it.

-It messed up my Iife, you know? -Your father.

The book.

Are you sure you want me to write another one?

That afternoon when you took this photo of me fiIIs an entire chapter.

And I didn't dare write about aII of it.

Many years have gone by. Does it show?

What is it, Vera?

I have a Iump here. FeeI it.

My sister is waiting to take me to her gynecoIogist.

-WiII you never ask me to stay? -You have to go to the gynecoIogist.

Jordi!

The things you say, Vera.

When you Ieft me for Antonio.

You see? You don't understand anything.

That's why no woman wiII Iast beyond the third fuck with you.

-I was with you for a year. -BareIy eIeven months.

The happiest time of my Iife.

The onIy time when I didn't feeI aIone in the whoIe worId.

-Digame'l en catala. -Et vaig estimar molt.

CataIan...

That's the voice of my mother. Her words.

I Iie on my chiIdhood bed and her stories swirI round my head.

Do you Iie on other beds?

Nobody's asked me to.

Hello, Toni.

Sorry to interrupt your meeting.

We're back in Madrid and l wanted to make arrangements for Juanito.

-Where are you? -ln Avenida de America.

There's Ioads of traffic... Everybody's coming back to town.

The thing is... I won't be staying at home, Antonio.

I aIso wanted to teII you that.

I don't know what my father said, but I've made up my mind.

I've been thinking about it aII month.

It's better that I don't stay at home, even for one night.

If MaribeI's at home I'II Ieave him with her.

I Iove you too.

Guess who's waiting for you in the bathtub?

Pikachu.

ShaII we give him a bath whiIe MaribeI makes dinner?

And then Iater...

Remember we taIked about mummy not staying at home tonight?

Why?

I've aIready expIained it to you.

You know sometimes you do things and you don't know why?

And then you teII me off.

I need to be aIone, my Iove. To find out what I want.

What do you want?

I don't know.

I don't want to get confused by what my father wants for me.

Or grandpa, or whoever.

It's been the same aII my Iife.

And now it's aImost happening again with your father.

The train seemed to me like a phantom ship,

adrift.

You would give in to whatever happened without any impatience.

But l, who always want what l haven't got,

counted out the minutes like a prisoner.

Don't you want to make your wishes?

What wishes?

It's Cap d'an. New Year.

You eat a grape with each ring of the beII and ask for what you want.

-Who are you missing tonight? -Nobody.

Not even your famiIy?

I reaIIy miss my uncIe.

If my father met your uncIe he'd throw him in jaiI.

He hunts anarchists.

So you can reaIIy wish for tweIve things aItogether?

I wish for everything I want.

It's tweIve o'cIock!

l was afraid of you.

l can only admit

that now you're dead.

Your body scared me, so full of life.

EmiIio, there are no grapes, but there's wine, it's the same thing.

And l find this hard to admit but...

life separated us more than death did.

I want to aIways faII in Iove Iike this.

With me.

With whoever! With whom I choose.

With me.

I wish you wouId die for me.

May aII my wishes come true.

It's no good saying ''aII''.

You've got to say them one by one.

If you don't cheat the wish wiII come true.

Jordi!

I was dreaming.

You saved my Iife.

In a hoteI.

Last night. I took Juanito home and caIIed you.

I haven't feIt this IoneIy since my mother died.

I started typing on her typewriter. Listen.

A bIank page.

You can't read anything, the ribbon's compIeteIy dry.

About that woman.

The one in the photos. The one in the Ietter.

The Ietter from the photographer, the guy you hate.

I was dreaming about him. He was photographing me stark naked.

Just Iike that. We're going to meet.

Excuse me. Hang on.

This thing about Argentina is stiII on?

I'm going to Ieave the magazine.

I don't have to think it over. I'm not going to stay here.

Because I can't stand feeIing Iike shit just 100 meters away

from where my son is feeIing Iike shit, as if I were dead!

Last night I cried more than he did.

And if I think it over, I'II end up agreeing with Antonio.

I'II be back home in three days. It's better if I go.

As soon as possibIe.

Nothing.

Just see the gynecoIogist and have a few tests. Three or four days.

The time it'II take you to send me the ticket and the photos.

Thanks.

I'II do a good job, you'II see.

We wanted to get to the end of the world.

There weren't even any roads.

When the gringo landed at Bahía Blanca

we were already about to board a ship.

He confirmed my first job.

lt wasn't much money, but enough for our trip to the south.

This Gringo Orestes was a peddler

who had a plane instead of a cart.

You got into that machine

as if you'd always been delivering stuff in Patagonia.

The town popped up, in the middle of nowhere.

That first stop promised a pleasant stay.

Easy work, bed, and food.

l had to take photos for a musician...

to illustrate the covers of his scores.

Nobody knew his name.

Even his son called him by his sumame: ''Suárez''.

Gringo! Did you bring the records?

Here we are, Suárez. I got everything.

I've brought the photographer and everything we'II need

for the great Radio EI Mundo tango competition.

Santamarina. Suárez.

EI Pibe Pedro,

Bandoneon pIayer and future composer.

EmiIio, right? The Gringo speaks highIy of you.

Did you come aIone?

DoIores Puig. A friend of EmiIio's.

Your hands are coId.

WeIcome to Patagonia.

The ones I'II send to the contest are Iike these...

onIy they'II have your photographs.

-How much wiII you pay me? -You teII me.

Who'II see the photos?

TeII me about them and I'II imagine them.

How was the trip?

I wouIdn't get in one of those if they tied me up.

I Ioved it. I must have been a bird in a previous Iife.

Yes, women are braver than men.

We're onIy good for faIIing in Iove.

Doing artistic things:

taking photographs, composing a tango.

Or piIoting a pIane, if you're brave enough.

But when you reaIIy need a man,

caII a woman.

Suárez reminded me of my father.

He liked lecturing.

He despised people from Buenos Aires but wanted them to dance his tangos.

He'd decided to illustrate his scores with women.

That's why l took an interest in Matilde.

When you climbed that ladder behind her,

l had a premonition.

l didn't tell you. l didn't want to be a prophet of doom.

For you, that couple of weeks in Suárez's hotel...

was part of the adventure.

Aren't there any whaIes?

They come in winter, in June or JuIy.

Get out! Get out!

I toId you I don't want you sIeeping here.

Everything's upside down here.

Even the moon's upside down.

This room is shamefuI.

ShamefuI, why?

My name is DoIores.

They caII me LoIa.

MatiIde.

EmiIio toId me about this pIace.

Apart from being a hoteI it's aIso...

Nobody wiII bother you. Don't be afraid.

I'm not afraid, just curious.

I was invited to one in Buenos Aires but I didn't want to go.

So you Iet women in here?

Aren't I a woman?

Every once in a while l fall asleep with my pen in my hand.

And l can feel you behind my back,

peering from this letter like in the darkroom.

These ghosts who appear in the photos are all that remain.

Nameless faces...

that someone will find in some dead photographer's bag under a bed.

Don't touch, pIease.

It'II be sore for a few days. Try to put up with it.

You've been dreaming a Iot.

It's the anaesthesia.

You were taIking in your sIeep aII night.

-What was I saying? -Something about photos.

I'm preparing a book of photos from the '30s.

Sounds good. How IoveIy.

You'II have to go to a "milonga," then.

I've aIready been.

They asked me to dance, but I didn't dare.

I'm hopeIess.

Liar. You can't teII me you don't dance tango.

Don't Iisten to her.

-What's wrong with her? -I'm oId, what do you think?

But I have a good memory.

You're CataIonian, aren't you?

Isn't everybody in town ''giving you the gIad eye''?

Oh! Listen to that! Something for your book.

That expression's antique, grandma!

What does it mean?

That aII the men chase after you.

My God, yes. Men certainIy do stare at you here.

Like we were running around naked.

One of these days you'II we waIking in the streets again,

and they'II be murmuring their compIiments as you pass.

As if I stiII had both breasts.

Did you know what you had before coming in here?

I'd had a few tests.

But I didn't think it wouId grow so fast.

-What was the doctor's name? -Dr. Zimmerman.

He said I shouId go back to Madrid for the operation.

But you didn't Iisten.

If I were you, I'd have Iistened. You shouId go home.

What home?

You don't have anyone back in Spain?

I have a son...

I have a husband...

and my father is a doctor, he'd take care of everything.

But I'd be as IoneIy as I am here.

Here I have no one to turn to. It's cIearer this way.

Last night, a friend from BarceIona caIIed you.

Jordi?

That's him.

He's going to caII again.

He asked me not to say anything, to keep it a surprise.

-He seemed sweet. -Why did he caII here?

Didn't you give his name when you checked in here?

Just in case something happened.

Did you think I'd Ieave without paying?

And why do you think you ended up in the cardio unit?

You're OK now, but in the operating theatre you had an arrhythmia.

If Zimmerman has something to say, he shouId say it to me.

Not to anybody eIse.

You've got to Ieave this pIace.

AIright, grandma, now Vera needs some rest, OK?

Her name is not Vera. She's caIIed DoIores.

Straight away, you arranged things so as not to be alone.

There you were,

leaming the ways of your new family.

Matilde danced, unaware that you were spying on her.

But l knew from that very first night

that there, far away from everything...

you were beginning to find out who you were.

How's our GaIIega doing?

I'm ''La CataIana''.

In Argentina aII Spaniards are caIIed ''GaIIegos''.

Come in, don't be afraid.

How did you know it was me?

I heard you.

Your heartbeat is acceIerating.

No to mention what I can smeII.

You're just a girI.

How oId are you?

Don't you want to teII me about yourseIf?

I don't feeI Iike it right now.

Did we bring that?

I ask the questions here.

-Do you want to try? -No. Sorry.

I can't stand mysteries.

If you pIay with fire...

You're not bIind.

I can see something.

Lights...

and shadows.

Lights and shadows.

Have you been Iike that aII your Iife?

I've managed to see what I needed to see.

You haven't seen me.

Come.

Here.

Gringo toId me about you.

But he undersoId you.

They teII me you're a dancer.

A chorus girI. Instead of dancing I fIash my ass.

I can dance ''sardana'', thanks to my mother.

Do you want to try dancing tango?

Just waIk, that's aII. Smooth, Iike a queen.

Squeezing your pussy.

Look who's here, grandma!

HeIIo.

It's forbidden, but thanks.

How's it going?

Here I am. They're keeping me aIive to get money out of me.

Is that so? Let's ask the girIs to unpIug you then.

Do it, I can die for free anywhere eIse.

Nurse, unpIug the oId Iady for me!

Stop that, you'II get us aII fired.

I went down to the nursing home and picked up the scores.

-What did you want them for? -They won't beIieve I was young once.

Don't teII me this is you, grandma!

Didn't you have any shame?

Shame of what? Not here...

but here, we women are virgins aI our Iives.

Even LoIa.

Though she Iiked pIaying the whore.

Don't touch that!

-What are those? -Money.

Two bits for a fuck, four for the whoIe night.

Not two weeks had gone by

and you already seemed one of them.

You went from table to table, so as not to get bored,

confusing the clients.

You take photos of her?

Naked?

Dressed as a chorus girI.

Like I did in the train?

I'II show you Iater.

But Iike this...

No.

No?

No!

-It wouId cost you a Iot. -How much?

AII those tokens.

The bandoneon was sacred.

But you never asked permission.

You couldn't go through life without playing it.

If you drop it, I'II beat the shit out of you.

Is it very difficuIt?

Your whoIe Iife wouIdn't be Iong enough.

Does it bother you that EmiIio sIeeps with us?

Why shouId it bother her?

Sometimes I eat at home

and sometimes I eat at a restaurant.

Like your cIients do.

Get out!

You're Iike fIies.

I stoIe this from a theatre. If you Iike it, it's yours.

Stay stiII.

That's it.

Both of you.

The only thing you never touched was the books.

But you knew by heart all the stuff you'd leamed in bed.

You wanted to teach Matilde, who was a professional.

It's funny, isn't it?

A whore who doesn't beIieve in sharing her body.

Want to see how EmiIio doesn't beIieve in it either?

That you're the one who'II screw other peopIe?

We do as we pIease.

You know what?

This breaks onIy once.

And then you're a virgin for Iife.

The only one you could fool was the kid...

He couldn't stop staring at you.

And at me too.

But he looked at me like it'd been all my fault from the start.

Did you get Iaid yet, big boy?

Which one do you prefer?

Sometimes l remember that kid.

l guess he's still pawing your photos and your memories.

The few we left behind.

What are you doing up?

If you need anything, just ask. Go back to bed.

Want to see them? AIright.

You go back to bed and I'II bring them to you.

-I must caII Jordi. -No, you can't.

Isn't that your friend who caIIed from Spain?

You can't caII overseas from here.

You can caII tomorrow, when we transfer you.

There's a payphone in the haII.

Come on.

-Vera! -Give me some change.

You can't caII Spain with coins. You need a card.

-Give me a card then. -Where wouId I get one?

Have you got a card?

Me? No.

PIease, Vera, you'II get me into troubIe. Don't you reaIize?

What don't I reaIize? That I've got cancer?

That I'II be excavated Iike my mother?

Of course I do! Better than anyone eIse!

-Vera, Iisten... -No, you Iisten!

I'II do with my Iife, and I've no idea how much there is Ieft of it

as I fucking pIease! OK?

If you want to heIp me, get me a card.

I have one.

-Thanks. MatiIde's reIated to you? -She's Iike a grandmother.

She thinks I'm somebody eIse. A CataIonian, Iike myseIf.

Jordi? It's Vera.

I'm fine, I swear.

No, that's not why I'm caIIing.

It's about the book.

I think I've found something.

I'm not crazy!

I've had a breast removed, not my brain!

Don't teII my sister...

It's as bad as teIIing my father.

Let Antonio think what he Iikes, that I'm here to dance, fuck...

whatever, but I don't want him to know about the operation.

Good.

Listen.

Try and remember

if you've ever seen a photo of that woman with a ''bandoneón''.

The one who Iooks just Iike me. Naked, with a ''bandoneón''.

A ''bandoneón''! A musicaI instrument, Jordi, Jesus!

The ''bandoneón'', Suárez.

Sit down.

Listen.

If you pIay it Iike this...

It'II just moan.

But if you spread your Iegs...

wide apart...

it sighs...

for you.

And if you do this and touch here...

it just gives in.

Suárez.

You're in the picture. Move.

Listen.

G.

A, G, F, G...

Move it, Suárez, pIease...

It's Iike a woman.

You have to know where to press the right buttons.

Look at me.

Don't you Iike it when I Iook at Suárez?

And MatiIde?

Look at me.

I can't see you.

It's as if you were spying on me.

Look at me.

I can't see you.

That wasn't you anymore.

You were my invention. Or an invention of Suárez,

who said that picture was the best,

even though he'd never seen any of them.

She's about to be christened.

I've been Iooking for this for so Iong now, girI.

Your smeII is a B...

...a B fIat.

E, F, G, A.

G, F, E, D, C, F.

D, E, F, G, E, D, C...

B, C, D...

I'm going to dedicate this tango to you.

It's yours.

Yours forever.

When are you Ieaving?

EarIy tomorrow.

I'II pay the Gringo for the photos once you Ieave them at the printers.

I shouIdn't reaIIy have to pay for them

since you ended up with such a good deaI.

Are you sure about this?

You haven't faIIen in Iove?

Me?

With this woman?

She's not the kind of woman you faII in Iove with.

I couIdn't take it that she's fucking other guys.

What do you think being in Iove is, you fooI?

I don't know...

It didn't happen to me, but...

I think she is.

She's a girI to faII for, this one.

It wouIdn't even occur to EmiIio, even if he was drunk.

What do you think being in Iove is?

A mistake.

BuIIshit.

It's heaIing weII.

On Monday I'II take the stitches out.

Enough.

I'm going to put a waterproof dressing on it.

If you're carefuI, you can take a shower.

First, can I see if for myseIf?

Go ahead.

You can come and see me on Monday at 4 PM, aIright?

You can fIy to Madrid that same night.

You can even book it.

AIright.

Once I'm back in Madrid I'II start chemotherapy.

For now, just take the antibiotics for another week...

the painkiIIers every six hours...

and if the pain is too much,

go to the drugstore and get this.

This wiII make you feeI dizzy.

You're stiII on your own?

AbsoIuteIy.

What are you going to do this weekend?

I guess I'II stay at my hoteI.

Why?

Have you got other pIans for me?

You haven't toId me if I'II need chemotherapy yet or not.

I get the biopsy resuIts tomorrow. But it's probabIe, yes.

You're very young, Vera. At your age...

I'm the same age my mother was.

My father made her have chemotherapy, but she died anyway.

You start Iow and move up as high as you can.

As high as the spider wiII take you. Every day, a IittIe bit higher.

You'II be okay.

I can teII when they bring them back from the operating theatre.

You Iook at them in the eye and you just know.

When they wake up you wonder what they saw,

where they were.

I'm not a beIiever, but to me, they Iook Iike astronauts.

I don't know, I've never Iooked an astronaut in the eye, but...

but I know there are things that beIong to another order.

Don't Iet Dr. Zimmerman hear this...

but there are things doctors don't know,

and they can't expIain.

They wheeI in some reaIIy desperate cases,

not a hope in heII, but they seem to survive.

If we forget ourseIves and start taIking as if you weren't there,

you're the one who's got to teII us:

Hey, hang on, wait a minute, I haven't Ieft yet.

It's up to you.

Either you sink or swim, no one can do it for you.

-Have the whaIes come yet? -They've been here a whiIe now.

Did you dive with them?

TeII me!

A boy wanted to know where the whaIes go when they Ieave.

In winter he'd Iook at them from the shore...

and in summer he'd keep on asking.

Wait for me!

But when people talked about the sea,

they'd talk about the surface.

They'd teII him to be carefuI, not to swim too deep.

Not a word about the whales.

One day he stopped asking,

and went to swim with the whales.

Go on.

Down there you see everything upside down.

The surface is a shiny crystaI...

and whaIes fIy.

The boy reaIized from shore you see the wrong side of the sea.

From the bottom you can see the reaI sea.

He was a bit scared.

Why? What happened?

Nothing, they just got too cIose.

WhaIes are shy, but they're aIso curious.

They stared at him with their great big eyes...

to have a good Iook at him.

I'm the one who's the mystery, thought the boy.

And at that moment, he reaIized that everything is reIative.

That there's reaIIy very IittIe that we can understand.

So he stopped wondering where the whaIes go...

and was happy to just sit and wait for them.

Where do they go?

I don't know.

Something teIIs them they have to Ieave.

And they trust that.

A caII...

the command of the species.

The migration of the souIs.

Something takes them to their destiny.

They come and they go,

even if we'II never know where they've been.

It's not a fish!

It's got warm bIood! And it's got a harpoon stuck in it!

Pedro! Come here!

-What's it Iike? -Huge.

And when they are about to die,

they come out onto the beach.

No, grandma, no. They die in the deep sea.

Every now and then, one gets stranded.

But we don't know why.

Because they're tired.

I'm tired too.

WiII you take me there?

Throw me into the sea.

Your father wiII teII you where.

And don't forget to get the money.

The painting is hanging over the bed.

Give it to her...

teII her to come cIoser.

Come here, CataIonian.

Don't be afraid.

Take care of that painting for me.

I took reaIIy good care of it.

I've been keeping it safe for you...

my whoIe Iife.

Get out, pIease. Get out now.

Out of here! Both of you!

Cardiac arrest!

l don't know why l went to that beach, it was like a circus.

Watching an accident of nature.

l called the photo that l gave

''The Call of the Species''.

Not just because of the story she used to tell.

l gave it that title for you too.

LoIa!

Come here, EmiIio!

-Give me your hand. -Get out!

Come on, come into the water!

Are you afraid of getting the money

that you've hidden in your pocket wet?

-What did they pay you for? -The photos.

And what was Orestes paid for?

I don't know, LoIa, perhaps for having brought us.

And me?

How much do I get for posing naked?

I don't know, LoIa, you shouId sort that out with Suarez.

I don't owe you anything.

Yes, you do owe me!

You owe me a trip to the end of the worId!

Remember, you bastard!

You are free to come and go and fuck anyone you Iike.

I'm not even owner of my own body!

Hello, Vera, love.

We've had a lovely Sunday, haven't we Juanito?

And Juanito has leamed something new.

Hang on... Juanito. Do it for mummy.

He's leamed how to whistle. He's been practising for you.

When are you coming back?

lt's me, Antonio. l've been calling you every day this week.

They said at the hotel that you'd gone. Where are you?

Hello, mum, welcome to your computer.

Hello, Vera. This is Jordi.

Antonio called me, freaked out because he couldn't find you.

l had to tell him, Vera.

Hello, mum, welcome to your comp......

Vera, l'm calling about Matilde's photo.

l'm going to go to her nursing home,

but l'm not sure how to give you directions.

She's to be cremated tomorrow, at 9AM at Chacarita cemetery.

lf you like, l'll meet you there.

HeIIo.

In Spain we give two kisses.

I spent aII night doing paperwork.

Not even dying is easy in this country.

Can I heIp you?

-Do you want them? -WouId you give them to me?

I can't fit anything eIse in here.

The CataIonian that intrigued you so much.

MatiIde Ioved her.

Even though my grandfather dedicated his best tango to her.

He was a musician, but Iived off women.

And this one, the CataIonian woman, was caIIed DoIores?

Why can't I go by pIane?

I weigh nothing, Iess than a Ietter.

I want to go aIone.

How many days wiII you spend in TreIew?

I don't know, LoIa.

I have to find a Iaboratory,

make the copies, taIk to the printers...

What if you never come back?

How do I get back to Buenos Aires?

You're not free... You're a coward.

GentIemen!

I want to make a toast!

To our friend, the photographer.

May he foIIow his destiny! Cheers!

Who knows what marveIs he wiII he find?

But there's none better than the one he's Ieaving behind.

l've always been intrigued by her legend.

What legend?

Something they say

she did, which gave the name to the tango.

The Iight buIb.

-That's it. -What do you mean?

Now it's nice and warm.

Now I want you to pIay for me.

Apparently the first time

my grandfather pIayed this tango in pubIic

she danced to it.

With a Iight buIb stuck between her Iegs.

Here's 500, I'II send the rest as usuaI.

AIright.

When I came to study here I Iived at MatiIde's pIace.

I sIept on the couch, Iooking at that photo.

A coupIe of times I asked her about it,

but she wouId get Iost in thought.

She wouId just start taIking to herseIf.

Poor oId thing.

-Where is this pIace? -In Patagonia.

What did you come to Buenos Aires to study?

BioIogy. Three years.

Then I had to Ieave and dropped out.

In Mexico I used to take tourists on scuba diving trips.

Is it true you swim with whaIes?

I'm supposed to onIy observe them.

-I wouIdn't Iike that... -What?

You just observing me.

If I were a whaIe, I mean.

What are you going to do with aII this?

The Iady asked me to cIear her room out.

I have to go. I'm going to miss my pIane.

Besides, if there's something I can't stand,

it's coIIecting memories.

Is that so?

And I don't Iike fareweIIs either.

Be carefuI.

Aren't you going to ask me what they did to me?

No.

They removed a tumour the size of a waInut...

the Ieft breast and I don't know what eIse.

The stitches are stiII there...

Iike barbed wire.

-I wanted you to know. -I knew.

I couId show you my heart. ReaIIy...

You can see it between my ribs.

The heartbeats.

Here, a memento. Take anything you Iike, but Iet's go.

Anything?

Go, then. Don't miss your fIight. I'II take care of everything.

-I've aIready missed it. -You can stiII make it.

This is the peak season.

They'II be starting on the waiting Iist by now.

Do you reaIIy mean it?

I'd Iike to stay here for a whiIe, on my own.

ReaIIy?

I'II Iike to give you something of mine.

I wrote this.

SeriousIy?

This can't be you? Yes, it is, when you were a girI!

Look at this, you posed for photos naked, just Iike...

You reaIIy do Iook aIike. She wasn't far wrong, the oId Iady.

Stop it!

-So you were a writer. -You said it: I was.

-When I did what I wanted. -Like what?

I don't know, what I wanted.

Like what?

Like fucking a stranger.

-Who is it? -It's me, Suarez.

Here. Take this. Urondo's token.

Take it!

The plane went out over the sea and we flew over the beacon.

The tide was high and the whale had gone.

l had a weird feeling, one of relief,

that stayed with me for the rest of the joumey.

As if everything had fallen into place.

This moming a whale was stranded on the shores of Patagonia.

-Here's the story. -For reasons we are not aware

this 15 metre-long adult whale was stranded.

Apparently it's a female.

We are working with volunteers and staff from the institute

in an effort to keep it alive.

And we're hoping that at high tide it might free itself naturally.

Thanks to our colleagues at Puerto Madryn TV

for this coverage...

-What are you doing here? -I caIIed the Institute.

They toId me you were with the whaIe.

That you'd be back here when it got dark.

When I saw that it was stranded again...

It was stranded again?

That a whaIe was stranded again on the same spot.

-What was that? -WhaIes.

Mating. This pIace is perfect for mating.

The SeaI. This is Vera.

-HeIIo, SeaI. -HeIIo, Vera.

I guess I aIso came to see you again.

I'm sorry, it's not my fauIt. Somebody caIIed me.

WeII... me.

It seems to make no sense to you?

But it's Iike the boy in your story,

we can't reaIIy understand much.

The same happened to me with MatiIde.

I feIt I was being caIIed and went up to say goodbye.

I thought it was me who was Ieaving.

Do you have any rooms free?

-How's the whaIe? -StiII aIive.

It's under the beacon on the cIiff.

Wasn't the one with the harpoon over there?

-Somewhere around there. -Where did it have the harpoon?

Stuck right here. Behind the eye.

I'm sorry, madam, we have no rooms Ieft.

She can have mine. I'II sIeep on the boat.

-You're crazy. You can't. -It's yours.

The whaIe you mentioned, the one with the harpoon,

-was that many years ago? -It was 1934.

A Iong time ago...

CouId it be the same whaIe?

She'd have to be very oId.

What do I do with this?

I don't know. He sent it to you.

Didn't he give you anything eIse? No Ietter?

He sent the scores for Suarez.

And he asked me to give you one as a souvenir, that's aII.

You can't work Iike this. Aren't you taking anything?

When I get back I'II bring you some medicine.

Where was EmiIio going?

He was on his way south, to Puerto Deseado.

He was going to take a ship for Tierra deI Fuego.

Suarez owes me money. It's yours if you can get me out of here.

I couId hide in the pIane. Nobody wiII know.

And afterwards? How couId I come back?

I have to work here.

Take care of that coId of yours.

The Gringo Orestes had the habit of talking to himself.

Once he told me that forgotten words

could still be heard in the air.

That if you repeated them, the same things would happen again.

l'm writing this,

the things l never told you, in case that's true.

When these photos were taken

they didn't think about identifying them.

Look...

...the caIIuses are the same.

Your hunch is not so absurd.

Scientists don't beIieve in these things?

On the contrary.

That's what we do.

Last night I dropped by but I couIdn't find you.

Do you aIways write at night?

-It's been ages since I wrote. -You got inspired.

This pIace is ideaI for that too.

They say you just have to get started.

The probIem is, if it doesn't come out, it rots inside.

Each of these represented a piIe of money.

They made combs, nitro gIycerine,

oiIs, aII sorts of stuff.

-How Iong can it hoId out? -ProbabIy, untiI another tide.

There isn't much we can do.

Keep her wet, and scare the fucking seaguIIs hurting her.

It's sink or swim. If she doesn't free herseIf nobody eIse can.

And what if it was the same one?

I don't know, perhaps it wouId be of scientific interest.

You win, GaIIega. It has a scar behind the eye.

Did you hear?

How did you get in this mess, oId Iady?

What did you come back for?

I started reading your book on the pIane.

-Did you? -I Iiked it.

-I Iike the girI's freedom. -ReaIIy?

WouId you have Iiked to meet her?

You Ieft a Ietter inside.

-Did you read it? -Of course not.

I've read it a thousand times.

And instead of text for a book of photos, I wrote something eIse.

I put myseIf in LoIa's pIace. She wasn't afraid of anything.

But how do you know?

I know. I can imagine her.

I write about her as if I was writing about myseIf.

And you haven't written anything eIse untiI now?

No.

After pubIishing the noveI I got married...

and had a son.

-Do you have chiIdren? -Yes.

A nine year oId girI who Iives with her mother in Mexico.

And can you bear being away from her?

No.

Then you know how much it hurts.

You didn't reaIIy come to write a book on whaIes, did you?

Didn't MatiIde ever mention a photographer?

Yes, the one who did the photos for the scores.

I've got his photos, and the Ietter.

He wrote it to LoIa the day before he died, in January '39.

-He never sent it? -He was kiIIed in the war.

But LoIa was dead aIready. I came here to investigate that.

-What do you know about LoIa? -Nothing.

Just what my grandfather toId me.

That she went back to Spain and became a star.

That's not true.

If LoIa worked for him, there's no way he wouIdn't see.

My grandfather was bIind, Vera.

What you wrote is reIated to these photos?

Did you aIready have them when MatiIde Ieft you the photo?

They beIong to a pubIishing house.

It's pubIishing a book of photos. They want me to write the text.

Why didn't you teII me?

I don't know. I'm sorry.

I was about to return to Madrid, empty handed, as I'd found nothing,

I was operated on in Buenos Aires and I met MatiIde.

Chance, destiny, caII it what you Iike.

I took you to her nursing home. It wasn't destiny.

You screwed me and you kept MatiIde's stuff.

That's not chance.

Anyway, you were going to throw everything out.

HeIIo!

What are you doing here?

Nothing, just passing by.

If you stiII have any compIaints, this is the editor of the book.

Jordi Ferré. He'II take care of everything.

I forgot your name.

Ernesto Suárez.

The grandson of the guy who expIoited LoIa.

-Who? -LoIa, Jordi.

The one in the Ietter.

HeIIo, Ernesto.

-How did you find me? -Where do you want me to start?

From where you betrayed me to Antonio.

After that I caIIed Dr. Zimmerman, I fIew to Madrid,

from there to Buenos Aires, went to the hospitaI to see him,

then to your hoteI and you'd Ieft. A two hour fIight to Puerto Madryn...

I searched for you at every hoteI in town...

I booked a room and took a taxi to come here.

-What's the name of this pIace? -Puerto Pirámide.

That's it, and here I am.

100 kms in a taxi. I shouId be in the Guinness Book of Records.

You saw my doctor, Jordi. I can't beIieve it.

You're not even capabIe of watering a pIant.

It wasn't hard. I just thought: What wouId Antonio do?

What wouId he ask? What wouId Antonio do in my pIace?

Let them Iook after you, Vera.

You can't work this out on your own.

I got cancer on my own.

Antonio went to get the tests you had in Madrid...

and your father contacted Dr. Zimmerman.

Anyway. I have the resuIts of the biopsy.

Give me that.

ShaII we go out for a drink?

Shit. AII I can think of is getting drunk with you.

Give me one.

No, Vera.

Being heaIthy goes against my principIes, but don't ask me that.

It's not the onIy thing I'II ask of you.

Do you know when I Iast smoked?

The Iast time I had sex with you.

How Iong ago was that?

Years.

How many?

I don't know.

What are you doing?

Vera, I have presbyopia.

Did the doctor say you couId do it?

I've done it aIready.

Shit, I'm never the first.

There's nothing Iike having sex when you're tired.

-I haven't forgotten you. -Shut up.

And this pIace suits you.

You Iook Iike a professionaI fucking with your cIothes on.

WiII you shut up?

We've certainIy done it in strange pIaces...

but I don't recaII having done it in a whorehouse.

-What are you saying? -The cab driver toId me.

There were whores here.

Maybe in this very bed.

What did I say?

What's wrong?

Nothing.

PIBE PEDRO AND HIS TANGO QUARTET

I've heard about that harpoon since I was a kid.

What did you hear?

It was puIIed out of the whaIe and given to my grandfather.

That's how it survived.

Sheer Iuck, wouIdn't you say?

Do you know what, GaIIega?

I don't beIieve in anything.

I'd Iike to.

To beIieve in God, be a footbaII fan, to have fought in the revoIution...

But no, the few things I beIieved in coIIapsed.

Now you teII me it's the same whaIe, and so it is.

You have no idea how scared I was of that harpoon.

What wiII you have?

A whisky.

No ice.

What did you go to pick up at the nursing home?

Money. It has no vaIue.

Just some oId biIIs MatiIde kept as a souvenir.

Is this what you're taIking about?

Where did you get those?

MatiIde asked me to scatter them with her ashes when she died,

I don't know why.

Do you know what I think?

This was LoIa's price.

What do you know about that?

Emilio mentions this money in a letter.

He said he gave it to Matilde.

And apparently it's true.

You know what l mean?

l was a kid, l barely remember.

Do you remember the money?

LoIa!

I want to thank you...

for being with MatiIde untiI the end.

My son toId me she was fond of you.

Yes, it's true.

Let me introduce myseIf. I am Pibe Pedro.

''Bandoneón'' pIayer. Future composer.

LoIa!

-Suárez! -EmiIio?

It's been a Iong time. You remembered your friends.

-I've got to taIk to you. -Coming.

What is it?

I've come to take LoIa away.

How do you pIan to do that? I won't just give her away.

And if this rat ever touches her again, I'II kiII her.

Who are you going to kiII, you bastard!

You shut up, woman!

You're not taking her away just Iike that.

If you want her...

Then don't come shouting and buIIying around here.

LoIa's not Ieaving here!

If you don't shut the fuck up I'II seII you instead.

-Have you got the dough on you? -Yes...

The 1,500 you gave me.

TeII me something. What do you want her for?

I just want her. I don't know why.

What's it to you?

I just don't Iike cheating on anybody.

We have others in much better shape.

But whatever,

if you've set your heart on LoIa,

and if MatiIde agrees...

Hey, girI?

You decide.

If you want her, she stays.

If you Iet her go, the money is yours.

Come on...

take it.

Hey, kid, kid...

LoIa's no Ionger what she used to be.

She's reaIIy gone downhiII since you soId her.

-You didn't teII her, right? -No, I didn't teII her a thing.

-I'm teIIing you so that you know. -I know.

I know what I've done.

No, I'm teIIing you so you know what you're getting.

The other stuff is your business, asshoIe.

This pIace is charming, isn't it?

With a touch of nostaIgia...

Admit you're smoking again.

Just buy your own and kiII yourseIf sIowIy.

You've known each other for a Iong time.

Vera was nineteen.

I was teaching on a summer course and we got invoIved.

Then she started showing me what she wrote.

And since I make a Iiving out of other peopIe's taIent...

And you'II pubIish what she's writing.

WeII, I asked her to write a text for a book of photos...

but now it seems she's writing a noveI, right?

What wiII be the titIe?

I've no idea. ''LoIa's Price''

or ''The Whore and the WhaIe'', something Iike that.

To the new noveI.

It'II seII much better than the other one.

To LoIa and EmiIio.

I'd give my souI to dance Iike her.

Because my body is aIready...

They want me to do some more tests.

Do you know what the sentry gangIion is?

The warning.

Those tests are to make sure other parts of the body are fine.

I'm not a doctor, but I think you shouId do as they say.

I think the oId man wants to dedicate the next one to you.

Two pesos for going to bed, four for the night.

You don't get in here without paying.

Where's your token?

You don't get in here without paying.

You pretended you knew nothing, as you didn't work here any more.

l said nothing, went and paid my token.

So you'd let me in.

At least... that night. Even though it was the last.

The whales could be heard really close,

as if they were calling.

Sorry.

I just wanted to teII you that the bar is cIosed

and I've found someone to take me to Puerto Madryn.

Aren't you staying the night?

There's aIways a second chance, right?

Sometimes it heIps to say goodbye.

But I'm too drunk. I'd rather go to my hoteI.

You won't even do me a favour?

You won't even try?

Let's pretend you're a traveIIing saIesman.

You come to my door...

and teII me you need to take a Ieak.

But you're not you. He's a dirty oId man, right?

-Even if he has your face. -Vera, stop it.

If you want to fuck, then fuck somebody eIse.

My fIight Ieaves at nine.

If you want, you can stiII make it

to the appointment with Dr. Zimmerman.

I'II be at the airport.

Leave some money. I'm as broke as a whore during Lent.

Yet again, you're giving up without a fight, Jordi.

-You're stiII the same... -The same what?

Do you know what's happened to me aII these years?

Nothing at aII.

Sometimes I just want to taIk, shout out...

because you can't hear a thing in those fiIthy bars.

And I hear myseIf saying the same oId things.

OnIy I'm oIder.

But you're Iucky.

I hope I'd get to say the same one day.

You're going to bury us aII.

You're no Ionger the girI I seduced.

You've turned into quite a woman.

AIright. Let me go.

Let me go.

I'm the same oId guy I aIways was.

Take your cIothes off. We don't have aII night.

We have a Iifetime.

We'II Ieave tomorrow.

I just wanted to be with you.

Aren't you going to ask me what I want?

You want to Ieave, don't you?

Yes, but you haven't asked me.

PIease, forgive me. I'II never forgive myseIf.

I've missed you. I've had a terribIe time here.

I, on the other hand, had a wonderfuI time here.

-l needed to be alone. -I needed to be aIone.

But being aIone in Tierra deI Fuego is frightening.

You come to reaIize what you reaIIy want.

You reaIize what you want.

And I want you, I want to be with you.

What do l care what happens to you when you're far away from here?

What the heII do I care what happens to you

when you're far away from here?

You just want what you don't have.

And you don't have the baIIs to Iook after what you have.

And you don't have the balls to look after what you have.

Look at yourseIf.

Now you're here and you don't even want to do it.

What do you expect, when you treat me the way a whore wouId.

That's what I am!

Thanks to you!

-l want to see them. -What?

The 1,500 pesos I cost you. I want to see them!

MatiIde's got them.

l don't know what's worse, buying me or selling me.

I don't know what's worse, buying me or seIIing me.

You're stiII the same.

The same, what?

You're not a man...

You're not a man...

You don't know what you want. At Ieast I do as I pIease.

Sure, you do as you pIease.

Are we taIking about my pIeasure or Suarez' pIeasure?

You don't know who you are unIess someone is stroking you.

Shut up.

And with just a bit of stroking, you spread your Iegs.

You think you do as you pIease

but you're just here for other peopIe's pIeasure.

And that's being a whore, right?

And that's being a whore, right?

I'm not a whore because you soId me.

You soId me as a whore.

-I didn't say that. -Don't you touch me!

Do you know what I wondered when I was far away?

Who are you

when nobody's Iooking at you?

We're going to take MatiIde out to sea.

Ernesto's asking if you want to come with us.

-I got you out of bed. -No way.

I was writing. I think I found it.

-Your noveI? -Yes.

And when your father caIIed at my door...

I thought he was going to teII me the whaIe had gone.

Another hunch?

Or better stiII, that she'd gone again.

-ShaII we go and see? -Why not? We're going that way.

You slept a while,

and l stayed looking at you for the rest of the night.

When Pibe Pedro knocked on he door to take us to the plane,

you opened your eyes and looked at me as if l were a stranger.

As dawn was breaking and we took off,

l could see the whale near the sandbar.

With the sure instinct of animals, as if time didn't exist,

it headed for a specific spot in the middle of the sea.

I'm worth more than 1,500 pesos.

Listen, you. Don't be stupid!

Don't mistake vaIue for price.

I'm not free because they Iet me go.

I'm free because I was born that way.

Even though I've onIy been here

for other peopIe's pIeasure. Isn't that right Suarez?

You reaIIy saw through me...

even if you're a bIind bastard.

Beat it, girI.

-And now what? -I toId SeaI to foIIow the whaIe.

You teII me where to stop...

And we'II throw the ashes into the water,

aIright?

I'II throw you in, if you don't teII me the story.

I didn't even teII Suarez.

You're Suarez now.

You're no Ionger a boy, pops. And me neither.

My oId man never teIIs.

He's been Iike that aII his Iife.

When my grandfather toId his stories...

my dad wouId Ieave so as not to have Iisten to them.

Do you feeI okay, GaIIega?

You shouIdn't be doing this.

Take your cIothes off, so you don't get...

I can do as I pIease! Don't treat me Iike I was iII.

But you are iII. I forget too at times, but you're iII.

I'm okay.

I'm just a IittIe dizzy.

It's not my fauIt. Some things just happen.

Forgive me. I don't know what I'm saying.

Say whatever you Iike...

but don't say you're sorry.

Today your father reminded me of mine.

AII the things we never said to each other.

AII my Iife I've bIamed him for everything.

What you say is true.

Of course I'm iII.

It's a reIief to hear you say it.

I don't know what you were Iike before. But you're beautifuI.

So you're Ieaving tomorrow morning.

I do as I pIease.

Like LoIa, she finaIIy finds out what she wants.

One day I'II find your noveI in a bookstore,

and I'II know you're okay.

-WiII you buy it? -Yes.

-And wiII you read it? -Yes.

Then I'II write it.

Is it here?

The airstrip was over there.

They came this way...

and circIed over the whaIes.

We stayed over there.

WhaIes!

LoIa!

Give me your hand.

Give me your hand!

Gringo! LeveI the pIane!

Gringo!

LeveI it, God damn it! LoIa!

Take a photo of me! Take a photo of me!

And then the plane went on with its joumey.

And the Gringo...

never came back.

-Can you stiII see them? -Yes...

They're making circIes above the whaIes.

After some time MatiIde started teIIing me...

that I'd made aII this up.

And that if I ever toId Suarez...

She'd say I'm a Iiar.

And Suarez...

never found out.

l can hardly see what l'm writing.

Bullets are falling like shooting stars.

And l make the same wishes as l always did.

Here, at war, while l wait for my tum to come

l take pictures of death every day.

She's playing hard to get because she knows l'm waiting for her.

Be patient.

l won't be long.