Original subtitles

BEWITCHED BY HALCION

ARIA ON GAZES BY MAYA TOMU RA

- You're bringing back Devio?

- Yeah.

Cameras also get sad if you don't use them.

- It's too late for all that.

- We wanted to exchange video diaries,

so we called it Devio, short for "daily video."

It was just for me,

and for you.

A, E, I, O, U.

It's our vocal warmup at the studio.

- You're taking the course she took?

- I want to perform the play Maya left behind.

The way she died... I want to do something for her.

- Overdosing on Halcion?

- I hadn't worn this jacket in a while.

These were in the pocket.

AKIHITO ESAKA PAX ELECTRICALS

"Please call my husband if you need anything.“

I must have been handing out his cards.

ARIA ON GAZES

- Welcome home.

- Our membership system guarantees your safety.

The visitors don't know your identity.

And you won't be able to see them

because of the medicine you've been given.

You can keep your clothes on, if you prefer.

You'll soon fall asleep.

Close your eyes.

You'll be fast asleep.

- Mom.

Looking at photos again?

- Oh, you're back.

You could have called first.

- Aren't you happy to see me?

- I didn't say that.

- I had dinner with the guys from work.

- Don't you want a family life?

- Dinner, bath, bed.

That's not the life I want.

- I know, but...

Maybe deep down, I crave conventionality.

To be tied down by that kind of life.

- Rent an ideal husband, then.

- Get off me.

Stop it.

- It's normal, isn't it?

- Not when you're like this.

- I come home so seldom, I've become a stranger to you.

- I didn't say that.

But...

- But what?

Have you lost interest in sex,

or just lost interest in me?

- No.

I want you.

- But...

I don 't love you.

A magic carpet.

After a while, I stopped taking the medicine.

I hated having to pretend I was asleep.

I wanted to open my eyes

and stick out my tongue.

But...

I never opened my eyes or tried to look at the men who came.

I thought it would be like looking into Hell.

And so,

I tried to find some balance

in this strange situation of being alive,

while otherwise existing in an apparent state of death.

I felt frustrated

and annoyed

that I couldn't respond to the itching and stiffness

that my brain perceived through my skin,

through the movement of my body.

Pain is pleasure.

Pleasure is pain.

I came to realize that for myself.

KYOKO IS SITTING

AT THE DESK

AND WRITING.

HER HUSBAND ENTERS.

- She's dead.

- She must have taken too many pills.

Let's get some air.

We can go to the rooftop at my studio.

So you're a student? That's great.

- I can't find a job, though.

So it's not that great.

- I thought the same when I was your age.

- Ah, it's so nice here.

- I come here at break times to clear my head.

A, E, I, O, U.

Until I met you there, I was worried that the sleeping room

was just something I just dreamed up.

What are you doing?

- I'm so busy all day I don't get any sun, so I borrowed this.

- Make love to me.

- Let me finish this.

- No.

- I'm Takano, the owner.

I accept full responsibility

for what happened to Kinue Nemoto and have taken care of it.

It will not happen again.

Please sleep soundly.

- It's creaked right here the whole time I've known you.

Why didn't you fix it?

- All our lies are buried there.

- That's not true.

Mr. Computer Programmer,

fancy becoming a rental husband?

- Not really.

- I told you before.

Esaka said we could be man and wife when he's not around.

You could cry for me, and laugh for me.

You could love me.

And hate me.

Maybe family itself is just a sham and doesn't exist anyway.

- So you want to use me to find out?

- I feel like I could build something different if it's with you.

- Pass me my medicine.

- Sorry.

You're taking Halcion?

- Working with a computer strains your nerves.

I can't sleep.

- Since when?

- A long time ago.

I stick to the recommended dose, so it's harmless.

- "Halcion" has such a strange ring to it.

When I first heard its name,

I thought it meant, "the sound of spring dying."

- "Haru" like "spring," “shi” like "death,"

"on“ like "sound."

- Spring dies and what comes next?

The rainy season.

Haven't you ever felt like you were dead when you were asleep?

Maybe people can sleep because they think

it'll still be the same world when they wake up.

Don't you agree?

- I get it.

But it's the same world.

It has to be.

- That's enough.

- Just a little more.

You're the star of today's diary.

- For your lovely husband.

- The battery died.

The battery ran out.

I should've charged it first.

- Why are you making me do this?

What if Esaka comes back?

- He won't.

- Introducing me to that girl as your husband.

- You're a rental husband, aren't you?

I'm choosing you right now.

- How very self-involved.

Why didn't you choose me when we were in university?

- I really am self-involved, aren't I?

I craved adolescent drama.

I filmed her for the diary today.

Now it's your turn.

Don't you want to?

Or do you have more important things to do?

- No.

- Well, go on then.

Make a video.

- Have you heard of Warhol?

- Maya.

- Why did you start going to the room?

I wanted to write about it for my graduation thesis.

"The sleepless generation."

I live in a one-bedroom apartment that costs 55,000 yen a month.

But...

- But what?

- I keep having this dream.

A woman kills a man and buries him under the floorboards.

- Something like that happened where I lived when I was a child.

Maybe you're living in that apartment.

- Oh, come on.

I feel like I know that woman, somehow.

When you go there, it's like you forget everything.

It's nice not remembering,

but...

lately it's begun to scare me.

I feel like

something's following me.

- I've followed you before.

I wanted to know how the people who come to the room live.

Why do you always shoot stuff like this?

It's all fake, isn't it?

Come on, tell me.

Hey.

- Your body's heavy, like stone.

Get off me.

You're too heavy.

- Hold me.

Don't let me go.

The video of my sister.

What's that about?

You want to compare us?

- You and her, you're alike but you're different.

You're different, but you're alike.

So for me, you are the same.

- That day, I decided to do the thing I'd been avoiding.

I wanted to find out who it was that was touching me.

Whatever it was that I saw, I had no intention of rejecting it.

- Mr. Takano.

Where are you when you watch me?

Are you watching right now?

- I don't watch. I feel.

- Where are you?

Show yourself.

- Are you under the impression I can pop out from the alarm bell?

- You killed her, didn't you?

It was you! You killed her, didn't you?

Come on, answer me.

Can I go on loving you?

You're a murderer.

But, I have to love you.

- Maya...

- What are you saying?

I'm Kyoko.

It's my last chance to start over.

I'm already twenty-nine.

- You're already doing it.

The number's just going up by one, that's all.

Like you said.

Family is a sham.

It's not real.

I feel kind of...

I feel kind of sleepy.

- Stop looking at me.

DRIPPING BLOOD...

KYO KO:

"WHO ARE YOU?"

SHE TURNS AWAY

Which of us did you like better, me or my sister?

Who's there?

Mr. Takano?

- That's right.

- You knew, didn't you?

- I was watching you the whole time.

- Why?

- You're my wife.

- You work for an electronics company.

You wouldn't put a camera inside an alarm bell, would you?

- You've got this all wrong.

The only reason I was watching was to protect the members.

- But you didn't.

He killed someone in there.

- You think it was him?

This is one of your diaries.

Were you jealous?

It was you who gave Kinue Nemoto the medicine.

- No.

- Think I can't prove it?

You loved him so much you killed him?

- He's not dead. He's just sleeping.

- Sleepwalking is a common side effect of Halcion.

As I'm sure you know.

You've been taking too much.

- I have?

IdonT take Halcion.

- Maya.

It's time to wake up, now.

- What are you talking about? Did you forget your own wife's name?

- Kyoko died after overdosing on Halcion.

You're her sister, Maya.

Your sister's death had a profound effect on you.

You upped the dose of your medicine.

Your mind became confused

and you began to think you were your sister, Kyoko.

- You knew?

- He didn't believe Kyoko's death was an accident.

- She took her own life.

- Perhaps she did.

But I loved you.

So I treated you as if you were my wife.

- Locking me up in the sleeping room?

- No!

I thought your mind would settle with the right amount of medicine.

- That place is supposed to be a treatment room?

I'm leaving.

- Where are you going?

- To smash the eyes that are watching me.

I've smashed so many already.

But they're still watching me.

IcanT bear it.

Stop looking at me.

- That day, the world entered the rainy season.

A membrane of falling rain coils around dissolving everything.

The Earth.

The city.

Me.

- Welcome home.

English subtitles by Hayley Scanlon