Original subtitles

Mohsen Makhmalbaf

SEX & PHILOSOPHY

Hello Maryam.

It's me, John.

Pick up the phone if you are in.

If not, listen to my message.

I wanted to tell you

I turned 40 today and

decided to revolt against myself.

I celebrated my birthday in the street.

Alone and all by myself.

I lit 40 candles

and for an hour I've been following

street musicians that remind me of my parents.

- Hello, how are you? - Fine. Thanks.

- I am celebrating today. - Congratulations.

- Will you sing? - With all my heart.

- We'll go around the city. - OK.

How much do you charge?

Whatever you wish to pay.

- Will you sing with all your heart? - Of course.

Get in.

In yet? - Iam in.

LGtlS

This is great, bravo.

Can you hear the music, Maryam?

Of course you will when you wake up.

By the way come to dance class.

I need to meet you. Meet me in the classroom.

Two hours before other girls come.

Don't forget to bring your red rose.

With your heavenly love.

The key to dance classrooms is in the statue as usual.

Come, I have a surprise for you.

For now, listen to this music

for your soft feeling.

Hello Farzaneh.

It's me, John.

It's my birthday today.

Come to dance class at 2 o'clock.

Don't bring your dog please.

The key is in the statue.

If it's not there, just come to the room.

The door is open.

I'll be waiting for you.

Come but with no sorrow or crying.

Iwant to see a happy Farzaneh.

Come, I have a surprise for you.

John!

I'm here!

Hey! John!

I'm here!

Hello, it's me, John.

Tahmineh, can you come to dance class at 2 o'clock?

Not at 4 when all pupils come.

If you come at 2,

I have a surprise for you.

No, our meeting has nothing to do with my biithday.

It's something else.

This will surprise you. It's a very common thing.

I want you to see the truth with your own eyes.

I am revolting against myself.

John!

Where are you?

Hello, Malahat!

It's me, John.

How are you?

Recovered?

I hope you are feeling better.

It would've been nice if you came to dance class at 2 o'clock.

Don't forget our favorite wine.

I have a surprise for you.

John!

John!

Four girlfriends at the same time? Is this love?

It's a search, Maryam.

Ifound a piece of my heart with each one of you.

I know this is the end for us

but I want to talk to you all.

Let me start talking

to my first love.

Go back to rehearsing.

I can't believe

this will be the last time I'll dance with you.

We were not meant to be together.

I'll quit you and dancing forever.

Do you remember the first time we saw each other?

You welcomed me, remember?

You were laughing and

waving your hands.

Why?

That was the first time

our plane flew with one passenger.

Dear passengers,

Bring back seat to the upright position

and fasten your seat belts.

Thank you for attention. We W/lsh you a pleasant flight

Ladies and gentlemen,

if necessary, oxygen masks W/Y/ drop over your head.

Exit doors...

Ladies and gentlemen,

if necessary, oxygen masks W/Y/ drop over your head.

If an emergency ar/kes there are 2 exit doors at the end...

Please get ready for takeoff

Remember you said the flight duration...

was one hour and passengers

would be offered cold and hot drinks?

I did not say it. It was a recording.

Ladies and gentlemen, flight duration 11¢ one houn

We '// be offering cold and hot drinks.

Would you like some tea?

Remember I offered you tea

a . "d YOu sald "no"?

Remember I said

if I dranktea

Iwould get heartbeats and

I thought I was falling in love again.

Remember I asked you what you wanted to drink?

Remember I said, your love...

and you took it as coffee.

Hot coffee please.

You know what my mother taught me in my childhood?

She said to refuse two things.

A cold look and a cold coffee.

What do you think about that?

Was your coffee cold?

It was cold.

I brought you hot coffee.

John,

when will you talk to me?

Iwill, later.

Go back to dance.

I had a heartbeat.

I had a heartbeat. Iwas breathless.

Remember that?

How are you?

Take air away from me.

Take all you want

but not your smile.

Remember I asked you why I was

the only passenger on the plane?

And you said:

"After the terrorist attacks

passengers are afraid to fly."

Well,

did you want me to find out you had three other girlfriends?

Well I got it. But all the other girls know too.

A man and a woman alone in the heaven.

Like Adam and Eve. And their first meeting in heaven.

Until now all my loves were eal1hly

but now I feel a divine love.

Will you now say you love me?

Iam a stewardess and

have to attend my duties.

We are told to be friendly, to make our guests feel at home

but not to engage in any intimate relationship.

I heard you.

A cold coffee and a cold look please.

What do you want?

What do you mean?

Was Maryam's coffee hot?

Yes, I asked her out.

Whenever I fall in love,

I cut out a statue of dry wood.

Did you make this for me?

I sculpted the other one for you.

You know every time Ifind my house key,

it feels like a mystery unraveled.

What's this? A watch?

It's a chronometer.

What is it for?

I record my life's happy moments with it.

How much have you recorded?

I remember you said 19 hours.

If add another 21...

...we get 40 hours of love.

This means one hour of happy life in a year.

You turned 40 today. Happy birthday!

Thank you.

I am 40 years old but haven't

lived for more than 40 hours.

I remember you asked me why I recorded time with the chronometer.

I remember saying

I recorded my useful lifetime.

Did you find it?

Not yet.

You know butterflies only live for one day.

They are born,

fall in love and

reproduce

on the same day.

They don't think of anything.

They only fly and

kiss their flowers.

Butterflies bring foith more useful lifetime

then I did in all these folty years.

What about you?

Me?

I mean how many romantic

memories do you have?

Did you find the chronometer?

It was in your hands.

Not yet.

Have you ever been in love?

No.

Perhaps when you are a stewardess, according to regulations

your heart must have been made of stone.

In fact

I fell in love once.

I didn't even realize that I did.

My mother knew it.

I remember as a child when I played outside I used to see a boy.

He always looked at me... like

a cat about to catch a dove.

Iwas scared of him and got heartbeats.

Iwas really afraid of him.

Itold my mother Iwas scared,

that every time I saw him I got heartbeats.

Mother said: "Heartbeats don't mean fear.

They mean love.

You are in love, my dear."

Do you have a heafcbeat now?

I want to hug you.

Why do men always want to possess a woman's body?

Because I love and want to prove it.

Does love mean a possession?

I make love therefore, I am. This is my philosophy.

I am loved therefore, I am. This is my philosophy.

Iwanted to embrace you.

I can only belong to the one who can conquer my soul.

Rehearse, girls.

Raise your hands.

One,

two, three,

four. One, two...

three, four.

Turn.

Stand still like ice!

Maryam!

Maryam, every love is a result of some ordinary incidence.

If I hadn't flown on that airplane...

or if you hadn't been the stewardess there,

no love affair would have emerged.

Or maybe a different couple would have been on the verge of breaking up now.

Wait! Listen!

Iwas searching the sky to find an eafchly love.

But your love on earth is still a heavenly love.

You didn't even let me kiss you.

You know how much happy moment we've had together?

2 hours and 20 minutes.

Listen.

With my 40 years that is sholter than the life of a butterfly.

I have not even lived a single day full of love.

Wait, take this chronometer as keepsake.

Ask your mother how many minutes your heart beat for

that boy in your childhood.

Then record it in this chronometer.

Record all your happy moments in it from now on.

See how many times you get a heafcbeat for someone in your life.

Let your heart beat at least once a year.

Otherwise...

this chronometer will die down.

Good luck.

John, why did you do this?

I thought you only drank wine like this with me.

I know now you treated everyone the same.

Take this chronometer.

The 3 hours, 13 minutes of my sweet memories are now bitter.

Go dance.

Girls, new dance.

Don't you teach me how to dance.

I know dancing better than you.

I was inspired by your walking for this dance.

That night my guest was a poet.

A famous poet.

Fill up the glass,

Although this fiery water, has long since failed

to make me feel good.

These glasses lined up one after another.

Are seas of fire that I pour in my mouth.

The whirlpool steals me away.

I'm in it, but the water won't take me.

Thank you.

What kind of wine would you like, master?

And the wine does nothing,

but make me fall asleep.

Fill up the glass.

Fill her up.

Hello Master, welcome to our city.

Thank you.

- An autograph please. - OK.

Those young guys recognized the poet

and wanted to stay with him,

but he was evading them.

What does the poet's case have to do with me?

How is it not related to you?

You have to know what happened to me before I saw you.

I asked that poet

why he ignored his fans.

"Sir, these guys are your fans.

Give them 5 minutes of your time."

John,

they are my fans

but also the murderers of my time.

See here...

My whole life is wasted over these 5-minute moments.

Minutes are called time but

in essence they are lifetime.

And the autumn of my life has begun

to preserve a lifetime, one shouldn't compromise.

Time is the essence of life, John. Life, John.

John.

Life is short

and in order to preserve it,

one shouldn't be ashamed.

My apologies, master.

John, don't leave. It's a warning. John!

Minutes create time.

What is your best poem, master?

Best poem?

- To Love! To lovers!

Wait May I speak Russian?

There is a tradition for romantic drinking.

Not only glasses touch

but whoever is more in love has to hold his glass lower.

One second,

Iwant to teach you something too.

Sweet dreams.

I'm a sea breeze

In love with you

As a pilgrim

Eager for you

Like a butterfly in flight

l/Vinging delighted

Like a summer rain

[get soaked to the bone

Then the sun will come up

I W/Y/ dance for you Like a sea breeze.

Why aren't you sleeping?

I don't know.

Do you have a heart?

Yes, I do.

Let's speak Russian. It'll be easier.

You can speak Russian, don't you? - Uh huh.

Where is your heart? I'd like to listen to it.

It's here. Just listen.

How come it is not beating?

Is it dead? - No.

Listen to my heart.

How it's beating for your love.

Listen.

That is no heart.

That's a chronometer.

Why do you carry a chronometer?

I want to record the moments I am happily in love.

Were you ever in love?

No. Others fell in love with me.

How did you know they loved you?

Icould hear the beatings of their heart from the other side of the curtain.

And then?

When they came to this side

their hearts always stopped beating.

Can you hear? Your heart is beating hard.

Ican hear it.

Come to this side.

Where are we?

Dance class.

I am a dance teacher.

Do you know how to dance?

I am too shy.

This is not dancing.

Your walk is like a dance.

Go sit and watch.

This is how you dance.

Were you attracted by the red or the white?

Iwas seduced by your way of walking.

Feminine...

...and crazy.

That drew me towards you.

The walking.

What's behind that door?

A mystery.

What mystery?

If you tell me your secrets I'll tell you mine.

I don't have any secrets.

Why do your shoes have different colors?

Smell the red one.

Would you like to cry?

No, I don't like crying.

Because my make-up stafcs running and I'll look ugly.

You heart is beating.

Have you fallen in love?

No, I don't like love.

When men are with me, I never love them. When they leave me, I start falling in love.

So, I'll go.

You can't move very well in these shoes.

Good, good.

You forgot that you fell in love with my walk

when Iwas wearing these shoes?

Not only because of them.

Every love stal1s because of a simple reason.

Love depends on the most ordinary circumstances.

If I hadn't been moved that night by the words of the poet

that not a single moment of life wasn't to be wasted.

Perhaps, your shoes wouldn't have lured me.

If you hadn't broken up with your boyfriend

maybe we would never have met you.

So it was not love, but love's circumstances.

And that situation just goes on

until there occur new circumstances for another love.

Don't forget you fell in love with me because of these shoes.

You told me you loved my shoes.

I love you.

Say it in Tajiki.

I love you. It can't be translated.

I like the Tajiki word for love.

I don't know how to feel in Russian.

I will love you till eternity.

How long? One month?

Until eternity.

All men say "Forever" but don't stay longer than a month.

John! John!

John! Wait!

Take the umbrella. You'll get wet. Stop.

John!

Thank you.

You were right.

Nothing is forever.

Wait!

It wasn't love. You loved me because I loved you.

It was a trade off.

Wait, I'll bring you.

Be seated. No, our love is over!

Wait, I won't take you as a lover but as a cab driver.

Where to, ma'am?

To the past.

Exactly a year ago, when we were happy.

Do you remember my birthday?

When you brought me 39 candles for 39 years.

Sale, sale.

A pofcrait of Lenin! - How are you uncle Volodya?

Fine.

What will you have? Lenin's pofcrait?

Painted when he was still alive. Buy please!

I sold my own pofcrait of Lenin and bought one of Jesus from you.

And then sold that, and bought a chronometer. Remember?

I remember, I remember.

Come in, come in. - You have a chronometer?

We have. You can find everything in this store.

Are you looking for a chronometer? Here, see.

Here, this one belonged to Lev Tolstoy's grandson.

Have a look.

This one belonged to Chekhov.

- Is that so? - Yes.

- It's Chekhov's? - Yes.

Do you prefer Chekhov's or Tolstoy's?

I like this one.

Whose is this?

This one? It belonged to the grandchild... No, the son of Stalin.

- Stalin's son? - Yes.

Tolstoy's grandchild, Chekhov himself. Like that? -Yes

- Want to buy it? - Yes I do.

Very well! You take it? - Itake it.

Do you know how much happy times we have had?

Do you know how much happy times we have had?

Hello?

Hello, this is John.

This is Tahmineh.

Do you know how much happy times we have had?

No, I don't. I erased them.

Can you hear me? Can you understand me?

Every love is the result of a few ordinary incidences.

If I hadn't come up with a diarrhea

to end up in the hospital, with you on duty that night...

And if you hadn't asked me what my profession was.

And if I hadn't told you Iwas a poet.

And if you hadn't told me you like poetry

we wouldn't be breaking up now.

You've said yourself that love is the random union of two heal'cs.

And one doesn't have to build an ideology on it.

Just because two hearts have an encounter the world doesn't change.

And just because they palt, nothing will change either.

These are ordinary human accidents.

All the love in the history of mankind

hasn't changed the world as much as the hole in the ozone layer has.

Therefore don't build an ideology on love.

Love lasts only with love not with loyalty.

What did you eat today?

Milk.

How many bowl movements have you had?

Only one.

Only one? That's natural.

Only one, but from morning till evening.

Where do you feel pain?

- In the stomach. - Is it severe?

What is your profession?

- Poet. - Poet?

Is poetry a profession?

I like poetry too

and write poems sometimes.

But my profession is doctor.

So what's yours?

Now, I am sick.

But when I am healthy

my profession is...

...love.

Love?

Is love a profession?

It is the best profession on Earth,

although it is not profitable.

Have you ever been loved by a man?

All the time. Some of my patients still love me.

It is said that the hospital is infected by a virus of love.

Then let one patient get affected by this virus

and invite you to a poet's balcony

that gathers all lovers and makes love auguries with his poems.

Are you free now?

First get well.

Nobody thought of /o ve anymore.

In the streets I only hear:

I'm sorry! Farewell!

Nobody thinks of /o ve anymore.

l/l/inter 11¢ coming.

Nobody thinks of /o ve anymore.

I hear a: Farewell, farewell...

on the streets. Nobody thinks of /o ve anymore.

Hello? - John, it's me.

Why did you leave? I wanted to talk to you.

There was no point remaining any longer.

Can you come to me?

Right now?

No, no, come around midnight, as usual.

Will you come? - Yes.

Thank you. Come on.

Let me introduce John.

John has his birthday today. He turned 40 years old.

Sit down.

John, I...excuse me, please.

John, I didn't introduce anyone yet. Iwas waiting for you.

These are Safar, Lotfollah, Nik.

We owe our meeting tonight...

to John's honesty

from whom I adopted this experience.

Iwould like to... Iwant to..John

Anyone wants a drink?

How should I say it... take this...

...a light a candle in honor of the bifchday.

Excuse me... I have to confess that...

We are here thanks to the honesty of John.

From whom I adopted this experience.

How to say it... right now...

So I decided to make a revolution in our life.

And...

You'll never guess in your life, what I'm going to say

To cut it short, all of you were my lovers.

I have a relationship with all of you.

And...

In short, meet, have a relationship.

I love you, Safar.

And you John, and you Lotfollah.

And you Nik.

Whore!

Safar, Safar!

What do you think of all this?

What is "this"?

About love? About loyalty?

I guess when a love

...is coming to an end...

it becomes...boring.

I'm afraid of the constant presence of a woman.

You know what I mean?

One day a friend asked me,

how I feel about love, affection and loyalty.

You know what I mean...

I said, first love is hot

but in the end it's cold.

Love is a moment of wonder.

If the miracle doesn't last of its own

no contract will be able to keep it alive.

Why are you silent?

What to say here?

Ithink you're a serious person.

- Can Ispeak in Russian? - Please.

All of the most serious things in the world are nonsense.

All the impofcant words, everything we say is all nonsense.

We are alone...

and our loneliness is predetermined.

We are alone.

But you have not said anything about loyalty?

We are incapable of eternal love.

We are incapable of grand love.

Love is only a short passion that yields from ordinary incidences.

And in fact, a grand love does not exist.

What is love?

To be with someone?

Or stay with the person till death?

I don't know.

But every lover has revealed to me a par': of love's mystery.

Although Ifeel love is endangered in the contemporary world.

Ithink it could happen

that soon there won't be any true love in the world anymore.

All my life Iwas looking for love,

only to find solitude.

So let everyone light their own candle of loneliness.

Hello. - Hello, it's me.

Where are you?

Close by.

Very close.

John,

I learned a lot from you.

Learned to...

...love, so

to forget about the suffering of life.

John...can I kiss you?

You know what I think?

Iwondered if,

I had lived a 1000 years instead of 40,

how would our kiss taste like then?

Laila and Majnu Stories, Romeo and Juliet...

have long been gone.

We can no longer rely on them.

We have gained libefcy. Sexual libefcy.

But the worst thing is that we are losing something important:

we're losing our love.

Hello. - Hello.

So we see each other again.

Sit, sit. - All right.

Today is my lonely bifchday.

Will you sing a song? - Sure.

Let's go then!

My heart, th/L; 11¢ your life!

What cruelty you had to endure!

How wronged you Were!

oh my heart, have patience!