Original subtitles

"The cradle rocks above an abyss

"And common sense tells us

that our existence

"is but a brief crack of light

between two eternities

of darkness,"

Yes, the cradle rocks,

and, I think you'll agree,

so does vladimir nabokov, ,,

( laughter )

Every time he sets pen to paper,

But whether

old vlad's description

of the human condition is born

of hope or of dire pessimism, ,,

( watch beeping )

is the question, ,,

3:56 P, M,

Is, is the question

we will come back to

when I return from my leave,

Now, before you go,

no doubt a lot of you

have heard the rumors

circulating around campus

about my upcoming operation

and I figured I'd better

set the record straight,

The next time I see you,

I may actually see you,

Dear sweet Molly Bloom here

may be out of a job,

I know that sounds

kind of crazy, but I volunteered

to be a guinea pig

in a medical procedure

that I and my doctors Hope

will allow me to see

for the first time

since my childhood accident,

I could give you

the hard science,

but, uh, there's a reason

I teach the humanities,

I can tell you that it involves

a combination of an implant

of some state-Of-The-Art

micro-Electronics

and the use

of a sophisticated drug...

Get this...

That could only be manufactured

in the zero gravity

of outer space,

So if, uh, if anyone asks me

what the hell good all those

space shuttle missions are for,

you can tell them, ,,

they may have just made

a Miracle possible,

You're looking at areas B-1

and 17 of the occipital lobe,

better known as

the primary visual cortex,

By removing the damaged portion

of the necrotic area

and replacing it

with our neural prosthesis,

we expect to fully restore

the patient's visual circuitry,

Syringe,

I'll now be injecting

the cerebral sheath

with the same iridium suspension

which has been

part of the patient's

pre-Surgery drug therapy

for the last seven days,

Ready for the implant now,

Patrick?

How are you feeling?

Like I parted my hair

with a jackhammer,

We've cut down

on the painkillers

until we can assess

the results of the surgery,

Are you going to take

the bandages off now?

Before we do that,

I want to introduce you

to dr, Louise Burrows,

the consulting psychologist,

You're still convinced

I'll need therapy?

Regardless of the results,

you will be facing

a period of Adjustment,

Hi, Patrick,

It's a pleasure

to finally meet you,

Are you as attractive

as you sound?

Let's hope you'll be able

to answer that question

yourself, Patrick,

Okay,

Oh, my god, there's light,

I can sense light, doctor,

That's wonderful, Patrick,

Just take it easy,

Oh, my god, there's light,

Oh, my god,

Oh, I can see your face,

I can see your faces,

Oh, it's incredible,

It's incredible,

Thank you, doctor,

Thank you,

What is it, Patrick?

What is that?

What is that? Oh, my god!

Who are you?

Oh, my god,

What are you...

Patrick, what do you see?

( control voice )

There is nothing wrong

with your television,

Do not attempt

To adjust the picture,

We are now controlling

the transmission,

We control the horizontal

and the vertical,

We can deluge you

with a thousand channels

or expand one single image

to crystal clarity

and beyond,

We can shape your vision

to anything our imagination

can conceive,

For the next hour,

we will control

all that you see and hear,

( ♪ )

You are about to experience

the awe and mystery

which reaches from

the deepest inner mind

to The outer limits,

It is said that what we behold

with our eyes is merely

the surface of reality,

But if we could see

beneath that facade,

what would lie within?

( knocking )

Come in,

Louise, I was hoping it was you,

Remember, you promised,

no more jokes about

"a sight for sore eyes,"

All right, I'll try

to restrain myself,

Have you talked

to Dr, Lennox?

Yes,

He can't keep you

in the hospital

against your will,

although it is

his strong preference,

I did manage to convince him

that what you experienced is

not likely to recur,

So what happens now?

I get remanded to the custody

of my personal shrink?

No, Patrick,

I'm only here when you need me,

Just like Molly,

Louise, do you still think

it was all a hallucination?

This was the first use of your

eyesight in almost 20 years,

and they tell me

your brain's visual cortex

is actually being retrained,

It was so damn real,

Yeah,

Tell me again,

what did she look like?

Red eyes,

Red hair,

The rest, ,,

her skin, it was,

it was so pale, it was strange,

almost like a ghost,

Is that what you think

you saw then, a ghost?

You just got finished

with a perfectly

plausible explanation,

When you were a child

when your vision

was still intact,

did you ever see anything

like, like this woman?

You mean like the bogeyman?

Give it any name you like,

I had fantasies, phobias,

like any kid,

Such as?

Well, um, I remember

lying in my bed

staring at the half-Open

closet door,

I swear the door

started to move,

It doesn't mean we're crazy

when we see something

that's not there,

Well, I think I'm ready

to face the world,

Do you mind if I accompany you?

Twist my arm,

The trees, the sky...

Everything is so beautiful,

So they tell me

you lost your sight

in an accident

when you were, what, 7?

Going blind was the least of it,

I lost my parents

in the same accident,

I'm sorry,

It was a single-Engine

plane crash,

We were on our way to alaska,

They wanted me to see

the Aurora borealis,

the northern lights,

My father was at the controls

when we lost power

over Fort yukon

in the arctic circle,

So who raised you?

My aunt... My mother's sister,

She never let me

wallow in self-Pity,

If it wasn't for her,

I don't think I would have

gone on to college or teaching,

She died of cancer

a little over a year ago,

That certainly puts things

in perspective,

How do you mean?

Uh, it's just

those kinds of losses,

the emotional trauma

can affect us

in ways that are, well,

sometimes unpredictable,

That's psychoanal-Ese

for "This guy's a whack-Job"?

I'm not here to make judgments,

I thought that's exactly...

What is that?

What do you see?

Patrick, talk to me,

Did you...

She's gone,

Who's gone?

The girl,

You didn't see

a girl right there?

No headaches or dizzy spells?

No,

Any discomfort associated with

shifting focus from near to far?

No,

Any halos around objects?

I don't think so, no,

Artifacts,

I'm sorry?

Oh, um, spots of light or dark

that seem to float

over your field of view,

Not really, no,

Well, everything looks Good,

Very good,

No evidence of rejection,

no brain swelling,

Except for the restricted

peripheral vision, Patrick,

you're doing better

than we could have

ever hoped for,

So there's, ,,

there's nothing abnormal,

Physically, I don't see

anything anomalous,

Why, is there something

that doesn't feel normal?

No, I just, ,,

you know, when the bandages

first came off,

You experience

anything like that again?

No,

Uh, no, dr, Burrows

explained how that was

just a figment

of my imagination,

Vivid as hell

from the sound of it,

Yes, it was,

I'm going to give you

another injection

of the iridium suspension,

Are you all right?

Yeah,

Not my favorite part

of the process,

Yeah,

Look, Patrick, ,,

we're going to have to hope

that your body

becomes acclimated

to the side effects,

because without the drug,

the bridge to

your neural prosthesis

would quickly disintegrate,

Well, like I said,

best feeling in the world,

You didn't say anything

to dr, Lennox?

I did, actually,

He pretended

he hadn't heard a thing,

Maybe he wanted you

to volunteer it,

Why are you all

playing games with me?

No one's playing games with you,

I think dr, Lennox just feels

it's best dealt with

in a therapeutic realm,

Can you go back there?

Do you remember what you saw?

She's trying to talk to me,

I can't hear her,

but I can make out

what she's saying,

She's crying for help, ,,

over and over and over

and over and over,

Would you like to help her?

I'm not a child, Louise,

I know what you're driving at,

Which is?

Wish fulfillment,

unconscious cravings,

I've created an imaginary girl

to fulfill some twisted need,

We do that routinely

in our dreams,

Both times I wasn't dreaming,

You were there,

Why would my mind fantasize

something so terrifying?

Patrick, listen to me,

For 20 years you were blind,

You lived in a world

that was cloaked in darkness,

And then as sudden

as turning on a switch,

your senses are

flooded with light,

How can it not be overwhelming?

When does it stop?

I don't think anyone Can

answer that question but you,

This is everything

we could have hoped for

and more,

I'm still not persuaded

that it is anything more

than an EMOTIONALLY

inspired vision...

Like the Madonna appearing

in the reflection

of an office building,

Listen to the tape

of Dr, Burrows' session,

I defy you to write that off

as a fantasy, a mirage,

Maybe you're just seeing

what you want to see,

Joseph,

I don't have to remind you

that without the iridium

we supplied, your experiment

would have had no chance

of succeeding,

I would like to be able

to report

your continued cooperation

to my superiors,

It'd be a shame to have

as precious a gift

as your patient's snatched away,

( screeching )

Help me, Patrick,

( screaming )

This isn't happening,

This isn't happening,

This isn't happening,

( growling )

You're not real,

You're not real,

You're not real, You can't be,

I'm not dreaming, am I?

Who are you?

Kyra,

That's beautiful,

You said you wanted me

to help you,

How could I help you?

You're not alive, are you?

You're some, you're some, ,,

( whimpering )

No,

No, ,,no, Kyra, wait, please,

Kyra, Kyra, don't go,

Will I see you again?

Just tell me that,

All right,

Let's take it

at face value then,

This girl...

Kyra, She told me her name,

Okay,

She appears to you

and no one else,

She can't be heard,

so she communicates

by writing in the air,

And she tells you

she's from another planet?

Another world,

I never should have said

anything,

Your mother had red hair,

didn't she?

Who told you that?

I read about it

in the story of the accident,

She looks nothing like

my mother, Louise,

Please stop twisting what I say,

I am just trying

to make sense of it,

I won't be able to help you

if you don't meet me halfway,

Patrick, is it happening?

Kyra, Kyra,

Kyra,

I'm sorry, I thought

you were someone else,

I'm sorry,

It's all right,

Leave me alone, okay?

Get the hell away from me,

All right,

Oh, ,,

I wasn't dreaming,

Both times I wasn't dreaming,

You were there,

Why would my mind fantasize

something so terrifying?

Patrick, listen to me,

Where did you get that tape?

Oh, Louise,

I never recorded that session,

And if I had, it would

have been for my own use,

You were told

from the moment you came in

how important

this experiment was,

I feel like I've already

betrayed Patrick's trust,

He opened up to me

with the understanding

that it would be

strictly confidential,

Louise, please understand

that your participation in This

is just one part

of a larger picture,

Well, if you expect me

to continue to participate

I won't have you spying on me

or my patient,

With all due respect,

you won't lay the ground rules,

If you choose

to withdraw from

this project,

there are other

mental health professionals

who would jump at the chance,

I have a connection

to this young man,

I'm not walking,

After all, this is a case

that could make one's career,

Or am I reading

between the lines?

Besides, he's not

just your patient,

He's our patient too,

and something of a milestone,

He's a human being, Joseph,

And a very troubled one,

He insists on going back

to the classroom,

He's clearly delusional,

And if he deteriorates

any further,

it might develop

into a serious psychosis,

If in fact his symptoms

Truly are signs of a psychosis,

Joseph, I have

the strongest feeling

I haven't been thoroughly

briefed on this case,

You know as much

as you need to know,

No, that is not good enough,

I want to know what the hell

is going on here,

Louise, have a seat,

Please,

You know the iridium

that has been an integral part

of Patrick's

post-Operative therapy?

The synaptic stimulant,

the one that helps

stroke victims,

There's compelling

scientific evidence

that it doesn't just enhance

the brain's receptivity,

But it enhances perception,

heightens the senses,

even in Faculties sometimes

referred to as extra-Sensory,

What are you trying to tell me?

That what Patrick is

experiencing, ,,

it just might be real,

Aside from their

immeasurable genius,

what Virginia Woolf,

William Faulkner, James Joyce

all had in common was their use

of a literary technique

that we've come to know

as stream of consciousness,

in which the characters'

thoughts, their actions,

their emotions

all have an associative pattern

rather...

No,

No,

Uh, ,,

uh, stream of consciousness,

right, where, ,,

the characters, their thoughts,

their act...

Is everything okay?

If I had a trophy room,

I'd probably hang a picture

of your brain scan in it,

You are the real-Life

six million dollar man,

So is that it for today?

Not yet,

I'll be giving you

another injection,

In fact, I'd like you to come in

every day this week

for a treatment,

I don't know if my body

Can handle that,

You don't want to backslide,

Of course not,

It's just, ,,the drug wreaks

havoc on my system, doctor,

I can't eat for hours

afterwards,

The headaches are unbearable,

Something's wrong, isn't it?

No, nothing is wrong,

I don't believe you,

Patrick, you're proof

that the treatment is a success,

It's the drug, isn't it?

The iridium is

allowing me

to see her,

See who?

Oh, I know Louise has told you

everything,

Why won't you tell me the truth?

He's right, We should,

It's time you were told

the truth,

Oh,

Mr, Borden, I didn't know

that you were observing,

What truth?

I wasn't aware there was

more than one,

Who are you?

Forgive me... Dwight Borden,

I work with British intelligence

and the national

security agency,

National security?

The iridium drug that was

produced on the shuttle,

Mr, Borden's agency

made it possible,

Rarer than a flawless diamond,

And far more costly,

It wasn't developed

for your procedure per se,

It's used in your case

as one of those

unexpected byproducts

of scientific research,

What was It produced for?

Actually, Mr, Tarloff, ,,

may I call you Patrick?

Patrick, eight years ago

a small group of scientists

within the government discovered

that a drug originally developed

for stroke victims

had some extraordinary

properties,

It allowed certain subjects

to perceive

faint but consistent signs

of what we could only call

a non-Visible lifeform,

Now, we surmised

that if we refined the drug

and found the right person,

we could track these signals,

amplify them, ,,

that he might become

a receiver of sorts,

A receiver?

We tried it on hundreds of

volunteers in a dozen studies,

We never got further

than trace evidence,

Until now,

Patrick, these visions

you've been experiencing,

We believe they are

the first corroborative proof

of the lifeform

I'm talking about,

It's, ,,I can't, ,,

it's too bizarre,

You are that human receiver,

Patrick,

Are you all right?

I can hear you,

That's what I'd hoped,

What was that thing?

What did you do to me?

It's something I salvaged

from my craft,

I can only use it

in limited areas like this one,

Magnetic nodes,

where currents cross,

I'd hoped it would break down

the remaining barriers,

But you're still visible

only to me?

I can feel you,

I can really feel your hand,

It's been so long

since I felt another's touch,

I don't know how long

this will last,

We were warned about

COMING too close

to the magnetic field

of your planet,

but my father wanted

a better look,

I was the only survivor of five,

It was almost seven years ago,

I was orphaned

in a craft that crashed too,

It was just

a single-Engine plane,

All these years, I've wandered

your planet, seeing everything,

But unable to be seen,

Until you,

I still don't understand

how you found me, how you knew,

The system,

the substance that was

created in space,

The iridium drug,

As soon as it was

returned to earth,

I found myself drawn to it,

drawn to the people

who were treated by it,

I was scared though,

I'd seen so much cruelty here,

so much darkness and suffering,

But when it was used on you,

it was so intense,

became irresistible,

And like a moth to flame, ,,

why do you say that?

Because I could pose

a danger to you,

I don't understand,

The people who created it,

they know about you,

They used the iridium

before I even saw you

to somehow detect your presence,

The worst, ,,

the worst of it is,

now they think I have

a way to reach you,

Through you,

I can't go back to being alone,

You have no idea

what it's been like,

To have no one to talk to,

share my feelings, my thoughts,

To touch, to embrace,

It's still so hard to fathom,

We need your help, Louise,

We want him to bring

the alien to us,

How can you be so certain

that this energy phenomenon

is an alien?

We've heard them communicate,

Of course,

all we hear is his side

of the conversation, They speak?

Yes, it's a recent development,

They were up half the night,

talking, laughing,

Sensory exchange is

even, ,,tactile,

It's quite astonishing, really,

You bugged his apartment,

Louise, you must realize

the importance

of what we stumbled upon,

Oh, I do, but...

Louise, it seems Patrick

trusts you,

We want you to assure him

that we mean this being no harm,

On the contrary, we want

to learn all we can from her,

Eventually we might be able

to return the favor,

Our telemetry might be used

to signal her world,

We know she wants that,

I just don't know,

Louise, Patrick's

psychological state Depends

on his being able

to help this creature,

You thwart that

and he may never recover,

I don't know, Louise,

Bringing Kyra to meet them,

it scares the hell out of me,

What's scary is making

the scientific discovery

of the century

and not being able to share it

with the world,

And you really believe that

Borden is willing to help her

make contact

with her home planet,

All they want is to be able

to ask her questions

and you'd serve as interpreter,

You're in love with her,

aren't you?

You must really think

I'm crazy now,

No,

On the contrary,

It's enough to make a cynic

believe in fate,

Welcome, ,,

to both of you?

What's all this?

Some instrumentation,

Measuring devices,

She is with you, yes?

She's right here,

Would you direct her

to take that seat?

She can hear you,

She can understand

everything you say,

Kyra, please,

Let's start, shall we?

Ask her where she comes from,

Beyond your reach,

Could she be

a little more specific?

You would call it

a neutron star,

How is that possible?

The temperatures

are unthinkable,

Only by your measure,

What are the coordinates

of the star?

Something's wrong,

Something's very wrong,

She's not comfortable

giving you that information,

Tell her we've been

to a lot of trouble

on her behalf,

Patrick, please, I want to go,

We're not doing this right now,

We're leaving,

( screaming )

Don't!

What have you done?

My god, Kyra!

Patrick,

( Borden )

Do you really think

that We would harm her?

This is a strong magnetic field,

Nothing more,

She can't pass through it,

Once she's over

her skittishness,

we will switch it off,

You can both go,

That's a promise,

If she's still alive,

Turn it off now!

Borden, maybe he's right,

I want you to consider where

your allegiance lies, Patrick,

With the scientists

who gave you back your sight,

or with An INTERLOPER

whose agenda

you don't really know,

No, when she's ready

to talk to us,

we will be ready to listen,

She's not the enemy...

We're the enemy!

This is all my fault,

I never should have

brought you here,

It's the nature of your kind,

Fear what you don't know,

We don't have any choice,

you know,

You have to tell them

everything,

You know better than that,

Patrick,

I'm a trophy now,

They'll never let me go,

How much time do we have?

I don't know,

Hours, maybe less,

Kyra, ,,Kyra,

Kyra, no,

Kyra, you can't, Kyra!

No, no, Kyra,

You can't!

Kyra, you need help,

( Louise )

Patrick, I have to talk to you,

Just for a moment,

Patrick, I swear,

I knew nothing of Borden's plan,

I'm as appalled as you are,

You expect me to believe that?

It's the god's truth,

All right,

All right, you told me,

Now go,

I, uh, wanted to leave you

with this,

What is "This"?

It's the remaining stores

of iridium suspension,

It's all that's standing

between you and total blindness,

So you struck a deal

with the devil?

Patrick,

As long as there's iridium

pumping through my veins

they've got the perfect bait

to lure Kyra back,

They knew about her

before you gained your eyesight,

She was only a shadow,

She was a whisper in the void,

She was free,

Thank you,

I better go,

Goodbye, Patrick,

Kyra!

Kyra!

Kyra!

No!

You can't,

I didn't think

I'd see you again,

You're the only thing

I have in this world,

The only thing that matters,

I thought going home mattered,

It's never going to happen,

The only people who can help me

are so ignorant

they'll wind up

killing me first,

That's why I'm doing this,

Patrick, please,

The iridium is preventing you

from being consigned

to darkness,

It's also the only thing

that's guaranteeing your doom,

If there's a Link between us,

they can track you,

they can hunt you down

and imprison you,

I made that mistake once

and I won't let it happen again,

You'd rather lose your sight?

Not meant to see something

so wondrous

picked at and prodded

by their damn machines,

We have no right,

I have no right,

I love you,

That's enough for me,

( voices shouting )

I knew I'd be followed,

There isn't enough time,

You have no idea

what you've done,

In closing, for those of you

who've expressed concern

about my condition,

I refer you to Victor Hugo's

Les miserables,

"Possessing love,

he is not deprived of light,

"a love, moreover,

that is wholly pure,

"There can be no blindness

where there is this certainty,"

Well, ,,

see you next time,

( control voice )

of all the gifts his maker

has bestowed upon man,

none is more precious than

his ability to love another,

Captioning performed by

Western captioning service ltd,

Vancouver, B, C, 2000