1
00:00:13,056 --> 00:00:15,145
[Siren wailing]

2
00:00:16,886 --> 00:00:19,628
- I was born
in early January, 1944.

3
00:00:19,758 --> 00:00:20,759
[Baby crying]

4
00:00:20,890 --> 00:00:23,023
- I was born
in early January, 1944,

5
00:00:23,153 --> 00:00:25,112
as a human being
of the male sex,

6
00:00:25,242 --> 00:00:27,853
in a catacomb doubling
as a bomb shelter.

7
00:00:27,984 --> 00:00:31,509
My mother, pregnant with me,
had hidden in its labyrinth.

8
00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,077
English planes had bombed
the small village

9
00:00:34,208 --> 00:00:36,688
above this ancient
Byzantine burial place.

10
00:00:36,819 --> 00:00:38,951
[Bomb exploding]

11
00:00:39,082 --> 00:00:43,217
I was born in the winter
of 1968 in Bulgaria,

12
00:00:43,347 --> 00:00:45,175
in a world full of hope.

13
00:00:45,306 --> 00:00:50,093
I remember the year 1968
in detail, from start to finish.

14
00:00:50,224 --> 00:00:52,704
The revolution,
the Prague Spring,

15
00:00:52,835 --> 00:00:54,793
the Russian tanks...

16
00:00:58,145 --> 00:01:00,016
- I have always been born.

17
00:01:01,757 --> 00:01:05,456
- I was born as a fruit fly,
two hours before sunrise.

18
00:01:05,587 --> 00:01:08,633
I'll die this evening
after sundown.

19
00:01:08,764 --> 00:01:11,767
I still remember
the beginning of the Ice Age

20
00:01:11,897 --> 00:01:13,769
and the end of the Cold War.

21
00:01:13,899 --> 00:01:17,425
In both epochs,
the sight of the dying dinosaurs

22
00:01:17,555 --> 00:01:21,081
is one of the most unbearable
things I have seen.

23
00:01:21,211 --> 00:01:23,866
I remember being born
as a cranberry shrub,

24
00:01:23,996 --> 00:01:25,824
as a nightingale,

25
00:01:25,955 --> 00:01:29,306
as a ginkgo biloba,
a cloud in July,

26
00:01:29,437 --> 00:01:33,702
an early cherry blossom
frozen by a late April snow,

27
00:01:33,832 --> 00:01:36,357
as a snail.

28
00:01:38,620 --> 00:01:39,664
I am us.

29
00:01:39,795 --> 00:01:41,927
- I am us.

30
00:01:46,541 --> 00:01:49,674
- But there is only
childhood and death.

31
00:01:49,805 --> 00:01:53,287
Between the two, nothing.

32
00:01:55,550 --> 00:01:57,813
I'm approaching the border.

33
00:01:57,943 --> 00:02:00,772
Through the window of the train,
I see the trees of home.

34
00:02:00,903 --> 00:02:03,340
In a flash between
the 6th and the 7th tunnel

35
00:02:03,471 --> 00:02:05,516
of the railroad
I've known forever,

36
00:02:05,647 --> 00:02:08,998
I see the waterfall
I always looked for as a child.

37
00:02:56,263 --> 00:02:57,916
[Train chugging]

38
00:03:06,577 --> 00:03:10,102
[Men and women chatting,
indistinct]

39
00:03:10,233 --> 00:03:13,193
- Come, come,
ladies and gentlemen!

40
00:03:13,323 --> 00:03:14,629
See the great python,

41
00:03:14,759 --> 00:03:18,459
3 metres from head to tail
and from tail to head!

42
00:03:18,589 --> 00:03:19,764
[Man laughing]

43
00:03:19,895 --> 00:03:22,767
- The circus is back
in our village.

44
00:03:22,898 --> 00:03:24,726
A magician makes
my hat disappear.

45
00:03:24,856 --> 00:03:27,424
[Audience cheering
and applauding]

46
00:03:28,947 --> 00:03:33,517
- Step right up!
A child with the head of a bull!

47
00:03:33,648 --> 00:03:35,084
A marvel like no other!

48
00:03:35,215 --> 00:03:38,261
The Minotaur of the Labyrinth,
just 12 years old!

49
00:03:38,392 --> 00:03:39,784
[Audience member laughing]

50
00:03:41,525 --> 00:03:44,006
- Instead of buying
cotton candy,

51
00:03:44,136 --> 00:03:45,877
I get into the tent.

52
00:03:47,227 --> 00:03:48,750
It's dark inside.

53
00:03:54,669 --> 00:03:56,627
It's like in the labyrinth.

54
00:04:01,023 --> 00:04:03,068
Such a sad looking boy.

55
00:04:07,290 --> 00:04:10,728
I wonder why there are no
children in Greek mythology.

56
00:04:12,164 --> 00:04:14,993
The only ones
that ever appear get eaten.

57
00:04:15,124 --> 00:04:17,431
Chronos, Tantalus,
Tereus, Zeus, Demeter,

58
00:04:17,561 --> 00:04:18,997
they all ate their children.

59
00:04:19,128 --> 00:04:22,000
And the Minotaur
hidden away in the labyrinth

60
00:04:22,131 --> 00:04:24,264
devoured 7 virgins
every 9 years,

61
00:04:24,394 --> 00:04:26,918
the Minotaur imprisoned
in a labyrinth by King Minos.

62
00:04:27,049 --> 00:04:28,833
shame of his family,

63
00:04:28,964 --> 00:04:32,663
offspring of the queen Pasiphae
and a bull.

64
00:04:32,794 --> 00:04:36,319
Enter the hero Theseus,
intent on killing the Minotaur.

65
00:04:36,450 --> 00:04:38,539
The Minotaur's sister, Ariadne,

66
00:04:38,669 --> 00:04:41,411
gave Theseus a sharp sword
and a ball of string.

67
00:04:41,542 --> 00:04:43,195
A terrible battle ensued.

68
00:04:43,326 --> 00:04:45,285
[Growling]

69
00:04:55,033 --> 00:04:59,037
I'm trying to unwind Ariadne's
thread in my labyrinth.

70
00:05:03,868 --> 00:05:06,654
An alarm clock, a toothbrush,
a doll, a toy car,

71
00:05:06,784 --> 00:05:09,961
a woman's hat, a make-up kit,
an electric razor, a pipe...

72
00:05:10,092 --> 00:05:13,443
What could contain such
a collection of random things?

73
00:05:13,574 --> 00:05:15,967
A suitcase, most likely.

74
00:05:16,098 --> 00:05:18,230
To whom would
that suitcase belong?

75
00:05:18,361 --> 00:05:21,233
A woman? A man?

76
00:05:21,364 --> 00:05:23,410
A girl, because of the doll?

77
00:05:23,540 --> 00:05:25,934
Or maybe a boy,
given the toy car?

78
00:05:26,064 --> 00:05:27,457
It doesn't matter.

79
00:05:30,721 --> 00:05:33,768
I'm dumbstruck,
watching the circus acrobats.

80
00:05:35,030 --> 00:05:37,554
There's a girl
who must be my age.

81
00:05:38,860 --> 00:05:39,948
[♪ Drumroll ]

82
00:05:40,078 --> 00:05:42,080
She gets up
on her father's shoulders.

83
00:05:42,211 --> 00:05:44,474
For a moment, my heart stops.

84
00:05:44,605 --> 00:05:48,391
And then she leaps into the air:
one, two and a half!

85
00:05:48,522 --> 00:05:49,871
[♪ Drumroll ]

86
00:05:50,001 --> 00:05:51,351
A huge smile on her face.

87
00:05:51,481 --> 00:05:53,396
[Audience cheering
and applauding]

88
00:05:53,527 --> 00:05:55,920
She's pretty,
the little acrobat.

89
00:06:01,317 --> 00:06:02,710
[Door opening]

90
00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:04,494
"I'll lock you up
in the basement

91
00:06:04,625 --> 00:06:06,017
if you're not back by 8:30,"

92
00:06:06,148 --> 00:06:07,497
says my father.

93
00:06:07,628 --> 00:06:11,849
That was the worst punishment
of my whole childhood,

94
00:06:11,980 --> 00:06:13,808
to be locked in the cellar,

95
00:06:13,938 --> 00:06:18,639
in the dark, in the cold,
with the rats and spiders,

96
00:06:18,769 --> 00:06:20,989
like the Minotaur.

97
00:06:21,119 --> 00:06:23,165
But even that threat
couldn't stop me

98
00:06:23,295 --> 00:06:25,036
from jumping on my old bike

99
00:06:25,167 --> 00:06:28,823
and pedalling across town with
my friends to the fairgrounds

100
00:06:28,953 --> 00:06:31,608
to see the circus
and complete our collections

101
00:06:31,739 --> 00:06:34,350
of bubble-gum wrappers,
Western movie photos

102
00:06:34,481 --> 00:06:36,221
and plastic toy soldiers.

103
00:06:36,352 --> 00:06:39,616
I met my acrobat princess
on one of those escapades.

104
00:06:39,747 --> 00:06:42,402
By day, she worked
in the shooting gallery.

105
00:06:42,532 --> 00:06:45,709
She let me have free turns.

106
00:06:47,842 --> 00:06:50,975
And later we went off
to have ice cream.

107
00:06:51,106 --> 00:06:54,979
[♪ Tous les garcons
et les filles
by Françoise Hardy ♪]

108
00:07:19,656 --> 00:07:21,441
Two days of bliss!

109
00:07:23,225 --> 00:07:25,967
On the last evening,
before the circus left town,

110
00:07:26,097 --> 00:07:28,012
we sat in her caravan.

111
00:07:30,101 --> 00:07:32,190
We blew bubble-gum bubbles.

112
00:07:35,411 --> 00:07:37,935
That's when I got my first kiss.

113
00:07:39,415 --> 00:07:42,113
Her lips were hotter than fire.

114
00:07:43,419 --> 00:07:44,986
Her name was Plamena.

115
00:07:59,130 --> 00:08:01,568
[Insects chirring]

116
00:08:01,698 --> 00:08:05,006
I didn't sleep
a single second that night.

117
00:08:05,136 --> 00:08:09,053
When dawn broke,
I set off to say a last goodbye.

118
00:08:11,665 --> 00:08:16,408
I mounted my bike and rode like
crazy through the empty streets.

119
00:08:22,110 --> 00:08:24,112
[Engine revving]

120
00:08:35,776 --> 00:08:38,474
I came to the spot where
the circus tent had been.

121
00:08:38,605 --> 00:08:40,694
But the circus had left.

122
00:08:40,824 --> 00:08:42,826
[Birds chirping]

123
00:08:42,957 --> 00:08:45,829
There was only the sand
of the circus rings

124
00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:47,831
and the bubble-gum wrapper.

125
00:08:47,962 --> 00:08:51,748
She was gone,
and I never saw her again.

126
00:08:53,794 --> 00:08:56,405
My only souvenir
from my first and greatest love

127
00:08:56,536 --> 00:08:59,539
is the bright paper wrapper
of that bubble gum.

128
00:08:59,669 --> 00:09:00,975
[Door closing]

129
00:09:01,105 --> 00:09:02,324
Needless to say,

130
00:09:02,454 --> 00:09:04,892
the basement was waiting
for me when I got home.

131
00:09:05,022 --> 00:09:06,154
I didn't care.

132
00:09:07,677 --> 00:09:09,766
I clutched the gum wrapper
against my heart,

133
00:09:09,897 --> 00:09:11,942
thinking about
my pretty acrobat.

134
00:09:23,432 --> 00:09:25,173
I often looked for that circus,

135
00:09:25,303 --> 00:09:28,393
with its family of acrobats
and my Plamena.

136
00:09:28,524 --> 00:09:29,873
I'd take my bike

137
00:09:30,004 --> 00:09:33,268
and ride it to the ends
of the earth to find her.

138
00:09:33,398 --> 00:09:34,835
Sometimes, it seemed like

139
00:09:34,965 --> 00:09:36,967
I could still
touch her black hair.

140
00:09:38,665 --> 00:09:42,843
She had different names.
She spoke foreign languages.

141
00:09:42,973 --> 00:09:46,150
Sometimes, we'd smile
at each other after.

142
00:09:46,281 --> 00:09:49,023
Other times, she'd chase me
with a knife.

143
00:09:50,938 --> 00:09:54,811
Once, she lit a cigarette
and just walked away.

144
00:09:54,942 --> 00:09:59,337
But I never, ever got a
bubble-gum wrapper at the end.

145
00:10:02,427 --> 00:10:05,256
That's how I knew it wasn't her.

146
00:10:09,652 --> 00:10:12,350
I began to get
used to the darkness.

147
00:10:13,917 --> 00:10:15,919
To stop being afraid
of the dark,

148
00:10:16,050 --> 00:10:19,096
I turned off all the lights
in my bedroom.

149
00:10:20,663 --> 00:10:22,360
I came to like it.

150
00:10:23,971 --> 00:10:26,843
In the dark,
I can make up anything I want.

151
00:10:26,974 --> 00:10:29,193
It's like being at the movies.

152
00:10:32,196 --> 00:10:33,981
I hate it when
my father comes in

153
00:10:34,111 --> 00:10:35,765
and turns the lights back on.

154
00:10:38,289 --> 00:10:42,076
I remember my first
real encounter with death.

155
00:10:42,206 --> 00:10:43,381
[Birds chirping]

156
00:10:43,512 --> 00:10:45,122
I was in our yard,

157
00:10:45,253 --> 00:10:48,996
watching my grandfather
try to fix our old motorbike.

158
00:10:50,867 --> 00:10:53,348
Suddenly, he dropped
like a brick.

159
00:10:55,045 --> 00:10:57,613
My parents took me
to my cousin's.

160
00:10:57,744 --> 00:11:01,051
He was the only one
with an army of tin soldiers,

161
00:11:01,182 --> 00:11:03,053
when all the other kids

162
00:11:03,184 --> 00:11:05,447
had cheap plastic soldiers
and Indians.

163
00:11:11,018 --> 00:11:13,324
Later, my uncle came to get me.

164
00:11:13,455 --> 00:11:15,936
He said: "He's dead."

165
00:11:16,066 --> 00:11:19,635
For me, death will always
look like a little tin soldier.

166
00:11:19,766 --> 00:11:21,071
[Thudding sound]

167
00:11:44,834 --> 00:11:46,227
[Soldiers chanting]

168
00:11:46,357 --> 00:11:48,925
[♪ Classical music playing ]

169
00:11:51,319 --> 00:11:54,670
Years later, there I am,
a soldier as well.

170
00:11:54,801 --> 00:11:56,846
Standing in front of us
in the morning,

171
00:11:56,977 --> 00:11:58,848
Major Batsanov repeats...

172
00:11:58,979 --> 00:12:02,547
[Batsanov speaking
foreign language]

173
00:12:02,678 --> 00:12:06,464
"Things are gonna get worse.
They're not gonna get better.

174
00:12:06,595 --> 00:12:10,033
So this is a great day
for you cockroaches."

175
00:12:14,472 --> 00:12:16,170
The young soldiers
are impressed.

176
00:12:16,300 --> 00:12:18,563
The older ones
are mostly thinking about

177
00:12:18,694 --> 00:12:21,392
how to get over
the barbed-wire fence at night

178
00:12:21,523 --> 00:12:23,917
to spend a few minutes
with a woman.

179
00:12:24,047 --> 00:12:26,136
I was never good at gymnastics,

180
00:12:26,267 --> 00:12:28,835
but one thing I learned
in the army

181
00:12:28,965 --> 00:12:31,794
was how to clear
a barbed-wire fence.

182
00:12:31,925 --> 00:12:33,100
If you weren't an acrobat,

183
00:12:33,230 --> 00:12:34,666
you'd either wind up in the hole

184
00:12:34,797 --> 00:12:37,582
or your balls would
catch on the barbed wire,

185
00:12:37,713 --> 00:12:39,454
flapping up there like a flag.

186
00:12:39,584 --> 00:12:41,978
Under the command
of Major Batsanov,

187
00:12:42,109 --> 00:12:45,329
we all became acrobats
in the circus of desire.

188
00:12:51,509 --> 00:12:55,078
A garter belt,
a can opener,

189
00:12:55,209 --> 00:12:58,299
a toaster,
a typewriter, a radio.

190
00:12:58,429 --> 00:13:01,258
Could this be
a museum warehouse?

191
00:13:01,389 --> 00:13:02,956
The list continues.

192
00:13:03,086 --> 00:13:05,436
The Bible, the Quran,
Homer's Iliad,Dante's Inferno.

193
00:13:05,567 --> 00:13:07,917
Sound clips of cartoon
characters like Popeye

194
00:13:08,048 --> 00:13:09,701
and hog-calling champs.

195
00:13:09,832 --> 00:13:13,401
Recordings of the voices of
Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin,

196
00:13:13,531 --> 00:13:16,708
Benito Mussolini
and Franklin Roosevelt.

197
00:13:16,839 --> 00:13:19,189
Microfilms and projectors,

198
00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,322
with electric generators
to operate them.

199
00:13:21,452 --> 00:13:23,150
A writer's den? No.

200
00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:25,456
It's a time capsule.

201
00:13:25,587 --> 00:13:28,198
All these objects were buried
50 feet underground

202
00:13:28,329 --> 00:13:29,460
on September 23, 1938,

203
00:13:29,591 --> 00:13:32,115
in the world's
most famous time capsule,

204
00:13:32,246 --> 00:13:34,161
engineered by
Westinghouse Electric

205
00:13:34,291 --> 00:13:35,858
for the New York World's Fair.

206
00:13:35,989 --> 00:13:39,514
A plate on the capsule
was engraved with these words:

207
00:13:39,644 --> 00:13:41,951
"Not to be opened
for 5,000 years."

208
00:13:42,082 --> 00:13:44,867
This craze for preserving time
in containers broke out

209
00:13:44,998 --> 00:13:47,130
just before
time itself confronted us:

210
00:13:47,261 --> 00:13:51,395
The Second World War erupted
just a few years later.

211
00:13:57,967 --> 00:14:00,187
Major Batsanov:

212
00:14:00,317 --> 00:14:03,799
"Things are gonna get worse.
They're not gonna get better."

213
00:14:03,930 --> 00:14:06,933
"So carpe diem it is,"
I muttered to myself,

214
00:14:07,063 --> 00:14:08,499
a bit too loud.

215
00:14:08,630 --> 00:14:11,415
Major Batsanov had
keen hearing: "What?"

216
00:14:11,546 --> 00:14:13,461
"Carpe diem," I repeated.

217
00:14:17,769 --> 00:14:19,815
For insulting
a superior officer,

218
00:14:19,946 --> 00:14:22,557
latrine duty
and 3 days in the hole...

219
00:14:24,037 --> 00:14:25,995
with no shoes and no lights.

220
00:14:26,126 --> 00:14:28,955
Instead of jumping the fence
to see my new Ariadne,

221
00:14:29,085 --> 00:14:30,870
I spent that night in the dark,

222
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,481
punished for the few words
of Latin I knew.

223
00:14:34,525 --> 00:14:36,005
[Man whispering, indistinct]

224
00:14:36,136 --> 00:14:37,311
I'm still there in the dark,

225
00:14:37,441 --> 00:14:40,009
instead of being with
the woman of my dreams,

226
00:14:40,140 --> 00:14:42,142
the one waiting for me
at The Blue Café...

227
00:14:42,272 --> 00:14:44,492
I decide to jump out the window
and escape.

228
00:14:44,622 --> 00:14:46,189
I slice my foot.

229
00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:47,930
I run to my Ariadne.

230
00:14:48,061 --> 00:14:50,367
Of course, I leave a trail
of blood in the snow.

231
00:14:50,498 --> 00:14:52,500
There was no red thread
in the labyrinth.

232
00:14:52,630 --> 00:14:53,544
Ariadne didn't give a damn

233
00:14:53,675 --> 00:14:55,459
whether Theseus
made it out or not.

234
00:14:55,590 --> 00:14:58,027
He cut his own foot to leave
a trail in the labyrinth.

235
00:14:58,158 --> 00:15:00,334
That is how
he found his way out.

236
00:15:00,464 --> 00:15:02,597
[♪ The Safety Dance
by Men Without Hats ♪]

237
00:15:02,727 --> 00:15:05,165
[Men and women chatting,
indistinct]

238
00:15:10,300 --> 00:15:11,954
♪♪ We can dance
if we want to♪

239
00:15:12,085 --> 00:15:13,825
♪ We can leave
your friends behind♪

240
00:15:13,956 --> 00:15:15,653
♪ 'Cause your friends
don't dance♪

241
00:15:15,784 --> 00:15:17,220
♪ And if they don't dance♪

242
00:15:17,351 --> 00:15:19,135
♪ Well, they're
no friends of mine♪

243
00:15:19,266 --> 00:15:21,181
♪ I say we can go
where we want to♪

244
00:15:21,311 --> 00:15:23,313
♪ A place where
they will never find♪

245
00:15:23,444 --> 00:15:25,968
♪ And we can act like we come
from out of this world♪

246
00:15:26,099 --> 00:15:28,492
♪ Leave the real one
far behind♪

247
00:15:28,623 --> 00:15:29,711
♪ We can dance♪

248
00:15:29,841 --> 00:15:30,930
♪ Dansez!♪

249
00:15:31,060 --> 00:15:33,584
I didn't find
my Ariadne that night.

250
00:15:33,715 --> 00:15:35,282
She left with some rock star

251
00:15:35,412 --> 00:15:37,327
instead of waiting
for her soldier.

252
00:15:37,458 --> 00:15:38,720
I told myself: "Big deal!

253
00:15:38,850 --> 00:15:40,940
She's not the first.
She won't be the last."

254
00:15:41,070 --> 00:15:43,072
♪ The night is young,
and so am I♪

255
00:15:43,203 --> 00:15:45,770
♪ And we can dress real neat
from our hands to our feet♪

256
00:15:45,901 --> 00:15:47,947
♪ And surprise 'em
with a victory cry♪

257
00:15:48,077 --> 00:15:50,862
♪ I say we can act
if we want to♪

258
00:15:50,993 --> 00:15:52,603
♪ If we don't,
nobody will♪

259
00:15:52,734 --> 00:15:54,866
♪ And you can act real rude
and totally removed♪

260
00:15:54,997 --> 00:15:57,652
♪ And I can act
like an imbecile♪

261
00:15:57,782 --> 00:16:00,002
♪ I say we can dance,
we can dance♪

262
00:16:00,133 --> 00:16:02,048
♪ Everything is out of control♪

263
00:16:02,178 --> 00:16:04,180
♪ We can dance,
we can dance♪

264
00:16:04,311 --> 00:16:06,922
♪ We're doing it
from wall to wall♪♪

265
00:16:07,053 --> 00:16:08,706
I saw her a few years later.

266
00:16:08,837 --> 00:16:11,492
I couldn't believe
I'd cut my foot for her.

267
00:16:12,972 --> 00:16:14,582
A list of my collections...

268
00:16:16,279 --> 00:16:20,675
little plastic soldiers, badges,
commemorative matchboxes,

269
00:16:20,805 --> 00:16:23,330
Western movie photos, marbles,

270
00:16:23,460 --> 00:16:25,419
Bi-Bib Turkish
bubble-gum wrappers,

271
00:16:25,549 --> 00:16:28,422
a collection of pictures of cars
from those bubble-gum wrappers.

272
00:16:28,552 --> 00:16:31,033
All these things
stayed in the family home

273
00:16:31,164 --> 00:16:33,035
when I immigrated to Montreal.

274
00:16:33,166 --> 00:16:35,907
No childhood artefact
or memory crossed the ocean.

275
00:16:36,038 --> 00:16:38,823
I started a new,
object-free life,

276
00:16:38,954 --> 00:16:40,695
an abstract existence...

277
00:16:42,305 --> 00:16:45,004
sitting on the floor
of an empty apartment,

278
00:16:45,134 --> 00:16:47,397
two suitcases,
a telephone by my side

279
00:16:47,528 --> 00:16:49,747
and a chair found in the alley.

280
00:16:49,878 --> 00:16:53,360
I spoke neither French
nor English.

281
00:16:53,490 --> 00:16:55,623
I had chosen
to move to Montreal,

282
00:16:55,753 --> 00:16:59,627
as far as possible
from my country, my family,

283
00:16:59,757 --> 00:17:04,414
my memories, my childhood,
my loves, my belongings.

284
00:17:07,374 --> 00:17:11,552
When you move, objects are
deprived of their everyday use.

285
00:17:11,682 --> 00:17:15,034
They're in a cardboard box
labelled "kitchen,"

286
00:17:15,164 --> 00:17:17,732
"bathroom,"
"bedroom number 1."

287
00:17:17,862 --> 00:17:19,777
Farewell.
A new apartment.

288
00:17:19,908 --> 00:17:23,129
New farewells.
The moves of my student years.

289
00:17:23,259 --> 00:17:25,174
Post-divorce move.

290
00:17:25,305 --> 00:17:26,915
Moving to other countries.

291
00:17:28,090 --> 00:17:29,135
Coming back.

292
00:17:29,265 --> 00:17:31,050
A new apartment.

293
00:17:31,180 --> 00:17:35,097
An entire life can be told
as a catalogue of moves.

294
00:17:37,926 --> 00:17:39,710
[Birds chirping]

295
00:17:39,841 --> 00:17:44,106
I learned how to read English
in the Côte-des-Neiges cemetery.

296
00:17:44,237 --> 00:17:47,675
One could say it was the dead
who taught me how to read.

297
00:17:47,805 --> 00:17:51,244
I was walking along a path
among the tombstones.

298
00:17:52,767 --> 00:17:54,421
The first words I learned:

299
00:17:54,551 --> 00:17:59,730
peace, eternal, here,
born, died,

300
00:17:59,861 --> 00:18:02,255
God, memory.

301
00:18:02,385 --> 00:18:06,650
Nervously, I trace
the outlines with my finger.

302
00:18:06,781 --> 00:18:09,000
And names, many names....

303
00:18:14,832 --> 00:18:16,486
Carpe diem.

304
00:18:16,617 --> 00:18:18,488
Here, I'm nobody.

305
00:18:18,619 --> 00:18:20,925
I don't even know
my own name anymore.

306
00:18:21,056 --> 00:18:23,624
Here, my name translates
3 different ways.

307
00:18:23,754 --> 00:18:25,669
Plato said that
objects and people

308
00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:27,932
are deeply connected
to their names.

309
00:18:28,063 --> 00:18:29,978
Since I have 3 different names,

310
00:18:30,109 --> 00:18:33,373
I must be connected to
3 different versions of me.

311
00:18:34,765 --> 00:18:36,202
I am us.

312
00:18:36,332 --> 00:18:37,681
- I am us.

313
00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,686
♪ ♪

314
00:18:57,179 --> 00:18:59,312
- No, I don't feel
like a stranger here.

315
00:18:59,442 --> 00:19:00,661
[Birds calling]

316
00:19:00,791 --> 00:19:02,141
We are all immigrants.

317
00:19:03,664 --> 00:19:06,188
Immigrants, if only
from our childhood.

318
00:19:06,319 --> 00:19:08,669
We've all left it behind,

319
00:19:08,799 --> 00:19:12,281
with its playthings, marbles,
toy-car collections.

320
00:19:12,412 --> 00:19:13,761
In the end,

321
00:19:13,891 --> 00:19:16,633
the only place I really
feel at home is on a plane,

322
00:19:16,764 --> 00:19:20,855
between two countries,
between heaven and earth,

323
00:19:20,985 --> 00:19:23,640
even if I do feel alone
in my narrow seat.

324
00:19:23,771 --> 00:19:24,859
Aisle or window?

325
00:19:26,252 --> 00:19:28,123
It has no importance.

326
00:19:28,254 --> 00:19:30,169
I grab my suitcase.

327
00:19:31,518 --> 00:19:34,173
There's a sticker on it.

328
00:19:41,441 --> 00:19:44,661
There's a grocery store
in Montreal called Bucaresti.

329
00:19:44,792 --> 00:19:47,751
Since the Cold War,
time has stood still there.

330
00:19:47,882 --> 00:19:49,623
All the goods are the same ones

331
00:19:49,753 --> 00:19:52,582
we had in the last years
of communism.

332
00:19:52,713 --> 00:19:56,107
Today, they aren't even found
in their country of origin.

333
00:19:56,238 --> 00:19:58,371
Some are manufactured
in small factories

334
00:19:58,501 --> 00:20:00,111
in the suburbs of Montreal,

335
00:20:00,242 --> 00:20:02,766
with identical designs
on their labels.

336
00:20:02,897 --> 00:20:06,422
They feed the nostalgia of
Eastern European immigrants.

337
00:20:06,553 --> 00:20:09,164
Romanian soap,
Hungarian paprika,

338
00:20:09,295 --> 00:20:11,906
Serbian ajvar,
Soviet kefir and candies.

339
00:20:12,036 --> 00:20:14,952
It's more museum
than grocery store.

340
00:20:15,083 --> 00:20:17,477
The museum of nostalgia
and sorrow.

341
00:20:17,607 --> 00:20:18,695
[Phone vibrating]

342
00:20:18,826 --> 00:20:20,131
That's where, suddenly,

343
00:20:20,262 --> 00:20:22,046
I receive a message
from my mother:

344
00:20:22,177 --> 00:20:25,876
"Your father is sick,
hospitalized. Call home!"

345
00:20:26,007 --> 00:20:27,748
I'm at the cash register,

346
00:20:27,878 --> 00:20:30,272
paying for my ajvar
and kashkaval.

347
00:20:30,403 --> 00:20:33,057
The English-speaking cashier
addresses me in Romanian.

348
00:20:33,188 --> 00:20:34,450
I answer in Russian.

349
00:20:36,322 --> 00:20:37,932
[Dial tone]

350
00:20:38,062 --> 00:20:40,978
I assemble my own time capsule
in a suitcase.

351
00:20:41,109 --> 00:20:44,504
It will contain
a Bi-Bib bubble-gum wrapper,

352
00:20:44,634 --> 00:20:47,115
a photo of a targa-top
Lamborghini Silhouette,

353
00:20:47,246 --> 00:20:50,292
a tin soldier,
a jar of ajvar.

354
00:20:51,467 --> 00:20:53,469
[Train chugging]

355
00:20:54,644 --> 00:20:56,080
The train
approaches Kyustendil,

356
00:20:56,211 --> 00:20:58,082
the town in which I was born.

357
00:20:58,213 --> 00:21:00,041
As always, my heart is pounding.

358
00:21:00,171 --> 00:21:01,956
Will my father
be there as usual,

359
00:21:02,086 --> 00:21:03,697
waiting at the station?

360
00:21:03,827 --> 00:21:06,352
We arrive.
The train comes to a stop.

361
00:21:06,482 --> 00:21:09,659
The old station
with its century-old trees.

362
00:21:10,921 --> 00:21:12,445
[Brakes screeching]

363
00:21:19,887 --> 00:21:21,671
Time has stopped here.

364
00:21:21,802 --> 00:21:25,588
Only my father ages
in this unchanging town.

365
00:21:29,462 --> 00:21:32,813
Every country has
its Major Batsanov.

366
00:21:32,943 --> 00:21:35,206
An entire army
of Major Batsanovs

367
00:21:35,337 --> 00:21:37,165
keeps order in this world.

368
00:21:37,296 --> 00:21:40,386
The Batsanovs lead
and give orders.

369
00:21:40,516 --> 00:21:42,213
They don't ask who or why.

370
00:21:42,344 --> 00:21:46,392
If a commissar commands
the destruction of the world,

371
00:21:46,522 --> 00:21:50,004
Major Batsanov will give the
order without a second thought.

372
00:21:50,134 --> 00:21:52,746
[Man shouting
in foreign language]

373
00:21:52,876 --> 00:21:56,097
"Nuclear!" Batsanov calls out,
"Nuclear bomb!"

374
00:21:57,881 --> 00:22:00,971
It's the signal for us
to put on our gas masks on.

375
00:22:01,102 --> 00:22:02,364
We've got 12 seconds.

376
00:22:02,495 --> 00:22:04,584
If you can't get it on,
you're dead.

377
00:22:04,714 --> 00:22:07,630
In my mind, that's how long
it takes for the world to end:

378
00:22:07,761 --> 00:22:09,240
exactly 12 seconds.

379
00:22:09,371 --> 00:22:11,982
Those who can manage to get
their masks on will survive.

380
00:22:12,113 --> 00:22:14,115
Everyone else will die.

381
00:22:14,245 --> 00:22:16,639
I wonder if
my father will manage

382
00:22:16,770 --> 00:22:19,294
now that his reflexes
have slowed.

383
00:22:19,425 --> 00:22:21,862
[Man breathing through mask]

384
00:22:21,992 --> 00:22:26,214
With the gas mask, he looks
a lot like a Minotaur.

385
00:22:32,481 --> 00:22:35,571
What do you call
the compulsion to make lists,

386
00:22:35,702 --> 00:22:37,747
to tell stories through lists?

387
00:22:37,878 --> 00:22:39,880
A fear of forgetting?

388
00:22:42,404 --> 00:22:44,972
My father had that illness
at the end.

389
00:22:47,191 --> 00:22:50,456
He would go out
and lose his way in the streets.

390
00:22:52,545 --> 00:22:55,417
Most often, he could be found
at the train station,

391
00:22:55,548 --> 00:22:58,812
standing there,
watching the trains.

392
00:23:00,553 --> 00:23:02,685
My worst nightmare
is that, one day,

393
00:23:02,816 --> 00:23:04,557
I'll end up just like that,

394
00:23:04,687 --> 00:23:07,908
except at an airport, watching
the planes land and take off.

395
00:23:08,038 --> 00:23:09,866
[Women talking on PA,
indistinct]

396
00:23:09,997 --> 00:23:12,129
I won't remember
where I was headed.

397
00:23:13,827 --> 00:23:16,786
Worst of all, I'll have
forgotten where to return.

398
00:23:20,442 --> 00:23:22,401
♪ ♪

399
00:23:30,539 --> 00:23:34,195
Hotel rooms are perfect,
memory-free places.

400
00:23:34,325 --> 00:23:38,068
The ideal hotel room
betrays no prior presence.

401
00:23:38,199 --> 00:23:40,027
Cleaning after check-out

402
00:23:40,157 --> 00:23:41,985
is above all
the wiping out of memory.

403
00:23:42,116 --> 00:23:45,424
Nothing is as sterile
as forgetting.

404
00:23:47,208 --> 00:23:48,383
[Child laughing]

405
00:23:48,514 --> 00:23:51,517
I did everything I could
to make my family work...

406
00:23:53,606 --> 00:23:57,653
but my sorrow, instead
of dissipating, deepened.

407
00:24:00,569 --> 00:24:02,963
I became increasingly withdrawn.

408
00:24:03,093 --> 00:24:06,793
At those times, all I wanted
was to spare my daughter.

409
00:24:08,229 --> 00:24:10,797
I started accepting
every invitation I got

410
00:24:10,927 --> 00:24:12,538
for film festivals.

411
00:24:17,194 --> 00:24:21,155
Other countries, other cities...

412
00:24:22,722 --> 00:24:25,202
same sorrow.

413
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:31,731
Before I left, my daughter
gave me her favourite dinosaur.

414
00:24:33,950 --> 00:24:36,126
I've kept it with me ever since.

415
00:24:39,826 --> 00:24:43,003
A few years later,
I read in her diary...

416
00:24:44,744 --> 00:24:46,180
"My father and the dinosaurs

417
00:24:46,310 --> 00:24:48,617
disappeared
at the same time."

418
00:24:52,229 --> 00:24:53,448
How are you?

419
00:24:54,449 --> 00:24:55,972
How's it going?

420
00:24:57,147 --> 00:24:58,845
How am I?

421
00:25:00,150 --> 00:25:01,456
I'm not.

422
00:25:01,587 --> 00:25:03,197
Period.

423
00:25:09,420 --> 00:25:12,119
There must be something
that remains, though,

424
00:25:12,249 --> 00:25:14,730
something you could use
to start over.

425
00:25:14,861 --> 00:25:17,559
The day after the Apocalypse,

426
00:25:17,690 --> 00:25:20,693
there will be no news,
no newspapers.

427
00:25:21,955 --> 00:25:23,522
How ironic.

428
00:25:23,652 --> 00:25:26,699
The most significant event in
the whole history of humanity

429
00:25:26,829 --> 00:25:28,744
will get no media attention.

430
00:25:30,746 --> 00:25:33,706
Nobody will post
on their Facebook page:

431
00:25:33,836 --> 00:25:35,446
"The world has ended."

432
00:25:37,797 --> 00:25:39,581
♪ ♪

433
00:25:55,510 --> 00:25:57,294
I died in late 2019.

434
00:25:57,425 --> 00:25:59,296
- ...as a human being
of the male sex.

435
00:25:59,427 --> 00:26:01,211
- I died in December, 2057.

436
00:26:01,342 --> 00:26:03,083
- I remember nothing.

437
00:26:03,213 --> 00:26:05,302
- I died as a fruit fly at dusk.

438
00:26:05,433 --> 00:26:07,217
- I have always been dead.

439
00:26:07,348 --> 00:26:09,219
I remember dying
as a cranberry shrub.

440
00:26:09,350 --> 00:26:11,004
- As a nightingale.
- A ginkgo biloba.

441
00:26:11,134 --> 00:26:12,571
- A cloud in July.

442
00:26:12,701 --> 00:26:16,879
- An early cherry blossom
frozen by a late April snow.

443
00:26:17,010 --> 00:26:18,533
- As a snail.

444
00:26:18,664 --> 00:26:20,317
- I was us.

445
00:26:20,448 --> 00:26:22,493
- I was us.

446
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:26,585
[♪ Yesterday's Fire
by Moonface ♪]

447
00:26:26,715 --> 00:26:29,631
♪♪ The way we played
The Fall♪

448
00:26:29,762 --> 00:26:33,983
♪ And broke your plates
against the wall♪

449
00:26:34,114 --> 00:26:37,857
♪ As the sun rose♪

450
00:26:40,511 --> 00:26:44,298
♪ Then we fell asleep
in the glass♪

451
00:26:44,428 --> 00:26:47,388
♪ And then I had to go♪♪

452
00:27:05,580 --> 00:27:07,538
Closed Captions:MELS