A Very Unsettled Summer

This film contains some very strong language

and some scenes of a sexual nature.

'Total darkness.

'Only my voice.'

'Total darkness.'

BEEPING 'Only my voice.'

'This is the frame.

'Don't expect to see anything outside.'

'He - Scottish.'

'Journalist.'

'A woman-hunter.'

'Lost in an Eastern country.'

'Opiates.

'Condom.

'Voice recorder.'

'Books.'

'And wine.

'Which must be good.

'She - Romanian.'

'Architect.

'She wants to make the world a better place.'

BIRDSONG

'Objects.'

'Bra.

'Strawberries.'

'Green shit.'

'Models.'

'At this moment, Daniel has a life.'

'A real one.

'With dreams.'

'I dreamt I was in this giant castle and...'

'..and that I'd been condemned to death.'

'I was going to be executed before dawn so...

'I'd never see the morning again.'

'Then you said...'

'.."Look at the stars." '

'And I looked up and...'

'..and then I awoke. It was morning.'

TAPPING ON KEYBOARD

'Oh, there is still his ex.'

'Objects - weather...'

RAIN SPATTERS

'..knives...'

KNIVES CLANG

'..letter box...'

'..other men.'

'And also, the rabbit.'

'I almost forgot.'

HE INHALES AND EXHALES

'There is also me. I'm Danish.

'I used to be a journalist but now I'm a writer.

'Objects - laptop.'

'Motorcycle.

'Lost family.'

'Coffee and cigarettes.'

'No, beer and cigarettes.'

'Just to be clear, the camera will be steady.

'I usually sit...

'or lie down.

'The story takes place in Bucharest.'

'Characteristic sound - a drill.'

DRILL WHIRRS

I don't think about him.

DRILL STOPS

Most of the time.

He doesn't exist for me.

I got on with my life.

If he turns up at your door,

would you let him in?

No.

-DRILL WHIRRS

-Well...maybe yeah.

I... What the hell?

DRILL STOPS

You'd go back to him?

Clean your ears, Alex. Once was enough.

He's a cunt-hound.

Cunt-hound?

How do you say that in Romanian?

SHE REPLIES IN ROMANIAN

But you're not fair.

He is together with that girl now.

Oh, yeah.

I wouldn't want to be in her shoes, poor little thing.

I'd rather fall in love with a...skin disease.

DRILL WHIRRS

It's like a drug.

You know?

You keep...

..going back to the source of illness.

I'm only asking because he's in your story.

DRILL WHIRRS

Yeah, that's right. He's a character in my story.

-Yeah, but that's based on him.

-Irrelevant.

HE SIGHS

Just that you mentioned once that...

-I should stop telling you things, Alex.

-You were in that bar.

Oh, yeah, the bar.

He said loads of crap, you know.

All the usual cliches, like, um, "We're too different.

"It's better to end it now.

-"You're a wonderful person but..."

-"It's not you, it's me."

-Yeah.

Blah, blah, blah! He'd already met someone else.

What about all that in your story about

pretending to be a prostitute?

Offering him the last fuck for money?

What about it?

You made that up?

I'm not telling you.

But at the same time, she wants revenge.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Read it out.

Among all the knives.

Wait, I want to record it.

VOICE RECORDER BEEPS

And do it slowly.

"We were in the kitchen with all the knives.

"I looked at him and offered him another glass.

"He nodded readily, and I poured.

"He was excited...and edgy...

"..like a rabbit scared of being caught.

"He was all shiny-eyed, looking forward to the fun.

"'It's coming, bunny, the fun is coming.'"

And then it ends?

You think I can get it published?

I want it to be something someone else can read.

Then you should show it to him.

To Daniel.

Here's the story.

A man gets a story from his ex.

-OK.

-Discovering that he's a character in her story.

You haven't been thinking about her

but reading her story unsettles him.

He can't stop thinking about her.

Yeah.

One day, out of the blue...

'..you're coming home from work...

-'He's finding his...'

-You're going to steal my story.

'Everybody steals everybody else's stories, OK?'

'You imagine him, like, coming home from work,

'opening his inbox and finding...

'No, no, no. It has to be...

-'in his hands.

-Like a solid object?

-Like a solid object, yeah.

'All sweaty,

'opening his postbox,

'taking out this envelope,

'ripping it open, pressing "play".'

'Pressing "play"?

-'I'm going to record it.

-What?

'Pressing "play", hearing the title of the story,

'"How I Became A Whore."

'Well...

'Well, anyway, it's a good title.

'Thank you.'

LIFT CLANGS

You just have to set the tone,

like, it's a fucking hot summer.

'It is a fucking hot summer.'

'The story starts in summer.'

'An electric summer with hot days

'and with oppressive humidity.'

TRANSLATION:

SHE CONTINUES IN ROMANIAN

'And as the night comes,

'the clouds make final sense and break,

'and you feel you have been holding your breath the whole day.

'You can breathe again.

'The city lit up and trembling with thunder and wetness.'

THUNDER CRASHES

'The horizon is cracking with electricity.

'It is quite beautiful.'

HE SIGHS

HE YAWNS

DOOR CLOSES

'His past comes with an envelope.

'Once he opens it, he starts to play with fire,

'like a rabbit in front of a gun.'

KNIVES CLANG 'Start game.'

VOICE RECORDER BEEPS

'How I Became A Whore.

'We were in a bar, he's talking to me,

'but his words spread into the room without touching me.'

'Come on.

'Come on, Daniel, you must listen to this voice talking to you.'

VOICE RECORDER BEEPS

'He'd met someone else.

'He thinks he's a good liar, but I see right through him.'

'I just sat there and let him talk.

'Then he congratulated me on taking it so well.

'I started the only game I knew he couldn't resist.

'I knew he would take the bait.

'It was a fantasy he'd long had.'

' "Listen, baby, my stake costs 50 an hour, money upfront.

' "You have it or not?"

'He needed a minute to answer.

' "Yes, I have it. Where are we going?" '

Hey!

The tram took 45 minutes.

Everyone was sweating and bitching.

Hey.

'She'll say, "You smell good." '

You smell good.

Just showered.

You smell good even when you sweat.

Yeah, so I'm just going to walk from now on.

I think that's better.

'And now the strawberries time!'

I got strawberries.

-Yay!

-Wow.

Strawberry time.

-They're good.

-Hmm.

No, don't spit the...

SHE SPEAKS IN ROMANIAN

Please.

The green shit, you mean?

-Yeah, the green shit.

-OK.

HE SPITS

No! I just told you not to do that.

-It's my favourite part of it.

-No!

-Take it out.

-If you do it, I'll do it.

OK. Let's do it together.

-OK.

-After three...

-OK.

-Oh!

-'Look at them.'

-One...

-One...two...

THEY SPIT

No! Oh, you spat in my ear.

'They are so sweet.'

-I just got your eye.

-Come on.

OK.

I'll do it again.

-Fair enough. That way?

-Mm-hmm.

'So perfect.'

-Three!

-'So honeymoon...'

VOICE RECORDER BEEPS

'I looked at him and offered him another glass.

'He nodded readily, and I poured.

'He was excited...and edgy...'

'..like a rabbit scared of being caught.'

VOICE RECORDER BEEPS

'Hey. You are in the game now.

'Start playing!'

Meeting in an hour.

TRANSLATION:

'One hour!'

'The story starts in summer.

'An electric summer

'with hot days and with oppressive humidity.'

'Go! Come on. Go!'

VOICE RECORDER BEEPS

'I started the only game I knew he couldn't resist.

'I knew he would take the bait.'

'It was a fantasy he had long had.'

' "Listen, baby, my stake costs 50 an hour. Money upfront.

' "You have it or not?" '

'He needed a minute to answer.

' "Yes, I have it. Where are we going?" '

VOICE RECORDER BEEPS

Anyway, she's written a story, and I'm a character in it.

Wow.

Whew.

DRINK POURS

Well, now...

-You want to see her again, after this?

-No. No, no.

Why not?

Maybe.

I went round to her place.

Didn't knock.

I didn't see her.

I just went round there and left.

For a second...

..he wanted...

..to fuck...

..the shit...

..out...of her.

"For a second, he wanted to fuck the shit out of her."

Next day,

Daniel...

..went to...

..her place...

..again.

'He thinks the story is over.

'Well, he is far from perfect.'

Let me do your front, too.

I know why cities get so hot.

Because of the concrete.

A city is like a skin. It can't breathe.

Sometimes gets hotter and hotter.

The world's going to hell.

What do you have a motorcycle for, anyway?

HE TYPES

I'd like to send him another story.

What do you think about it?

Like, really twist the man's nerves.

You know?

And the story would be something like this,

just, I'm walking home. Well, the character is walking home one night

and he is right behind me.

When they reach the apartment,

he forces himself into the apartment with me and...

..he kind of rapes me.

THUNDER RUMBLES

THUNDER CRASHES

'Black clouds are gathering on the sky

'of his new, peaceful life.

'And the story goes on.'

VOICE RECORDER BEEPS

'He's lying on the bed,

'confused and exhausted,

'sweating,

'not knowing what he's done and why.

'She begins to laugh, softly at first,

'and then more loudly.'

'He looks at her, not understanding.'

VOICE RECORDER BEEPS

'This is a story.'

'Everyone is playing a game.'

'As you saw, I make the rules.'

'He can replay the scene with softer emotion.

'He also has options at the end of the scene.'

PHONE BEEPS

Alex, you won't believe what she just sent me.

Same shit.

INAUDIBLE

'Character like her, character like me,

'she has me trail her back to her place, I break in, then fuck her.

'Well, my character would be walking home one evening,

'and he'd be following me.'

'You can't tell if it's a rape or a game.

'We reach my apartment and I take out the keys to open the door

'and then he kind of, like, forces himself in.'

And then I...

I kind of want to have him rape me.

Too feminine?

Too desperate?

Why did you tell me that?

That he was following me and stalking me?

You're only using me for material.

Admit it.

What are you writing there?

Still the weather?

You have no right to ask me that.

Hmm?

Hmm?

SHE LAUGHS

'Come on, Daniel.'

I've quit.

-Clean life?

-Hmm.

You can go on having your last cigarette.

'To celebrate our final fuck...'

To celebrate our final fuck?

You don't have to worry. I won't complicate your life, or anything.

Do I look worried?

DRINK POURS

Still enjoy drinking?

So you're a writer now?

Someone told me it's good therapy.

Oh, did they?

It's quite healing...

to see things coldly.

You mean to have control?

Anyway...

..Alex is writing the story now.

We're just characters in it.

Alex?

Wait till he hears that you broke into my apartment and raped me.

He's going to be up all night writing about that.

'Black clouds are gathering on his new, peaceful life.'

THUNDER RUMBLES

THUNDER CRASHES

'And the story's going on.

'And as the night comes, the clouds make final sense and break,

'and you feel you have been holding your breath the whole day

'and can breathe again.'

'The last fuck...

'may be the last fuck.'

'He can replay the scenes with softer emotion.'

Something came up. I'm on my way, OK?

See you soon. Bye.

Know what?

I'm going to quit smoking.

-And drinking?

-Whoa, I didn't say that.

You'll blame me for that and then we'll fight.

So what? We'll fight anyway.

-What do you mean?

-We live together, we'll fight.

That's what people do.

I get lonely when I've got no-one to fight with.

Did I ever tell you about what happened to me in the mountains?

-No.

-'I had a strange dream...'

I had a strange dream,

like an epiphany.

It didn't last long, but by now it was getting dark

-and I tried to set a fire, but everything was damp.

-Was it cold?

No, it was warm. It was very warm, in fact.

I just wanted the fire for light.

-You're afraid of the dark?

-That's what you discover.

It's not just the darkness and your imagination

-that freaks you out.

-What is it?

Well, it's like...

..you're afraid of darkness itself, in a primitive way.

You just lie there,

and you can feel the planet turning away from the sun.

I just stared into complete blackness

and wished that I could sleep and that morning would come again.

And then?

I did fall asleep.

Finally.

'Maria told me that you helped her write those stories.'

'That you encouraged her

'and told her to send them to me.'

'You are a character in her story,

'and I am writing about her.'

'You're writing about her, not me?

'You are a character in her story, yeah,

'but you can choose...

'if you want to be in the story.'

-VOICE RECORDER BEEPS

-'I prepared a rabbit.

'Marinated it in red wine then cooked it slowly.'

'I looked at him and offered him another glass.'

VOICE RECORDER BEEPS

PHONE BEEPS

Alex. How are you doing?

Are you at home?

Yeah, I knew it.

'OK, I'm coming over.'

You'll have the interview tomorrow.

I promise it.

CAR HORN TOOTS

HORN TOOTS REPEATEDLY

HORN TOOTS

TAPPING ON KEYBOARD

How are you doing, Alex?

Typing.

INDISTINCT

Let me read it.

I don't like people to read what I'm working on.

Come on, for fuck's sake. Let me read it.

Maria told me that you helped her write these stories.

That you encouraged her.

And told her to send them to me.

I was imagining the situation, yeah.

Yeah. And she also said that you're writing shit about me. Why?!

Daniel...

You fucking her?

No.

You'd like to fuck her, though, wouldn't you?

Well, I haven't had sex for six months, so...

No, I don't want to fuck her.

You've always wanted to fuck her.

TAPPING ON KEYBOARD

'He wants to be in control,

'and he tries to take her out of the play.'

DOOR SLAMS

'He has a plan.

'We fuck each other till one of us is out.'

'Especially her.'

'But it is not so easy.'

DOOR CREAKS SHUT

TAPPING ON KEYBOARD

Take your trousers down.

All right.

And your pants.

Isn't this moving a bit quickly?

-I'm so easy, aren't I?

-Hmm.

I'm not your wife, you know? I'm not going to call out for you.

It's no big deal. I was just...

-Why are you making a fucking problem about it?

-Who's making a problem?

-I came home, there was no note. What about that?

-OK, OK, OK, OK.

We're not kids. Just because we live together,

it doesn't mean we can't do stuff with other people.

-There's just been so much to do lately.

-Yeah, right! OK.

Like, every time, we just go to the fucking IKEA.

I want to go get drunk with my friends, OK?

We're just boring each other to death.

THUNDER CRASHES

-We are?

-Yeah, yeah. We are. Yeah. Yeah. OK?

Like, we would peel potatoes together.

It was fun.

It's work, OK?

It's moving. It's this fucking heat, this fucking rain.

It's just everything is just pressure. Pressure.

No, I just think you have second thoughts about us living together.

-That's crazy. Don't start that.

-Yeah. OK.

Then...

You're making me feel like I'm tying you down,

and I'm not. And that's fucking wrong, OK? Just...

DOORBELL RINGS

DOORBELL RINGS

DOORBELL RINGS

'This is the last fuck, baby. The last fuck.'

CAR LOCK BEEPS

BEEPS AGAIN

'He thinks he is writing the story.'

'Daniel, you know you are a character in her story.'

'Hey, you are just a character.'

CAR ALARM SOUNDS

LOW RUMBLE

THUNDER CLAPS

'Every time I think of you, I get hard.'

DOOR SQUEAKS OPEN

'He is caught in her again.'

'How it is to fuck someone who is not your girlfriend.'

'The rain is flooding.'

Yeah.

Yeah.

I felt really bad about it.

We just had a fight, don't remember which one.

Didn't even know if it's played up or not.

Anyway, you said some very hurtful things and then you walked out

and then I went out to a bar, got drunk,

and, you know.

No, I don't know.

You want me to draw you a picture?

-Yeah.

-'Does he really want that?'

I met this guy.

'Did you cheat on me?'

-Did he use a condom?

-Did you use a condom?

-Tell me, did you use a fucking condom?

-Yes, OK?

You used to leave me when I needed you the most.

So, are there any more?

Yeah.

There was this guy.

I don't know what I was thinking. He was insane.

He looked like a killer, but I was just so fucking upset with you.

So, did you fuck all them here?

Then there was the time my handbag got stolen.

I didn't have my keys so this guy, this really nice guy, really polite,

said I could sleep over at his place and that he would have the couch.

But when I got there, he started kissing me.

Afterwards, I told him all about you and that we couldn't do it any more.

-It was very sympathetic about it.

-I bet he was.

The only one that ever meant anything to me emotionally was...

my ex-boyfriend.

That doesn't count as cheating, when you have unresolved stuff.

You are the only one I ever loved.

You are.

I have to be up early tomorrow morning.

What, I'm leaving?

-Yeah.

-You've got to be fucking joking.

-I'm not.

'How it is to watch your lover being fucked by someone else.

'Now, when he is inside her, he can be himself and also the other guy.'

Huh?

Now?

Actually, I'm very full.

Yeah.

I have another story for you.

HE PANTS

This is Piazza Victoria. This is how it could be.

Garden of Eden.

Yeah, it's our latest project and I'm in charge of it.

I love that.

A greener life - nice.

Where are all the cars going to park?

It's the point, not to have cars in the centre.

I'll vote for you.

For a more beautiful life.

Greener life.

DOOR SLAMS

MAN SPEAKS IN ROMANIAN

I'm preparing something special.

I've another story for you.

Another story?

It's about a girl.

She loves a man

but the man has a theory...

..that monogamy is an unnatural state for human beings,

even those who love each other very much.

At first, this hurts her but then, she decides to be more like him.

So, one night, she goes out and she meets this really attractive

Israeli pilot called Ari.

You fucked an Israeli pilot?

You got something against Jews?

No. Pilots.

OK. Let's say I didn't fuck an Israeli pilot.

Then why did you say it?

It's a story. Details help you imagine.

OK, I'm imagining.

And much later, the boyfriend finds out.

But they're not together any more.

Now he's just using her as his personal prostitute.

So, she decides to replay the story with the ex-boyfriend,

let's call him...

Daniel.

..Playing the part of the Israeli pilot.

She meets him in the bar where she met Ari.

She even gives him Ari's lines.

You're not you.

-You're not you.

-That's the title of the story - You're Not You.

Who's not who?

-You.

-Not who?

-You're not.

-Who am I not?

You're not you, you're not Daniel, you're Ari.

What the fuck are you talking about?

It's just a game we're playing.

A game?

Will Nina not be missing you?

Irina.

She's staying with a friend.

-You sure?

-Mm.

How much time do we have?

How much time do we need?

POP MUSIC PLAYS

Merci.

Excuse me.

Do you speak English?

Mm, Ari!

What?

Fucking bitch!

What?

I'm me.

You're the one who wanted to play in the first place.

I'm me. That's who I am.

-OK, piss off home and be yourself, then.

-I'm going.

Don't tell me to go when you can see I'm already going.

And fuck off.

'Come on! Fuck off?'

SHE CRIES

DOOR SLAMS

What time is it?

Not late.

Everything OK?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ssh-ssh.

Go back to sleep.

-You smell.

-What?

Were you smoking?

I told you I was doing an interview in a bar.

'He is a character that wants to be a writer.'

HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

Hey, how are you?

Fine.

Thinking of you, in fact.

Listen, I'm free for the next few hours.

Really? Why...

What are you up to?

Stuff?

Who are you doing stuff with?

OK, you do your stuff, I'll do my stuff,

and maybe we can do stuff together sometime.

Are you going out?

Maybe you remember me telling you?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

-To see Elena?

-Yeah.

The Garden of Eden.

Exactly.

What's wrong with you?

What? Nothing.

PHONE RINGS

Hallo?

What?

Nothing.

OK.

I'll be on my way now.

Bye.

What time will you be back?

I don't know. In a few hours, when I'll be finished.

Is there a curfew this evening?

Bye!

This fucking script!

You know what's happening to me now?

I'm getting suspicious of Irina.

I'm getting suspicious of Irina.

I know she's not cheating on me.

I didn't think Maria was cheating on me.

I'm just going insane in this fucking heat.

'The story has a hatch...

'to a place with different roots.'

'He is free to visit it.'

'Paradise scene.'

BIRDSONG

I like it.

Interviews with ordinary people.

Workers, retired people, from my neighbourhood.

I want to get inside this city,

not just like some foreigner from outside.

I want to see something.

-I'm going to finish this fucking thing myself.

-Uh-huh.

The character finishes with the crazy bitch, Maria,

and then moves into a new apartment with his girlfriend...

..whom he loves.

That's it.

So, you want a happy ending?

WOMAN HUMS A TUNE

IRINA: # And the days aren't cruel enough

# And the nights aren't cool enough

# Love... #

I didn't know you were going to go out tonight.

I was at Alex's. We got talking.

Are you smoking?

No.

You smell.

Thanks(!)

So, how's Alex?

Writing something.

A new book?

A screenplay, I think.

What is it about?

It's a...comedy.

Some sort of comedy.

I can't imagine Alex writing a comedy.

I think that's what it is, I'm not sure.

Daniel, what's wrong?

What?

What's going on? What's wrong?

Are you having second thoughts?

Like...

We're going to move into the new place, and...

..I've never seen you like this.

Are you having second thoughts?

No, I'm not having second thoughts.

Sounds like you are.

Me?

I know what I'm doing and why.

Sometimes, I just don't know what you're thinking and...

..I start to imagine things.

Come here.

Listen, after we move into the new place and...

all this work is behind us and...

-..the weather cools down a bit...

-Yeah, it'll be better.

..we'll save up some money...

..and have your imagination surgically removed.

POP MUSIC PLAYS

SHE GIGGLES

MUSIC FADES AWAY

Do you think we're perverts?

Wow.

You are.

I'm just being helpful.

'What the fuck is that?'

What the fuck is that?

That's it.

You want the happy ending?

What's that?

It's Maria's.

Don't you recognise it?

'The deluge is ongoing.'

'He needs to kill his character to get out of the story.'

DOOR SLAMS OPEN

'She squeezes the balls of the rabbit.'

'And he is gone.'

'There is no more time for you.'

'Game over.'

One evening...with the nearness of her skin...

her smell...

..he noticed it, hanging from a hook in her bedroom.

He'd just asked her...

.."Do you think we're perverts?"

'Do you think we're perverts?'

She had said...

'You are.

'I'm just being helpful.'

What the fuck is that?

That's my bunny.

You've got lots of toys, haven't you?

A bunny isn't for a little girl.

A real woman gets a bunny when she gets hair on her cunt.

The bunny was given to me

as a present by a friend who went to Indonesia,

as a joke.

Apparently, the women in this tribe keep one of these rabbit men

near their beds to keep their men in order.

You don't stick pins in it, do you?

'She had said...'

Silly.

SHE SQUEAKS

'A giant crow settled on his chest...'

..and ripped at his heart with its beak.

He moved. The bird flew off...

..dissolving into the ceiling.

He noticed a doll hanging there.

The word "passion" meant suffering, that which he must pass through.

THUNDER CRASHES

Forget the crow.

He saw the doll hanging there.

He started to feel unwell.

Something in his guts.

THUNDER RUMBLES

He looked at her there beside him...

sleeping peacefully.

'He got up...'

'..quietly grabbed his clothes.'

'Outside on the street, for a moment he feels better.'

'In the distance, the skies crackle and rumble,

'the storm pressing in from the west beyond the city.

'The rain hits the street, accelerating towards him.

'Within seconds, he is drenched with warm water.'

HE RETCHES

'Then a jet of puke explodes from him,

'neon orange beneath the street light.'

HE RETCHES

The world turned liquid.

The sky was liquid, his insides were liquid.

He's weak, incredulous.

He wonders...

if he's hallucinating.

He's part of the storm.

DUSTBIN CLATTERS

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

THUNDER RUMBLES

'As he puts the key in the door, a sharp pain presses his bowels.

'He doubles over.

'He collapses into bed...

'and into nightmares involving giant rabbits and tiny men.'

-ON VOICE RECORDER:

-'What happens in the ensuing weeks is this:

'he starts to write the whole thing down

'from the beginning, when he receives a tape from her,

'to the end, when he realises what's going on with him,

'and he ends the story himself.'

'His life with his girlfriend after his period of instability

'returned to normal.'

VOICE RECORDER OFF

A clean ending.

Unlike life.

Starts off pretty realistic, then there's the rabbit stuff,

but I can make that work.

It's the first time I've felt normal all summer.

Yeah...

..good.

THUNDER CRASHES

'The electricity and rain moved to fuck another part of the planet.'

BIRDSONG

'And the section of sky he lived under

'enjoyed the clear, sunny summer it had long promised.'

'The happy ending.'

'And he was glad he had written out the madness and left it behind.'

'And the section of sky he lived under

'enjoyed the clear, sunny summer it had long promised.

'People had their picnics and barbecues,

'their trips to the beach, their mountain views.'

'Everything seemed to be going well.'

Fuck this shit.

Nice.

All's well that ends well.

Did he say I fucked all those men?

You know it wasn't like that.

I told him a little story to mess with his mind.

HE fucked around. HE would disappear for days on end,

no phone call, no nothing.

That bullshit. Wasn't he was drugged or something?

That's why he was with me, because he was drugged?

You let him have the last word.

You did it to him.

And he did it to you.

You fucked me over, Alex.

'The happy ending.'

-ON VOICE RECORDER:

-'One evening...

'the nearness of her skin, her smell.'

DOOR OPENS

'He noticed it, hanging from a hook in her bedroom.'

'He'd just asked her...'

'.."Do you think we're perverts?" '

-'She had said...'

-VOICE RECORDER OFF

That's just a story Alex started and I was helping him with.

Just a story, that's all.

These are our conversations.

-Is that our words?

-Yeah. Yeah. But it's just a story.

Yeah, it certainly is.

It's nothing, OK?

Yeah, you're right, it's nothing.

I thought it was something,, but it's nothing.

You know, Daniel, when you told me something...

..I believed you.

And when you were unhappy, I was worried about you,

and I always thought that maybe I was doing something wrong.

All right, I fucked her.

Big fucking deal.

It's in the past. It's over.

No, no.

Nothing is ever in the past, nothing is over.

Listen... Listen to what I'm telling you.

It's nothing. Compared to this, what we have...

-..that is nothing.

-OK, so you wrecked all this for nothing!

-Irina, you're not listening to me!

-No, Daniel, just please, just...

Please shut up! OK?

You listen to me, OK? You listen to me now.

There's always a wrong way and a right way of doing things, OK?

And the wrong way is...

is for us to spend the next years...

pulling apart what didn't happen...

..never getting anything right, arguing about this and that

just because you did a mistake and I don't believe you.

Just think about it for five seconds. Which way's better, huh?

HE SIGHS

PHONE BUZZES

Alex?

I have the ending.

Yeah.

Winter.

VOICE RECORDER ON The story is over.

VOICE RECORDER OFF

And I did fall asleep. Finally.

And I dreamt I was in this giant castle

and I was condemned to death.

I was going to be executed before dawn,

so I'd never see morning again and...

..and I was with you.

-I was there too, with you?

-Yeah.

And I felt terrible because it would be

the last time we'd ever see each other.

You would go on living without me.

We looked down over the walls and thought of escape,

but it was too high, it was too steep, and then you said...

"Look at the stars."

And I looked up, and then I woke.

It was morning.

And I looked out of the tent and the sun was coming through the trees

and birds were singing and...I was happy.

Happy that I'd woken from that awful dream.

It was just a dream. Bad dream.

You woke up and you were relieved.

Yeah, I'm not saying it was anything else.

But the feeling I had in that moment, it was like...

I was grateful that I'd been given the time

to do everything in life I needed to do.

And I just wanted to come and find you and tell you what had happened.

You never mentioned that.

Because we'd just met.

It felt ridiculous.

But I'm telling you now.

'And the story goes on.

'At this moment, Daniel has a life.

'A real one.

'With dreams.'