[sighs]
[shaky breathing]
[in Spanish]
[dog panting]
[in Spanish]
May I help you?
Please.
[chattering in Spanish]
[woman] Sit down. Sit.
Fifty.
-Receipt?
-No.
Thank you.
Goodbye. Come on.
-[door opens]
-[dog whining]
[door closes]
[dog whining]
[keys jingle]
[dog whining]
[whining, sniffing]
[woman] There was a time,
four straight years, until three
days ago,
when I waited for you
while I watched a DVD or read.
And you always came back.
The night was ours,
and some entire mornings.
There were also afternoons
which,
as if by magic,
turned into nights.
You always came back.
Until three days ago.
-[dog barking]
-[sniffles]
[whining, sniffing]
[whining, panting]
[sniffing]
[whining]
[sniffing, whining]
[popping lips]
[sighing]
[inhales sharply]
-Fuck! [grunting]
-[dog barking]
Shut up!
[whining]
[ax clatters]
[sighs]
[panting]
[grunts]
[whining]
[sighs]
[sniffing]
[whines]
[phone rings]
-[whining, sniffing]
-[ringing continues]
[barking]
[ringing continues]
[scoffs]
[sighs]
Shit.
[whirring]
[sighs]
[phone ringing]
Hello?
Oh, it's you.
Oh, you're turning into a robot.
Yes, that's better. I hear you
now.
I-I was in the street.
I can't hear the phone in the
street.
Thank you for calling back.
Oh, I haven't stopped.
I went to the theater
the last two nights with Marta,
and, uh, I took some drugs.
And, uh-- Oh, also I saw Fabian,
my agent.
Compulsively I've taken to
eating.
Well, if there's one thing I
don't have
to complain about, it's my
metabolism.
It burns everything.
I, uh-- Vietnamese and Italian.
I don't know the name.
Well, to be honest, the last
three days,
I haven't stopped.
I don't know if I'm amused,
exactly.
Yeah, you're right.
My mind is very occupied, yes.
And I don't stop.
I'm escaping.
Well, you told me to go out.
Escape, go out. What does it
matter?
They're the same thing.
Last night?
Uh, I-- I went to bed. Very
early.
I was very tired,
and I went to sleep quickly,
and, um--
And then Sofia came, and we had
lunch,
and then we went shopping.
Mmm. Silly stuff.
Things for the apartment.
Practical things.
In the future, I'm going to be
a practical woman for a change.
And, uh-- And I have to keep
occupied.
That's what my therapist said.
I went to see him too.
Well, I had to go.
To save you and to save me.
I've loved you so much.
I've been afraid of hurting you.
Didn't you realize that I'd get
nervous
whenever we were in the kitchen
and I'd see a knife
and I'd have to put it away
immediately.
It scared me to imagine I might
be sticking a knife in your
chest.
Kill you? No, no, no, no, never.
The opposite.
It's like, uh...
It's like Marta with her
vertigo.
And-And-And the worse thing
about heights
isn't that she becomes
light-headed
when faced with the void.
It's that the void attracts her,
like a magnet.
Do you understand?
It's like her fear of falling
pushes her to jump.
And then-then the same thing
happened to me with the knives.
The fear of something bad
happening to you.
It made me imagine
my hand was wielding a knife
and I was sticking it into you.
I-- I became terrified of
myself.
I mean, for a second, I was
visualizing
your wounded, bleeding body.
You can't even imagine how I
felt.
I-- I was afraid of myself.
And I needed expert help.
So I went to a therapist.
That I need to invent new
habits.
Replace all the ones I acquired
with you.
Even though I don't want to do
anything.
Even though I do everything
like an automaton.
Yes, but don't worry,
I never mention your name.
Yes, I'll throw myself into my
work.
You won't believe it,
but Fabian, my agent, says that
women of my age are fashionable
again.
Timeless beauty, he calls it.
The clients love my pallor.
That mixture of madness and
melancholy.
I think it's a fucking joke.
I'm a waste.
I'm a ruin of what I once was.
But if that's what sells now.
And it'll be good to work on
something.
Yes, your cases are packed.
They have been for three days.
They're here, fed up of waiting
for you.
Sense of humor?
Well, I never really managed
to use it with you.
When I'm crazy about someone,
I lose my sense of humor.
It's very inconvenient,
not being able to be funny
with the one person
you'd most like to be funny
with.
No, I wasn't funny with you.
I was... special.
Daring.
Submissive.
Thin. [scoffs]
Passionate.
And fortunate.
I came into your life at a time
when
you wanted to try new things,
new feelings.
As if desiring someone wasn't
the oldest feeling in the world.
And I was a different woman.
So different that at times, I
think
you forgot that I was also a
woman.
Yes, and I accepted the
situation.
I'm not saying that I enjoyed
sharing you,
but given the circumstances,
I accepted the humiliation.
Even though I suffered like an
animal.
No, I know it wasn't your
intention.
I'm not reproaching you.
I was aware of it, but
I didn't enjoy any the less
because of it.
I suffered like an animal,
but I enjoyed like an animal.
I was so drunk, so intoxicated.
I forgot about reality and time.
But reality always prevails.
Our love was going against
a lot of things,
and I accepted the risks.
And what I got in exchange
was four years of happiness with
you.
I never thought
life would adapt to my desires.
I paid a very high price.
But what I got in exchange is
beyond measure.
I'm not accusing you, my love,
and I'm not fooling myself.
These are the rules of the game,
the law of desire.
And four years of happiness with
you...
it's priceless.
I accept everything.
You can blame me for being an
adventuress
but I always pay my price.
[sighs]
No, you're right, it's not good
taste
to talk about price. I'm sorry.
-[whining]
-Ah, here comes the dog.
He always knows
when it's you on the phone.
You have to take him.
He's like a lost soul.
He-He spends his whole day
looking for you around the
apartment,
and when we go out,
through the whole neighborhood.
And when I was packing your
things,
he was hitting me with his paws.
I mean, he knows what's going on
but he does not understand it.
How can he understand it?
No, you must take him.
He's going to be miserable.
He already is miserable.
He misses you so much.
He's not interested in me.
He's your dog.
No, you--
He-- You're the one he wants.
Your letters? How could I burn
them?
No, I put them in a little
Chanel case.
You burn them if you want to.
I'm sending you everything.
Your letters and mine and... all
notes.
I kept all the notes.
The notes are beautiful.
You know, every word you ever
wrote me.
You have them there,
so you don't need to worry
that I'll try to blackmail you
or sell them to a tabloid.
Well, no, I would never do it,
but this way, you can be even
surer.
The only words I'm keeping
are...
the ones you spoke to me in
person.
They're engraved on my heart.
I'm doing my best to erase them
since I can't send them
with the correspondence.
So, anyway, your, um, suitcases
are packed, and your leather
shoe bags,
so you can come and get them
whenever you want.
The black suit?
Yes. I collected it from the
cleaners.
I put it in a suit carrier.
Separate.
[inhales]
José?
No! You have to come.
That's what we agreed on.
That you would come.
You don't say goodbye to a woman
you've loved for more than four
years
with a telephone call!
I've been waiting for you for
three days,
practically tied to the leg of
the bed,
waiting for you,
without going anywhere.
The theater?
How could I go to the theater
in this state?
I didn't go out with Marta!
I haven't eaten with her or
anyone.
I haven't eaten a bite in three
days!
I haven't just come in from the
street.
I haven't left the house.
You said you would come.
Well, it's true that Marta has
vertigo.
It is not true that
I went to the therapist.
I told you that to reassure you.
It is true about the knives.
And don't complain. I never
attacked you.
And it is also true that my
agent, Fabian,
called, and one or two ads have
come up,
and at my age and in my current
state,
some clients like me.
No, I went out once to buy
something.
But don't ask me what,
because I'm not gonna tell you.
Am I all right?
Are you really asking me that?
No, I am not all right!
These last three days,
I've lost control more than
once!
When you didn't come and you
didn't call,
I attacked the bed with an ax!
And then I took a load of pills.
When you called, I was
unconscious!
Thirteen pills. I counted them.
Thirteen's my lucky number.
No, don't shout. I'm sorry I
shouted.
Just-- I-- I just--
Let me tell you everything then.
I wasn't going to, but as you
can see,
I'm incapable of keeping
anything from you.
The pills. I--
I knew that the combination
wasn't lethal.
I know all about drugs. They've
been
my only friend for some time
now.
No, my love, I staged it.
I was hoping someone would find
me,
and at that moment, you called,
and it woke me up.
I'm not trying to blackmail you.
I just want to finish
what I was telling you.
I know this is your last call,
that you'll never call again.
I've been like a wreck
these last three days.
Today I got dressed for the
first time.
I had to put on a lot of makeup.
I looked so terrible.
And I wanted you to find me
looking pretty.
Dead but pretty.
Darling, I didn't to it. I'm
here,
I'm alive, I'm talking to you.
I-- I-- No, it was just an idea.
I-- I've done nothing these days
but wait.
You're allowed to think while
you wait,
aren't you?
No, I-I'm-- I don't want to
shout.
I'm-- Forgive me.
I admit I did consider
throwing myself off the terrace.
But you don't like gory
spectacles.
You're opposed to blood.
You can be violent, but you
don't
like blood, wherever it comes
from.
No, pills were... the best.
A sweet death. Disappearing into
a dream.
Well, that wasn't my dream.
No, my dream was to disappear
with you.
I didn't mind where.
Yes. That was my dream, not
yours.
But admit...
at one time, we dreamed the
same.
Hello?
H-- Are-- Are we cut off?
Or did you hang up?
Coward!
[clattering]
[phone rings]
Hello?
Oh, it's you.
Yes, we got cut off. It happens
sometimes.
Thank you for calling back.
To say goodbye, yes.
I'm-- I'm so sorry that I lost
my temper.
And send José whenever you like.
I'll leave your things with the
doorman.
It's just such a pity that
we're...
saying goodbye like two
strangers.
Well, I can't think of any other
way of
stringing this goodbye out.
I-- I just want to ask you
one little thing.
I'm on the terrace.
I came out to water the plants.
Go out onto the terrace where
you are.
Oh, you're not at home?
Well, wherever you are, go to
the window
and look towards our attic.
I'm not asking you where you
are,
who you're with,
whether you made love last
night.
I'm just asking you to go to the
window
and turn to where we lived
together.
I know you don't see me.
I'm on the terrace too, saying
goodbye.
It doesn't matter that you don't
see me.
Just look towards here and
imagine me.
Yeah. Some smoke.
Yes. Some flames.
I'm what's burning, my love.
I'm gonna hang up now.
I have to learn to
hang up on you, darling.
Goodbye.
[siren wailing]
[barking]
Dash.
Come on. Come.
[in Spanish]
Come on. Good boy.
Dash, I want to talk to you.
So I'm your master now. All
right?
And you're gonna have to
get used to the idea
that you and I,
we're going to mourn him
together.
All right?
What do you think about that?
Can we have a pact?