Feature film, DRAMA
Festivals: Prague International Film Festival - Award Winner (2021); Berlin International Art Film Festival - Official selection (2021); Sunlight International Festival (Moscow) - Official selection (2021); JETS Initiative - Official selection (2021).
An elderly woman, forced to give up her career as a pianist at the age of twenty-five because of an arthritis problem, refuses to surrender. During forty years she fights against her illness, playing daily piano, but avoiding to hear the sound. Now, she decides to give a very last concert and she entrusts the composition of the music to a former student of hers, that she had once deprived of an eventual career as a composer of classical music.
A complex of futuristic glass buildings.
A worker enters and places a round white carpet in
the uncovered area.
A string quartet with its musical instruments
enters.
Two people bring chairs.
In the foreground, we see the back of a man
wearing a beige jacket and a read sweater.
Someone installs microphones and tunes the
musicians.
There is no sound.
The style of shooting has the naturalness of a
documentary.
Several passers-by pass in front of the camera.
A girl in a white work suit and a joker hat comes
in and gives a folder to the man in the beige
jacket, then goes and arranges the last details
with the musicians, who are dressed in black
suits.
The man opens the folder as he turns toward the
camera.
He pulls out a page of paper and reads it, the
envelope falls from his hands and a commotion
spreads across his face.
Fade out.
INT. LOUISA’S LIVING ROOM - DAY
On the wall, next to the armchair, there is a framed photo
of a young pilot.
In front of the window, two women, wearing white
waterproof, are bathed by the morning sunlight.
ANNA (44)
is dyeing LOUISA's (70) hair. A bell rings.
INT CORRIDOR IN LOUISA’S HOUSE - DAY
A MAN (45) pushes the front door and enters the dark
corridor. The man's path is only shown through the
illuminated hand that touches the wall step by step.
INT. LOUISA’S LIVING ROOM - DAY
The Man (Mano) arrives at the living room. The light is
dazzling for him.
Progressively, Mano regain his view and the objects
recover their realistic dimension. In the background, the
two women do not seem to have noticed him.
The man moves forward raising his palm, in a form of
greeting. Approaching them and feeling the indifference of
the two women, he takes his hand back, shyly. He sits on
the sofa nearby, obviously embarrassed. Before installing
himself, he hears Louisa's voice, sounding dry and
authoritarian, saying:
LOUISA
You have not changed at
all!
ΜΑΝΟS
(Loudly)
You have asked for me?
LOUISA
Are you testing my
hearing?
Pause.
LOUISA
You'd better sit on the
armchair, opposite, so
that I can see you.
Mano changes place, embarrassed.
MANO
I don't understand....
LOUISA
Twenty years later, and
you still lack
discipline.
Anna takes off Louis's plastic robe and leaves, acting as
if she didn’t notice him.
ΜΑΝΟS
What can I do for you?
Pause.
Mano unconsciously stares Louisa's hands. She is wearing
black gloves with a metallic knitting, made of a thin
material, that almost replaces her skin. Narrow curves
across the length of her hands create a non-homogeneous
surface that looks more like the root of a tree than
fingers. Louisa gazes at him.
She starts speaking with a calm voice, without traces of
anxiety, nor hidden arrogance.
LOUISA
You are going to book a concert for me in a big theater of
at least five hundred seats. We are in November now, I
would like the concert to take place after Christmas. I
also want you to sit next to me. You'll get a hundred
euros for the rehearsals and a hundred for the concert...
I will also probably ask you for something more, but that
depends ...
Mano is shocked. His body has a defensive posture and it
seems as if he is trying to avoid a train running towards
him.Louisa feels like bursting into spontaneous laughter, but
manages to contain it. He makes a huge effort in order to
articulate the following phrase, like someone who is
struggling to climb an endless uphill.
MANO
But how... I mean... You
haven’t played for over
40 years.
LOUISA
48, counting this year.
(She offers him a glass with a green
liquid.)
Drink it, it will make
you feel better...
Mano takes it reluctantly and drinks it. He feels dizzy,
tilts unconsciously to the side of the couch, and comes
back like a pendulum.
Anna enters the living room, holding a mirror, bringing it
in front of Louisa's face. LOUISA
What else?
ΑΝΝΑ
There is also the bowing
part...
LOUISA
Ah, yes! Can you show
him?
Anna leaves the mirror on the couch. Mano unconsciously
looks at the mirror and distinguishes his horrified face.
Anna bows deeply, while Mano watches with half-closed
eyes, exhausted.
LOUISA
Do you think that I can
arrive that low?
ΑΝΝΑ
(Shows)
Your left leg should be
bent, like this...
Mano gets up, and walks to the door. The two women do not
pay any attention to him.
ΜΑΝΟS
I have to go...
He leaves, while the women continue rehearsing.