_
The Sisters Of The Holy Tears Convent
had taken in Archie's mother when she was orphaned
and Archie always felt a great affinity for them.
So after the Loswaki massacre,
he thought it would be an interesting and safe subject
for Alba to tackle.
The nuns were a hoot.
For every natural event, there was a supernatural interpretation.
If a butterfly flew in the window,
they'd declare "A letter will arrive today."
If milk boiled over on the stove,
they'd say, "We must be careful,
someone in the sisterhood is sick."
They all played the lottery a lot, but never won.
And they insisted on traveling without anyone else,
always, didn't they?
Yes, they made me drive my car behind their bus.
The, uh, the weather for the day of the field trip
called for a cloudless, sunny day.
Yes.
_
After the accident, Alba lost track of time.
She felt hollow.
She grew tired.
She would gaze at the birds in the ocean
and felt deeply moved by the life humming inside them.
I dropped my guard.
I knew there were magical moments to cling to
and I felt alert towards the things around me,
especially the birds.
But it's as if someone got inside my body at night,
not sexually, but like,
a scientist got in there and rewired all my parts
but didn't put them back in the right place.
Maybe less of a scientist and more of a Mexican electrician,
someone accustomed to improvising.
And when I looked in the mirror
I could see the difference right away.
After three days, the evidence was undeniable.
I had started losing luminosity.
I would lie out in the sun trying to soak in nature,
but I was fading fast.
I lost track of time.
I lost track of everything.
I felt like I was melting.
- Synced and corrected by synk - - www.addic7ed.com -
Being a trained documentarian, I could think of no other option
than to photograph my deterioration
before it was too late.
Every day, I photographed my face,
paying close attention to my eyes.
I was a bit astonished I could bear the spectacle.
I felt like a corpse being eaten by worms.
What was I looking for in these photos?
I don't know.
I felt there was something there,
but I couldn't tell you what.
I can't remember a single conversation with my husband
during those two months.
All I remember is one time saying out loud...
I think we're floundering.
63 days after she began her reflective self-portrait series,
her husband started having an affair with a local restaurant hostess.
_
Hi.
Can I ask you something?
My plate is full, but I can spare a minute.
What are you doing?
What does it look like?
Don't make me feel stupider than I already do.
There is a joke to be made here, but I can't remember jokes.
Oh, wait, there's one I like.
A waiter is serving a plate of beans
and drops it on the customer's lap,
so he says, "Oh, oh, I spilled the beans."
I'm Batista, but everybody calls me Batty.
Who are you?
Alba.
Oh, dear. You are Archie's ex.
Is... is that what he said?
He told me about you.
I am so sorry about those nuns in the bus.
Are you feeling better after your breakdown?
I'm only trying to get a tan, to answer your initial question.
I did not mean to upset you.
You didn't.
Well, you're upset.
Here we go round the prickly pear.
Excuse me?
This is my house, yes?
Archie said you and he had worked everything out,
but if there's some stuff you need to pick up
or if you want to take a look around the place one last time,
by all means.
To be honest, right this minute,
I'm not thinking about either of those things.
I've never been in this situation before.
I'm trying to put myself in your shoes.
Oh.
Well, don't worry if it doesn't work out.
Let me get you some water.
Inocencia!
Ms. Alba.
You know this person?
We just met.
Well, we met last week when Archie brought me over to meet you.
You seem a little pale. Are you feeling sick?
At the moment, no. But it doesn't look good.
Inocencia, water. Quickly, please.
Terrible accent.
We can both agree that your pride is wounded
and that might be clouding your outlook on things,
so accept the water and get going.
Thank you.
You missed most of my face.
Plus, we're in a beach house.
I am not wearing any clothes.
So none of this behavior is doing anything
except making you seem sadder...
and blinder.
I am not the reason Archie fell out of love with you.
I'm the shoulder he cries on.
Yes, I give him a hard-on, but mostly I listen to him,
and in return, he pampers me and he takes care of me.
The eyes are not here.
There are no eyes here.
In this valley of dying stars.
In this hollow valley.
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms.
I don't know that song, I'm sorry.
I don't want your charity and understanding.
What is a marriage anyway?
I moved into a small apartment in a sorry little town
not far, but a million miles away.
I met a young trumpet player.
He was almost never home. It was perfect.
We fucked. We fought.
One morning I found his heroin stash.
That sounds like the beginning of a strange time and it was.
What if you never thought you were the kind of person
who has an addictive personality and then found out you were?
Eventually I went to a shaman in the jungle to clean up.
He gave me better drugs. Natural ones.
The first flower, he called it.
I had a vision.
Not one. Many.
But basically one in many different variations.
When I returned to my senses,
I remembered many things I never knew before.
Number one: my grandmother was a psychic.
She had the gift.
And when I was a child, one night she came into my room
and whispered something in my ear.
Blue smoke came out of her mouth and swirled in front of my eyes...
I can still remember it. The smoke spelled out a word.
The word was "death."
- I didn't know what it meant... - _
but I knew it meant something important.
Miss Alba!
I have these dreams, Inocencia.
Horrible things. You wouldn't believe it.
How are things here?
It's not the same without you.
Does he seem happy?
- I don't know. - Does she seem happy?
I don't know.
What do they do?
He's away on business more than usual.
She gets drunk and dances by herself,
watches Kung Fu movies, and cries.
How does she treat you?
Uh, she doesn't like me.
She accuses me of stealing her things.
Inocencia, that's terrible.
Nothing I can't handle. But tell me about you.
You have lost weight, but not in a good way.
I can always count on you to tell me the truth.
Are you on a military diet or have you become a junkie?
I went through a phase, but I'm on the other side.
God knows you've been through a lot to develop many addictions.
Drugs are not for the weak of heart.
You wake up one morning and your hair is on fire.
Are you still taking photographs?
No, no. Thankfully, no. How is your family?
- Good. - Yeah?
- My nephew Raimundo. - Raimundo?
Yeah, my sister's son.
He's a little wild, but so smart.
He's grown into a proper young man.
He's thinking about college. Can you imagine?
The first in the family. Where did we go wrong?
- Inocencia. - Yes?
Is there anything strange going on here?
Well, with Archibaldo,
everything is a little strange, you know this.
I'm afraid...
No, I'm convinced she's in terrible danger.
How?
I'm convinced he will kill her.
Let me show you something.
What is it?
I took a pinch to my village.
I showed it to my uncle Ulises, he's a pharmacist.
He knows everything about chemicals and poisons.
He told me this comes from a Japanese fish
that rich people pay a lot of money to eat in restaurants,
but if it goes into your bloodstream
a certain way,
it paralyzes you.
You think he's poisoning her?
I think she is poisoning him.
- What? - Hmm.
I saw it two weeks ago, with my very own eyes.
- Are you sure? - I saw her.
But it's so clear in my dreams. She's in danger.
Maybe your dream is an inverse prediction.
It happens.
A week later, I returned.
- Ah, you scared me. - Did I?
Tell me about your visitor.
What visitor?
Let me explain to you something about me
that you may not have figured out.
I hate thieves and I hate liars.
Me, too.
You know, that reminds me of what Doņa Leticia
- was telling to her daughter... - You don't understand.
What?
It must be a drag, living on scraps,
on whatever the hot shots let fall.
Spend your entire existence watching others
get what they want, while you're stuck here watching TV.
Have I done something to upset you?
As I was saying, living in self-respecting poverty is insulting,
no matter how you slice it.
But see, I think life must be lived according to your own terms.
Otherwise, it is my belief, it's not worth living at all.
What are you drinking?
Tea.
May I have a sip?
You won't like it, it's gone cold.
But I can make you a new one.
Let's get realistic, Inocencia.
Mm-hm.
I know you don't like me and I have a few reasons
not to trust you a hundred percent.
And you've worked for Archie since forever,
but I think it's time for you to move on.
- Is this some kind of game? - Yes.
It's called "stop lying to my face."
I know Alba was here visiting you today.
No, not today.
Oh, not today, but other days?
How often does she swing by?
Well, she came one day.
- But not today. - No.
You swear to God.
I don't take the Lord's name in vain. No.
So I'm just being paranoid, is that it?
I didn't say that,
but, um, you've been acting a little nervous lately.
You know, like what you said about the coconuts this morning.
Oh, please. I said I was wondering
if other people were also paranoid
about coconuts falling on their heads.
This is something completely different, and you know that!
If you say so.
I want you to pack your bags and go.
I'm sorry. You can't just...
Are you telling me what I can and cannot do with my own staff?
No.
My staff who steals my husband's gold watches
and rings and my jewelry when she thinks I'm not looking?
I have never stolen anything in my entire life.
Goodbye, Inocencia.
Please.
Don't do this, please.
Oh, oh, okay.
Are you gonna cry like a baby? You are fired.
Two weeks later, he was dead.
_
Alba.
I heard about your loss.
Can you please not...?
When you make a documentary,
the main question is where to put the camera.
Choose correctly, the subject will reveal itself organically
and your job is to stay out of the way.
But no matter what you choose,
there is no overestimating good luck.
I am sorry your brain is mush. I truly am.
You should get professional help.
But I'm grieving, this is not a good time.
I know. I'm sorry.
Here.
What is it?
I know you have very strong personal feelings about me,
but I want to offer you my deepest condolences.
Will you stop it with the mud already?
What is this?
It's a movie.
A documentary filmed from two angles.
One right here, where it sees you
poisoning Archie's Negroni three different times
until you got the amount just right, but then...
And this is where the stroke of luck comes in.
Right there on the edge of the gazebo,
looking at the pool, exactly where he collapses
once the poison surges through his veins into his heart.
It remains on this fixed-line,
exactly where you dragged him to the wheelbarrow
and wheeled him down to the shore,
where you dumped him.
It's uncanny, when you think of the odds.
But it's all there.
It shows how much effort it took you to strip him naked.
Then without a doubt, the most surprising moment
was when you're about to position him face down so he'll drown
and you notice his erection and you can't resist kissing it goodbye
with such vigorous tenderness.
In that unguarded moment, I understood you.
Love is rare because it rarely happens
but some part of you,
the deepest animal part of you, loved him.
He came and went in his final moment.
What...?
What? What do you want?
I want you to see the movie.
There's another copy in my lawyer's office,
of course, with instructions, should I suddenly disappear.
I imagine the Mexican Justice System
will throw every law and every book
they ever read at you.
Patriarchal societies do not take kindly
to national treasure macho philanthropists
being murdered by their wives.
Especially foreigners like you and me.
I would guess the sentence they agree upon
will reach into the multiple lifetimes,
piled on top of one another and served consecutively
with no possibility of parole
if only to make sure restaurant hostesses everywhere
get the message loud and clear.
I'm sorry.
What can I do? Tell me what I can do.
I... I will do anything you want, please.
Please don't let them take me to jail. Please. Please.
Please, please.
What can I do? You gotta tell me what I can do.
You have to give me a chance, please.
I want you to listen to me, please.
I-I can do anything you want.
I can... I can... I can do anything you want.
I can live with any terms you-you-you...
Tell me what to do, please.
I can bear anything as long as it's not jail.
Please. Please. I beg you.
I beg you, please. Please.
I beg you, please.
Stop crying.
Right now.
Stop.
Clean my boots.
Of course.
With your tongue.
Everyone has a sadistic streak.
You learn that quick when you have someone at your mercy.
You little bitch.
You had one job.
Easy, partner.
Or what? You understand how this works, yes?
The more witnesses we have, the more witnesses we have to take care of.
Congratulations.
You just signed her death sentence.
Why don't we discuss this away from the children?
Hey! Hey!
What's your name?
Inocencia.
Inocencia, quit cleaning shit
and just go sit in the bathtub with the others.
I always knew it would end badly for you.
Sweet of you to say.
Who are you?
Nobody.
Everybody is somebody.
Not me. I'm too hungover.
Keep quiet in there!
- Synced and corrected by synk - - www.addic7ed.com -