- 5/17/2025
Summary: Sappho, a newly wed American wife, with her husband on the Greek island Lesbos, goes through the pain of unrequited love to a young woman, very much like the namesake poet in ancient times.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:30I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm not afraid of the light.
00:00:37I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm not afraid of the light.
00:00:45I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm not afraid of the light.
00:00:55I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm not afraid of the light.
00:01:25I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm not afraid of the light.
00:01:55I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm not afraid of the light.
00:02:25I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm not afraid of the light.
00:02:35I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm not afraid of the light.
00:02:45I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm not afraid of the light.
00:03:16She is a painter, yes? Madam is also an artist?
00:03:21No, Madam is a housewife. She doesn't even paint her face.
00:03:26Madam is likely a star in the movie pictures.
00:03:32How do you like our island's light, Mr. Lovell?
00:03:36It feels so real, Mr. Shadow.
00:03:40Tell us, our light is all we have to call our own.
00:03:45Lesbos is now just a factory that breeds babies for export to your new world.
00:03:53We Greeks are unparadoxical people.
00:03:57We say ne when we say yes.
00:04:00We nod when we nod.
00:04:03The angrier we are, the more we smile.
00:04:06And we glory that we invented modern civilization.
00:04:10And yet we live lost in the past.
00:04:14Here's the motor car.
00:04:16You see how very backwards we are.
00:04:22This is the only automobile on the whole island.
00:04:26But Madam, driving is not for a lady.
00:04:31Welcome to 1926. If a girl can vote, why can't she drive?
00:04:42Please, slow down, Mrs. Lovell.
00:04:46Grapes are for cowards.
00:05:02Welcome to Villa Byron.
00:05:06This is Maria. She is the woman. She will cook and clean.
00:05:11The child is called Christos because only God knows who is his father.
00:05:17He is his mother's shame.
00:05:20What an odd cat. What's its name?
00:05:22Cassandra.
00:05:25Where shall I put your parrots?
00:05:28They're not parrots. They're lovebirds. You can put them on the table.
00:05:42Don't open it.
00:05:44What are you doing? Surely they will escape.
00:05:48The cage is their home, not their prison.
00:05:51The cage is their home, not their prison.
00:05:53And lovebirds will only sing if they're free to fly away.
00:05:57Wow. Who built this ruin?
00:05:59An English lord. He was quite mad.
00:06:03He wrote poetry and loved boys.
00:06:06But, as you can see, he was very rich.
00:06:11Even the paintings are all old masters.
00:06:16Come.
00:06:19Look. It's the ghost of the mad English lord.
00:06:24Is not the house splendid?
00:06:27Your father's instructions were that only the best they would do.
00:06:33Yes. Daddy has calculated his investment will yield the return of a grandson.
00:06:38Quite. Of course.
00:06:42Now, I shall leave you alone.
00:06:49So, how do you like your new home, Mrs. Lovell?
00:06:54It's just fine.
00:06:57Just like my new husband.
00:07:19Good night.
00:07:21Do you always wake up so early?
00:07:47Uh-huh.
00:07:48Where'd you get the waistcoat?
00:07:50It was hanging in the cupboard.
00:07:52Don't you like it?
00:07:54It looks good on you.
00:07:55But it's what the men here wear.
00:07:57So?
00:07:58People like us shouldn't follow fashions.
00:08:00We should lead them.
00:08:02And here's one for you, too.
00:08:04Now we can really look like brother and sister.
00:08:06If you're my sister and not my wife,
00:08:08this would be incest.
00:08:09Well, did you know incest is an anagram of nicest?
00:08:12And don't call me your wife.
00:08:13It's such a bourgeois word.
00:08:16Mistress for life sounds so much better.
00:08:20Hey, I was painting that.
00:08:26How do you see all these colors?
00:08:29Must be the creative type.
00:08:32That makes us the perfect couple.
00:08:34I'm the destructive type.
00:08:37Back home, people think you struck pay dirt with me.
00:08:40But you don't know how unlucky you are.
00:08:45I'll annihilate you.
00:08:47And all that will be left of you is a broken cross
00:08:50to mark your unkept grave.
00:08:57I'm looking forward to the day.
00:08:58Now let's go for a swim.
00:08:59That's an order.
00:09:15What are you waiting for?
00:09:33The sea's wonderful.
00:09:39What's wrong?
00:09:40Haven't you ever seen a grown man in swimming trunks before?
00:09:44Let's swim out as far as we can.
00:10:01Stop.
00:10:02I can't swim any further.
00:10:06Let's dive down so deep that we can only just make it back up.
00:10:09Okay, but I don't believe you've touched the bottom
00:10:11unless you bring up a pebble.
00:11:10Are you all right?
00:11:23What did you get?
00:11:24Nothing. I was too busy saving your life.
00:11:26Do you know what that is?
00:11:29Is it some kind of dove?
00:11:31It's a prayer.
00:11:33Long ago, women used to make offerings like these to Aphrodite,
00:11:36the great goddess of love.
00:11:38Well, it's a sign.
00:11:39It must mean that she approves of my plans.
00:11:42What plans?
00:11:44I don't know. I haven't made them yet.
00:11:46Come on. I'll race you back to the shore.
00:12:04It's all right. No one can see us.
00:12:10Don't you want to be tan like an antelope
00:12:12and not striped like a zebra?
00:12:14I'm shy.
00:12:16You're beautiful.
00:12:23I read in the Times the Swiss physicist has calculated
00:12:25the sun's getting hotter every year,
00:12:27someday while we fry like fritters on a griddle.
00:12:30Well, that's good.
00:12:32I'd like to bake until I'm black.
00:12:35Why would you want to do that?
00:12:37I don't know.
00:12:38Why do we want anything?
00:12:40You're an artist.
00:12:41You should know that desire doesn't need a reason.
00:12:43It just is.
00:12:45Or isn't.
00:12:46And besides, won't you like it when I wear my tan in bed?
00:12:51I'll love it.
00:12:52But you'll get sunburned.
00:12:53Uh-uh.
00:12:54I'm dark on the inside, really.
00:12:56The sun just develops it, like a photograph.
00:12:59You promised me that we'll sunbathe here every day until we're changed.
00:13:02What do you want us to become?
00:13:05Us, of course.
00:13:09Only different.
00:13:11Reversed.
00:13:18Are you men really such numbskulls?
00:13:26It was like seeing another color in the rainbow.
00:13:28A color all my own.
00:13:31My nanny never told me it could be like that for a woman.
00:13:37Long ago, when the world was young,
00:13:40the Greek gods once quarreled over who received more pleasure in bed,
00:13:44a man or a woman.
00:13:46So they visited a blind seer named Teresias,
00:13:49who one day was a man and the next day a woman,
00:13:52and asked him her, his, her opinion.
00:13:56She replied that as a woman,
00:13:59she received ten times more pleasure than he was ever given as a man.
00:14:04Poor Phil.
00:14:05Lucky Phil.
00:14:07Every artist must learn that what matters most is what you give,
00:14:10not what you get.
00:14:15I...
00:14:17Why do men always want to know in words?
00:14:20I am tonight.
00:14:21Is that enough for you?
00:14:50There's my muse.
00:14:52You look nice.
00:14:53What's the big occasion?
00:14:57Are you bored of me yet?
00:14:58No, I'm not bored of you.
00:15:02I want to grow old with you.
00:15:04And you do love me, don't you?
00:15:06You love me just the way I am?
00:15:08Yes.
00:15:11Of course, yes. Why? Why do you ask?
00:15:15Because I'm bored of me.
00:15:16I'm bored of being this nice, decent girl that everybody else wants me to be.
00:15:20I just want you to be yourself.
00:15:22Well, that's good, because I want to be different.
00:15:25What do you mean, different?
00:15:28That's my surprise.
00:15:29Wait, I'll come with you.
00:15:30No, you stay and finish my portrait.
00:15:37What's going on?
00:15:38Be careful.
00:16:06Hello.
00:16:19You are welcome.
00:16:20You speak English.
00:16:22I was a sailor. I learned it in the ships.
00:16:25But I think madam has made a mistake. I only cut gentleman's hair.
00:16:28No, there is no mistake.
00:16:31I want you to cut my hair short. Very short.
00:16:37Like a boy's.
00:16:39But madam, I have read that such experiments are made in Paris or New York.
00:16:44But here, on this island?
00:16:47Are you sure? Do you want to destroy your beauty?
00:16:50Madam is quite sure.
00:16:53She has wanted this for a very long time.
00:16:55But madam is married. It is not possible.
00:16:58I am not my husband's property.
00:17:01And I will pay very well.
00:17:11You do not mind?
00:17:16I worry how people might gossip.
00:17:46May I disturb you?
00:17:57Is it you who arrived a few weeks ago on the boat?
00:18:00You look so lovely, so changed.
00:18:03That was my caterpillar face. Now I am a butterfly.
00:18:06May I sit down?
00:18:12I feel like we've met before.
00:18:14Never. At least not in this lifetime.
00:18:17Let's have a drink.
00:18:23Helen. Helen Orlova.
00:18:26Sappho Lavon.
00:18:28Sappho? Do you know the history of your name?
00:18:32I know it was the name my mother chose for me.
00:18:34She died giving me birth.
00:18:36You have a namesake. A poetess who lived here 2,500 years ago.
00:18:40She made the island famous.
00:18:43Come to the museum. You can meet her there.
00:18:47Isn't it a little too early for spirits?
00:18:50Why should men be allowed all the fun?
00:18:54To new friends?
00:19:25That's Sappho.
00:19:29Or so it says.
00:19:31Actually, it was painted 50 years after her death.
00:19:34She doesn't look like me one bit.
00:19:37What's written there?
00:19:39It's a stanza of her poetry.
00:19:41Some men say,
00:19:43Nothing on a dark-soiled earth
00:19:45Says lovely as infantry on parade.
00:19:47Other men say cavalry
00:19:49Or swift warships.
00:19:52But I say,
00:19:54Loveliest is whom you love.
00:19:57That's beautiful.
00:20:00We know that Sappho wrote nine books of poetry.
00:20:02And that she was so famous that her profile was minted on the local coins.
00:20:07But the early Christians burned her works.
00:20:10Why would the monks burn her work if she was so well-known?
00:20:13Because it was love poetry written by a woman to women.
00:20:16It was Sappho who put the lesbian in Lesbos.
00:20:22How is it that you know so much about her?
00:20:25My father is a professor of archaeology.
00:20:27He's working on an excavation here.
00:20:29Because of Lenin and the revolution, we can't go back to Russia.
00:20:33Come on, I'll show you what else is kept locked up in here.
00:20:47Hi, what have you been doing all day?
00:20:49I was making a new friend.
00:20:54Well, am I good likeness to my picture?
00:21:03You're beautiful.
00:21:16Now we really look like brothers.
00:21:18Wasn't I good to do it?
00:21:20Maybe. But you'll get a sunburnt neck.
00:21:22Don't lie, Philip Lovell.
00:21:24I can feel how much you like it.
00:21:27Aren't you worried what people will say?
00:21:30This isn't New York. There are no people here.
00:21:33And anyways, why should we care what people think?
00:21:37Pleasure is good.
00:21:40Pain is bad.
00:21:42Shame is painless.
00:21:44That's my new philosophy.
00:21:52Hello. This way.
00:22:33Be careful.
00:23:00Father!
00:23:02Oh, Karen, I was so worried about you.
00:23:06I brought you a visitor, Father.
00:23:08Safo, Professor Vladimir Orlov.
00:23:11Oh, I'm enchanted, Safo.
00:23:15Oh, you don't remember, by any chance, some of your poetry?
00:23:22Oh, I'm sorry, I don't speak a word of Greek.
00:23:26Such a pity.
00:23:28Please.
00:23:29What are you looking for in these ruins?
00:23:32Glory!
00:23:34Twenty-five centuries ago,
00:23:36this was one of the greatest cities of the civilized world.
00:23:46Don't laugh. Don't laugh.
00:23:49Someday your New York will look like this,
00:23:53and archaeologists will excavate the ruins of its skyscrapers
00:23:59and speculate over the significance of a chipped coffee cup.
00:24:08Father is a follower of Pythagoras.
00:24:10Oh, like Pythagoras' triangle?
00:24:13He invented the musical scale, too.
00:24:17Pythagoras believed that life is like a wheel
00:24:20that repeats the same story over and over as it turns.
00:24:26And what do you think?
00:24:28I believe that we can't step into the same rivet vise.
00:24:32Pythagoras said that, too.
00:24:34Good girl. Thank you.
00:24:36Lemonade?
00:24:38Oh, no, no, Father. Thank you.
00:24:42Come on, I want to show you where I go when I want to be alone.
00:24:45Goodbye, Father.
00:24:46Helen!
00:24:51Apollo's Temple
00:25:03Where are we?
00:25:05This was once the temple of Apollo, god of the sun.
00:25:12According to the legend, lovers, tormented by unrequited desire,
00:25:17would sacrifice to Apollo.
00:25:19And then they would leap up this cliff into the sea, down there.
00:25:24If they survived their leap of faith, they were cured of their passion.
00:25:28And if they didn't survive then, they were healed of their love all the same.
00:25:33Well, that's some way to fall out of love.
00:25:36They say Sappho died here, out of love for a fisherman.
00:25:41But I thought you said she loved women.
00:25:44Sometimes, if we are lucky enough to love somebody, who cares if it's a boy or a girl?
00:25:51Love is what is love.
00:26:05Aren't you scared? It's a long way down to fall.
00:26:09I want to know what it feels like to be a bird.
00:26:14To trust the wind.
00:26:24Why did you do that?
00:26:26I wanted to. And if you wanted it too, then it's alright.
00:26:29I've never been with a girl.
00:26:31Not when you were at school? Didn't you even practice kissing?
00:26:35It was forbidden. We were watched all the time.
00:26:39It was forbidden in my school too, but we all did it.
00:26:42If you like, I can be a girl.
00:26:45I'm not that sort.
00:26:48I'm sorry.
00:27:12I'm sorry.
00:27:14I'm sorry.
00:27:39Who used to love me when I'm old and useless for making love?
00:27:43You don't seem to ever be old.
00:27:45I'm not. I'm as ancient as beauty herself.
00:27:49This flash in blood and bone is just my latest costume.
00:27:53You never said you believed in reincarnation.
00:27:55Maybe I do.
00:27:58That moth could be me, Phil.
00:28:01She loved the light too much to fear the flame.
00:28:04Don't be so tragic.
00:28:07I've only just started out, but already it's too late to stop.
00:28:12Stop what?
00:28:14You. Me, the change.
00:28:17There's nothing I can do about it.
00:28:23What are you trying to prove?
00:28:27That at least I'm not a coward.
00:28:31You're bold. You're brave. You're beautiful.
00:28:35There's no need to hurt yourself.
00:28:39And I thought every man dreamt of marrying a masochist.
00:28:42You know, they say they make the most missive wives.
00:28:45Bottoms up.
00:29:08Good morning.
00:29:09Good morning.
00:29:39Hello?
00:29:42Helen?
00:29:54Her mother was a violinist.
00:29:57Someday, when the revolution is over,
00:30:01we will go home and she will play concerts too.
00:30:05Do you play?
00:30:07Only the gramophone.
00:30:12I have no talent for anything.
00:30:14Just good taste.
00:30:15Very expensively purchased.
00:30:18What are those?
00:30:20They look like fossilized Easter eggs.
00:30:22This is how we began.
00:30:29What? They're making love?
00:30:32Long ago, the first people were all like this.
00:30:37Sometimes they walked and crowed,
00:30:40but mostly they rolled around like a ball.
00:30:44What happened?
00:30:45Then one day the gods decided to kill them all.
00:30:49Why?
00:30:50Because they were too happy.
00:30:52But then Aphrodite said she knew
00:30:56how the new people could be made to need the gods.
00:31:01And then Aphrodite took a strand of her golden hair
00:31:05and cut all the people in two.
00:31:08So that one half became a man
00:31:10and one half became a woman.
00:31:15But here are two women.
00:31:17That is how Aphrodite made the lesbians.
00:31:21We are all the love goddesses' work.
00:31:24And then the new half-people
00:31:26threw their arms around their other half's necks
00:31:29and locked their mouths together,
00:31:32longing to be whole again.
00:31:34However, no matter how much they made love,
00:31:37the half-people still felt incomplete.
00:31:44So soon the new half-people began to lie and to deceive
00:31:48and even to disbelieve that they had a true other half
00:31:51who could make them whole.
00:31:53And as the half-people begged all the gods up in heaven for help,
00:31:58the gods all grew fat on their prayers and sacrifices.
00:32:03This is how love came into the world.
00:32:06Hello. I thought I'd never see you again.
00:32:09Here I am.
00:32:11How do you like me as a boy?
00:32:13Very much.
00:32:14Let's go for a bicycle ride.
00:32:17Have you finished playing?
00:32:19A bow cannot always be strung, or it will break.
00:32:25And a man cannot always work, or he will go mad.
00:32:30Those are your words, Sappho!
00:32:39Slow down. Stop.
00:32:50You must get so bored on this island.
00:32:52Sometimes, don't you?
00:32:54Honestly, I get bored of being a girl.
00:32:57It'd be so wonderful to really be a boy
00:32:59and not have to worry about getting pregnant
00:33:02or bleeding after death every month.
00:33:04At least you have a man.
00:33:06But I thought you said you loved women.
00:33:09What else is a girl to do?
00:33:11All our men killed one another in the World War.
00:33:15That's me.
00:33:18That bear hanging hopelessly at the tip of that topmost branch.
00:33:23Overlooked. Unpicked.
00:33:26No, not overlooked. Unreached.
00:33:29Well, let's climb up and get it.
00:33:48Hey!
00:33:57Is it ripe?
00:34:18What's that for?
00:34:20I'll feel free.
00:34:22Now promise me.
00:34:24Whatever I do, you won't say a word.
00:34:27Or move a muscle.
00:34:29Not even one muscle?
00:34:31All right.
00:34:35One.
00:34:39Now I'm changing.
00:34:42We did it, Phil. We did it.
00:34:44Yes, now we've really done it.
00:34:46Don't be such a coward, Phil.
00:34:48I meant it. You liked it.
00:34:51Yes, I did.
00:34:53I did.
00:34:55I did.
00:34:57I did.
00:34:59I did.
00:35:01I did.
00:35:03I did.
00:35:05I did.
00:35:07I did.
00:35:09You liked it.
00:35:11Yes, I liked it.
00:35:13So no matter what happens now,
00:35:18don't ever say it was all my fault.
00:35:26How long have you thought about becoming a boy like that?
00:35:30For years.
00:35:32It's what my father always wanted.
00:35:34A son and not a daughter.
00:35:37Don't worry.
00:35:39I'll never embarrass you in public.
00:35:41I'll be your girl by day.
00:35:43I'll only be your boy at night.
00:35:46You're crazy, girl, you know that?
00:35:48Then you must be crazy for loving me.
00:35:51I love you.
00:36:05Where's everybody going?
00:36:07Today's a holiday.
00:36:09Every day's a holiday.
00:36:11It's our honeymoon.
00:36:12Today's a holiday for everybody else, too.
00:36:14It's like the Fourth of July.
00:36:16What's everyone celebrating?
00:36:18It's the Feast of the Virgin.
00:36:20The way we live.
00:36:21Forgotten sign was Christian.
00:36:23Not that we are, too.
00:36:24You maybe.
00:36:25I never chose to be baptized.
00:36:27And Christianity has destroyed far more than it's ever created.
00:36:38The happy couple.
00:36:41Good evening.
00:36:43Good afternoon.
00:36:45Excuse me.
00:36:51Mr. and Mrs. Philip Lovell.
00:36:56You look so handsome, Mrs. Lovell.
00:37:00How did you guess?
00:37:02I'm sorry.
00:37:03What did I guess?
00:37:04How did you guess that I'm a boy now?
00:37:08That was just my way of words.
00:37:10A fish cannot become a bird.
00:37:12We all are what we are.
00:37:15Why can't I become what I'd like if I'd like to be a boy?
00:37:17Why can't I become a boy?
00:37:18Darling, you promised, remember?
00:37:19He guessed I'm changed. I don't know how.
00:37:23Madam was pleased to joke with me, Mr. Lovell.
00:37:27Madam is more woman than any woman I know.
00:37:31Yes, I'm sure that was it. A joke.
00:37:40Give my regards to your father, Mrs. Lovell.
00:37:48Good-bye.
00:38:13So, what's the news from home?
00:38:16Well, stock market hemlines are both soaring,
00:38:21Dave Ruth hit a new home run record,
00:38:23and the Mob are making millions supporting Moonshine from Canada
00:38:26because Congress doesn't understand you can't forbid human nature.
00:38:29Cheers.
00:38:32I meant, what's in your letters?
00:38:37The gallery sold two canvases.
00:38:40Well, that's marvelous.
00:38:42That's twice as many paintings as Vincent van Gogh ever sold in his lifetime.
00:38:48How's your father?
00:38:50He's hoping I'm a child already.
00:38:52Are you?
00:38:53No. And I won't be forever.
00:38:55You don't really want me to get fat and ugly and live some vile brat and not you, do you?
00:39:00Maybe I would someday.
00:39:02Never.
00:39:13Hi, Dave.
00:39:25Hello. I escaped from my father at last.
00:39:29Helene, my husband, Phil.
00:39:32Hello.
00:39:33Hello.
00:39:34Please.
00:39:36Phil's a painter.
00:39:38He just sold his first two canvases.
00:39:40But he thinks he's a genius.
00:39:42And he's determined to make the rest of the world believe it, too.
00:39:44So what do you think?
00:39:46Well, I think he's very handsome.
00:39:48Just like an advertisement of a man.
00:39:50He's a third-rate American aristocrat, too.
00:39:53One of his ancestors bought Manhattan from a drunk Indian for 23 silver dollars and bought a little whiskey.
00:39:58So you're my wife's new friend.
00:40:00Mm-hmm.
00:40:03Hmm?
00:40:06How did you do that?
00:40:08Practice. He always does that when he wants to make a new friend.
00:40:12I fell for it, too, the first time we met.
00:40:17I have a present for you.
00:40:19It's Sopho's poetry.
00:40:21All that survives.
00:40:30My mind's in two. I can't decide.
00:40:33You came and I wanted you.
00:40:36You deceived my mind as it blazed with desire.
00:40:39And? What comes next?
00:40:41It's lost. We'll never know.
00:40:45But perhaps we should decide for ourselves.
00:40:49Look, it's so medieval. Let's investigate.
00:41:04It's obscene. They all got through this island so much better than these weird Jewish imports.
00:41:09What's so weird about Christianity?
00:41:11What's so normal about a bastard child fantasizing that his mom's a virgin
00:41:15and that his mom's a virgin and his runaway dad's almighty and all-merciful Lord God?
00:41:20Maybe you're missing the point.
00:41:22Yeah? And what's the point?
00:41:25Love.
00:41:26But what kind of love?
00:41:28Love which thinks of desire as something shameful and forbidden,
00:41:31and which makes suffering its meaning?
00:41:33Or love which is open and unafraid and free?
00:41:37See, that's just it, Phil.
00:41:39Christianity began as a religion of slaves and of women,
00:41:42which in those days was the same thing.
00:41:44It doesn't suit people like us.
00:41:46We should believe in desire and not in virginity and in life before death, not afterwards.
00:41:51Let's go.
00:42:11Let's see.
00:42:17Look, let's have our picture taken.
00:42:19Phil will be offended.
00:42:20Isn't it like trading with the enemy?
00:42:22So what if he does mind?
00:42:24Photography will soon make painting obsolete anyway.
00:42:27Never. The camera only sees, it doesn't feel.
00:42:38I think your husband's so handsome.
00:42:40Is it all right?
00:42:42Of course.
00:42:43What man could ever object to having two women?
00:42:45I mean really, is it all right with you?
00:42:48Why not?
00:42:49We're modern people.
00:42:51Let's all be in love with one another.
00:42:53Really.
00:42:55I'd like that.
00:42:56Akinniti?
00:42:57What?
00:43:17It's so antique, Phil.
00:43:18It's like they're going to make love.
00:43:28May I confess something terrible?
00:43:30I'm not a priest.
00:43:32If you were a priest, I wouldn't tell you.
00:43:35Is it so bad?
00:43:38I'm in love with your wife.
00:43:42I'm in love with my wife too.
00:43:45I could be in love with you too.
00:43:47Would you mind?
00:43:57How could you be in love with two people at the same time?
00:43:59Oh, that's easy.
00:44:00It's only in fairy tales that things like that happen.
00:44:08We'll be good together.
00:44:12Who will?
00:44:14Sappho and I.
00:44:18Sappho and you.
00:44:21And you now.
00:44:24Carol, we're not together.
00:44:26We're just two people standing in a crowd.
00:44:28Then let go of my hand.
00:44:53Helen!
00:44:54Akin!
00:44:55Akin!
00:44:57Sorry.
00:44:59How do you like my friend?
00:45:01She's charming.
00:45:02But she's in love with you.
00:45:04She's in love with both of us, if I'm not crazy.
00:45:08I kissed her, Phil.
00:45:09But if you kiss her too, then I won't feel bad.
00:45:12How do you like my present?
00:45:14What? Do you really want her?
00:45:16I don't know.
00:45:17Yes, as an experiment.
00:45:19It'd be strange and dangerous and pagan and fun.
00:45:23We promised each other to be faithful, remember?
00:45:25I'm being faithful in my own way.
00:45:27How can I be true to you if I'm not true to myself?
00:45:30And besides, you don't want me to live a lie, do you?
00:45:34See? I've been recaptured at last.
00:45:36My father, Professor Vladimir Orlov.
00:45:39Mr. Philip Lovell.
00:45:40I am pleased to meet you.
00:45:42Hello.
00:45:44Hey, what's he doing?
00:45:46Now he ignites the cannon to scare away the Turks for one more year.
00:45:51That is how the festival always ends.
00:46:07Excuse us, we must go.
00:46:09Antiquity has been waiting 2,500 years.
00:46:12And it can't wait a moment longer.
00:46:15Good night.
00:46:16Good night.
00:46:17Good night.
00:46:23Come swimming tomorrow.
00:46:24I'll do that.
00:46:32Come in. The water's lovely.
00:46:41Stay still.
00:46:45Stay still.
00:47:02Did I scare you?
00:47:04You looked like an angel.
00:47:07Come on.
00:47:15Come on.
00:47:45Come on.
00:48:06It seems unfair that we're enjoying ourselves and that Phil is working.
00:48:11Every artist must learn to be alone.
00:48:13And besides, he's not really alone.
00:48:16He's surrounded by millions of imaginary admirers.
00:48:19Haven't you ever wanted to be an artist?
00:48:22Why should I share this moment with some complete stranger in a picture gallery or a movie stop that's so vulgar?
00:48:28I want to keep it all for myself.
00:48:30But what about when you're dead?
00:48:32Then I'll be dead.
00:48:34If your father is right.
00:48:37We'll both relive this moment in different lifetimes.
00:48:40Over and over and over.
00:48:42I'd like that so much.
00:49:12Hello.
00:49:28Hello.
00:49:29You're late.
00:49:31Would you like something to drink?
00:49:33Champagne.
00:49:38How was your work?
00:49:40Will you show me?
00:49:41Someday when you're bored.
00:49:47Who wants to make a toast?
00:49:49To Aphrodite.
00:49:51Goddess of the sea foam.
00:49:58So what are we celebrating?
00:50:00Can't you tell?
00:50:01Don't I look changed?
00:50:03Sophel.
00:50:05We did it.
00:50:06Now I really am a boy as well as a girl.
00:50:09I should go.
00:50:10My father will worry.
00:50:12He knows where you are.
00:50:14Stay the night.
00:50:15Now you can kiss Phil.
00:50:17I know you'd like that.
00:50:18Sappho, no.
00:50:19This is wrong.
00:50:20You're my wife.
00:50:22Don't be so unsophisticated.
00:50:24It's not infidelity if we don't keep secrets.
00:50:27We're just being generous with our bodies.
00:50:28Come on.
00:50:38Okay.
00:50:39Alright.
00:50:41That's enough.
00:50:43Now that we've shared around the guilt,
00:50:44we can all be happy.
00:51:06Come dance with Helen, Phil.
00:51:07I'm dying on my feet.
00:51:19Are you still mad I kissed you?
00:51:22Why should you care how I feel?
00:51:23I mean nothing to you.
00:51:26I told you.
00:51:28I'm in love with you.
00:51:37You shouldn't say that.
00:51:39Love is someone you die for.
00:51:40Not this jazz of lust and egoism for two or three
00:51:42or whatever number this is.
00:51:44Alright then.
00:51:45I'm in lust with you.
00:51:49And I'm dancing in your arms.
00:51:52Tell me, is that so bad?
00:52:08What are the stakes?
00:52:10We're playing for the right to share your bed.
00:52:12I'm trying to win, Phil.
00:52:13But you keep rolling doubles.
00:52:15Don't I even get to choose who I sleep with?
00:52:17Uh-uh.
00:52:18You're our stud stallion.
00:52:20We've planned out your diary.
00:52:21We'll take turns at being your girl.
00:52:23One date at a time.
00:52:24Sunday will be a day of rest.
00:52:26This game is just to decide who goes first tonight.
00:52:29Very funny.
00:52:30Let's discuss something more serious.
00:52:33I'm not sure I'm ready for this.
00:52:34Very funny.
00:52:35Let's discuss something more serious.
00:52:37I know Helene.
00:52:38Let's think of a way to end our wars.
00:52:40Oh, that's easy.
00:52:41We just need to invent a way for men
00:52:43to give birth to children.
00:52:46I want you to love Helene.
00:52:48You can marry her if she likes.
00:52:50I'm not a Turk.
00:52:51I can only have one wife, not two.
00:52:54It's in the rules.
00:52:55Don't be so boring, Phil.
00:52:57There are no rules.
00:52:58There's nothing that we can imagine that's not allowed.
00:53:01Love is what is love.
00:53:02Love is loyalty, too.
00:53:04Don't you even care if I sleep with other women now?
00:53:06You can sleep with other boys, too, if you'd like.
00:53:10Will you marry my husband?
00:53:12Yes.
00:53:13That's perfect.
00:53:14It makes it all so simple.
00:53:16We can all be married to one another.
00:53:21Would you really marry me?
00:53:23Yes.
00:53:24Are you really asking me?
00:53:28Well, Phil, have you got the balls?
00:53:30Don't you understand?
00:53:31No good will come of this game.
00:53:33Theory might sound fine, but people aren't like that.
00:53:36We'll take sides, get jealous,
00:53:38and start to hate one another.
00:53:40Just like what happens when two normal people get married?
00:53:44Maybe that's how it is most times, for most couples.
00:53:47But it's the way nature meant it to be.
00:53:49You see, Helene,
00:53:50that's what makes Phil such a bad painter.
00:53:53He wants to be liked too much.
00:53:55So he just paints ordinary pictures
00:53:56that ordinary people don't like.
00:53:58Phil, come back!
00:54:00I'm going for a walk.
00:54:06Don't worry.
00:54:07He'll be back sooner or later.
00:54:28I'm going for a walk.
00:54:58Phil!
00:55:29Good evening.
00:55:30We waited for you until sunset.
00:55:32Where were you?
00:55:34Where's Sappho?
00:55:35She's dreaming that she's Sappho come back to life.
00:55:38She said she loves me.
00:55:40Oh, no.
00:55:45Why don't you leave?
00:55:47There's no future in all of this.
00:55:49Because just now, I'm happy.
00:55:52You're crazy too.
00:55:54Let's ask the girl to leave.
00:55:56We could go home to America, begin over.
00:55:59Home?
00:56:00This island's my home, Phil.
00:56:02I can't go back to America,
00:56:03no more than I can become a virgin again.
00:56:06Their doors once open can never be closed.
00:56:09I'm sorry, Phil.
00:56:11I'm sorry.
00:56:13I'm sorry.
00:56:15I'm sorry.
00:56:17I'm sorry.
00:56:19I'm sorry.
00:56:21I'm sorry.
00:56:23But all I want is for you to be the girl I married.
00:56:30Take a look at me as a girl, Phil.
00:56:32Are you happy?
00:56:33Yes.
00:56:35Then I'm happy for you.
00:56:40Because I hate it.
00:56:43Don't be it, then.
00:56:44Didn't you just say you wanted me as a girl?
00:56:46Make up your mind, Phil,
00:56:47and stop making me tear myself in two.
00:56:50Don't you understand?
00:56:53I love you.
00:56:55I just want you to be yourself.
00:57:02Then here I am.
00:57:24That's Sappho.
00:57:25Buzz.
00:57:26Sorry.
00:57:36Shit.
00:57:48Will you paint me?
00:57:50Will you paint me?
00:57:52Would you like that?
00:58:09Can I see?
00:58:20Is it really how you see me?
00:58:23Yes.
00:58:30Good evening.
00:58:33I can see you both have had a good day.
00:58:36What have you done to your hair?
00:58:38Nothing.
00:58:42It's so stuffy in here.
00:58:44Do you mind helping me with my jacket, darling?
00:58:48Mm.
00:58:51Oh, my God.
00:58:52What have you done?
00:58:54I had myself painted, too.
00:58:56Ink on skin.
00:58:57That's real art.
00:58:59It hurts.
00:59:00It shocks.
00:59:01And it changes you forever.
00:59:03But only sailors and whores.
00:59:05I mean, how can we ever be seen in decent society again?
00:59:08Well, that's just it.
00:59:10We can't.
00:59:12I've burned our boats.
00:59:18I'm sorry.
00:59:31Ouzo's a wonderful drink.
00:59:33It tastes as bittersweet as jealousy.
00:59:39And yet it erases its effects.
00:59:40You shouldn't drink it like that.
00:59:44Why not?
00:59:45Or do you want me to be jealous?
00:59:47We've only kissed.
00:59:49And you said it was all right.
00:59:51As lucky as a god, I think that man who sits beside you.
00:59:56Hearing all for him.
00:59:57Your whispered small talk and your laugh of love.
01:00:01Not knowing how it rips and tears my heart in two.
01:00:06One glance from you and I'm half dead with fear.
01:00:10My voice is broken.
01:00:12Terror blinds my eyes.
01:00:13My ears go deaf.
01:00:16And flames sneak through my veins.
01:00:19A trembling haunts my limbs.
01:00:23Sweat pours from me.
01:00:25My skin is scorched as white as withered grass.
01:00:28And I know.
01:00:30If I can't have you,
01:00:32I'll die.
01:00:40What was that?
01:00:41What was that?
01:00:44Poetry.
01:00:46I wrote it long ago.
01:00:49In another lifetime.
01:00:51You really don't think you're Sappho reincarnated, do you?
01:00:53Of course I'm Sappho.
01:00:55I always was.
01:00:57But all we know for sure about the historical Sappho can be written on a bus ticket.
01:01:00Her story's just a myth.
01:01:02Well, you know what a wise man once called a myth?
01:01:05A story that never happened and yet always is.
01:01:09So, who fucks whom tonight?
01:01:10Sappho, don't be vulgar.
01:01:12Since I'm paying, I think I should decide.
01:01:16Didn't Tso tell you?
01:01:18See, I can now make a name.
01:01:21I'm the boy here, not the girl.
01:01:23My husband is penniless.
01:01:25Of course, he comes from one of the rat families,
01:01:29but his father was a gambler
01:01:31who swindled his mother out of every penny she had.
01:01:34Then, he shot his brains out in a Paris hotel room.
01:01:40Don't be so offended, Phil.
01:01:42A girl has the right to know these things before she sleeps with you.
01:01:46Don't you think you've had enough to drink?
01:01:48All right, I have had enough.
01:01:50You can screw Helen tonight,
01:01:52because I can recommend her as a good lover.
01:01:54I think you should stop Nell's suffering.
01:01:56Why? I'm rich. I'm beautiful.
01:01:59Whatever I say, you'll forgive me.
01:02:01Ain't that so, painter boy?
01:02:03Come on, let's go to bed.
01:02:11Ugh.
01:02:26Good night.
01:02:28Try and get some sleep.
01:02:30I'm sorry, Phil.
01:02:34Let's go home.
01:02:36There are people there that could help you.
01:02:38Who, Phil?
01:02:40I can't even help myself.
01:02:43It's not me.
01:02:45It's just my nature.
01:02:47I am who I am.
01:02:51I know.
01:03:10Helen?
01:03:34I couldn't sleep.
01:03:35I couldn't sleep.
01:03:40I'm moonbathing.
01:03:42On the island they say,
01:03:44that's how you go mad.
01:03:46You live in this house, that's how.
01:03:48Oh, Phil.
01:03:50Sophia was rich, young, charming, beautiful.
01:03:52You must have thought
01:03:54you'd won the lottery of life.
01:03:56I don't think they'd print a winning ticket for that racket.
01:03:59We all get what we deserve in the end.
01:04:01Am I what you deserve?
01:04:32Good morning.
01:04:34How is your head?
01:04:38Is that a psychological question
01:04:41or a physiological question?
01:04:44Just a polite one.
01:04:47Then politely, it's fine.
01:04:53Did you make love with Phil?
01:04:56Yes.
01:04:57Did you make love with Phil?
01:05:00Yes.
01:05:02How was it?
01:05:05Fine.
01:05:07That's fine. Now we can all be happy.
01:05:11You are jealous?
01:05:13Okay, I'm jealous.
01:05:16But you said it was all right.
01:05:19I know how to make it all right.
01:05:27I'm sorry. Don't be annoyed.
01:05:30I'm not annoyed, but...
01:05:32A few days ago you corrupted me
01:05:34and now you act like I'm a pervert when I try to kiss you?
01:05:37Please, let's not quarrel.
01:05:39We're not quarreling.
01:05:41Don't you understand?
01:05:43For you, I'd take opium.
01:05:46I love you to death.
01:05:49Don't say that.
01:05:52Is it because Phil's a man?
01:05:54I didn't even know what a lesbian was until I met you.
01:05:58I'm sorry, Safa.
01:06:00I can't be your girl.
01:06:06Never?
01:06:09Never.
01:06:13But...
01:06:17You promised me.
01:06:19You never did mean a word you said to me, did you?
01:06:21I did, I did.
01:06:23Only then I didn't, too.
01:06:25Sometimes we must have something to learn that we don't need it.
01:06:28Yeah, and sometimes we must lose something to learn that we must have it.
01:06:31I'd better go.
01:06:34Yeah, and never come back, you whore!
01:06:37What, did you seduce the wife just so you could steal the husband?
01:06:41And I thought you were my friend!
01:06:43Goodbye, Safa.
01:06:51Goodbye.
01:07:21Hello, Phil.
01:07:23What's wrong?
01:07:25I don't know, I...
01:07:27I...
01:07:29I...
01:07:31I...
01:07:33I...
01:07:35I...
01:07:37I...
01:07:40I...
01:07:42I...
01:07:44I...
01:07:46I...
01:07:48I...
01:07:49I don't know, I...
01:07:51I...
01:07:55Where's Helene?
01:07:57She went home.
01:08:02I don't love you.
01:08:04There, I've said it.
01:08:07I feel so much better now.
01:08:09Oh, I'm so happy for you.
01:08:11I never did love you.
01:08:13That just makes me even a bigger fool.
01:08:16Now that's set, we can go on loving the same girl.
01:08:19Tell me, if I buy you a pretty little slave boy to suck your cock, will you leave the girl to me?
01:08:25Or can you only be unfaithful to me with a woman?
01:08:28Safa, what?
01:08:30Slave boys?
01:08:32Oh yes, Abe Lincoln, Emancipation.
01:08:36Where are my paintings?
01:08:38What have you done?
01:08:40I had to do it.
01:08:42They were so ordinary.
01:08:46No, you're just trying to scare me, aren't you?
01:08:49Tell me you haven't touched them.
01:08:53Why make such a fuss about a few worthless scraps of cloth?
01:09:20Well?
01:09:22Didn't I tell you?
01:09:25Don't you understand?
01:09:27That was my work.
01:09:29My soul.
01:09:31It was a cheap and common soul.
01:09:34You need a head doctor.
01:09:35You're crazy.
01:09:36No, I'm not.
01:09:37I'm just different.
01:09:38And don't you think for one second that you can ship me back to America,
01:09:40and lock me up in a summer asylum,
01:09:41and strap electrodes to my head,
01:09:42and fry my brains to fat in their pan!
01:09:44Because I won't let you have my money,
01:09:45so easily.
01:09:46I want a divorce.
01:09:48Don't you think it's a bit late to act the real man, Phil?
01:09:51I am what you let me become.
01:09:57I'm so sorry.
01:10:04If you only knew how much I loved you.
01:10:05If you only knew how much I loved you.
01:10:36Oh Aphrodite on your rainbow throne,
01:10:39Don't let the sorrow tear my heart in two,
01:10:42But come to me as once you came before,
01:10:44And make me whole.
01:10:46Come as you came that day you left the clouds,
01:10:49And in your chariot drawn by white doves,
01:10:51You glided through the ever-swirling air,
01:10:54Down to dark earth.
01:10:56And smiling your immortal smile, you asked,
01:10:59So Sappho, now what's wrong?
01:11:01Are you in love or out again?
01:11:04Which girl is it this time?
01:11:05What must I do?
01:11:07For let her turn and run,
01:11:09Soon she'll be back,
01:11:10And let her taunt and tease,
01:11:12Soon you'll see tears,
01:11:14Because like it or not,
01:11:15I'll make her yours,
01:11:17To love or loathe.
01:11:19O deathless goddess,
01:11:20Come to me again,
01:11:22And ease my pain,
01:11:24All that my hurt heart hopes may happen,
01:11:27Make happen,
01:11:28And be in love,
01:11:30Always my friend.
01:11:33Always my friend.
01:11:51Helene?
01:11:54Helene?
01:11:59Helene?
01:12:04Helene?
01:12:14Come on.
01:12:15I want to show you where I go when I want to be alone.
01:12:34Kalimera!
01:12:35See?
01:12:36I'm learning Greek.
01:12:37I brought Phil's paints and brushes.
01:12:40I haven't seen your husband.
01:12:43Have you come to say goodbye?
01:12:45Goodbye.
01:12:50Aren't you going home?
01:12:51To America?
01:12:53No.
01:12:55I'm not going to America.
01:12:57Why?
01:12:59I'm not going to America.
01:13:01Aren't you going home?
01:13:02To America?
01:13:06I am home.
01:13:09This is Lesbos.
01:13:11I'm a lesbian.
01:13:13This is my home.
01:13:16It's so boring.
01:13:17You are welcome to it.
01:13:26It's like always and never.
01:13:30The sea breaking against the rocks.
01:13:32The one always wanting.
01:13:35The other always denying.
01:13:39It's the hardest thing loving someone who doesn't love you.
01:13:42I'm sorry.
01:13:44It's not my fault.
01:13:46Come and be my girl.
01:13:47To hear your footsteps.
01:13:48To see your face.
01:13:49I'd give the world.
01:13:52I'm a woman now.
01:13:53I want a husband, children, a home of my own.
01:13:56You can't give me what I want.
01:14:01I'm sorry.
01:14:09But it's you.
01:14:12How it could be?
01:14:17Yes.
01:14:19I'm Sappho.
01:14:20I really am.
01:14:23You're my girl.
01:14:24You really are.
01:14:26You made me dream that I could fly.
01:14:31No.
01:14:36No.
01:14:37We can't relive the past.
01:14:38But that's just what we do.
01:14:40I and I and I and you and you and you.
01:14:42Over and over and over.
01:14:47Now I understand.
01:14:49You had this coin made.
01:14:51I'm not a fool.
01:14:52You can't trick me with a fake.
01:14:54And I'm not a lesbian.
01:14:55I don't love you.
01:14:56Why don't you understand?
01:14:57I never want to see you again.
01:15:00No.
01:15:30No.
01:15:47Indeed.
01:15:48It was an easy mistake.
01:15:51The esteemed professor says the coin is very old.
01:15:54From Sappho's own time.
01:15:56We will place it in the town museum.
01:16:00No.
01:16:01It's hers.
01:16:03She'll need it to pay the ferryman to the other side.
01:16:22We should have buried her here.
01:16:25She wanted to stay.
01:16:27They will keep her on ice till America.
01:16:30Her father was most insistent.
01:16:33Of course, legally, you were still her husband, Mr. Lover.
01:16:38Your wife was rich in her own right.
01:16:43It was my fault she killed herself.
01:16:46There must be rules about things like that.
01:16:48You should not blame yourself.
01:16:50It was a tragedy.
01:16:52Her money is yours.
01:17:01Go.
01:17:03Go, go, go.
01:17:30Go.
01:18:00Phil?
01:18:05Sappho left this for you.
01:18:08I don't need them anymore.
01:18:10Why paint a picture if it will just be destroyed?
01:18:13Or why write a poem if it will only be burned?
01:18:18You are an artist.
01:18:20You should know that what matters is what you give and not what you get back.
01:18:31You'd better go.
01:18:33You'll miss the boat.
01:18:43Do you think we have the right?
01:18:46What right?
01:18:48To be happy.
01:18:50We?
01:18:52Yes.
01:18:54We.
01:19:00We.
01:19:30We.
01:19:32We.
01:20:00We.
01:20:01We.
01:20:02We.
01:20:03We.
01:20:04We.
01:20:05We.
01:20:06We.
01:20:07We.
01:20:08We.
01:20:09We.
01:20:10We.
01:20:11We.
01:20:12We.
01:20:13We.
01:20:14We.
01:20:15We.
01:20:16We.
01:20:17We.
01:20:18We.
01:20:19We.
01:20:20We.
01:20:21We.
01:20:22We.
01:20:23We.
01:20:24We.
01:20:25We.
01:20:26We.
01:20:27We.
01:20:28We.
01:20:30Love.
01:20:32Honey bitter.
01:20:34Wild.
01:20:36Overwhelming.
01:20:38Shattered my limbs.
01:20:59Love.
01:21:01Love.
01:21:03Love.
01:21:05Love.
01:21:07Love.
01:21:09Love.
01:21:11Love.
01:21:13Love.
01:21:15Love.
01:21:17Love.
01:21:19Love.
01:21:21Love.
01:21:23Love.
01:21:25Love.
01:21:27Love.
01:21:29Love.
01:21:31Love.
01:21:33Love.
01:21:35Love.
01:21:37Love.
01:21:39Love.
01:21:41Love.
01:21:43Love.
01:21:45Love.
01:21:47Love.
01:21:49Love.
01:21:51Love.
01:21:53Love.
01:21:55Love.
01:21:57Love.
01:21:59Love.
01:22:01Love.
01:22:03Love.
01:22:05Love.
01:22:07Love.
01:22:09Love.
01:22:11Love.
01:22:13Love.
01:22:15Love.
01:22:17Love.
01:22:19Love.
01:22:21Love.
01:22:23Love.
01:22:25Love.
01:22:27Love.
01:22:29Thank you for watching!
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