Never on Sunday (1960) Movie Script
1
You're lucky. Your first day
here, you see one of our legends.
- Who is she?
- A whore.
But she makes no prices, and
only goes with you if she likes you.
There are those who
work and those who swim.
If you weren't a slave,
you'd come in, too.
Here I come!
A Greek is a Greek
because he'll accept any dare.
There's a man! You
up there are all slaves.
Hey, Captain...
that one next to you,
he's a man or a mouse?
Beg your pardon.
Ilya, this is Tonio. He's
from Corfu. He's half Italian.
We won't hold that against him.
I'm told you pick and
choose. Do I have a chance?
- Maybe.
- Tonight? 9:00?
At 9:00, the baker.
- 10:00?
- Sorry. 10:00, the fruit man.
- And the butcher?
- At 11:00.
- Is she kidding me?
- Oh, no.
Her life is perfectly organized. She
has arrangements with all those clients.
- You like boat rides?
- Anything you say, my little bird.
Let's go!
Where is the American? The intellectual?
He should see this. Call Mr. Thrace!
Mr. Thrace, they are calling you.
There is something amusing down there.
Thank you very much. Goodbye.
There is the purity
that was Greece!
Play, Taki. Play and never stop.
Pretty?
Yes.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Please?
- Here's a man who wants to pass.
- Thank you.
- Good evening.
- How do you do?
- Good night.
- Good evening.
- How did you know I was American?
- What you take?
Coffee, please.
- American coffee?
- Greek coffee!
Waiter...
- What is everybody drinking?
- Ouzo.
Is what men drink.
What are you looking at, friend?
I beg your pardon.
Thank you.
What are you applauding for?
You're making a mistake.
Your dance was beautiful.
If you threw money, there'd
have been a massacre.
Why are you angry?
I was applauding.
You'd better go to a fancy cabaret,
or your mother will wear black.
I don't like to be shaken!
I know you're big.
You're going to make me hit you!
Please! I don't want
to fight with you.
I came here with
love. I love you.
I love you, and I'm
fighting with you.
Doesn't anyone
here speak English?
- I do.
- Ilya!
I speak English.
I was dancing,
bothering no one...
and he applauds me
as if I were a ballerina.
Would you please explain to him
that I loved his dance. I was applauding.
Careful, he's a brute.
Jorgo, he's an angel.
My most old client.
- I was enjoying, bothering no one...
- Shut up, now.
Jorgo is angry because
you have applauded.
In Greece, when a man
dances, it's for himself.
It makes him feel better in
his... How you say in English?
- Soul.
- That's it.
It is for his soul.
He is angry because you
think he is an entertainer.
Come on, Jorgaki. He applauded
because he liked your dance.
- Shake hands and be friends.
- Go on.
All right, boys,
back to your tables.
Go on. Go enjoy yourselves.
Would you please tell him
that I'm sorry about his nose.
- He's sorry he punched you in the nose.
- Wait till he sees his eye tomorrow.
He says, "Wait to see
tomorrow morning your eye."
I thought so. Please have
a drink with me. You too, sir.
- Okay.
- This is Ilya.
- My name is Armathis.
- Everybody calls him Captain.
I'm very happy to meet you
both, and at the right moment.
- My name is Homer Thrace.
- Homer?
- My father loved everything Greek.
- A Grecophile.
- How well you speak English!
- Eight years in Brooklyn.
- Brooklyn? You're kidding.
- The Navy Yard.
Now I work in the
yard here, in Piraeus.
- Beer.
- Two beers.
I would like three bires.
- You are rich?
- No, I'm very poor.
Hey, you are a writer?
- I was just making some notes.
- What you are?
Well, I'm an
amateur philosopher.
You stay long in Greece?
Maybe. I'm looking for
something in Greece.
What?
- You won't laugh?
- Why? You look for something funny?
I came to Greece...
to find the truth.
Our world is unhappy. Why?
Where did it begin to go wrong?
Might not the traces be here?
No society ever reached the heights
that were attained by ancient Greece.
It was the cradle of culture.
It was a happy country.
What happened?
What made it fall?
Historians don't satisfy
me. Wars, politics...
Something's missing,
something personal.
I want to walk where
Aristotle walked.
Socrates... I can't explain it.
I don't know. I have a
feeling I'll find something.
In the camera you
look more beautiful.
Your nose is not so big.
Thank you.
It's certain that the old philosophers
often walked around this port.
How thrilling!
Why, that means that Aristotle
might have stood on this very spot!
Yes.
- Did you ever think of that, Ilya?
- Every day.
I don't think Ilya would have
much sympathy for Aristotle.
- His opinion of women was rather low.
- He was sick.
Aristotle, sick?
Your eye begins to be pink. I
go to see my friend's nose now.
- Very glad to meet you, Homer.
- Likewise.
You're very pretty.
- Homer. Bye, Captain.
- Bye, Ilya.
- Light of my eyes!
- Who can dance like Ilya?
The little fellow beat you up?
If I'd really hit him,
they'd close up the place.
- Hello, sister. So you are Ilya.
- Hello, brother. I am Ilya.
- Are you busy?
- I don't know.
All right, how much?
I make no prices.
- 60 drachmas?
- I'll give you 80.
60 drachmas will be fine.
- I offered 80.
- I don't care if you offered 180.
- Why?
- Because I don't like you.
- I don't make it a condition that you like me.
- I make it a condition that I like you.
- Is she...
- She is.
How is it possible?
That lovely, gracious...
Captain, maybe that's
what I'm looking for.
What luck!
Ilya.
The symbol of my quest.
The personification.
In her, the answer
to the mystery.
The personal equation of
the fall of ancient Greece.
Sorry, miss. I'm terribly sorry.
It's not that you... I
think you're beautiful.
And I liked so much
what you did in that cafe.
I wanted so much to be with you.
But, I don't know.
I'm nervous.
And you are very nice.
If you don't mind...
- I'll just go now.
- I don't mind.
But first we smoke a cigarette.
You give me English
cigarette, yes?
Of course.
Do you like music?
This is Greek. Bouzouki music.
Men like this music.
- You like?
- Yes...
and I like you.
- When your boat goes away?
- Tomorrow.
You will come back
to Piraeus sometime?
- I don't know. Maybe.
- Then you come to see me.
I certainly will. The first...
The words of this
song are beautiful.
"With such a moon,
how can I sing?
"With such a moon, how
make away my sadness?
"Chase away your
sadness, palikari."
"Palikari" is a
strong young man.
"And together we go the moon."
Homer.
- The Captain told me where you lived.
- I was sleeping. It's too late.
- I'm so excited.
- I'm sorry.
You are the beauty
that was Greece.
- You are the reason I came to Greece.
- All right, come tomorrow.
Homer Thrace of
Middletown, Connecticut.
This may be important.
Think clearly.
See clearly.
Be prepared.
Let's go.
- What's your hurry?
- You've got to go back to work.
- Thanks for worrying about me.
- Let's not be nasty now.
- I don't like you to look at your watch.
- Why not?
Because when we are together...
Bravo.
Usually when a man is
ridiculous, he doesn't know it.
But when he falls on
his behind, he knows it.
Of all people, the Italians
are the most impulsive.
And my family...
is the most Italian of them all.
- But you're half Greek.
- With you I am all Italian.
My father came to Corfu
for one day. A baptism.
He took one look at Corfu
and said, "This is for me."
He never went back to Italy.
I had an aunt. She
went to the movies.
Rudolph Valentino.
She took one look at him and
said, "That's the man for me."
She never looked at another
man. She died an old maid.
I have the same blood.
I was going to tell you that I
like you. I feel good with you.
That I want you only for me, that
I don't want you to see other men.
- Then you fell on your behind.
- I don't like to be laughed at.
I like you. But if you hurt
me, I'll hit you on the head.
- I'd bet you would.
- You'd win.
- Then I let go.
- Now we understand each other.
- Ilya...
- That Sunday voice again.
All right. Let's go.
Where are you going?
- None of your business.
- I was just being friendly.
Ask me no questions,
I'll tell you no lies.
- Listen, tomorrow is Sunday.
- I invite you to my house every Sunday.
- We'll have the whole day.
- Let me finish.
Every Sunday is open
house for my special friends.
And tomorrow is not
an ordinary Sunday.
It's my birthday.
I've been looking everywhere.
Homer!
- That's my friend Tonio.
- How do you do?
How do you do?
- You hurt your eye.
- You speak English!
I studied with
record, two months.
I invite you both to my
open house tomorrow.
- The day after...
- No, the day after begins the festival.
What festival?
Theater. The Greek
tragedy. I go every night.
You like the Greek tragedies?
It's the most
beautiful thing there is.
I die!
Bye.
Extraordinary!
How do you do?
You're a heathen!
Your grandfather, your father...
you, and the children to come.
Do I have to put on
a skirt for you to stop?
Even then you wouldn't.
Because you are a mule.
Take this so I owe you nothing.
You love the ancient
Greek theater!
- Are you follow me?
- I can't get over it.
- Are you follow me?
- Yes.
I don't like that you follow me.
If you like the Greek
tragedy, you like me. I mean...
I know every one that
was ever written. Almost.
I like you very much.
- Then may I ask you a question?
- Ask.
How did you become a...
- How did you get into your profession?
- One moment.
The only clients that I
permit to ask such questions...
- I'm not a client!
- That's right, you are not.
You would have big
problems with your morals.
Also, your nose is too big.
That's a deal, no client.
How did you become a...
University boys, I permit
to ask me such questions.
We smoke cigarettes, I
make up for them sad stories.
They give me advices,
and all that is very sweet.
But they are University boys.
Not old boy scout...
with dirty eye.
I guess I deserved that. I
embarrassed you. I'm sorry.
You? Me?
- Say, that's French, isn't it?
- Yes.
It means don't be jerk.
French, English, Greek.
- Italian, a little Spanish.
- That's extraordinary!
- Where did you learn all those languages?
- In bed.
So long.
Hello, Ilya.
You live a good life.
Fresh air. You make music.
People give you money.
Thank you. Goodbye.
Hey! Why you follow me?
- Because I want you to stop being...
- Why?
Because you are the whole
world. Beautiful and corrupt.
You are very crazy.
- Good day, Ilya.
- Go away, Garbage.
You know who's in that car?
It's the boss. He
wants to talk to you.
Don't say I said so.
I think he'd give you an
apartment at half price.
Tell him to drop dead.
No one has ever seen the
boss's face. He will reveal it to you.
I don't have to see his
face. I can spit anywhere.
You looking for a scar?
- Is he being disagreeable?
- He's just an errand boy.
Homer, you are wonderful.
Who's the man in the big car?
He owns all a
street of apartments.
All the girls in the profession
live in these apartments.
- He oblige them to pay enormous rents.
- All the girls?
Except Ilya, and
he doesn't like that.
Why?
Because I am an independent.
It gives the other girls ideas.
- Good day.
- Good day.
- Good day.
- Good day.
Goodbye, Homer.
Something is very funny.
Mr. "No Face" and you.
You both want to put
me out of business.
What will you have, sir?
Ouzo.
Order one ouzo.
Happy birthday,
and a hundred more.
Thank you.
- All this just for me?
- Strange, it's the first Sunday that...
- We're going to have a fight.
- Why?
Nobody's coming. I told
them you called off the party.
- And the reason?
- Because I want you for myself.
- Out!
- Make me get out.
Out! How dare you
send my friends away?
I told you. No other man.
No other you. Not if you
were the last man in Piraeus.
I am the last man.
The best man, the
handsomest man...
and the strongest.
Happy birthday!
Many happy returns.
Darlings!
A hundred more, Ilya.
You've been invited to Ilya's open
house? That makes you very special.
I'm gonna report her!
Now we can eat.
Garbage forgot something!
- For me?
- No.
- Health, Ilya.
- Health, little bird.
You know, I could have
seen the boss's face.
You should have.
- He's the marble merchant.
- Moron! He's the insurance broker.
If you really want
to know who he is...
Whoever he is, he stinks.
Ilya, I wanted...
ls the American going to give
you the flowers or keep them?
This vice king...
Might he not hurt you?
He thinks that No
Face would hurt Ilya.
No, she has too many friends.
- They would tear his house down.
- Brick by brick.
Yet, I think I'll have a look
at No Face after the festival.
Good idea.
You want to see my new dress?
- Ilya, what's playing tomorrow?
- Medea.
- Ilya, how many times have you seen it?
- Fifteen.
That's extraordinary!
Especially when she has no
idea of what the play is about.
Whatever in the play is
unpleasant, she changes.
- How?
- In her head.
She just rejects anything
that to her is ugly.
You like my dress?
Listen to me, Homer.
If you promise not to interrupt, I'll
get her to tell the story of Medea...
- as Ilya sees it. But you...
- I promise.
All right, go sit down.
Listen, I know how much you
like to hear Ilya tell the stories...
- of the ancient tragedies...
- I'm ready.
Today, in honor of
our American friend...
Ilya is going to tell the
story of Medea in English.
- English is impossible.
- Please!
Is not possible.
Okay!
Medea is a beautiful play, but for
you men, is not much compliments.
The play is about what a
woman suffers for a man.
Once upon a time, there
was a princess from far away.
- Her name is Medea.
- That's the best one.
Beautiful, long black hair.
A Greek, he comes. And right
away, Medea crazy for him.
She will listen to
nobody. She wants him.
She fights with her
father, her whole country.
Medea was very sweet, but
sometimes she has a bad temper.
Sweet? She was a vicious
character. She was a murderess.
Anyhow, she goes to
Greece to marry this man.
He is a prince.
His name is Jason.
She is good to him. She
gives him two beautiful children.
But he...
Right away, with a
blonde princess in Athens...
You know what.
This Jason is not even a
gentleman to tell Medea lies. No!
He says right to her face that
he wants that other blonde...
because she is a princess.
And Medea cries and
says, "I am a princess, too."
Beautiful, how she cries.
Everything she does for Jason.
Even she gives presents to the blonde.
She sends gifts
that were poisoned.
But everybody says
bad things about her.
They say she is a witch.
There are 12 rich ladies
in beautiful dresses.
But they say bad
things about her, too.
Twelve rich ladies?
The Greek chorus?
And Medea cries.
I tell you, she
breaks your heart.
She is afraid.
She takes the children
and she hides them.
But in the end, Jason sees
how much Medea loves him...
and they get a
wonderful chariot.
And she gets the children...
and they all go to the seashore.
No! The Greek tragedy!
She gives it a happy ending.
- She doesn't say Medea killed her children.
- She changed that, too.
Ilya's happy. She worked out
a way of living. Let her alone.
I make mistakes in my English?
Not at all.
Sometime I'd like to
hear you tell Oedipus Rex.
I don't like this story. ls very
mean. One thing is very nice.
Always Oedipus is
talking about his mother.
I never saw such a good son
who loves so much his mother.
All right. I tell to my
friends now Oedipus Rex...
in Greek.
In Greek?
Once upon a time, there
was a Prince from Thebes.
It's impossible. A whore can't be
happy. A whorish world can't be happy.
I'd like to reach her mind.
What do you want
to put in her mind?
Reason, in place of fantasy.
Morality, instead of immorality.
I've got to educate her.
To transform her.
- Remember what happened to Pygmalion.
- I wouldn't make that mistake.
Ilya is lovely.
But for me, she's not a
woman, she's an idea.
She's an outlaw! Yes!
Law must be re-established
everywhere. Don't you see, Captain?
I see you'll have
black eyes all your life.
...but let's forget
all those bad things.
They hurt his
eyes, the poor thing.
But in the end he
finds his family...
and they all go to the seashore.
- "And they all go to the seashore"?
- They always go to the seashore.
- Boris, Greece is capitalist country, no?
- Yes.
So how in capitalist country they
close up business to go to the theater?
This is explained
in a chapter...
of Karl Marx's
Contradictions In Capitalism.
There is Ilya's bus to Athens.
Ilya. Who is she? Joan of Arc?
She's got courage, which
some of us do not have.
She's doing fine. What
does she care about us?
She's got heart,
which some of us don't.
Hello. What are
you doing here, girls?
We're looking for husbands.
And I thought you
came to talk to Ilya.
It's a democracy, no?
We don't like you
to associate with Ilya.
She's a bad influence.
Hello, slaves. Hello, Garbage.
Careful, the garbage man!
- Ilya!
- Not today.
- Adonis!
- I brought you some sandwiches.
Have a good time.
Kiss Medea for me.
Good trip.
- Are you courting me?
- Seriously.
Something else for you.
The stone seats in
the theater are hard.
I'll sit on it and think of you.
- Homer! Where are you going?
- With you, if you don't mind.
- Wonderful.
- I want us to see Medea together.
That's nice.
All right, girls. Let's go.
I had a dream.
I married a man.
He had a little money.
He was 94 years old.
What a relief.
Why are we running? We're
early. We're the first ones here.
If I'm not the first
one here, I am late.
- But I tell you that Medea killed her children.
- Homer, don't be stupid.
But it's easy to...
She killed them.
Medea herself, does she
not say, "I killed my children"?
And you believe her?
You don't understand the women.
- Medea loves her husband, yes?
- Yes.
Her husband is interested
in another woman?
- Yes?
- Yes.
So she said to her husband
that she has killed her children...
to frighten him,
to get him back.
- No!
- Yes.
She gets him back,
and everybody go away...
and everybody is happy and they
go to the seashore. And that's all!
If I show you that everything that
was ever written about Medea...
talks of her killing
her children...
if you ask 10 out of 10
people who saw the play...
and they tell you it's
true, then by simple logic...
- You're a Greek, you should be logical.
- Why?
Because the greatest Greek of
them all, Aristotle, invented logic.
- He said...
- Who?
- Aristotle...
- Aristotle!
The one that the Captain said thinks
men are everything and women are nothing?
I don't care what
he said, Aristotle.
Look around you, Ilya.
Greek art was the most
harmonious in the world.
What happened?
What happened to you?
All evil is disharmony.
You are in disharmony
with yourself.
You have beauty, grace...
and you are...
I, American boy scout, will
bring you back to harmony.
Bring me back to Piraeus.
I want to go to sleep.
I'm fighting for your
soul. Listen to me.
You make me unhappy.
If what you say about
the Greek tragedy is true...
- I don't like the Greek tragedy.
- If you would only...
And I don't like you...
because before I met you, I was
crazy about the Greek tragedy.
Is Ilya coming
for a swim today?
Good day, Captain.
Hello, ladies. How
are you, Despo?
- Terrible. ls Ilya around?
- No.
Hello, Captain. Did
you see Ilya today?
Who is not looking
for Ilya, today?
Mr. Thrace, this is
Despo, a friend of Ilya's.
Mr. Thrace is a writer.
How do you do, darling?
You are friend of
Ilya. Tell her to help us.
Only for her the
girls have respect.
If Ilya talks to
them, they will listen.
- Talk about what?
- Ilya can make all the girls say no.
Then he would make
rents not so expensive.
- Who?
- Mr. No Face.
Please.
Darling, you are a writer.
You write this in the newspaper?
What?
180 drachmas we pay for rent.
And if a girl try to move out...
No Face make it you don't
move in anywhere else.
You write this in the newspaper?
Yes?
- I'll see what I can do.
- Thank you, darling.
Captain, please
tell Ilya I was here.
- Yes, Despo.
- Bye.
There is some more
research for you.
Yes.
Captain, did you
see Ilya today?
Early this morning, briefly.
She was not in a very good mood.
Hello, my weakness.
- The most beautiful knee in Piraeus.
- Leave me alone. Bring me a beer.
What's wrong? Did Piraeus
lose the soccer game?
I offer you my very own.
Hello, Captain, all.
No coffee.
- Stay far from me!
- If you'll just...
if you come, I break
that bottle on your head.
- She would, too, wouldn't she?
- Come, let's have a drink.
When she gets mad...
she certainly lights
up, doesn't she?
He's improvising. He's
from Crete. They're good at it.
Two ouzo.
Illia has fire in eye
There is thunder in her hand
Don't look
Don't look at her
Or you will be struck blind
- What?
- "Ilya has fire in her eyes.
"Don't look at her
or she'll blind you."
Look darkly at all men
Give poison to them all
Refuse yourself to all men
Except your sweet
sweet Jorgaki
"She says no to everyone,
except her sweet Jorgaki."
I can't stand honest women
If ever I took a wife
I would want
the beautiful
the doll
the miraculous
Illiaki
"For him, no honest,
no good women."
- What does that mean?
- Whenever he wanted love, he paid for it.
Bravo! You brought
back Ilya's smile.
Taki, God bless your hands.
Now that you feel
better, may I join you?
You, go!
- I want to help you. I'm your friend.
- Don't help me. Be an enemy.
Why? Because I
told you the truth?
If you don't go away, I'll call Jorgo
and he'll make you another dirty eye.
Call him. I can
tell him something.
His song was charming,
but most revealing.
The truth can free him, too.
- Don't free him.
- He's a man with a deep problem.
Again, problems?
Yes, all his life he has associated
only with a certain kind of woman.
- Know why?
- He likes...
No. The real reason is
that he hates all women.
Jorgaki?
Jorgaki.
And I've no doubt
where that stems from.
It's elementary psychiatry.
He hated his mother.
That's true?
You want tell him that?
It might help him.
You are right.
I think you must tell him.
Jorgaki...
come here, my little bird.
Pull up a chair.
Our friend, who
is very educated...
has studied you.
Go on, Homer.
All your life, you
have known only...
No other women.
Tell him why, Homer.
There's a profound inner reason.
By having relations
only with such women...
you are obeying
an irresistible need...
to degrade all women.
A subconscious revenge
against all women.
Where does it come from?
Why?
You hated...
your mother.
Hold your hats!
Again!
You heard him!
He said I hated my mother!
Let him come!
He's a sucker for a left!
I don't know what he's
saying, but I don't like it!
Give him harmony!
What are you doing?
One moment.
Let me cut his throat, please.
And don't catch cold.
Thank you.
My mother. I put
her on a throne!
"Little Madonna,"
I used to call her!
Why are you crying?
You were a warrior.
Homer, go home.
I will.
You're barbarians.
You don't need a philosopher,
you need a missionary.
I'm leaving.
Bye-bye, Homer.
Bye-bye.
I'm sorry you're going home.
- Why?
- Because it's a defeat.
For you and for me, too.
- Have we met?
- You may call me Mr. Face.
I'm in real estate.
Mr. Face?
- And are your houses let only to girls?
- Yes.
I have a proposition to
make. May I sit down?
Sure.
You needn't run away.
I, too, exist in the
scheme of things.
You can't ignore me.
- I don't have to do business with you.
- Of course you do...
- and I'll tell you why.
- Why?
We both would
like Ilya to retire.
Of course, for entirely
different reasons.
You can have an
influence on her. I cannot.
So I have my reasons to offer
you help, and you to accept.
Accept what?
Money.
- You think you can buy Ilya?
- No, I've tried that.
- Me?
- The money will be for Ilya's time...
and her education.
I'll be damned.
If you prove to her that your
way of life is better than hers...
she'll admit it...
- and you'll have won.
- And you.
That's a secondary
matter, isn't it?
For you, there is
only one question:
are you more interested
that I should make no profits...
or are you more
interested in saving Ilya?
I hate your guts.
But I'm more
interested in saving Ilya.
What a wonderful song!
- Lend me 200 drachmas?
- No.
- Why?
- I have only 50 drachmas.
- I am missing 200 drachmas.
- Why?
Understand? For
our boat tickets.
Where are we going?
Italy, of course.
What do we do in Italy?
We eat spaghetti
and we make love.
We see Napoli, we make love.
We make tourism...
we make love.
We say, "Good
morning," we make love.
- You like that?
- Yes.
- We go?
- No.
Someday we will...
because everything
you do pleases me.
The way you rinse that thing...
pleases me.
The way you walk pleases me.
The way you hang
it up pleases me.
- The way I put out the light pleases you?
- Yes, that pleases me, too.
The way your shoulder
fits into my hand...
pleases me.
The way your body goes
with mine pleases me.
- Ilya...
- That Sunday voice again?
Someday, we'll talk about love.
Forbidden. Verboten!
You don't let me
talk about love.
You take my tongue away.
Then shut up.
You know, I have done
many things in my life.
I'm not the one to
talk about morality.
But tell me, Ilya...
you like your life?
My life was fine before the
missionary and you came along.
I've thrown him out.
And now...
You'll never throw me out.
U.S.?
I said you to go home.
There's a boat
leaving in two hours.
I have something to propose to you.
If you don't accept, I'll be on that boat.
Give me water.
Water.
Poor Homer, he
comes in Greece...
and all the time
he gets a dirty eye.
Come sit down.
Don't be afraid.
Ilya, let me talk to you.
Are you happy?
I am happy.
- You like your life?
- I like my life.
- You like your work?
- I like my work!
And what if I prove to
you that you're not happy?
Cursed be the hour
and the moment...
No, you tell me, exactly what
is it that makes you happy?
The sun, he shines on
me. He makes me happy.
I eat a good fish,
he makes me happy.
I touch you. if you
feel good, I'm happy.
Everything sensual,
everything physical.
You live by the Stoic and
Epicurean philosophies...
that came after the fall
of Greece. It's so clear.
Not to me.
How shall I tell you?
Ilya...
at one time, Greece was the
greatest country in the whole world.
It still is.
At the height of Greek glory,
there were three great men.
Philosophers.
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
- I told you, this one I don't like.
- All three of them giants.
They gave their lives
to the one question:
- What is happiness?
- Really? And what did they say?
They said that the true happiness
comes from the pleasure of the mind.
That the greatest happiness
is the joy of understanding.
Really?
I sat next to you in that amphitheater
when we went to see Medea.
I watched you, your eyes
were shining with happiness.
It's not important that you made a mistake
about the play. We'll talk about that.
But your...
Everything in you was
shining with pleasure.
Beauty that was Greece.
- Give me two weeks of your life.
- What?
I want every
minute of two weeks.
You'll lose nothing by it.
I'll pay you for each minute.
If in the end of two weeks you
don't begin to think my way...
I'll disappear.
Why you want to do that for me?
You believe you can make me...
Anything.
Maybe when I was a little girl.
Now!
I'll make you see a world
you never knew about. I'll...
Can you make me somebody
who it is good to love?
You'll be reborn.
Ilya, two little weeks.
Please.
I give you two weeks.
And Ilya ate of the apple of
wisdom, and she knew shame.
- Good day, Ilya.
- Good day, Spiro.
What will I do with
all of those fish?
Last Sunday...
was dark and dreary.
We hoped this Sunday...
- you'd make a party.
- No, Spiro.
What should I do?
- Throw them back into the sea?
- Go on, put them in the fridge.
Spiro.
Come on, take it.
Tell me true. ls your
life better this way?
Maybe it's not so
much fun, but it's better.
This Homer, you sleep with him?
No, it's something else.
What else is there?
He believes in me.
That I can be wonderful.
And I believe in him.
That's what else there is.
Goodbye, Ilyaki.
Come here.
Here.
Be well, Spiro.
From my window,
I send kisses
one and two
and three and four
And to the port come
one and two and
three and four birds
I want to have
one and two and
three and four sons
Who when they become men
will be the pride of Piraeus
If I search the world over
I'll find no other port
which has the magic
of my Port of Piraeus
When twilight comes
the port sings to me
And young men
and echoes of song
fill my Port of Piraeus
No one goes by my door
for whom I don't feel love
And those to come tomorrow
fill my dreams at night
So, to the jewels
around my throat
I add a charm
to bring me Iuck
And now I'm ready to welcome
the stranger
come from the port
If I search the
whole world over
I'll find no other port
which has the magic
of my Port of Piraeus
When twilight comes
the port sings to me
And young men
and echoes of song
fill my port of Piraeus
These blasted shoes.
Boss!
The whole fleet is pulling in.
They've been at
sea for 21 weeks.
Fine, be with you in a minute.
This is for the
books and records.
That's very pretty.
That's my personal gift to
Ilya. I paid for that myself.
It's still very pretty.
And now I would like to talk to
you about my personal gift to you.
How would you like
a punch in the nose?
Is that your good
deed for the day?
You're a cynical son of a...
I'm not a boy scout.
I'm a working man.
You're a skunk.
Look here, you're not
a little boy anymore.
What's bothering you
is not that I smell bad.
You're afraid that
some of the smell...
might rub off on you.
You're damned right.
It's classic.
There shall always be people like you
who will be working for people like me.
And they scream about it.
Get her out!
Excuse me, there was
no door to knock on.
Please, I am one of
your tenants. The rents...
- Get her out!
- They are too high. It's impossible.
Put yourself in our
place. You couldn't...
- Get her out!
- Bloodsucker!
Someday, I'll see you
without those glasses.
Hide in dark corners, you whore.
That's what you
are. You are a whore!
Listen.
With two hands.
Bravo. Miraculous.
What is this...
a house or a bookstore?
It's my new house.
The happiest house in Piraeus.
- Despo, I died.
- Bite your tongue.
I died and I was born again.
- You've met Homer?
- Yes.
Is there nothing to drink?
Excuse me.
You must talk to the girls.
When the fleet leaves we'll
have a little money put aside.
With that reserve, we could
hold out and fight No Face.
Once and for all.
Why don't you forget that life?
You have to think of the future.
You're not 18 years old anymore.
I'm better than ever.
The older the chicken,
the better the juice.
Listen.
You'll stop working
for two weeks.
Homer will pay you.
Homer! How did you know?
I like the reds.
- I have something else.
- No.
Hello, darling!
You know my friend Despo.
She speaks English better as I.
Very well he knows me. We
work both for the same man.
- What?
- The same man.
What are you talking about?
You died and you
were born again?
Well, make a deep breath...
because you're
going to die again.
- He works for No Face.
- Are you crazy?
I am crazy, darling.
It's not true.
Darling! It's not true I see
you just now with No Face?
It's not true you see me?
She's mad!
- She's dreaming.
- I dream?
How do I know that present
you have for Ilya is a vase?
And in my dream,
I see much money.
No Face money...
in yellow envelope
in that pocket.
Show me what you
have in that pocket.
I want to see what
it is in that pocket.
Over the top!
Will you please...
- "Happiness is the joy of understanding."
- Will you...
"I think, therefore I am."
Descartes, French
philosopher, 18th century.
Seventeenth.
"The Greek decline went fast
after the death of Alexander."
"To accept the bondage
under the oriental occupation...
"the Greeks began to
live only for pleasure."
- Will you let me explain?
- I let you explain.
The money that you give
me comes from No Face?
- I'll start at the beginning.
- Does it come from No Face?
Yes, it did.
Attack!
"Afghanistan is situated on
the borders of Iran and Pakistan.
- "Population is..." I forgot!
- It's a misunderstanding.
"Iceland is country very close
to North Pole. Climate very cold."
- Listen!
- "Greece is far from North Pole.
"Climate very hot."
"Many Shakespeare
plots come from Plutarch."
"The four great tragedies are...
"Othello, Macbeth,
Hamlet and King Lear.
"But some critics prefer...
- "The Tempest!"
- Please.
Attack!
What? No, not Picasso!
Monsieur Picasso,
excuse me very much.
- Will you listen?
- You listen!
Calm down.
When you calm down, you'll
understand I'm your friend.
"A friend is one
soul in two bodies."
And that, my
friend, is Aristotle.
Come on, Despo. We
have some work to do.
Now we go fix Mr. No Face.
- Will you please tell her...
- No.
Not once the fleet goes away.
Now! I swear to you...
those sailor boys
will make like wolves.
Quickly, Mr. Lawyer.
Let's go.
Yes, sir?
I'm the lawyer of these girls. I
have come to pay their fines.
Here they come.
Isn't he handsome?
- Such a cute mustache!
- Isn't he adorable?
Your fines have been
paid, you may go.
May I talk to my clients alone?
I'm listening.
- A big cut in the rents.
- All right.
From 180 drachmas we'll
bring it down to 170 drachmas.
The darling. isn't he generous?
All right, 160
drachmas. Let's go.
Silence!
Silence.
What do you want?
I want you to know that
the good old days are over.
130 drachmas.
Little bird, 80 drachmas!
- Are you crazy?
- 80 drachmas!
- 120 drachmas. Last offer. I swear.
- 80 drachmas! Last offer. I swear.
- 110 drachmas.
- 90 drachmas.
90 drachmas, it's a deal.
Gibraltar...
a rock.
He stays.
Homer, what did you do to Taki?
He's not a man.
He's a catastrophe.
What happened? Captain?
He asked Taki if he could
read music. Taki said no.
He asked Taki, why
does he not learn.
Taki said, "I'm too old."
So he told Taki, if he
couldn't read music...
he was no real musician
and he never would be.
Perfect.
So Taki began to cry and
said he would never play again.
Homer, when will you learn?
- Where is Taki?
- He locked himself in the bathroom.
- Taki, come out.
- No.
Taki, open the door.
I want to talk to you.
Leave me alone.
Nobody in Greece plays
the bouzouki like you.
- You play like an angel.
- Go away.
I'm ignorant. I'll
never play again.
Taki, listen.
Those people who
made up music notes...
they made them up so that
they could write down music, no?
What?
You make music. They need the
notes to write down what you play.
If you don't play...
what can they do with
their notes? Nothing.
Don't you see?
Can birds read music?
No.
So should the
birds stop singing?
Is he kidding, brother?
Watch it, boys!
Here we go!
You're beautiful...
but you're dumb.
I wanted to save you.
Why don't you save No
Face? He need it more than me.
Because you were the symbol.
Is not symbol. ls a woman.
Don't you think I
know that, Romeo?
I've been dying
to sleep with her.
Homer, is true?
From the first minute.
Is too late!
And now we all
go to the seashore!
If anyone will save
Ilya, it will be Tonio.
Why Tonio?
Because with
love, it's possible.
You're lucky. Your first day
here, you see one of our legends.
- Who is she?
- A whore.
But she makes no prices, and
only goes with you if she likes you.
There are those who
work and those who swim.
If you weren't a slave,
you'd come in, too.
Here I come!
A Greek is a Greek
because he'll accept any dare.
There's a man! You
up there are all slaves.
Hey, Captain...
that one next to you,
he's a man or a mouse?
Beg your pardon.
Ilya, this is Tonio. He's
from Corfu. He's half Italian.
We won't hold that against him.
I'm told you pick and
choose. Do I have a chance?
- Maybe.
- Tonight? 9:00?
At 9:00, the baker.
- 10:00?
- Sorry. 10:00, the fruit man.
- And the butcher?
- At 11:00.
- Is she kidding me?
- Oh, no.
Her life is perfectly organized. She
has arrangements with all those clients.
- You like boat rides?
- Anything you say, my little bird.
Let's go!
Where is the American? The intellectual?
He should see this. Call Mr. Thrace!
Mr. Thrace, they are calling you.
There is something amusing down there.
Thank you very much. Goodbye.
There is the purity
that was Greece!
Play, Taki. Play and never stop.
Pretty?
Yes.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Please?
- Here's a man who wants to pass.
- Thank you.
- Good evening.
- How do you do?
- Good night.
- Good evening.
- How did you know I was American?
- What you take?
Coffee, please.
- American coffee?
- Greek coffee!
Waiter...
- What is everybody drinking?
- Ouzo.
Is what men drink.
What are you looking at, friend?
I beg your pardon.
Thank you.
What are you applauding for?
You're making a mistake.
Your dance was beautiful.
If you threw money, there'd
have been a massacre.
Why are you angry?
I was applauding.
You'd better go to a fancy cabaret,
or your mother will wear black.
I don't like to be shaken!
I know you're big.
You're going to make me hit you!
Please! I don't want
to fight with you.
I came here with
love. I love you.
I love you, and I'm
fighting with you.
Doesn't anyone
here speak English?
- I do.
- Ilya!
I speak English.
I was dancing,
bothering no one...
and he applauds me
as if I were a ballerina.
Would you please explain to him
that I loved his dance. I was applauding.
Careful, he's a brute.
Jorgo, he's an angel.
My most old client.
- I was enjoying, bothering no one...
- Shut up, now.
Jorgo is angry because
you have applauded.
In Greece, when a man
dances, it's for himself.
It makes him feel better in
his... How you say in English?
- Soul.
- That's it.
It is for his soul.
He is angry because you
think he is an entertainer.
Come on, Jorgaki. He applauded
because he liked your dance.
- Shake hands and be friends.
- Go on.
All right, boys,
back to your tables.
Go on. Go enjoy yourselves.
Would you please tell him
that I'm sorry about his nose.
- He's sorry he punched you in the nose.
- Wait till he sees his eye tomorrow.
He says, "Wait to see
tomorrow morning your eye."
I thought so. Please have
a drink with me. You too, sir.
- Okay.
- This is Ilya.
- My name is Armathis.
- Everybody calls him Captain.
I'm very happy to meet you
both, and at the right moment.
- My name is Homer Thrace.
- Homer?
- My father loved everything Greek.
- A Grecophile.
- How well you speak English!
- Eight years in Brooklyn.
- Brooklyn? You're kidding.
- The Navy Yard.
Now I work in the
yard here, in Piraeus.
- Beer.
- Two beers.
I would like three bires.
- You are rich?
- No, I'm very poor.
Hey, you are a writer?
- I was just making some notes.
- What you are?
Well, I'm an
amateur philosopher.
You stay long in Greece?
Maybe. I'm looking for
something in Greece.
What?
- You won't laugh?
- Why? You look for something funny?
I came to Greece...
to find the truth.
Our world is unhappy. Why?
Where did it begin to go wrong?
Might not the traces be here?
No society ever reached the heights
that were attained by ancient Greece.
It was the cradle of culture.
It was a happy country.
What happened?
What made it fall?
Historians don't satisfy
me. Wars, politics...
Something's missing,
something personal.
I want to walk where
Aristotle walked.
Socrates... I can't explain it.
I don't know. I have a
feeling I'll find something.
In the camera you
look more beautiful.
Your nose is not so big.
Thank you.
It's certain that the old philosophers
often walked around this port.
How thrilling!
Why, that means that Aristotle
might have stood on this very spot!
Yes.
- Did you ever think of that, Ilya?
- Every day.
I don't think Ilya would have
much sympathy for Aristotle.
- His opinion of women was rather low.
- He was sick.
Aristotle, sick?
Your eye begins to be pink. I
go to see my friend's nose now.
- Very glad to meet you, Homer.
- Likewise.
You're very pretty.
- Homer. Bye, Captain.
- Bye, Ilya.
- Light of my eyes!
- Who can dance like Ilya?
The little fellow beat you up?
If I'd really hit him,
they'd close up the place.
- Hello, sister. So you are Ilya.
- Hello, brother. I am Ilya.
- Are you busy?
- I don't know.
All right, how much?
I make no prices.
- 60 drachmas?
- I'll give you 80.
60 drachmas will be fine.
- I offered 80.
- I don't care if you offered 180.
- Why?
- Because I don't like you.
- I don't make it a condition that you like me.
- I make it a condition that I like you.
- Is she...
- She is.
How is it possible?
That lovely, gracious...
Captain, maybe that's
what I'm looking for.
What luck!
Ilya.
The symbol of my quest.
The personification.
In her, the answer
to the mystery.
The personal equation of
the fall of ancient Greece.
Sorry, miss. I'm terribly sorry.
It's not that you... I
think you're beautiful.
And I liked so much
what you did in that cafe.
I wanted so much to be with you.
But, I don't know.
I'm nervous.
And you are very nice.
If you don't mind...
- I'll just go now.
- I don't mind.
But first we smoke a cigarette.
You give me English
cigarette, yes?
Of course.
Do you like music?
This is Greek. Bouzouki music.
Men like this music.
- You like?
- Yes...
and I like you.
- When your boat goes away?
- Tomorrow.
You will come back
to Piraeus sometime?
- I don't know. Maybe.
- Then you come to see me.
I certainly will. The first...
The words of this
song are beautiful.
"With such a moon,
how can I sing?
"With such a moon, how
make away my sadness?
"Chase away your
sadness, palikari."
"Palikari" is a
strong young man.
"And together we go the moon."
Homer.
- The Captain told me where you lived.
- I was sleeping. It's too late.
- I'm so excited.
- I'm sorry.
You are the beauty
that was Greece.
- You are the reason I came to Greece.
- All right, come tomorrow.
Homer Thrace of
Middletown, Connecticut.
This may be important.
Think clearly.
See clearly.
Be prepared.
Let's go.
- What's your hurry?
- You've got to go back to work.
- Thanks for worrying about me.
- Let's not be nasty now.
- I don't like you to look at your watch.
- Why not?
Because when we are together...
Bravo.
Usually when a man is
ridiculous, he doesn't know it.
But when he falls on
his behind, he knows it.
Of all people, the Italians
are the most impulsive.
And my family...
is the most Italian of them all.
- But you're half Greek.
- With you I am all Italian.
My father came to Corfu
for one day. A baptism.
He took one look at Corfu
and said, "This is for me."
He never went back to Italy.
I had an aunt. She
went to the movies.
Rudolph Valentino.
She took one look at him and
said, "That's the man for me."
She never looked at another
man. She died an old maid.
I have the same blood.
I was going to tell you that I
like you. I feel good with you.
That I want you only for me, that
I don't want you to see other men.
- Then you fell on your behind.
- I don't like to be laughed at.
I like you. But if you hurt
me, I'll hit you on the head.
- I'd bet you would.
- You'd win.
- Then I let go.
- Now we understand each other.
- Ilya...
- That Sunday voice again.
All right. Let's go.
Where are you going?
- None of your business.
- I was just being friendly.
Ask me no questions,
I'll tell you no lies.
- Listen, tomorrow is Sunday.
- I invite you to my house every Sunday.
- We'll have the whole day.
- Let me finish.
Every Sunday is open
house for my special friends.
And tomorrow is not
an ordinary Sunday.
It's my birthday.
I've been looking everywhere.
Homer!
- That's my friend Tonio.
- How do you do?
How do you do?
- You hurt your eye.
- You speak English!
I studied with
record, two months.
I invite you both to my
open house tomorrow.
- The day after...
- No, the day after begins the festival.
What festival?
Theater. The Greek
tragedy. I go every night.
You like the Greek tragedies?
It's the most
beautiful thing there is.
I die!
Bye.
Extraordinary!
How do you do?
You're a heathen!
Your grandfather, your father...
you, and the children to come.
Do I have to put on
a skirt for you to stop?
Even then you wouldn't.
Because you are a mule.
Take this so I owe you nothing.
You love the ancient
Greek theater!
- Are you follow me?
- I can't get over it.
- Are you follow me?
- Yes.
I don't like that you follow me.
If you like the Greek
tragedy, you like me. I mean...
I know every one that
was ever written. Almost.
I like you very much.
- Then may I ask you a question?
- Ask.
How did you become a...
- How did you get into your profession?
- One moment.
The only clients that I
permit to ask such questions...
- I'm not a client!
- That's right, you are not.
You would have big
problems with your morals.
Also, your nose is too big.
That's a deal, no client.
How did you become a...
University boys, I permit
to ask me such questions.
We smoke cigarettes, I
make up for them sad stories.
They give me advices,
and all that is very sweet.
But they are University boys.
Not old boy scout...
with dirty eye.
I guess I deserved that. I
embarrassed you. I'm sorry.
You? Me?
- Say, that's French, isn't it?
- Yes.
It means don't be jerk.
French, English, Greek.
- Italian, a little Spanish.
- That's extraordinary!
- Where did you learn all those languages?
- In bed.
So long.
Hello, Ilya.
You live a good life.
Fresh air. You make music.
People give you money.
Thank you. Goodbye.
Hey! Why you follow me?
- Because I want you to stop being...
- Why?
Because you are the whole
world. Beautiful and corrupt.
You are very crazy.
- Good day, Ilya.
- Go away, Garbage.
You know who's in that car?
It's the boss. He
wants to talk to you.
Don't say I said so.
I think he'd give you an
apartment at half price.
Tell him to drop dead.
No one has ever seen the
boss's face. He will reveal it to you.
I don't have to see his
face. I can spit anywhere.
You looking for a scar?
- Is he being disagreeable?
- He's just an errand boy.
Homer, you are wonderful.
Who's the man in the big car?
He owns all a
street of apartments.
All the girls in the profession
live in these apartments.
- He oblige them to pay enormous rents.
- All the girls?
Except Ilya, and
he doesn't like that.
Why?
Because I am an independent.
It gives the other girls ideas.
- Good day.
- Good day.
- Good day.
- Good day.
Goodbye, Homer.
Something is very funny.
Mr. "No Face" and you.
You both want to put
me out of business.
What will you have, sir?
Ouzo.
Order one ouzo.
Happy birthday,
and a hundred more.
Thank you.
- All this just for me?
- Strange, it's the first Sunday that...
- We're going to have a fight.
- Why?
Nobody's coming. I told
them you called off the party.
- And the reason?
- Because I want you for myself.
- Out!
- Make me get out.
Out! How dare you
send my friends away?
I told you. No other man.
No other you. Not if you
were the last man in Piraeus.
I am the last man.
The best man, the
handsomest man...
and the strongest.
Happy birthday!
Many happy returns.
Darlings!
A hundred more, Ilya.
You've been invited to Ilya's open
house? That makes you very special.
I'm gonna report her!
Now we can eat.
Garbage forgot something!
- For me?
- No.
- Health, Ilya.
- Health, little bird.
You know, I could have
seen the boss's face.
You should have.
- He's the marble merchant.
- Moron! He's the insurance broker.
If you really want
to know who he is...
Whoever he is, he stinks.
Ilya, I wanted...
ls the American going to give
you the flowers or keep them?
This vice king...
Might he not hurt you?
He thinks that No
Face would hurt Ilya.
No, she has too many friends.
- They would tear his house down.
- Brick by brick.
Yet, I think I'll have a look
at No Face after the festival.
Good idea.
You want to see my new dress?
- Ilya, what's playing tomorrow?
- Medea.
- Ilya, how many times have you seen it?
- Fifteen.
That's extraordinary!
Especially when she has no
idea of what the play is about.
Whatever in the play is
unpleasant, she changes.
- How?
- In her head.
She just rejects anything
that to her is ugly.
You like my dress?
Listen to me, Homer.
If you promise not to interrupt, I'll
get her to tell the story of Medea...
- as Ilya sees it. But you...
- I promise.
All right, go sit down.
Listen, I know how much you
like to hear Ilya tell the stories...
- of the ancient tragedies...
- I'm ready.
Today, in honor of
our American friend...
Ilya is going to tell the
story of Medea in English.
- English is impossible.
- Please!
Is not possible.
Okay!
Medea is a beautiful play, but for
you men, is not much compliments.
The play is about what a
woman suffers for a man.
Once upon a time, there
was a princess from far away.
- Her name is Medea.
- That's the best one.
Beautiful, long black hair.
A Greek, he comes. And right
away, Medea crazy for him.
She will listen to
nobody. She wants him.
She fights with her
father, her whole country.
Medea was very sweet, but
sometimes she has a bad temper.
Sweet? She was a vicious
character. She was a murderess.
Anyhow, she goes to
Greece to marry this man.
He is a prince.
His name is Jason.
She is good to him. She
gives him two beautiful children.
But he...
Right away, with a
blonde princess in Athens...
You know what.
This Jason is not even a
gentleman to tell Medea lies. No!
He says right to her face that
he wants that other blonde...
because she is a princess.
And Medea cries and
says, "I am a princess, too."
Beautiful, how she cries.
Everything she does for Jason.
Even she gives presents to the blonde.
She sends gifts
that were poisoned.
But everybody says
bad things about her.
They say she is a witch.
There are 12 rich ladies
in beautiful dresses.
But they say bad
things about her, too.
Twelve rich ladies?
The Greek chorus?
And Medea cries.
I tell you, she
breaks your heart.
She is afraid.
She takes the children
and she hides them.
But in the end, Jason sees
how much Medea loves him...
and they get a
wonderful chariot.
And she gets the children...
and they all go to the seashore.
No! The Greek tragedy!
She gives it a happy ending.
- She doesn't say Medea killed her children.
- She changed that, too.
Ilya's happy. She worked out
a way of living. Let her alone.
I make mistakes in my English?
Not at all.
Sometime I'd like to
hear you tell Oedipus Rex.
I don't like this story. ls very
mean. One thing is very nice.
Always Oedipus is
talking about his mother.
I never saw such a good son
who loves so much his mother.
All right. I tell to my
friends now Oedipus Rex...
in Greek.
In Greek?
Once upon a time, there
was a Prince from Thebes.
It's impossible. A whore can't be
happy. A whorish world can't be happy.
I'd like to reach her mind.
What do you want
to put in her mind?
Reason, in place of fantasy.
Morality, instead of immorality.
I've got to educate her.
To transform her.
- Remember what happened to Pygmalion.
- I wouldn't make that mistake.
Ilya is lovely.
But for me, she's not a
woman, she's an idea.
She's an outlaw! Yes!
Law must be re-established
everywhere. Don't you see, Captain?
I see you'll have
black eyes all your life.
...but let's forget
all those bad things.
They hurt his
eyes, the poor thing.
But in the end he
finds his family...
and they all go to the seashore.
- "And they all go to the seashore"?
- They always go to the seashore.
- Boris, Greece is capitalist country, no?
- Yes.
So how in capitalist country they
close up business to go to the theater?
This is explained
in a chapter...
of Karl Marx's
Contradictions In Capitalism.
There is Ilya's bus to Athens.
Ilya. Who is she? Joan of Arc?
She's got courage, which
some of us do not have.
She's doing fine. What
does she care about us?
She's got heart,
which some of us don't.
Hello. What are
you doing here, girls?
We're looking for husbands.
And I thought you
came to talk to Ilya.
It's a democracy, no?
We don't like you
to associate with Ilya.
She's a bad influence.
Hello, slaves. Hello, Garbage.
Careful, the garbage man!
- Ilya!
- Not today.
- Adonis!
- I brought you some sandwiches.
Have a good time.
Kiss Medea for me.
Good trip.
- Are you courting me?
- Seriously.
Something else for you.
The stone seats in
the theater are hard.
I'll sit on it and think of you.
- Homer! Where are you going?
- With you, if you don't mind.
- Wonderful.
- I want us to see Medea together.
That's nice.
All right, girls. Let's go.
I had a dream.
I married a man.
He had a little money.
He was 94 years old.
What a relief.
Why are we running? We're
early. We're the first ones here.
If I'm not the first
one here, I am late.
- But I tell you that Medea killed her children.
- Homer, don't be stupid.
But it's easy to...
She killed them.
Medea herself, does she
not say, "I killed my children"?
And you believe her?
You don't understand the women.
- Medea loves her husband, yes?
- Yes.
Her husband is interested
in another woman?
- Yes?
- Yes.
So she said to her husband
that she has killed her children...
to frighten him,
to get him back.
- No!
- Yes.
She gets him back,
and everybody go away...
and everybody is happy and they
go to the seashore. And that's all!
If I show you that everything that
was ever written about Medea...
talks of her killing
her children...
if you ask 10 out of 10
people who saw the play...
and they tell you it's
true, then by simple logic...
- You're a Greek, you should be logical.
- Why?
Because the greatest Greek of
them all, Aristotle, invented logic.
- He said...
- Who?
- Aristotle...
- Aristotle!
The one that the Captain said thinks
men are everything and women are nothing?
I don't care what
he said, Aristotle.
Look around you, Ilya.
Greek art was the most
harmonious in the world.
What happened?
What happened to you?
All evil is disharmony.
You are in disharmony
with yourself.
You have beauty, grace...
and you are...
I, American boy scout, will
bring you back to harmony.
Bring me back to Piraeus.
I want to go to sleep.
I'm fighting for your
soul. Listen to me.
You make me unhappy.
If what you say about
the Greek tragedy is true...
- I don't like the Greek tragedy.
- If you would only...
And I don't like you...
because before I met you, I was
crazy about the Greek tragedy.
Is Ilya coming
for a swim today?
Good day, Captain.
Hello, ladies. How
are you, Despo?
- Terrible. ls Ilya around?
- No.
Hello, Captain. Did
you see Ilya today?
Who is not looking
for Ilya, today?
Mr. Thrace, this is
Despo, a friend of Ilya's.
Mr. Thrace is a writer.
How do you do, darling?
You are friend of
Ilya. Tell her to help us.
Only for her the
girls have respect.
If Ilya talks to
them, they will listen.
- Talk about what?
- Ilya can make all the girls say no.
Then he would make
rents not so expensive.
- Who?
- Mr. No Face.
Please.
Darling, you are a writer.
You write this in the newspaper?
What?
180 drachmas we pay for rent.
And if a girl try to move out...
No Face make it you don't
move in anywhere else.
You write this in the newspaper?
Yes?
- I'll see what I can do.
- Thank you, darling.
Captain, please
tell Ilya I was here.
- Yes, Despo.
- Bye.
There is some more
research for you.
Yes.
Captain, did you
see Ilya today?
Early this morning, briefly.
She was not in a very good mood.
Hello, my weakness.
- The most beautiful knee in Piraeus.
- Leave me alone. Bring me a beer.
What's wrong? Did Piraeus
lose the soccer game?
I offer you my very own.
Hello, Captain, all.
No coffee.
- Stay far from me!
- If you'll just...
if you come, I break
that bottle on your head.
- She would, too, wouldn't she?
- Come, let's have a drink.
When she gets mad...
she certainly lights
up, doesn't she?
He's improvising. He's
from Crete. They're good at it.
Two ouzo.
Illia has fire in eye
There is thunder in her hand
Don't look
Don't look at her
Or you will be struck blind
- What?
- "Ilya has fire in her eyes.
"Don't look at her
or she'll blind you."
Look darkly at all men
Give poison to them all
Refuse yourself to all men
Except your sweet
sweet Jorgaki
"She says no to everyone,
except her sweet Jorgaki."
I can't stand honest women
If ever I took a wife
I would want
the beautiful
the doll
the miraculous
Illiaki
"For him, no honest,
no good women."
- What does that mean?
- Whenever he wanted love, he paid for it.
Bravo! You brought
back Ilya's smile.
Taki, God bless your hands.
Now that you feel
better, may I join you?
You, go!
- I want to help you. I'm your friend.
- Don't help me. Be an enemy.
Why? Because I
told you the truth?
If you don't go away, I'll call Jorgo
and he'll make you another dirty eye.
Call him. I can
tell him something.
His song was charming,
but most revealing.
The truth can free him, too.
- Don't free him.
- He's a man with a deep problem.
Again, problems?
Yes, all his life he has associated
only with a certain kind of woman.
- Know why?
- He likes...
No. The real reason is
that he hates all women.
Jorgaki?
Jorgaki.
And I've no doubt
where that stems from.
It's elementary psychiatry.
He hated his mother.
That's true?
You want tell him that?
It might help him.
You are right.
I think you must tell him.
Jorgaki...
come here, my little bird.
Pull up a chair.
Our friend, who
is very educated...
has studied you.
Go on, Homer.
All your life, you
have known only...
No other women.
Tell him why, Homer.
There's a profound inner reason.
By having relations
only with such women...
you are obeying
an irresistible need...
to degrade all women.
A subconscious revenge
against all women.
Where does it come from?
Why?
You hated...
your mother.
Hold your hats!
Again!
You heard him!
He said I hated my mother!
Let him come!
He's a sucker for a left!
I don't know what he's
saying, but I don't like it!
Give him harmony!
What are you doing?
One moment.
Let me cut his throat, please.
And don't catch cold.
Thank you.
My mother. I put
her on a throne!
"Little Madonna,"
I used to call her!
Why are you crying?
You were a warrior.
Homer, go home.
I will.
You're barbarians.
You don't need a philosopher,
you need a missionary.
I'm leaving.
Bye-bye, Homer.
Bye-bye.
I'm sorry you're going home.
- Why?
- Because it's a defeat.
For you and for me, too.
- Have we met?
- You may call me Mr. Face.
I'm in real estate.
Mr. Face?
- And are your houses let only to girls?
- Yes.
I have a proposition to
make. May I sit down?
Sure.
You needn't run away.
I, too, exist in the
scheme of things.
You can't ignore me.
- I don't have to do business with you.
- Of course you do...
- and I'll tell you why.
- Why?
We both would
like Ilya to retire.
Of course, for entirely
different reasons.
You can have an
influence on her. I cannot.
So I have my reasons to offer
you help, and you to accept.
Accept what?
Money.
- You think you can buy Ilya?
- No, I've tried that.
- Me?
- The money will be for Ilya's time...
and her education.
I'll be damned.
If you prove to her that your
way of life is better than hers...
she'll admit it...
- and you'll have won.
- And you.
That's a secondary
matter, isn't it?
For you, there is
only one question:
are you more interested
that I should make no profits...
or are you more
interested in saving Ilya?
I hate your guts.
But I'm more
interested in saving Ilya.
What a wonderful song!
- Lend me 200 drachmas?
- No.
- Why?
- I have only 50 drachmas.
- I am missing 200 drachmas.
- Why?
Understand? For
our boat tickets.
Where are we going?
Italy, of course.
What do we do in Italy?
We eat spaghetti
and we make love.
We see Napoli, we make love.
We make tourism...
we make love.
We say, "Good
morning," we make love.
- You like that?
- Yes.
- We go?
- No.
Someday we will...
because everything
you do pleases me.
The way you rinse that thing...
pleases me.
The way you walk pleases me.
The way you hang
it up pleases me.
- The way I put out the light pleases you?
- Yes, that pleases me, too.
The way your shoulder
fits into my hand...
pleases me.
The way your body goes
with mine pleases me.
- Ilya...
- That Sunday voice again?
Someday, we'll talk about love.
Forbidden. Verboten!
You don't let me
talk about love.
You take my tongue away.
Then shut up.
You know, I have done
many things in my life.
I'm not the one to
talk about morality.
But tell me, Ilya...
you like your life?
My life was fine before the
missionary and you came along.
I've thrown him out.
And now...
You'll never throw me out.
U.S.?
I said you to go home.
There's a boat
leaving in two hours.
I have something to propose to you.
If you don't accept, I'll be on that boat.
Give me water.
Water.
Poor Homer, he
comes in Greece...
and all the time
he gets a dirty eye.
Come sit down.
Don't be afraid.
Ilya, let me talk to you.
Are you happy?
I am happy.
- You like your life?
- I like my life.
- You like your work?
- I like my work!
And what if I prove to
you that you're not happy?
Cursed be the hour
and the moment...
No, you tell me, exactly what
is it that makes you happy?
The sun, he shines on
me. He makes me happy.
I eat a good fish,
he makes me happy.
I touch you. if you
feel good, I'm happy.
Everything sensual,
everything physical.
You live by the Stoic and
Epicurean philosophies...
that came after the fall
of Greece. It's so clear.
Not to me.
How shall I tell you?
Ilya...
at one time, Greece was the
greatest country in the whole world.
It still is.
At the height of Greek glory,
there were three great men.
Philosophers.
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
- I told you, this one I don't like.
- All three of them giants.
They gave their lives
to the one question:
- What is happiness?
- Really? And what did they say?
They said that the true happiness
comes from the pleasure of the mind.
That the greatest happiness
is the joy of understanding.
Really?
I sat next to you in that amphitheater
when we went to see Medea.
I watched you, your eyes
were shining with happiness.
It's not important that you made a mistake
about the play. We'll talk about that.
But your...
Everything in you was
shining with pleasure.
Beauty that was Greece.
- Give me two weeks of your life.
- What?
I want every
minute of two weeks.
You'll lose nothing by it.
I'll pay you for each minute.
If in the end of two weeks you
don't begin to think my way...
I'll disappear.
Why you want to do that for me?
You believe you can make me...
Anything.
Maybe when I was a little girl.
Now!
I'll make you see a world
you never knew about. I'll...
Can you make me somebody
who it is good to love?
You'll be reborn.
Ilya, two little weeks.
Please.
I give you two weeks.
And Ilya ate of the apple of
wisdom, and she knew shame.
- Good day, Ilya.
- Good day, Spiro.
What will I do with
all of those fish?
Last Sunday...
was dark and dreary.
We hoped this Sunday...
- you'd make a party.
- No, Spiro.
What should I do?
- Throw them back into the sea?
- Go on, put them in the fridge.
Spiro.
Come on, take it.
Tell me true. ls your
life better this way?
Maybe it's not so
much fun, but it's better.
This Homer, you sleep with him?
No, it's something else.
What else is there?
He believes in me.
That I can be wonderful.
And I believe in him.
That's what else there is.
Goodbye, Ilyaki.
Come here.
Here.
Be well, Spiro.
From my window,
I send kisses
one and two
and three and four
And to the port come
one and two and
three and four birds
I want to have
one and two and
three and four sons
Who when they become men
will be the pride of Piraeus
If I search the world over
I'll find no other port
which has the magic
of my Port of Piraeus
When twilight comes
the port sings to me
And young men
and echoes of song
fill my Port of Piraeus
No one goes by my door
for whom I don't feel love
And those to come tomorrow
fill my dreams at night
So, to the jewels
around my throat
I add a charm
to bring me Iuck
And now I'm ready to welcome
the stranger
come from the port
If I search the
whole world over
I'll find no other port
which has the magic
of my Port of Piraeus
When twilight comes
the port sings to me
And young men
and echoes of song
fill my port of Piraeus
These blasted shoes.
Boss!
The whole fleet is pulling in.
They've been at
sea for 21 weeks.
Fine, be with you in a minute.
This is for the
books and records.
That's very pretty.
That's my personal gift to
Ilya. I paid for that myself.
It's still very pretty.
And now I would like to talk to
you about my personal gift to you.
How would you like
a punch in the nose?
Is that your good
deed for the day?
You're a cynical son of a...
I'm not a boy scout.
I'm a working man.
You're a skunk.
Look here, you're not
a little boy anymore.
What's bothering you
is not that I smell bad.
You're afraid that
some of the smell...
might rub off on you.
You're damned right.
It's classic.
There shall always be people like you
who will be working for people like me.
And they scream about it.
Get her out!
Excuse me, there was
no door to knock on.
Please, I am one of
your tenants. The rents...
- Get her out!
- They are too high. It's impossible.
Put yourself in our
place. You couldn't...
- Get her out!
- Bloodsucker!
Someday, I'll see you
without those glasses.
Hide in dark corners, you whore.
That's what you
are. You are a whore!
Listen.
With two hands.
Bravo. Miraculous.
What is this...
a house or a bookstore?
It's my new house.
The happiest house in Piraeus.
- Despo, I died.
- Bite your tongue.
I died and I was born again.
- You've met Homer?
- Yes.
Is there nothing to drink?
Excuse me.
You must talk to the girls.
When the fleet leaves we'll
have a little money put aside.
With that reserve, we could
hold out and fight No Face.
Once and for all.
Why don't you forget that life?
You have to think of the future.
You're not 18 years old anymore.
I'm better than ever.
The older the chicken,
the better the juice.
Listen.
You'll stop working
for two weeks.
Homer will pay you.
Homer! How did you know?
I like the reds.
- I have something else.
- No.
Hello, darling!
You know my friend Despo.
She speaks English better as I.
Very well he knows me. We
work both for the same man.
- What?
- The same man.
What are you talking about?
You died and you
were born again?
Well, make a deep breath...
because you're
going to die again.
- He works for No Face.
- Are you crazy?
I am crazy, darling.
It's not true.
Darling! It's not true I see
you just now with No Face?
It's not true you see me?
She's mad!
- She's dreaming.
- I dream?
How do I know that present
you have for Ilya is a vase?
And in my dream,
I see much money.
No Face money...
in yellow envelope
in that pocket.
Show me what you
have in that pocket.
I want to see what
it is in that pocket.
Over the top!
Will you please...
- "Happiness is the joy of understanding."
- Will you...
"I think, therefore I am."
Descartes, French
philosopher, 18th century.
Seventeenth.
"The Greek decline went fast
after the death of Alexander."
"To accept the bondage
under the oriental occupation...
"the Greeks began to
live only for pleasure."
- Will you let me explain?
- I let you explain.
The money that you give
me comes from No Face?
- I'll start at the beginning.
- Does it come from No Face?
Yes, it did.
Attack!
"Afghanistan is situated on
the borders of Iran and Pakistan.
- "Population is..." I forgot!
- It's a misunderstanding.
"Iceland is country very close
to North Pole. Climate very cold."
- Listen!
- "Greece is far from North Pole.
"Climate very hot."
"Many Shakespeare
plots come from Plutarch."
"The four great tragedies are...
"Othello, Macbeth,
Hamlet and King Lear.
"But some critics prefer...
- "The Tempest!"
- Please.
Attack!
What? No, not Picasso!
Monsieur Picasso,
excuse me very much.
- Will you listen?
- You listen!
Calm down.
When you calm down, you'll
understand I'm your friend.
"A friend is one
soul in two bodies."
And that, my
friend, is Aristotle.
Come on, Despo. We
have some work to do.
Now we go fix Mr. No Face.
- Will you please tell her...
- No.
Not once the fleet goes away.
Now! I swear to you...
those sailor boys
will make like wolves.
Quickly, Mr. Lawyer.
Let's go.
Yes, sir?
I'm the lawyer of these girls. I
have come to pay their fines.
Here they come.
Isn't he handsome?
- Such a cute mustache!
- Isn't he adorable?
Your fines have been
paid, you may go.
May I talk to my clients alone?
I'm listening.
- A big cut in the rents.
- All right.
From 180 drachmas we'll
bring it down to 170 drachmas.
The darling. isn't he generous?
All right, 160
drachmas. Let's go.
Silence!
Silence.
What do you want?
I want you to know that
the good old days are over.
130 drachmas.
Little bird, 80 drachmas!
- Are you crazy?
- 80 drachmas!
- 120 drachmas. Last offer. I swear.
- 80 drachmas! Last offer. I swear.
- 110 drachmas.
- 90 drachmas.
90 drachmas, it's a deal.
Gibraltar...
a rock.
He stays.
Homer, what did you do to Taki?
He's not a man.
He's a catastrophe.
What happened? Captain?
He asked Taki if he could
read music. Taki said no.
He asked Taki, why
does he not learn.
Taki said, "I'm too old."
So he told Taki, if he
couldn't read music...
he was no real musician
and he never would be.
Perfect.
So Taki began to cry and
said he would never play again.
Homer, when will you learn?
- Where is Taki?
- He locked himself in the bathroom.
- Taki, come out.
- No.
Taki, open the door.
I want to talk to you.
Leave me alone.
Nobody in Greece plays
the bouzouki like you.
- You play like an angel.
- Go away.
I'm ignorant. I'll
never play again.
Taki, listen.
Those people who
made up music notes...
they made them up so that
they could write down music, no?
What?
You make music. They need the
notes to write down what you play.
If you don't play...
what can they do with
their notes? Nothing.
Don't you see?
Can birds read music?
No.
So should the
birds stop singing?
Is he kidding, brother?
Watch it, boys!
Here we go!
You're beautiful...
but you're dumb.
I wanted to save you.
Why don't you save No
Face? He need it more than me.
Because you were the symbol.
Is not symbol. ls a woman.
Don't you think I
know that, Romeo?
I've been dying
to sleep with her.
Homer, is true?
From the first minute.
Is too late!
And now we all
go to the seashore!
If anyone will save
Ilya, it will be Tonio.
Why Tonio?
Because with
love, it's possible.