Swimming Home (2024) Movie Script

1
You're very quiet, Josef.
- How was your flight?
- Great!
Thanks for picking me up, by the way.
I'm sorry you had to wait so long.
No, no. Vito was the one
who had to wait in the car.
Efcharsto pol, Vto.
- Parakal.
- Uh-uh, Vito,
don't let, uh,
Laura's politeness fool you.
How are you?
I'm okay!
Sure?
How long were you home
before you had to come here?
A week.
- Not too long.
- I just slept most of it.
- Was it tough this time?
- No.
No more than usual.
It smells so different here,
it's like...like musk.
No, it's, uh, Vito's beauty wax.
Bum Bum Cream.
He's been telling us all about it.
It, uh... It comes from Brazil.
It has five times the amount of caffeine
that coffee does.
Interesting.
My bum-bum could use some coffee.
Me, too. Constantly.
- How does it work?
- You rub it on.
The oil squeezes the molecules
of your skins and tightens it.
- Like a... Like a drum-drum?
- Yes.
We're getting close.
You must be tired.
We can just relax
by the pool this afternoon.
The forest is full of bears.
When it gets dry like this,
they come down from the mountains
and they drink from the swimming pools.
Didn't know you had bears.
The Ottomans brought them here
from the Urals.
They lived in the mountains
until the...road was built.
Last week...
a dog had its ear bitten off.
Well, here we are.
Hm. Pink?
Joe thinks it's terracotta, but...
you know.
- Hi.
- Hi!
Hey!
- I missed you!
- There's a woman in the pool.
Who the hell is this?
Is it a bear, Joe?
Hi.
Hi!
I'm waiting for Vito.
The gate was open.
Vito!
There's someone here for you.
Which gate?
I hope you don't mind me using the pool.
I was waiting and I was hot.
We don't mind.
We thought you might be a bear.
Hi.
- What's your name?
- Nina.
I like your hair.
You think I look
like a bear, Nina?
- No.
- Where are you from?
- Here, sometimes.
- Sometimes.
What the hell does that mean?
I'm going to wait at the gate.
What are those?
My plants.
I'm a botanist.
You've got some good,
peculiar words in botany.
- Vito? Your friend's here.
- Hi, sorry, I thought we'd be back.
No, it's our fault he's late.
Laura's flight was delayed.
This is my friend, Kitti.
I'm Isabel.
- Hi.
- Hi.
I'm finding her an apartment.
- Where?
- Near the beach.
Why don't you stay here?
We have a little house in the garden.
There's a gate to the beach.
You can come and go as you please.
- You sure?
- Yes.
- I don't want to be any trouble.
- No, it's no trouble at all.
Josef loves to talk about plants, and...
Nina's bored of us already.
Entxei.
Nina...
do you want to show her
down to the little house?
Thanks, Nina.
What are you up to?
Vito knows her.
You could have said no, Josef.
Here you are,
let me show you where you are.
The room looks sweet.
That's cool.
This? Have it.
- It will suit you.
- Really?
Your mum is nice.
- Not always.
- She's a war journalist, right?
How do you know that?
Your parents are famous.
People always think
what she does is really special...
but really she just goes to other
countries to watch people kill each other.
Does it upset you?
It used to.
She's always pissed off
when she comes back.
Sounds like you do care.
I don't.
Where was she last?
Sudan.
And your dad?
Dad never goes anywhere.
Just locks himself in the study all day.
Writing?
He says he doesn't write any more.
Why?
Won't really talk about it.
A poet without words.
Yeah.
Who looks after you at home?
We used to have
a lodger called Marta.
She was really nice,
but she got in a big argument and left.
They're both really weird, Mum and Dad.
Neither of them can cook or drive.
Dad used to drive, but now when we go
on holiday we always get a driver.
It's pretty weird.
It's not strange, if you don't drive.
It's embarrassing.
How old are you?
Fifteen.
Do you like boys or girls?
Boys, I guess.
You want one?
These smell like parsnips.
What are they?
They're roots.
I collect roots.
They can think and solve problems.
- Can you show me your parents' room?
- Sure.
They're my dad's books.
He's supposed to be making
a collection of his old stuff...
but I don't think he's read them yet.
"Take...him."
He was very handsome.
From Bosnia.
Was he very young when he left?
He won't talk about it.
Do you think he'll mind
if I take it?
He definitely will.
Do you go to the beach?
Not yet.
Let's go tomorrow.
I'll show you the rocks
where the boys are.
The boys on the rocks!
I brought one of your books.
I read the back cover.
Nina said it was okay.
To read the back cover
or to take the book?
To read your poems.
You wrote them to be read, right?
Good luck with finding
anything useful inside.
Where's Mum?
Isabel likes to do her own thing
in the evening.
Which means she's
never fucking here, even with guests.
Sweetheart, your mum...
goes to some weird sex club every night.
Your mum needs time on her own...
and she's been back only a few weeks.
Without people like her in the world,
we wouldn't know
half of the things that we know.
And you know
she's not going to a sex club.
Laura is right.
She's very brave, your mum.
Where were you born, Kitti?
I can't remember being born.
Can you?
Well, I know at least where I was born.
My mother was a river...
so we were always on the move.
That's interesting.
You're from Bosnia.
You must have had a difficult childhood.
And you're from Paris?
This is where I live, yeah.
Laura's the Head of Department
at the Sorbonne.
Only Acting Head.
It's not that exciting.
Lettres?
- L'histoire.
- Ancienne?
Contemporaine.
L'histoire de socit
occidentale contemporaine.
You've known each other for a long time?
Laura was our first professor,
Isabel and I.
A long time ago,
back when Joe was this...
young hot thing in literature.
Not that long ago.
"Take him. With flight."
"Take him and think of him.
"He and think of him.
"With him think of him.
"With him and with think
"with think with think of him."
Kitti said roots can think.
I'm not sure
potatoes have thoughts.
Roots can solve problems
without brains.
That's why they're interesting.
This whole place was used by monks
to grow medicine.
We could go there tomorrow, if you want.
It's not that far.
You know roots.
It's etymology.
- Do you like poetry, Kitti?
- I don't know much about it.
Thank you for letting me stay.
You don't need to thank me,
you have to thank Isabel.
She's the one who invited you.
She's very kind-hearted.
Mum?
Yes, Mum.
More salad, anyone?
I'm your fucking guest, too,
you know.
Are you okay?
You're shivering.
Come here.
Here, here.
Okay. Sit down, now.
Hello.
You haven't slept, have you?
Did you hear the birds?
I've never heard them so early.
Are you okay?
- Morning!
- Morning.
Did you sleep okay?
Yeah.
I'm just wondering if she's okay.
I think she is.
I don't know.
I... I woke up at night
and wanted to drink some water, and...
and I saw her wandering around,
and she didn't look okay to me.
Have you figured out
why she has all these plants?
I think she's a vegetarian.
I know you're upset I asked her to stay.
I'm not upset.
I'm just worried.
What are you worried about?
You.
What you're doing to yourself.
What you're trying to do to your marriage.
You know, she's beautiful and odd
and you invite her
to stay in your garden...
to walk around naked.
You know what Joe's like.
You just got rid of this Argentinian...
Marta.
- Yeah, Marta.
- Yeah. Joe got rid of her.
I just...
I've seen the pain it causes you.
You remember when
you came back from Jerusalem
and you found this woman...
I don't know what her name was...
Laura...
..shall I make a list
of all the women Joe's slept with?
I just don't understand
why you have to put something...
..in front of him.
Well,
Joe can make his own choices.
His responsibility is to himself.
We've always agreed that.
Yeah.
Are you okay?
I just...
Just we haven't spoken
since you came back.
I... I knew I was going to see you,
so I just...
I'm finding it...
..much more difficult.
Yeah, I know.
I've read your article
about the women that were...
Oh, no.
No, no, it's not that. Um...
That's the same,
the-the suffering doesn't change,
the brutality doesn't change. It's...
I'm finding it more difficult coming home.
I'm...
..much lonelier when I come home.
You know.
When I'm there...
..I mean, yes, it's...
it's dangerous or it can be scary,
but I feel safe.
And when I'm here...
or-or...
I stand outside of Nina's school
and look at the other parents...
I mean, there's just...
nothing.
There's no empathy.
Everyone's just looking out
for themselves, and...
I can't stand it,
I can't stand the selfishness.
It's fine, I just...
Something...
changed, and I don't know...
how to be here.
But it's not you.
I'm sorry, I'll stop being so...
self-absorbed soon.
He reminds me of chewing-gum.
I've missed you.
I just hope you know what you're doing.
Morning.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Hello, good morning.
What did Vito want?
Uh, he wanted to know how Kitti was.
And what did you tell him?
I, I told him...
that I liked his shorts very much.
- How long has he known her?
- I didn't ask.
- I just don't trust her.
- And you're not an awkward stick?
- A stick?
- Hey.
Will you chop that?
Have you seen my pen anywhere?
Apparently, there's a rat
under the sink somewhere
and Vito's going to get a trap.
So, maybe the rat's using your pen.
Rats can't write shit, you know that.
Are you going to
start writing shit again?
I don't know, probably.
Can you chop that?
Are we going anywhere in particular?
I thought you liked getting lost.
Why did you stop writing?
"She's standing on my eyelids.
"And her hair is in mine.
"She has the shape of my hands
and the colour of my eyes.
"She's engulfed in my shadow
like a stone against the sky."
Is it about Isabel...
or another woman?
Is she lost?
No, she always knows where she's going.
Are you sure?
No.
I'm never sure of anything about Isabel.
That's why I fell in love with her.
Vito comes here sometimes with girls.
Is that why you know
about this place?
I get dragged everywhere.
Dragged?
Want to see my scars?
Conium maculatum.
Hemlock.
I know what it is, Socrates.
Vincamine.
Senna Alexandrina.
- Atropa Belladonna.
- Belladonna.
They're all poisonous.
Hydra Lerna.
If you cut the head off...
...two grow back.
Boom.
Socrates was scared of snakes.
Socrates was an asshole.
Why did you come here with me?
I like your wife.
Isabel's a trickster.
What are you?
Do you remember anything
about your parents?
They left you in a forest.
Were you scared?
Do you remember?
Why should I want to remember?
I read the poems.
- The poems want to remember.
- Mm.
Why were you in our pool?
I was hot.
No.
No. W-What have you come for?
I came here for you.
I don't want you.
It's not true.
You can't lie to me, Josef.
Why are you eating poisonous plants?
For you.
Hi.
Hi, Nina.
- Are we going to the beach?
- Yeah.
How did you get here?
Vito gave me a ride.
- He's sweet.
- He's not sweet, my love.
You be careful, Socrates.
There are snakes in the grass.
Fuck off, snakes.
You can't lie to me, Josef.
Ponyland. Ponyland. Ponyland.
Ponyland. Ponyland.
Ponyland. Ponyland.
Isabel.
Did you choose the house or Vito?
What?
Have you found out yet how he knows Kitti?
What are you doing?
The owners asked me to make a hole.
Why?
I don't know,
they want me to put steps in it.
Are you sure you're okay
with Kitti staying here?
- I can find her another place to stay.
- No, no, she's fine.
We like her.
If you go out tonight,
do you want me to drive you?
I like to walk.
You know, it's not that safe,
near the beach at night.
I know. I'm okay.
"She has the shape of my hands
and the colour of my eyes."
I'm not real.
It's like crossing a road
with your eyes closed.
Sometimes you just have to go.
I didn't hear you come back.
Where've you been?
What is it?
I don't know.
You don't know?
I don't really remember.
Feel a bit sick.
Do you remember going to the orchard?
- I mean...
- With Kitti?
It's not really an orchard.
She's been reading my poems.
- Lots of people read your poems, my love.
- It's not that.
She asked about my parents.
What did you tell her?
I said I don't remember.
Do you remember?
Here, drink some water.
Maybe you got some heatstroke.
How long were you out there?
Where's Nina?
She wanted to spend the day at the beach.
I'm going to get Vito
to find Kitti somewhere else to stay.
Knowing and remembering
are not the same thing, my love.
"Eides ton filo mou?"
"Eides ton filo mou?"
"He has gone home."
"chei pei spti."
"chei pei spti."
"Would you like some soup?"
"Tha thlate lgi sopa?"
"Tha thlate lgi sopa?"
"He has gone home."
"chei pei spti."
"chei pei spti."
"Would you like
a bite of my sandwich?"
"Tha thlate mia bouki ap
to sntouits mou?"
"Tha thlate mia bouki
ap to sntouits mou?"
"Where is he?" "Po enai?"
"Po enai?"
"What did you eat?"
"Ti fages?"
"Ti fages?"
"The bush is on fire."
"O thmnos chei piasei fotia."
"O thmnos chei piasei fotia."
"He has gone home."
"chei pei spti."
"chei pei spti."
"He wrote a letter to his parents."
I've been watching you, Josef.
You scared me.
- Don't you ever sleep?
- I was waiting for you.
Are you feeling better?
- Don't worry about Nina.
- Where is she?
She'll be back.
What do you want from me?
You sent for me, Ysuf.
That's not my name.
Being left by your parents...
...was it so frightening?
I can't move my hand.
Isabel.
- Have you seen Nina?
- Not this morning.
She's not in her room.
I can't find her.
I heard her come back last night.
I can't find her.
Found you.
She got her period last night...
and came in with me.
Are you okay, my love?
I'm going to go into town.
I'll get you something from the chemist.
I don't want Kitti here.
I want her to leave... right now.
- Why do you want her to leave?
- Because I don't like her.
Why don't you like her?
I don't want to play this game, Isabel.
I'm not playing games.
If you want to get rid of her,
you have to be able to explain why.
I didn't have sex with her.
Would you like to?
No.
I don't.
That's normally...
why you want to get rid of people.
Okay.
Oh, I'm quite serious, my love.
I need you to tell me
why you want her to leave.
She scares me.
- Nina doesn't seem scared of her.
- Nina's a child.
I wonder who the damn child is, Josef.
You know, at least in the past
when you've done this...
you might embarrass me, but you've
never been afraid of the others.
- This isn't about the others.
- No! It's about you.
You need to figure out
what you're frightened of.
I don't know.
Maybe if you wrote something again,
then you'd know.
I don't feel anything.
If you don't feel anything...
then all of those books
mean fucking nothing.
Yes.
You do feel something.
Then...I don't want to.
You have to move forward, Josef.
You can't go back.
There's nothing there.
If Kitti leaves, so do I.
He's always doing something.
Are you okay?
Would you rather I left?
You know, just because a window's open,
doesn't mean you have to climb through it.
Spare me the fucking metaphors, Laura.
Ponyland, Ponyland.
Ponyland, Ponyland.
What's your name?
Marcos.
Will you take me with you, Marcos?
What?
Will you take me where you're going?
I'm not going anywhere.
What's your name?
Isabel.
Hi, Isabel.
Hi, Marcos.
I don't know what got into him.
I don't think it's broken.
Can you...
Can you just hold it like this?
Yeah.
Yeah, there.
Yeah, right there.
What are we doing?
I thought you wanted to go fishing.
Why are you being so weird?
You know...
you can't just grab me any more.
I'm not a little child.
Okay.
It's not okay.
Careful,
there's some big holes here.
- A-holes.
- A-holes.
Why d'you hit Vito?
You know, you can't just punch people.
- He's always doing something.
- It's his job.
No, it's not, not while we're here.
You know...
I never saw you hit someone before.
It really scared me.
I just...
I wanted it to stop.
Stop what?
I'm sorry. Okay?
It's still not okay, Dad.
Come sit.
Do you feel all right, when you're alone?
You're being fucking weird again, Dad.
You know, you and Mum
think I don't know anything...
but we all heard you arguing this morning.
When she comes back,
it's always fucking arguing, so, no...
I don't feel scared when I'm alone.
You know how much I love you, right?
You can't just say nice things
to make me
stop being angry, Dad. That's...
That's not how it works.
I know.
But... I love you...
... very much.
It's important for you to know that.
I love you in every way possible.
Fucking weirdo.
Stay here.
Look what we found.
It's our fish. We caught it by the rocks.
It's a handsome thing.
Dad always finds
really ugly things.
We're going to call it Thing-Pet.
Can I see it?
It's a sea slug.
It's a male.
You can tell because it has two dots
either side of its mouth.
They come into the rocks for spawning
before going back to the sea.
Most likely, it won't survive.
Nina...
I'm going to take you riding
in a bit, my love.
- Hi, Isabel.
- Hello.
Hello, Josef.
- What is that?
- It's our Thing-Pet.
Uh-huh.
What are you going to do with it?
Keep it.
- Why?
- No, I'll take it back.
- I thought we were going to keep it.
- No, Kitti's right, it should go home.
Are you going to come riding, too?
Sure.
Ella!
Oedi! Oedi.
Your pony is called Oedipus.
Because he could never
leave his mother alone.
Poor little Oedipus.
Mum, you can't smoke here.
This is Oedipus.
Shorter than I imagined.
Couldn't leave your mama alone, hm?
Do you love your mama?
One, two, three, hoopla.
Very nice. Just come on forward.
You'll need to keep the reins quite tight,
otherwise he'll stop and try to eat.
I don't want him eating.
There's some poisonous plants.
Okay?
Ready? Oedi...
Thank you.
I'm sorry I punched you.
You could have hit me back.
That's not my job.
In here.
- Here?
- Yeah, over there.
Okay.
Hemlock.
Mandrake.
Belladonna.
Why is there so much here?
The monks used them as medicine
and when they left, it grew everywhere.
It killed off the wildlife,
until they became immune, and...
and then it killed off the people
who ate the wildlife.
- Are you immune?
- Mm-hm.
I started eating tiny amounts
when I was young.
You shake.
Yeah.
Sometimes, when I've had a lot.
- So, you're...
- Poisonous, yeah.
If I get eaten by a bear...
Are there really bears around here?
A lot of them.
Josef knew about them all along.
When Nina was born,
I thought she was dead.
I asked the midwife
why she'd handed me a dead baby.
It's quite common, apparently.
I didn't want a baby.
We always joked that...
Nina...
was his.
It's not really a joke.
You still love him.
Very much.
But...
I can't do anything more to help him.
And he knows that.
You held him for a long time.
And I hurt him, too.
I left him, many times.
I thought...
Doesn't matter now, does it?
It's time...for you to go.
Goodbye.
Goodbye, Isabel.
Thank you.
Damn it.
Can you let me out here?
- We're almost there.
- Just stop here.
- We're almost there.
- Just let me off here, Vito.
Just stop the car. Here.
Stop the car. Just stop the car, Vito.
Ah, fuck!
Go, I'm fine.
Just leave! Leave!
Fuck.
Mum, what the fuck are you doing?
Head down now.
Come on, Nina, right down.
Hello.
Thought we'd find you here.
What are you doing?
I don't want you to leave.
- Where's Kitti?
- It's not about Kitti.
She's dangerous.
It's all dangerous.
- I'm going to call the police.
- You're not going to call the police.
You cannot bring the horse
in the restaurant.
If you call the police, your restaurant's
going to be shut down for weeks.
The horse stay outside.
Do you want your restaurant
to be shut down?
- The restaurant is for the people!
- The horse is inside.
No, inside is for the people!
No, inside is for the people
and the horse.
Okay...I'll come back.
We did it.
You look nice, Vito.
Can you grab the pony
so it doesn't eat that child?
Will you and Nina make sure
it gets back to the stables?
Yes.
What are you doing?
Could I get a Scotch and soda, please?
You have to pay for the damage.
There is no damage.
- Yes, it is.
- No, no.
But I'll pay for the food
that the pony ate,
and could I have
a Scotch and soda, please?
You know, you frighten me sometimes.
Joe's known for a long time.
Known what?
Everything.
Hello, Josef.
I've been waiting for you to come.
Do you remember now?
Yes.
Your parents left you
in the forest.
I...
remember going into the forest
behind where we lived.
We...
... walked for ages and ages.
My legs hurt...
but my father said
that we needed to keep going.
We got to a place
that I didn't recognise...
and I sat down, underneath a tree.
And my father said to...wait there.
And I...
watched them walk away.
I thought that they would come back.
They didn't.
I waited a very long time.
It got dark.
And I remember...
... feeling warm...
after freezing the whole day.
And I thought that the Earth
had turned upside down.
I was very scared.
Not any more.
They shouldn't have left me.
I should've gone with them.
Doesn't matter what happened.
It would've been better.
They died without me.
Are you still afraid?
No.
Nothing left to fear now.
Why?
Will you take care of me?
I will.
I love you, Isabel.
I love you, too.
I'm glad you came back for me.
Do you know who I am?
Yes.
I expected you to come, but I thought
that you would look different.
Everybody does.
Have you been with me a long time?
Since the beginning.
Why haven't I seen you before?
- You didn't recognise me.
- Mm.
And why now?
Now?
There never is a reason.
Will you fight me?
No.
I don't want to fight any more.
What are you doing?
What time is it?
What's going on, Mum?
Did Kitti come back?
I don't know.
Kitti!
No!
No!
Vito!
Get him up!
- Wake up!
- My love!
- No!
- Vito!
Wake up.
No!
Wake up.
Joe!
Wake up!
Joe!