Christian Movie

Word Search

Profanity report:

La constellation Jodorowsky

I hope that I am still alive

when this film is shown,

because this kind of thing

is dangerous...

...in the sense that one

considers oneself complete,

with the right to self-analysis,

when nothing is complete.

I am in the middle of my life.

I am at the formative stage.

I am still an adolescent.

So, if I am alive

when this film is seen...

...that would mean that...

...everything is magical!

The first question I want to ask is:

Who are you?

That's an impossible question

not to be asked.

The Emperor of China asked the

same question to Bodhidharma.

He had crossed India to come

to China...

...where he thought he could

find disciples.

So, the Emperor met him

and asked:

"I translated 2000 books.

What is my merit?"

And Bodhidharma answered:

"There is no merit!"

The Emperor said: "Who are you

to speak to me like that?"

And Bodhidharma replied:

"I don't know." And he left.

You can only know who you are

when you are dead.

You cease to exist when you say,

"That's what I am."

As soon as I can define myself,

I am dead.

People consider me a mystic...

...because I treat themes that

others avoid treating.

But I consider myself

neither a mystic nor an artist.

I am someone

who is playing games.

I am a gambler...

...just like people in casinos...

...who spend all their money.

But as an artist, what I burn...

...is part of myself, my ego.

Write on my hand

with your finger.

I am extremely attracted to what

I don't understand.

My intuition tells me...

...that therein lies

something important to study.

That's how I started to mime:

I didn't understand what

physical expression was about.

Did you start to mime in Chile?

Yes.

I was a successful actor

at the university theater.

Then I realized that my success

didn't come from me...

...but from the text I was reading.

I asked myself: "What is an actor?

A parrot that reads a text?

Or everything but the text?"

So I decided to found a theater

without any text.

That's how I discovered

the art of mime.

It was in the early fifties.

I already had my company

in Paris at that time.

Alejandro came from Chile...

...and was searching...

...for an art form like mime.

In Chile I had

a company of sixty people.

But I felt I had

nothing more to learn.

So I decided to come to Europe.

I had reached my limit.

Then Alejandro and I met again in '62.

He wrote "The Cage" for me.

He told me the story without miming:

A man walks and finds a cage,

a wall...

Alejandro didn't show it to me...

...but at that time I had already

invented this concept...

...that I didn't learn from Decroux,

my master:

This point of support in space.

Alejandro felt it.

We were in a state of osmosis.

The character is a prisoner in

a square cage...

...that shrinks

as he is trying to get out.

He puts his hand out...

...to feel the air, freedom.

He manages to get out...

...but finds himself prisoner

of a bigger cage.

The cage shrinks and this time

he remains trapped.

The first person he finds

is stingy.

He asks him for money,

and the man refuses.

The character is obsessed

with crime.

Knives are drawn,

but he rejects them.

Finally, he takes a knife.

He uses it...

...because he is

refused money...

and he kills the stingy man.

He opens his chest and wants

to eat his heart,

but the heart is much too hard.

This was a bad heart.

So I rejected it.

The second meeting

is with a woman.

At that point, Alejandro and I

had a discussion.

He wanted me to eat the heart

of this beautiful woman.

In the first meeting,

the heart was too tough to eat,

but when I met this beautiful woman,

I was to invite her to dance...

then kill her, take her heart...

and eat it.

I told him that I couldn't...

...and showed him

something else instead.

I imagined that this heart...

,,, was like transparent blood,

which vanishes.

I never met this woman.

She was just an illusion...

"Very good!" said Alejandro.

The third meeting

is with the children...

...who represent the future.

The man comes across this child...

actually, two children.

The first one is afraid

and manages to escape.

The second stays behind,

and he kidnaps this child.

I remember I could hear mothers

in the audience...

indignant at the kidnapping.

Then I take out the knife...

and I kill the child.

It is unbearable.

It goes beyond Artaud...

in the concept of cruelty.

Then I take his heart...

...and drink his blood.

Through this act

I become the child.

I realize that I have

destroyed posterity...

...so I kill myself...

...and give the heart back to

the child who comes to life again.

He then leaves, thanking me.

Panic.

This is a reference

to the god "Pan."

The Panic Movement

is a sexual act in its totality.

The Panic Movement was based

on the explosion of reason.

We knew what was to become

obvious for science today:

That we are unable...

...to explain the world...

...solely through the means

of reason.

I wanted to do shows

that would never be repeated.

This increased my possibilities...

... of expression considerably.

We would use gelatins, rotten food,

massive destruction...

and a lot of things.

We now have the choice between

the absurd and mystery.

It's the scientific choice:

The absurd or mystery.

We are not obsessed

with the absurd...

we are not fanatics

about the absurd...

we are not fanatics

about mystery...

we are not soldiers

of confusion.

What we are for is...

uncertainty...

this impossibility to explain...

the fact that time and space

is an illusion.

This explosion...

shows us that we cannot live...

holding on to this

overwhelming reason...

which prevented

us from flourishing.

We broke off with surrealism...

because Breton had created

a surrealist respectablity...

that we wanted to go beyond.

He didn't accept science fiction,

he wanted the fantastic and the poetic.

He didn't like rock music.

He didn't like...

let's not make a list.

He didn't like anything

in the world.

Surrealism had become an incredibly

petit bourgeois movement.

Would you like to talk about

your theatrical work?

I started in Mexico...

A wild place...

with avant garde theater.

My first act there

was Beckett's "Endgame."

They called Samuel Beckett a dog,

a son-of-a-b*tch.

He was insulted.

I was insulted.

They vomited on me.

All the critics, everyone.

As if we were degenerates.

Then they were embarrassed

when Beckett got the Nobel Prize.

It was scandalous.

I did Ionesco, Exit the King...

Those shows lasted

for several years.

I did about a hundred plays.

Adamov, Beckett,

Ionesco, Strindberg...

...theater of the absurd, Arrabal...

Jodorowsky is insanely talented.

Quite literally, he's talented

to the point of madness.

But, as with all madmen,

there's a method to his madness.

He's a mathematical madman.

He's a divine madman.

He's a constructivist madman.

And this madness, this intelligence,

this talent...

for there's no talent

without madness...

find their unique expression

in directing, I believe.

You directed "Fando & Lis"

on stage and then on screen.

Yes, I loved that play...

I played a role in it...

one of three main characters...

and I loved it.

I loved this play by Arrabal...

because it had

a sort of childish purity...

...in a sadomasochistic world.

It was poetry to me.

I produced the play, we made no money,

but we loved it.

So we ran out of cash

we had to stop.

I remember I cried.

We were sad to have to stop.

For we loved that play.

Then I decided to make films...

... and asked Arrabal if I could

adapt his play in my own way...

... without a screenplay.

I filmed on weekends...

... with what memory of the play

that remained in my head.

The performance of"Fando & Lis"...

...and the film that followed...

...are a total mystery for me.

I never understood it,

and I don't want to.

The day I understand it

I will love it less.

I just saw "Fando & Lis" again.

Thirty years later I am impressed

with the intensity...

...of my artistic determination.

It is a pure piece of art

without any concession.

I didn't care about how

the audience would react,

whether they'd be bored or shocked.

I didn't care

about all the technical research,

like finding a rhythm for a scene

for the sake of the audience.

I didn't work with the audience in mind.

I just did it with all my guts.

You can see the result.

I am proud of this film

because it is real.

In Mexico,

no one expected such a film.

People literally wanted to kill me!

I had to rush out of the Acapulco

Film Festival hidden in a car...

...because they wanted to lynch me.

"The Holy Mountain"

begins like a fairy tale.

I play two characters:

The magician and the thief

who speaks with my voice.

The thief represents the ego...

...and the magician

the essential being.

From a fairy tale

the film evolves...

...into realistic cinema...

...with a hand-held camera and

little means to reach the truth.

And the magician becomes real,

like you and me.

Art has always been present

in my life.

I never made any distinctions

between making a film and my life.

"The Holy Mountain"

was an essential experience.

At the time I was obsessed

with reaching enlightenment.

So I thought that the film could be

as sacred as an initiation...

...or a holy book,

and we had to live it.

In Mexico, a man

knocked on my door and said:

"Mr. Jodorowsky, I'm here because

I want to study enlightenment."

I was delighted.

I told him he had

to find himself, to purify...

...all the things gurus say.

He interrupted me, saying:

"No, that's not it."

I said, "What do you mean

that's not it?"

"I want to study theater.

Talking about illumination,

I see that you use

a lot of lights in theater!"

I understood my mistake.

All this Chinese, Japanese

and Tibetan stuff...

...goes directly to my balls.

Illumination doesn't exist.

We are all illuminated

we just don't realize it.

The great mystery is to be alive,

here and now.

Nothing else

is as important as that.

It's an incredible mystery.

What more are we looking for?

Do you consider yourself

a magician of cinema?

I would like to be, but I am not,

and it's not because of modesty.

I have only done six or seven films,

which is very little.

Cinema is a matter of practice,

a bit like karate.

You punch and punch

until you achieve magic.

But I haven't punched enough

to find the magic.

As a matter of fact,

I haven't even begun to make films.

It's only now that I begin

to see that.

For me cinema is highly important.

When making a film, one disappears.

The person who made my films

is not me.

I was always like a medium

in a trance.

When I choose an actor,

my whole body trembles.

One actor is one film.

Another actor is like another film.

That's important to know.

If you make a mistake,

the film is spoiled.

Sometimes, I follow my intuition,

and I don't know if they

will act well and become sick,

but therein lies an instinct,

a desire, an unconscious order.

It makes me sick

because I can be wrong.

For "Santa Sangre,"

I chose my son Axel,

I didn't know if it was because I

loved him as a father...

...or if it was

because of his acting skills.

So I decided to have him pass

an audition.

I went to his examination at Marceau's

mime school and was convinced.

But I was still afraid I had made

a mistake because he was my son.

So we discussed it,

my life is in your hands.

If you are wrong, we're done.

If I'm wrong, we're done.

For "The Rainbow Thief",

everything was imposed on me.

I fully assumed this nightmare.

The producer wanted to offer

a present to his wife...

...by making a film

out of her script.

She is a talented writer, and somehow

was influenced by my filmmaking.

She has her world,

she's a good writer...

and I found her script interesting.

But the producer warned me...

...that the film would cost

at least 10 million dollars...

...so I had to adapt to American

business rules... I was not free.

I had three detectives

spying on me...

...to make sure that

I wouldn't change any lines.

Every time I wanted to make

even a small change...

...I had to call the writer

and the producer.

He hired stars...

...like Omar Sharif, Peter O'Toole,

and Christopher Lee,

and he warned me

that in case of an argument,

I had to leave... not them,

so I had to be careful...

...not to argue with them.

It was a good massage for my ego.

It was like receiving 300 blows

with a stick every day.

But I managed to adapt and deal

with the new circumstances.

I became friends

with the photographer by adapting.

On my other films,

I was a total dictator.

For "The Rainbow Thief,"

I was a nobody.

The producer saw the rushes

before I did and would say...

"Please add a close-up there."

I felt like I was going to have

a "balls attack"!

Eventually I adapted,

and it was good for me.

I learned how to do it,

and it became useful in the end.

For "Tusk,"

the producer swindled me.

He made me sign

for an elephant fight,

but in India it is impossible

to have elephants...

...closer than 15 meters

to each other on the set.

All I needed was one shot with the

elephant close enough to touch...

...at least once for me

to claim there'd been a fight.

On the day of shooting,

inspectors came to check the distance.

I began to pray. First take, nothing

second take, nothing.

At the sixth take, one elephant

just got mad and started to charge.

I had my fight... what a miracle!

There is a lot of violence

in your films...

There is no violence.

The explosion of galaxies

is violent.

A comet falling on Jupiter...

...making seven big holes

is violent.

The birth of a child

is very violent.

Someone passing away...

and I have assisted dying people...

I go sometimes.

Even if the person is quietly dying,

it's immense violence...

this loss of consciousness.

Life is violent

the circulation of blood,

the heart beating,

all this is violent.

But there are two types of violence:

Creative and destructive.

I am creating art.

And as I was born in a male body,

my art is virile.

Because I was born

in this virile skin.

I've chosen

to be born as a man.

Sometimes I have feminine

or angelical touches,

but there is a strong

virile base.

That's the way it is.

He came to see me because he liked

my film "El Topo."

I decided to use my creativity

in something different,

in order to extend my limits.

Another film which remained

as a project is "Dune."

I gave it all up...

the contracts, everything...

I was totally broke.

Michel Seydoux,

who did a good job releasing...

..."El Topo" and "Holy Mountain"

in Paris...

...asked me to make a film

with him.

I proposed "Dune."

In fact, I hadn't even

read the book.

Someone had simply told me

what the book was about.

So we bought the rights

for "Dune".

And reading it,

I realized he was right.

We had to do it.

Besides, I just liked the story

and needed to support my family.

It was a wonderful failure.

That failure proved to be an ally.

The problem was that the producer

was a multimillionaire.

The lesson of this experience is

that one should never work...

...with people who don't need

to earn money with art...

...because they can abandon a project

just like that.

For them it's like an insect bite.

For me, "Dune" was not a failure.

The film was not made, that's all.

What remains

is the wonderful preparation.

We were all euphoric.

The film remains what it should be,

a mirage between the dunes.

Perhaps inside myself

I had the intuition...

...that the film wouldn't be made.

For me the film remains there,

and that's okay.

I saw Moebius' drawing for the

covers of science-fiction books...

...and I was struck by his

"non-scientific" vision of space.

Such artistic imagination.

Then I saw his work in "Blueberry,"

the comic strip.

I saw that he acted like

a film director or a cinematographer.

He had a cinematic vision

in his drawings...

...so I thought he'd be perfect

for the job.

I came in, and two people

were going out.

One of them shouted:

"It's him, it's Moebius."

The other person rushed towards me,

in a nice way,

and said: "So you are Moebius.

I am happy to meet you."

The person I had before me

was AlejandroJodorowsky.

He proposed that I work on

his latest film project, "Dune."

In fact I had just finished

Frank Herbert's novel "Dune"...

...three months before,

and it came as a shock.

I thought that American cinema,

which was influenced by NASA,

was creating "flying refrigerators."

There was absolutely no imagination

in the spacecraft.

I wanted a vessel full of color,

practically living entities.

Look at this pirate vessel

which can hide like a fish.

Giger is the Swiss designer

who conceived the "Alien"monster.

Look at the head. You can see

the resemblance to "Alien."

That's the castle

of the Harkonnen baron...

... who was to be played

by Orson Welles.

There were several worlds, and each

planet had its own designer...

...and its own music score.

Pink Floyd and Magma

were to compose.

Different musicians

were to convey...

the world of each planet.

Dali was to be the mad emperor

of the galaxy.

"Dune" was supposed to be

an extraordinary fresco.

Seydoux was thrilled with Alejandro's

fire and enthusiasm,

the ambition of the project we were

all carried away by the delirium.

I was responsible for

the preparation of all the actors...

...including Brontis, Alejandro's son.

They had to be warriors,

martial arts experts,

so I had to prepare them to fight.

I also had a role,

that of a musician...

...who was a killer at the same time.

My guitar was like a weapon,

and I learned to fight with it.

During this preparation,

my emotions would zigzag...

...between great admiration

and outraged disapproval.

Alejandro's way of thinking

shocked me.

For instance, one day we had to choose

the costumes of the Harkonnens.

He covered his eyes with one hand

and went through the bookshelf,

took a book, by chance it was

Titian's paintings,

brought it to the table

and banged it down,

opened it to a page and blindly

pointed his finger and said:

"It's going to be like that!"

At first it drove me crazy, but

then I realized that he was right,

we could start from anything.

At any rate,

Alejandro had a...

how could I say...

a belief,

or a set of beliefs...

that not knowing...

that going blindly into something

gives a chance...

to that mysterious,

all-knowing part of ourselves...

to express itself.

What we didn't achieve in "Dune"

we achieved in comic strips,

thanks to the failure of"Dune."

I began this immense activity

in comic strips...

...with millions of readers.

I love comic books.

The "Incal" is the realization

of"Dune."

But we didn't know it at the time.

Maybe Alejandro did because...

...his brain works

like 3,000 crazy computers!

At first I had a dream where I was

looking for the inner God.

I saw two pyramids and decided

to go inside.

Then I exploded in the light.

When I awoke I was happy...

...and that's how I got the idea

for "Incal"...

... which represents our inner God,

the center of our unconscious.

Alejandro was telling me the story

and miming at the same time...

...and I was free to interrupt him

at any moment.

So, I was creating

to my heart's content.

I played the part of the serious man,

and he was the madman.

So I was happy to interrupt him

and say:

"Look here, there's no logic in that."

And he would go in another direction.

He was never out of imagination

or madness.

When the first part was completed,

we went through the whole story.

Alejandro's well-organized brain

was very useful...

...in keeping track of everything.

I made notes of dialogue

and the scenes.

It took four to six hours

to do a 60-page album.

We did the six volumes like that.

That is extremely unusual because

everything was done in one go:

The story, the scenes, the dialogue.

Working with comic strip designers

is a delight.

They love their art.

It is a commercial art, :

They are paid by the page.

It can be laborious, but they

are as delicate as jewelers.

The relationship is different

according to their personality.

You have to propose stories

they can love.

If you succeed in reaching

their world...

... the collaboration

can be wonderful.

Alejandro knows how to keep...

his personal obsessions...

... and be receptive to each

designer's sensitivity...

... at the same time.

That's part of his genius.

He gives them their appropriate

fuel in the form of scenarios.

We start with a small thing...

... and suddenly it starts to take on

unexpected proportions of grandeur.

Hurrah for greatness!

We have to see Man

in all his weakness.

We have a brain that can go

across the universe,

but we can also s**t like a baby,

like my professor.

He goes from a state of diarrhea

to that of the most sublime thoughts.

It is not autobiographical because

this professor is impotent...

...and I have five children.

But on the other hand,

parts of him are like me,

the splendid and ridiculous side

of the philosopher.

Today, I am in a bad mood.

I don't know why,

but I am in an awful mood.

I don't want to be anyone's

spiritual master.

If that is what people are

projecting on me,

because of my age, my white hair,

that's their problem.

I don't accept it.

I give my lecture of Wednesdays,

that's all.

Take me as I am.

Some people think

that I am a crook,

others the head of a sect.

I begin the lecture with an OM.

We've done Om, which in French

means "man," so let's do "woman."

"Woman."

It's not Sanskrit.

We are not a sect.

That is the sound needed...

...to induce calm

before the lecture begins.

I could say "Coca-Cola"

it would be the same thing.

One day I told myself that I came

to this world...

...not only to accomplish for myself

but also to give something back.

There are already people

working with...

...humanitarian or charity

organizations,

but there is also an enormous

emotional catastrophe on the planet.

There is a village,

which is hidden in the shadow

of a mountain.

Everybody is suffering

from the lack of light.

One day the eldest of this village

heads for the mountain...

...with a teaspoon in his hands.

The others ask him

what he intends to do.

He replies that he is going to

move the mountain.

"But you will never succeed!"

They cry out.

"No, I will never succeed,

but somebody has to start!"

So, like this man

with a teaspoon,

I started to cure

the emotional illness of mankind.

I said I would give

a lecture per week...

...as long as the participants

contributed to paying the rent...

...at the end of each lecture.

Well, they have been paying

for 14 years now!

A seminarist asks another:

"How can you smoke

during the prayers?

It is strictly forbidden!"

The other replies:

"Well, it is easy.

I asked for permission to pray

while smoking!"

In the book I wrote in '83 I spoke

of Alejandro as a spiritual father.

He gave me answers

no one else could give.

For each question he had an answer.

He encouraged me to write this book

despite the fact...

...that I am not a writer.

I didn't find my life

particularly interesting.

But I wrote and wrote,

and eventually it was published.

From then on I have felt

more at ease with myself...

with my family, my mother...

and my normal agressiveness.

It was like an undigested meal

I had to vomit on paper.

Now I really feel better.

The only answer I had for violence

was violence,

yet humor can be just as effective...

though I don't have much.

Alejandro taught me that giving up

a useless fight...

...is not necessarily

self-devaluating.

If you're going to fight,

the adversary must be worthwhile.

As he said, when I give

karate lessons,

and I give 25 lessons a week,

I am paid.

So if I get angry in a traffic jam

and I start fighting,

it is as if I am giving

a free lesson.

So it's not worth it!

Damn, damn, damn,

I am no more than s**t,

and don't tell me I am something.

This cruelty helped me to go

further into myself.

I knew I was poetic,

but I was afraid...

...of certain strong

and strange feelings.

This excess and violence

in Alejandro moved me.

Let's do this.

I follow her and she follows me.

We did a very peculiar massage.

15 people

were gathered together.

Alejandro's students were learning

massage and working on the ego.

We were ready to experiment

with adventures of...

...physical and psychological caress.

For awakening!

So this massage was very special...

...in the sense that everybody there

became a member of my family.

You are my grandfather,

you are my grandmother,

you are my dad, you are my brother,

you are my sister!

We had contact for an hour.

When the contact was over,

this strange experience

immediately became real.

In the end, everybody was

entirely absorbed in their role.

We switched off the lights.

I have to say that Alejandro

was absent.

I was alone with these people.

I was panic-stricken at this moment,

but that quickly disappeared.

I don't really know what happened,

but everybody was moved.

Because in the dark,

it was really something else.

It went on and on.

In the end, we were really

in a strange mood.

It began to reach proportions

no one expected.

So, at the end of this contact,

I disposed the people in the room

in the form of a spaceship.

Some people were

the hull of the spaceship:

Others were the engines,

others were the sensitive organs.

It was an act of science fiction!

Then, when everybody was ready,

playing the role of the father and

the engine of the ship,

the mother, and the envelope,

the grandmother and the radar,

the grandfather and the armament,

the brother was a sort of pilot-fish

for this spaceship.

So we were all ready...

...after this unbelievable massage!

Everybody started to believe

in their roles.

The spaceship was complete,

and I was the passenger...

... and the captain of it.

I gave the destination, which was

the center of the universe,

the return to the eternal father.

It started like that,

and we took this trip.

All the people who participated

in this little psycho-drama,

this psycho-situation,

benefitted from it.

They helped me by giving me the

strength to go through this adventure.

On the other hand,

they accompanied me,

and would not have experienced

such an adventure without me.

It was a real exchange.

When it was all over,

Alejandro was called in,

and he asked how it went.

We answered that it went okay!

That shows Alejandro's delicacy.

There is no power-taking.

There is a real sense of giving.

I am sure that when he was in

the house next door,

he was probably reading a book...

...praying for things to go well.

But Alejandro is not superstitious.

This is "psycho-magic".

I would call it modern medicine.

It is a continuation of

my artistic work,

and I don't see why an artist

shouldn't be interested in therapy.

With the years, I realized that

all my problems,

and all our problems,

originate from the way we were born.

And the way we were born

depends on...

...the relationship between

the father and the mother.

And the emotional relationship

between the father and the mother...

...depends on the relationship

between the grandparents.

The grandparents' actions depend on

the great-grandparents' ideas,

on religion, economy.

In fact, all our ideas come from

our great-grandparents.

I realized that we had

a family unconscious,

we were a family tree.

I also realized that there were at

least 15 people thinking through me,

my parents, my uncles and aunts,

my grandparents,

my great-grandparents,

with all the family around...

I am a thinking family.

My illnesses are created

by my family.

My behavior, the way I live,

my conception of money,

my emotional and sexual

relationships,

are all created by my family.

Indeed, the psychological and

genetic field I come from...

...marks my whole life.

So, if I want

to understand myself,

I have to understand

my family tree,

because I am permanently possessed,

as in voodoo,

by someone of my family.

How did you find that out?

Little by little,

by reading the Tarot to people.

Not intellectually.

Progressively, by seeking the origin

of people's problems,

I suddenly saw the complete

family tree in front of me.

In his autobiography, Jung speaks

about the family tree.

It is the only tract I found

of somebody...

...speaking about the family tree.

I don't know if you know this text.

- Shall I read it to you?

- Read it!

"As I was working on my family tree,

I understood the strange communion

of destiny...

... that linked me to my ancestors.

I had the strong feeling that I was

under the influence...

... of events and problems

left incomplete...

... and unresolved by my parents,

my grandparents,

and my other ancestors.

It seems to me that often

in a family...

... there is an impersonal karma

transmitted from parents to children.

I always thought that I had to

answer questions...

... already asked to my ancestors,

or that I had to finish,

orjust continue...

... with problems

previously unsolved. "

Yes, Jung is absolutely right,

but he is timid.

He has intuition,

he speaks about himself,

but he has to apply what he says

to all mankind.

We must take our problems in hand

and work on them.

Jung usually saw things,

but didn't go into them.

I think the reason for this is the

lack of the masculine archetype.

There is no father

anywhere near him.

Exploring the family tree means

engaging in a fierce battle...

...with the monster, like a nightmare,

so that the monster can give you

the treasure.

The family tree is a real nightmare,

where we find sadomasochism

everywhere,

narcissism everywhere,

self-hatred everywhere.

So, with this excrement that is

our family tree,

we have to produce

the treasure gold.

Have you any brothers?

Yes, you who is filming me!

Do you have any problems?

Like everybody.

So you have problems.

Do you want to do it?

As you are filming me,

now I am going to film you!

- With pleasure.

- Yes?

Are you sure

you want to do it?

Do you want to work on

an emotional level?

Yes, why not?

Working with you on an emotional

level will be a total struggle.

There, we will have a man

full of defenses,

because he is filming somebody

else's life and not his own.

Now you are going to be

the lead actor in your movie! Okay?

That is my longtime dream.

- What is your first name?

- Louis.

Place three cards

without turning them over.

I think everybody should do that.

Otherwise we will never

understand ourselves.

One thinks one is an individual.

But, even when we cut ties

with our family,

we carry it, that's the problem.

In 1953, I cut ties with my family,

and that remained

for all my life.

My mother is dead.

I had a terrible relationship

with her.

She had many problems with my

father, and she never caressed me.

So I didn't have a mother

who touched me.

So when I was 23, I left Chile and

threw my address book in the sea.

I never called my father

or my mother.

It was over forever.

When I was 50, I had a dream.

I saw my mother lying in a sofa

telling me:

"Alejandro, I'm dying."

So I told her that,

since she was dying,

we had to solve all our problems.

She explained

why she hadn't touched me,

and I explained what I felt.

I told her that, after all,

the mother is an important person

in one's life.

We spoke

and we sealed the wounds...

When I woke up, I told my wife:

"Listen, my mother is dying.

I am going to send a letter...

...to my sister who lives with her

to be read to my mother."

So I summarized the dream,

spoke about her values

and wrote to my sister:

"I send you this letter.

If it arrives too late,

read it in front of mother's grave."

The letter arrived

one day after her death.

It was true that she was dying.

Then I realized

that in our unconscious...

...the persons are always alive.

The dead live with us...

Let's see a tree in action.

Don't think. Look and let yourself

be guided by your unconscious.

Look around and say:

"This is my father!"

Moebius. That's what comes to me.

Your father!

With or without shoes?

As he is.

Your mother?

Madam?

Are you sure?

I have chosen.

You are chosen. Don't be shy.

Do you like the way she is dressed?

Very much.

Your father and your mother.

I would see the father

a bit in retreat,

and the mother in front,

but not too much.

Okay. Where do you place yourself?

- Spontaneously, here.

- Okay, that's understood.

You had problems

when you were born.

You must see clearly

the circumstances of your birth.

- You mean my physical birth?

- Yes, your physical birth.

I was born prematurely

by caesarian operation.

That's the problem at birth.

And the only son.

Move the mother there,

so she can have room...

Who is the mother of your mother?

You in the audience do it

in your head. That's how we work!

The lady in the red jacket.

The mother of your mother.

Was there any important brother

or sister in your mother's family?

There were four sisters and

a brother that seems important to me...

...as he died in a hunting accident.

How old was he when he died?

I think he was 16.

That's important.

What seems important to me is that...

...he had the same Christian name

as my father.

His name was Gian-Carlo:

My father's was Charles.

As if by chance!

Bring the brother and I will

immediately explain...

...what this is all about.

For me this is common. The name

implies a series of meanings.

Where is the boy?

Where do you see him?

You, with the pink scarf.

He died in a hunting accident.

Who killed him?

I think that my grandfather

provoked the accident.

A bullet by ricochet.

He is the one who killed him.

Unconsciously.

In this family,

whom did your mother admire?

- Her father.

- The father is very important.

We should put him up on a chair,

but we cannot.

He forms a couple with the daughter.

And the mother,

where do you place her?

I would place her on the other side.

Somewhere there, a bit behind,

maybe. Just like that!

What is the role of the boy?

I would place him there.

In place of your father?

He has the same name

as your father!

Strange isn't it?

That's your mother's family.

Your father's now.

You see we are just beginning

to scratch the surface.

In the beginning

we don't see anything,

so we have to scratch more.

You, if you please.

Your dad's mom.

Please come, madam, and thank you

for your participation.

Where are you going to place her?

Here.

He is very close to his mother.

- Quite.

- Very important.

And your dad's dad?

You, with the red shirt.

Do you want to participate?

Okay, come.

Where are you going to place

this father?

I would place him just behind

my father, so he's not seen.

Because, although he has exactly

the same name as me,

Louis Mouchet, I never saw him,

- I was never told anything about him.

- Is he erased?

Totally erased.

So I would place him behind.

This one is not in the dark.

This one is more present.

My mother used to speak a lot

about him.

Is mother in the background?

No, not at all.

But she worships her father.

And her mother, is she erased?

Her mother is less present,

but not as absent

as my father's father.

Sit down to let the audience see.

There is a nucleus

that we are going to see.

Right? A family secret.

We have here, according to what

he insinuated,

an accident, a semi-murder,

as his own father killed him.

That almost reaches the dimension

of Greek tragedy.

Here, he is

close to a strong mother,

as your mom relates more

to her father.

Mother has a masculine archetype

injected into her.

Dad has a female archetype in him.

That means that things are crossed.

He bears the woman in him,

she bears the man in her.

According to what you said,

I am going to interpret, slowly.

You are absolutely right.

My father said it textually:

"I am the feminine man, and you

are the masculine woman."

He said it in a letter to my mother.

His father said:

"I am the feminine man and you

are the masculine woman."

It was already said in the family.

This archetypal male provider...

provider of subsistence...

provider of material means...

it looks like you never knew.

Tell us how they die.

How did your father die?

Throat cancer.

You realize that there is

an emotional nucleus hidden here.

That means that your father

didn't express his emotions.

I say that at the risk of making

an enormous mistake.

They were two. My uncle died

from exactly the same illness.

His brother?

They were born on the same day.

Was he older or younger?

Younger.

He imitated his brother.

That means that the two formed

a couple.

Because there were no adults

to take care of them.

It is a progression.

That's why you are making

this film on me.

You are profoundly seeking

the paternal archetype.

That's why I tell you

that the father is absent.

I say that because you move

from the real father...

... to the spiritual one

and the spiritual father...

... to the mythical one.

They are the symbols of the father.

The Emperor, the Pope,

and the Sun are all symbols,

which grow in amplitude.

Herein lies an emotional knot

which is not expressed.

Because of this, as a man,

he'll have problems

expressing his emotions.

That's your heritage!

I'll cope with that!

How old were you

when your father passed away?

I was 22.

What did you feel at that moment?

Was everything said?

Or did things remain unsaid?

The first thing that comes to me

about my father's death?

Well, he had cancer

a long and painful illness,

and he suffered a lot.

How old were you

when he began to suffer?

When it was diagnosed

I was 21.

Then it lasted for a year.

But I think that his pain began

before the illness broke out.

And what is

even more striking...

...about the moment of death

is that,

suddenly I saw an expression

of peace on his face...

...that I had never seen before

in my life.

All of a sudden there was peace

and ecstasy on his face...

that I had never seen.

- Yes.

- It was the moment of death.

Unbelievable.

It is beautiful because it

softens the death.

But it is unbelievable

to be on this planet...

...and choose a father

that never showed...

...a peaceful face

in all your life.

You have to see him dead

to understand...

...that he is in peace.

For him, life was...

It was enormous suffering.

Living is suffering.

He is the son of a father

who transmits to him...

...that life is great suffering.

That's the first thing

to be clarified.

What was your father's profession?

His vocation was a poet.

So he was an artist.

That's why you chose Moebius.

But poets don't make

a lot of money.

To live, he had

a private school.

He was a teacher and had

his own school...

...equivalent to the beginning

of college level.

For children?

Not young children.

Teenagers.

And he taught literature?

He managed the school and

taught literature and Latin.

But above all he wanted

to be a poet?

He is a poet. His work exists.

Do you like his work?

Was he a good poet?

Huh... In the beginning,

I had trouble liking it.

I couldn't read it like

poems of Baudelaire...

...or Rimbaud.

I had tremendous difficulty

in the beginning.

Why was it so difficult?

Because of all this.

Because he didn't

communicate with you.

He was like a lone traveler,

in poetry.

Yes, that might be

the explanation.

I had the feeling that

in his poetry lies...

...what he couldn't

communicate to me.

And, as a result, I didn't

want to love his poetic work.

Did you go to his school?

I went to do my homework,

after school.

So he was not with you.

No, he wasn't with me.

He didn't have an affectionate

relationship with me.

- Being an only child...

- Except that from time to time...

As the only child,

strange, isn't it?

- That's strange.

- Wait. Wait.

- That's strange.

- Often...

It could be worse.

Often the only relationship

he had with me...

...was giving lessons

or checking my homework.

Nothing affective.

Or, when he was

completely drunk,

we would go to the cafes

to fool around.

Alcohol! He was closed.

He couldn't express

his emotions.

Take your father by the hands

and speak to him.

Ask him what was missing.

Face him.

What was missing?

Speak to him directly!

To accomplish totally...

No, no, speak to him,

he's your father.

I would say. To accomplish

totally your poetic work.

And, speaking of myself,

to love me totally,

to express the love that...

...I'm sure you did feel

for me deep inside.

I couldn't speak to you

directly,

that's why I used poetry.

So I will read your poetry...

...and try to understand

your message.

- Didn't you read his poetry?

- Yes, but poetry is mysterious.

Maybe I didn't understand

his message.

You have to read my poetry

as being addressed to you.

Okay.

Wait! Wait!

No, no, you must protest.

If I were you,

I wouldn't accept that.

But I don't want to protest,

I accept what you are

telling me.

I have to help you.

I am speaking to the father.

I know,

but I have to help you.

In this case poetry

is his rival,

because his father gives

all his passion to poetry,

not to him.

Wait, wait, wait.

You risk finding yourself

with an alien woman...

...who is going to give all

her love to singing,

not to you, and you are

going to love her...

...because she is totally

dedicated to her art.

And you will follow her,

like you followed your father,

who was dedicated to his art.

Art is the rival for you.

I am doing something

extremely magical for you.

You followed me with my work,

but suddenly I come out

of the work and I am facing you.

- That's revolutionary in your life.

- That's right.

This is the first time that

the father, the artist,

the poet is facing you

and cares about you.

I do not care about myself.

I am not mimicking for the camera.

You are important.

Ask your father to care

about you, besides poetry.

When will somebody care

about you?

How long are you going to be

a public person?

When are you going

to be yourself?

When will somebody look at you

as a human being?

What I want to say

to my father is:

Why did you need poetry?

Why didn't you

talk to me directly?

A form of autism.

By talking directly to me,

I think you could have

overcome that.

Express yourself.

Now is the time!

I am sorry.

Regrets are useless.

Now he begins

to express himself!

Regrets are of no use.

That's what he never did!

I would take a book

of my father's and burn it.

Keeping one, of course.

But I would take one copy

and burn it.

That's what I'd do

as a psycho-magic act.

Because that is my rival,

that's enough!

This way I'll be able

to release my anger.

In all this lies a quest

for love.

We ask the father why,

what was missing...

...and when we join the father,

we find that it is

a need for love.

All our anger against

our family...

...lies in misplaced

and unsatisfied love.

But when we reach this state...

...where we can express

ourselves and communicate,

everything vanishes.

The tree couldn't bear fruit because

the productive passage was clogged.

Now the tree can grow.

There is no prejudice...

...no childishness.

We all become mature,

artists accomplish themselves,

money comes, and the fear

of money vanishes.

Thank you!