Youth Without Youth (2007)
Tim Roth: Dominic Matei
Photos
Quotes
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Dominic : In metaphysical controversies, empirical proofs... lose their value, but... wouldn't you enjoy receiving... a few fresh roses... picked from the garden?
[smiles]
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Dominic : I am afraid, I must remain neutral in all of this...
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Dominic : [voice over] If someone were to tell me that there exist among us authentic magicians, saints... or anyone endowed with miraculous powers, I would believe them.
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Dominic : I love you. I've always loved you.
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Dominic : [records his voice] Geneva, 1941, May the 7th. Dominic Matei. Dictation. The documents in the Geneva safety deposit box summarize my life, which was profoundly changed in the spring of 1938 in front of the Gara de Nord railroad station in Bucharest. My first experiences were described and analyzed by Prof. Roman Stanciulescu, in reports which were confiscated by the Nazis.
[now watching a cinema newsreel of 22nd June, 1941. V.O. continues]
Dominic : The war rages around me. I'm a fugitive in neutral Switzerland, encircled by the Axis powers. My Romanian homeland has made a pact with the devil - Adolf Hitler - and may soon be under siege... I've lost contact with my dear friend Prof. Stanciulescu, which could mean that he's been killed... I live in fear, dreading what awaits in the alleyways, eluding capture by my wits, moving from hotel to rooming house, always working on my book.
Dominic : [V.O. continues. Dominic forges his documents] November the 30th, 1941. Zurich. Dominic Matei. I have explained in Portfolio B how I instinctively found the talent to preserve myself. Living like a secret agent, I discovered abilities to forge documents, change addresses and prepare disguises...
[visits a bank]
Dominic : Shortly before he disappeared, Prof. Stanciulescu arranged a bank account for me. In Geneva. Under the name of William Patterson. Now, without him, his funds will be depleted... and I will have to find other means.
Dominic : [V.O. continues. Dominic reads newspapers in a café] February the 20th, 1942. Bern. I must face the undeniable and chilling truth... that I am a mutant. Like a character in a science fiction novel. I am a strange Superman of the future. I have access to knowledge unavailable to mankind. Powers, I don't fully understand.
[visits a library]
Dominic : Despite this, I try to behave as an ordinary intellectual. Working to complete my book, documenting the origin of language and human consciousness. I began to realize that with any text I have before me, if I wanted to know the content, I simply... knew it.
Dominic : [V.O. continues. Dominic plays roulette in a casino] Lake Campione, October the 23rd, 1942. I found I could augment my income. Winning just enough not to arouse suspicion. Nothing is as it seems. I am the proof of that... I trust... no one.
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[first lines]
Dominic : [voice over] Sometimes... I admit to myself that it's possible... I will never be able to finish my life's work. My one and only book. And that in the end... without her... I will be nothing. And I will die alone.
[cries]
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Josef Rudolf : Mr. Matei? What do we do with... time? That question 'What do we do with time' expresses the supreme ambiguity of the human condition.
Dominic : I have no idea what you're talking about.
Josef Rudolf : An opportunity has been given to us. We... the human race!
