Voice over and Subtitle Transcript THE BASEMENT GIRL 2000

Voice over and Subtitle Transcript
THE BASEMENT GIRL
2000, 16mm & mixed media, 12 minutes
by MIDI ONODERA
Note: The English refers to the subtitles, the French refers to the voice over.
Drowning in the heat of the summer’s sun, imagine a blast of cold chemical air,
searing your nostrils shut and making your eyes tear.
Flottant à travers une brume à l'odeur de moisi comme une journée
remplie de smog sous la chaleur d'un soleil brûlant d'été, imaginez un coup
de vent chimique froid, desséchant les narines et amenant des larmes aux
yeux.
A familiar taste. A foreign tongue.
Un endroit si chaleureusement familier et cependant pas si familier que ça.
‘Funny girl,” she said in that way of hers. “ If you hadn’t been dreaming, you
would have seen it coming, and not when it was too late.”
"Petite sotte'' disait-il avec un sourire railleur. Si tu étais un peu plus
dégourdie tu aurais su que ça s'en venait.
Months later, her words still rattle in my brain.
Des mois plus tard et ses mots retentissent encore dans ma tête.
Music: Barbara Streisand from “Funny Girl”
You must be very quiet. For this story I am about to tell you is very fragile. Shhh.
Prudemment, je vais vous raconter cette histoire. C'est délicat et s'effritera,
se brisera à tout moment.
It may break at any moment.
Vous devez y aller très doucement.
Her name is inconsequential. Her appearance rather muted. For now it is only
the space she inhabits which is real.
Son nom n'a pas d'importance. Son apparence quelconque. En ce moment
il n'y a que l'endroit qu'elle habite qui soit réel.
Below ground, the cool earth kisses her skin. Others with less imagination call
her place a “basement”.
Enveloppée sous la terre, réconfortée par sa fraîcheur, les autres appellent
sa retraite un sous-sol. Un endroit où les vieux vêtements attendent de
revenir à la mode.
Lodged between her teeth like a piece of gristle, it became that cliché called
“home”.
Coincé entre ses dents comme un bout de viande oublié la veille, c'est
devenu ce cliché: 'chez elle'.
Her vision was on hold. Pause mode.
Son regard devint immobile. Absolument immobile.
Her cheeks grew rosy from the heat of the TV.
Seule dans sa peau, dans son propre monde, son visage s’enflamma avec
la chaleur dégagée par la télévision.
Candy-coated projections. Closure between commercials.
Douces projections. La clôture entre les pauses publicitaires.
Windows into the lives of others untouched by human hands.
Fenêtres ouvertes surs les vies des autres intouchées par les mains
humaines.
ON TV from “The Bionic Woman”:
-“Callaghan – Callaghan I don’t know what you think we were doing in there.”
-“I don’t need to think, I know.”
-“John means nothing to me.’
-“Goodbye Jamie.”
-“Oh God!”
It began so easily. So simply.
Cela a commencé innocemment. Ce n'était même pas voulu.
-“Leave me alone.”
She thought they knew love.
Elle croyait qu'ils avaient trouvé l'amour.
-“I just want to talk to you.”
-“No, no there’s nothing to talk about.”
-“I think there is.”
Magnified emotions ballooned up before her.
Des émotions amplifiées surgissaient devant elle.
There was only one way to get away from them.
Il n'y avait qu'un seul moyen de les échapper.
-“No! Just get out.”
-“Oh, please…”
-“I want you to turn around and walk out that door because I don’t care if I ever
see you again.”
(phone rings)
-“Hello?”
-“Callaghan, it’s Jamie.”
-“mm-Jamie why do you bother me? Would you just go away?”
-“Please –Callaghan.”
-“What?”
-“Just for old times sake don’t hang up the phone, okay?…Okay, umm…”
-“Hey-ey listen Jamie. What uh, what’s this all about?”
-“Callaghan, I love you.”
-“That’s a cheap shot Jamie.”
-“I just want to get things straightened out.”
-“Right”
-“Goodbye”
It was an instinct. It was survival. It was that basic.
C'était une question de survie. C'était aussi simple que ça.
After their separation, or rather after she was dumped, she could only find
comfort in the immediate.
Après qu'ils se soient quittés -- ou plutôt, après qu'il l'ait laissée, elle s'est
réconforté dans le moment présent.
Yesterday, everything was possible.
Hier, tout était possible.
Today, she didn’t bother speaking.
Aujourd'hui elle n'arrivait même pas à se lever.
ON TV from “That Girl”
-“You have to realize something. She’s grown up now. She makes her own
decisions. She picks her own friends.”
-“Wonderful. She can pick the dummy of her choice.”
-“Oh, he’s probably a very nice boy.”
-“As far as I’m concerned there isn’t a guy in the world who’s good enough for
that girl..”
She fell back on what she knew.
Elle se rabattait sur le confort.
In this moment, she continued to breathe.
Elle suivait sa respiration. Régulière, immuable.
She rose with the moon.
Elle se réveillait avec la lune.
-“You’re kind of a special girl.”
The nights were her days
Les nuits sont devenues ses jours.
-“You’re kind of a special guy.”
-“Thank You.”
She ate what she desired.
Sa passion pour la bouffe la gagna.
-“Thank you.”
-“Oh, it all looks so delicious- I’ve never had any of these things before…What is
this?”
-“Raw fish.”
ON TV From “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”
-“This is very good fettuccine- Are you sure you don’t want ot try it?”
-“No-No thank you. I’ve got this little meat patty here…John…”
-“What?”
-“I lied. I want to try your fettuccine.”
-“mm?”
-“mmm!”
-“more?”
-“no,mmm.”
ON TV From the Funeral coverage of Princess Diane
-“The noises we hear in the background are actually sobs coming from people
who are gathered.”
-“Diana, at the height of her life, thirty-six years old…”
-“Transcendent beauty, struggling to find some happiness and then this…”
Music from the song “Feelings”:
“feelings, nothing more than feelings. Trying to forget my feelings of love,,,”
She loved eggs.
Elle adorait les oeufs.
The precise division of yolk and white.
La division exacte entre le jaune et le blanc.
The perfect complimentary union of the two.
L'union parfaite des deux, si différent, si bien correspondants.
Music cont: “trying to forget my feelings of love…”
Later, she would scramble them.
Plus tard, elle ferait des oeufs brouillés.
The best of both worlds.
Le meilleur des deux mondes.
Drifting. Drifting forward in time with a newly-acquired fondness.
Elle flottait.... Elle se laissait entraîner dans le temps
acquérant une indulgence toute nouvelle.
ON TV from “Suddenly Last Summer”:
-“Suddenly”
-“Suddenly.”
-“Last summer”
She knew she was going to be okay.
Elle savait qu'elle s'en sortirait.
Music from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show:
“-who can turn the world…”
“-can make it on your own…”
“-this world is always…”
She inhabited a different dimension of time and space.
Elle était transportée dans une autre dimension temporelle et spatiale.
Music continued:
“all alone. But it’s time you started living…”
“-with each glance and every little movement you show it…”
“-love is all around – no need to waste it.”
She could remake herself.
Elle se réaliserait.
A re-invention.
Une nouvelle version.
She could be happy
Elle pourrait être heureuse.
She would make it on her own.
Elle y arriverait toute seule.
Music continued: “ You might just make it after all…”