Ismael's Ghosts (Les Fantômes d'Ismaël)

By: Nizar Ezzeddine

ISMAEL'S GHOSTS

Ivan Dedalus...

Ivan...

Dedalus.

Excuse me.

- Here. - Thank you.

Good morning.

Ministry Of Foreign Affairs

Good morning.

Good morning.

Sir!

Oh, Jacques!

Good morning!

- You're here? - Yes!

- You are Parisian now? - No.

I'm just passing through. Is Dedalus still in the vicinity?

Dedalus was stationed in Vienna.

But no news since.

- Not at the Ministry. - You're sure he's still with us?

- He fell off the radar. - What radar?

Are you looking for him? Investigating?

I'm passing through. I was wondering.

Ivan disappeared. So I'm asking.

I told my wife

"We're spending three years in Vilnius."

- Where? - That's what she said.

She wanted London or Trinidad.

She hasn't spoken to me for two weeks.

Poor you!

I'm too old for Vilnius. I feel the cold easily.

Anyway, Vilnius is too much for me.

And yet I packed my bags and began learning Lithuanian.

So I got to Prague to meet the Ukrainian delegation.

Top secret. They start talking about the Russians.

I ask the First Secretary... - Who was it?

That guy, a little strange...

Dedalus!

- Of course! - Our best man.

Passport, please.

Thanks.

Who's Dedalus?

I came here to speak to him.

But Ivan disappeared.

It was his specialty.

Meaning?

You remember the rumors.

I'm not alone to have thought at times he was...

- An angel. - Or a spy.

- No. - Yes.

An interior agent?

Why would he be interior?

How did he get in?

He came out of nowhere at 35, no diploma, unlikely face.

Best score, external candidate. Too good to be true.

Mr. Dedalus?

You know who really liked Ivan?

He hired him, mentored him!

- Claverie! - That traitor!

Claverie. 30 years on the job.

Stationed in Warsaw under Gierek.

Thought to be a communist mole.

Then they said the Americans recruited him.

In Asia, rumors of corruption.

Quai d'Orsay found nothing. But he was put out to pasture.

But.. Meanwhile, it's been a while.

Follow me.

- Hello. - Hello.

Shall I sit?

Please do.

We're here to find you an assignment.

Really?

Your exam results were excellent. Congratulations.

- Thank you. - Congratulations.

I'm in charge of security, confidentiality,

things of the sort.

Which is very precious here.

Found an apartment?

Not yet. I arrived by train this morning.

You have an atypical trajectory.

Excuse me, you're no longer very young,

and you haven't done "traditional" studies.

Meaning?

Graduate studies in politics or language...

- I wasn't so lucky. - But you speak six languages.

Well, I understand Arabic a bit. I wouldn't say I'm fluent.

May I ask where you learned these languages?

I learned all alone in Roubaix.

With manuals.

Any scientific aptitudes?

I love science, but I studied law.

By correspondence!

It's an unusual path.

It's uncommon to begin working so late in life.

I worked for my father for a while.

I saw that in your file. Dyeing factory.

Traditional.

That's where you got your law degree, by correspondence.

To pay off my father's bankruptcy.

My mother died when I was a kid.

And my father brought me up alone.

- No military service? - No.

It says: "Exempted for medical reasons."

Were you ill? - Yes.

Is your health better?

I received good treatment.

Pardon my curiosity, but what brings you here?

I read a government job ad in the paper.

But why Quai d'Orsay?

Well...

I thought...

I was so curious about the world.

Perfect.

I hope we won't disappoint you.

Welcome aboard.

What would you have done if you weren't admitted?

Nothing.

I was tired.

"Nothing. I was tired."

- Yes? - It's me.

Henri...

- Am I bothering you? - You can't bother me.

What time is it?

It's 3 o'clock but I can't sleep at the moment.

I'm losing my mind!

- Don't panic. - I need your help.

- I'm coming. - I'm fed up!

I'll be there in twenty minutes! Wait for me, Henri.

- It's me. - Come upstairs!

I dreamt Carlotta was dead.

My friend...

Come.

I was looking at these slides.

And dark thoughts...

...took a hold of me.

Don't look at them at night. It makes you melancholic.

I miss my daughter.

Every night I dream about the ditch...

...where my daughter had her throat cut.

It's a disgusting place with dirty papers.

And it's cold.

Quiet.

When Carlotta disappeared, I hated you.

I know.

I wondered what you could have done...

...to make such a joyful girl disappear like that.

- What could I have done? - I don't know.

Cheat on her.

Henri, you're one to talk!

Who disappears over an unfaithful husband?

She's the one who slept around.

Yes!

She was strong like me.

She loved life. - Yes.

She was running from you.

She was running from all of us.

Of course.

And Carlotta wasn't all that joyful.

Wrong!

She was the purest child ever! She knew how to laugh!

You're too consumed with despair.

You're...

...uncertain.

No woman ever left me.

But I was much too young,..

...an awkward husband obsessed by my films and theater.

Selfish little son of a bitch.

I couldn't look after her.

I knew how to.

You were a cumbersome father, so cumbersome...

...that she lived in your shadow, then ended up in mine.

Your shadow is nothing next to mine!

I realize that, dear master.

A formidable father and a husband too weak.

Look at these pictures.

Look.

You declared her dead and now I can't sleep.

I declared her absent, not dead.

You'd waited 18 years for her and you found it unbearable.

I'm going to the seaside. Can I leave you?

Yes.

I was invited yesterday to festive of my films in Tel Aviv next month.

Wonderful!

Will you go with me?

With pleasure and honor, Henri.

Still with your companion?

- Sylvia. - Yes.

She's very good for you, that woman.

You shouldn't have come to see me.

Goodnight. - Goodnight.

Sir?

May I borrow your phone?

For Paris. I'll pay for the call.

Sure.

It's me.

I just left Henri's.

Am I waking you?

He called in the middle of the night.

Can I come by your place?

It's early.