Twilight (Crepúsculo)

TWILIGHT

DR. ALEJANDRO MANGINO TWILIGHT

It's 8:40, doctor.

- Did you take the books to the car? - The ones you requested.

Isn't today's operation at 9:00?

Take this book, Sebastián. Read it when you have time.

Do you think I can understand it?

You have to understand it.

Everyone has to!

You're leaving again without breakfast...

and you've hardly slept.

That can't be any good... for the steadiness of your hand.

What about my hand?!

Look at it.

It's normal.

Close it.

Did you forget something, doctor?

No, José.

I was just wondering if Sebastián brought down the books.

He did it a moment ago.

Yes. Very well, doctor.

Good morning, Dr. Mangino.

Uh... tell Dr. Díaz González and the head nurse

that I'm waiting for them in my office.

To Dr. Díaz González and the head nurse:

Dr. Mangino is waiting for you in his office.

Doctor...

What about the books?

They're for my students at the university.

Doctor.

What a surprise to see you here at this hour. - Yes.

I've come to bring you these notes...

which have been in my hands...

since that day.

To be honest, it hurts to be reminded of it now.

I know, Alejandro.

Nothing is more painful than looking the truth in the face,

but nothing is as fruitful as knowing how to look at it.

If I could at least know the truth in this case, doctor...

Everything is ready for the operation, Dr. Mangino.

Okay.

Good morning.

You operate. I don't feel up to it.

This is the second time this week you've told me that.

So what?

So I should refuse.

- But... you can't refuse. - You know why.

- You know what I mean by that. - I assure you I don't.

I mean that all surgeons court failure,

and the first failure always affects you the most.

Your failure, Dr. Mangino, was your first,

but it won't be your last.

You're making it into an impassable barrier

that will halt a career whose successes are recognized profession-wide

and have justly earned you fame as a brilliant surgeon.

My operation wasn't a failure!

It wasn't a failure!

You know it wasn't, doctor!

You understand, doctor, that I did it to make him operate.

Every time he resists, his psychosis grows stronger.

You must agree that he needs to be forced into it,

and the sooner the better.

I'll replace him, but this is the last time.

One moment, doctor!

I think it would be best to not try to force him for now.

Aren't you going against all of psychiatry...?

I have my reasons,

and forgive me for not discussing them with you now.

As Dr. Mangino's friend, you surely have your reasons...

I'm not speaking as his friend, but as his doctor.

I didn't know that his case...

merited the intervention of an authority such as yourself.

From this moment on, it does, doctor.

"Twilight,"

"by Dr. Alejandro Mangino,"

"of the National Autonomous University of Mexico."

"Contributions to the study of mental illness."

"When Oedipus discovered the crime that fate made him commit..."

"he put out his own eyes."

- Where is everyone? - It's not time yet, professor.

We're 15 minutes early.

Yes, that's true...

but I wanted to arrive early to give out the first copies of my book.

You can all come and get one.

I saw it in Robredo.

Nobody on the faculty knew you were writing it.

Why title it "Twilight", professor?

- When you read it, you'll find out. - Is it a scientific book?

Perhaps not.

Have you ever read "Twilight of the Gods", professor?

- It's an extraordinary book. - But this is "The Twilight of Men"!

De la Fuente is right...

but it's singular.

It's not "The Twilight of Men".

It's...

that of one man.

Doctor, there's an urgent telephone call for you.

- Is it the clinic? - I don't know, doctor.

- Excuse me. - Go ahead, doctor.

- Who is it? - It's me.

I've been trying to reach you to remind you...

that Ricardo died one month ago today.

Leave and close that door.

Are you there?

Alejandro?

Listen to me, Lucía.

There's something I must tell you.

If you ever found out that I was about to do something terrible,

or perhaps that I'd already done it...

If you found out that...

that I'm a criminal,

or perhaps a sick man,

and that I live with the anguish of not knowing which...

What would you do? What would you think of me?

I don't judge you...

because I love you.

Now...

just tell me you'll come, Alejandro.

Tell me you will.

RICARDO MOLINA 1902-1944 REST IN PEACE

"Rest in peace".

You don't know how it happened.

I still don't know myself.

Was I a criminal or just sick?

It's that uncertainty which fills me with terror.

We were like two brothers,

and I have the right to be heard by you, even if you're dead and I'm alive.

All month long, I've struggled to reconstruct these painful years,

to discover the truth, not matter how incredible it is.

That's all I want:

The truth.

It all started on that rainy afternoon, a few hours before leaving for Europe.

I promised to meet you at the Academy of San Carlos,

where you had an urgent meeting at the Center for Architects.

We had decided to spend the last two hours together,

before taking a night train to New York, where I would board a ship.

Since the meeting went long,

I entertained myself with the sculptures that adorned the lovely courtyard.

I was drawn to Michelangelo's sculptures for Lorenzo de Medici's tomb.

There was Dusk...

and Dawn.

Looking at it,

I was suddenly tormented by the memory of Lucía,

the only woman I had ever truly loved,

who had one day disappeared from my life,

without leaving a trace.

I partly closed my eyes.

When I opened them again, I felt drawn by the sound of a chisel

and the light from a hall whose door was halfway open.

I went for a closer look.

The sculpture students were working.

I was transfixed by one of them who, without using models,

was chiseling rock into the shape of a woman.

I stood there a moment, entranced by how the sculptor's hands

were giving life to the rock.

I felt as though its rigid back... neck, and head were moving.

It was the same feeling I had as a student,

which I was then recalling,

when I first looked at a rigid corpse,

and I thought that it had moved.

At that thought, I looked up...

and I looked toward the center of the room.

There was Lucía.

The sudden realization that she was there

left me mesmerized for a few seconds,

motionless, like another statue before her.

Perhaps she felt my gaze brush against her neck and bare shoulders,

and she turned her head, raised her eyelids,

and pierced me with her deep gaze.

That indelible moment is, in my life,

the moment when love was revealed to me by the torture of jealousy...

and incredible sorrow.

I remember that...

my back was to the students and I took a few steps to the side,

with my gaze fixed, as if walking around a statue.

She followed me with her gaze and seemed to turn before my eyes,

slowly and modestly covering herself with the blanket at her feet.

Then I felt her shiver with the same love she had shivered with

when she was in my arms.

It was then that I saw the first shadow of that monster...

which would lead me to tragedy.

Staring at her, I felt as if suddenly...

everything faded into a strange shadow,

from which later emerged, illuminated by a shifting twilight,

the motionless head of Lucía.

With her mouth half-open and her eyes closed,

she seemed like the statue of a sculptor who, in that gesture,

had captured a supreme moment of voluptuousness.

The sound of the chisel deafened me,

and it was your voice then which stopped my dizzying fall.

Alejandro.

Alejandro!

Let's go.

I was like a machine, barely aware of my actions.

I didn't look back, despite sensing anguish in her.

It was as if she wanted to call out to stop me,

but I followed you, and we exited to the corridor.

Your ticket.

Your ticket, please.

- Why don't you give him the ticket? - I've decided not to go.