The Red Turtle Page #3

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And yet, he hears something again.

He sticks his head under the water, on the look-out. He looks closely.

Nothing.

Time seems frozen for a moment.

Just when the danger seems to have passed, the raft is struck. The thing

seems to be coming from under the water, a sort of invisible sea monster.

The raft explodes. The man sinks.

The man emerges amid the remains of the shattered raft.

He manages to swim to the coral reef and pauses to catch his breath. He

coughs. He's not feeling great.

Birds fly past in the sky.

I.4. Fever and Despair. The animals.

The man returns to the island, spitting copiously.

His last escape attempt exhausted him. He is alone, desperate, and injured.

The wind is picking up, bending the trees and sending sand and leaves flying

on the beach.

The man lies down on the sand and curls up.

Later.

Birds fly past in the sky.

The wind has died down.

The man is lying on his back in the shade of the bamboos. He seems

incapable of movement. Exhausted and absent, he looks at the sky through

the foliage.

The sun sets above the sea, on the horizon.

Later.

An enormous centipede crawls over the dead leaves and the man's

motionless foot. He doesn't react. He seems to be in a sort of feverish coma.

For those who inhabit the island, life carries on in a strange fusion with the

sick, absent man.

Eat or be eaten, kill or be killed – that's nature's way.

At the water's edge, two crabs fight over a dead fish.

Further away, a spider waits for a fly to get caught in its web.

Ants come and go on the man's motionless arm.

He is lying on his belly in the bamboo forest.

Night falls.

Bats fly over the landscape in the already dark twilight sky.

A bat flies around in circles above the foliage. Its spread wings stand out

clearly, black shadows against the dark grey sky.

It's nighttime.

Behind the bushes and the bamboos which line the beach, eyes appear.

There's no way of knowing who they belong to.

They look closely at the man. Waiting for his death? To eat him too?

We come closer. The round, unblinking, vaguely threatening eyes are still

staring.

In the sky, clouds pass in front of the almost full moon.

Suddenly, almost heavenly music can be heard.

The man opens one eye. He hears it and starts listening to it.

He struggles to his feet and heads for the music on the beach.

Musicians are sitting there by the water's edge.

The man runs over to them. They are a string quartet wearing tuxedos.

As he reaches the quartet, they disappear.

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