***
I tried to find a simple scene to begin with –
To display an entire life in one candle shot,
From the beginning to the end,
Without any screen tests,
Without walk-throughs.
Remember the candles in churches,
How they flicker,
The very essence of things,
The spirit,
The unprotected fire,
The faith –
It reaches its pinnacle
On “pascha”.
I had this idea of filming you in my hands
In one continuous sequence –
From the moment you fall in my dream
To the moment you open your hand
To the morning.
Carrying the candle across your body
Is nothing less than the effort of an entire lifetime
Encapsulated in one gesture.
By the time you ask yourself if you really felt it,
It has evaporated!
A single image of your fragility
That flickers as the candle slowly extinguishes.
Each hope at the brink of being liquidated…
I found a simple scene to begin with –
A thin, but certain, weak flame,
And all its will was concentrated
On one thing:
To save this frail spring body,
To keep it burning.
I got aware of the odd encounter
I was having
With love itself,
When I could feel the texture of it,
Its presence,
As if love were not only a concept,
But a substance,
Stretching out in front of me,
Expanding with every candle puff.
I left the candle burning
Along your neck,
Straining as my grief spreads upward,
Understanding
That not only has the sun been saved,
But that now my hand will always be found
To protect this flame
When you are no longer here.
I’d done everything
I promised
You and myself.
The unprotected fire,
The faith –
New life began again on Easter Sunday.
