[sound of liquid pouring]
[lamp clicks on] [car passes outside]
[aquarium bubbling]
[dramatic music playing on TV]
[narrator speaking on TV]
[street noise]
[strange animal sound in the distance]
"It’s been thousands of years since the Earth has delivered a living creature..."
[electronic music playing]
[phone alarm rings]
[music volume lowers]
Sohrab do you even remember I have a performance tonight?
If you can’t pick me up, just say so. I’ll go by myself!
[waves crashing, wind blowing]
[laughter and chatter in the distance]
[male voice humming “Für Elise”]
[strange animal sound returns]
- [Yasi, on phone] Hello? - Yasi?
- Yeah Nina? Kinda busy here... - Your brother hasn't come home again!
- Where are you? Aren't you at the studio? - Nah, come on. I’m home...
[Yasi, to someone else] Yeah, just leave it there... Sorry Nina, go on!
He kept nagging: "Why don't you ever cook, why aren't you like other wives?"
I scoured YouTube, made beef stroganoff for his highness!
It all went cold and ruined.
You two have to create some kind of drama every fucking time I have a show...
[sighs] Alright darling... Stay put. I’ll pick you up for the show.
[Yasi, to someone else, indistinct]
[ambulance siren wailing]
[rich forest ambiance]
[birdsong, woodpecker tapping]
"It’s been thousands of years since the Earth has delivered a living creature..."
"It’s been thousands of years since the Earth..." [loud growl of strange animal]
[car horn honks] [ambulance siren]
["Zhina" by Shadmehr Aghili playing softly inside the car]
- I was just coming to you! - Traffic killed me. Get in!
Darling, instead of driving across the town just to babysit me,
why don’t you go and find your brother?
God knows where he’s been for days…
Nina, do you even listen?
I’ve told you a hundred times: Don’t go home!
Stay at my damn studio, rehearse, work on your lines...
Why do you think I gave you the studio key then, huh?
[music volume increases]
He’s singing it wrong, you know?
It should be: "Nina, my flower... my beautiful flower..."
[music volume lowers] God! We used to listen to this like goofs back in college!
Sohrab still plays it, you know?
And he has the guts to call me old-fashioned, or stuck in the Stone Age...
Nina... do you remember the last time Sohrab played this?
I dunno... Maybe in the car, or...
Why?
No reason... just wondering...
- Pull over! - Why do you snap like that out? I’m just talking!
I know that face, Yasi.
- You say one thing, but think another! - And what exactly am I thinking?
Go on, tell me! What’s in my head?
He was supposed to listen to my monologue before the show...
If he doesn’t show up tonight, I’m gonna mess it all up…
[gasps]
[gasps] Nina...
Nina, where are you going?
[car drives off quickly]
Sohrab! If something’s up, just tell me straight.
Don’t send Yasi, for God’s sake!
This kid cannot even pretend...
You know what I was thinking about this morning?
Remember that random camping trip?
We left in the morning, came back at night, and both said it was our best trip ever.
Remember that stupid card game?
You kept forcing me to play in the middle of the forest.
It was such nonsense! I'm sure it was made up...
[laughter and chatter in the distance] Sohrab?
How did I do that weird animal sound?
Been bugging me since this morning, can’t remember...
"It’s been thousands of years since the Earth has delivered a living creature..."
"I open my eyes."
"I am lonely."
"The deep darkness of the trees, enfolds me like a womb."
What was the next line?
[laughs] Idiot!
You know it all.
Why don't you do it instead of me? It would be better.
My head's gone blank again.
At least when Sohrab’s around, he claps out of politeness at the end...
Get up! Stop talking nonsense and enough with the Sohrab!
We’re going to my place, you'll grab your stuff and we'll head to the theatre.
The cast won’t wait around for your drama!
[a car speeds away]
[Nina humming "Für Elise"]
[eerie music fades in]
[breathing heavily]
Let it out, cry!
[door opens to seaside ambiance]
[knocking at the door] [Yasi, off screen] Open the door, Nina!
Please!
What are you running from?
Darling, It's not your fault!
[knocking] Open the door, just for a sec... We need to talk...
[cellphone ringing]
[Sohrab, on phone] Nina, my flower... my beautiful flower...
Sohrab?!
[car music playing - "Zhina" by Shadmehr Aghili] I’m coming love, I swear!
Run through your monologue one more time and I’ll be there.
[Sohrab singing along quietly]
Sohrab! Don’t come! I’m not in a rush.
What? Can’t hear you Nina...
If you can hear me, I’m coming...
[Sohrab singing along quietly]
Don't come because of me...
[dramatic music fades in]
[breathing deeply]
Nina, do you hear me?
[overlapping voices and "Zhina" music echo ominously]
"It’s been thousands of years since the Earth has delivered a living creature..."
[car accelerating]
Nina... There’s some weird animal in the middle of the road...
[car screeches and crashes off screen]
Baby, It's not a brain game! You’re overanalyzing it... Boo!
Goddamn it! Don't! What the hell is this?
I don't want you to run off!
Now give it to me.
Look at that snout: Woof woof!
It’s a dog! You gotta respond quickly, no thinking!
If you wanna be the God of this game, you gotta be fast!
- Oh, so now you’re the God? - I was always the God, babe!
- It's so lame! Stop it. - It’s not! Just go with the flow!
Another one!
No thinking! ...and don’t show it to me!
- Shit... Wait a sec... - Don’t drag it out!
Quick! 1,2,3!
[claps once] God says your time is up!
[Nina mimics the creature sound] [Sohrab laughs]
What the hell was that?!
It's a prehistoric beast! I haven't named it yet!
Prehistoric?! You’re ruining the game! It has to be real!
It is real! It’s my card, so I say it’s real! Listen again...
[Nina mimcs the sound again] [Sohrab mimics Nina]
- You gotta breathe it in! - Innnn...
[distant creature sound through the forest]
[again, eerie creature sound] [dramatic music fades in]
[wind blowing]
"It’s been thousands of years since the Earth has delivered a living creature..."
[gasps]
"But I am alive!"
"History is conceived within my body."
"Behold me!"
"Here I stand!" [soft ambient music fades in]
"Like the wind, I dance!"
"Like the night, I howl!" [howling]
"Like restless eyes, I wander!"
"I cry out loud:"
"That's enough!"
"From now on, my gaze shall revive the history!"
[lights snap off] [audience applauds]
[end credits music playing]
"Prehistoric" Produced, Written and Directed by Armin Etemadi
Cast Elaheh Bakhshi Samaneh Moniri and Mansour Nasiri as Sohrab
Director of Photography Pooyan Aghababaei
Editor Pooyan Sholevar
Set & Costume Designer Faraz Modiri Sound Designer Ramin Abousedgh
Original Soundtrack Sam Mazaheri Sound Recordist Meysam Hasanloo Makeup Artist Shirin Moosavi