Ah, little scoundrel.
There you are. You are a bad boy.
Come on. Hop on.
Like you always do.
Holy sacraments! You'll kill yourself!
Only God knows how much I loved you.
- Someone has died. - Huh-uh.
- It's Pentecost. - No no, it must be a very big fish
if they are ringing the cathedral bells.
Florentino, lay down.
Let's do it again.
Please?
Tolling like that must be for a governor at least.
Or...
What?
What is it?
America, you must go back to college.
My driver will take you. There is something I have to do.
My deepest sympathy.
Your father was a saint.
- My condolences. - I'm so sorry.
We would still have cholera
if it had not been for him.
My sympathies, Mrs. Urbino.
Let's go, Mom.
- See you all later, gentlemen. - See you later.
Mama, I'll stay if you want me to.
Fermina, I have waited
for this opportunity for 51 years,
nine months and four days.
That is how long I have loved you,
from the first moment I cast eyes on you until now.
I repeat to you once again
my vow of eternal fidelity
and everlasting love.
Florentino Ariza...
get out of here!
Get out!
And don't show your face again for the years of life that are left to you.
And I hope there are very few of them.
Florentino Ariza!
Florentino!
Ah!
- That's not a telegram, Carlos. - Come on, come on.
Deliver this, please, to Senor Lorenzo Daza.
Old house, Park of Evangels.
New in town, a rough diamond.
Owns mules, lots of mules.
Thank you, Lotario.
Thank you.
Yes yes, I'm coming. I'm coming.
Last time you charged me 400 gold pesos,
that's double what I paid for this whole abbey cloister... what?!
Senor Lorenzo Daza.
Yes.
Oh, good news. Good news!
No reply.
Look at the shape of the letter.
Not"U"but"A."
M-me...
M-m... me...
mis...
mist...
mistook...
Senor, Senor!
Tak... mistook...
mistake-taken...
Good. Good.
Very good.
Mistook, mistake,
mistaken.
- What do you want? - Look, I didn't do anything.
Don't you greet your mother?
Florentino, have you eaten?
Have you eaten?
"Fermina Daza,
for I have learned
that is your majestic
immortal name.
I write this very short note
in order to let you know...
that I love you."
- You haven't been to bed. - Shh!
- Are you ill? - No.
You are so pale, my son. Are you sure?
- I'm not ill. - Let me feel your head.
Let me feel your head.
What are you writing, a book?
No, a letter.
All these pages, and they're just one letter.
But what kind of a letter?
Holy Mother.
It is a love letter.
Oh, my son, who is she?
Her name is...
Fermina Daza.
They're new in town.
Her mother is dead. Her father owns mules.
And, Mama, I have discovered the reason for my existence.
Don't talk such nonsense, my son.
That's it!
Come on, come on, come on.
But there is money in mules.
Does Fermina Daza return your love?
"I've discovered..."
I don't know. We haven't spoken.
That's why I'm writing the letter.
If I can find the opportunity, I'll give it to her,
but she's always with her aunt.
Then you must win over the aunt, not the girl.
It's him! It is the telegram boy.
Walk on.
Eh-hh.
- Let me stand next to her. - No!
Senorita Daza,
all I ask is that you accept a letter from me.
- Not now. - When?
Afterwards.
Corpus Christi.
- Corpus Christi. - Amen.
Welcome, Fernando!
Papa, I'm going to wish
Mother Superior a happy Christmas.
This is the greatest moment in my life.
Give it to me.
It was very long. I made it shorter.
Wait!
It's a flower of promising.
Go.
And don't see me again until you hear from me.
My Holy Mother. My Holy Mother.
It is cholera, my son. It is cholera.
- No, Mama. - My son!
I gave her the letter.
Now I must wait for her reply.
Yeah. Then enjoy your pain.
Take advantage of it now while you are young.
And suffer, my son, suffer all you can,
because these things don't last your whole life.
May she answer soon.
She won't.
Florentino!
What the hell you are doing?
It's not an American ship, it's British.
It's the mail from Liverpool. British.
Come here.
What is wrong with you? This isn't love.
It's madness. Give me, give me.
Up up up up.
No, wait wait.
Fly now, go.
What is wrong with you?
You need to take your mind off her.
Come with me to the whorehouse if...
Yes?
Oh, how much is it to send a telegram
to the village of Piedras de Moler?
- Piedras de Moler? - Uh-huh.
Uh... let me see.
It's... it's not on our list.
You don't... you don't send telegrams to Piedras de Moler?
- No. - Th... then...
good day to you.
Senorita!
"Dear Florentino Ariza...
I am sorry that I have
made you wait so long for my reply.
I ask your forgiveness.
Please, write to me again soon."
"Crowned goddess, I enclose
what I know is a worthless memento.
I also write this verse in honor of my love for you."
"I think of you every moment.
Now that spring is here, thoughts of you fill me with life.
I will love you forever.
Forever."
Shh-hhh.
Shhh.
- It's him. - Of course it's him.
- Senorita Escolastica? - Shhh.
Senorita Escolastica,
please turn apart so I can talk privately to the young lady.
I have something important to ask her.
What impertinence!
There's nothing that has to do with her that I cannot hear.
Then I will not say anything.
But I warn you,
you will be responsible for the consequences.
- Fermina Daza. - I am here.
We've written too many letters
and too much time has passed.
So now...
crowned goddess,
I make this vow.
I swear to you my eternal fidelity
and everlasting love,
and I ask in all humility
to do me the great honor of marrying me.
You...
you must give me time.
Fermina, say yes!
Fermina, I may not be married, but I know about love.
Even if you're dying of fear,
even if you are sorry later, because whatever you do,
you will be sorry all the rest of your life if you say no.
Believe me, I know what I'm talking about.
Yes, very well.
I will marry you
if you... if you promise not to make me eat
eggplant.
Who is he? Who is he?
Who is this Florentino Ariza?
Huh?
And Mother Superior says that you write letters to him?
And you... you!
You are to blame.
No!
Aunt!
No!
Daughter, daughter, listen to your father.
Listen to your father. Everything I do,
I do it because...
because I...
okay, I'll try. I'll try, but...
but I have to... I have to ex... I have to explain myself.
It's difficult because I'm a plain man.
But ever since your mother died,
you've been...
a daughter... a daughter is a jewel.
Is a jewel. I'm... I'm... I'm a rough diamond, but you're...
you're... you're the... the crown.
And I don't... I don't... I don't work for me.
We didn't come here for me. We came here for you.
For you!
But you don't know how... just how beautiful you are.
You-you-you... you're... you're...
you're much too beautiful to marry a telegraph operator.
We have bigger fish to fry, and believe me... believe me,
at your age, love is an illusion.
Christ, by Christ I swear,
I swear, I swear to Christ...
Good morning, good morning.
You and I must talk... man to man.
Ahhhh.
When my wife died I set myself one goal.
One goal...
to turn my daughter into a great lady.
Now that's... that's a long road to travel for a mule trader.
I've never had a drink this early in the morning.
Better start now. You're going to need it.
I came to this town because...
well, here was the possibility of a grand marriage.
Then an unforeseen obstacle
to the plan that I have fought for with my life...
you.
So I've come to make a polite request.
Get out of our way.
Have you spoken to her?
None of that. None of that. This is a matter for men
and it will be decided by men.
Be that as it may,
I cannot answer without knowing what she thinks.
Don't force me to shoot you.
Shoot me.
There is no greater glory than to die for love.
Pack!
- Where are we going? - To our death!
You'd better explain. I'm not leaving.
Take it to him now.
- What is this? - They leaving.
They going to the country.
- Hurry up! - Where are you going?
He's taking me away.
- Sit down! - Fermina.
Don't you dare talk to him!
- Where are you talking her? - He's taking me away!
Get out of our way.
Hyah! Hyah!
Get back. Get back.
"I think of you every day"
"I think of you a little bit more"
"I tear my reason apart"
"Something inside me gets destroyed"
C'mon, mule.
"I think of you every day"
"I think of you a little bit more"
"And I keep thinking of you"
"And I keep thinking."
- That's bad. Five more. - Take away all I have, right?
Aunt Fermina!
Senora, may I help you?
Hi, princess, What are you here for?
Cousin Fermina?
I have a surprise for you.
Cousin.
He wants me to fix a wedding date.
- Will you? - Of course.
- Excuse me, Senoritas. - Make it well into the future.
Your father said he will keep you here for a year at least.
A year is nothing.
We will exchange telegrams
as we used to exchange letters.
And our love will triumph.
There is no man on Earth more perfect than Florentino Ariza.
And you, Hildebranda, are you in love?
A married man.
20 years older than me.
Do you exchange letters?
No.
Secret glances.
It all seems difficult and impossible now,
but I just know that we must learn to be happy without love.
And in spite of it.
Happy without love?
Yes.
Happy without love.
I want to eat the tender flesh
of every word she has written to me
over and over. I hope I survive.
- But danger is everywhere. - Fire!
If the suffering of your own heart doesn't kill you,
the ever-recurring civil war might.
And there is the disease
that comes between the burst of bloodshed,
the deadly choking embrace of cholera.
Dead collectors! My daughter is...
She is even more impossible to predict than war.
She grabs hold,
then suddenly she lets go.
- Daddy! He's dead, too. - She grabs hold,
she lets go.
Florentino!
Up here!
Stop it, stop it. It will be all three of you, I promise.
All in good time.
So which one is it going to be?
No no, my beloved is returning soon.
I have to keep myself pure.
And I will only lose my virginity for love.
Oooh.
That is such a bad idea.
Don't go, Florentino.
I will be back... but not for some time.
Let's go, let's go.
So the worst years of my life passed.
I counted the eternal minutes one by one
as I waited for her return.
But I do not mind.
I will keep watch for all of eternity.
I will keep watch until I die if need be.
I stand vigil for her beside the lighthouse.
My heart is like the sea... endless and everlasting,
even while it is as turbulent as the crashing waves.
Florentino, what are you doing here?
Ricardo, the young lady I'm going to marry is coming back tonight.
I'm waiting for her.
Come on. Come on!
Ricardo the lighthouse keeper is my only friend.
He does not understand.
I must be here to will her home.
I delegate to you the authority to run this household...
and turn over to you the keys to your life.
Crowned goddess, you are the coming of the dawn.
Like spring, you have returned to the one newborn.
Mom, Mom, there it is, Mom! Yes, yes. Come on, come on.
- That one, too? That one. - No no, that one over there.
Thank you.
Coconut candy!
Sweets for your sweetie.
Coconut candy!
The Arcade of Scribes is not a place for a crowned goddess.
No.
No, please.
Forget it.
Wh-wh-what do you mean "forget it"?
I just...
I just realized
this... this moment when I saw you.
What?
What did you realize?
What is between us...
is nothing more than an illusion.
It... it clouded my eyes.
I'm so sorry.
You... you just...
realized it?
Yes.
The moment I saw you.
Make him well.
Please.
- Dr. Juvenal Urbino? - He's a busy man.
- This is urgent. - No. Appointments only.
Cholera... my mistress has cholera.
No, you can't go up there. You need to wear a mask.
I'm Hildebranda Sanchez, the patient's cousin.
She's upstairs.
I would like you to be present, please, when I examine her.
Her father's with her.
Oh, thank you. Thank you for coming.
I pray to God you can do something.
They say you know more about cholera than a...
Under the tongue.
Vomiting?
How many times? Once, twice?
Twice.
Diarrhea?
- Severe? - I don't...
- What? - I... I don't know.
I've never had it before.
Sit up, please.
It is an intestinal infection.
What? It's not cholera?
No. I'll prescribe medicine.
Three days at home and she'll be well again.
Did you hear that? Oh.
Doctor, wait wait.
Doctor, wait! How did you learn so much about cholera?
I, uh, studied in Paris under Professor Proust.
All the things you've done for the city... the clean water,
- closed sewage... - Your daughter.
- Yes? - She's very beautiful.
Thank you.
Senorita.
I would like to, um...
take your pulse.
Stick out your tongue, please.
Mm-hmm.
You are like a... a new-sprung rose.
Thank you.
Do you like music?
What is the point of that question?
Music is important for one's health.
No! No, don't! Doctor!
Do not go. I saw it all.
I... I told your daughter that she is like a rose.
True enough, but one with too many thorns.
Up up up! You open that window and apologize.
I have nothing to apologize for. I closed the window to keep out the sun.
Don't backtalk back to me, okay? Do as I tell you.
Say something... now!
I offer you my most heartfelt apology, sir.
Her education.
Let me escort you to the carriage.
Senor.
I... I would like your permission
to write to your daughter.
Ahh.
I will go and find her. I won't let her go.
My destiny in life is to love Fermina.
I will win her back.
Hildebranda, look!
Aye, beautiful!
Mmmmm, another one.
Gala Placidia, I told you not to accept it.
Oh, I know that, milady,
but is hard to say no to Dr. Urbino.
How many is that now?
Seven.
- You must reply. - We're not going to discuss it.
We must hurry.
The Belgian photographer is expecting us.
Gala Placidia, help us to dress.
Oh, yes, milady, it is perfect.
Ladies, very still.
I will count to five now.
One, two, three...
four, five.
One, two, three!
Benny Centeno!
Benny, Benny, Benny...
Move aside! Move aside!
Benny! Champion!
Please get in, I'll take you wherever you want to go.
Benny, Benny, Benny!
Who is Benny Centeno?
He just won the boxing championship in Panama.
Oh.
This is so nice.
I could spend the rest of my life here.
Oh, ay, my boots are killing me.
I'll have to take them off.
I'll take off mine too.
Let's see who finishes first.
Oh!
Mmm.
You won. You won.
But now I realize it wasn't my boots at all.
It is this wire cage under my skirt.
Hmm, nothing could be simpler.
Take it off.
I won't look.
Ay!
I am waiting.
We want to go home.
Whoa whoa whoa.
Read my letters. I want your answer.
He's very beautiful.
When he covered his eyes and I saw his perfect teeth
between those rosy lips, I wanted...
oooh, eeeoh.
I wanted to devour him with kisses.
What a whore you are.
"Dear Senor Urbino,
I give you my permission
to speak to my father."
Senora.
Forgive me for keeping you waiting, Transito,
but I have to practice my singing.
You never know when there's going to be a funeral, eh?
But, please please.
So...
is there a problem?
You get the money I send each month?
Thank you. You are a kind man, Don Leo.
I am not kind. I am just,
unlike my brother Pius. Something had to be done.
Pius should have made a proper provision for my son.
Well, he did not and I did.
So?
I've come...
to ask if you can help him.
- Who? - Your nephew.
My son Florentino.
What kind of help?
A job.
Well, I thought he had a job at the telegraph office.
Yes, but I'm asking you to find him another job...
any job, as long as it's far away.
Some port lost in the jungle where...
where there is no mail, no telegraph.
A broken heart.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Hmmm. How about Villa de Leyva?
How far away is that?
Oh...
about three weeks.
I am nothing.
I will not heal...
not for all time.
I'm struck by the lightning of love
and burned beyond repair.
She's a splinter that cannot be pulled out.
She's part of me, everywhere I go.
Everywhere, she is.
- Hello. - Fermina.
What are you doing?
Turn off the light.
I want...
absolute darkness.
You forget, Doctor, this is the first time
I've slept with a stranger.
Do you love me?
Don't be frightened.
We are man and wife.
I want you to love every...
every moment of our honeymoon.
I can't wait to show you Paris.
It is a...
a city of love.
You have
a beautiful smile.
Thank you.
I think my sense of smell
is overdeveloped.
Well, that would be because your olfactory organ's...
I'm sorry I mentioned it.
Shhh.
Don't forget I have met them before.
I remember it very well.
And I'm still angry.
I've... I've never been able to understand how your thing works.
How ugly it is.
Even uglier than a woman's thing.
Yes.
Besides, I think it has...
too many bits on it.
That's astounding.
My doctoral thesis was on the advantage...
I don't want a medical lesson.
No. No.
This is going to be a lesson in love.
The black flag!
That's the plague flag. Give them a wide berth.
Please, help us!
Captain!
- They're dying of cholera! - Cholera!
Please!
Good Heavens! Careful, don't get too close...
Please, help us!
Captain! Help us!
Cholera!
Help me! Please.
Don't leave.
God! What's that?
Help me! Please!
Keep her safe, protect her from harm.
Good night, my crowned goddess.
Go go. Go on and forget all about it.
This never happened.
Who occupies that cabin... the middle one?
- Three women. - Three women?
They have three cabins and they both connect together.
It makes one big one.
- Who are they, these women? - I don't know.
- You go on. - We'll see.
- See her eyes? - My, Rosalba.
He looks very sweet.
And so shy.
It's the shy ones you must look out for.
- Carefully, it's fragile. - Get out of the way.
He's staring at you.
Bye!
Fermina, my vow...
I've broken my vow.
You shouldn't have come back, my son.
I had to.
Why?
Something happened and...
I had to be near Fermina again, Mama.
- That's all. - But she's not here.
What do you mean she's not here?
She's in Paris on her honeymoon.
She'll be gone a long time... more than one year.
Maybe two years.
- That's not true, Mama. - It is true, my son.
- No. - It is true.
At least two years.
- No. - No, Mama.
Please don't cry.
Oh.
Please... please don't waste your life.
You must forget her.
You must find someone else who will help you forget.
I can't forget, Mama.
I will never forget, Mama.
Senora, senora! Be careful! Senora!
- Senora. - Come on, boys.
Open fire!
They destroyed my house, Transito!
They destroyed my house.
Come in.
I need a bed...
on the floor, anywhere.
Just until I can rebuild my house.
Who knows how long this war will last.
Come on, drink.
You must stay here.
- So you have the room? - No.
It is a shame. My own bedroom is too small.
But if you don't mind...
sharing with my son.
Florentino?
An emergency.
The Widow Nazaret, her house has been damaged.
War has no respect for anybody.
She needs a bed. You can sleep in your hammock.
I'm so scared!
If it wasn't enough to lose my husband,
now this.
He died three years ago.
Help me, help me.
My dead husband always undid my laces.
Help me, please.
Help me.
I've never been in the same bed
with any other man...
ay... other than my dead husband.
He's in his coffin now
under the ground.
I'm so happy!
I'm happy because only now
do I know for certain
where he is
when he's not at...
home!
Women.
Number one...
unknown lady in boat.
The first...
wondrous...
explosion.
Number two...
the Widow Nazaret...
while doing it,
only talks of her dead husband.
Number three...
Esmeralda Arau...
a skinny, wiggling tadpole
who'd walk me through the ferns.
Number four...
Maria Estevez...
very dangerous.
We were so close to the street,
anyone could have heard us.
This is the cure for the pain
of Fermina.
What is it?
Nothing, my son, nothing.
- For a moment I... - What?
I didn't know who you were.
It happens to me more and more,
but it... it goes.
Give me your hand. Give me your hand.
Ma... I have work to do, Mama.
Work? What work? You need to find a job and to get paid.
I can't keep you forever.
I... I... I have something to tell you.
You are going to marry the widow.
Oh, no.
- What did you say? - Ma... Mama...
Did you say you had something to tell me?
Yes, I honestly believe...
I'm getting over the worst.
What was her name again?
Fermina. Fermina.
I begin to feel free.
The pain is gone. It's gone.
Now, it took Paris, the city of love, to bring about
this blessed transformation.
But here we are amongst our dearest friends.
We are happier than you can know to be here.
And furthermore, we are overjoyed
to no longer be two, but three.
The great purpose of marriage has made itself clear to all
and we thank you, our dear friends, for your warmth
and your congratulations.
Well, I was wondering how long it would be
before you came begging me.
- What do you want? - A job.
I gave you a job...
at Villa de Leyva and you threw it away.
It is different now.
I want to be rich like you.
I am not rich.
I'm a poor man with money
which is not the same thing.
Why do you want to be rich?
So that I can be someone in society,
I need... I need to be worthy of a great lady I cannot stop loving.
Who is she?
Married?
Yes, but I'm waiting for her husband to die.
Is he old?
No, but I'll wait for however long it takes.
- You're crazy. - Why?
Because insanity runs in the family.
You take after your father.
You never knew him, my brother Pius.
You know what his last words were?
He said"The only regret I have in dying is that I do not die for love."
He said that?
- He really said that? - On his deathbed.
Nevertheless, all his life he fucked everything in sight.
So...
you want a job in the River Company of the Caribbean.
Yes, yes.
Well, are you any good
at, um, writing letters?
I think so, I...
I... I write poetry, too
I enter a poem every year in the Poetic Festival.
I have never won, but...
So, you have a way with words, huh?
- Yes. - Good.
Perhaps you can tell me
what this means.
On my birthday last year
someone made a speech in my honor.
He said I suffered from lucid dementia.
Now what does that mean?
Lucid dementia means you are clearly crazy.
I told you it ran in the family.
Start tomorrow. Clerk to the board of directors.
Tamales! Tamales!
Magic inks.
Very light blow.
Invisible ink for your secret letter.
Sir?
I-I...
- I would like... - You don't have to say anything.
Does she know you love her?
Yes.
Yes, and of course, she loves you.
Yes.
Do her parents know?
No, they don't.
What do you call her?
My flower.
All right, this is what you could say.
"My beautiful
and beloved flower.
Nobody can cut
the stem
of our love.
My life, my soul,
be strong.
Don't give up."
I baptize you in the name of the Father...
"Don't give up."
I can't read or write.
- Don't worry, I can. - I got this.
Would you read it to me and maybe write an answer?
Yeah.
"My beautiful and beloved flower.
No one can cut the stem
of our love.
My soul, my life, be strong.
Don't give up
because our love is deeper
than the deepest ocean. Emilio."
That's... that's a wonderful letter.
That's a wonderful letter.
I know just what your answer should be.
This must stop.
- This must stop. - What must stop?
"Our coffee comes in strong brown sacks.
Load well, but never tire your backs.
Unload in Miami, these coffee beans
and keep them dry...
...by any means." - What do you call this?
- A-a bill of lading. - A bill of lading?
- Yes. - In rhyme?
Yes.
And this..."To James Robinson and Company, Lombard Street,
London, England. Beloved sirs.
I write with all the ardor I can muster
to thank you for your exquisite letter of 16th Aug.
My heart beat faster as I read each word.
Oh, sirs, with all tenderness at my disposal,
I kiss and embrace you and sign myself, dare I say..."
"...Adoringly."
This is not a business letter.
This is a love letter.
Love is the only thing that interests me.
Hmm.
Well, the trouble is
without the river navigation, there is no love.
It must stop.
If you can't write a straightforward business letter,
you will be put to picking up trash on the dock.
But I need love.
Don Leo, I need love.
I need love.
Dona Blanca.
- Good afternoon. - Dona Blanca, so nice to see you.
- You look wonderful, Dona Blanca. - You know my daughter-in-law?
Yes, of course, Dona Blanca.
Oh, my daughter was at school with her.
Yes, we paint at the park.
We met in Paris.
I thought her charming.
She has, alas,
a scandal in her family.
- Mother, please. - Apparently, there is no law,
human or divine,
her father has not ignored.
And now he's run away.
It's only to be expected from mules.
She does not eat eggplant...
and does not play the piano.
But she is learning the harp.
- Oh, do play for us. - Yes.
- Oh, do, please, yes. - I think not.
Serve the tea.
Well, what news from the great world?
Don Leo XII of the River Company says he's going to retire!
Oh, he's been saying that for years.
And if he does, who will succeed him?
- Oh, he has a nephew. - An illegitimate nephew.
- Florentino Ariza. - Mmm.
Do we know him?
I've seen him many times,
but I can't remember what he looks like.
Yes, such an odd person.
Impossible to describe.
He's...
he's not a person.
He's a shadow.
Oh. You know him?
I have my period.
How odd.
Just yesterday, I told my anatomy class
that married women have their periods
as often as three times a week.
When can we move into our own house?
- Not yet. - When?
Not until your mother dies.
I married a weakling.
Would you have been better off with Florentino Ariza?
You don't see him...
but I do.
How joyless I am now.
Would I have been happier with him?
Poor man.
Ah, I am Dr. Juvenal Urbino.
I would like to see Don Leo.
He is having his siesta. Please, wait.
Should be awake in five minutes.
And you are?
His nephew and chief clerk, Florentino Ariza.
Still asleep.
Please.
Would you like a coffee?
Do you like music?
I like the music of Carlos Gardel.
I see. Popular music.
Yes, but...
we must keep performing the best music in our city.
We must import the greatest artists
from Europe.
Hmm.
I am working on it.
And of course the Poetic Festival.
That was my idea. I... I started it some years ago.
Yes, I know, I know.
Ah, well, I hope you will attend.
I mean to. I may even enter a poem.
Really? How amusing.
Of course, one needs to...
raise money for these things.
That is why I am here to see your uncle.
Hmm. Hmm.
My wife supports me in this.
I will say more.
My wife is the very soul of my endeavors.
Without her I... I would be nothing.
I adore my wife.
Thank God he's awake now.
Ladies and gentlemen,
damas y caballeros,
I welcome you to the Poetic Festival.
As in years past,
this year's Golden Orchid will be
presented by none other than...
my wife.
Just in time.
And the winner of this year's Golden Orchid is...
Wing Wu Peng.
What?!
It's a scandal!
What was the name?
It sounded Chinese. It's impossible.
- Read his poem. - Yes.
-"Your body is a holy garden..." - Believe me,
my heart goes out to you.
I know you must have entered a poem
because of how the flower trembled in your lapel.
That's why I took mine off.
"Your body is a holy garden..."
Would you like me to see you home?
Go, horse, go.
I'm sorry to have been so silent, but...
I'm still very angry.
I understand.
But we should at least tell each other our names.
I am Florentino Ariza.
Sara Noriega.
Thank you. Good health.
Would you like to see my albums?
- Your what? - Albums...
photographs of public events.
I'm a teacher of civics, you see.
Really? Of course I would like to...
to see them.
What is it?
May I sit beside you...
- and cry? - Of course.
Of course.
Hmm.
I'm so...
disappointed.
I can't stop.
Maybe you should loosen your bodice.
It will help you to feel more...
comfortable, you know?
May I help?
Tomorrow we do it in bed.
You are quite wonderful.
Tell me, how would you define love?
- Love? - Mm-hmm.
Love is...
love is everything we do naked.
Spiritual love from the waist up,
physical love from the waist down.
Mm-hmm, yes,
divided love.
That could be a poem...
"Divided Love."
Yes, it could be.
Let's write it together,
a poem on divided love.
We can enter it in next year's Poetic Festival.
We'd be certain to win.
- Tell me, tell me! - Yeah.
That's a good idea.
Divided love!
Calm down! Calm down!
Stop it, calm down, horse!
- Miss? - Calm down.
Miss?
Please, allow me to give you a lift.
Please.
Thank you.
Hey! Hey!
By the way, I am Florentino Ariza.
Olimpia Zuleta.
Am I taking you out of your way?
Not at all. Not at all.
I would have been in terrible trouble if I had lost my parasol.
- Why so? - My husband gave it to me.
Oh.
Married long?
Just over a year.
Just a bride.
He's a very jealous man, my husband.
What does he do?
He sells trinkets in the market.
- Oh. - And pigeons.
Excuse me, sir? We're here.
Yes, senora. Ho, ho!
How do I thank you?
You could sell me a pigeon.
They're not for sale.
Then what must I do to get one?
Well, you find her in a storm.
You drive her back to the coop.
This is how I say thank you.
Go away! Leave me alone!
Go away! Go away!
I don't know who are you!
- I don't know! - Help me!
Who am I? Who am I?
And whose son are you?
- I'm yours. - Whose son are you?
- Wake up. Look after her! - Ay! I fell asleep.
Where am I now?
Uh, Rosy... Rosy Martinez.
- Oh. - Who is this Rosy Martinez?
From a children's story long ago...
Give her the breakfast.
Oh!
At last you are here.
Oh! Where have you been?
You're never coming to see me.
Oh, you little boy! Such a wonderful boy!
And his name is...
his name...
Go on! Go! Go!
Go back to your whores!
You took advantage!
The only disease you ever had was cholera.
No, Mama. You confused cholera with love.
Mm-hmm.
Didn't you like the nice gentleman?
Huh?
I must see you again.
And for only one reason.
Not such a nice gentleman.
- Senor Ariza? - Yes.
The pigeon lady sends you this
and says please keep the cage locked.
Um, if it flies again, she will not send it back.
In many ways it was sinful.
And I am a saint.
Because you see, Ricardo, I persisted.
I broke down her defenses and stormed the citadel.
Olimpia Zuleta never refused the meetings I arranged.
But then, I got tangled in my own net.
I thought it would be the same
as it was with the others.
Just another escape route from Fermina.
But then, I found myself falling for her.
And I became a lover in pursuit.
I hunted her.
I was the lover who never showed his face.
I will never be able to smell turpentine again...
without thinking of this
blessed afternoon.
No, wait, wait.
What?
What are you doing?
You will see.
No!
He told the police why he did it.
Doesn't mention you.
"There's no more life, there's not"
"There's no more rain, there's not"
"There's no more breeze, there's not..."
The sky is crying for Olimpia.
And so am I.
"There's no more crying, there's not"
"There's no more fear, there's not..."
What have I done? What have I done?
"Take me there"
"To where you are"
"Take me there"
"To where you are"
"Take me there."
What's the... what's she going to the market for at this time of the night?
So whose son am I, Mama?
Eh, whose son am I?
I hoped your mother would have liked my singing.
I know she would. I know.
The only regret I have in dying
is that I can't sing at my own funeral.
Good people!
Good people.
Fellow citizens,
we are gathered here at the dawn of a new century.
The 20th century will see the end
of man's suffering.
The 20th century
will bring us harmony, peace,
and it will bring us light!
"474...
Peruvian spinster, Luisa...
Sunday school teacher."
My destiny in life
is to love Fermina.
Senor?
Senor.
Over there please.
Come on, come on!
Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Try it.
Tell me what you think.
Delicious. Absolutely delicious.
What is it?
Eggplant.
More, please.
Perhaps, as an act of remembrance,
we should name our next child
Eggplant Urbino.
I love you
above all else.
More than anyone else in the world.
The important thing in marriage is not happiness
but stability.
And love.
Nothing is more difficult than love.
Senora, buy my parakeets. Look, they're very pretty.
Senor Ariza,
we wanted to thank you.
Sorry?
You wrote letters for us.
Ah, yes. I remember, yes.
It was the only time I wrote letters for...
for both lovers. It was like writing to myself.
We're married now.
Good.
We wanted to ask you, will you be godfather?
Yes, of course.
He's our first son.
Yes, I will be honored.
I'll be damned. You screw just like your father.
Well, I just dropped in to tell you
I've decided to retire
and I'm appointing you president of the company.
And you, senorita, please feel free to continue.
I swear on my word of honor that I have not seen your face.
So, please.
Shh!
Shh. Stop it.
You'll wake Fermina. It's Sunday.
It's Sunday today. You've... you've missed mass.
You haven't taken your communion
for at least three weeks.
Have you lost your faith?
- Doctor. - Yes.
Look at me.
What? What is it?
Her smell is in my nostrils.
I have the right
to know who she is.
Her name is Barbara Lynch.
How long has it been going on?
Three months,
nearly four.
- Where did you meet her? - She's a patient.
What is...
what is she, this... this patient?
A doctor of theology,
a Protestant.
She has a mission by the harbor.
I thought
at least you...
you'd be a man
and deny the whole thing.
I thought at least you'd...
you'd lie to me.
I f... I feel
as though a great weight
has lifted from my shoulders.
I... I will put an end to it.
And I'll go to my confessor
and ask for absolution.
Come on, let's go, it's going to rain.
I have been waking
in the early hours of the morning
and then unable to go back to sleep.
And I have
sudden stabbing pains in my chest.
Worst of all, in the afternoons I...
I simply want to weep
uncontrollably.
I think I am going to die.
That would be best.
Then we could both have some peace.
Bedtime, kids. Go.
We're going to eat our dinner, Aunt Fermina.
Thank you. Thank you.
Do you still recognize me...
the fat old thing that I have become?
It's been over a year
and not a whisper, not a hint.
Nobody knows where she is.
I have made myself believe
that if she were dead
I would have heard.
All I can do to keep myself sane
is to follow my routine:
472, Maria Florida...
sells flowers in the market.
499, Josephine Triola...
I-I don't exactly know who she was.
544, Galetia Fernandez...
nothing memorable to report.
Routine is like rust.
I could stay here forever.
You should have come sooner.
You did the right thing...
teach him a lesson.
And what happened to the man
who sent you all those telegrams?
Oh, he's very grand now.
President of the River Company of the Caribbean.
Hmm. Do you still see him?
Of course not.
And anyway...
he's not a man. He's a ghost.
It was all an illusion.
And you, Hildebranda,
what happened to your married man?
He stayed married.
- Three days! - Less than that.
Can I take care of your horse?
Uh-huh.
It is better to arrive in time than...
than to be invited, no?
- Hildebranda. - Juvenal.
- Are your boots still killing you? - Thank you, God.
How good you are.
I must get the children ready for supper.
- Come on, kids. - I'll go first.
- No, I'll go first. - I'll go first.
I'll go first.
What are you doing here?
Well, I know you would be too proud
to return on your own, so I have...
I have come to fetch you.
I... I thought
we might have a second honeymoon.
But the following night, while the old man slept...
- Oh, dear God, now what? - Shh, please.
Shh, Fermina.
Thank you, God. Thank you.
Excuse me.
It's been a long time since I've seen her.
Good evening.
And she has changed, Ricardo.
But, what was worst,
is that her husband seemed younger than ever.
And I had this...
terrible thought that she would die first.
Heaven forbid.
And it made me realize
that I have grown older too.
Those stairs...
up and down those stairs will kill me.
Uh, I'm not afraid of death, I'm afraid of old age.
So...
I doubt I will be coming here so often.
Why are you so successful with women?
Um...
because they see in me someone...
guilty.
In need of love. Someone who will not...
harm them.
My heart has more rooms than a whore house, Ricardo.
What number are you on now?
Prepare yourself for a shock.
I'm on number 622.
Impossible.
I speak the truth... 622.
Some time ago...
I forget exactly when...
Uncle Leo asked me to keep an eye on the daughter
of some distant relation of ours from Puerto Padre.
She was being sent here to college
to become a teacher.
And then, little by little,
I won her confidence and affection.
And in due course, the doors of heaven opened to her.
Her name is America Vicuna.
We see each other on Sundays.
We are quite open about our, what shall I say?
Friendship.
For one thing, the difference in our ages
places us above suspicion.
Someone has died.
Huh-uh.
It's Pentecost.
No. No, it must be a...
a very big fish if they are ringing the cathedral bells.
Mmm.
America.
You must go back to college.
My driver will take you. There is something I have to do.
Fermina...
I have waited for this opportunity for 51 years,
nine months and four days.
That is...
how long I have loved you from the first moment I cast eyes on you
un... until now.
Florentino Ariza...
get out of here!
Get out!
"Florentino Ariza,
you are a dreadful, insensitive human being.
How dare you enter my house
on the day my beloved husband died
and utter such monstrous, ridiculous sentiments?
You have put me in a mortal rage,
which has caused me to think about you without wanting to.
Do you understand?
I do not want to think about you. Stay out of my life."
Go, donkey, go!
Hi, dear. Let's not waste time.
I don't want to see a movie.
Do you know what I want to do?
Before you go home, I have something to tell you.
Pull over. Pull over, please.
I'm going to get married.
It's a lie. Old men don't get married.
Who is she?
- Do you want to cry? - No!
I don't know who she is.
But whoever she is, she has ruined my life.
America, you must...
I don't want to hear it, Florentino.
I'm warning you.
"Please allow me to wipe the slate clean.
Age has no reality except in the physical world.
The essence of a human being
is resistant to the passage of time.
Our inner lives are eternal,
which is to say that our spirits remain as youthful and vigorous
as when we were in full bloom.
Think of love as a state of grace...
not the means to anything,
but the alpha and omega.
An end in itself.
Think of love as a state of grace...
not the means to anything,
but the alpha and omega.
An end in itself."
The messenger is waiting for a reply.
Mother, what is it?
Someone wants to call on me.
Who?
Don Florentino Ariza.
The man who owns the riverboats?
You know what they say about him?
No.
They say he has never had a woman.
In fact, they say
his tastes are quite the opposite.
They say he has a secret office
where he takes boys he picks up on the docks at night.
I simply don't believe that.
I've known him since he was a boy.
He's an honorable man.
Everything in the world has changed.
I haven't. Have you?
What does it matter now?
I've just turned 72.
Yes, we are two old people about to be ambushed by death.
Do you believe in God?
No.
But I am afraid of Him.
Some of your letters were a great comfort.
I'm glad to know you received them.
What... what I most admired about them
was their simplicity.
They helped me a great deal.
In what way?
They helped me
regain some kind of peace.
You cannot imagine how happy
I am to know that.
But I don't agree with everything you say.
We have nothing in common except memories.
The young people we were are banished...
that was all an illusion.
Not for me.
Well...
I thought this might amuse you.
That must be 50 years ago.
At least.
I have something to say.
In my experience, when anyone says that,
it's bound to be unpleasant.
These frequent visits from the man you are seeing
are unseemly.
Ofelia, it's none of your business.
He is company for Mama.
- He consoles her. - Consoles her?
All he needs to do to complete his consolation
is to climb into her widow's bed.
Ofelia.
But don't you believe
that love justifies anything and everything?
Love is ridiculous at our age.
But at theirs, it's revolting.
The only thing that hurts me
is that I don't have enough strength
to give you the beating that you deserve
for being so insolent and evil-minded.
But you will leave this house right now
and I swear to you on my mother's grave
that you will not set foot in it again as long as I live.
Ofelia, Mama, let's not...
Life crippled that poor man 50 years ago
because he was too young and now you want to do it because we are too old.
What I'd like most is to walk out of my house
and keep going, going, going,
and never come back.
Well, you... you could take a boat.
Well...
I might.
I might just do that.
I have one.
The New Fidelity.
It's... it's leaving soon.
It's eight days up-river,
and five days on the return.
Travel is good for the troubled spirit.
Splendid vision of the Earth,
passing, changing...
as we travel by.
Come in.
Are your quarters to your liking?
It is the Presidential Suite.
It was my idea to install it.
I wanted to call it the Honeymoon Suite.
Do you want to be alone?
If I did, I wouldn't have told you to come in.
Juvenal is a good man. Is a good husband.
I can't imagine a better one.
But when I look back,
I suppose there...
were more difficulties than pleasure.
Too many useless arguments.
Too much anger.
Maybe it's time...
to ask ourselves,
with our strong desire to live,
what to do with the love that has been left behind
without a master?
It's incredible
how one can be happy
for so many years
in the midst of so many problems,
so many squabbles.
Damn it.
And not really know if it was love or not.
Go now.
Not now.
I smell like an old woman.
I have never been happier in all my life.
"Oh, my love"
"What wouldn't I do for you"
"Just to take you for a second"
"Away from the world"
"And close to me"
"Oh, my love"
"Like the Magdalena River"
"That it melts into sands from the sea"
"I want to melt into you"
"There are love affairs"
"That wait until winter to blossom"
"And get greener at night in the fall"
"Just like this love that I feel for you."
Tomorrow we reach
our last port-of-call...
La Dorada.
And then...
turn back for home.
Don't look.
Why not?
Because you won't like it.
I have waited for this moment for 54 years.
Yes. Yes, you...
you've told me before.
I have remained a virgin for you.
You're a liar.
- Captain, Captain. - Thank you, sir.
Captain?
- Um, speaking hypothetically... - Hi, how are you?
Hello.
Speaking hypothetically,
would it be possible to make the...
- Captain. ...return trip without stopping?
- Thank you. - Without cargo
or passengers, without coming into any port...
Thank you.
...without... without anything?
It's possible.
But only hypothetically.
As you know better than I, the company has contracts to fulfill.
But there is one thing that could be done.
What is that?
If we had a case of cholera onboard.
Ooh.
We'd hoist the yellow flag and be quarantined.
Well then, let's do that.
I command this ship, but you command me.
If you're serious, just give me the order in writing
and we will leave right now.
I love you, my crowned goddess.
We're going to stay like this.
You can't mean it.
From the moment I was born,
I have never said anything I did not mean.
And how long do you... you think we can...
stay like this?
Forever.
Forever?
After 53 years,
seven months and 11 days and nights,
my heart was at last fulfilled.
And I discovered, to my joy,
that it is life and not death
that has no limits.