Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022) Movie Script
[soft eerie music playing]
My name is A lit he a.
My story is true.
You're more likely
to believe me, however,
if I tell it as a fairy tale.
So, once upon a time,
when humans hurtled
across the sky on metal wings,
when they wore webbed feet
and walked
on the bottom of the sea,
when they held
in their hands glass tiles
that could coax
love songs from the air...
[music playing
through headphones]
...there was a woman,
adequately happy and alone.
Alone by choice.
Happy because
she was independent,
living off the exercise
of her scholarly mind.
Her business was story.
She was a narratologist
who sought to find the truths
common to all the stories
of humankind.
To this end,
once or twice a year,
she ventured to strange lands.
To China, the South Seas,
and the timeless cities
of the Levant...
where her kind gathered
to tell stories about stories.
[man 1] This way.
- [A lit he a] Excuse me.
- [man 1] This way, lady.
What are you doing?
Can you let go, please?
The mysteries of Istanbul.
[static buzzing]
- [man 2] A lit he a!
- [man 1 grunts]
A lit he a!
Welcome!
- Welcome at last! Aw.
- Gunhan!
- [both laugh]
- My dear friend.
- [A lit he a] Oh, how wonderful!
- [Gunhan] I'm sorry.
- This is Amina.
- Amina.
From the British Council.
That fellow at the airport
manhandling my luggage,
did you see him?
What fellow?
He scuttled off
when you arrived.
Small, sheepskin jacket,
pink collar.
Interesting.
He was hot to touch.
Musky.
Perhaps he was a djinn.
An illegal taxi driver,
more likely.
Wearing too much cologne.
So, Professor,
you saying you believe in djinn?
I believe there are those
who need to believe in them.
Including me?
Djinn, ghosts,
aliens, whatever helps.
[Gunhan laughs]
The hotel's arranged
a lovely surprise for you.
It's the Agatha Christie room.
In this room,
she wrote
Murder on the Orient Express.
[sighs]
[audience laughing]
[Gunhan chuckles]
[Gunhan] So,
how would you explain
the power of a thunderstorm
if you don't have the means
to measure and model
meteorological data?
How can you explain the seasons?
Autumn through winter
to spring and summer,
if you don't know that the Earth
orbits the Sun
while tilted on an axis?
Everything was mystery.
The seasons, tsunamis,
microbial disease...
What else could we do
but resort to stories?
As Dr. Binnie has
encouraged us to understand,
stories were once the only way
to make our bewildering
existence coherent.
That's exactly right.
We gave name
to the unknown forces
behind all wonder
and catastrophe,
by telling each other...
By telling each other stories.
- [Gunhan] let me show you.
- [static buzzes]
We told tales of specific,
powerful, relatable gods
ever present in all cultures,
in all mythologies,
from the Greeks,
to the Romans, to the Norse,
and so on, and so on.
The familiar descendant
of Zeus, Poseidon, Athena,
Thor, the whole gang,
find expression even today.
[low electrical humming]
These are their vestiges.
The question remains,
what is their purpose?
[electrical humming continues]
What do we require of them now?
There is mythos,
and there is science.
[electrical humming stops]
[A lit he a softly] Oh. Sorry.
Mythology is what
we knew back then.
Science is what we know so far.
[low electrical humming resumes]
Sooner or later,
our creation stories
are replaced
by the narratives of science.
Painstaking science.
And all gods and monsters
outlive their original purpose
and are reduced to metaphor.
Rubbish! [Roars]
[Gunhan muffled] A lit he a!
[woman speaking indistinctly]
[Gunhan] A lit he a.
[woman] What happened?
[Gunhan] I don't know.
She just fell.
- She just fell.
- [Amina grunts]
[Amina] Gosh. [Exclaiming]
[Gunhan] Are you okay?
[audience clapping]
[rattling]
[Gunhan] Shouldn't
you see a doctor?
[A lit he a] Why?
When I feel so well?
[Gunhan] Forgive me, A lit he a.
Are you sure?
[A lit he a] Apart from
the usual aches and pains,
there is nothing untoward.
There's no reason
to make a fuss.
[Gunhan] So, what happened
back there?
Lately, my imagination's
been getting the better of me.
Ambushing me.
I think it's a warning.
About what?
Not to be complacent.
To keep on my toes.
It manifests rudely
from time to time.
I try not to fight it off.
It takes charge for a moment,
and then it steps back.
What steps back?
Oh, Gunhan, it's
irrational. Pay it no mind.
[Gunhan] You are behaving like
a child. Do you know that?
[A lit he a] You know,
I am actually a child.
[Gunhan laughs]
[people chattering indistinctly]
[A lit he a] If there is fate,
can we escape it?
Who can say?
But I tell you this,
in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul,
there are 62 streets
and 4,000 shops.
And in one of those shops,
there are three rooms.
In the smallest of those rooms,
there was a pile
of things unsorted,
old and new.
From the bottom of that pile,
I chose a memento.
Do you know what this is?
I'm not sure,
but it could be Cesm-i Bulbul,
a "Nightingale's Eye."
Around 1845, there were
these glassmakers in Incirkoy.
They were famous for this
spiral blue-white pattern.
Oh, please.
It's a gift from me.
Choose something less forlorn.
And, uh, if this
is Cesm-i Bulbul,
uh, is there a way
of authenticating it?
Well, they say
that if it is genuine,
sometimes you can see
specks of blood
from the lungs
of the glassblowers.
But this is more likely
a recent imitation.
It's been damaged by fire.
Pick something else.
No, thank you, Gunhan.
I like it.
Whatever it is, I'm sure
it has an interesting story.
[telephone ringing]
Hello?
[man] Good morning, Dr. Binnie.
- Good morning.
- This is room service.
- Yes.
- How do you like your eggs?
Er, runny, please.
- And with toast?
- Yes, but no crusts.
- Two eggs?
- Just one.
- Okay, thank you.
- Thank you.
[electric toothbrush whirring]
[bottle rattling]
[bottle rattling intensifying]
[gasps]
[gasps]
[toothbrush clatters]
[squelching]
[rustling]
[squelching]
[creature breaths heavily]
[squeaks]
[creature breathing heavily]
I'm going to close my eyes
and count to three,
after which I would be grateful
if you would be gone.
One,
two,
three.
[breathing continues]
Four,
five,
six,
seven, eight,
nine, ten.
[creature grunting softly]
[growling softly]
[creature speaking indistinctly]
I don't suppose
you speak English?
[creature speaking
ancient Greek]
Deutsch?
Espanol?
Ellinika?
[creature grunts]
[creature speaking
ancient Greek]
[in ancient Greek]
[creature speaking]
[A lit he a speaking]
[creature speaking]
[static buzzing on laptop]
[The Djinn speaking]
[static buzzing]
[Einstein speaking
indistinctly on TV]
Einstein.
[The Djinn] Einstein.
[in English]
[The Djinn] Television.
[in ancient Greek]
[in English]
[The Djinn] Transmitters.
[in ancient Greek]
[in English] I am a
djinn of modest power,
but I begin to understand
these transmissions.
Oh!
You've learned
to speak my language.
This English is straightforward.
Its rules quickly learn, I find.
[static buzzes]
[Einstein gasping]
[gasps]
[Einstein] Nein, nein, nein.
Would you like this
little Albert for yourself?
No, no, no.
That can't be good for him.
Put him back.
- I could expand him.
- [Einstein] How?
We could speak with him.
- How is this possible?
- No, put him back.
- Is that your wish?
- This is not possible.
No. It's your obligation.
[blows]
[Einstein resumes speech
in German]
So, what will you wish for?
[floor creaks]
What is your heart's desire?
Now, let's, uh,
not get ahead of ourselves.
I need to take this slow.
[sighs]
I have all the time
in the world.
Tell me about yourself.
My name is A lit he a Binnie.
I am in Turkey for a conference.
And I return to my homeland
in a day's time.
Also?
[A lit he a breathing heavily]
Also, I have
a confession to make.
Something
I've never told anybody.
[The Djinn] Excellent.
When I was young,
there was a boy.
Your first lover?
No, no, no.
He was not of flesh and blood.
A djinn?
No.
At that time, I found myself
in a school for girls.
Gaggles of girls.
I was... Well, I am
a solitary creature by nature.
And this boy, Enzo,
he came to me,
out of an emptiness.
Out of a need to imagine.
He told me stories in a language
that only we two spoke.
And he always disappeared
when I had a headache,
but he was never far away
when I couldn't move for asthma.
[The Djinn] He was like
this little Albert
you would not let me give you?
An emanation?
[A lit he a] Only an emanation
of an absence.
[breathing laboriously]
I feared he would leave,
and so I wrote him down.
And I filled this journal,
bulging with facts.
But the more realism
I tried to insert,
the more I began to doubt,
and, uh, it all began
to feel silly.
I felt silly.
So, after a time,
I burned it all
in the school furnace.
And after that,
he disappeared altogether.
And yet, I am here.
Contrary to reason, yes.
I am here,
and we have work to do.
[knocking at door]
Can you come back later, please?
[man] It's room service,
Dr. Binnie.
I have your breakfast.
[A lit he a] Just a minute!
Must close door.
Good morning.
Where would you like it,
Dr. Binnie?
Thank you. Oh, I can take it.
- Please, allow me.
- No. No, I can manage it.
Jolly good, Dr. Binnie.
I hope you are well rested.
Oh, that looks delicious.
Yes, I am.
[man] What do you plan to do
on this fine day?
Uh, I'm not sure.
I'm improvising.
Well, I'd like to show you
a beautiful art gallery...
That's so kind. Thank you.
...this afternoon,
when you get a chance.
- Maybe another time.
- It will be great.
Thank you.
Have a beautiful day.
[man] Okay. Jolly good. Enjoy.
Thank you!
[people chattering in distance]
[lock clicks]
A more convenient size, I see.
I do what I can to fit in.
Please.
I needn't have
ordered breakfast.
It's nan-e nokhodchi.
Chickpeas, cloves, pistachio.
It will melt in your mouth.
May I ask you something?
[The Djinn] Anything.
How come you found your way
into my bottle?
Ah, it's quite a story.
That was my third incarceration.
You've been trapped
in a bottle three times?
I may be a djinn,
but I'm also a fool
with too great a fondness
for the conversation of women.
I need to be more careful
in the future.
How were you caught
in the first place?
By desire.
How else?
Who was she?
Sheba.
The Queen of Sheba?
She was my kin.
She was a djinn?
Her mother was a djinn.
Is that possible?
There are laws that allow
the union of djinn and mortals,
but they cannot produce
an immortal scion
the way a donkey and a horse
can only produce
a seedless mule.
So, what did she look like?
Other than a thick glade
of black hair on her legs,
she looked like
any other human being,
except, of course,
she was Sheba.
By all accounts,
she was very beautiful.
She was not beautiful.
She was beauty itself.
I was in every way free.
I would come in and out
of her sleeping chamber.
[whispers] Sheba...
[blows]
I knew as well as any
of her female slaves
the touches that made
her shiver with bliss.
Never have I wanted
a creature so.
And she desired you in return?
I was her plaything.
Her confidante.
I might have become more,
but for Solomon.
King Solomon?
Blessed be his memory.
He came from across
the deserts to woo her.
Didn't she go to him?
No. Never.
But it's in all the holy books.
All the stories
and the paintings.
And Handel wrote music about it.
Madam, I was there.
Solomon came to her.
[people chattering in distance]
[The Djinn speaking
early Aramaic]
[strums note]
[The Djinn in English]
he began with music.
[playing romantic melody]
[music intensifying]
[music stops abruptly]
[playing sentimental music]
[sentimental music continues]
[music ends in flourish]
[gulps]
I did all that I could
to dissuade her.
But when she used
the scented wax
of the Jabassa Bee
to remove the hair
from her legs,
I knew that I was lost.
But I, like a fool,
went on telling her
that her body
was rich and lovely,
but her mind
was richer and lovelier,
and more durable.
And she agreed
with all that I said,
and dropped a hot tear.
She began to set him tasks,
which seemed impossible,
to find a particular thread
of red silk
in the palace
of a thousand rooms,
to guess the secret name
of her mother djinn,
[inhales] to tell her
what women most desire.
That does seem impossible.
Not for him.
He could speak
to the beasts of the earth,
and to the djinn
made of subtle fire.
He found ants to discover
the thread of silk,
and an ifrit to whisper
the mother's name.
[ifrit speaking indistinctly]
[The Djinn] Then he looked
into her eyes
and told her
what women most desire.
[King Solomon speaking
early Aramaic]
[The Djinn] She was astonished,
and told him he was right.
And so she granted him
what he most desired,
which was to wed her
and be taken to her bed.
[Sheba gasps]
[distorted screaming]
[emotional string music playing]
[whooshing softly]
[speaks early Aramaic]
[The Djinn]
He was a great magician...
- [wheezing]
- ...and imprisoned me
with a word of power
into a brass bottle.
[emotional string
music continues]
She made no plea for me.
I was nothing to her.
A breath in a bottle.
And so, I was cast
into the Red Sea
and languished for 2,500 years.
Apart from sleep,
what does one do in a bottle
for 2,500 years?
Djinn don't sleep.
So, how do you manage then?
[clicks tongue]
Well, for the first 100 years,
I rage against my fate.
I pray to Boschkolo
for my release,
and when that does not work,
I pray to any god I know,
and then to any god
I may not know.
And when, still,
I find no answers,
[inhales]
I spend my time in waking dreams
revisiting all the stories
of my life.
And when I have exhausted this
many, many times,
I return to my prayer
and my rage.
And then, finally,
I play a trick on myself.
I pray to remain in the bottle.
I beseech Boschkolo to keep me
always in the bottle.
And does that work?
To yearn for nothing?
To pretend to want nothing more
than to be contained
in a bottle?
No.
For a djinn, it is the closest
we ever come to death.
[sighs]
Do you know the answer
to her question?
What women most desire?
Yeah.
Do you not know?
If you do not know,
I cannot tell you.
Well, surely, we don't
all want the same thing.
Madam, your yearnings
are not at all clear to me.
I... I'm at a point in my life
where I have all I need.
I daresay I'm content,
and gratefully so.
Tell me.
Are you a wife? A widow?
- Um...
- A mother, perhaps?
I have no children,
no siblings, no parents.
I did once have a husband.
[The Djinn] Ah.
And what was the complexion
of this husband?
His complexion?
In the beginning,
it was glowing.
And in the ending?
It's not much of a story.
But it is a story.
It is your story,
and it is always wise
to understand those
who have a hold on you.
Please.
[inhales deeply]
[grunts] Well, okay, um...
[smacks lips]
We'd known each other
since our youth.
We, uh, married early.
In the beginning,
we took pleasure
in each other's minds
and bodies.
Um...
We passed the years comfortably,
and then as it happens,
it all evaporated,
and, uh... and we became
less.
And where is he?
He's in Hackney,
with Emmeline Porter.
[The Djinn] Mmm.
[A lit he a sighs]
[A lit he a] He told me I...
I was incapable
of reading feelings.
[car brakes]
[car horn beeps]
I was incapable
of reading his feelings.
[Emmeline] ...gonna have
a resolution.
[Jack] This is exciting!
- It is exciting!
- [Emmeline] No, it's not.
Let me guess.
No one dies in it.
[Emmeline laughing] No!
[A lit he a] The way my brain
is wired is... is the...
the source both of my power
and, uh, and my solitude.
I suspect that's why
I like stories.
I find feelings through stories.
[The Djinn sighs]
Perhaps you could
wish for him back.
Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no.
No.
I... I thought, um,
I might grieve
a loss and betrayal, but, uh,
no, in fact, I was free.
I was like a prisoner
emerging from a dungeon
into the sunlight.
I expanded into the space
of my own life.
No, I could not wish for more.
You are a wise
and cautious woman, A lit he a.
But we all have desires,
even if they remain
hidden from us.
[inhales sharply]
That's as maybe.
But I am also a narratologist,
and that is going
to be a problem.
It's going to be
a very big problem.
See, I know
all the stories there are
about trickster djinn,
and the ways in which
they manipulate wishing
to their own ends.
I am not one of them.
I am god-fearing and honorable,
and only here
to grant your heart's desire.
Well, even if that's true,
how can you rely on those
called upon to wish?
[speaks ancient Greek]
How do you know
you can rely on me?
Well, I hope so.
With you, I certainly hope so.
There's a...
funny little story.
I mean, you probably know it.
Three friends lost at sea
in a tiny boat.
They pull up a magic fish,
who grants each of them
one wish.
The first one,
"I wish I were at home
with my wife."
He vanishes.
The second one,
"I wish I were playing"
"in the fields
with my children."
Off he goes.
And the third one,
"I miss my friends..."
"I wish they were here."
You've got it.
There's no story about wishing
that is not a cautionary tale.
None end happily.
Not even the ones
that are supposed to be jokes.
But you and I
are the authors of this story,
and we can avoid all traps.
Well, what if
I made no wish at all?
Pardon?
What if I made no wish?
That would be an...
- [electricity humming]
- [soft squelching]
That would be
catastrophic! [Echoes]
[flesh crunching]
[panting]
[The Djinn muttering
incoherently]
[The Djinn breathing heavily]
[A lit he a] All right.
- [panting heavily]
- [crunching subsides]
I need to tell you
about my next incarceration.
I'm all ears.
[sighs]
[The Djinn] I will never know
how my bottle came from the
bottom of the Red Sea...
[flies buzzing]
...to a palace
in Constantinople.
But I fancy somehow it involved
the killing of
an Ottoman warrior.
[takes deep breath]
The fall of an empire.
[wall crumbling]
And a girl in love.
[girl muttering
in Ottoman Turkish]
[girl singing
in Ottoman Turkish]
[girl] Merhaba.
[gasps]
[bottle clangs]
[high-pitched pinging]
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[eerie music playing]
[hammering]
[girl muttering
in Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn in English]
Gulten lived as a slave
in the courtyard
of the concubines
in the seraglio.
[Gulten continues muttering
in Ottoman Turkish]
[rumbling]
[Gulten gasping]
[shuddering]
[The Djinn breathing heavily]
- [The Djinn growls softly]
- [Gulten gasps]
[The Djinn]
When I appeared to her...
[gasps]
...she fainted.
And I had great trouble
rousing her.
[The Djinn whispering
in Ottoman Turkish]
I made it clear
that I meant her no harm,
for I was condemned
to the bottle.
Until you got your three wishes.
- Until she got hers.
- [A lit he a scoffs]
- Please.
- Okay.
Now, the poor girl told me
she was distractedly in love
with a beautiful man...
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn]
...and she wished immediately
to find favor in his eyes.
[man speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[blows]
[The Djinn in English]
As it happens,
the one she most desired
was the splendid Mustafa.
Prince Mustafa.
Eldest son of
Suleiman the Magnificent,
and likely heir
to his mighty throne.
Had I known what was to come,
I would've risked
the furies of Iblis
to vehemently distract her
from her wish.
But without thinking,
I took my bottle
and conjured oils
to prepare her.
Oils of enchantment
once used only by Sheba.
I cautioned her
to hide the bottle
lest its powers
fall into other hands.
I went to Mustafa.
[whispers] Gulten.
I whispered her name.
He sent for her.
It was so easy.
[traditional music playing]
As a djinn,
I am endlessly curious
about the ways of humans.
So, in my spare time,
I took to wandering the palace
in search of its intrigues.
And there, among the eunuchs,
the consorts,
and the concubines,
I first saw Hurrem.
The Laughing One.
[Hurrem laughing]
[Hurrem speaking
Ottoman Turkish]
[people clamoring]
[The Djinn]
She, too, was a slave
who had risen
through the center of them all
to become the Sultan's favorite.
[crowd gasping in awe]
Suleiman the Wise
saw none but her.
And she sought
to protect his throne
in favor of her own sons
over his beloved Mustafa.
And to this end,
she had the prince watched
by many probing eyes.
[laughing]
When I saw how Hurrem
made a masterpiece
of her manipulations,
I worried that my Gulten
might be caught in this web.
I tried to warn her
to be careful.
[both speaking Ottoman Turkish]
But she had already
decided on her second wish.
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[in English] Such a mistake.
Because at this moment,
Suleiman, blessed be his name,
is being undermined.
His warriors believe
he is going soft,
more interested in his poetry
than ruling with a strong hand.
[arguing indistinctly]
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] Hurrem
fuels the rumors
that the military
want to take his throne
and replace him with Mustafa.
The prince has become a pawn
in the ceaseless game of power.
[arguing continues indistinctly]
Suleiman the Magnificent,
Suleiman the Conqueror,
patron and protector of empires,
Suleiman the Father,
was left with a choice
that he knows
will break his heart.
Gulten, meantime, saw no reason
why she should remain unseen.
[Gulten laughing loudly]
Given she was carrying the son
of the next Sultan.
Despite all my warnings,
she parades her newly swollen
breasts and belly.
And the whispers soon spread
throughout the seraglio.
[tense music playing]
The terrible plottings
move all too quickly.
[tense music stops]
Prince Mustafa comes innocently
into the presence of his father,
to reassure him of his loyalty.
[Mustafa speaking
Ottoman Turkish]
[grunting]
[The Djinn in English] And
the mutes are waiting for him.
He cried out to his Janissaries,
who loved him,
but his voice was crushed
and his breath stopped
by the string
of his father's bow.
[muffled humming of tune]
[continues humming tune]
- [door opens]
- [The Djinn] Gulten!
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[gasps]
[whimpering]
[The Djinn in English]
"Make a wish!"
"Save yourself, Gulten!"
[panting]
Just a few words
and she could have been free
to bear her child in safety,
and I to spirit away at last
to the Realm of Djinn.
But she ran into the hands
of the assassins.
- [Gulten screams]
- [The Djinn calls out]
I was about
to take them by force,
when I was blocked
by a follower of Iblis.
- [breathing shakily]
- [high-pitched pinging]
[in ancient language]
[gasping]
[creatures screeching]
[grunting and whimpering]
- [screeching stops]
- [gasping]
Gulten!
[in English] She made
no wish to save herself.
No wish was made
to save us both.
[sighs softly]
So, there I was,
or there I was not,
might you say,
almost emancipated
and tethered to this world
by a third wish unperformed.
But you realize, don't you,
that you've just told me the
story of a woman who was doomed
as a consequence
of the wishes she made?
Yes, but her failure
to complete the wishes
also doomed me.
Could nobody else
complete the wish?
That was my hope.
And that would
finally liberate you?
That was my only hope.
But you were rendered invisible.
Like a ghost.
Wandering unseen.
And your bottle,
hidden under the loosened stone
known only to the dead Gulten.
[The Djinn] Yes,
it was a predicament.
[muffled clanging]
I tried to attract
the attention of someone,
anyone that could help me.
My stars, how I tried.
I followed their scent,
their every step.
Willing, pleading, screaming.
Anything to draw them to me.
[muffled upbeat
drum music playing]
- [drum music continues]
- [dancers' ornaments rattling]
[drum music stops]
And I do this piteously
for 100 years,
and with every failure,
my will begins to fade.
[children laughing in distance]
And then in 1620,
hope comes in the form
of a boy with a sword.
[boys laughing]
[boy laughing] Murad! Murad!
[muffled drum beating]
Murad! [Echoing]
[The Djinn] By some means,
this boy senses me.
I'm able to draw him
to the stone.
[muffled drum music playing]
[flies buzzing]
[drum music subsides]
[hollow clanging]
[grunting]
[drumbeat continues]
Ibrahim!
Gel.
[woman] Murad!
Ibrahim!
[The Djinn] And just as
I am about to be delivered
into their hands,
their mother finds them.
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] She is Kosem,
a widow of the Sultan,
Ahmed the First.
And the boys are next in line
for the throne.
[continues speaking
Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] When I see
the hair on his legs,
I know that somewhere
in Murad's bloodline
pulses the power of a djinn.
I follow him everywhere,
determined to draw him back
to the stone.
But at the age of 11,
he ascends the throne
and becomes
Sultan Murad the Fourth.
And caught up
by the usual intrigues,
he is even more lost to me.
At 20, he leads
his armies to war.
He battles alongside his men
in the Caucasus and Mesopotamia.
Stories are told
of his recklessness,
even with his own life.
[battle music playing]
[music stops]
I despair of
ever seeing him again.
Hope is a monster, A lit he a,
and I am its plaything.
So he died?
Not in battle.
Back in Istanbul,
Kosem needs
to protect the throne.
She needs to protect Ibrahim.
- [A lit he a] The little brother?
- [The Djinn] Yes.
[Ibrahim breathing heavily]
He is last of the Ottoman line.
He has to produce male children.
So, Kosem locks him in a cage
lined entirely with sable.
[A lit he a] Quite the prison.
[The Djinn] And one
he will never want to leave.
[Ibrahim sniffs]
It debauches him royally.
He believes the greater
the expanse of flesh,
the more intense the pleasure.
So, Kosem seeks out beauties
voluptuous and immense,
and brings them to his couch.
My fate turns specifically
on this fetish.
How's that?
You'll see.
[battle music playing]
[music stops]
[men yell in unison]
[clamoring]
Murad is back.
And though
he returns a conqueror,
he cannot shed
his robes of blood.
War had truly rotted his soul.
[Murad breathing shakily]
[hooves clopping]
I wait until he is alone.
I am determined to draw him
back to the stone.
I don't want to interrupt,
but I do have a question.
Did it matter to you
what kind of wish
such a man might make?
One so insatiable.
No.
Not even if
it were profoundly evil?
Not if it meant my freedom.
The truth is he has
other things on his mind.
He believes he is invincible,
and to rule indefinitely,
he must be rid of all rivals.
[in Ottoman Turkish]
Ibrahim.
Ibrahim.
[breathing heavily]
[squelching]
[sighs in relief]
[The Djinn in English]
Kosem needs to stop him.
Somehow, she needed
to distract him
from his bloodlust
with other gratifications.
[glass smashes]
First, she arranges for him
to be perpetually drunk.
And then she tries
something very shrewd.
Something that you might enjoy.
[mimicking sword fight sounds]
She sends to find,
from all corners of the empire,
the best storytellers.
- [mimics bottle cap's pop]
- [men laughing]
[groans]
[men laughing]
[object grating]
[clinks]
Those who are not persuasive
flee in fear
or fall to his impatience.
[drums beating softly]
There is only one
who has the ability
to enchant him.
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn]
To soothe with stories,
to hold him hostage
to their unfolding.
[laughing]
[muffled laughing]
[speaking indistinctly
from other room]
[both laughing]
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn]
This is his only friend.
And that friendship
turns to love.
Since there is nothing else
for me to do,
I listen gratefully,
for I, too, love being lost
in his stories.
When the old man dies,
all in the palace
flee to the streets,
for they fear Murad's grief
will incur fresh murder.
[Murad crying softly]
But he just sits, and howls,
and drinks until he is empty.
And my patience is rewarded.
For in this state,
I am finally able
to get his attention
and draw him
back to the secret bathroom.
[A lit he a] Oh, I know
where this is going.
He's going to be too weak
to lift the stone.
Too weak even to turn the latch.
[latch clanks]
So, he leaves and drinks
himself to permanent sleep.
Oh!
And there I am,
left to my own oblivion,
with no one to hear my voice,
no one to know me,
nor feel me, nor sense me.
You can't imagine.
Well, actually, I can.
Can you imagine the loneliness?
How it might overwhelm?
I can.
We exist only
if we are real to others.
Do you agree?
I do.
This, then,
is our fate, A lit he a.
If you make no wish at all,
I will be caught between worlds,
invisible and alone,
for all of time.
[whispering]
Make a wish, A lit he a.
Make it your heart's desire.
I'd be more careful
if I were you.
Obviously, you managed
to find your way out.
More or less.
I'm beginning to think
I'm in the presence
of a trickster.
That would be so much better.
My work would be so much easier.
But the truth is,
I am just an idiot
who has been
extravagantly unlucky.
Well, I have to take
your word for that.
[The Djinn sighs]
So?
Ibrahim, I suppose,
becomes Sultan?
[The Djinn] Ibrahim has
to be dragged to the throne.
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[somber music playing]
[The Djinn in English] He
appoints one of his concubines
Governor of Damascus.
Her name is Sugar Lump.
By every measure, his favorite.
Had she not been free to roam,
she would not have found
the secret bathroom.
Had she not decided
to take a bath,
it would not have overfilled.
Had she not been clumsy
as she walked across the floor,
she would not have slipped,
smashed the stone,
- and found my bottle.
- Ah, yeah.
[groans]
[whooshing eerily]
[The Djinn breathing heavily]
To be honest, I should
have been more dignified.
But I began to beg, shamelessly.
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[yelling in Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn in English]
"I wish you were back"
"in your bottle at the bottom
of the Bosphorus."
So here I am,
fallen into your careful hands.
Seems we cannot
escape each other.
You have me at your mercy.
[A lit he a sighs]
[A lit he a] This wishing...
It's a hazardous art.
"I wish" brings
infinite unravelings.
Not necessarily.
Well, it's there
in all your own stories.
I know, but...
You say you're not a trickster,
and you say that you and I
are the authors of this story.
But I'm not able
to write myself out of it.
Correct.
Why don't you just hop back
into your bottle
and I'll give it
to someone more gullible?
Someone more desperate.
Someone more greedy.
I'm not getting back
in the bottle.
Why not?
I'm not getting back
in the bottle.
Well, I am not
making three wishes.
Then you are sending me
to my oblivion.
Oh, you're impossible.
And you are giving me
a headache.
All right. All right.
Here's what I'll do.
I will make three wishes.
- I will.
- Before you die?
Right now.
One after the other.
- Ready?
- Mmm-hmm.
Number one. I wish
your headache were gone.
Number two.
I wish for a sip of this tea.
And finally, I wish
for another one of those.
You mock me.
Three wishes, perfectly simple,
and theoretically safe.
I was imprisoned
by Solomon precisely
because I cried out
my heart's desire.
Only by granting you yours
may I earn my release.
Yes, well,
I appreciate the symmetry,
but the thing is this,
I cannot for the life of me
summon up one eligible wish.
And you're asking me for three.
Is there any life in you?
Are you even alive?
You know, in some cultures,
absence of desire
means enlightenment.
Then you are a pious fool.
If I'm content, why tempt fate?
And you're a coward.
Don't goad me.
There is no human,
no angel, nor djinn
that wouldn't grasp
at the chance
to fulfill
their deepest longings,
and I am saddled with the one
who claims to want
nothing at all.
A lit he a Binnie,
you are a liar!
You know, I am beginning
to wish we never met.
No! Nyet!
Don't say that!
[heavy static buzzing]
[The Djinn panting]
- [static subsides]
- [A lit he a breathing heavily]
[sniffling]
[glass shards clattering]
[The Djinn sighs]
So...
that's happened to you before.
And it was bad.
[clicks tongue] 'Twas bad.
'Twas bitter.
'Twas the cruelest wish of all.
[A lit he a] You were undone
by silliness yet again.
[The Djinn sighs]
I'm here because of a genius.
Who was it this time?
She was Zefir.
Rarely among humankind
has there been such a wonder.
But you're here
because of her folly.
[tuts and sighs]
I ended up in this
as a consequence of Zefir.
And this is the story
you've been avoiding
telling me all along.
This is the story I've avoided
telling even myself.
[hooves clopping]
Zefir was a foundling,
married at 12
to a wealthy merchant.
He was much older than her,
and kind,
if you think keeping someone
like a bird in a cage is kind.
There were two older wives,
who did not like her
and did not talk to her at all.
[Zefir panting
and crying softly]
Everyone,
including the servants,
seemed to be mocking her.
[grunts]
She had neither
etiquette nor learning.
She grew to no great beauty
and was angry
without knowing why.
[panting]
[clangs]
[high-pitched pinging]
As the fates would have it,
my bottle came to her
as a love token
from her husband.
And when she had finished
satisfying him
and was finally alone,
she managed to prise it open.
It was as if
she was waiting for me.
I saw at once
that she was sharp,
and she saw that I was desperate
for freedom and conversation.
I told her my story,
as I have told you,
and she revealed herself to me
by the things she had made.
Gel. Gel.
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[speaks Ottoman Turkish]
[chuckles]
[continues speaking
Ottoman Turkish]
Gel.
[whispers indistinctly]
[The Djinn in English]
She could have been remembered
like the genius da Vinci,
whose theories on flight
were the talk
of sultans and kings.
She was a skilled artist,
but no one saw her art.
[Zefir breathing heavily]
[Zefir speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] She told me
she was eaten up
with unused power.
She thought
she might be a witch.
Except, she said,
if she were a man,
her intellect would have been
ordinarily accepted.
She was a woman
ardent for learning,
and I knew
what her first wish would be.
[pants]
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[breathing heavily]
[The Djinn in English]
And it delighted me
to fulfill this wish.
[sighs]
[pensive music playing]
So, I taught her
histories, philosophies,
languages, poetry.
I taught her
astronomy, mathematic,
which was bliss to her.
I brought her
books and writings,
which we hid
in her collection of bottles.
[The Djinn] Sabah...
[whispers] Sabah...
[squelching]
[Zefir gasps]
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
She could always
call on Aristotle
from a red glass jar,
or Euclid from a green,
Pythagoras, Spinoza,
without needing me
to re-embody them.
[conversing in Ottoman Turkish]
We had the whole world
in her room,
and I lost my heart to her.
[gulps]
'Twas my bliss
to make her happy.
To see her flourish.
And she flourished in every way.
Totalmente.
[soft traditional music playing]
She began to rebel
even against
the gestures of submission
that her husband required,
for she had acquired
a mastery of love-craft,
out of reach of any human
that had not
made love to a djinn.
[surreal choral music playing]
[music distorts and fades]
[distorted screaming]
[Zefir grunting]
[Zefir's husband speaking
Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] His cravings
for her became an obsession.
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[lock clicks]
[sighs]
[The Djinn in English]
And when he would come to her,
I would leave her room
and journey the skies.
I saw the mountains,
the oceans...
I saw the beasts of the forest,
where no man treads.
And when I would return,
she would be waiting for me.
I would tell her of my day,
and she would faint with joy
and disappointment.
[A lit he a] Why did she not
make a wish to be free?
[The Djinn] There was something
more important to her.
She had devised a "mathematica,"
a language to explain the forces
which bring space, and time,
and matter into being.
She was Promethean, brave.
But she could not solve
this puzzle.
She needed a key,
a key to open the doors
of her perception.
[sobs]
So, she used her second wish.
I taught her to dream
as djinn do, awake.
[sentimental string
music playing]
[writing on paper]
And this way,
the solutions came to her.
She was able
to explain powers invisible,
electromagnetic fields
and forces...
The very stuff
of which djinn are made.
You're electromagnetic?
As you are dust,
I am made of subtle fire.
And when she was
to bear a child,
I was plagued with happiness,
for I knew
it would strengthen us.
She was carrying your child?
A child, of fire and dust.
So, where did it go wrong?
A lit he a, I loved her.
I loved the fervor of her mind.
I loved her anger.
I loved my power
to turn her frowns into smiles.
I loved her more than Sheba.
More than your own freedom?
Yes.
It became my greatest desire
to... to keep her,
to remain her prisoner.
The thought of being set free
sickened my heart.
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
I caught myself stopping her
lest she make her third wish.
Oh, gosh.
I made a mess of it.
She began to accuse me
of trapping her,
- like her husband.
- [Zefir sobbing]
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] I tried
to make amends.
To atone, I would
put myself in the bottle.
To be sealed.
That way, she could have
more power over me.
[The Djinn speaks indistinctly]
[Zefir continues sobbing]
[The Djinn whispers
indistinctly]
[Zefir speaking Ottoman Turkish]
To be nothing in a bottle.
I could do that for her.
And every time,
it would appease.
Every time, except for the last.
When, like a sudden squall,
all thunder and lightning,
she began to weep and wail,
and said,
"I wish I could forget
I ever met you."
[screams in Ottoman Turkish]
[gasping]
And she did, on the instant.
She was out. I was in.
She'd forgotten me.
A lit he a, how can it be...
a mistake to love
someone entirely?
I have a wish.
However, I'm afraid it may be
too much to ask.
Is it within my power?
I hope so. I do hope so.
Is it your heart's desire?
Yeah, I'm certain of it.
See, erm,
I'm here to love you.
And, uh,
I wish for you
to love me in return.
You want us to make love-craft?
Yeah, that too.
All of it.
And you would
abandon yourself to this?
[low electrical humming]
Yes.
Yes.
I want our solitudes
to be together.
I want that love
professed in ageless tales.
I want that longing you felt
for the Queen of Sheba,
and that love you gave
to your genius, Zefir.
I want it.
[speaking Djinnbish]
Me?
You.
[speaking Djinnbish]
You?
Me.
Is it too much?
Is it all too much to ask?
[whispers] Come.
[A lit he a] What are we to do
with longings awoken?
How can I persuade you
that I once found love
with a djinn?
In any case,
few would believe me.
Love is not something
we come to by reason.
It's more like a vapor,
a dream, perhaps,
to lure us into the enchantment
of our own stories.
If that's so,
how are we to know
if it's ever real?
Is it a truth,
or simply a madness?
[surreal folk music playing]
[people chattering
indistinctly from outside]
[takes deep breath]
[electric toothbrush whirring]
[switches off toothbrush]
[A lit he a] I leave
for London today.
Will you come home with me?
It's not such
an easy place nowadays.
But it'll be better
if you're there.
- [metal detector beeping]
- Over here, please.
Hands up.
[body scanner whirring]
- Please step out.
- [body scanner beeping]
What is in your pockets?
Oh.
Uh, it's an empty bottle
and a top.
Please put it through X-ray.
It is very delicate,
and I don't want it
to get damaged.
It will not be damaged.
Please put through X-ray.
I would prefer that
it didn't go in the...
Passport. Boarding pass.
Thank you.
It's quite fragile.
[supervisor] Madam.
It's a saltshaker.
Oh.
No! No X-ray! Please!
Stop, madam, stop.
[speaks Turkish]
Madam.
Oh.
[keypad beeping]
In your own time.
[children chattering
and laughing]
[The Djinn]
The air is thick here.
Full of insistent voices
and rushing faces.
[A lit he a] Oh?
Like Tiny Einstein?
Television, and phone towers,
and such?
Yes.
Yes. All your
ingenious devices
all murmuring at once.
Bend your head.
[high-pitched pinging]
[people clamoring
and traffic bustling]
- [gasps]
- [noises stop]
You hear all that?
[noises continue]
- [gasps]
- [noises stop]
I also see it and feel it.
I am a transmitter. [Chuckles]
Isn't it all too much?
I am a djinn.
I can adapt.
I'll soon get used to it.
[woman] She's back.
I believe she's back.
Is she with someone?
[woman] No, I think she's
talking to herself again.
[A lit he a] Hello, Clementine.
Fanny. Are you well?
[Clementine]
Did you have any trouble?
Trouble? What kind of trouble?
With your foreign friends.
Because we often ask ourselves,
"Why would Dr. Binnie waste
her time and intelligence"
"studying the ways of others
instead of upholding our own?"
Embarrassed by
our British culture, are we?
No. No.
I am rather more likely
to be embarrassed by anybody
reflexly frightened
of anybody different.
What exactly are you saying?
She's calling us bigots.
Your word, not mine.
[Clementine] You misunderstand.
- Oh?
- It's not how they look, dear.
It's how they live.
What they believe.
- What they eat.
- What are you on about?
Everywhere one goes, ethnics.
We are being overwhelmed,
and we're inviting our doom.
[Fanny] It's not natural.
Birds belong in the air.
Fish belong in the sea.
And that is how the good Lord
meant us to be.
You're just spouting rubbish
from start to finish.
It's science.
It's a scientific fact.
- It's a false analogy.
- [voices echoing]
I mean, animals do have
a natural habitat.
It's true,
but human beings are capable
of living in any environment
they bloody well choose.
- That's not a fact.
- [airplane engine humming]
- What are you saying?
- It's an opinion.
And you're wrong.
I'm not putting up
with any more of this.
Come away, Clem.
Let the crazy lady be.
We're never gonna get
any sense out of her.
[A lit he a] You know, I've never
said this to you before.
But you're both pitiful.
Shut your cake hole! [Echoing]
Pea-brained and pitiful.
You, fuck face!
Stop your ivy growing
on our side of the wall!
Why do I let them get to me?
I should feel sorry for them.
But this is my home.
It's my sanctuary.
[inhaler hisses]
[Clementine and Fanny's
voices echoing]
- I could wish them... [grunts]
- [static buzzes]
That's not a wish, by the way.
- I know.
- [exhales heavily]
[Clementine and Fanny's voices
continue echoing]
[people chattering indistinctly
from transmissions]
[A lit he a breathing heavily]
[transmissions fading]
[sentimental string
music playing]
[sentimental string
music continues]
[A lit he a whispers] My djinn.
[The Djinn] How was your day?
[A lit he a] Every listening ear
was yours.
Every voice, every scent,
and touch.
You were everywhere.
Back in a minute.
[Fanny] Whoever could that be
at this hour?
[Clementine]
It could be her.
Clem. Fanny.
Chickpeas, cloves, pistachio.
They melt in your mouth.
This is my friend.
He'll be staying for a while.
Hello.
- Hello.
- Hello.
[A lit he a] My Djinn told me,
when they come together
in the Realm of Djinn,
they tell each other stories.
Stories are like breath to them.
They make meaning.
"Yes," I said.
"That's just how
it is with us."
Each story we tell is a fragment
in an endless
shape-shifting mosaic.
And this small pebble,
like all stories, must end.
If it's about wishing,
it's a cautionary tale.
So, how will it go wrong?
Perhaps, it already has.
Even though Truth
stood before them naked,
they turned their backs.
So, Truth moved to the side
and waited in the shadows.
In the days that followed,
the Djinn would accompany
the narratologist to her work.
And when he wasn't with her,
he would go in eager
exploration of the world.
[machine beeping]
[The Djinn] Today I had
such a marvelous day.
I saw many things.
I watched a human look into
the living brain of another
and arrest a fatal bleeding.
I visited the Collider.
A vast gizmo which probed
the essence of matter.
And then I saw a dish,
a great dish
that listens to the whispers
of stars long dead.
Humankind is...
is a wonder, A lit he a.
I'm happy you think so.
All of this since I was
trapped in Zefir's bottle.
All these astonishments,
in less than 200 years.
Yes, but, I mean,
that's just engineering
and technology.
Despite all the whiz-bang,
we remain bewildered.
When we can't contain the chaos,
we are filled
with dread and panic,
and we turn on each other.
But of course, you are human.
That is your nature.
Yeah. So, the story
never changes.
Hate prevails.
It metastasizes
and outlives love.
I just want to talk about love.
Such a mess of
contradictions, all of you.
Thank you very much.
Humankind, what a conundrum.
You fumble around in the dark,
and yet, you herd your
intelligence to great effect.
It is quite a story.
[chuckles softly]
Cannot wait to see
where it goes.
Or how it might end.
That too.
A mortal will never know,
but a djinn might.
A djinn has all the time
in the world.
Aren't you the lucky one?
Maybe.
But you creatures
of dust have...
have managed to eclipse
the power and purpose
of djinn and angel.
You have no use for us.
Perhaps, we will wither and...
- And fade away?
- Yes.
Yeah. Well, that used
to be the subject
of all my lectures and papers.
I know.
And yet, here you are.
My impossible.
Yes.
[keypad beeping]
[door unlocks]
Hello?
I'm home!
Hello?
[switch clicks]
Djinn?
My love?
[A lit he a gasps]
Djinn.
[switch clicks]
What's this?
Can you hear me?
Djinn, speak to me.
Try to speak to me.
I wish you to speak to me.
[cracking]
[crumbling]
Oh...
[breathes heavily and grunts]
[breathing raggedly]
[inhales deeply]
- [static buzzes]
- [gasps and clears throat]
[in distorted high voice]
I was sleeping.
[grunts] Sleeping.
Djinn don't sleep.
[The Djinn] Let's go for a walk.
A long, bracing walk.
I have prepared
something for us.
[in normal voice]
I have it all planned.
[breathlessly]
A wonderous night for us.
It will be amazing.
- The best time of our lives.
- Stop!
These electromagnetic fields,
I can push them from my head.
I can push them away.
We'll go for a picnic.
[panting]
[speaking Djinnbish]
Ah, we'll play the ukulele.
[speaking Djinnbish]
A lit he a, there is a place
for me here.
These forces,
they will never go away,
not from this world.
I will overcome them.
I can do that for you.
You are my A lit he a,
and I love you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for trying.
You don't think that I love you?
Love is a gift.
It's a gift of oneself
given freely.
It's not something
one can ever ask for.
I tricked us both.
The moment I spoke that wish,
I took away
your power to grant it.
I, more than anybody,
I should've known that.
I'm not going
to screw this up again.
My Djinn, if this world
is not for you,
I wish that you return
to where you belong.
Wherever that may be.
[breathing heavily]
[glass cracking]
[shuddering]
[sobs]
[switch clicks]
[sighs]
[emotional string music playing]
[couple laughing]
[couple speaking indistinctly]
[girl] Mommy!
[man] Come here, little monkey.
That's not Mommy.
[girl and man
speaking indistinctly]
[dog barks]
[kids shouting playfully]
[wind blows]
[mouthing]
[wind whistling]
[sentimental string
music playing]
[man 1] Hey, hey, hey!
[man 2] Ah, no!
[man 1] Watch it.
Top striker in the league.
- [grunts]
- [men laughing]
[man 1] Did you see that?
[A lit he a] He would visit
from time to time,
and they would grasp
each vivid moment.
Despite the pain
of the raucous skies,
he always stayed
longer than he should,
long after
she begged him to leave.
He promised to return
in her lifetime,
and for her,
that was more than enough.
[sentimental string
music continues]
My name is A lit he a.
My story is true.
You're more likely
to believe me, however,
if I tell it as a fairy tale.
So, once upon a time,
when humans hurtled
across the sky on metal wings,
when they wore webbed feet
and walked
on the bottom of the sea,
when they held
in their hands glass tiles
that could coax
love songs from the air...
[music playing
through headphones]
...there was a woman,
adequately happy and alone.
Alone by choice.
Happy because
she was independent,
living off the exercise
of her scholarly mind.
Her business was story.
She was a narratologist
who sought to find the truths
common to all the stories
of humankind.
To this end,
once or twice a year,
she ventured to strange lands.
To China, the South Seas,
and the timeless cities
of the Levant...
where her kind gathered
to tell stories about stories.
[man 1] This way.
- [A lit he a] Excuse me.
- [man 1] This way, lady.
What are you doing?
Can you let go, please?
The mysteries of Istanbul.
[static buzzing]
- [man 2] A lit he a!
- [man 1 grunts]
A lit he a!
Welcome!
- Welcome at last! Aw.
- Gunhan!
- [both laugh]
- My dear friend.
- [A lit he a] Oh, how wonderful!
- [Gunhan] I'm sorry.
- This is Amina.
- Amina.
From the British Council.
That fellow at the airport
manhandling my luggage,
did you see him?
What fellow?
He scuttled off
when you arrived.
Small, sheepskin jacket,
pink collar.
Interesting.
He was hot to touch.
Musky.
Perhaps he was a djinn.
An illegal taxi driver,
more likely.
Wearing too much cologne.
So, Professor,
you saying you believe in djinn?
I believe there are those
who need to believe in them.
Including me?
Djinn, ghosts,
aliens, whatever helps.
[Gunhan laughs]
The hotel's arranged
a lovely surprise for you.
It's the Agatha Christie room.
In this room,
she wrote
Murder on the Orient Express.
[sighs]
[audience laughing]
[Gunhan chuckles]
[Gunhan] So,
how would you explain
the power of a thunderstorm
if you don't have the means
to measure and model
meteorological data?
How can you explain the seasons?
Autumn through winter
to spring and summer,
if you don't know that the Earth
orbits the Sun
while tilted on an axis?
Everything was mystery.
The seasons, tsunamis,
microbial disease...
What else could we do
but resort to stories?
As Dr. Binnie has
encouraged us to understand,
stories were once the only way
to make our bewildering
existence coherent.
That's exactly right.
We gave name
to the unknown forces
behind all wonder
and catastrophe,
by telling each other...
By telling each other stories.
- [Gunhan] let me show you.
- [static buzzes]
We told tales of specific,
powerful, relatable gods
ever present in all cultures,
in all mythologies,
from the Greeks,
to the Romans, to the Norse,
and so on, and so on.
The familiar descendant
of Zeus, Poseidon, Athena,
Thor, the whole gang,
find expression even today.
[low electrical humming]
These are their vestiges.
The question remains,
what is their purpose?
[electrical humming continues]
What do we require of them now?
There is mythos,
and there is science.
[electrical humming stops]
[A lit he a softly] Oh. Sorry.
Mythology is what
we knew back then.
Science is what we know so far.
[low electrical humming resumes]
Sooner or later,
our creation stories
are replaced
by the narratives of science.
Painstaking science.
And all gods and monsters
outlive their original purpose
and are reduced to metaphor.
Rubbish! [Roars]
[Gunhan muffled] A lit he a!
[woman speaking indistinctly]
[Gunhan] A lit he a.
[woman] What happened?
[Gunhan] I don't know.
She just fell.
- She just fell.
- [Amina grunts]
[Amina] Gosh. [Exclaiming]
[Gunhan] Are you okay?
[audience clapping]
[rattling]
[Gunhan] Shouldn't
you see a doctor?
[A lit he a] Why?
When I feel so well?
[Gunhan] Forgive me, A lit he a.
Are you sure?
[A lit he a] Apart from
the usual aches and pains,
there is nothing untoward.
There's no reason
to make a fuss.
[Gunhan] So, what happened
back there?
Lately, my imagination's
been getting the better of me.
Ambushing me.
I think it's a warning.
About what?
Not to be complacent.
To keep on my toes.
It manifests rudely
from time to time.
I try not to fight it off.
It takes charge for a moment,
and then it steps back.
What steps back?
Oh, Gunhan, it's
irrational. Pay it no mind.
[Gunhan] You are behaving like
a child. Do you know that?
[A lit he a] You know,
I am actually a child.
[Gunhan laughs]
[people chattering indistinctly]
[A lit he a] If there is fate,
can we escape it?
Who can say?
But I tell you this,
in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul,
there are 62 streets
and 4,000 shops.
And in one of those shops,
there are three rooms.
In the smallest of those rooms,
there was a pile
of things unsorted,
old and new.
From the bottom of that pile,
I chose a memento.
Do you know what this is?
I'm not sure,
but it could be Cesm-i Bulbul,
a "Nightingale's Eye."
Around 1845, there were
these glassmakers in Incirkoy.
They were famous for this
spiral blue-white pattern.
Oh, please.
It's a gift from me.
Choose something less forlorn.
And, uh, if this
is Cesm-i Bulbul,
uh, is there a way
of authenticating it?
Well, they say
that if it is genuine,
sometimes you can see
specks of blood
from the lungs
of the glassblowers.
But this is more likely
a recent imitation.
It's been damaged by fire.
Pick something else.
No, thank you, Gunhan.
I like it.
Whatever it is, I'm sure
it has an interesting story.
[telephone ringing]
Hello?
[man] Good morning, Dr. Binnie.
- Good morning.
- This is room service.
- Yes.
- How do you like your eggs?
Er, runny, please.
- And with toast?
- Yes, but no crusts.
- Two eggs?
- Just one.
- Okay, thank you.
- Thank you.
[electric toothbrush whirring]
[bottle rattling]
[bottle rattling intensifying]
[gasps]
[gasps]
[toothbrush clatters]
[squelching]
[rustling]
[squelching]
[creature breaths heavily]
[squeaks]
[creature breathing heavily]
I'm going to close my eyes
and count to three,
after which I would be grateful
if you would be gone.
One,
two,
three.
[breathing continues]
Four,
five,
six,
seven, eight,
nine, ten.
[creature grunting softly]
[growling softly]
[creature speaking indistinctly]
I don't suppose
you speak English?
[creature speaking
ancient Greek]
Deutsch?
Espanol?
Ellinika?
[creature grunts]
[creature speaking
ancient Greek]
[in ancient Greek]
[creature speaking]
[A lit he a speaking]
[creature speaking]
[static buzzing on laptop]
[The Djinn speaking]
[static buzzing]
[Einstein speaking
indistinctly on TV]
Einstein.
[The Djinn] Einstein.
[in English]
[The Djinn] Television.
[in ancient Greek]
[in English]
[The Djinn] Transmitters.
[in ancient Greek]
[in English] I am a
djinn of modest power,
but I begin to understand
these transmissions.
Oh!
You've learned
to speak my language.
This English is straightforward.
Its rules quickly learn, I find.
[static buzzes]
[Einstein gasping]
[gasps]
[Einstein] Nein, nein, nein.
Would you like this
little Albert for yourself?
No, no, no.
That can't be good for him.
Put him back.
- I could expand him.
- [Einstein] How?
We could speak with him.
- How is this possible?
- No, put him back.
- Is that your wish?
- This is not possible.
No. It's your obligation.
[blows]
[Einstein resumes speech
in German]
So, what will you wish for?
[floor creaks]
What is your heart's desire?
Now, let's, uh,
not get ahead of ourselves.
I need to take this slow.
[sighs]
I have all the time
in the world.
Tell me about yourself.
My name is A lit he a Binnie.
I am in Turkey for a conference.
And I return to my homeland
in a day's time.
Also?
[A lit he a breathing heavily]
Also, I have
a confession to make.
Something
I've never told anybody.
[The Djinn] Excellent.
When I was young,
there was a boy.
Your first lover?
No, no, no.
He was not of flesh and blood.
A djinn?
No.
At that time, I found myself
in a school for girls.
Gaggles of girls.
I was... Well, I am
a solitary creature by nature.
And this boy, Enzo,
he came to me,
out of an emptiness.
Out of a need to imagine.
He told me stories in a language
that only we two spoke.
And he always disappeared
when I had a headache,
but he was never far away
when I couldn't move for asthma.
[The Djinn] He was like
this little Albert
you would not let me give you?
An emanation?
[A lit he a] Only an emanation
of an absence.
[breathing laboriously]
I feared he would leave,
and so I wrote him down.
And I filled this journal,
bulging with facts.
But the more realism
I tried to insert,
the more I began to doubt,
and, uh, it all began
to feel silly.
I felt silly.
So, after a time,
I burned it all
in the school furnace.
And after that,
he disappeared altogether.
And yet, I am here.
Contrary to reason, yes.
I am here,
and we have work to do.
[knocking at door]
Can you come back later, please?
[man] It's room service,
Dr. Binnie.
I have your breakfast.
[A lit he a] Just a minute!
Must close door.
Good morning.
Where would you like it,
Dr. Binnie?
Thank you. Oh, I can take it.
- Please, allow me.
- No. No, I can manage it.
Jolly good, Dr. Binnie.
I hope you are well rested.
Oh, that looks delicious.
Yes, I am.
[man] What do you plan to do
on this fine day?
Uh, I'm not sure.
I'm improvising.
Well, I'd like to show you
a beautiful art gallery...
That's so kind. Thank you.
...this afternoon,
when you get a chance.
- Maybe another time.
- It will be great.
Thank you.
Have a beautiful day.
[man] Okay. Jolly good. Enjoy.
Thank you!
[people chattering in distance]
[lock clicks]
A more convenient size, I see.
I do what I can to fit in.
Please.
I needn't have
ordered breakfast.
It's nan-e nokhodchi.
Chickpeas, cloves, pistachio.
It will melt in your mouth.
May I ask you something?
[The Djinn] Anything.
How come you found your way
into my bottle?
Ah, it's quite a story.
That was my third incarceration.
You've been trapped
in a bottle three times?
I may be a djinn,
but I'm also a fool
with too great a fondness
for the conversation of women.
I need to be more careful
in the future.
How were you caught
in the first place?
By desire.
How else?
Who was she?
Sheba.
The Queen of Sheba?
She was my kin.
She was a djinn?
Her mother was a djinn.
Is that possible?
There are laws that allow
the union of djinn and mortals,
but they cannot produce
an immortal scion
the way a donkey and a horse
can only produce
a seedless mule.
So, what did she look like?
Other than a thick glade
of black hair on her legs,
she looked like
any other human being,
except, of course,
she was Sheba.
By all accounts,
she was very beautiful.
She was not beautiful.
She was beauty itself.
I was in every way free.
I would come in and out
of her sleeping chamber.
[whispers] Sheba...
[blows]
I knew as well as any
of her female slaves
the touches that made
her shiver with bliss.
Never have I wanted
a creature so.
And she desired you in return?
I was her plaything.
Her confidante.
I might have become more,
but for Solomon.
King Solomon?
Blessed be his memory.
He came from across
the deserts to woo her.
Didn't she go to him?
No. Never.
But it's in all the holy books.
All the stories
and the paintings.
And Handel wrote music about it.
Madam, I was there.
Solomon came to her.
[people chattering in distance]
[The Djinn speaking
early Aramaic]
[strums note]
[The Djinn in English]
he began with music.
[playing romantic melody]
[music intensifying]
[music stops abruptly]
[playing sentimental music]
[sentimental music continues]
[music ends in flourish]
[gulps]
I did all that I could
to dissuade her.
But when she used
the scented wax
of the Jabassa Bee
to remove the hair
from her legs,
I knew that I was lost.
But I, like a fool,
went on telling her
that her body
was rich and lovely,
but her mind
was richer and lovelier,
and more durable.
And she agreed
with all that I said,
and dropped a hot tear.
She began to set him tasks,
which seemed impossible,
to find a particular thread
of red silk
in the palace
of a thousand rooms,
to guess the secret name
of her mother djinn,
[inhales] to tell her
what women most desire.
That does seem impossible.
Not for him.
He could speak
to the beasts of the earth,
and to the djinn
made of subtle fire.
He found ants to discover
the thread of silk,
and an ifrit to whisper
the mother's name.
[ifrit speaking indistinctly]
[The Djinn] Then he looked
into her eyes
and told her
what women most desire.
[King Solomon speaking
early Aramaic]
[The Djinn] She was astonished,
and told him he was right.
And so she granted him
what he most desired,
which was to wed her
and be taken to her bed.
[Sheba gasps]
[distorted screaming]
[emotional string music playing]
[whooshing softly]
[speaks early Aramaic]
[The Djinn]
He was a great magician...
- [wheezing]
- ...and imprisoned me
with a word of power
into a brass bottle.
[emotional string
music continues]
She made no plea for me.
I was nothing to her.
A breath in a bottle.
And so, I was cast
into the Red Sea
and languished for 2,500 years.
Apart from sleep,
what does one do in a bottle
for 2,500 years?
Djinn don't sleep.
So, how do you manage then?
[clicks tongue]
Well, for the first 100 years,
I rage against my fate.
I pray to Boschkolo
for my release,
and when that does not work,
I pray to any god I know,
and then to any god
I may not know.
And when, still,
I find no answers,
[inhales]
I spend my time in waking dreams
revisiting all the stories
of my life.
And when I have exhausted this
many, many times,
I return to my prayer
and my rage.
And then, finally,
I play a trick on myself.
I pray to remain in the bottle.
I beseech Boschkolo to keep me
always in the bottle.
And does that work?
To yearn for nothing?
To pretend to want nothing more
than to be contained
in a bottle?
No.
For a djinn, it is the closest
we ever come to death.
[sighs]
Do you know the answer
to her question?
What women most desire?
Yeah.
Do you not know?
If you do not know,
I cannot tell you.
Well, surely, we don't
all want the same thing.
Madam, your yearnings
are not at all clear to me.
I... I'm at a point in my life
where I have all I need.
I daresay I'm content,
and gratefully so.
Tell me.
Are you a wife? A widow?
- Um...
- A mother, perhaps?
I have no children,
no siblings, no parents.
I did once have a husband.
[The Djinn] Ah.
And what was the complexion
of this husband?
His complexion?
In the beginning,
it was glowing.
And in the ending?
It's not much of a story.
But it is a story.
It is your story,
and it is always wise
to understand those
who have a hold on you.
Please.
[inhales deeply]
[grunts] Well, okay, um...
[smacks lips]
We'd known each other
since our youth.
We, uh, married early.
In the beginning,
we took pleasure
in each other's minds
and bodies.
Um...
We passed the years comfortably,
and then as it happens,
it all evaporated,
and, uh... and we became
less.
And where is he?
He's in Hackney,
with Emmeline Porter.
[The Djinn] Mmm.
[A lit he a sighs]
[A lit he a] He told me I...
I was incapable
of reading feelings.
[car brakes]
[car horn beeps]
I was incapable
of reading his feelings.
[Emmeline] ...gonna have
a resolution.
[Jack] This is exciting!
- It is exciting!
- [Emmeline] No, it's not.
Let me guess.
No one dies in it.
[Emmeline laughing] No!
[A lit he a] The way my brain
is wired is... is the...
the source both of my power
and, uh, and my solitude.
I suspect that's why
I like stories.
I find feelings through stories.
[The Djinn sighs]
Perhaps you could
wish for him back.
Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no.
No.
I... I thought, um,
I might grieve
a loss and betrayal, but, uh,
no, in fact, I was free.
I was like a prisoner
emerging from a dungeon
into the sunlight.
I expanded into the space
of my own life.
No, I could not wish for more.
You are a wise
and cautious woman, A lit he a.
But we all have desires,
even if they remain
hidden from us.
[inhales sharply]
That's as maybe.
But I am also a narratologist,
and that is going
to be a problem.
It's going to be
a very big problem.
See, I know
all the stories there are
about trickster djinn,
and the ways in which
they manipulate wishing
to their own ends.
I am not one of them.
I am god-fearing and honorable,
and only here
to grant your heart's desire.
Well, even if that's true,
how can you rely on those
called upon to wish?
[speaks ancient Greek]
How do you know
you can rely on me?
Well, I hope so.
With you, I certainly hope so.
There's a...
funny little story.
I mean, you probably know it.
Three friends lost at sea
in a tiny boat.
They pull up a magic fish,
who grants each of them
one wish.
The first one,
"I wish I were at home
with my wife."
He vanishes.
The second one,
"I wish I were playing"
"in the fields
with my children."
Off he goes.
And the third one,
"I miss my friends..."
"I wish they were here."
You've got it.
There's no story about wishing
that is not a cautionary tale.
None end happily.
Not even the ones
that are supposed to be jokes.
But you and I
are the authors of this story,
and we can avoid all traps.
Well, what if
I made no wish at all?
Pardon?
What if I made no wish?
That would be an...
- [electricity humming]
- [soft squelching]
That would be
catastrophic! [Echoes]
[flesh crunching]
[panting]
[The Djinn muttering
incoherently]
[The Djinn breathing heavily]
[A lit he a] All right.
- [panting heavily]
- [crunching subsides]
I need to tell you
about my next incarceration.
I'm all ears.
[sighs]
[The Djinn] I will never know
how my bottle came from the
bottom of the Red Sea...
[flies buzzing]
...to a palace
in Constantinople.
But I fancy somehow it involved
the killing of
an Ottoman warrior.
[takes deep breath]
The fall of an empire.
[wall crumbling]
And a girl in love.
[girl muttering
in Ottoman Turkish]
[girl singing
in Ottoman Turkish]
[girl] Merhaba.
[gasps]
[bottle clangs]
[high-pitched pinging]
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[eerie music playing]
[hammering]
[girl muttering
in Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn in English]
Gulten lived as a slave
in the courtyard
of the concubines
in the seraglio.
[Gulten continues muttering
in Ottoman Turkish]
[rumbling]
[Gulten gasping]
[shuddering]
[The Djinn breathing heavily]
- [The Djinn growls softly]
- [Gulten gasps]
[The Djinn]
When I appeared to her...
[gasps]
...she fainted.
And I had great trouble
rousing her.
[The Djinn whispering
in Ottoman Turkish]
I made it clear
that I meant her no harm,
for I was condemned
to the bottle.
Until you got your three wishes.
- Until she got hers.
- [A lit he a scoffs]
- Please.
- Okay.
Now, the poor girl told me
she was distractedly in love
with a beautiful man...
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn]
...and she wished immediately
to find favor in his eyes.
[man speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[blows]
[The Djinn in English]
As it happens,
the one she most desired
was the splendid Mustafa.
Prince Mustafa.
Eldest son of
Suleiman the Magnificent,
and likely heir
to his mighty throne.
Had I known what was to come,
I would've risked
the furies of Iblis
to vehemently distract her
from her wish.
But without thinking,
I took my bottle
and conjured oils
to prepare her.
Oils of enchantment
once used only by Sheba.
I cautioned her
to hide the bottle
lest its powers
fall into other hands.
I went to Mustafa.
[whispers] Gulten.
I whispered her name.
He sent for her.
It was so easy.
[traditional music playing]
As a djinn,
I am endlessly curious
about the ways of humans.
So, in my spare time,
I took to wandering the palace
in search of its intrigues.
And there, among the eunuchs,
the consorts,
and the concubines,
I first saw Hurrem.
The Laughing One.
[Hurrem laughing]
[Hurrem speaking
Ottoman Turkish]
[people clamoring]
[The Djinn]
She, too, was a slave
who had risen
through the center of them all
to become the Sultan's favorite.
[crowd gasping in awe]
Suleiman the Wise
saw none but her.
And she sought
to protect his throne
in favor of her own sons
over his beloved Mustafa.
And to this end,
she had the prince watched
by many probing eyes.
[laughing]
When I saw how Hurrem
made a masterpiece
of her manipulations,
I worried that my Gulten
might be caught in this web.
I tried to warn her
to be careful.
[both speaking Ottoman Turkish]
But she had already
decided on her second wish.
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[in English] Such a mistake.
Because at this moment,
Suleiman, blessed be his name,
is being undermined.
His warriors believe
he is going soft,
more interested in his poetry
than ruling with a strong hand.
[arguing indistinctly]
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] Hurrem
fuels the rumors
that the military
want to take his throne
and replace him with Mustafa.
The prince has become a pawn
in the ceaseless game of power.
[arguing continues indistinctly]
Suleiman the Magnificent,
Suleiman the Conqueror,
patron and protector of empires,
Suleiman the Father,
was left with a choice
that he knows
will break his heart.
Gulten, meantime, saw no reason
why she should remain unseen.
[Gulten laughing loudly]
Given she was carrying the son
of the next Sultan.
Despite all my warnings,
she parades her newly swollen
breasts and belly.
And the whispers soon spread
throughout the seraglio.
[tense music playing]
The terrible plottings
move all too quickly.
[tense music stops]
Prince Mustafa comes innocently
into the presence of his father,
to reassure him of his loyalty.
[Mustafa speaking
Ottoman Turkish]
[grunting]
[The Djinn in English] And
the mutes are waiting for him.
He cried out to his Janissaries,
who loved him,
but his voice was crushed
and his breath stopped
by the string
of his father's bow.
[muffled humming of tune]
[continues humming tune]
- [door opens]
- [The Djinn] Gulten!
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[gasps]
[whimpering]
[The Djinn in English]
"Make a wish!"
"Save yourself, Gulten!"
[panting]
Just a few words
and she could have been free
to bear her child in safety,
and I to spirit away at last
to the Realm of Djinn.
But she ran into the hands
of the assassins.
- [Gulten screams]
- [The Djinn calls out]
I was about
to take them by force,
when I was blocked
by a follower of Iblis.
- [breathing shakily]
- [high-pitched pinging]
[in ancient language]
[gasping]
[creatures screeching]
[grunting and whimpering]
- [screeching stops]
- [gasping]
Gulten!
[in English] She made
no wish to save herself.
No wish was made
to save us both.
[sighs softly]
So, there I was,
or there I was not,
might you say,
almost emancipated
and tethered to this world
by a third wish unperformed.
But you realize, don't you,
that you've just told me the
story of a woman who was doomed
as a consequence
of the wishes she made?
Yes, but her failure
to complete the wishes
also doomed me.
Could nobody else
complete the wish?
That was my hope.
And that would
finally liberate you?
That was my only hope.
But you were rendered invisible.
Like a ghost.
Wandering unseen.
And your bottle,
hidden under the loosened stone
known only to the dead Gulten.
[The Djinn] Yes,
it was a predicament.
[muffled clanging]
I tried to attract
the attention of someone,
anyone that could help me.
My stars, how I tried.
I followed their scent,
their every step.
Willing, pleading, screaming.
Anything to draw them to me.
[muffled upbeat
drum music playing]
- [drum music continues]
- [dancers' ornaments rattling]
[drum music stops]
And I do this piteously
for 100 years,
and with every failure,
my will begins to fade.
[children laughing in distance]
And then in 1620,
hope comes in the form
of a boy with a sword.
[boys laughing]
[boy laughing] Murad! Murad!
[muffled drum beating]
Murad! [Echoing]
[The Djinn] By some means,
this boy senses me.
I'm able to draw him
to the stone.
[muffled drum music playing]
[flies buzzing]
[drum music subsides]
[hollow clanging]
[grunting]
[drumbeat continues]
Ibrahim!
Gel.
[woman] Murad!
Ibrahim!
[The Djinn] And just as
I am about to be delivered
into their hands,
their mother finds them.
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] She is Kosem,
a widow of the Sultan,
Ahmed the First.
And the boys are next in line
for the throne.
[continues speaking
Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] When I see
the hair on his legs,
I know that somewhere
in Murad's bloodline
pulses the power of a djinn.
I follow him everywhere,
determined to draw him back
to the stone.
But at the age of 11,
he ascends the throne
and becomes
Sultan Murad the Fourth.
And caught up
by the usual intrigues,
he is even more lost to me.
At 20, he leads
his armies to war.
He battles alongside his men
in the Caucasus and Mesopotamia.
Stories are told
of his recklessness,
even with his own life.
[battle music playing]
[music stops]
I despair of
ever seeing him again.
Hope is a monster, A lit he a,
and I am its plaything.
So he died?
Not in battle.
Back in Istanbul,
Kosem needs
to protect the throne.
She needs to protect Ibrahim.
- [A lit he a] The little brother?
- [The Djinn] Yes.
[Ibrahim breathing heavily]
He is last of the Ottoman line.
He has to produce male children.
So, Kosem locks him in a cage
lined entirely with sable.
[A lit he a] Quite the prison.
[The Djinn] And one
he will never want to leave.
[Ibrahim sniffs]
It debauches him royally.
He believes the greater
the expanse of flesh,
the more intense the pleasure.
So, Kosem seeks out beauties
voluptuous and immense,
and brings them to his couch.
My fate turns specifically
on this fetish.
How's that?
You'll see.
[battle music playing]
[music stops]
[men yell in unison]
[clamoring]
Murad is back.
And though
he returns a conqueror,
he cannot shed
his robes of blood.
War had truly rotted his soul.
[Murad breathing shakily]
[hooves clopping]
I wait until he is alone.
I am determined to draw him
back to the stone.
I don't want to interrupt,
but I do have a question.
Did it matter to you
what kind of wish
such a man might make?
One so insatiable.
No.
Not even if
it were profoundly evil?
Not if it meant my freedom.
The truth is he has
other things on his mind.
He believes he is invincible,
and to rule indefinitely,
he must be rid of all rivals.
[in Ottoman Turkish]
Ibrahim.
Ibrahim.
[breathing heavily]
[squelching]
[sighs in relief]
[The Djinn in English]
Kosem needs to stop him.
Somehow, she needed
to distract him
from his bloodlust
with other gratifications.
[glass smashes]
First, she arranges for him
to be perpetually drunk.
And then she tries
something very shrewd.
Something that you might enjoy.
[mimicking sword fight sounds]
She sends to find,
from all corners of the empire,
the best storytellers.
- [mimics bottle cap's pop]
- [men laughing]
[groans]
[men laughing]
[object grating]
[clinks]
Those who are not persuasive
flee in fear
or fall to his impatience.
[drums beating softly]
There is only one
who has the ability
to enchant him.
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn]
To soothe with stories,
to hold him hostage
to their unfolding.
[laughing]
[muffled laughing]
[speaking indistinctly
from other room]
[both laughing]
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn]
This is his only friend.
And that friendship
turns to love.
Since there is nothing else
for me to do,
I listen gratefully,
for I, too, love being lost
in his stories.
When the old man dies,
all in the palace
flee to the streets,
for they fear Murad's grief
will incur fresh murder.
[Murad crying softly]
But he just sits, and howls,
and drinks until he is empty.
And my patience is rewarded.
For in this state,
I am finally able
to get his attention
and draw him
back to the secret bathroom.
[A lit he a] Oh, I know
where this is going.
He's going to be too weak
to lift the stone.
Too weak even to turn the latch.
[latch clanks]
So, he leaves and drinks
himself to permanent sleep.
Oh!
And there I am,
left to my own oblivion,
with no one to hear my voice,
no one to know me,
nor feel me, nor sense me.
You can't imagine.
Well, actually, I can.
Can you imagine the loneliness?
How it might overwhelm?
I can.
We exist only
if we are real to others.
Do you agree?
I do.
This, then,
is our fate, A lit he a.
If you make no wish at all,
I will be caught between worlds,
invisible and alone,
for all of time.
[whispering]
Make a wish, A lit he a.
Make it your heart's desire.
I'd be more careful
if I were you.
Obviously, you managed
to find your way out.
More or less.
I'm beginning to think
I'm in the presence
of a trickster.
That would be so much better.
My work would be so much easier.
But the truth is,
I am just an idiot
who has been
extravagantly unlucky.
Well, I have to take
your word for that.
[The Djinn sighs]
So?
Ibrahim, I suppose,
becomes Sultan?
[The Djinn] Ibrahim has
to be dragged to the throne.
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[somber music playing]
[The Djinn in English] He
appoints one of his concubines
Governor of Damascus.
Her name is Sugar Lump.
By every measure, his favorite.
Had she not been free to roam,
she would not have found
the secret bathroom.
Had she not decided
to take a bath,
it would not have overfilled.
Had she not been clumsy
as she walked across the floor,
she would not have slipped,
smashed the stone,
- and found my bottle.
- Ah, yeah.
[groans]
[whooshing eerily]
[The Djinn breathing heavily]
To be honest, I should
have been more dignified.
But I began to beg, shamelessly.
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[yelling in Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn in English]
"I wish you were back"
"in your bottle at the bottom
of the Bosphorus."
So here I am,
fallen into your careful hands.
Seems we cannot
escape each other.
You have me at your mercy.
[A lit he a sighs]
[A lit he a] This wishing...
It's a hazardous art.
"I wish" brings
infinite unravelings.
Not necessarily.
Well, it's there
in all your own stories.
I know, but...
You say you're not a trickster,
and you say that you and I
are the authors of this story.
But I'm not able
to write myself out of it.
Correct.
Why don't you just hop back
into your bottle
and I'll give it
to someone more gullible?
Someone more desperate.
Someone more greedy.
I'm not getting back
in the bottle.
Why not?
I'm not getting back
in the bottle.
Well, I am not
making three wishes.
Then you are sending me
to my oblivion.
Oh, you're impossible.
And you are giving me
a headache.
All right. All right.
Here's what I'll do.
I will make three wishes.
- I will.
- Before you die?
Right now.
One after the other.
- Ready?
- Mmm-hmm.
Number one. I wish
your headache were gone.
Number two.
I wish for a sip of this tea.
And finally, I wish
for another one of those.
You mock me.
Three wishes, perfectly simple,
and theoretically safe.
I was imprisoned
by Solomon precisely
because I cried out
my heart's desire.
Only by granting you yours
may I earn my release.
Yes, well,
I appreciate the symmetry,
but the thing is this,
I cannot for the life of me
summon up one eligible wish.
And you're asking me for three.
Is there any life in you?
Are you even alive?
You know, in some cultures,
absence of desire
means enlightenment.
Then you are a pious fool.
If I'm content, why tempt fate?
And you're a coward.
Don't goad me.
There is no human,
no angel, nor djinn
that wouldn't grasp
at the chance
to fulfill
their deepest longings,
and I am saddled with the one
who claims to want
nothing at all.
A lit he a Binnie,
you are a liar!
You know, I am beginning
to wish we never met.
No! Nyet!
Don't say that!
[heavy static buzzing]
[The Djinn panting]
- [static subsides]
- [A lit he a breathing heavily]
[sniffling]
[glass shards clattering]
[The Djinn sighs]
So...
that's happened to you before.
And it was bad.
[clicks tongue] 'Twas bad.
'Twas bitter.
'Twas the cruelest wish of all.
[A lit he a] You were undone
by silliness yet again.
[The Djinn sighs]
I'm here because of a genius.
Who was it this time?
She was Zefir.
Rarely among humankind
has there been such a wonder.
But you're here
because of her folly.
[tuts and sighs]
I ended up in this
as a consequence of Zefir.
And this is the story
you've been avoiding
telling me all along.
This is the story I've avoided
telling even myself.
[hooves clopping]
Zefir was a foundling,
married at 12
to a wealthy merchant.
He was much older than her,
and kind,
if you think keeping someone
like a bird in a cage is kind.
There were two older wives,
who did not like her
and did not talk to her at all.
[Zefir panting
and crying softly]
Everyone,
including the servants,
seemed to be mocking her.
[grunts]
She had neither
etiquette nor learning.
She grew to no great beauty
and was angry
without knowing why.
[panting]
[clangs]
[high-pitched pinging]
As the fates would have it,
my bottle came to her
as a love token
from her husband.
And when she had finished
satisfying him
and was finally alone,
she managed to prise it open.
It was as if
she was waiting for me.
I saw at once
that she was sharp,
and she saw that I was desperate
for freedom and conversation.
I told her my story,
as I have told you,
and she revealed herself to me
by the things she had made.
Gel. Gel.
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[speaks Ottoman Turkish]
[chuckles]
[continues speaking
Ottoman Turkish]
Gel.
[whispers indistinctly]
[The Djinn in English]
She could have been remembered
like the genius da Vinci,
whose theories on flight
were the talk
of sultans and kings.
She was a skilled artist,
but no one saw her art.
[Zefir breathing heavily]
[Zefir speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] She told me
she was eaten up
with unused power.
She thought
she might be a witch.
Except, she said,
if she were a man,
her intellect would have been
ordinarily accepted.
She was a woman
ardent for learning,
and I knew
what her first wish would be.
[pants]
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[breathing heavily]
[The Djinn in English]
And it delighted me
to fulfill this wish.
[sighs]
[pensive music playing]
So, I taught her
histories, philosophies,
languages, poetry.
I taught her
astronomy, mathematic,
which was bliss to her.
I brought her
books and writings,
which we hid
in her collection of bottles.
[The Djinn] Sabah...
[whispers] Sabah...
[squelching]
[Zefir gasps]
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
She could always
call on Aristotle
from a red glass jar,
or Euclid from a green,
Pythagoras, Spinoza,
without needing me
to re-embody them.
[conversing in Ottoman Turkish]
We had the whole world
in her room,
and I lost my heart to her.
[gulps]
'Twas my bliss
to make her happy.
To see her flourish.
And she flourished in every way.
Totalmente.
[soft traditional music playing]
She began to rebel
even against
the gestures of submission
that her husband required,
for she had acquired
a mastery of love-craft,
out of reach of any human
that had not
made love to a djinn.
[surreal choral music playing]
[music distorts and fades]
[distorted screaming]
[Zefir grunting]
[Zefir's husband speaking
Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] His cravings
for her became an obsession.
[in Ottoman Turkish]
[lock clicks]
[sighs]
[The Djinn in English]
And when he would come to her,
I would leave her room
and journey the skies.
I saw the mountains,
the oceans...
I saw the beasts of the forest,
where no man treads.
And when I would return,
she would be waiting for me.
I would tell her of my day,
and she would faint with joy
and disappointment.
[A lit he a] Why did she not
make a wish to be free?
[The Djinn] There was something
more important to her.
She had devised a "mathematica,"
a language to explain the forces
which bring space, and time,
and matter into being.
She was Promethean, brave.
But she could not solve
this puzzle.
She needed a key,
a key to open the doors
of her perception.
[sobs]
So, she used her second wish.
I taught her to dream
as djinn do, awake.
[sentimental string
music playing]
[writing on paper]
And this way,
the solutions came to her.
She was able
to explain powers invisible,
electromagnetic fields
and forces...
The very stuff
of which djinn are made.
You're electromagnetic?
As you are dust,
I am made of subtle fire.
And when she was
to bear a child,
I was plagued with happiness,
for I knew
it would strengthen us.
She was carrying your child?
A child, of fire and dust.
So, where did it go wrong?
A lit he a, I loved her.
I loved the fervor of her mind.
I loved her anger.
I loved my power
to turn her frowns into smiles.
I loved her more than Sheba.
More than your own freedom?
Yes.
It became my greatest desire
to... to keep her,
to remain her prisoner.
The thought of being set free
sickened my heart.
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
I caught myself stopping her
lest she make her third wish.
Oh, gosh.
I made a mess of it.
She began to accuse me
of trapping her,
- like her husband.
- [Zefir sobbing]
[speaking Ottoman Turkish]
[The Djinn] I tried
to make amends.
To atone, I would
put myself in the bottle.
To be sealed.
That way, she could have
more power over me.
[The Djinn speaks indistinctly]
[Zefir continues sobbing]
[The Djinn whispers
indistinctly]
[Zefir speaking Ottoman Turkish]
To be nothing in a bottle.
I could do that for her.
And every time,
it would appease.
Every time, except for the last.
When, like a sudden squall,
all thunder and lightning,
she began to weep and wail,
and said,
"I wish I could forget
I ever met you."
[screams in Ottoman Turkish]
[gasping]
And she did, on the instant.
She was out. I was in.
She'd forgotten me.
A lit he a, how can it be...
a mistake to love
someone entirely?
I have a wish.
However, I'm afraid it may be
too much to ask.
Is it within my power?
I hope so. I do hope so.
Is it your heart's desire?
Yeah, I'm certain of it.
See, erm,
I'm here to love you.
And, uh,
I wish for you
to love me in return.
You want us to make love-craft?
Yeah, that too.
All of it.
And you would
abandon yourself to this?
[low electrical humming]
Yes.
Yes.
I want our solitudes
to be together.
I want that love
professed in ageless tales.
I want that longing you felt
for the Queen of Sheba,
and that love you gave
to your genius, Zefir.
I want it.
[speaking Djinnbish]
Me?
You.
[speaking Djinnbish]
You?
Me.
Is it too much?
Is it all too much to ask?
[whispers] Come.
[A lit he a] What are we to do
with longings awoken?
How can I persuade you
that I once found love
with a djinn?
In any case,
few would believe me.
Love is not something
we come to by reason.
It's more like a vapor,
a dream, perhaps,
to lure us into the enchantment
of our own stories.
If that's so,
how are we to know
if it's ever real?
Is it a truth,
or simply a madness?
[surreal folk music playing]
[people chattering
indistinctly from outside]
[takes deep breath]
[electric toothbrush whirring]
[switches off toothbrush]
[A lit he a] I leave
for London today.
Will you come home with me?
It's not such
an easy place nowadays.
But it'll be better
if you're there.
- [metal detector beeping]
- Over here, please.
Hands up.
[body scanner whirring]
- Please step out.
- [body scanner beeping]
What is in your pockets?
Oh.
Uh, it's an empty bottle
and a top.
Please put it through X-ray.
It is very delicate,
and I don't want it
to get damaged.
It will not be damaged.
Please put through X-ray.
I would prefer that
it didn't go in the...
Passport. Boarding pass.
Thank you.
It's quite fragile.
[supervisor] Madam.
It's a saltshaker.
Oh.
No! No X-ray! Please!
Stop, madam, stop.
[speaks Turkish]
Madam.
Oh.
[keypad beeping]
In your own time.
[children chattering
and laughing]
[The Djinn]
The air is thick here.
Full of insistent voices
and rushing faces.
[A lit he a] Oh?
Like Tiny Einstein?
Television, and phone towers,
and such?
Yes.
Yes. All your
ingenious devices
all murmuring at once.
Bend your head.
[high-pitched pinging]
[people clamoring
and traffic bustling]
- [gasps]
- [noises stop]
You hear all that?
[noises continue]
- [gasps]
- [noises stop]
I also see it and feel it.
I am a transmitter. [Chuckles]
Isn't it all too much?
I am a djinn.
I can adapt.
I'll soon get used to it.
[woman] She's back.
I believe she's back.
Is she with someone?
[woman] No, I think she's
talking to herself again.
[A lit he a] Hello, Clementine.
Fanny. Are you well?
[Clementine]
Did you have any trouble?
Trouble? What kind of trouble?
With your foreign friends.
Because we often ask ourselves,
"Why would Dr. Binnie waste
her time and intelligence"
"studying the ways of others
instead of upholding our own?"
Embarrassed by
our British culture, are we?
No. No.
I am rather more likely
to be embarrassed by anybody
reflexly frightened
of anybody different.
What exactly are you saying?
She's calling us bigots.
Your word, not mine.
[Clementine] You misunderstand.
- Oh?
- It's not how they look, dear.
It's how they live.
What they believe.
- What they eat.
- What are you on about?
Everywhere one goes, ethnics.
We are being overwhelmed,
and we're inviting our doom.
[Fanny] It's not natural.
Birds belong in the air.
Fish belong in the sea.
And that is how the good Lord
meant us to be.
You're just spouting rubbish
from start to finish.
It's science.
It's a scientific fact.
- It's a false analogy.
- [voices echoing]
I mean, animals do have
a natural habitat.
It's true,
but human beings are capable
of living in any environment
they bloody well choose.
- That's not a fact.
- [airplane engine humming]
- What are you saying?
- It's an opinion.
And you're wrong.
I'm not putting up
with any more of this.
Come away, Clem.
Let the crazy lady be.
We're never gonna get
any sense out of her.
[A lit he a] You know, I've never
said this to you before.
But you're both pitiful.
Shut your cake hole! [Echoing]
Pea-brained and pitiful.
You, fuck face!
Stop your ivy growing
on our side of the wall!
Why do I let them get to me?
I should feel sorry for them.
But this is my home.
It's my sanctuary.
[inhaler hisses]
[Clementine and Fanny's
voices echoing]
- I could wish them... [grunts]
- [static buzzes]
That's not a wish, by the way.
- I know.
- [exhales heavily]
[Clementine and Fanny's voices
continue echoing]
[people chattering indistinctly
from transmissions]
[A lit he a breathing heavily]
[transmissions fading]
[sentimental string
music playing]
[sentimental string
music continues]
[A lit he a whispers] My djinn.
[The Djinn] How was your day?
[A lit he a] Every listening ear
was yours.
Every voice, every scent,
and touch.
You were everywhere.
Back in a minute.
[Fanny] Whoever could that be
at this hour?
[Clementine]
It could be her.
Clem. Fanny.
Chickpeas, cloves, pistachio.
They melt in your mouth.
This is my friend.
He'll be staying for a while.
Hello.
- Hello.
- Hello.
[A lit he a] My Djinn told me,
when they come together
in the Realm of Djinn,
they tell each other stories.
Stories are like breath to them.
They make meaning.
"Yes," I said.
"That's just how
it is with us."
Each story we tell is a fragment
in an endless
shape-shifting mosaic.
And this small pebble,
like all stories, must end.
If it's about wishing,
it's a cautionary tale.
So, how will it go wrong?
Perhaps, it already has.
Even though Truth
stood before them naked,
they turned their backs.
So, Truth moved to the side
and waited in the shadows.
In the days that followed,
the Djinn would accompany
the narratologist to her work.
And when he wasn't with her,
he would go in eager
exploration of the world.
[machine beeping]
[The Djinn] Today I had
such a marvelous day.
I saw many things.
I watched a human look into
the living brain of another
and arrest a fatal bleeding.
I visited the Collider.
A vast gizmo which probed
the essence of matter.
And then I saw a dish,
a great dish
that listens to the whispers
of stars long dead.
Humankind is...
is a wonder, A lit he a.
I'm happy you think so.
All of this since I was
trapped in Zefir's bottle.
All these astonishments,
in less than 200 years.
Yes, but, I mean,
that's just engineering
and technology.
Despite all the whiz-bang,
we remain bewildered.
When we can't contain the chaos,
we are filled
with dread and panic,
and we turn on each other.
But of course, you are human.
That is your nature.
Yeah. So, the story
never changes.
Hate prevails.
It metastasizes
and outlives love.
I just want to talk about love.
Such a mess of
contradictions, all of you.
Thank you very much.
Humankind, what a conundrum.
You fumble around in the dark,
and yet, you herd your
intelligence to great effect.
It is quite a story.
[chuckles softly]
Cannot wait to see
where it goes.
Or how it might end.
That too.
A mortal will never know,
but a djinn might.
A djinn has all the time
in the world.
Aren't you the lucky one?
Maybe.
But you creatures
of dust have...
have managed to eclipse
the power and purpose
of djinn and angel.
You have no use for us.
Perhaps, we will wither and...
- And fade away?
- Yes.
Yeah. Well, that used
to be the subject
of all my lectures and papers.
I know.
And yet, here you are.
My impossible.
Yes.
[keypad beeping]
[door unlocks]
Hello?
I'm home!
Hello?
[switch clicks]
Djinn?
My love?
[A lit he a gasps]
Djinn.
[switch clicks]
What's this?
Can you hear me?
Djinn, speak to me.
Try to speak to me.
I wish you to speak to me.
[cracking]
[crumbling]
Oh...
[breathes heavily and grunts]
[breathing raggedly]
[inhales deeply]
- [static buzzes]
- [gasps and clears throat]
[in distorted high voice]
I was sleeping.
[grunts] Sleeping.
Djinn don't sleep.
[The Djinn] Let's go for a walk.
A long, bracing walk.
I have prepared
something for us.
[in normal voice]
I have it all planned.
[breathlessly]
A wonderous night for us.
It will be amazing.
- The best time of our lives.
- Stop!
These electromagnetic fields,
I can push them from my head.
I can push them away.
We'll go for a picnic.
[panting]
[speaking Djinnbish]
Ah, we'll play the ukulele.
[speaking Djinnbish]
A lit he a, there is a place
for me here.
These forces,
they will never go away,
not from this world.
I will overcome them.
I can do that for you.
You are my A lit he a,
and I love you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for trying.
You don't think that I love you?
Love is a gift.
It's a gift of oneself
given freely.
It's not something
one can ever ask for.
I tricked us both.
The moment I spoke that wish,
I took away
your power to grant it.
I, more than anybody,
I should've known that.
I'm not going
to screw this up again.
My Djinn, if this world
is not for you,
I wish that you return
to where you belong.
Wherever that may be.
[breathing heavily]
[glass cracking]
[shuddering]
[sobs]
[switch clicks]
[sighs]
[emotional string music playing]
[couple laughing]
[couple speaking indistinctly]
[girl] Mommy!
[man] Come here, little monkey.
That's not Mommy.
[girl and man
speaking indistinctly]
[dog barks]
[kids shouting playfully]
[wind blows]
[mouthing]
[wind whistling]
[sentimental string
music playing]
[man 1] Hey, hey, hey!
[man 2] Ah, no!
[man 1] Watch it.
Top striker in the league.
- [grunts]
- [men laughing]
[man 1] Did you see that?
[A lit he a] He would visit
from time to time,
and they would grasp
each vivid moment.
Despite the pain
of the raucous skies,
he always stayed
longer than he should,
long after
she begged him to leave.
He promised to return
in her lifetime,
and for her,
that was more than enough.
[sentimental string
music continues]