A street of Riga at night. Nine private spaces are ‘invaded’ in this street. Each of these spaces contains ‘installed’ actors shown in different situations. Sometimes they are like real people from the neighbourhood, other times they are shown in evidently fictitious situations. Without being aware that they are being observed, these characters reveal their habits and do things. Nothing much. These situations either do not have a dialogue or if they do, very little is said. However through a subtitling system set up in each of the situations, the audience has access either to what the characters are thinking or to the story of their personal journey, to their past, their circumstances now and even their future after the moment we see being portrayed. Lots of thoughts, lots of stories.
Of these nine situations, six unfold inside – but still visible from the street through windows – and three take place in the street.
The nine situations are performed simultaneously on both sides of the street and the audience can move from one to the other, following the flow of stories and thoughts to which they have access, like a tide allowing them to enter the inner dimension of these peoples’ lives in a street in Riga.
Given that no one situation has any relationship with any other in terms of narrative continuity, the audience can move between the scenes in a linear or random way, each member of the audience being able to select a combination and therefore construct their own meaning from the whole.
The situations taking place along the street
1- A man has just had a motorbike accident. His body lies close to the motorbike in the middle of the street. Through the subtitles we learn his story up to the moment when the accident happened and also what he is thinking at this precise moment as he hangs between life and death.
2- A couple on the verge of splitting up are in their sitting room having dinner – seen through their window. The subtitles tell the story of the man’s family from his grandparents to now, sixty years of history to the moment being shown. We also learn how the two of them met, what their relationship was like and why they are on the verge of splitting up. And also what the future holds for each of them after what we see happening now.
3- A man is waiting for a woman who arranged to meet him at a street corner. The subtitles tell us this man’s story, then that of the woman he is waiting for and also their successive thoughts up to that moment.
4- A scene in a bookshop.
5- A woman is trying to get to sleep… in a bed placed in a shop window.
The subtitles allow us access to her thoughts, to the stream of mental associations and reappraisals that take place before falling asleep.
6- A young chap in a bar watches a girl sitting at a table close by.
The subtitles enable us to see what he is thinking, what he is imagining he would say if he dared speak to her and how he sees the future they might have together. His imagination is unleashed by the very fact of envisaging the future.
7- A man is standing on a balcony. A party is in full swing in the room behind him …
8- A body-builder trains alongside a young girl playing Schubert on the piano in the sitting room of a house. The subtitles reveal the story of these strange characters and the music that can be heard.
9- A man and a woman walk from one corner of the street to the other. At a given moment they stop and embark on a five-minute long kiss… A camera dolly carrying the subtitling system accompanies the characters as they move along. The subtitles explain that this is their first kiss, which is why they will always remember this moment and this place. We can also read what each of them is thinking as they kiss.