:18:12
When l arrived at
Vlissingen Station tonight...
:18:16
...they were unloading a coffin
from the train.
:18:22
A gigantic coffin.
:18:26
So large that it didn't flt
into a regular hearse...
:18:31
...but had to be loaded on a truck.
:18:36
There were some thirty dwarfs
standing around it...
:18:40
...they were no taller than this.
:18:43
They were members of a circus act...
:18:46
...who were going to bury their
colleague, the world's tallest man.
:18:52
A grotesque tragedy, don't you think?
:18:55
But why am l telling you this?
:18:58
What is so special about this story?
:19:01
That there is no circus in town.
:19:05
Exactly... l invented most of it.
:19:11
Yes, there was a coffin,
but an ordinary one.
:19:14
Of a man who died in Benidorn
of an overdose of...
:19:17
...love.
:19:22
No dwarfs, no giant, nothing.
:19:25
But...
:19:27
...if l tell the dwarf story often enough,
l'll start to believe it myself.
:19:32
And that, l think,
is the essence of my writing.
:19:35
l lie the truth.
:19:39
Until l no longer know whether
something did or did not happen.
:19:43
That's when it gets exciting.
:19:46
What you make of reality...
:19:48
...is inflnitely more interesting
than reality itself.
:19:52
The cards, ladies and gentlemen!
:19:55
To note down your questions
for after the intermission...
:19:59
...so Mr. Reve can answer them
one by one.