A civil servant is wetting his feet on a calm, quiet and deserted beach, when he is surprised by an old cadaverous beggar, toothless and smelling of alcohol, who has taken over his shoes. He tries to recover his asset with respectful cordiality, but the old woman reciprocates with an indecipherable posture, which progresses from a grumpy obstinacy to sadistic wickedness. The man’s perplexity – he attributes the woman’s attitude to the gratuitous cruelty of a stranger – is opposed by the old woman’s determination to force him to a “sincere confession” of an earlier offence.
In an age oriented towards theatricality, where the game of media fantasies and the histrionic colours with which everyday banalities are adorned blurs the boundaries between “truth” and “lie”, who is right? One of the sides, both or none?
