The film’s opening shot shows a writing desk decorated with dried flowers. Harp music is playing in the background. We see a tight close-up shot of someone preparing to do some calligraphy. They’re holding a brush in their right hand, which they dip in blue ink. In their left hand is a metal nib, which they then load with ink from the brush. Long, fluid strokes are drawn across the paper and gradually form into elegant letters. The calligrapher reloads their metal nib and continues to write. Little by little, we make out a Tolstoy quote: “It is not beauty that endears, it is love that makes us see beauty.”

The film’s opening shot shows a writing desk. Harp music is playing in the background. We see someone smooth down a piece of paper using a calamus reed, before cutting it vertically. They then start writing in calligraphy with black ink on the strip of paper. As the words form, we begin to realize it’s a Henry Miller quote: “In Greece one has the desire to bathe in the sky.”