Java Suite

Synopsis

The story of Java Suite takes place on a terrace overlooking the Mediterranean, where a brother and sister, both well-off and of mature years, have their residence. Heirs to an empire based on the manufacture of teak and rattan furniture in Surabaya on the island of Java, the strange pair kill the tedium of their spare time looking for victims to amuse themselves with, preferably attractive and well-educated youths. At the beginning of the piece the mature woman has just invited one of her most recent victims to the terrace, a young anthropology student whom she met at Surabaya airport and whom she invited to spend a few days with her. While the woman expresses tirelessly her opinions on her life, her frustrations and the dislike she feels for everything to do with high culture, the young man reacts to the torrent of words with a previously agreed upon silence. This silence is in part a ritual that on the face of it seems innocent enough, but with the unexpected arrival of the brother the game turns into something more violent. In fact, the young man starts to realize that he has got himself mixed up in a ritual between the brother and sister that is not happened for the first time, but one that is a part of a strange and savage conspiratorial game. The pair amuse themselves cruelly with the victim, in the same way as they play with the lives of the badly-paid workforce in their third world factories. This time, however, the games with the young man take on a more dangerous complexion, as the mature man has just returned to Europe from Java concealing the news that his colonial empire has just been swept away by sharply rising flood waters.