VonCosel Y Hoyos - Eternal Obsession

In Key West, Florida, 1931, a young Latina’s heartbeat echoes through the stethoscope of aging bacteriologist Carl VonCosel, changing his life forever. The patient is 22 year-old Cuban beauty Elena Hoyos, there with her mother for word on whether or not she is afflicted with tuberculosis. To their mutual horror, the test results handed to VonCosel by a nosy nurse seem to confirm it. Nevertheless, there is more going on here than meets the eye, for Elena is the living embodiment of the one true love that VonCosel believes was shown to him long ago in a boyhood dream. He must be with her, no matter what, so with few other options, the family allows VonCosel to conduct experimental treatments on Elena in their home. One afternoon, while alone together, doctor and patient talk in somewhat hushed tones as VonCosel allegedly prepares to draw blood. Their words have double meanings, though, for when asked about why there is no cure, VonCosel’s explanation that even doctors fear aggressive exploration into what they don’t understand reminds Elena of her recently estranged husband, who fled to Miami upon word of her illness. Like the doctors, they agree, he was simply afraid. Elena, however, is not, and after a knowing exchange, VonCosel injects her with a strange solution. In moments, Elena’s eyes shut forever… or do they? Sometime later, VonCosel stands at the foot of his own bed and watches as beautiful Elena, still in the same clothing, awakens to reassurance that they have done it. They have fooled everyone, and in VonCosel’s words, are now “free.” A stroll by the shore and a café lunch seem to illustrate their romance as they talk of their trick, making Elena’s cold look fatal so that she could escape poverty and the doctor could have his mate. Then, a strange coincidence at the café sets VonCosel’s mind to wondering when the all-too-familiar waitress asks if this is what he wants. Before he can answer, Elena’s hand is on his, refocusing his attention upon her. Before long, they’re back in VonCosel’s bed, cuddled together, listening to the light rain outside. Unfortunately, VonCosel must ask if she would ever leave him and cannot seem to accept her answer that she can’t. Only when he presses on does she explain why. In truth, she was never there! VonCosel awakens in panic, alone and inundated by his surroundings with reminders of his self-delusion, including a diploma that does not read Carl VonCosel, but Carl Tanzler… the name on Elena’s phony test results! After painfully remembering the true sequence of events, VonCosel calms when he hears Elena’s voice in the air. He visits her custom-built mausoleum where her ghost sings to him a Mexican folk song, instructing him on what he must do. Indeed, VonCosel makes off with Elena’s body in the middle of the night and, with the aid of some plaster, silk, two glass eyes and some of the same monstrous equipment he used to treat her when she was alive, he reconstructs the long-dead Elena and begins their macabre affair. Alas, real life interferes again when VonCosel is discovered by Elena’s own sister and is hauled off to jail. Though eventually freed on a technicality, while there, a familiar-looking young woman with a reporter’s badge has gotten him to tell his story – the one we just saw with her in place of the nurse and the waitress. Can she bring him around to trust her and move on, or will the doctor’s Orphean obsession consume him forever?