Three Crowns of the Sailor

In 1958, a professor is murdered by his student in an unnamed Polish seaport, opening the film in stark black-and-white. The student then leaves through war-torn streets and encounters a sailor who offers him passage from the country in exchange for hearing the sailor's life story. The student agrees to listen as payment and to hand over three Danish crowns later. The frame is set for a tale of debt, voyage, and payback.

The student and the sailor enter a dancehall to seal the bargain. They drink and bargain while the student negotiates passage on board a ship in exchange for the sailor's life story. The student insists on hearing the tale as payment, and the two men agree on the three Danish crowns as part of the deal. The stage is set for the sailor's long, episodic voyage.

The sailor's story begins in Valparaíso, where he seeks work and learns of a possible berth aboard a ship called the Funchalense from a local swindler known as the blind man. The swindler is later found stabbed and dying, but the sailor presses on, securing his place aboard the vessel. He bids farewell to his mother and sister as he begins life at sea. The episode sets the stage for a life of wandering sailors' fates.

On board, the sailor meets crewmates whose bodies are tattooed with solitary letters; they eat, but salt is forbidden, and they never defecate, sweating maggots. The ship becomes a surreal stage where one man throws himself overboard, only to return the next day convinced it was The Other who jumped. The sailor finds himself wandering between two versions of himself.

In a surreal turn, the sailor experiences being inside the body of The Other and passes through visions of alternate selves. The episodes unfold as the ship sails from port to port, blurring identity and reality. These visions underline the motif that life aboard is a pattern repeated across different identities.

In Buenaventura, the sailor befriends María, a shy prostitute who reads Corín Tellado; she is nicknamed The Virgin Mary by others. He becomes her benefactor, offering her a sense of belonging and protection. The bond adds one more relationship to the sailor's rotating family aboard the journey.

In Singapore, the French proconsul introduces the sailor to a small boy who is, in truth, an elderly doctor; the sailor adopts him as a son. The moment deepens the sailor's family circle and marks another mother figure created through travel. The episode blends whimsy and mystique in the ship's world.

The sailor witnesses his ship sink, only to miraculously rise again, preserving his life and continuing his voyage. The event tests his faith and resilience, reinforcing the sense that fate can flip in an instant at sea. It also reinforces the recurring miracle motif of his journey.

He encounters a replacement mother who is a stowaway aboard the ship, then meets two criminal brothers in Tangier who shape more of his adventures. Each new connection expands his surrogate family and deepens debts he must repay later. The experiences push him toward a restless search for security and belonging.

Back in Valparaíso, his real mother and sister have disappeared, and he encounters eccentric characters like a Portuguese traveling salesman. He lusts after Matilde, a mambo dancer, a dangerous femme fatale who becomes another temptation. The episode cycles through loss, desire, and the fragility of family ties.

In Tampico, the sailor meets a scholarly boy who has lived the sailor's entire life through books, a mirror of the tale's mnemonic doubling. The boy's presence adds a meta layer to the storytelling, reinforcing the blurred boundary between life and literature aboard the Funchalense. The encounters continue to accumulate debts the sailor must repay.

In Dakar, the sailor meets a paternal figure who asks for three Danish crowns, a motif repeated throughout his life as he borrows money to progress. The man offers wisdom about fate and obligation, echoing the ship's recurring debts. The three crowns become the symbol the sailor must finally secure to finish his life story.

Back in the Polish port, the sailor and the student leave the dancehall to collect the three crowns from the murdered professor's house. The student demands a berth, but the sailor says it has not been earned yet. The confrontation ends with the student killing the sailor and the living man dissolving into a phantom on the ship.

The sailor reappears as a phantom on the deck as the ship continues its voyage in the open sea. The student accepts the cost of the job only in death, and the film proclaims that there must always be one murderous living sailor among a boat of dead men. The Funchalense sails off into the horizon.