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As a teenager Liza fell in love with Stefan from afar, and has devoted her affections exclusively to him. A fact to which Stefan is totally oblivious. One evening she meets him, now a famous pianist who is also a fickle seduction artist. They spend the night together and then he announces that he’s going to spend two weeks with his orchestra at La Scala in Milan.

This scene shows Liza coming to the station to see Stefan off, where she remains concealed behind the small group of socialites who follow him on the train. The scene starts with a long tracking shot, following Liza as she goes to see Stefan. An obstacle already stands in the way between herself and the train, in the shape of a metal fence bristling with spikes. She dares not cross this obstacle, when she sees the man she loves surrounded by a group of friends who don’t know her. He goes over to her just as the train is leaving, offering her several insincere loving platitudes, and tells her that he’ll see her on his return. He leaps aboard the moving train, and she leaves in the other direction at the same time as the music, as if held prisoner by the metal barrier between them, her image getting more and more out of focus.