The Song of Songs

Fourteen‑year‑old Lily lives in the cramped flat of her father, Kilian Czepanek, a music‑master whose days are a blur of piano lessons, heated curses and occasional sips of cognac. The household revolves around relentless practice: Lily must sit at the piano for hours while her mother tends the kitchen, and the thin walls echo with both discord and yearning. As Lily watches her father stare into the mirror, tracing the lines of his own face, she feels a mixture of adoration and unease, sensing a deeper emptiness behind his flamboyant demeanor.

The quiet routine is shattered when Kilian’s usual storm of temper and music suddenly gives way to an unsettling stillness, and the door clicks shut behind a fleeting visitor. Lily’s curiosity pulls her toward the keyhole, where she glimpses a man caught between self‑reflection and an invisible weight that threatens to pull him away. The episode hints at a looming crisis that will test the fragile bonds between daughter, mother, and the enigmatic figure at the piano’s heart.