From the Land of the Moon (2016) - full transcript
Gabrielle (Marion Cotillard) comes from a small village in the South of France, at a time when her dream of true love is considered scandalous, and even a sign of insanity. Her parents marry her to José (Alex Brendemühl), an honest and loving Spanish farm worker who they think will make a respectable woman of her. Despite José's devotion to her, Gabrielle vows that she will never love José and lives like a prisoner bound by the constraints of conventional post-World War II society until the day she is sent away to a cure in the Alps to heal her kidney stones. There she meets André Sauvage (Louis Garrel), a dashing injured veteran of the Indochinese War, who rekindles the passion buried inside her. She promises they will run away together, and André seems to share her desire. Will anyone dare rob her of her right to follow her dreams?
[dramatic music]
♪♪
- Here.
[cheerful music playing
on radio]
♪♪
[radio tuning]
[soft piano music playing]
- No, not now.
[radio clicks off]
- Evening.
- It's late.
- Mr. Rabascall.
- Hows this?
Not too gaudy?
- It's nice.
- Where are you from?
- La Ciotat.
- On the coast?
You know Lyon, ma'am?
- No.
- Is the Conservatory far?
- Over the bridge
and we're there.
It's like a competition?
- Yes, for young pianists.
From all over France.
- What's he doing?
[horn honking]
[men shouting]
[honking continues]
[bell tinkling]
- Glazier!
[dramatic music]
- Wait!
- [exhales]
- You take him.
I'll see you there.
Go!
Go!
- Drive.
♪♪
"Mr. Sauvage - 1st floor"
♪♪
[exhales]
[children yelling in distance]
Hello.
- Hello, Gabrielle.
Take a seat.
Take a seat while I finish up.
You received
your correspondence classes?
- Yes.
History bores me.
- You'll keep at it, won't you?
- I don't like learning
that way.
I want to be talked to.
- I have your book.
Thanks.
- You're hot.
- It's a superb novel,
written by a young Englishwoman
who never left the countryside.
Where she lived-
- She never left?
- She died young.
- Beautiful handwriting.
[door opens]
- Go on.
[door closes]
You had something to tell me?
- No.
[men talking in distance]
[insects buzzing]
[indistinct chatter]
[fly buzzing]
"This book belongs
to Jean-Claude..."
We'll be naked.
I'll lie on top of you.
I'll spread your arms out.
You will know with me
the principal thing.
You will enter into me.
You will enter into me.
[folk music playing]
♪♪
- So, Mrs. Savourney,
happy with the harvest?
- Better than last year.
- What's your yield per hectare?
- 15, 16.
This year, the flower's
good and dry.
Top quality.
Come along!
Good evening.
Sit down with us.
♪♪
To next year!
[lively folk music playing]
♪♪
[laughter, indistinct chatter]
[urine splattering]
- Here I am.
- Good evening.
You liked the book?
- Yes.
It's a book of love.
- Yes, a love story.
- This is for you.
- What is it?
- Take it. It's for you.
[cheerful music playing
in distance]
- I didn't read that.
- It's for you.
- Who wrote it?
- Me.
- Where'd you come up with that?
- It's me.
- Those words. You're mad.
- You gave me the book.
- It's a book.
Good night.
- Not good night.
Not good night.
Where are you going?
You're a nothing.
[dishes clattering]
[music stops]
What are you all staring at?
[panting]
[screams]
[somber music]
♪♪
[dogs barking]
- Gabrielle!
♪♪
- Come here, my girl.
[door rattling]
- Open up.
[pounds on door]
Come out of there!
- [sighing]
- You'll be hungry.
[men singing in distance]
[vehicle approaching outside]
[man singing softly]
♪♪
[men whispering]
- [chuckling]
- [wailing]
[classical music playing]
[music clicks off]
[men talking
and laughing outside]
- You're not happy at home?
- I am.
- Would you like some time away?
- No, why?
- There are places for...
- Oh!
[inhales sharply]
[groaning]
- She gets these cramps.
She'll be fine.
With her,
you never know if it's an act.
- [breathing shakily]
- Better?
- Better.
- Well...
we'll be seeing
each other again.
- What for?
And you?
Do you hear me?
You're there.
You're naked.
Give me the principal thing.
Or let me die.
[classical piano music playing]
♪♪
[music pauses]
[music resumes]
♪♪
[indistinct chatter]
- Hello, José.
I'd like a word.
[men murmuring]
- Do you want to go...
- No, here's fine.
- Have a seat.
- Thank you.
Well, José...
I was thinking,
you have a tiring life.
Always moving on.
Maybe you're sick of it.
[sighs]
I don't beat around the bush.
My daughter...
You've met my eldest daughter?
I sense you're not indifferent.
- She's beautiful.
- There comes a time
to start a family.
I won't lie. She's ill.
It's her nerves.
She has...
her head in the clouds.
She's not mad.
Don't believe the gossips.
She needs a man in her life.
A husband.
I hardly know you.
But you seem the solid type.
- But she...
Has she seen me?
- She will.
You're Catholic.
- I have no religion.
I have nothing, ma'am.
Nothing to call my own.
- I know.
But you have a profession.
We could help set you up
in business.
You're a bricklayer by trade.
Think it over.
- What does the guy want?
- Guess.
- I don't understand.
- He wants to marry.
- Marry who?
- Let go!
- When our village was taken,
a few of us escaped
and hid in the mountains.
We laid low for several days.
Franco's men arrived,
and that was the end of the war.
I'd fought with the Republicans.
I couldn't stay.
We waited for...
We waited for help to come.
After a while, we had no choice.
We left.
That was the last time
I saw my village.
In flames.
- Do you have any news
of your family?
- My older brother
went to live in Zaragoza.
We've stopped writing.
- We passed through La Ciotat.
Those big shipyards.
José's going to work down there.
It's full of communists.
- It's sad when events
divide families,
turn cousins and neighbors
against each other.
We had that here
not so long ago.
- Would you like to live
by the sea, Gabrielle?
- What?
What are we celebrating?
You want to marry me?
You're mad.
We're strange rs.
You're a stranger.
I don't even know your name.
I forgot.
You're playing along with it.
They want to be rid of me.
They've bought you off.
- Good-bye, miss.
- Adèle, leave her!
- Let me be!
I won't hesitate, Gabrielle.
I'll have you interned
in Marseille.
[man singing softly]
[horn honking]
- Hello.
I won't sleep with you.
- Fine.
- What will you do?
- There are women.
- Where?
- Where we'll be.
[man shouting]
[horn honking]
- You'll be unhappy.
Why choose to be unhappy?
I don't love you.
I'll never love you.
- I don't love you either.
- [panting]
- He told Mom
he'd take Communion.
What's wrong with you?
- You have too much makeup on.
- Come down. We're waiting.
[footsteps departing]
- [breathing shakily]
[gasps]
[groans]
[panting]
- [speaking Latin]
[solemn organ music playing]
♪♪
[church bell tolling]
[children yelling]
[footsteps approaching]
- Good night.
- Good night.
[birds calling]
Are you awake?
- This week, I'm staying in bed.
I don't want to be disturbed.
[door closes]
[man speaking foreign language
on radio]
"J. RABASCALL
Building Contractors"
[typewriter keys clacking]
- Mrs. Rabascall.
- Morning.
[telephone ringing]
Hello.
Yes, ma'am,
but we need to do a quote first.
I didn't catch that.
For the construction
or renovation of one wing?
- I'll be at the site
on rue du Cap.
Anyone asks for me,
please send them over.
- Yes?
You'll call back?
[door closes]
Thank you.
[water splashing]
You'd like a drink
before dinner?
- Yes.
- You're going
to Toulon tonight?
- Yes.
- Because it's Saturday.
Those women,
what do they do for you?
- You don't talk about it.
- Tell me.
- We spend some time together.
They know.
It happens.
- Doesn't sound
very complicated.
Do you pay them for it?
- Of course.
- How much?
- You want to know?
200 francs.
- Put the money on the table.
[grunts softly]
- [grunting]
[panting]
[both breathing heavily]
[water splashing]
[distant chatter,
hammer pounding]
- José!
- Okay?
- Well, Mrs. Rabascall?
Like it?
- Yes.
[groaning]
- What's wrong?
- You had no idea
you were pregnant?
- No, no idea.
- After your attack,
you lost the child.
Did they tell you at the clinic?
- Yes.
- You risk losing any others.
Your affliction shows up
on the abdominal X-ray.
You'll see.
You see these light spots?
[knock at door]
Good morning.
Take a seat.
This one's as big as a hazelnut.
People call it stones sickness.
I was telling your wife,
one option is a lobotomy,
but it's a long,
delicate operation
that leaves
significant scarring.
The first step I recommend
is a spa cure.
There are specialist
establishments.
I have a list in France.
Or Switzerland,
but it's expensive.
- We'll manage.
- No.
- No?
You won't take a cure?
If you want to have a child...
You want to have a child?
- Yes.
- You want to have a child.
- We'll go.
[somber music]
♪♪
♪♪
- It's sad here.
- Mrs. Rabascall, Gabrielle.
Booked in for six weeks.
- Six weeks?
- Yes.
I'll get you your key.
Lower ground floor,
first corridor on the left.
- Thanks.
- I'll come to see you.
Don't I get a good-bye?
- Good-bye.
- You'll be happy on your own.
[child shouting playfully]
[bells tolling in distance]
- You must respect the exact
times for taking the waters.
Same goes for balneotherapy.
Above all, all day long,
drink lots of water.
The calculus may dissolve
and you'll feel better...
- What if I don't want to?
[indistinct chatter]
You've worked here long?
- Four years.
- Where are you from?
- Provence.
Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée.
Near Péone.
- I'm from Bargemon.
Agostine.
- Gabrielle.
- I haven't been back for ages.
On vacations, I go
to see my daughter near Paris.
Coffee perhaps?
- Yes.
All the meals are here?
- Yes. We don't do room service.
Except for bedridden patients.
Don't you like it here?
What's wrong?
- I'm fine.
- Mrs. Rabascall.
- Can I help?
- Course not.
Why? Are you bored downstairs?
I Wasn't married.
She's raised by good,
upright folk.
I'm allowed to visit
twice a year.
Holidays, Christmas...
- How old is she?
- She'll be six years old
on November 18th.
She's blonde, like her father.
Beautiful from here, isn't it?
This floor's for the rich.
[knocking]
- Come in.
- You'll tag along every day?
Morning, Mr. Sauvage.
- Morning, Agostine.
The shower down the hall
is cold.
- I know.
Unless you're in there
before 8:00 a.m.
- Pass me my newspaper,
Agostine.
I'd like to shave.
- I'll fetch some hot water.
- Hello.
You work with Agostine?
- No.
I'm taking a cure.
- I never go downstairs.
Only sick people down there.
Tell me...
The elderly gentleman next door,
I don't see him or hear him
anymore.
Do you mind taking a look?
- Nobody.
- I thought as much.
They take them to Lyon to croak.
- Would you like me
to do it, sir?
- Yes, please.
The razor and soap
are on the sink.
- He's a lieutenant.
Served in Indochina.
His father's a general
or colonel or something.
He got something nasty there.
With only one kidney...
He has attacks, called uremia.
Sometimes he's in terrible pain.
He never complains.
We give him morphine.
He goes woozy,
smiling like a baby.
- Will he die?
- The Good Lord's a louse
that way.
- He has visitors?
- No wife, no kids, he told me.
[man speaking German]
I have to go.
[classical piano music
playing faintly]
♪♪
- Come in.
We're going to lose this war.
- You were over there
a long time?
- A few months.
- The young man just now,
was he with you?
- He's my orderly.
He brought me the papers.
At age two, he was baptized,
Christianized...
We renamed him Blaise,
made him a French soldier.
Were we right?
- I never sawa Chinaman before.
You think there'll always
be wars?
- The true life of men
before death.
Or so they say.
- Do you miss it?
- I was born into it.
It's been my whole life.
I miss my comrades.
- Is that medication?
- No, it's opium.
Blaise brought it.
By chewing it like this,
you don't stray too far.
It soothes the pain.
[chuckles]
Have you worked here long?
- No, I told you, I'm...
- What have you got?
- Stones sickness.
- Stones.
"On Happiness"
"André Sauvage
26 rue Commines, Lyon"
[camera shutter clicks]
[laughter]
[bell ringing]
- Ladies and gentlemen,
your 4:00 waters.
[gentle piano music playing]
♪♪
[bell ringing]
Mr. Green, Mrs. Schneider,
Mr. Cabetti,
Mrs. Rabascall, Mr. Hartmann...
- You're out of bed?
[music stops]
- Dodging your warm water?
You don't believe in it?
- No.
What are you playing?
- "June Barcarolle"
by Tchaikovsky.
[music resumes]
You play an instrument?
- The piano.
A little.
Badly.
♪♪
[music fades]
- [sighs]
Why am I so tired?
[discordant low notes]
- Lieutenant!
I'm sorry.
- No wedding ring?
- I took it off.
With the showers and treatments,
it's easy to lose.
- Rabascall?
Is that Catalan?
- Yes, I've never been there.
- What are you exactly?
A hospital visitor?
- You're feeling better today.
- I die cured.
- I wonder where that goes.
The forest, I suppose.
We can go for walks.
When you're feeling better.
- Perhaps the room needs airing.
It must stink.
- I smell nothing.
Is that the book you're reading?
- I've finished it.
I'll lend it to you.
- When people lend me books,
it ends badly.
- So I'll give it to you.
- You have slender hands.
- I'm tired now.
- Mrs. Rabascall,
your husband is here.
- You told me you were coming?
- Yes.
I drove it without a break.
- When are you leaving again?
- Early tomorrow.
- You can't sleep here.
- I'm staying in the village.
The guesthouse for one night
is fine.
You're not eating?
- How are things down there?
- We have orders coming in.
They're building in Lavandou.
The house will be ready
when you get home.
I got a refrigerator,
the big model we saw.
- Morning, sir.
[whispering]
You left this upstairs.
- Every time you come, it rains.
- People are right.
- What?
- You're mean.
- Who says that?
It's stopped.
The weather's fickle here.
- I'm going for a smoke.
- Nice man, your husband.
What have you got against him?
[faint pained groaning]
[groaning continues]
- [breathing heavily]
- Thank you.
"Indochina: Vietnamese
forces advance on Son-Tay"
[dramatic music]
♪♪
[gasps]
♪♪
[panting]
- You must eat now.
You feel better?
- How long was I in bed?
- Three days.
You're pale.
- Where's Agostine?
- She's not here.
- In the kitchens?
- No, she's taken
a few days off.
[indistinct chatter]
- But I thought...
I was told
you wouldn't come back.
- They treated me in Lyon,
at the hospital.
A transfusion
or something like that.
Change your blood,
get you back on your feet.
I wanted to see you.
My father's home from a mission.
I have a beautiful new room.
West Pavilion, room 112.
- You wanted to see me?
- I thought of our moments
together.
You were there with me.
- Me?
Excuse me.
Time for my treatment.
[rapid footsteps]
So your father got you
this room?
- Yes.
I think he pulled strings
when he found out I was ill.
We hadn't spoken for six months.
We don't always see eye to eye.
We never see eye to eye,
in fact.
You don't have to agree
with your parents.
- Mine say that I'm crazy.
- So they locked you up here?
- The photographer's here today.
Do you want him
to take a photo of us?
- Ma'am, eyes this way, please.
Perfect! Don't move.
[camera shutter clicks]
Very good, thank you.
- I was at boarding school,
military academy...
I've always lived among men.
Not counting nurses
with crepe soles.
Or whores in Saigon or Dalat.
- So I'll be the first.
- Stop.
You're married, Gabrielle.
- Married to no one.
- You are.
Marriage is a sacrament.
Before God.
- What do you know about God?
How do you know what he allows
or what he forbids?
You came back.
Back to me.
- I'm not sure.
- [exhales]
You're mad.
He's mad.
[sighs softly]
[moaning]
[soft string music]
♪♪
[panting]
[moaning]
♪♪
[door opens]
Where have you been?
- Right here.
You're seeing the doctor
at 5:00.
I'll help you clear up.
- We're accused
of being Charlatans,
but with certain qualities,
judging by your results.
Besides your dizzy spell,
you're fine now, ma'am.
The cure is over.
You can leave us now.
- When?
- Your husband called-
- I don't want to go home.
- Your private life
is not my concern.
He telephoned.
He's picking you up tomorrow.
- We have to leave.
We have to go right...
What are you doing?
What's all this luggage?
- I was waiting for you.
- My husband's coming tomorrow.
- It's the end of the cure.
We knew.
- I'll leave with you.
- Not now. It's impossible.
I have matters to attend to.
I'm leaving the army.
It's over.
There's no point now.
- What will I do?
What can I do?
- You can't just walk out
either.
- I won't leave you.
I don't want to.
- Me neither.
We'll write, okay?
I'll tell you where we'll meet.
I don't know yet,
but I'll tell you.
Right now, it's impossible.
If you love me, believe me.
- Promise me.
- I promise you.
- The same amount?
450 francs?
- The bill's itemized.
Treatment and accommodation.
- That's the treatment?
- Time to say good-bye?
- We'll meet again.
- You think?
- I've been happy here.
- I put furniture in.
Feel free to change anything.
- You bought a piano?
- For you.
- So you're happy?
You've thought of a name?
You've absolutely floored Mommy.
She can't stop talking about it.
- She must be missing me.
- [laughs]
What do you think of René?
- He seems fine.
He's tall.
- Don't be mean!
We're moving to Gap.
A dentist's selling up.
- Gap.
- What's the suitcase?
- Leave it!
It's clothes and stuff.
- Fine house José built you.
[indistinct chatter]
- Don't go in
with your shoes on.
- Can we have some help here?
It's heavy.
- Jeannine!
Go for a swim.
- I forgot my costume.
- To offspring!
- Good health, Gabrielle!
- I'm going to hurt you, José.
- What?
You want this child too,
don't you?
- Yes.
I met a man at the spa.
I love him.
When he asks, I'll go to him.
- Where?
Where will you go?
- I don't know.
I'll be with him.
- What the hell!
[vehicle departing]
- My love...
Perhaps you left Lyon.
I suppose the Defense Ministry
is in Paris.
You haven't yet replied
to my letters.
What are you doing?
Where are you?
I'm afraid for you.
I haven't unpacked my suitcase.
All I do is wait.
That's all I am.
Your body invaded mine.
I am planted within you.
I am alone with you.
I made myself a dress.
It's blue.
I have to wear a slip with it.
Otherwise it's see-through.
- I'd forgotten
where I put this.
[horn honking outside]
"André, I belong to you..."
- Morning.
Nothing else?
Check.
Check in your bag.
- That's all there is.
- Nothing at the post office?
- Good-bye.
[engine revs]
- Just a catalog.
My love, you say nothing.
You leave me in silence.
What displeased you
in my letters?
Where are you?
I hope the army
didn't take you back
and send you back to the war.
I picture you there,
wounded perhaps.
There were awful photos
in "Match."
Talk to me.
I need you to talk to me.
There are cold currents
in the sea.
On Tuesday, a young boy drowned.
[horn honking]
- No, ma'am, nothing.
[dramatic music]
♪♪
- What are you doing?
- You see.
- But you've had no reply.
- True, you're right.
Send the taxi away.
My love...
I'll do my best
to finish this letter.
What do you want to hear
that I haven't said?
I have no more words.
Why?
Why are you angry with me?
What did I do wrong?
I think back.
I have no more words.
I have no more words.
"My body's on fire"
"I want to feel..."
"I picture you there,
wounded perhaps."
[engine rumbling]
My letters.
Go away!
Let me go!
[gasping]
[crying]
This is the last time
I'll write.
I'm expecting your child.
I didn't want to tell you...
So you wouldn't think
I was trying
to influence your attitude
toward me.
I don't want to know
why you didn't read my letters.
My head couldn't stand it.
If you don't reply
to this one...
It will all be over.
Gabrielle.
[baby murmuring]
- Where's that beautiful baby?
- Kiss your son, Gabrielle.
- The Association of Veterans
of French Indochina
was founded to defend
fighting men's interests
and honor the memory
of our dead.
At times like this,
remembrance is crucial.
Spare a thought for men
in Viet-Minh camps
awaiting liberation.
- Thank you.
We can now go aboard
to interview the wounded.
Where were you wounded?
- In Cochin China.
- A long time ago?
- Lunch outside, José?
- Daddy!
- I'm filing for divorce.
- What are you talking about?
We don't divorce in our family.
- I never see him.
He works all week.
Sundays,
he's out with his friends.
I'm always alone.
You've not been unhappy
with José.
- José's the private type.
He never talks.
Even about events in Spain
when he was young.
Or what happened with me.
He keeps it to himself.
No, I've not been unhappy.
- We had a great adventure.
Go on, show them.
- Maybe it'll spill out
in the car.
- [laughs]
Show them.
- Look.
- Not enough sweet pepper.
- Look, there's two of them.
- That's a huge fish.
- Come on.
- You see its little scales?
[pop music playing on radio]
♪♪
[radio tuning]
- "June Barcarolle"
by Tchaikovsky,
from a suite of 12 pieces
for piano,
performed by Emil Gilels.
[gentle piano music playing]
♪♪
- Try again.
[slow piano notes]
♪♪
Good.
I'm very pleased.
He's hardworking and gifted.
- Of course he's gifted.
Can you work on that?
“The Barcarolle.“
- Later, perhaps.
We'll see.
Good-bye.
Marc, see you Friday.
- Hello.
- Hello there.
- Twice a week's a lot,
isn't it?
- You're no musician.
[simple piano tune]
♪♪
- I'm going out to play.
II'
[melodic piano music playing]
♪♪
[applause]
- Bravo, honey.
It was marvelous.
- All on your own here, Mama?
- I don't find Gabrielle
very affectionate with the boy.
- Perhaps...
she was never taught
any different.
You'll stay over with us
tonight.
- No, I'll go home.
- Good, wasn't it?
- Yes, it was.
- His teacher wants to enter him
for a national competition.
In Lyon.
We could go.
- I don't know.
- It'd get us out.
- Has my mother gone?
- Yes.
[dramatic music]
♪♪
Evening.
- It's late.
- Mr. Rabascall.
- Ma'am, please.
- The taxi's waiting outside.
- What's he doing?
[bell tinkling]
[horn honking]
- You take him.
I'll see you there.
Go!
- Drive.
♪♪
[doorbell rings]
[door opens]
- Hello.
Do you remember me?
A long time ago, at the spa.
- Yes.
- Can I come in?
- I'm afraid I have to lock up.
It's for sale.
The general passed away
three months ago.
- But André...
André Sauvage?
He never replied to my letters.
- Ma'am...
The lieutenant died.
- When?
- The day he left the spa.
You were there.
The ambulance took him away.
He died in Lyon.
At the hospital.
- No.
He came back.
Afterwards, he came back.
- No, ma'am.
He didn't come back.
- He did.
- No.
["June Barcarolle"
by Tchaikovsky playing on piano]
♪♪
♪♪
[music fades]
[chair scraping against floor]
- How did it go?
- Well. He won second prize.
Did you find anything?
Wash your face.
We're going.
- You came to see me at the spa.
- Yes.
- It was a foggy day.
- You said I always
brought rain.
I'm going for a smoke.
- Here.
- Sir, can you sign this?
You're taking a cure?
- No. You?
- This is my last night.
I'm leaving tomorrow.
Transferring to
Desgenettes Hospital in Lyon.
All bets are off.
- Black tobacco.
- I'm not bothered about dying.
As a man and soldier.
It's the only thing
the army teaches you.
Have you been to war?
- I've seen it.
- See that woman?
Beautiful, isn't she?
We met here.
I could have loved her.
In another life.
Nothing now.
No hard-on. I feel nothing.
I'm sorry.
You came to see someone?
- My wife.
[soft music]
♪♪
At the guesthouse,
I couldn't sleep.
I went back that night.
[engine rumbling]
[insects chirping]
- If you want, I'll leave.
It's an Italian boat.
- A container ship.
That one's going to Sardinia.
- Why didn't you ever tell me?
- I wanted you to live.
[somber string music]
♪♪
- That's it?
- Yes.
- Which house is yours?
♪♪
"From the Land of the Moon"
"Based on the novel
by Milena Agus"
"From the Land of the Moon"
♪♪
- Here.
[cheerful music playing
on radio]
♪♪
[radio tuning]
[soft piano music playing]
- No, not now.
[radio clicks off]
- Evening.
- It's late.
- Mr. Rabascall.
- Hows this?
Not too gaudy?
- It's nice.
- Where are you from?
- La Ciotat.
- On the coast?
You know Lyon, ma'am?
- No.
- Is the Conservatory far?
- Over the bridge
and we're there.
It's like a competition?
- Yes, for young pianists.
From all over France.
- What's he doing?
[horn honking]
[men shouting]
[honking continues]
[bell tinkling]
- Glazier!
[dramatic music]
- Wait!
- [exhales]
- You take him.
I'll see you there.
Go!
Go!
- Drive.
♪♪
"Mr. Sauvage - 1st floor"
♪♪
[exhales]
[children yelling in distance]
Hello.
- Hello, Gabrielle.
Take a seat.
Take a seat while I finish up.
You received
your correspondence classes?
- Yes.
History bores me.
- You'll keep at it, won't you?
- I don't like learning
that way.
I want to be talked to.
- I have your book.
Thanks.
- You're hot.
- It's a superb novel,
written by a young Englishwoman
who never left the countryside.
Where she lived-
- She never left?
- She died young.
- Beautiful handwriting.
[door opens]
- Go on.
[door closes]
You had something to tell me?
- No.
[men talking in distance]
[insects buzzing]
[indistinct chatter]
[fly buzzing]
"This book belongs
to Jean-Claude..."
We'll be naked.
I'll lie on top of you.
I'll spread your arms out.
You will know with me
the principal thing.
You will enter into me.
You will enter into me.
[folk music playing]
♪♪
- So, Mrs. Savourney,
happy with the harvest?
- Better than last year.
- What's your yield per hectare?
- 15, 16.
This year, the flower's
good and dry.
Top quality.
Come along!
Good evening.
Sit down with us.
♪♪
To next year!
[lively folk music playing]
♪♪
[laughter, indistinct chatter]
[urine splattering]
- Here I am.
- Good evening.
You liked the book?
- Yes.
It's a book of love.
- Yes, a love story.
- This is for you.
- What is it?
- Take it. It's for you.
[cheerful music playing
in distance]
- I didn't read that.
- It's for you.
- Who wrote it?
- Me.
- Where'd you come up with that?
- It's me.
- Those words. You're mad.
- You gave me the book.
- It's a book.
Good night.
- Not good night.
Not good night.
Where are you going?
You're a nothing.
[dishes clattering]
[music stops]
What are you all staring at?
[panting]
[screams]
[somber music]
♪♪
[dogs barking]
- Gabrielle!
♪♪
- Come here, my girl.
[door rattling]
- Open up.
[pounds on door]
Come out of there!
- [sighing]
- You'll be hungry.
[men singing in distance]
[vehicle approaching outside]
[man singing softly]
♪♪
[men whispering]
- [chuckling]
- [wailing]
[classical music playing]
[music clicks off]
[men talking
and laughing outside]
- You're not happy at home?
- I am.
- Would you like some time away?
- No, why?
- There are places for...
- Oh!
[inhales sharply]
[groaning]
- She gets these cramps.
She'll be fine.
With her,
you never know if it's an act.
- [breathing shakily]
- Better?
- Better.
- Well...
we'll be seeing
each other again.
- What for?
And you?
Do you hear me?
You're there.
You're naked.
Give me the principal thing.
Or let me die.
[classical piano music playing]
♪♪
[music pauses]
[music resumes]
♪♪
[indistinct chatter]
- Hello, José.
I'd like a word.
[men murmuring]
- Do you want to go...
- No, here's fine.
- Have a seat.
- Thank you.
Well, José...
I was thinking,
you have a tiring life.
Always moving on.
Maybe you're sick of it.
[sighs]
I don't beat around the bush.
My daughter...
You've met my eldest daughter?
I sense you're not indifferent.
- She's beautiful.
- There comes a time
to start a family.
I won't lie. She's ill.
It's her nerves.
She has...
her head in the clouds.
She's not mad.
Don't believe the gossips.
She needs a man in her life.
A husband.
I hardly know you.
But you seem the solid type.
- But she...
Has she seen me?
- She will.
You're Catholic.
- I have no religion.
I have nothing, ma'am.
Nothing to call my own.
- I know.
But you have a profession.
We could help set you up
in business.
You're a bricklayer by trade.
Think it over.
- What does the guy want?
- Guess.
- I don't understand.
- He wants to marry.
- Marry who?
- Let go!
- When our village was taken,
a few of us escaped
and hid in the mountains.
We laid low for several days.
Franco's men arrived,
and that was the end of the war.
I'd fought with the Republicans.
I couldn't stay.
We waited for...
We waited for help to come.
After a while, we had no choice.
We left.
That was the last time
I saw my village.
In flames.
- Do you have any news
of your family?
- My older brother
went to live in Zaragoza.
We've stopped writing.
- We passed through La Ciotat.
Those big shipyards.
José's going to work down there.
It's full of communists.
- It's sad when events
divide families,
turn cousins and neighbors
against each other.
We had that here
not so long ago.
- Would you like to live
by the sea, Gabrielle?
- What?
What are we celebrating?
You want to marry me?
You're mad.
We're strange rs.
You're a stranger.
I don't even know your name.
I forgot.
You're playing along with it.
They want to be rid of me.
They've bought you off.
- Good-bye, miss.
- Adèle, leave her!
- Let me be!
I won't hesitate, Gabrielle.
I'll have you interned
in Marseille.
[man singing softly]
[horn honking]
- Hello.
I won't sleep with you.
- Fine.
- What will you do?
- There are women.
- Where?
- Where we'll be.
[man shouting]
[horn honking]
- You'll be unhappy.
Why choose to be unhappy?
I don't love you.
I'll never love you.
- I don't love you either.
- [panting]
- He told Mom
he'd take Communion.
What's wrong with you?
- You have too much makeup on.
- Come down. We're waiting.
[footsteps departing]
- [breathing shakily]
[gasps]
[groans]
[panting]
- [speaking Latin]
[solemn organ music playing]
♪♪
[church bell tolling]
[children yelling]
[footsteps approaching]
- Good night.
- Good night.
[birds calling]
Are you awake?
- This week, I'm staying in bed.
I don't want to be disturbed.
[door closes]
[man speaking foreign language
on radio]
"J. RABASCALL
Building Contractors"
[typewriter keys clacking]
- Mrs. Rabascall.
- Morning.
[telephone ringing]
Hello.
Yes, ma'am,
but we need to do a quote first.
I didn't catch that.
For the construction
or renovation of one wing?
- I'll be at the site
on rue du Cap.
Anyone asks for me,
please send them over.
- Yes?
You'll call back?
[door closes]
Thank you.
[water splashing]
You'd like a drink
before dinner?
- Yes.
- You're going
to Toulon tonight?
- Yes.
- Because it's Saturday.
Those women,
what do they do for you?
- You don't talk about it.
- Tell me.
- We spend some time together.
They know.
It happens.
- Doesn't sound
very complicated.
Do you pay them for it?
- Of course.
- How much?
- You want to know?
200 francs.
- Put the money on the table.
[grunts softly]
- [grunting]
[panting]
[both breathing heavily]
[water splashing]
[distant chatter,
hammer pounding]
- José!
- Okay?
- Well, Mrs. Rabascall?
Like it?
- Yes.
[groaning]
- What's wrong?
- You had no idea
you were pregnant?
- No, no idea.
- After your attack,
you lost the child.
Did they tell you at the clinic?
- Yes.
- You risk losing any others.
Your affliction shows up
on the abdominal X-ray.
You'll see.
You see these light spots?
[knock at door]
Good morning.
Take a seat.
This one's as big as a hazelnut.
People call it stones sickness.
I was telling your wife,
one option is a lobotomy,
but it's a long,
delicate operation
that leaves
significant scarring.
The first step I recommend
is a spa cure.
There are specialist
establishments.
I have a list in France.
Or Switzerland,
but it's expensive.
- We'll manage.
- No.
- No?
You won't take a cure?
If you want to have a child...
You want to have a child?
- Yes.
- You want to have a child.
- We'll go.
[somber music]
♪♪
♪♪
- It's sad here.
- Mrs. Rabascall, Gabrielle.
Booked in for six weeks.
- Six weeks?
- Yes.
I'll get you your key.
Lower ground floor,
first corridor on the left.
- Thanks.
- I'll come to see you.
Don't I get a good-bye?
- Good-bye.
- You'll be happy on your own.
[child shouting playfully]
[bells tolling in distance]
- You must respect the exact
times for taking the waters.
Same goes for balneotherapy.
Above all, all day long,
drink lots of water.
The calculus may dissolve
and you'll feel better...
- What if I don't want to?
[indistinct chatter]
You've worked here long?
- Four years.
- Where are you from?
- Provence.
Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée.
Near Péone.
- I'm from Bargemon.
Agostine.
- Gabrielle.
- I haven't been back for ages.
On vacations, I go
to see my daughter near Paris.
Coffee perhaps?
- Yes.
All the meals are here?
- Yes. We don't do room service.
Except for bedridden patients.
Don't you like it here?
What's wrong?
- I'm fine.
- Mrs. Rabascall.
- Can I help?
- Course not.
Why? Are you bored downstairs?
I Wasn't married.
She's raised by good,
upright folk.
I'm allowed to visit
twice a year.
Holidays, Christmas...
- How old is she?
- She'll be six years old
on November 18th.
She's blonde, like her father.
Beautiful from here, isn't it?
This floor's for the rich.
[knocking]
- Come in.
- You'll tag along every day?
Morning, Mr. Sauvage.
- Morning, Agostine.
The shower down the hall
is cold.
- I know.
Unless you're in there
before 8:00 a.m.
- Pass me my newspaper,
Agostine.
I'd like to shave.
- I'll fetch some hot water.
- Hello.
You work with Agostine?
- No.
I'm taking a cure.
- I never go downstairs.
Only sick people down there.
Tell me...
The elderly gentleman next door,
I don't see him or hear him
anymore.
Do you mind taking a look?
- Nobody.
- I thought as much.
They take them to Lyon to croak.
- Would you like me
to do it, sir?
- Yes, please.
The razor and soap
are on the sink.
- He's a lieutenant.
Served in Indochina.
His father's a general
or colonel or something.
He got something nasty there.
With only one kidney...
He has attacks, called uremia.
Sometimes he's in terrible pain.
He never complains.
We give him morphine.
He goes woozy,
smiling like a baby.
- Will he die?
- The Good Lord's a louse
that way.
- He has visitors?
- No wife, no kids, he told me.
[man speaking German]
I have to go.
[classical piano music
playing faintly]
♪♪
- Come in.
We're going to lose this war.
- You were over there
a long time?
- A few months.
- The young man just now,
was he with you?
- He's my orderly.
He brought me the papers.
At age two, he was baptized,
Christianized...
We renamed him Blaise,
made him a French soldier.
Were we right?
- I never sawa Chinaman before.
You think there'll always
be wars?
- The true life of men
before death.
Or so they say.
- Do you miss it?
- I was born into it.
It's been my whole life.
I miss my comrades.
- Is that medication?
- No, it's opium.
Blaise brought it.
By chewing it like this,
you don't stray too far.
It soothes the pain.
[chuckles]
Have you worked here long?
- No, I told you, I'm...
- What have you got?
- Stones sickness.
- Stones.
"On Happiness"
"André Sauvage
26 rue Commines, Lyon"
[camera shutter clicks]
[laughter]
[bell ringing]
- Ladies and gentlemen,
your 4:00 waters.
[gentle piano music playing]
♪♪
[bell ringing]
Mr. Green, Mrs. Schneider,
Mr. Cabetti,
Mrs. Rabascall, Mr. Hartmann...
- You're out of bed?
[music stops]
- Dodging your warm water?
You don't believe in it?
- No.
What are you playing?
- "June Barcarolle"
by Tchaikovsky.
[music resumes]
You play an instrument?
- The piano.
A little.
Badly.
♪♪
[music fades]
- [sighs]
Why am I so tired?
[discordant low notes]
- Lieutenant!
I'm sorry.
- No wedding ring?
- I took it off.
With the showers and treatments,
it's easy to lose.
- Rabascall?
Is that Catalan?
- Yes, I've never been there.
- What are you exactly?
A hospital visitor?
- You're feeling better today.
- I die cured.
- I wonder where that goes.
The forest, I suppose.
We can go for walks.
When you're feeling better.
- Perhaps the room needs airing.
It must stink.
- I smell nothing.
Is that the book you're reading?
- I've finished it.
I'll lend it to you.
- When people lend me books,
it ends badly.
- So I'll give it to you.
- You have slender hands.
- I'm tired now.
- Mrs. Rabascall,
your husband is here.
- You told me you were coming?
- Yes.
I drove it without a break.
- When are you leaving again?
- Early tomorrow.
- You can't sleep here.
- I'm staying in the village.
The guesthouse for one night
is fine.
You're not eating?
- How are things down there?
- We have orders coming in.
They're building in Lavandou.
The house will be ready
when you get home.
I got a refrigerator,
the big model we saw.
- Morning, sir.
[whispering]
You left this upstairs.
- Every time you come, it rains.
- People are right.
- What?
- You're mean.
- Who says that?
It's stopped.
The weather's fickle here.
- I'm going for a smoke.
- Nice man, your husband.
What have you got against him?
[faint pained groaning]
[groaning continues]
- [breathing heavily]
- Thank you.
"Indochina: Vietnamese
forces advance on Son-Tay"
[dramatic music]
♪♪
[gasps]
♪♪
[panting]
- You must eat now.
You feel better?
- How long was I in bed?
- Three days.
You're pale.
- Where's Agostine?
- She's not here.
- In the kitchens?
- No, she's taken
a few days off.
[indistinct chatter]
- But I thought...
I was told
you wouldn't come back.
- They treated me in Lyon,
at the hospital.
A transfusion
or something like that.
Change your blood,
get you back on your feet.
I wanted to see you.
My father's home from a mission.
I have a beautiful new room.
West Pavilion, room 112.
- You wanted to see me?
- I thought of our moments
together.
You were there with me.
- Me?
Excuse me.
Time for my treatment.
[rapid footsteps]
So your father got you
this room?
- Yes.
I think he pulled strings
when he found out I was ill.
We hadn't spoken for six months.
We don't always see eye to eye.
We never see eye to eye,
in fact.
You don't have to agree
with your parents.
- Mine say that I'm crazy.
- So they locked you up here?
- The photographer's here today.
Do you want him
to take a photo of us?
- Ma'am, eyes this way, please.
Perfect! Don't move.
[camera shutter clicks]
Very good, thank you.
- I was at boarding school,
military academy...
I've always lived among men.
Not counting nurses
with crepe soles.
Or whores in Saigon or Dalat.
- So I'll be the first.
- Stop.
You're married, Gabrielle.
- Married to no one.
- You are.
Marriage is a sacrament.
Before God.
- What do you know about God?
How do you know what he allows
or what he forbids?
You came back.
Back to me.
- I'm not sure.
- [exhales]
You're mad.
He's mad.
[sighs softly]
[moaning]
[soft string music]
♪♪
[panting]
[moaning]
♪♪
[door opens]
Where have you been?
- Right here.
You're seeing the doctor
at 5:00.
I'll help you clear up.
- We're accused
of being Charlatans,
but with certain qualities,
judging by your results.
Besides your dizzy spell,
you're fine now, ma'am.
The cure is over.
You can leave us now.
- When?
- Your husband called-
- I don't want to go home.
- Your private life
is not my concern.
He telephoned.
He's picking you up tomorrow.
- We have to leave.
We have to go right...
What are you doing?
What's all this luggage?
- I was waiting for you.
- My husband's coming tomorrow.
- It's the end of the cure.
We knew.
- I'll leave with you.
- Not now. It's impossible.
I have matters to attend to.
I'm leaving the army.
It's over.
There's no point now.
- What will I do?
What can I do?
- You can't just walk out
either.
- I won't leave you.
I don't want to.
- Me neither.
We'll write, okay?
I'll tell you where we'll meet.
I don't know yet,
but I'll tell you.
Right now, it's impossible.
If you love me, believe me.
- Promise me.
- I promise you.
- The same amount?
450 francs?
- The bill's itemized.
Treatment and accommodation.
- That's the treatment?
- Time to say good-bye?
- We'll meet again.
- You think?
- I've been happy here.
- I put furniture in.
Feel free to change anything.
- You bought a piano?
- For you.
- So you're happy?
You've thought of a name?
You've absolutely floored Mommy.
She can't stop talking about it.
- She must be missing me.
- [laughs]
What do you think of René?
- He seems fine.
He's tall.
- Don't be mean!
We're moving to Gap.
A dentist's selling up.
- Gap.
- What's the suitcase?
- Leave it!
It's clothes and stuff.
- Fine house José built you.
[indistinct chatter]
- Don't go in
with your shoes on.
- Can we have some help here?
It's heavy.
- Jeannine!
Go for a swim.
- I forgot my costume.
- To offspring!
- Good health, Gabrielle!
- I'm going to hurt you, José.
- What?
You want this child too,
don't you?
- Yes.
I met a man at the spa.
I love him.
When he asks, I'll go to him.
- Where?
Where will you go?
- I don't know.
I'll be with him.
- What the hell!
[vehicle departing]
- My love...
Perhaps you left Lyon.
I suppose the Defense Ministry
is in Paris.
You haven't yet replied
to my letters.
What are you doing?
Where are you?
I'm afraid for you.
I haven't unpacked my suitcase.
All I do is wait.
That's all I am.
Your body invaded mine.
I am planted within you.
I am alone with you.
I made myself a dress.
It's blue.
I have to wear a slip with it.
Otherwise it's see-through.
- I'd forgotten
where I put this.
[horn honking outside]
"André, I belong to you..."
- Morning.
Nothing else?
Check.
Check in your bag.
- That's all there is.
- Nothing at the post office?
- Good-bye.
[engine revs]
- Just a catalog.
My love, you say nothing.
You leave me in silence.
What displeased you
in my letters?
Where are you?
I hope the army
didn't take you back
and send you back to the war.
I picture you there,
wounded perhaps.
There were awful photos
in "Match."
Talk to me.
I need you to talk to me.
There are cold currents
in the sea.
On Tuesday, a young boy drowned.
[horn honking]
- No, ma'am, nothing.
[dramatic music]
♪♪
- What are you doing?
- You see.
- But you've had no reply.
- True, you're right.
Send the taxi away.
My love...
I'll do my best
to finish this letter.
What do you want to hear
that I haven't said?
I have no more words.
Why?
Why are you angry with me?
What did I do wrong?
I think back.
I have no more words.
I have no more words.
"My body's on fire"
"I want to feel..."
"I picture you there,
wounded perhaps."
[engine rumbling]
My letters.
Go away!
Let me go!
[gasping]
[crying]
This is the last time
I'll write.
I'm expecting your child.
I didn't want to tell you...
So you wouldn't think
I was trying
to influence your attitude
toward me.
I don't want to know
why you didn't read my letters.
My head couldn't stand it.
If you don't reply
to this one...
It will all be over.
Gabrielle.
[baby murmuring]
- Where's that beautiful baby?
- Kiss your son, Gabrielle.
- The Association of Veterans
of French Indochina
was founded to defend
fighting men's interests
and honor the memory
of our dead.
At times like this,
remembrance is crucial.
Spare a thought for men
in Viet-Minh camps
awaiting liberation.
- Thank you.
We can now go aboard
to interview the wounded.
Where were you wounded?
- In Cochin China.
- A long time ago?
- Lunch outside, José?
- Daddy!
- I'm filing for divorce.
- What are you talking about?
We don't divorce in our family.
- I never see him.
He works all week.
Sundays,
he's out with his friends.
I'm always alone.
You've not been unhappy
with José.
- José's the private type.
He never talks.
Even about events in Spain
when he was young.
Or what happened with me.
He keeps it to himself.
No, I've not been unhappy.
- We had a great adventure.
Go on, show them.
- Maybe it'll spill out
in the car.
- [laughs]
Show them.
- Look.
- Not enough sweet pepper.
- Look, there's two of them.
- That's a huge fish.
- Come on.
- You see its little scales?
[pop music playing on radio]
♪♪
[radio tuning]
- "June Barcarolle"
by Tchaikovsky,
from a suite of 12 pieces
for piano,
performed by Emil Gilels.
[gentle piano music playing]
♪♪
- Try again.
[slow piano notes]
♪♪
Good.
I'm very pleased.
He's hardworking and gifted.
- Of course he's gifted.
Can you work on that?
“The Barcarolle.“
- Later, perhaps.
We'll see.
Good-bye.
Marc, see you Friday.
- Hello.
- Hello there.
- Twice a week's a lot,
isn't it?
- You're no musician.
[simple piano tune]
♪♪
- I'm going out to play.
II'
[melodic piano music playing]
♪♪
[applause]
- Bravo, honey.
It was marvelous.
- All on your own here, Mama?
- I don't find Gabrielle
very affectionate with the boy.
- Perhaps...
she was never taught
any different.
You'll stay over with us
tonight.
- No, I'll go home.
- Good, wasn't it?
- Yes, it was.
- His teacher wants to enter him
for a national competition.
In Lyon.
We could go.
- I don't know.
- It'd get us out.
- Has my mother gone?
- Yes.
[dramatic music]
♪♪
Evening.
- It's late.
- Mr. Rabascall.
- Ma'am, please.
- The taxi's waiting outside.
- What's he doing?
[bell tinkling]
[horn honking]
- You take him.
I'll see you there.
Go!
- Drive.
♪♪
[doorbell rings]
[door opens]
- Hello.
Do you remember me?
A long time ago, at the spa.
- Yes.
- Can I come in?
- I'm afraid I have to lock up.
It's for sale.
The general passed away
three months ago.
- But André...
André Sauvage?
He never replied to my letters.
- Ma'am...
The lieutenant died.
- When?
- The day he left the spa.
You were there.
The ambulance took him away.
He died in Lyon.
At the hospital.
- No.
He came back.
Afterwards, he came back.
- No, ma'am.
He didn't come back.
- He did.
- No.
["June Barcarolle"
by Tchaikovsky playing on piano]
♪♪
♪♪
[music fades]
[chair scraping against floor]
- How did it go?
- Well. He won second prize.
Did you find anything?
Wash your face.
We're going.
- You came to see me at the spa.
- Yes.
- It was a foggy day.
- You said I always
brought rain.
I'm going for a smoke.
- Here.
- Sir, can you sign this?
You're taking a cure?
- No. You?
- This is my last night.
I'm leaving tomorrow.
Transferring to
Desgenettes Hospital in Lyon.
All bets are off.
- Black tobacco.
- I'm not bothered about dying.
As a man and soldier.
It's the only thing
the army teaches you.
Have you been to war?
- I've seen it.
- See that woman?
Beautiful, isn't she?
We met here.
I could have loved her.
In another life.
Nothing now.
No hard-on. I feel nothing.
I'm sorry.
You came to see someone?
- My wife.
[soft music]
♪♪
At the guesthouse,
I couldn't sleep.
I went back that night.
[engine rumbling]
[insects chirping]
- If you want, I'll leave.
It's an Italian boat.
- A container ship.
That one's going to Sardinia.
- Why didn't you ever tell me?
- I wanted you to live.
[somber string music]
♪♪
- That's it?
- Yes.
- Which house is yours?
♪♪
"From the Land of the Moon"
"Based on the novel
by Milena Agus"
"From the Land of the Moon"