Don't Let the Angels Fall (1969) - full transcript

What love

What love

Oh, Freddie! Freddie!

Oh my God! My dog!

What have you done?

Help him.

Help him. Help him please!

Now look lady, there's
not much we can do here.

Just remain calm, please.

Do something. Help him.

There's not much we can do here.



Help him, please.

Sir, sir,
just a moment please.

Just come this way, sir.

But I really haven't got the time.

It'll just take a moment. We need you.

Look, I just haven't got the time.

What is it you want?

Well, it's a kind of experiment,

an interview for television.

I don't want to say too
much about it right now.

The point is to say as little as possible.

Afterward, I'm going
to ask you a question.

So you'll help us?

Well, I don't understand.



Good. All you have to do
is look at these photographs.

Well, that's Neville Chamberlain.

No no, don't talk now.

Let's just move along and
look at the photographs.

Who are you, sir?

I'm a securities adviser.

You have a name, I suppose.

Tell me what you want.

Well, look, you've had an experience.

You've seen all these photographs.

I just want you to tell me about them.

Well, I'm not quite sure.

Photographs, of course.

I recognize some of
them, some of the people.

Well, uh, something terrible has happened.

Some...

Some of the people are well known.

There seem to be

inherent violence. Yes, violence.

The photographs
are in pairs, correct?

Well, I can see that.

What was missing?

What was missing?

I don't know.

Okay, let me put
it this way. Who was missing?

I'm sorry, I can't answer that.

Suppose I said that it
is not about violence?

I can't help you.

Not about violence? I don't understand.

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Oh, you're quite welcome.

Someone is missing, you say?

Thanks very much.

Oh, all right. Goodbye.

Goodbye.

Oh, sir. Would you
tell me your name please?

Robert Harrison.

Will I know when this is gonna be shown?

Yes. Your address please.

Uh, Rushmore and Company,
right here in the building.

What was the answer?

I beg your pardon.

The answer to that question
he asked me. What was it?

Oh, wait for the
program. No one knows yet.

Bonjour.

You have a name, I suppose.

Coffee?

You're late.

I realize that.

I apologize.

Why?

Because I'm sorry.

Don't play word games
with me, Mrs. Pelletier.

You know I was asking why you were late,

not why you apologized.

I can't tell you that, Mr. Harrison.

It was a private matter?

It was a private matter.

Do you want coffee?

Yes.

Yeah.

What'd you say?

I said very well.

I must remember tomorrow
to bring you a little flower

to match that dress of yours.

You left the door open.

I'm so sorry.

Shall I sit down?

You might as well.

What did the old man want?

Nothing. Just how nice my new dress is.

What week is this, Mrs. Pelletier?

Week of the 20th through the 24th.

Today's Tuesday.

Who are you, Mrs. Pelletier?

I beg your pardon.

Nothing.

I'll be at my desk if you need me.

Mr. Harrison, you're wanted

on the telephone.

Mr. Harrison, you're
wanted on the telephone.

I wish...

Shhh. You mustn't.

The world is there, Robert.

Don't wish it away. Please don't.

Wishing it away is death.

You're thinking. It's gonna be a what?

It's gonna be a book. It's
gonna be a book. Right.

How many words in the book? And a movie.

One, two, three, four... eight!

It's a story all by itself. Go on. Right.

What is it gonna be?

She's being a gunman.

You're being a gunman. It's the intrigue.

It's something like that, right?

What word are you doing?

A spy. What word, what
word, what word is a spy?

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold!

I got...

Is that right?

There she was.

All right, it's a
sergeant in the army. Okay.

Pepper! Okay.

Sergeant Pep... Sergeant Pepper?

I don't know the name of the rest of it.

Sergeant Pepper's... thing.

Yes! Yes, you're good.

Yes.

What is Sergeant Pepper's thing?

Good lord, girl.

I have to know how many
words there are in the title.

What, how many? Come on.

Two words in the title. Yeah.

Man shoots a lady,
right? Lady shoots a man?

No, that isn't in it. Okay.

Go on. Give me a hint.

Number one. That's the first
thing. All around the lake.

All of her. All over. Oliver! Good God.

Go on, yes.

Of course. The frug. You're
doing the frug. Oliver Frug.

No?

It's Oliver Twist. I knew
it before you started.

I hate you. I hate you!

When will it be shown, dear?

I'm not certain. They
said they'll let me know.

Are they gonna pay you?

Of course not.

That's very exciting, dear.

I suppose so.

Frankly, it upset me.

Why?

I'm a private person, Michael.

Remember Bob Ferguson?

Bob who?

Ferguson. Ferguson. Bob Ferguson.

He replaced me in the States.

Oh yes, the sort of handsome young man.

Lots of fun, always joking.

Well, it's becoming quite obvious

he's flirting with his secretary.

That lovely man?

Yes, that lovely man.

Why shouldn't he have an
affair with his secretary?

I don't know.

Did you take your pills, dear?

Didn't you say that
he was in the States?

He's just a man at the office, dear.

Myrna, what's for dessert?

Too bad those television
people didn't stop you.

You'd have had a field day.

Yeah.

Myrna?

She's turned her aid down again.

Yes.

She wants her dessert.

Myrna?

Will you take it up to her please, dear?

May I be excused?

No.

What's that book doing at the table?

Some book of Michael's. He's reading it.

Well, I'd imagined that, Myrna.

What's it doing at the table?

I don't know, dear. You
know Michael and his books.

Yeah.

Henry Miller in the bedroom.

Surely that's where
Henry Miller belongs.

Oh, it's mine.

Hello.

Why have you come home?

What?

Did you speak?

No, dear.

Mrs. Beddoe's dog got shot this morning.

The coffee's cold.

What, mother?

My coffee's cold.

Well, there isn't any more.

Is that you, Robert?

No, it's Arnold Palmer.

Can I have the paper?

We're not through with it yet, mother.

Later!

What is it?

The end of the world.

Mother wanted more coffee.

There isn't any.

I told her that.

What's on tonight?

I'm just looking at that.

I'm sorry, dear. I didn't realize.

Dinosaurs.

Will you for God sake
get off the bloody phone?

God, these things are
supposed to kill you.

What did you say?

These things are supposed to kill you.

What things?

These things.

Then don't smoke them. It's very simple.

Oh well.

You aren't going to be able
to stop loving her, are you?

It isn't that.

I'll always love something of her.

I wouldn't expect not to.

No, it isn't that.

You miss your children?

Yes.

But not directly.

I'll miss what I hadn't done
for them, not what I have.

I'll miss not knowing them.

Do you know them now?

They don't let you get
very close, I must say.

You never, never really
talk about them, or Myrna.

Myrna.

Is she here with us?

No.

Are you going to let
her divorce you or what?

What's gonna happen?

Oh, I don't know. Do
we have to talk about it?

Of course we must. Some time.

You can't face that, can you?

Is your aid turned on?

Of course. It always is.

My bird needs watering.

Well, then. Water him.

You know I can't move.

What are you talking about?

If the house burned down, you'd move.

I'm an old woman,
Myrna. Don't be heartless.

You're only 68.

I'm going to
tell Robert about this.

What if my bird dies?

Say anything you like, Gladys.

He knows I can't spend
all day lugging things

up and down stairs for you.

Guy?

What?

Turn your radio off.

What's the matter today?

My bones ache.

I can't hear you.

My bones ache.

Well, they'll only ache more

if you go on lying there like that.

What about school?

What about it?

Why aren't you there?

I told you. My bones ache.

Yesterday your teeth ached.

The day before you had stomach cramps.

I did have.

Myrna!

Oh, why can't she shut up?

You must go to school, Guy.
I'm sorry, but that's final.

Your bones will ache.
Your teeth will ache.

Your head will ache every
day until you end up

aching yourself out of an education.

So get up, now.

I'm late already. I can't go.

I can't have a conversation
with anyone under a blanket.

Come on, son. Get out of bed.

I'll write a note for you
and tell them I detained you.

I'll do that much for you.

But you must go.

You should open your window at night.

Your room smells.

Come on, son. Get up.

For peace comes dropping slow,

dropping from the veils of the morning,

to where the cricket sings.

There, midnight's all a glimmer,

and noon a purple glow,

and evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now,

for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping

with low sounds by the shore

while I stand in the roadway
or on the pavements gray,

I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Thank you, Maureen.

That was thoughtfully
prepared and beautifully read.

Now, Guy... I believe you
prepared a poem about a crow.

Yes, I did.

Would you read it please?

Poem for a Dead Crow.

I shot a crow the other day.

It would not die.

It lay upon a rock above me
and looked with one black eye

hard at the sky.

This crow I shot was dying by my wish.

No, not my wish that he should die

exposed to death upon this rock,

but dying I had thought for sport.

I slew him with what? With wishes.

I saw him turn his head,
so looking up into heaven

where no heaven was,
droop, hardly a life left,

yet incredibly alive and tenderly aloof

to my intended majesty.

I hadn't killed him, but
I'd bereft him of his life.

Excellent, Guy. Excellent.

You sustained the mood very well.

Yes, that's very important, class.

To catch and sustain a mood.

Hello.

Mrs. Pelletier, would
you come in please?

I'd like you take a letter.

Bring your toast with you.

What's on that toast, Mrs. Pelletier?

Jam or marmalade?

Honey.

Oh.

I always have marmalade.

Yes?

I cut myself shaving this morning.

Oh.

Yeah, right here.

Well, that's terrible.

Finish your toast, Mrs. Pelletier,

and listen to this.

Yes, sir.

I'm going to be on television.

- Oh?
- Yes.

Marvelous. Did they write and ask you?

No, well... no, this
letter merely confirms it.

How did they get in touch with you?

They stopped me, you know,
on the concourse downstairs.

Oh yes.

I felt, um...

But you forgot to tell me.

Well, no, I just didn't think

it was all that important, that's all.

Why?

Well, I was considering
asking them not to use me.

Why would you do that?

Well, you see, it was very strange.

They had these pictures.

Pictures, yes. What of?

Well, something about war and violence

and that sort of thing.

And they wanted my
opinion on these pictures.

And you didn't know what to say?

Yes, that's it.

It was difficult to be exact.

Yes.

Membership has increased, let us say.

Mr. Ferguson seems to
be getting on very well.

Yes, it seems like it.

I must admit

I want it.

Well anyway, I'd like you take a letter

to those television people.

I'll tell them I'm delighted.

Are you ready then?

Yes, I'm ready.

There's a letter and a
telephone message for you, sir.

Thank you.

Here's your drink, dear.

You gonna drink your drink?

Then she knows where we are?

Yes.

Why?

Please try to understand.

Something might happen

to the children. Something might go wrong.

Something has gone wrong.

This was going to be
us, Robert. You and me.

Now it's not.

I'm sorry.

Oh, for Christ sakes.
Stop saying you're sorry!

I am sorry.

She has to know.

Do you want to go back home then?

We're here, Robert. This is us.

I only wish you hadn't brought
your wife along, that's all.

You're incredible.

I mean to be.

I won't open the letter.

If I could just feel free.

If I could pretend.

You don't have to pretend.

You are free.

Am I?

Yes, you are.

Now, Robert. Right now.

At the time of the
revolution, it doesn't matter

because theoretically you
have broad mass support.

Yeah, but Norm, the public isn't stupid

and they understand
injustice and oppression

when it's imposed on them.

They understand a police
state, and they're going to

they're going to be with a
popular sort of movement.

The public doesn't
understand a police state.

I disagree with you.

Look at the United States.

They don't realize, a lot
of people don't realize

that they're within a police state.

Okay, but, like not
right now, but this is why

the Negroes and the civil rights people

are forced to use violent
methods to attain their ends.

Look at France.

The communists in
France began a campaign

of violence that stopped flat.

I mean, there is a difference
between, say, striking

and occupying the factories and violence,

the sort of violence which is gonna stop

a government backed by
an army in its tracks.

The Communist Party put the
reins on their supporters

when they saw the thing looming
very large, and they said...

What could they do,
assassinate De Gaulle?

How ever revolutions take their course.

But the point is that it's
a bad example of violence,

France, because they didn't let go.

They were violent only
up to the very first

and most elemental stage.

You're advocating violence by a minority

to overthrow the majority.

But of course
that's your object.

That's authoritarianism.

Let's worry
about that people

let's worry about that
problem when we get to it.

No, let's worry about it now.

When the state finally arrives

where they are in control,

then we'll worry about authority.

It's like the people...

That's terribly naive.

That's not true at all.

You have to know what kind of system

you want to set up, Mike.

Quite obviously.

That's not true.

You can't have the
revolution and it's like,

well, now we'll see what
kind of thing we set up.

It's very difficult to solve

even a tiny problem,

so let's solve the
problems that are before us

before we start worrying about,

oh, what's gonna happen once they...

But you have to
decide what's going to happen.

You're gonna replace it with anarchy,

and you're gonna replace it

with a complete totalitarian government.

You're
putting words in my mouth.

I never suggested anarchy.

That will result, obviously.

Give me an example of
a major social change,

which has been brought
about without violence

in a short period of time.

Look, Marilyn, how many
Russian revolutions

do you need before we have
to stop having this argument?

Mike, I really don't
think you know what you're

talking about when you
talk about violence.

I really don't think
you have any definition

of what violence is.

You talk about violence
for the Russian revolution.

You talk about violence for...

What's wrong?

Well, well.

Guy!

Hi there.

Hi.

Great, eh?

What?

Well, I don't know, the
day, the weather, anything.

Yeah, great.

I saw you from the
window and I thought you...

Hey, where'd you get those sunglasses?

Woolworths.

They look fine on you.

A bit large maybe, but okay.

I don't give a damn what they look like.

I only bought them to keep out the sun.

What's wrong?

What do you mean?

You're not in school.

No kidding.

Are you sick?

Do I look sick?

No.

Okay, then, I'm not sick.

Hey, do we have to walk so fast?

I'd like to talk to you.

What in the name of God
is the matter with you?

Why aren't you in school?

Why aren't you?

Well, I came up here to say hello.

What's the matter?

Have they run out of things to teach you?

Oh, I don't even know
what the hell that means.

Are you rested now? Can
I get up and walk again?

No.

Oh, math, eh?

Business practice, modern
poetry, oh great stuff.

I remember it well.

I bet.

Well

can I walk you anywhere?

Do you wanna come in
and see the university?

Why would I wanna do that?

Just to see what it's like.

I know what it's like. I'm going now.

Would it knock you out of your tree

if I asked you where you're going?

Oh, for Christ's sakes,
I'm not gonna tell on you.

I don't give a damn in the first place

whether you skip a
morning of school or not.

I used to do it myself all the time.

But somebody's got to know where you are

and what you're doing.

Why?

You can't just walk
up and down the streets,

lugging your books, not doing anything.

Put it into words, Guy. Try.

You can't expect us to
know what's going wrong

unless you put it into words.

You're all buggered up.

What?

You're all buggered up,

and you're trying to bugger me up too.

Go join your love-in, but leave me alone.

Okay.

Oh.

Why'd you lock the door?

I always lock the door.

No you don't.

Well?

Well what?

I'm sleepy. It's too early to talk.

It's not early at all.

It's 11:30.

Oh.

What's the matter? Did you stay up late?

I'm always up late.

You know, if I didn't
expect you to support me

during the final years of college,

I'd make you stop work.

Oh, singing for a living may be very cool,

but everybody should be
in bed by 10 o'clock.

What are you doing?

Getting ready for bed.

What for?

Well, it's something that
men and women do together,

an old, old story that's been going on

for a long, long time.

Wait a minute!

What are you doing?

What I always, always do
in the morning is wake up.

The next thing I always do is make myself

a cup of coffee, the
next thing is drink it.

And then what?

And then what what?

And then what do you always do?

Then I always kick out my lovers,

if they aren't careful.

You'll catch cold.

I guess what you're trying to tell me

is that I shouldn't be here.

Not really.

Oh?

But what are you trying to tell me?

I'm not telling you anything.

The hell with that.

Michael?

What?

You've never done this before?

I'm not always here, you know?

What the hell does that mean?

Don't you know?

Oh, stop asking stupid
questions and tell me

where the hell the cigarettes are.

In there.

Shall I arrive tomorrow
morning at your house,

ring your bell, tell
your mother to let me in,

march upstairs, and
climb into bed with you?

What if you have stomach ache?

Oh go on. You know
it's not the same thing.

Do I?

Will you tell me where the
hell you've hidden the matches?

In the kitchen.

While you're out there,
see if the coffee's ready.

Don't push me around, Diane.

Don't push me around, Diane.

The coffee's not ready yet.

The coffee isn't ready yet.

Will you cut that
out, for Christ's sake?

You cut it out.

Put your clothes on. Hurry.

Well, that's a switch.

So this is the happy ever after.

What is love?

What is love?

Preachers teach.

Children reach.

Each in search of.

Love.

But what is love?

Love.

What love?

Myrna?

I'm in the kitchen, dear.

Now what are you doing?

I'm just putting Guy's supper

in the oven so it stays hot.

For months, everybody's
been yelling and screaming,

let's all go to the fights.

Finally I get tickets
and then what happens?

Michael's off with that
girl what's her name

and Guy's playing basketball.

Well, this is the last
time I try to give anybody

a surprise around here.

God, you pay $15 practically
for these tickets,

and then everybody's off somewhere.

Never mind, dear.

You and I haven't been out in so long.

It'll be fun to go alone.

Goodbye, Gladys. We're going now.

When Guy comes in, will you tell him

his supper is in the oven?

What do you want, father?

Just to talk.

Oh?

What is it? Don?t you like school?

I just don't see the
point of going, that's all.

Why?

Look where the hell it got you.

I see.

Robert?

Don't you like the subjects
being taught? Is that it?

No, that's not the point.

Well then what is the point?

Whatever I'm being
taught, I don't know why.

Well, the why is up to you,
son, not to someone else.

It's just to give you a chance.

I never thought an education
was anything else but that.

A chance to make a choice.

What if you've already made the choice?

Well, then you're lucky.

Use your education to get what you want.

But I can't believe that you

really know what you want yet.

You don't know what you want yet either.

Why'd you say that?

I thought it was true.

Guy, you're only 13.
You don't understand.

You just can't have everything you want.

Life isn't like that.

You make it sound great.

What?

You make it sound great.

Robert?

What is the matter with you?

And where in the name of heaven

did you pick up this attitude?

You won't talk to anyone.
You won't do anything.

You run away.

You're intolerably rude,
always bad-tempered.

If someone steps in with a
suggestion or a question,

shows any concern for you,
you bite their head off.

Robert, I know you're there.

What is it?

My bird.

Damn your bird, I'm busy.

Now listen. I've had enough of this.

I want you off your behind and joining in.

And take those damn glasses off.

I'm your father. I have the
right to look at your face.

I've taken them off.

Well, that's better.

Father?

What happened?

When?

When you went away and came back.

Well, umm

I went away to study, uh

computer programming.

You were supposed to
be gone for three months.

You were only gone for
about a month and a half.

Well, there were complications.

Like what?

Like age.

I was too old, I guess, to

to learn something so
new and so foreign to me.

I wasn't suited.

Uh-huh.

And, um

your mother needed me here.

I see.

I'm sorry, Guy.

Some things you simply can't explain.

I know. That's what they say in school.

I better get that damn bird some water.

Of course you'll think
this story is crazy,

but it helped me to get through.

I pretended.

It was the only pretense in my whole life,

barring those kid stories when you pretend

that something perfect happens to you.

I had this lover

in my mind.

Don't worry, he wasn't a
perfect lover. He had problems.

What did he look like?

Jean-Paul Belmondo, who else?

So what was his problem?

He was blind.

He was blind because, if he was blind,

then he had to listen to me.

That was one reason.

Then, if he was blind, he
couldn't go away from me.

He waited for me.

And then, if he was blind,

I was forced to be concerned
for him, beyond normal concern.

I was forced to help him.

I came home one afternoon
and let myself in,

poured myself a real stiff
drink, and sat down with it

with my eyes closed.

I was very tense.

Excited.

I saw things.

There was a future.

I can still feel myself sitting there,

and that particular tension.

You know, when something
opens up in front of you,

and it's right there to be taken,

but there are consequences,
and you know that.

You see them, and you have to weigh them.

But you really, really want this thing,

and so you're tense, and
you try to calm down,

and think it right through
to the very, very end.

And I went on sitting
there, settling any problem,

and accepting the situation.

And he died.

The only thing I ever pretended died.

That was the day I fell
in love with you, you see.

You mean I killed him?

He was ready to die. He died happy.

You helped.

We did it together.

All three of us.

Here's
another letter concerning

that course you took in the States.

That's peculiar. They keep sending you

information after all this time.

Better send it in to Mr. Ferguson.

Anything else?

It doesn't seem to be
anything of importance.

Do you want to go through
your calendar now?

Might as well.

I think you've forgotten
what day it is again.

What makes you say that?

It's your wedding
anniversary, Mr. Harrison.

No, Mrs. Pelletier, I
haven't forgotten about that.

Mr. Harrison?

We've been together for some years now.

We only work together,

and so we don't speak together as people.

But I would like to say something to you.

When my husband was killed,

it happened, you might say,

at the far end of a telephone.

It was a hunting accident.

My life ended.

What I knew of it.

I don't know what happened
to you in the States,

but I do know that for whatever reason,

you almost didn't come back to Montreal.

And when you did come back,

you were not the same
person, the same man.

I don't recognize you anymore.

I don't know who you are.

I wish I did.

Mrs. Pelletier?

Yes.

Tell me, what are you going
to be doing this evening.

You've misunderstood what
I was saying, Mr. Harrison.

Have 1?

Mr. Harrison,

I already have what I need,

not what I want, what I need.

Please understand that.

I'm sorry.

I don't want your sympathy.

It wasn't sympathy I
offered you, Mr. Harrison.

Is that all?

You leaving early tomorrow?

Yeah.

Don't forget your
father's on television.

He wants us all to be here to watch.

Okay.

I just hope to God he doesn't
make a fool of himself.

Michael.

Where is he anyway?

Out.

Who with?

I don't know who with.

Probably someone from the office.

It's none of your business.

Eat, Guy.

Yes, eat, Guy, so you'll grow up.

Please don't start
that, Michael, please.

He's just another dropout.

Like father, like son.

Didn't dad finish school?

That's not what Michael meant, Guy.

Unfortunately.

Guy, would you take Gladys
her dessert, please?

It's in the kitchen.

Thanks, dear.

Are you aware at all of
what he's going through?

I know what he's putting
everybody else through, yes.

Leave him alone.

Father should talk to him.

You should talk to him.

What can I say?

He hasn't any friends.

I don't know what's happening to him.

Practically frantic.

Mother?

What?

How old are you?

Sometimes,

it hurts.

I don't resent your father.

I don't.

Nothing's wrong.

Nothing.

It's just that sometimes.

I wonder where everybody is.

Where he is.

Where you are.

Where I am.

Why we asked him to come back here.

Did we have the right?

What for? This?

Except.

Except what?

Except we did have the right.

Good God, we had to have the right.

Sometimes

all three of you

seem to be one person.

One faltering person.

You gonna stay here all night?

Maybe.

Well, it's your money.
You pay for the room.

I hope you don't mind,

but probably I got a
long night ahead of me.

Help yourself.

You?

Thanks.

You down often?

Down where?

Down here, of course.

I've never seen you before.

I'm from out of town.

Ah, yes. Everyone
comes from out of town.

Will you take on many more tonight?

Sometimes I say

to hell with it and go home.

Let Gaelen worry about the deals.

Gaelen? Who's that?

My boyfriend.

We share a place.

You like that?

Holy mother of God.

Do you think I look like Kim Novak?

Gaelen says I look just like her.

Gaelen says,

it's like sleeping with a movie star.

Are you married?

Yes.

Hmm.,

You can always tell.

How?

Oh.

What men want.

What they will do to get it.

Or won't do.

Gaelen and me are gonna
buy a house in Mexico.

With a patio.

A house in Mexico with a patio.

On Saturday nights, we can sit out.

There's some things I always like

about Saturday night on the patio.

You want a patio too, don't you?

Yeah, hmm.

When it's over, everybody wants a patio.

Oh, well. That's it. I'm off.

I think I'll go home.

Did you pay me?

Sure?

Wait a minute.

Ah, yep, dammit. I
thought I had you there.

See you.

Hello.

Just a moment please.

Robert.

Robert.

Robert, telephone.

Hmm?

Telephone.

Hello.

Yes, this is Robert Harrison speaking.

Put her through please.

Thank you.

Hello, are you there?

Yes.

No, I can't.

I won't.

Well, I'm not that man anymore!

Yes, I am.

Forever.

It'll take time to get... ready.

Yes.

Yes.

I'm sorry.

Why?

Oh, God.

If only

Robert, if only is such
a futile thing to say.

It's such a stupid thing to say.

Such a childish way to live.

I only meant...

Don't speak.

Don't.

They seem to be such unhappy birds,

as if unhappiness were unavoidable.

Isn't that silly?

Because of course it isn't true.

Is it, Robert?

Guy?

Mr. Green phoned.

He said he was going to
speak to the authorities

unless I can convince
you to go back tomorrow.

Are you listening?

I haven't told your father. I
don't think there's any point.

I'll help you, if you'll let me.

I don't know really

what to say to you.

This is supposed to be
a conversation, Guy.

Nothing can be said
unless we're both talking.

You know,

perhaps parents shouldn't
talk to their children

the way I'm going to talk to you now.

But I don't care about that kind of thing.

Not anymore.

You probably look at your father and me

and say to yourself,

there they are.

As if we had willed ourselves

to be what we are, to

do the wrong that we do,

make the mistakes that we make,

argue,

remain silent with each other and suffer,

but if you think that,
and I think that's part

of what you are thinking,
then you're wrong.

Sometimes people are what they are

because of some mistake or missed chance.

Or,

or forgetfulness and ignorance.

We were your age too... once.

I'm speaking to you like this

because I want you to understand.

I'm telling you this because
you're a human being,

and because you're going to suffer,

whether you like the idea of it or not.

It's there, it's reality,

and you must learn to deal with it.

I just want you to survive.

Do you understand?

Whatever's wrong with
you or wrong for you,

whether it's

sex,

or school or an enemy

or

your father

or me.

I want you to be able to conquer it

and get the hell on with life.

Listen to me.

Go back to school.

Take from it what you can.

But the world that you're
going to be living in

isn't going to be the same
as our world. I know that.

But whatever kind of world it is,

you're going to have to live there or die.

What is this thing?

What is this thing?

What is love?

Oh, love.

I don't understand you.

This is so important to me,

and I don't understand why you can't come.

I must rehearse. Comprend?

But you were going to come yesterday.

I can't help it if my pianist is sick.

This demonstration is a
hell of a lot more important

than a pianist with a cold.

I must rehearse with the replacement.

Well, why do you have to be there?

Why can't he just rehearse alone?

Why do you have to go
to the demonstration?

You think the others are
incapable of expressing

themselves without you?

Look, you know that I have to go.

I'm one of the organizers.

Don't smile at me like
that, for Christ's sake!

You're so damn superior today.

You still haven't told me
why you have to be there.

For the very same reason that you have

to be at your demonstration.

I know. You're a pianist organizer.

They can't function without you.

Plink, plink.

You're very stupid.

Go on.

You want me not to
rehearse with this man.

Instead, you want me to
go with you and carry

a stupid placard, in a stupid
parade of schoolchildren.

You know it's not stupid,

and you know they're not schoolchildren.

I don't know that.

I don't know that
because of your behavior.

Well, what the hell do you want

I don't want to carry posters anymore.

It's not enough for me.

Well, my God, it was
enough for you before.

There are other ways of
saying things, Michael.

Of doing something.

Like what?

Well, like singing
songs. Like being myself.

You seem so remote all of a sudden.

So bloody aloof or something.

I'm not.

I'm only

different.

I don't wanna say goodbye.

Are you saying goodbye?

Are you?

Je t'aime bien, Michel.

But you think you love the whole world.

It is not enough to love everyone.

Teachers selling.

The creed of the homeland.

Senators, governors.

Extend a hand.

By copying.

The busboy's hand extended.

Do they project

the plan intended?

What is this thing?

What love?

What love is it that I can gain

by stepping on my friend?

You saw my way pushing through the mud.

What the hell is fate?

Screw the world.

It's late.

It's too late

Yummy, yummy.

Goody good.

Charlie?

Bada boom boom boom boom.

Charlie.

You get cramps swimming

Robert, the
program's about to start.

Yes.

I see.

Thank you.

...attempted
to cheat the government

out of some of that tax
money they keep taking away.

Any word?

Have they found him?

No, but they're looking.

It seems he's not the only
child who's run away from home.

Why are you talking like that?

I haven't the slightest idea.

It comes into my mind and I say it.

Did you take a pill?

No more pills, Myrna.

Just quit smoking.

What do you mean?

Did you run out?

If you want to put it that way, yes.

Don't be cryptic. There isn't time.

I have all the time in the world.

You frighten me.

Good.

Tell me what to do.

What?

Tell me what to do, please.

I'm trying to understand.

You want me to tell you what to do?

Well, well, well.

Good evening, this is "Just Society."?

Well, I'm surrounded by
this week's question.

Those of you who watch
the show every week know

that it's our usual
procedure to pick a question

and ask for the answer.

Sometimes we ask the man in the street,

sometimes we ask the experts,

and sometimes we ask both.

It all depends on the question.

But this week, the
question posed the problem.

What we wanted to know couldn't be said

in a single sentence.

We decided to pose this
question in pictures.

What do we see here?

Neville Chamberlain, a
piece of paper, and a child.

The Great Emancipator, a Black man,

and the Black man's widow.

A tank,

a figure of desperate
courage, and an empty room.

A genius with a child's grace in his eyes,

and a scene of pain and suffering.

A dead woman lying in a deserted street,

and up here a furtive,
almost sinister figure

looking down from a window.

A famous model being adored by cameras,

and a child with empty hands.

A marketplace,

and a bird covered with oil.

What does all this mean?
What's the connection?

Does Neville Chamberlain have anything

to do with dead birds?

Who is this woman lying
murdered in the street?

Robert?

Whose child is this?

Yours? Mine? Where does she live?

Why does she live?

Did this man know the answer?

Do you?

Is that the question?
What is the question?

Let me tell you.

At first glance it may not seem so,

but between each and every
one of these photographs,

something is missing.

Can you tell me what it is?

That is our question, and
here are some of the answers.

You haven't shown The Great War

or the 1920s, or The Depression.

That's what's missing.
What I went through.

There's Twiggy.

There is something that
I wish I was missing.

Do you think
you could tell me, Charles,

who's missing from this picture?

Mummy and daddy.

I can tell you what's missing.
Government, that's what.

Control.

Um, well there seem to be, um

inherent violence, yes, violence.

What's missing, eh?

Well

Erica, tell me what
you see in the picture.

That little boy looks like Charles,

and that must be his mother.

Those men are soldiers.

I don't understand.

I think this is what's
missing. Someone crying.

I think, between all these pictures,

there should be someone crying.

Is that right?

I don't understand.

Well, I think all of these
things didn't need to happen.

Is that right?

So what's missing is...

You still don't know?

People.

People. You and me. Involved.

I'm afraid I can't quite
get the connection there,

if there is one.

Involvement is a word we
all claim to understand,

and most of us would claim
that we are involved.

But are we?

If we are, all of us,

then who's missing from these photographs?

Not me. Is that what you're saying?

The people. No one wants to be the people.

Perhaps the people don't exist.

Are we in fact so tragically
uninvolved with life

and one another that we do not
know that we are the people?

Asked who he was, this man said,

I'm a securities advisor.

Oh.

Oh my God.

You look very good, dear.

What, not who.

Can such people help not
knowing that they are people?

How can they be made aware
that they are missing?

Good night.

What is it? What have you done?

What is this?

I broke my glass.

It was empty.

You're
wanted on the telephone,

Mr. Harrison. Are you there?

I am.

When
my husband died...

He didn't come back.

What is it, dear? What's happening?

No!

Nothing.

Nothing is happening.

Hello.

Yes, yes, this is Mrs. Harrison.

Michael?

Robert?

What is it, Michael?

Robert? Oh, Michael, wait.

Robert!

Yes, what can I do for you?

I want you to come with
me. Something has happened.

Are you okay? You look funny.

Please come with me.

I have something to show you.

Okay, sir. We're here.

Something terrible
is happening in there.

Something terrible.

Robert?

And I
was thinking. I kept thinking.

If I can just...

Robert?

It's safe.

A secure world.

For happy children.

Love.

A secure world for happy children.

No one hears.

Does someone hear?

Does someone hear?

Does someone hear?

Does someone hear?

Does someone hear?

Does someone hear?

Does someone hear?