La horse (1970) - full transcript

- They have come again.
- Who?

- That I don't know.

This is broken glass.
It's from a flashlight.

They have entered without using force.

They must have a key.
This time I have found this.

Look!

- What is this?
- I don't know

Merchandise.

Poppy seed, night of china...
"La Horse".

- "La Horse"?
- Heroin.

Of course!
Down here was someone who used it.



They got high.

- Rex!

- Good day, papa.
- Good day, great daughter.

Good day, my daughter.

You have forgotten something, haven't you?

Where is he, Maurice?
- Gone to take care of the animals.

- Léon, at the bank of Messais,
the fence is not repaired.

- Yes, I have to go there.
- Yes, go there at once.

- Okay, I go.

- Henri has not been down yet?
- He is still sleeping.

He has been reading the whole night.
- When will his holidays be over?

- His ship will be leaving Le Havre
in 3 days.

- Will he be up by then?

Bien-Phu, come have a look.



Here, hide this at your place.

- The boss is not cold?
- He is never cold.

- He can get cold and get ill.
- He is never ill.

- This is all I have.
- That will do.

How can you sleep
with a thing that stinks like that?

- I am used to it.
- You are like your father used to be.

- Wait.

- What is it?
Speak!

- Look out, your feet!

- That's it. There we have them.
Come!

Have you finished crying?
- We have some questions.

- Bien-Phu doesn't come?
- No, he is agitated again.

- Henri has not got up?

- It's my fault.
I have woken him up too late.

- Ah, that is too hot!

- Good Day.

- You have finshed eating.

This is not a snack bar.
By the way, I have to talk to you.

You know this?

- Don't do that!!

- Little scoundrel!

First you wanted to be a vet,

then law,
and then, art...

But you end up as a bartender on a ship
and dealing drugs.

Aren't you ashamed?

- You don't understand.
You understand nothing!

- Oh, I understand quite well.
The times have changed.

I forbid you to do this on my lands.
Here, nothing has changed.

- That was worth 200 millions.
They'll kill me.

- Nobody will kill you.
You are at my place.

- Really?
- Really.

*- The enzymes don't erase
the stains, they devour them.

*- Because the enzymes don't erase
the stains, they devour them...

*- Cormorants, they are cormorants!
Because the enzymes...

- Oh, fuck!

- Hello!

Is Henri here?

Say... Oh!

- Monsieur?
- Madame.

I have come to see Henri.
I am a friend from Paris.

- He is not here, monsieur.
- That's annoying.

- Can I help?
- We will see.

- Come here, then
tell me about your matter.

- So you are the grandfather?
- I am the grandfather.

- That was not nice.
I have two friends who have twisted ankles.

I did not come
quarrelsome.

But the merchandise,
have to return it.

People in Paris and from abroad
have invested a lot of money.

Here in the country,
perhaps you don't realize,

but this package, you have confiscated

that makes quite a sum.

Two millions.

You hand it back, we disappear
and everybody is happy.

Henri will get a blame, of course.
Everyone for himself.

- I don't see it's necessary.

- You will make me lose
my good temper.

I will regret my country ride.

That would be a pity...

Say, grandpa, you don't want
to get your grandson in trouble, do you?

Have to hammer it in your head
that you not only have one grandson,

but there is the farm, too.
A nice farm...

But it burns, a farm!

And the cows, they die easily.

And above all, there is the family.

You only have one family,
and you have to take care of it.

The little sister,
she is well built, beautiful...

Unsoiled...

That is nice... with several men.

- Well aimed!

- Come down here.

- What's up?

- Go back in the house.

- Looks as if he is drunk.
- Véronique, come help us.

Henri, get the cidre.

And turn the lights on, please.

- I wait for you there?
- Of course.

- I dig the hole?
- Yes, you dig the hole.

- This afternoon in the city,
I have met Belay.

He will come tomorrow

for the tractor.

There was a visitor?

- What visitor?

Have you seen somebody, girls?

And you, Léon? Have you seen somebody?

- I was not here.

- Nobody was here,
otherwise I would have seen him.

Henri!

Prepare your stuff.

Open the trapdoor.

Go downstairs.

Go downstairs.

- You are old!

- That is bad,
trying to kill your father!

Who?

- Our middleman in Le Havre,
the bartender.

He is untraceable.
evaporated with our merchandise.

- Annoying.

- There is somebody behind this,
member of his family, a peasant.

I have sent Marc to him
and he, too, has vanished, disappeared.

- Annoying...
- Very. Marc is my brother.

- Well, this...

Never mix business with family matters.

Never!

France, that's you.
Switzerland, that's me.

The delivery that should have left
Le Havre yesterday has been payed for.

Your personal share
Has been transferred to Paris.

So, recover the merchandise quickly.

Due in, say... 48 hours.

Or compensate.
- 200 millions?

- You will manage.
- And if it cannot be managed?

- Well...

This is very annoying.

- The farm of M. Maroilleur?
- You are there.

- You are working here?

- I am his son-in-law. Why?
- You will give him a message.

We are waiting for Marc and the merchandise
at the kiosk in Jarville.

It is 9 o'clock. Let's say until noon,
but not longer. Understood?

- Look, there he is.
You can tell him yourself.

- That won't help.
At least not him.

- What did he answer?
- Like always. Nothing.

- And that Marc of whom they spoke,
who you think he is?

- Perhaps that boy
who arrived the other day.

He came for Henri...
Has he eaten?

- I have just brought him some.

- There is one who knows. Bien-Phu.

- Oh, him...

- lt's noon.

- So what?

- Talk to him.

It's our kid. If it is bad,
we have the right to know.

- It's 0:20 h. He will be sleeping.
- He never sleeps.

- Dad?

Dad!
- Yep.

- Why have you locked up Henri
in the cave of Bien-Phu?

- I haven't locked him up,
I have hidden him.

- Now he has lost his job.

- Better than losing one's life.

- What did he do?
What did the man say with whom you talked?

The merchanise has to do with Henri?

I am his father.
I have a right to know.

- I am his grandfather
and you have no right.

I keep the manor of my father like he did.
It's a tradition.

Go sleeping and turn off the light.

- Because the corrida
has only yet begun.

The bullets will fly,
but I have the remedy!

- You are folcloristic like the Old One,
not in the same way, but still.

- The Old Man knows what he is doing.

- You always agree with him.
- Say!

When I returned wounded
with my babbling attacks

He was the only one of the family
who cared for me.

- The patriarch and his fool.
You are lacking your costume

and your cap and bells.
- You don't smell anything?

- Yes, your rotgut-madness.

- Your studies in Paris,
have served you bad.

"lntroduction to psychoanalysis".
Funny?

- Very.

- You don't smell?

- The Vietnamese!

- Don't make fun.
I have a nose like a fox.

- It's in the barn!

- Maurice, call the firefighters!
- Don't call nobody.

- Are you mad?
- Shut up! Don't get on my nerves!

- It's Roger.

- They are attacking the animals!

- They are attacking the animals!

- Heard that?
- Yes. We have to wake him up.

- Now I go to the police.
- No! You are not going.

- And the money?
- I don't give a damn about the money.

- There are at least 30 animals beat-up.
- Bah, and afterwards?

- He doesn't care about the money!
It's our money, too.

We don't do his kind of justice anymore.

- Those who have done this
could go further.

- I will protect my child.
I call the police.

- Talk to Henri.
He must know something about this.

- I'll go.

- Who has informed the police?

- Nobody, but if they are coming,
even better. I have enough!

- The only thing you have to
do then is piss off.

Here, you are the husband of my girl
and nothing else.

And keep silent everybody.

- Bonjour, M. Maroilleur.
- Bonjour, officer.

- You have a moment?
- Of course, come in.

Have a seat.

- The boys from the building site
have said

that your animals have been massacred.
Yes, some.

- We have counted 27.
- You know who did this?

- Well, no.

- And there was a fire in a barn?

- Yep.
- It has not been reported?

- No, it was an accident.
T'was me with a fag-end.

- And you, Mme Mathilde!

You have an idea
about the animals?

*- Auguste Maroilleur?
- Yes.

- You have enough?
We negociate or we go on?

Okay, listen carefully.

We go on until you release
Marc and the merchandise.

- You are mistaken, monsieur.
Wrong number.

- So you don't file a charge
for the attack?

- No, not this time.
- We can do nothing but leave then.

- Good bye, M. Maroilleur.
- Good bye, officer.

- What is going on?

- If you had raised your son better,
he wouldn't be a good-for-nothing.

- One is not a good-for-nothing if he
refuses to get up at 6 o'clock in the morning,

to work like a pig,
with dirty hands.

- Dirty hands!
It's not dirty, the land, you should know

If you think that,
you don't belong here.

- So, let him go.

Herni is 23.
He wants to travel and learn.

- I am not against if he would study.

- But you have declined art studies.
- Art!

He'll have the farm to operate
and defend.

- He does animal health!
- Yes!

If he doesn't leave
for being a bartender on a ship.

- He will never be like you wish.

- Yes, and that's regrettable.
- But you have Léon and Maurice.

- They are my sons-in-law.
My family, that's your son.

- For you my husband is not family?

- I don't like workers who
seduce my girls.

- If I wouldn't have been pregnant,
you would have refused him?
Because he is a worker?

- I wouldn't, but you have confronted me
with an accomplished fact!

- One cannot live like you or else
one does not live.

The world has changed.

- I haven't.
- Nobody still thinks like you.

- For me it's like that:
Progress, yes, but shit, no.

- You are crazy! What has Henri done
so bad? I'd like to know.

- If you have to know he is deep in a
drug affair right up to here

- That's not possible.

- and you know how this will end?
They will kill him.

- We have to tell the police.
- Are you mad?

Prison, his life destroyed
and our name dishonored?

- But...
- There is only one solution: Mine.

- We will bury the animals.

- Take your rifles with the 4,0.

- This evening, you go to bed with Henri
and you barricade everything.

- They make me sick with their aircrafts.
They terrorize the animals.

- Let's go.

- It's the Dodge.
- Go and see what he wants.

- Léon!

Léon! Léon!

- So where has he put the drugs?
- Don't know.

- Where is Marc?
- Don't know.

- You know...

She will get exhausted.
Where is Henri?

- Don't know.

- You really are the daughter of the Old Man!

Quick, we leave!

We will come back.

- They haven't found Henri.

- No, Léon. Don't go in...

- Why don't you meet him before tomorrow?

- I don't trust the old bastard.

At 8 o'clock in the morning sun has dawn.
We will see him approach from far.

So we will have to be at his bank
at 5 o'clock.

- Mario, you will drive.

- The grandfather had a throaty
voice on the phone.

By shaking the young girl,
we have brought him to his knees.

- And afterwards,
what we gonna do with him?

- He is insane.
We will kill him.

- There is nothing?

- No, nothing.

- And Marc?

- He is distrustful. He doesn't give
out all at once. Let him come.

- You have the stuff?

- I've thrown it away.

- And Marc?

- I killed him.

- You know who Marc was?

My brother.

- Doesn't surprise me.

- Quick!!

- Stop! Stop...

- What was that?
- T'was the jalopy for sure.

- Shit! Hurry!

- Henri!

How much were they,
your wretchs?

- Don't know.
I knew 2 or 3 of them.

- How many, I want to know?

- Well, I know Francis,
the boss.

Marc, his brother.

I've heard them speak about Tony,
Louis and Mario. That's all.

- That makes 5.
That's all.

- Why?
- Not your concern.

- When can I leave?
I'd even prefer real prison.

- You won't go to prison.

Nobody of us has ever been to
prison. Nobody, you understand?

- Inform Bayeux.
Whose land is this? Maroilleur?

- Yes, yes.

- Clean them, Léon.

- She is sleeping, the little one?
- Mathilde is giving her her valerian.

- That is strange.
A car explodes on your land...

- Oh no!
- Pardon?

- On the road, not on my lands.
- It was set on fire.

One of the charred occupants,
Francis Grutti,

well known for drug traffic.

Francis Grutti, that doesn't ring a bell?
- No, it doesn't.

- Someone here can
can provide me information?

- Don't know. At that hour,
everybody is working.

- There will be an inquiry.
That will take place here.

- What could I do about it?

- Here, commissioner.
You may want to have a glance.

They were 4. They will come back.
They have left their things here.

- No, never seen.
- You, perhaps. But the others?

- In general, I answer for them.
- I see.

- Go!

- Go!

- "L"... Whose is that?

- It's mine. My name is Léon.

- Before being burnt, Francis Grutti
has been shot with pellets.

If you permit, these weapons go to
the laboratory.

- To do what?

- Pardon?

- Weapons with bullets yes,
but with cartridges...

I don't get it,
a cartridge, that's anonymous.

- Is it now, where have you learned that?

- I have served 7 years in Indochina.

- We have made progress since.

- Boss! Look at that.

- You know what this is?

And you?

And you?

A defensive grenade.
This could make a car jump.

You know this, specialist?

- It's disarmed.
- Take him with you.

- If someone here is arrested,
it's me.

- Name and surname?
- Maroilleur.

Auguste, Joseph, Marie.

- Date and location of birth?

- 16 october 1903 in Messais,
Calvados.

- Profession?

- Proprietor.

- That's not a profession.

- For me it is.

- You will be heard as witness.
However...

Everything you say,
can and will be held against you.

- I have nothing to say.

- Pardon?

- I said: I have nothing to say.

- Have you finished?

- No.

I have only started.

- Your silence constitutes
a charge against you,

even a disrespect for the judge.
- My silence concerning what?

- 2 men burnt, perforated with bullets,
a car set on fire on your lands.

- No, not on my lands,
on the road that crosses them.

- The pellets?

- Am I the only one who uses pellets?

- The grenade?

- Which grenade?

*- Turenne 3 speaking!
Can you hear me?

*- Red 48 here. Speak.

*- there is a car beneath the water
in the swamp.

*Inform Caen.
I am staying here. Over.

- It's empty.

- Have they let you see him?
- Through a doorway.

He didn't say anything.
- Did he look distressed?

- Don't know.

- That a barn burns because of
a cigarette, perfectly possible.

But the cows...

27 animals killed
and you don't make a complaint?

- No.

- Why?

- I was anxious about my family.

- What?

- People who are capable of that...

- You have been menaced.

- I would believe so, after this!

- Believe what? Explain.
- Explain what, your honour?

I have nothing to explain, nothing.

- Really? You must admit that
all this is not very clear.

- Like you said,
It's not easy to understand.

- This one,
do you recognize him?

- No.

- He asked for the way
to your manor.

- What can I do about it?

- The cartridges?

- Where have you bought them?

- We make them ourselves.

- And the material?

- The father of my mother-in-law
had it already.

- I have never seen these men,
commissioner.

- I have never killed,
only in lndochina.

One doesn't have the time
with the work and all.

- The farm is isolated.
I wouldn't miss to see strangers.

- wouldn't miss...

- If we knew who did this...

- What would you do?

- Well... I don't know.

- You are the neighbour of the Maroilleurs.
- About 3 kilometres.

- Is he a good neighbour?
- If we meet each other, we talk a little.

- We live at the same road,
but he never says Good Day.

- 15 years that I live there.
He is grim, but righteous.

Always gets up first.

- From the building site,
we could see that from afar.

We have heard the car explode.
And then the smoke.

- Shots?
- At that moment, all was bangs.

- Yes?

So, M. Maroilleur?

- So what, your honour?

- Your grandson Henri wasn't there
for the departure of his ship.

Do you know where he is?

At that age,
it is difficult to control their steps.

- You don't say!

- Do you still need long?
I have to do the rooms.

- I hope the next witness will
make you more talkative.

- Come in!

- Have you locked him up
because you were afraid of us questioning him?

- No.

- I have your declaration.
Are you keeping to what you said?

- Yes.

- You know that this might have
grave consequences.

- It's the truth.

- He claims that he has never
been locked up in that cellar.

He confirms...
I will read it to you.

It's quite amusing.

"Since my childhood,
I used to work in that cellar.

"I have been born under the
zodiac sign of Aries,
an earth sign,

"The powers of the Earth have
had a strong influence in my life.

"After every voyage,
when I return to the manor,

"I go into the cellar.
I am afraid of great spaces.

"That world is favourable
for meditation and reading.

"Saint Thomas, Pascal,

"Descartes, Kant, Marx, Mao..."

You are forgetting Kierkegaard.

- Please excuse, your honour.

- Will there be an accusation,
commissioner?

The custody is over?
Can we see the old Maroilleur?

- Nothing else?
- No.

- Please wait aside.
Please.

M. Maroilleur, today no charge is held against you

You are free to go.

- I'd like to thank you, judge.
- For what?

- Don't know.
I just said it without reason.

- If you should have problems again,
M. Maroilleur,

do not hesitate to inform us.

- If we should need to,
I won't fail to do so, commissioner.

- This will be tough.
They are relentless.

I have already had a case like that.

Country people.

We never found out about the truth.
- Is that so?

- Léon, I have two lorries
of animals to do.

Tomorrow, we will do the hay tour
to see which are good yet.

- I'll come with you.

- If you like.