Near Death Experience (2014) - full transcript

Follows a man wandering in the wilderness.

A film written and realized by
Benoit DELEPINE and Gustave KERVERN

With
Michel Houellebecq

I wouldn't like to talk about work

But have you seen what happened to Patrick ?

It's sure that

Leave it. It's for me.

Are you sure ?

Yes, it's ok.

Then tomorrow it's my turn.

Then, see you tomorrow Paul !

Thank you !
See you tomorrow !



Yes. See you !

Thank you !
See you Paul !

How much do I owe you ?

Eight, with the coffee.

Give me another one.

Yeah ! Yeah !
I owe a lot of money

while I don't want to buy the moon

You know what is it ?
I do not like my race

It's like if i got the DAS

The bed. Don't you find it's squeaking more than before ?

What time do you start tomorrow ?

I leave at 9 am.

Good night

Good night



It's Friday 13th today !
You didn't forget, the 3rd and last of the year !

Lucky charm for some or bad luck for others

Anyway without doubt, the day of all superstitions

In Tours, superstitious or not,
Olivier Bertrand, Pascal Cheny.

The "Residence du Lac" and its twin tower, the "belvedere",
the best in the 60's

can scare any paraskevidekatriaphobic

That is to say, people afraid of the 13

Because here, not only the 13th floord exists

Not like in these buildings where we move
from the 12th to the 14th floor

But moreover, at the 13th floor,
all apartments are inhabited

There some people who don't want to live at the 13th floor
they're afraid of the number

It is associated with misfortunes

When i push the 13 in the lift
sometimes people tell me : "Aren't you scared ?"

Are you ok ?

Yes, yes.

Are you alright Daddy ?

Yes, yes. Of course i'm fine.

You didn't go to work ?

No, but i'm working on Saturday.
And like every time they told me at the last moment.

You went shopping ?

Yes ! I told you yesterday !
You already forgot ?

No, no. Of course i remember.

By the way Daddy, i bought the light i wanted.

It's good.

What do you do this afternoon Peter?

I'll go to the town all to look for a work

Hey ! Anna, you went into my room !

No ! It's not true !

-Yes. See it's opened !
- Calm down ! Stop now, it's ok !

Darling, i go around.

For how long ?

One hour maximum

Ok

He's always provoking me !
It's annoying !

Hi !

Hello !

Hello !

Hello !

I always thought that suicide required courage
but also luck

We don't count missed suicides because of bad luck

Some of these desperates see by cowardice

a divine sign telling them the futility of their acting out

It won't be my case.

One of the few qualities people recognize in me, is my professionalism.

I always achieved all the works i undertook.

At work or in my private life.

As a child, for example, i always finished my plate.

Hey ! Emma ! Wait for me !

- Children ! Be careful it's dangerous here !
- My balloon !

If there wasn't my children, it would be a long time
i would have done it !

If there wasn't my children, it would be a long time
we would have done it !

Collective suicide.

We do it. But gently.
So that they do not realize it.

With remorse.

With memories above all.

From when we were children, ourself.

From when we were childish.

I'm dead

I'm dead

I'm dead

I never did sport

Because i don't like to loose

I started biking because i had cholesterol

The clothe, i had if for the Father's Day

Oh, i got used to it

Physical activity concerns people
who take care of themselves

People who wish to delay the fate

But, what is the point to delay a not interesting fate ?

When we get older,
it's a bit egoist to hang on to life like this, isn't ?

We don't offer anything anymore to the market economy

Instead of this, we pollute,
we occupy a housing, we struggle along.

But what...

It's curious, I feel like I've already been there

I remember these stones, this tree
I remember having thought at this moment

when i walked close to this tree, i thought to a childhood memory

Close to my parent's house, there was a tree with the same shape

And close to a stone there was a box in rubber
embedded in the earth

It was scaring me, because i was imaging thousand things about it

How can you face life when you're already afraid
of a box in rubber ?

Hello ! France Telecom assistance,
what can i do for you ?

Can i have your customer account number please ?

Can you confirm your name, surname and address please ?

Yes, Madam.
I confirm you have an internet access 24h/24 7d/7

It's unlimited. There's no problem.

I wish you a nice day from France Telecom assistance

Ok, goodbye Madam !

Can i do a break please ?

Hello ! France Telecom assistance, what can i do for you ?

Can i have your customer account number please ?

Listen to me Sir, it's not necessary to be insulting,
i'm trying to do my work

I'll see if i can get you a manager

I've liked my work

I nearly enjoyed going at work

For a guy like me it was nearly desperate

I never thought i would enjoy going at work

I got to the idea of a nice little life
like most of people

I got at last to put this in the skull

Peaceful in family, peaceful at work, peaceful in my head

It was ok for me like this

I even managed to like my colleagues

Me who didn't like friendship

I smiled at office jokes

In short, a miracle

And all of this collapsed

the "too full"

the "too empty"

The same shadow as when i was 10

When i was going to play football behind the church

Same frail shoulders,
same fragile thoracic cage

Same thick thighs

All these years, all these events, these people

To finish like them, alone under the sun ?

Weak, nothing, a bird

A walking bird

Or rather a homing pigeon

With a coded message

Hooked to the paw

That i never could decipher

Too complex

But it's here. Some girls maybe could have deciphered it.

My wife, at the beginning, my children, never

A homing pigeon which doesn't know how to fly

Walking, arriving after the battle

His message is old, too old

I'm thirsty

Sir ! You mustn't drink the water of the swimming pool.
It's not drinkable !

I don't care, i'm dead !

Finally peaceful !

No more accountability.

Obsolete

I'm 56 and i'm obsolete.

56 years. My grandfather's age when i was 7

Before we were an old man,
we were waiting for retirement

You were not asked to achieve goals

and exceed them

You were not asked to be always attractive,
to be dressed as a youngster

To be a manly man

To still fuck

To do sport

To eat balanced

To love his wife as on the first day

To be the best friend of his children

You were not asked to be creative

To have humor

And passions

You were lucky, old man !

You had the right to be only an old man

Me becoming like you, i became a poor guy

Obsolete

Thrown

How did it happen ? I don't know.

It happened step by step

In nowadays life, there aren't more young, strong and handsome people
than in your time ?

If you count there are even less

But TV became normality

Thus everyone became unhappy ?

Unhappy to be like one is ?

It's messed up

We are here now, old man

Maybe we'll see each other soon ?

It would be funny to see each other at the same age.

Two old men

When I married with you I was proud

I never really told you
but i didn't meet many women

Physical love did not count for me

Especially since after every enjoyment
I fell into a black hole

I always wanted to die after having fucked

Like many men i guess

Extreme weariness

On the other hand I always appreciated the company of women

The one who likes watching women never really gets bored

And i met you

Even if couple life never attracted me

Being single was beginning to weigh me

And I was sure that with you all my silences would be understood

I knew that life would be gentle

I never cheated on you

I lost my freedom but i won peace

You want to know why i left ?

It's simple

I feel like I've reached the end,
the end of the road

facing a wall,
to be a hamster in a wheel

I didn't know where i was going

The work harassed me

Our debts encircled us

Our daily life was softening us, our friends tired us

Our meals became bland

Our holidays saddened us

Our leisure time bored us

Our children left us outmoded

Finally, there it is

I reached the end of my way

Without hope

Without animosity

Without regret

Children, Dad is gone

For you it's an amazing luck

You will no longer see dad in front of the TV

You will no longer see dad looking sad
because he has no more cigarette

You will no longer see dad drunk

Having the elbow ripping on the table

You will no longer see dad smelling his socks

You will no longer see dad falling asleep
in the middle of the day

Or getting excited because of the time change

You will no longer see dad avoiding confrontation

You will no longer see dad going away at the homework time

You will no longer see dad turning off the light

You will no longer see dad locking himself
in the toilets to be peaceful

You will no longer see dad going biking to escape

I couldn't bear to fear your future

I couldn't bear my weakness

I couldn't bear your indifference

I couldn't bear myself

Don't be afraid

A dead father is much better than a father without life

What can happen in the world at this moment ?

I absolutely don't care

Welcome home !

There's something important i forgot to tell you

I surfed on pornographic sites when you were at the hospital for your fibroma

Forgive me

The first drawings all represent animals

In order to scare children i guess ?

And moreover to teach them how to kill them

Wonderful drawings

Because they observed these animals with fear and respect

4000 years later i don't know how to make fire,
even how to draw a beef

And i even don't know how looks my predator,
the lung cancer

What explains that I get hard ?

From Playboy to Youporn nothing changed,
Neither she nor me

It is vertiginous as automatism

Even a branch makes me hard

Beautiful black diver

Life must be intoxicating !
Life must be intoxicating !

Saying that the earthmen walked on this stone

It's crazy !

With huge overalls

To hold out in this hostile environment

And if our record was this ?

A huge overhall one gave us to survive on earth ?

Something heavy, encumbering us,
and letting us survive

One sent me from the country of dreams to walk on earth

Paul, you definitely talk too much

And you don't suicide enough

Hello Sir,

Would you like to play a game of small runners ?

You went out, there

Limit

My turn

The end is close. It's here.
Yes, it's here

Ah ! You won, bravo.

- So, you enjoyed ?
- Yes, it wasn't bad. The ground was quite tough.

- It's the first time you play to the bikers ?
- Yes

Oh, me i sometimes play to the bikers

- We'll do another one
- Yes, yes !

- Are you here everyday ?

- Yes

Me too, i'm here

On the afternoon, i walk here.

It's beautiful, isn't it ?

No, not really

You don't find ? We feel good here, isn't it ?

No, not really

- Peaceful ?
- Yes, very

- It's freedom, isn't it ?

If you wish

Let's play to the goatee !

We play one more time ?

I don't know !

It's at this moment i went wrong

I always took everything too seriously

I forgot to play, suffered the others

While it was perhaps enough to take this life for what it is?

A part of balls between two voids

Hello Paul !

Who is it ?

A friend

Are you pretty ?

Aren't you the virgin Mary,
or this kind of divinity ?

You believe you're dead, isn't ?

Hum, yes. It's good

No Paul, it's not the moment already

You know, it's not so easy to die

Well, i know. It's been two days i can't achieve it

And then !

One can believe you're not ready

I see too much love in you

Love in me ?

You don't love yourself so you can't see it

But me i see it

And i only see it

Who are you ?

One calls me "endorphin"

"Endorphin" ?

I hate my hesitations you know ?

Always struggling to make decisions

Choosing makes me sick

I have a clear opinion about it

For me it's always the last one to talk who's right

Here's ok, i'm alone

It's me who talks last

But as i never know if i'm right, i stay confused

I'm confused

Completely confused

Tragically confused

I don't feel good, you know ?

At last, i get a little better

I believe

Nature is finally not interesting

When we're there alone, we don't stop thinking
of the moment when we're not there

We carry our memory of the city

And when we are in group, there is no benefit,
like in all groups

But since the beginning of my stay here, i still felt some benefits

The relative purity of the air, the soothing silence

But soon I felt the deficiencies of this environment

Modern man simply needs comfort

He didn't strived to invent since a long time
so many things, for not using them

The bed, not for sleepingon the floor

Running water to avoid going to the well

The central heating so as not to be cold, the supermarket to no longer cultivate oneself

The car, not for walking anymore

Finally, all these discoveries which no longer oblige the human being
to live like me at this moment

I confess my mistake,
my mistakes

Yes, it's stupid. If i don't like people,
i like the noise they make

And to stay on earth, it may as well be in good conditions

I have to say i have always been very rigorous
and even autocratic at the bottom of my sofa

To be well seated is essential to me

That's why i never go to theater for example

It is simple I can not stand the hardness of the stones
of this region anymore

I can no longer stand the sharpness of nature

My body claims leather fleece

And you, Sun ? Of course you find yourself beautiful

Go to sleep !

I feel like Ayrton Senna at the beginning of Imola,
on the 1st May 1994

I remember, i was watching the Grand Prize with an absent-minded eye

I was drinking a 1664

He was livid

He knew

The day before a pilot had died during the tests

It was too late to leave the race

The fate was underway

The world was accomplice

Are you ok, Sir ?

Are you ok ?

Are you sure ?

You want me to take you somewhere ?

Where are you going like this ?

It's the whole problem

If i take you to the next village,
it will be ok for you ?

Is the bouquet for your lover ?

It's nice to be in love

I mean at your age

What is your sign ?

I admit you tricked me !

Will you stay with me "endorphin" ?

Yes, but not for a long time

Not more than some minutes

What a pity, the flowers were for you

Oh, you !

You're really kind

I'll remember you Paul

Fly far away from these morbid miasma

Go purify yourself in the upper air

And drink like a pure and divine liqueur,
the clear fire that fills the limpid spaces

Behind the troubles and the vast sorrows which load
the foggy existence with their weight

Happy the one who can with a vigorous wing,
soar towards the luminous and serene fields

The one whose thoughts as the larks,
in the skies in the morning, take a free flight,

who hangs over life, and easily understands
the language of flowers and dumb things.

Subtitles : Charles Minart