Something in the Air (2012) - full transcript

TO THE MEMORY OF LAURENT PERRIN

APRES MAI. Something in the air.

1971, not far from Paris

Together, we'll read this excerpt

from Blaise Pascal's "Pens?es".

Don't balk at the phrasing.
It's from another era.

Then you'll tell me
what it reminds you of

in today's terms.

"It requires
no great superiority of mind

to understand that nothing produces
true and solid satisfaction,

that all our pleasures
are mere vanity. "



"our troubles innumerable.

"and finallly that death

"threatens us at every moment,

"and will put us, in several years
or maybe several hours,

"in a state of eternal happiness

"or unhappiness

"or annihilation.

Between us and the sky

hell or nothingness,

there is but life,

the most fragile thing in the world".

We Watch the Police!

"All!"

"We Want It All. "



Demonstration, Place de Clichy.

Geismar stopped his hunger strike.

Cops want to ban it. We have to go.
Fight's still on.

CRS = SS

Beat it!

Combat, Parapluie,
Actuel, and J'accuse, please.

8.50

They Tried to Kill Richard Deshayes

"Apolitical student Gilles Guiot,
arrested by cops

who claim he'd attacked them.

"was sentenced to six months prison.

"Support groups met yesterday at
Lyc?e Chaptal... "

Who cares about Guion?

- Shut up, Alain!
- Fuck you!

- You like repression?
- When it targets apolitical students.

"They call for a demonstration
demanding his release. "

- Who agrees?
- That's not enough.

He's innocent!

Everyone's aware of his case.
We can mobilize them.

Increase our numbers.

Guiot isn't the problem.

It's the conditions of prisoners.

Since CAL wasbanned,
we're isolated.

We need a unified
high-school movement!

So Trotskyites take over?
Who are you for?

For a responsible political line!

Deshayes, Youth Liberation Front!
He lost an eye.

15 wounded! Read the press!

Cops shot rioters
with tear-gas grenades. We saw.

They're out for revenge.

Call for the dissolution
of their Special Brigades!

Dissolution!

- Graffiti tomorrow?
- I'm in.

We need posters from Paris.

I'll get them.

Is it defamation
to call attention to a simple fact?

"Paris has recently become
the capital of police.

"Policemen swarm about on foot,
in motorcycles, vans

"and those ominous buses
stationed at intersections.

"Our city's face is disfigured,

not only for Parisians
but for foreign visitors as well".

Here's the material.
Take what you need.

If you come back later,
the new tract will be ready.

"?Is it defamation
to condemn what is obvious:

"the increasingly
systematic intrusion

"of the police in everyday life?"

Chairman Mao's New Clothes

In the West, some analysts
latch onto the official label.

Their essays take for granted

the concept of a cultural revolution

or even a civilizational one.

The scores of corpses washing up
on Hong Kong's shores

ilustrate, on a tiny scale

a grisly drama
the entire country is undergoing.

Idiots cannot but produce idiocies

as apple trees, apples.

Having seen these corpses
float down the Yellow River,

I refuse this idyllic image
of the Cultural Revolution.

I thought you'd be at the station.

I took an earlier train.

It was was nice out.
I started to walk.

The Free Press.

That's nice.

The ones you mentioned?

Yeah, but I can do better.

That one's so-so.

This one too.

This one is too busy.

I prefer this one.

Take it, it's yours.

I came because I have
something important to say.

I'm going away.

Where?

London, in two days.

My step-dad's doing the light-show
for Soft Machine.

They're already rehearsing.

Will you be gone long?

I don't know till when.

Mom's leaving Paris
to live with him in Notting Hill.

I'll be at the Lyc?e Fran?ais.

Will you be back this summer?

We're going to Ibiza.

I'll come to London.

I bookmarked the ones I like most.

There's no more gas.

I'm sorry.

I'll go on my own.

I'll come along.

I'm sorry.

It's hard to say it,
but don't come visit.

I'll write you. It will be easier.

Seems clear enough.

You're wrong. It's complicated.
I still love you.

Someone else?

Maybe. I don't know.

I'm not sure.
I need time to think.

I don't want to lose you.

Me neither.

Can I walk you to the station?

A platform is too depressing.

Don't watch me leave.

They'll think twice
before tearing off our posters.

How are the revolutionaries doing?

I told you not to use our mimeograph
to print your filth.

We can't condemn the moral order?

And sexual repression?

We're working on that issue.

You discredit our struggle.
Finish up and get lost.

Youth too worried about the future

What the fuck is going on?

Beat it, pricks!

Got you!

Let go of him, assholes!

They're throwing rocks! Back off!

Jean-Pierre!

This way!

It's all over. On every building.

Dissolution... Special Brigades...

What Special Brigades?

In this early work,
"The German Ideology"

- years before
"The Communist Manifesto"

their criticism of Max Stirner,
who called communism "utopian"

helped Marx and Engels define
historical materialism

and make a permanent break
with Feuerbach's idealism.

So who exactly is Max Stirner?

He wrote...

Come in.

Sorry to interrupt. Jean-Pierre
Moulinet, principal's office.

Take your belongings.

Security guards across the street
gave a bag to the police

in wich they found

your school ID.

This ties you in with the vandalism

that occurred last night
on school premises

For insurance reasons,
I must file a complaint.

Punishment will be
up to the Disciplinary Committee.

Any questions?

You weren't alone. I won't
encourage you to tell on others.

I leave you with your conscience
and convictions.

But I regret
having to waste my budget

to pay for your stupidity.

- See Jean-Pierre?
- He's going before Disciplinary.

- Did he give names?
- Not a word.

His parents
won't let him take the fall.

I know them. They'd never do that.

The guards turned him in.

They're SAC fascists.

They'll pay for it.

Fuck, it's them!

- Same scum!
- Over there!

You won't get away with this!

We saw you.

Fuck!

Laurent!

Youth Liberation Front manifesto.

Saturday 3 pm, Jussieu.

"All!" New issue!

"Special Brigades
Against a New World!"

Rackham the Red,
5 pm, the St. James.

The news isn't good.

My contacts say
the guard's out of his coma.

But he can't talk.

There's no prognostic.
They're waiting.

They know it's us?

They saw nothing.

Shadows in the dark.

Still...
they're definitely onto you.

- They'll question Jean-Pierre.
- I was home with my parents.

Ideally...

use summer vacation to lie low.

We have hide-outs.

It's fine. We discussed it.
We'll go to Italy.

It was planned.

Contact our comrades
at Fiat in Torino.

We're not going there.

And you?

My dad has me working
at his garage in Toulouse.

I'll stay with him.

My mom has a studio in Paris.

AJS asked me to join them full-time.

Did you accept?

I'm ready to commit.
If I can really help.

- May I?
- Help yourself.

Where's the restroom?

Is the camera yours?

All the equipment is.

If I have a project,
can I borrow it?

What kind of project?

I don't know. If I want to make
a short, for example.

You'll tell the collective.

We do agit-prop.
Usually we don't lend for fiction.

Reading
"Chairman Mao's New Clothes"?

It's propaganda
and the author is a CIA agent.

It's an alias.
There's no Simon Leys.

He's a Belgian sinologist
named Pierre Ryckmans.

He's very well-documented.

He's honest
about the massacres in China.

Cultural Revolution scares
American and Soviet imperialists.

That's why they slander it.

You're young,
but watch what you read.

I came with G?rard. He and
his brother started the movement.

We want the same pay
they get in Bezons.

At our parent company.

They get 20% more for the same work.

We just get empty promises.
So we're forming our own union.

With other militants
we helped them organized.

At Turbinax, union leaders
and foreman are in cahoots.

They wheel and deal.
Workers get jackshit.

The workforce
has been grumbling for a while.

It started in the workshop.

Worker's rep pissed me off.
Everyone agreed.

We voted for a wildcat.
To occupy the premises.

Old union guys opposed.
The majority shut them up.

Think we can film
the comrades on strike?

I can manage that.
I'll get your equipment in.

And you can get in by the canal.

If you're not scare of water.

An amazing opportunity for the area.

Other factories will follow suit.

It scares the communists.

They fear worker autonomy.

And the revolutionary ideas
it inspires.

You walk two miles to the village.

I'll show you.

There's a shortcut by the coomb.

Valence by bus,
then a train to Italy.

It's really easy.

You know were to go?

Not really.
Florence, then we'll see.

Our comrades are there.

They're showing our films
to Tuscan workers.

They'll meet militant filmmakers.

Create an alternative network.

Sorry
but I can't tell if you love me.

You can be honest.

Do you love me?

Yes.

More than Laure?

You don't know her.

She lives the life you want to live.

She's free, an artist.
I'm nothing like that.

It's over with Laure.

- Jean-Pierre is being charged.
- He wasn't there.

Guards say he was.

That's a disgusting lie.

Cops questioned his parents.
They're investigating.

Bastards.

Coordinated attacks by patriots

led to a consolidated free zone

which runs all the way
from north to south,

comprising two-thirds of Laos.

In it, half the population,

faced with a gigantic
war of destruction,

toil away for
the National Democratic Revolution

foreshadowing a Laos
that is independent,

democratic and prosperous.

The 1500th American plane

had just been shot down.
It was a reason to rejoice.

The people were also cheering on
the terms

for a 5-point political solution
proposed by the Front

to resolve the Laos problem
according to the 1962 Geneva Accords

and the situation on the ground.

Our people

have rallied around
the Lao Patriotic Front

presided by Prince Souphanouvong

and will fight
until the ultimate victory.

Beautiful film, "Laos: Rescued Images",
by Madeleine Riffaud

the last in our comrade's selection

from the French
"Hedgehog" collective.

Here they are to speak with you.

I really appreciated the film,

a tribute to the courage
of Laotian combatants.

Their struggle is overlooked
by government media.

These are the films
the Italian people want to see on TV.

In the future, it will be the case.
I'm certain.

This is what our struggle is about.

To denounce
the lies of capitalist media.

To set up a model
of free information.

to serve
the international revolution!

Italian workers must know...

Can you help me out?

Italian workers must know...

how the Laotian people...

are defying imperialist forces.

A question for our French comrades.

Your films adopt a classical style,

like that of the bourgeoisie.

Shouldn't revolutionary cinema
employ revolutionary syntax?

Such a style

would be a shock
for the proletariat.

Our role is to enlighten them.

Could it be that the revolutionary
syntax the comrade mentioned...

is in truth

the individualistic style
of the petite bourgeoisie?

Can you help me? I can't manage.

Concerning the tract
for the workers at "Nuovo Pignone"...

They need to know
it's too toned down.

It's disappointing.
I provided a document...

I used to work in the industry.

But you can't make entertainment
in revolutionary times.

Our actions
must synch with our ideas.

My dad works at a nuclear plant.

He organized a workgroup
on its dangers.

They want their conclusions known.

We have a project
on work conditions there.

I didn't get
why revolutionary syntax

is the style of the bourgeoisie.

Let's make the struggles known.
Forget style.

Cinema is for a future agenda.

So you accept
the language of the enemy?

We target the people, no esthetes.

New ideas
require a new language.

Revolutionary workers
speak that new language.

We must record what they say.

That's why we're going
to Reggio Calabria.

Rioters laid siege for 3 weeks.

We want to hear the rebel workers.

They stood up to the State.

Their struggle can teach us.

Jean-Ren? asked me
to go to Reggio Calabria.

To do what?

Tons of things.

The Italian comrades
won't help them.

You have to cme.

I can't.

I have my Beaux Arts entrance exam.

Join us afterwards.

Take you exam and come.

You've make up your mind.

Promise you'll come.

I don't like them much.

Boring films, primitive politics.

They act on their convictions.

Do you do any better?

I'm meeting them at the square.

Their contact in Reggio Calabria
is French.

I wrote down his number.

Call to say when you're coming.

I doubt they need me.

Don't play dumb. I need you.

Now's your chance
to learn filmmaking.

You'll do what you want, as usual.

I spoke to Jean-Pierre.
He won't rat on us.

The Trotskyites are helping.
They're behind him.

Does he need us?

They got him a good lawyer.

They are suing for perjury.

They say the others have no case.

And the guard?

I don't know.

They tossed coins 3 times.

Each time the book said to leave.

I'm going along.

- To Goa?
- No, not Goa.

It's too hot.
Then it's monsoon season.

Better to go to Nepal.
It's higher up, cooler.

Leslie
knows a Buddhist dance school.

Tibetan, if I got it right.

What about going to Art Dec??

Leslie and I were really lucky
to meet.

We're in love. The rest can wait.

It's intolerable that Brezhnev
is welcomed in Paris by Pompidou.

We have to denounce it.
The Communist Party won't!

Brezhnev is staying
where the Queen of England stayed.

Versailles.

That's a good lead-in.

Let's say no to this kind
of communism. It's not what we want!

Tell it to the workers.

We don't do fluff here at "Rouge".

The solutions come from below.
We still have the power to denounce!

Workers know it.
Let's get their voces heard.

I corrected my article
like you said.

So?

You're right. It's better.

I'll send it on.
They should publish it.

It's a responsible reading
on the high-school movement.

Your text shows
what's really at stake.

Try it bigger, please.

The whole page.

That's better.

Keep working on this space here.

Same problem as always.
The shoulders are on the same plane.

one lower than the other.
It throws the rest off kilter.

Gilles: London was conventional
and boring this spring

but summer in Ibiza was happier.

We lived
with an alcoholic musician.

I helped Mom make jewelry.
She sold it at the market.

We did it okay.

I have to tell you. I met someone.

Jean-Serge. He's older than me.

Cut off from his rich parents,

he spends all he has
on the counterculture.

He produced experimental films,
finances the Free Press.

Do you know John Ashbery?
Here's a poem of his...

- I'm glad you came.
- We never see you.

I'm here all day.
I'm saving up to move closer by.

I didn't go back to Italy.

Christine insisted
but I had no reason to be there.

On the way back
they stopped in Auvergne.

- They edited there.
- And then?

I have no idea.

She stopped answering.

See my article in "Rouge"?

I don't read "Rouge". Not every week.

I have it for you.

High-School Militancy Adrift

"Who are the anarchists playing?"

- You mean me?
- It's us.

We were wrong?

Politics is no game.

We fight for the working class.
The poor, disenfranchised,

exploited by the system.

We're in high-school. We can
only fight for student rights.

Can I be frank?
You're outside the real struggle.

You watch
but you protect yourself.

You're wrong. I have convictions.
Painting. Revolution.

You speak as an artist.

Art is solitude. It's a choice.
Not mine.

- Your job's better?
- For learning life, yes.

Your father asked you to lunch.
Meet him in his office?

Okay.

Done with 30-year-old women?

Almost.

60-year-old men
need to be reorganized next.

I'm at my wit's end. I can't cope.

"Splendors
an Miseries of Courtesans"

will honor
the ORTF's policy of quality.

We need ambitious projects...

Their meeting is just about over.

Or Ch?jov.
You know "A Hounting Drama"?

Good crime story,
excellent female role.

For next season.

I had lunch with Laure's mother
yesterday.

She's worried about her.

Any special reason?

She's back
and in a bad shape.

Her mother dislikes her boyfriend.

From a wealthy family.

She thinks she does drugs.

Know anything?

She barged into her mother's place,
jumpy and confused.

May I?

So I saw the doctor...

Nothing bad,
but it won't get better.

Parkinson's leaves
no room for surprise.

I thought
those Swiss drugs stabilized it.

It never really stabilizes.
You're just buying time.

Anything special to tell me?

With my fingers getting stiff,
it's hard for me to write by hand.

And no easier with a typewriter.

I'll need your help.

Like a secretary?

You'll learn the trade.

I told you I don't want to.

You want to make films?

Not like that.

I didn't think you'd come.

Come on... Too many people here.

I was afraid to see you.

That you'd be different.

And you're different.

Aren't you?

No, not enough.

I went to Italy.

I came back.

Life hasn't changed.

I brought my new drawings.

Your best work so far.

You're very lucky.

Why?

You know what you'll be.

A painter.

You don't know?

I live day by day.

Anything can happen.

I don't try to control it.

It's you who's right.

You live in the present.

I'm afraid
to miss out on everything.

I lost you.

I'm afraid to miss out on my youth.

Don't envy me.

This one's my favorite.

What are you doing?

It was for you.

You saw it. No one else must.

Come.

Careful.

Your mom says you do drugs.

To who?

To my dad, among others.

What an idiot.

It's not true?

Of course not.

I'm going to New York tomorrow
for a while.

There's lots going on there now.

Jean-Serge is opening a gallery.

Going to Paris?

"At some point on every case

"Chef Inspector Maigret
needed to size things up.

"After his favorite dish,
pork and lentils,

"he drank some brandy,
then walked by the river.

"The unfathomable comfort
he experienced while digesting

"would lead to the free association
of his thoughts. "

What is it, Gilles?

Maigret always
has to size things up.

So? What's the problem?

Because it's Simenon
who gets so lost in his plot...

he writes himself into a corner...
He needs to size things up.

He's a great writer.
He knows what he's doing.

He's a great writer, but...

he wrote
a Maigret a week in the 60s.

Look how it's constructed.

It's well-constructed!

Listen to he dialogue.
It's strained.

Disdain for your work
spells failure.

I'm trying to help.
I'm allowed an opinion.

How can you belittle Simenon?
What have you done?

I don't disdain him.
I see when he cheats.

He cheats.

But I do disdain TV.
It's a tool to numb the masses.

Big words you read in papers!

First learn to write, then judge
things as rashly as you want.

His books are sloppy,
like your scripts.

- Not true!
- The directors are hacks.

You can't say that!

Since his accident,
Jean Richard can't say his lines.

A zombie with a pipe!

He's courageous. Recovering
from a near-fatal accident.

Spare me.
Even Simenon says he's awful.

If you think it's such torture,
just give up.

I'm right, you hypocrite!

I'm not a hypocrite.
And you're wrong!

Who's he?

A friend.

Keep it up!

Pass the ball faster!

Go all out!

Later, Laurent.

Come on. Let's go talk.

Thanks for seeing me.

My mom told me to. What is it?

Recognize me?

They say
my concentration will improve.

It's better already.

I gave up security.
The city offered me this job.

Pays less.

Kids...

I have tomorrow's schedule.

Remember what we did today.

Stay tight on defense,
steal the ball, keep passing,

fan out.

At 15 feet, shoot.

You know I wasn't at the accident.

It was not accident.

The assault, sorry.

They were your friends.

But you did see me?

You know who was there.
You know them.

And you? You know?

- So why blame me?
- To get their names.

I don't know them.

The Trotskyistes
are paying for your lawyer?

That's right.

I hear he's good.

He does it out of conviction.

Yes, he's very good.
You have no case.

My mom says so too.

That we'll never win.
That it's best to forget.

You'll drop the charges?

Get lost.

I said get lost!

Rooftop of a Kabul hotel.

Belongs to an italian artist.
He designs rugs there.

You want a beer?

Yeah, sure.

That's his work.

Contemporary designs,
traditional woven.

They're maps.

Imagine them bigger...
six feet high.

He questions the status
of the artist.

He didn't draw the map.

Politics took care of that.
Same goes for flags.

He doesn't even weave them.

Still, he designs them.

He's part of the process
as geopolitics, seamtresses.

No more, no less.

So artists are vessels?

He asked me to be his assistant.

- Doing it?
- I don't know.

It's a tough decision.
Afghanistan is far.

Make it to Nepal?

Kabul was the end of that trip.
We had to get back.

Why?

Is it a secret?

I brought my drawings...

to the editors of "Parapluie. "

They have a band
called "Fille Qui Mousse".

They want collages
for their light show.

Waste of time.

Isn't there better to do?

Like what?

Like your paintings.

You're starting out, like me.

You have progress to make.

I don't have much time.
I prefer to draw.

You're wrong.

I preferred your paintings.

Will you show them to me?

I'd rather not.
They're not me anymore.

I couldn't say why.

Here it is.

The guard dropped charges.

I forgot about him.

Good for Jean-Pierre.

For you too, right?

Stay as long as you want.

Leslie's friends are away till June.

They teach at Brown.

Can you shut off the engine?
They're filming.

What movie? I heard it's Maigret.

Is Jean Richard here?

Make sure there's hot tea
in Jean's trailer tomorrow.

Don't worry.

He said you forgot.
Graciously, but he said it.

Don't worry.

Here's the transparency.

This is nice.

Okay, we keep it.

And "No More Brain", third.

With slogans like this...

Victory for the people's struggle!

You could have waited.

I couldn't.

I had to be here
for the end of the show.

Our comrades think
the theater owner is cheating them.

So you count the spectaros?

To catch him.

Coffee.

Same here.

And two glasses of water.

It's our first commercial release,
so we're suspicious.

I saw the film.

And?

Nothing.

Comrades risked their lives
to film it

and smuggle it out.

So people know
how desperate the situation is.

It's exceptional.

I didn't say I don't agree.
I totally do.

You live with Jean-Ren??

A house in Kremlin-Bic?tre.

With members of the collective.

The film you made in Italy...
Is it finished?

We're still debating.

Comrades
find it politically questionable.

It's tense but fascinating.

I'm learning a lot.

We have an office.

I answer the phone,
tend to the prints.

It keeps me busy.

I want to go to college
but I missed registration.

I may go to London.

To be a gofer on a film.

It may not work out.

What film?

Nothing like yours.

Go on.

Science fiction.

With prehistoric animals.

And Nazis... I think.

Still drawing?

Sure.
I was published in "Parapluie".

I saw.

Like it?

A lot.

You know I like what you do.

They cropped it
an added yellow print.

It doesn't matter.
It's good.

I have to go. It's late.

Kremlin-Bic?tre is far.

"Whenever painters try
to cast off representation,

they do so destroying painting
and their survival as painters".

Any good?

It's amazing.

Do you agree?

To some extent.

We follow our own path.

But it costs you sometimes a lot.
You can't know.

I understand.

I think I do.

I saw Christine.

And?

She didn't go her own way.

She wants a relationship.

Hence the older man.
You want a relationship?

I'm upset with myself.

I live in my fantasies.

When reality knocks,
I don't open.

He tell you?

Briefly.

No need for more.

It would be dangerous.
For you and us.

I thought it over.
You're partially right.

Militancy is getting us nowhere.

Bourgeoise elections even less.

It's a trap.

It's time for action.

No revolution ever avoided it.

French resistance took up arms.
We extol their heroism.

We're the new resistance.

Don't Maoists say that?

Maybe they're right.

So we're breaking
with the Trotskyites.

Where do you position yourself?

Why talk anarchy
if you don't act on it?

It's easy.

The car comes.

The comrades change vehicles.

Set theirs on fire in the woods.

He'll take you back by motorcycle.

- If it's worth it.
- It's not our call.

We chose the underground,
and its rules.

First one: no questions.

And if it backfires...

what do I risk?

Don't ask what you risk...

but if you'll be true to yourself.

The prints of "Weekend in Sochaux"
are booked all summer.

It's possible in September.

For unions, it's free of charge.

Fine. I'll send you the form.

For us the problem
was how to incorporate

their demans
into a larger revolutionary context.

We were stuck.

So we gave the camera
to the workers.

What they shot
was pretty surprising.

Stronger that what we did.

Their perspective is truer.

They go straight
to the heart of the problem.

I think we've gathered
enough material.

They want to edit it themselves.

I'm not at all sure about this.

They need a minimum of
technical skills. We have to help.

Monique can go
do the technical stuff.

Great.

That settles it.

I went shopping.

Tonight I work at the restaurant.

With the lesbians?

Not lesbians. Feminists.

Did you pick up the print?

The phone was ringing all day.

But I need it for tomorrow.

So get it yourself.

I didn't mean that.

I'll care of it tomorrow.

Christine!

Anything I should know?

You come and go... We cross paths.

I have a lot of work.

I have work too. We managed before.

There's nothing.

If you want to talk...

I'm looking for Gilles.

Alain!

Gilles went to London.

Andrew knows Leslie's parents.
This is his place.

He's back for the trimester.

It wasn't planned.

His kids are coming.
I'm leaving tomorrow.

When did Gilles leave?

Last week.

I wrote him.

I know.

I don't have his address.

I'll forward the letter once I do.

- A number?
- We can't call him.

He calls.

You left Jean-Ren??

You can spend the night.

No thanks. I'd rather not.

Got a place to sleep?

I'll manage.
Don't worry about me.

What about you, Alain?

Leslie's in New York.
I won't go.

It's not for me. I'm not ready.

Later, maybe.

For now it's painting.
I still have a lot to learn.

It means going back to Kabul.

I know it'll be tough.

The Situationist International
arrived at a point in History

as the thought
of a world collapsing.

It is now occurring
before our eyes.

The new era
is deeply revolutionary.

and it knows it.

In all of society, no one
can or will continue as before.

We will not submit
to what is going on.

The demand of life
has become a revolutionary program.