The Three-Way Wedding (2010) - full transcript
A play writer entertains the actors of his next play, including his ex-wife and her new lover. Everyone is finding his new place.
THE THREEWAY WEDDING
This relationship
stinks.
You call me then you get moralistic.
You've got nerve.
I don't call you.
I call no one.
I forbid you to mention your visits.
You must free this house
of your presence.
- I must?
- Yes.
When you push me away, you drive out
what's most precious in you.
You know that.
Even after everything,
I need to see you.
I'm pleased when you come back.
They're here.
I'm coming down.
Hello, Fanny.
You got the mail?
All incredibly important, I guess.
No, nothing looks important.
I'm expecting guests.
I'll be up
if they piss me off.
Call me if anything needs doing.
I'll come up later to sign stuff.
You can venture out.
I've combed the area.
Not so much as a sniff of a snail.
There are things to clear up
in this nasty play?
This is Théo,
our distinguished actor.
Auguste...
How are you?
- Don't you do textual analysis?
- They want it from the oracle.
I'm chopped liver. Fried.
It's not the first time
you want to discuss a role.
But it's the first time,
I'll buy into this charade.
- You came up twice this morning.
- Stop it!
Are you losing it
or trying to make me feel guilty?
I never come here.
Morning, night, never.
Exactly what I hold against you.
He leads her off
to try to win her back again.
- Am I wrong?
- It's always like that.
Yes, but it's an obscene ritual.
Coming here with you two
kept me awake all night.
That's not why I'm here.
What you write,
that's what makes us alive.
We are still one.
Distance doesn't exist for us.
One?
Like husband and wife, you mean?
Why do you always laugh about us?
You should do like Man Ray.
One night, Man Ray...
had an attack of insomnia.
Devastating. Unbearable.
As he'd never been insomniac,
he bought himself a revolver,
intending to shoot himself
if it recurred.
he put the revolver
on his nightstand.
And he slept like a log.
His unconscious
decided to pipe down
and stop busting his balls at night.
He never got insomnia again.
Miserable isn't the word,
it's painful.
You and me,
we transcend painful.
Who says
I still want your painful happiness?
Sorry, I have to leave after lunch.
|'|| introduce you to Fanny.
Who's Fanny?
A student
at Angouléme University.
She's very charming
and adept at replying to mail.
That's new.
Two months already.
You don't call too often,
so you miss out on
details of my thrilling life.
She comes one morning a week.
You've reworked the final scene?
No, it resists.
I thought meeting Théo might help.
It will help.
We're going upstairs.
Won't be long.
Harriet, this is Fanny.
The letters you don't send me...
She opens them.
We'll leave you to it.
Pretty, huh?
Much more.
You should marry her.
There's an idea.
It has occurred to me.
Why theatre?
Because people like you
write what I wish I'd written.
As I can't, I enjoy acting it.
Anyone can be a dramatist.
At night perhaps.
In my dreams,
I stage little plays
of which I'm author and actor.
That don't lack imagination.
Not necessarily.
I dream I can't act.
I'm in a theatre.
We're in rehearsal
but there's always something
or someone
that stops me acting.
Why do you write plays?
It has to talk.
Film is full of silences,
and it's the only time in life
you escape. It's fun.
You probe,
you punish, you reward,
you blow people away,
you absolve,
you're always spying.
It's fun and you never let go.
You're a full-on bodyguard.
No, I have a sticky beak.
Do you know the expression?
It means to meddle.
Very picturesque.
And your character,
when he thinks he's been let go
and can do stuff on the sly,
he cops it.
And pow!
He gets slapped down.
We hound him, take all he has.
Feelings, passions, thoughts,
his lines, everything.
And we make him say stuff,
he maybe wouldn't dare say.
Isn't that fun?
Didn't you want to act?
I wasn't a good actor.
All I wanted to do
was spew stuff at the audience
that I didn't write
and wasn't accountable for.
And you?
How did Stéphane unearth you?
Where did you unearth me?
Who cares where we unearthed you.
The posters are ready.
And you know your lines,
unlike Harriet, the favorite.
Whose favorite am I?
On top of that, he's gifted.
It won't be his fault if it bombs.
I'm gonna make the play a flop.
I'll stand there like you,
front stage,
and I'll nix the character.
Are you saying I settle scores
with women through her?
V\fith one woman in particular?
She isn't positive enough,
or some such shit?
The question is,
Is it lacking in life?
My life is, sure.
Yours, definitely.
My play can't lack life.
As much.
Why talk about my life,
lacking life or not?
Talk about yours.
You're right.
I still want to know
where I was unearthed.
Predators like you
go to ground
in inaccessible places.
I don't want to hear this.
Put the pasta on.
I have to see the girl upstairs.
I'll be right back.
You don't deserve me sewing you.
Just invitations
and a letter from a German publisher.
And a check's arrived.
You need to endorse it.
That boy's way too flip.
And Harriet acts like he doesn't exist.
Not a glance.
Not a single expression...
of solidarity.
They're taking me for a ride.
And her life.
Her life that's...
so full of life.
That's new.
Know why they came?
To be sure
I'll finish the final draft.
Seeing them prowl around me,
I have no desire to.
And that thing...
What if I didn't do the rewrite?
What if I left it unfinished
so they couldn't perform it?
When she arrived,
I found her ugly.
She's pretty.
She can be pretty.
I find her ugly.
Hypocrisy taints the inside
and it shows.
She's too old for the part.
She doesn't have its innocence either.
She belongs to another man.
I'm sure of it.
It doesn't stop her visiting me
nearly every night.
By day, her interest
is strictly professional.
She's using the play discreetly
to sell me her lover.
Why does she think I'm so stupid?
The role doesn't suit her.
Everything will be overacted.
Innocence, naivety...
All she's lost with age,
she'll emphasize because it's gone.
She no longer feels it.
Can you read through a scene
I'd like to hear?
I bashed it out yesterday.
I can't act it,
I can only read it.
Good, I want to hear it
barely performed.
I look younger and feel befler.
Yes, I'm cutting back.
I'll only keep
the hours laughing with a child,
listening to music I love...
I said "read"
to stop you being dramatic.
Add a little music.
I look younger and feel befler.
Yes, I'm cutting back.
I'll only keep
the hours laughing with a child,
listening to music I love,
being caressed in beds,
playing ping-pong,
wandering aimlessly
through the streets
and trashing everything trivial.
Fanny...
Did you ever think about acting?
Would you like to work on
one or two scenes with me?
Yes.
You think no
and say yes.
You're funny.
I'll leave you to the mail.
Call me if you sense
that downstairs...
Thank you.
I'm much calmer now.
Before the charade,
remember to take a piss.
So, how does he like his pasta?
I like it very hard.
And your sperm sweet.
How do you get it so sweet?
Time I jumped you, right?
Your cock, anytime, anywhere.
You told me to behave,
I'm behaving.
Answer me.
How come yours is so sweet?
It's unique.
Kiss me or I'll rape you.
Is it the mood ofthis house
driving you sex mad?
"The pretty child that puts in your hand
a well formed breast...
I'm going-
I withdraw.
What music to go with that?
Pasta.
You bring that recipe for rabbit pété?
My mother's rabbit pété.
I have rabbits in the garden,
and no pété.
But a recipe
to stop them running riot.
Your shotgun!
No, that's for blowing my brains out.
Ask your friendly barber
for hair clippings.
Scatter them around young plants
and the rabbits run a mile.
You remember the braid you gave me?
You hung it on a carrot?
No, I unplaited it
and arranged it around the camellia
you gave me.
I couldn't use a stranger's hair.
Not even the woman
who gave you the climbing rose?
Come on, I want a word.
Let them stuff their faces.
What's he up to?
He wants to know.
It's not my best play.
I wrote it
without visualizing much.
I can't even see Harriet
playing Aurélie.
You're wrong to doubt her.
When she reads,
you want to see her on stage.
I always have doubts.
Her age bothers me, too.
I'm not sure she can play a woman
barely out of adolescence.
If you'd prefer me
not to be in your play, say so.
You can refuse Stéphane's choice.
You're funny, you actors.
You're far more paranoid
than anyone else.
True, you're so exposed and vulnerable.
You're way off.
I'm being open with you.
Open with me?
If you doubt Harriet, why not doubt me?
You don't know me.
It's your decision.
Stéphane can't impose me on you.
He's imposing you?
I suppose.
I thought it was Harriet.
She didn't mention you,
which is a way of "imposing" you.
Careful
she doesn't use you against me.
Against you?
It's over between us.
She might enjoy
throwing you against me.
I'm lost.
Yes, she might enjoy
throwing you against me to...
We'll use quotes, it's hip.
And the word's fallen out of favor.
- What word?
- "Offend".
She might enjoy throwing you at me
to offend me.
It may be over,
but there's no room between us. None.
Coming between us
is dangerous, you see?
I have no intention of offending you,
and whatever I do with the role,
you'll be disappointed.
You assume
I'll come to see it.
I thought you took me aside
for a kind of audition.
What's going on?
I took Harriet without permission.
I don't need your permission.
I won't do the play,
I'll go back to Paris.
Tell Harriet not to worry,
I'll be fine.
- I just wanted to warn you.
- Against what?
I'm marrying Harriet on September 26.
Warn me against what?
I hope the date's okay for you.
And stop threatening me.
He's not very strong.
He ran away like a rabbit.
Because he knows
coming between us will kill him.
- What did you tell him?
- The truth.
They can't take it.
It's an ordeal for them.
But I didn't have time to tell him
he touches me when he caresses you.
Yes, he's copping a feel of me!
You think I want to fight suicide?
That's your plan?
You're crazy!
You know why he seduced you?
I know.
So he could brag about it, right?
Exactly. You understand.
Nobody told me you were lovers,
but I knew it.
Intuitively.
You can't hide anything from me.
You belong to another man.
Not him. He knows it.
But we divorced, you and me.
Why on earth
did I bring him to see you?
Don't worry, if he can't stay,
he won't run very far.
You'll soon find him.
But when you leave him...
Be quiet!
When you leave him, he'll suffer.
A sore loser can't be a good actor.
What I've written is my revenge
on the people who hurt me.
Don't expect me to let one of them
act in my play!
Why didn't you tell me?
I brought him so you'd guess.
I knew it wouldn't take long.
How |ong's this been going on
behind my bac|C?
I chose him.
They'd never met before.
You're the matchmaker.
He's a good actor.
I couldn't work out
why finishing the play was so hard.
Since he came on the scene,
I've been stuck.
Now I know why I couldn't write.
They've known each other
nearly two months?
What are you going to do?
You've lost your actor.
And actress.
You haven't got a play.
I'll never finish it.
Not for them.
Studying law isn't a vocation,
it's Daddy's choice.
You want to please him,
but you have other dreams.
No?
I like law.
I need to write for someone.
And I can't write for her now.
The girl who captivates,
if she wants to and is talented,
that works.
Take a seat over here.
We'll do tests to reassure you
and gradually
you'll build up your confidence.
I'm not an actress.
In that case, I finish the play.
She performs it in Paris.
V\fithout me on the opening night,
of course.
And you take over on tour.
What counts is a strong presence.
What's said is meaningless
unless the right person says it.
For me, the only obstacle
is being afraid to let me down.
But you won't.
I won't let you down.
I'll drive you.
Say yes,
and then I can get back to writing.
Draw up a contract obliging me
to give you the play to read in 10 days.
You can still say no
if you thinkthe play isn't worth it.
Okay.
A contract between you and you.
You the writer and you...
No, between you and me.
Anyway, I don't believe you.
You're interested in acting.
At school and college,
there's always a smarlass teacher
who organizes lessons
for curious young girls,
only to seduce them, in fact.
- At college, there's a good one.
- Don't go.
You soon learn bad habits.
I can't help you
if you fool around with god knows who.
In the contract,
specify that you calmed me down.
Thank you.
She drives me nuts.
For so long now.
And I'll come with you.
You'll have the play in 10 days.
You keep the boy and replace Harriet.
She's too old.
We can't drop Harriet.
Only in Paris then.
Not on tour.
She wasn't lined up for the tour.
Put it in her contract.
Why can't she tour?
I just said,
she's too old for the role.
And she wasn't lined up for the tour,
so why argue?
How should I know.
- Call her to say it's all arranged.
- You call her.
There's always...
There's always a storm with her.
Why can't we meet without,
I don't know...
Serenity isn't the right word but...
I'm too old for this claptrap.
The girl upstairs
will be wonderful.
She'll take over the role
and reinvent it.
Who's the girl upstairs?
If I think of her,
I'll be able to write.
She's an actress?
No, a student.
Why? I may be wrong?
We all mess up.
She'll be ready.
You'll be the first to applaud.
|fyou're seeing her,
cut Harriet some slack.
Sure, I'll get married.
September 26!
Let's all get married together.
I'm not seeing her.
- Do you plan to?
- No.
You want me married again?
Why not?
Break-up scenes are a pain.
I write to console.
There's enough pain out there.
Weaving patterns is interesting
only if you see the light through them.
I try to.
I made this room for you.
So you could flee me.
Whenever you wanted.
You left before it was finished.
Do you like it?
You collect children's beds?
At the start, on your face,
I managed to erase a small part
of your anxiety.
I can't anymore.
I give you nothing and you know it.
Why'd you bring me up here?
We go back too far
to enjoy seducing each other.
You only derive pleasure
from your audience.
You need it to put on a show,
to continue your actor's striptease.
You only believe what plays on stage.
How life plays out with me...
never interested you.
You didn't bring your actor here
to hurt me.
Your brought him
to put us to the test.
I sometimes forget
what you've become.
- That's not a game.
- It is.
We stopped playing ages ago.
Let's start again.
And nobody...
can play us off against each other.
If I can't love you...
what's the point?
You see us as a rematch.
I want to start afresh.
You're not dumb enough
to believe that crap.
Or are you getting carried away again?
What are you doing?
Beethoven.
String Quartet no.13.
If you can't love me, why bother?
When did you plan to tell me
about the wedding?
What cheek,
inviting your lover into my play,
imposing him upon me...
It's more than a lack of tact.
It's so unlike you.
You're out to destroy me.
September 26.
Is it true what he said?
Yes, it's true.
You want to kill me.
You don't need an audience.
Stop, please.
Why were we so destructive?
I appreciate the "we",
even if it's sweet-talk.
Destructively speaking,
I was always ahead,
according to you.
You invite me to go to Prague with you.
I can't because of rehearsals,
fittings, costumes...
Last minute, I cancel everything.
I race home
and you're already gone.
And for a whole week,
no news, nothing.
Silence.
You switch off your phone
and I don't exist.
As if I never existed.
Eventually, you come back
all sweetness and light.
V\fith a gift even.
A very pretty Bakelite lamp
that somehow I don't throw in your face.
You're a monster.
Can you hug me
instead of conducting your orchestra?
A hug won't soothe anything.
That boy is a messenger of
reconciliation between you and me.
That's why you brought him.
Now he's brought you back to me,
he's gone.
He's more than that.
I do the kissing.
I miss you cruelly. I admit that.
But not as-was. Not like before.
I think of you.
Sometimes,
I wish you could hold me,
be nice to me.
Not as before,
not in the same way, not as-was.
No more as-was.
And most ofthe time...
I'd hate to be in your arms.
You seduced me,
stirred me...
Screwed me, too.
Never sank me.
You know that.
Our love was very powerful, yes.
And now,
if you fucked me,
you wouldn't gain a sliver of revenge.
He got a cab.
He arrives at the station.
The train pulls in.
Don't you start.
He's mad at you.
His exit was so you'd follow.
Now he looks a fool.
He thinks he doesn't love you.
He's proud of his exit,
but missing out on the play? Regret.
He hesitates.
He's quite capable of coming back,
no problem.
He's a great dancer.
You've no idea...
One step forward,
two steps back.
You need a good dancer.
When he turns on the charm,
you won't be able to resist.
He has no chance.
You'll see.
A more charming slut,
there's never been.
If he thinks he's in love,
does he steam out or come bac|C?
If he comes back,
he stays in the play.
He has a few beers and a sandwich.
He hasn't eaten all day.
I see him
taking refuge in the church.
No, not the church.
Nothing to see. Sinister.
He's in the café.
Where else?
Wondering how to come back
without losing face.
By beating me up?
Not very original.
- He'll be backthen?
- He'll be back.
As soon as he regains his composure.
He never lost it.
Can you imagine him
getting by without you?
Easily.
But I don't want to imagine it.
That would be unforgiveable.
Anything else, okay,
but he's on that train,
doing fine without you.
The girl upstairs
has potential as an actress.
Could you work with her in Paris?
Me?
Drama lessons?
You'll refuse the tour.
She'd make a good replacement.
You fall back on the girl
as my beau boards the train?
Don't worry, I doubt I interest her.
V\lhat'd you do if she's in love?
What would you do?
Can she get the better
of a guy like you?
Who loves the way you do?
What do you mean, the way I love?
- You know.
- No, say it.
Oddly.
She's inexperienced,
but has the right age and innocence.
And she has great presence.
You could adopt her
as a kind of pupil.
A disciple.
She'd be your spiritual child.
If you trained her, she'd be perfect.
It's up to you to adopt her.
Maybe she'd like that.
I don't need a spiritual child.
You don't want children anymore.
Why wouldn't I want children?
Having a child
means with me.
How about you go see the girl?
Not a word about me.
Ask her if Auguste interests her
in the short-term.
He hired you
for all the administrative shit
and you're doing his corrections.
It's more fun?
Yes.
Do you like his writing?
Yes, a lot.
I was happy to perform it.
And I was happy with him.
As well.
You could be happy with him.
I'm only 20 years old.
No, he is what he is.
He's handsome.
V\fith the body of a 20-year-old.
Smarter than the students you meet.
You want life insurance?
I don't want anything.
What could I give him?
My youth?
Yes.
And your sparkle.
We're dead weights at my age.
Cute butt and firm tits, a godsend.
I don't think
I'm into him that way.
He says to me,
There's a girl been working for me
a few weeks.
Presence, youth, and so on.
Perfect for the role.
If only she can act a bit,
she can do the tour.
I couldn't replace you.
His offer of acting,
are you interested?
It's tempting, but I'm no actress.
I'm a student.
Acting never appealed to you?
Sure. I took a few lessons
at a local school, that's all.
It's enough for him.
You're screwed.
- Does he know?
- No.
Screwed.
Touring pisses me off.
You won't replace me,
the part is yours.
When I read the last draft,
it was obvious
it wasn't written for me.
Up until now,
reading his work,
I could see my footprints.
This time,
the more I read,
the more I disappeared.
I'm no longer in his sights.
Right now,
he's writing the role of a young girl,
more you than me.
He doesn't know me.
He's allowed to work you out.
He talks about you to me
as if he's in love,
but I'm not sure
he's come to terms with the idea.
If you accept the role,
maybe you'll accept
more than the role.
Does that scare you?
Being in love?
For instance.
I doubt anything will happen.
Especially with you around.
You have nothing to worry about.
He's easy to love,
but day to day, he's horrendous.
He asked you to talk to me?
Everything's in place
to form a little group.
We'll make him write plays
for three characters.
A young man, Théo,
and two women,
beautiful, intelligent, in love!
We'll give him scope to invent
a fourth character if he wants,
and our quartet
will play
with such intensity and emotion.
Our children will play in silence
in rehearsal.
And kiss backstage
during the performance.
will write brilliantly
with a fluency
he's never felt before.
I've never lived in a group.
You'll never be alone.
Théo and I
will live just next door.
As soon as you feel down,
we'll be there,
quicker than paramedics!
By the ramparts of Seville
At my friends’ Lilas Pastia
I'll dance the seguidilla
and drink manzanilla
Here's what awaits you...
He'll tell you
life's been hard on him.
You must deduce that it's my fault
and that he wants to find some light,
meaning a woman
who can reconcile him with humanity.
Humanity is him.
Heartless women are me.
Reconciliation
with the big wide world is you.
He'll place his hands
on your shoulders.
He'll look at you very profoundly
with the intense gaze
of a newborn baby.
And he'll ask you,
V\fi|| you have a child with me?
Totally mesmerized,
you'll hear yourself say...
Yes.
I even replied,
Yes, thank you.
And we didn't have children.
My memories of the early days
are dazzling.
He was writing, he was happy,
and I was proud
to be making my contribution.
I'll let you get on.
I set it all out for your student,
as if we had never existed.
So that it's not an obstacle.
As if we no longer existed.
I'm afraid I may have belittled us.
Shit, it'll live forever.
You keep saying the opposite.
I have to resist you.
She's capable of playing the part,
don't you thin|C?
But I'm not sure
she'd be the right partner for you.
I came because I don't like
what we've become.
You...
All in the past tense.
Three days ago,
I was having a fine time dying,
in a cute little panic attack,
on a station platform in Paris.
To you and you alone,
I wanted to send a quick note.
Something like,
I'm dying at this very moment.
Dying-
Actually dying.
For real.
Suffocating.
Burst aneurysm imminent.
How to survive?
I know. By kissing you.
Why didn't you send it?
So he'd slyly read it at night?
I wrote it
and I didn't send it.
Send it to me
and stop burying us.
I want you alive.
I'd like more of you in my life.
Théo's crazy to love.
You too.
I like being
around people crazy to love.
And I'd really like
to have you all around me.
What about a threeway wedding?
It's already a disaster!
Just two of us is impossible.
I'm not good enough?
Fuck you then.
You're really getting married?
Yes.
And you claim I harass you every night.
Didn't you see my ass?
I saw myself in the hallway mirror.
You didn't say I had a big ass.
If he won't talk about your butt,
what use is he?
V\fithout you,
I'm not sure I can do it.
Two of you
will be much better.
I know you'll get on.
Show me your big ass,
to see if we two still get on.
I don't want to fuck.
Show me your ass.
We were in a parking lot, fucking.
You heard a car door.
In under 3 seconds, you were dressed.
You left me by the car,
bare ass drenched in jism.
I was too busy laughing at you
to get mad.
If he came in now,
you'd leave me bare ass?
Yes.
We'd both fuck you,
like in a porn movie.
Who suggested marriage?
He wants us to get married.
You're for it?
No, not like a bastard.
Stop turning me on.
Stop it.
Or three of us, with the girl.
Three of us, five of us, and so on.
I like your ass.
You think that
after 3 years of constant goodbyes,
I can listen to crap like
"3 of us, 5 of us" without it hurting?
It's not crap.
I often feel a need for you.
I don't say so. I should.
In case you think
I want to come back,
I hold my tongue.
At last, the pretty smile
your mother gave you.
It's good to see it back.
So you're the girl upstairs?
I suppose so.
What are you doing?
The mail.
Isn't mail boring?
You don't Iookthat kind of girl.
Here...
What I've got without corrections.
I can't take it further.
When I can,
you can tell me what you think.
Be gentle with me.
What about your life?
Where's your life at?
It's your play.
That makes a meager life.
The lover's return,
that could amuse us.
What do you thin|C? Am I in love?
I get the feeling you're not.
You were a serial seducer once.
No, I'm not in love.
There are few takers for what I've got.
In fact, no takers.
In the mirror, I see a void.
What I've got is a total vacuum.
Don't despair,
you have potential.
You get over everything,
even Harriet...
so now you're ripe for the picking
by the girl upstairs.
You should introduce me.
I don't want you all
taking turns up there
and debating among yourselves...
Is she right for him?
Is she good in bed?
- I don't mean sex.
- Is she fuckable?
Do you have any idea
what happened in my absence?
Curiously, no one drove after me.
You didn't see anything?
I don't look out the window.
You live here?
I don't live with Auguste.
I meant sleep with,
not live with.
He's insufferable, apparently.
They all think...
Or sleep with him.
But nobody seems to care.
The mai|'s your whole life?
Do you know who I am?
You're Harriet's friend and an actor.
When Harriet came up...
Why did she come up?
Auguste wants me
to do the play on tour.
In that case,
I want to do the play on tour, too.
The mail is a fagade.
I'm a student.
That's another fagade.
I really am.
She came up to kill you?
It felt like she was seducing me.
You don't like girls?
I'm not attracted to women.
Sure, but girls.
If they're pretty, young,
with small breasts, malleable...
Easy to dominate?
Yes.
No sense of initiative.
You can picture Harriet with a girl?
For a moment, I thought so.
And that girl couldn't be you?
I don't like women.
That's why I see you as a girl.
If I like women I'm a girl
because girls don't like women.
Confusing.
Ifyou see me as a girl,
am I pretty?
Yes.
I'm glad.
I'm a boy
who only likes women and girls.
Unlike you.
They're beginning
to doubt I'll be back.
People don't stop coming in and out.
V\fith all these visitors,
if anything happens between us,
this office becomes the boudoir
in an erotic farce.
"Fancy that!"
Could be a real laugh.
Nothing's going to happen.
Perhaps they're the real story,
not me.
Why not?
The real story is Auguste and me.
Auguste and you?
You don't sleep with him.
You don't live with him either.
From afar,
that makes a real love story.
Auguste and you.
That seems pretty convincing.
This is where you kiss me.
Sol leave...
I sneak round the kitchen
and I make my comeback.
I hope to see them
intrigued by my return.
For my writing,
I get by
on my mind's nocturnal ramblings.
Can't afford to miss them.
Catch them and hold on
to see if they can be used
to show a little wit,
to seduce one more time.
I live off those scraps,
off my own excrement.
I'm as green as can be.
No mess left behind.
The present returns.
I'm glad to see you.
We all bet you'd be back.
You'd like the three of us
to live together,
you, me and Harriet
in the same house?
No, not really.
She wants us to.
I said it was beyond me,
that I lack imagination.
I'm too old to experiment.
But if you're up for it,
I'd consider it as a solution.
We already have the house.
True, but a house without children
is nonsensical.
Feeding the birds,
chattering with them...
Down by the river.
In the woods.
I was waiting for you.
I was in the village café.
The radio was on loud.
Playing blasts from the past.
The owner knew all the words.
She was very impressive.
Yes, I know
her wa y of being mine
displeases you
Did you have a blast from the past?
Did you fuc|C?
No, but...
He does.
He caressed me.
All over?
Did you enjoy it?
No, I didn't enjoy it.
It turned me on.
You left without me.
Who are you
to leave without me?
Who are you?
It's what you wanted.
Alone time with him.
So he'd caress me?
Maybe so.
He's a funny guy.
No time for lunch,
he just kicked me out.
That turned you on, too.
Won't you turn me on?
I don't thinkl feel like it.
You really feel like it.
I'm sure you feel like it.
You're right, but not here.
Not here.
You never fucked on a riverban|C?
I told Auguste
you were crazy to love.
That's right.
Because he's crazy to fuck.
Living together
means you fucking us each in turn?
I never want to be free of you.
I did your corrections.
- It reads better?
- Yes.
The last quarter goes nowhere.
Actors are complicated.
We need to sense,
Yes it's him or Yes it's her.
It's got nothing to do with acting.
You can do it.
If you accept
all the faith I have in you.
I was thinking about life with you.
Life with me.
Life with me...
That means...
everything together.
Work, plays, life.
Auguste...
I don't want
that with you.
Your caresses
are expert gestures.
Hold me.
Don't be gentle.
If it's brutal, it's sincere?
No feelings?
I don't want your desire.
I'm talking about feelings.
I could talk about desire.
Desire's outdated? Disgusting?
I want another way with you.
Desire is sex?
So, no sex.
You're at a shitty age.
Torn between a tangled past
and a radiant future
supposed to last eternally.
But I'm alive,
I'm in the present, like a child.
I don't want to play with a child.
By dodging the issue of desire,
you raise it,
negatively.
Balling you, that's easy.
I'm in great shape.
I'll give you more orgasms
than you can take.
I'll give you migraines.
Your arm...
I should have ripped it out
and run off with it
to leave you in peace.
In a Japanese novel,
a guy hides under his coat
the arm a woman gave him,
most likely to get rid of him.
A girl way more generous than you.
That old need for consolation
becomes truly impossible to satisfy.
Feel sorry for yourself, poor victim.
But above all feel sorry for you,
the inadequate, incapable invalid.
Inadequate to be touched.
Incapable of accepting the caress
of an outstretched hand.
Shut up, you old fool.
Stop rambling.
Your mind overheats,
but your heart's cold.
I'm a great actor.
I believe every word I say.
I forbid you to leave.
Stop it!
Enough. Cut it out
Calm down!
Calm down!
Under the same roof? No way.
Let it go!
I'm kidding.
Yeah, I'm kidding, too.
I'm a fool.
They force me
to make a fool of myself.
I should go and apologize.
Why don't you leave?
Okay, come with me.
Downstairs.
|'|| apologize.
Can you tell them
I'm going to apologize?
That way, they'll come back.
We need to discuss the play.
I need to hear them.
My behavior's...
Harriet will sort things out.
Fatso'|| do us good.
Audition me.
Now.
Audition you?
Sorry, I'm cracked.
It's good to come back to work.
Even if I have complete faith
in Stéphanesjudgment.
Then I'll go.
I'll give you a scene I knocked up.
Something I wrote on the side.
The main character, Victor,
suspects Louis,
Gae||e's boyfriend of wanting to...
Odd idea, this audition.
It's not my doing.
Can you see if she's okay?
Come back for the read-through.
It's nothing.
Just Harriet
taking pot shots at pigeons.
The living room is your playground.
I'm Aya's husband. Can I have a word?
They keep meeting.
I know.
- It doesn't worry you?
- No.
I've never seen her so happy.
An audition?
breathing in a bell jar.
He's got nerve.
They've got nerve!
She has no befler friend than me.
We're in love
and going to have a child.
I believe she's happy with me.
Théo's funny.
The girl's a bit girlish.
Théo, a touch less whimsy.
Fanny, you have to be ironic.
Don't let him dominate.
The guy isn't capable of loving
anyone.
And he's messing up my life!
He's a sad Iitfle fire
that warms no one.
Keep him away from her.
You've no idea
how helpful it would be
if you were the person he needs.
Between you and I,
no one needs me.
I'm young.
And he's a big fan of youth.
He'll dump me
for a younger girl, not A ya.
Breathing easier now?
Anyway, I'm not with him for life.
You won't end yours with her.
Really, why?
Why shouldn't we be for life?
Why do you say such stupid things?
I didn't come to see you.
Besides a consolation kiss,
I don't see what] can do.
With the tongue?
Anyway, I don't want to.
Good, very good.
We'll leave it there.
That was good.
Thank you.
Did Théo get an honorable mention?
I found it quite amusing
and it'd be amusing
to work on it some more.
Work's amusing.
Very amusing.
sorfY-
First time I saw you,
I thought I'd devote my life to you.
You had no choice.
After that, I fought against you,
against my feelings.
I sense that...
everything's been unlocked inside
thanks to you.
Now, it's yes.
I forbid you to say no.
I forbid you to think I'm foolish.
You're not at all foolish.
- I can give you everything.
- Yes, everything.
My youth,
my stupidity, also...
Everything.
Don't move! Don't ever move!
You'll be a beautiful actress for me.
What I wrote
without thinking of you works.
Perhaps you'd begun to permeate me.
I was waiting for you.
I think I'll love Fanny very much.
We're still crazy to love?
My life is with Fanny.
V\fi|| you still love us?
You, yes.
Forever.
I can love her.
I'm sure of it.
I love her skin,
her smile, her lips...
Her transparency.
Her transparent skin.
Everything she says
and how she says it.
What am I doing?
What will I do with her?
Like you.
You kept falling in love with others.
Me too, I admit.
Like you said
"three of us, five of us..."
V\fith you, it was one more,
and then one more.
No life together. I was excluded.
What happens ifl sit here like this?
I want your child with Fanny.
And my child with Théo.
I'd have said,
I want a child with Théo.
Then all the rest.
Then, I want a child by you two.
And a child with Fanny.
We can cross-breed them later.
They'll be very beautiful and smart,
and very, very funny.
We'll sell them for big money.
She'll be scared, she'll get cold feet.
We'll wait for Fanny to get pregnant?
I like Théo. He's a good actor.
I'd hate him otherwise.
I knew you'd say that.
Théo, go get Fanny.
I'll go!
They want you downstairs.
Okay?
Fine.
The reading went well.
Auguste seemed happy with us.
Thanks by the way. You helped me.
How come?
It was good.
So the big story's you and him?
That's right.
Were you naked just then?
Yes.
Waiting for him
like a little pup ready to yap?
Let's go down.
This female side,
you kept it hidden.
It's very touching.
Sorry, but that is terribly attractive.
I feel a sudden tenderness
I didn't feel before.
That's very sweet,
but I don't need it.
We're going to play a game
where we all guess
what our neighbor's thinking.
I'll start with Auguste.
How does one keep warm
alone in bed?
Vae soli.
Woe to he who is alone.
If he falls, no one picks him up.
- I'm not thinking that.
- No comments.
Very good!
Now guess Fanny's thoughts.
A glad heart is the life of man.
Joyfulness prolongs his dreams.
Can we have
a little less trashy poetry?
What do you do if the one you love
doesn't love you?
There's only requited love.
Bad question.
No comments, I said.
There's no joy if life is too little.
contemplates
the blossom of the young cherry tree.
Thank you.
Harriet now...
I need to feel
the beating of other people's hearts.
Not out of impulse.
Just always.
And the urge to kiss you.
All of you.
Yes to requited love.
Harriet for Fanny...
You're not the only one
who can kiss everyone.
What's going on here
goes over my head.
If we're staying, we better buy food.
We better buy dogs and some kittens.
Hens, too, for their eggs.
Eggs for the children,
when they come along.
- I have to go home.
- Why?
It's my mother's car. She needs it.
AnywaY- --
It's a bit complicated here.
Harriet tried to kiss you.
Don't worry, forget it.
Can't you stop loving
everyone and no one?
Your hand's sulking.
If you want, I'll stay.
Earlier, you wanted everything for me.
If the first gust of wind blows us over,
we're a dud.
The kiss wasn't malicious.
I know.
- You really want me to stay?
- Yes.
First, I have to go home.
My hand says so.
I'll pick you UP-
I'm coming back.
I'm sorry.
What are you doing?
C'mon, drive!
- Stop it!
- Drive!
You heard it. She slapped me.
She's very playful.
Very Playful!
She's sincerity itself.
It's vital to match her.
Eyes on the road
when I talk to you.
When I say sincerity,
she's also a compulsive liar.
I need Harriet.
Did you observe her?
See the person she is?
I doubt it.
You want to kiss all the girls?
I love Harriet
and I love kissing girls.
She'll be back after she gives in.
You never could resist temptation.
She's not like you. Screw you!
Leave me alone,
I'm sick of talking.
You'll never know if he kissed her.
I'll see it.
If there's any doubt,
all three of you
had better clear out fast.
And go get married together
wherever you want.
You're scared
she'll go back to him.
Everyone knows they're through.
They can't get on. Don't worry.
He acted like he wanted to,
but he didn't.
He scared me, before I came here.
Now it's fun alarming him.
So if I don't kiss you...
I won't let you out of my sight.
The answer's no.
Not with your tongue.
It's nothing.
It's no, with or without.
I want to kiss you.
Stop the car and let me kiss you.
I'm stuck.
You're not even hard.
I didn't say "fuck".
You're pretty,
but it's not you I need.
I don't need you.
I don't need you either.
I'll call my mother later
about the car.
Did your little beauty just go
upstairs?
Can I go up one last time?
I'd like to say goodbye.
I won't scare her.
No more of your sacraments.
It's not easy
leaving without you both.
- Ready to go?
- Yes.
Subtitles: Simon John
Subtitlingz LVT - Paris
This relationship
stinks.
You call me then you get moralistic.
You've got nerve.
I don't call you.
I call no one.
I forbid you to mention your visits.
You must free this house
of your presence.
- I must?
- Yes.
When you push me away, you drive out
what's most precious in you.
You know that.
Even after everything,
I need to see you.
I'm pleased when you come back.
They're here.
I'm coming down.
Hello, Fanny.
You got the mail?
All incredibly important, I guess.
No, nothing looks important.
I'm expecting guests.
I'll be up
if they piss me off.
Call me if anything needs doing.
I'll come up later to sign stuff.
You can venture out.
I've combed the area.
Not so much as a sniff of a snail.
There are things to clear up
in this nasty play?
This is Théo,
our distinguished actor.
Auguste...
How are you?
- Don't you do textual analysis?
- They want it from the oracle.
I'm chopped liver. Fried.
It's not the first time
you want to discuss a role.
But it's the first time,
I'll buy into this charade.
- You came up twice this morning.
- Stop it!
Are you losing it
or trying to make me feel guilty?
I never come here.
Morning, night, never.
Exactly what I hold against you.
He leads her off
to try to win her back again.
- Am I wrong?
- It's always like that.
Yes, but it's an obscene ritual.
Coming here with you two
kept me awake all night.
That's not why I'm here.
What you write,
that's what makes us alive.
We are still one.
Distance doesn't exist for us.
One?
Like husband and wife, you mean?
Why do you always laugh about us?
You should do like Man Ray.
One night, Man Ray...
had an attack of insomnia.
Devastating. Unbearable.
As he'd never been insomniac,
he bought himself a revolver,
intending to shoot himself
if it recurred.
he put the revolver
on his nightstand.
And he slept like a log.
His unconscious
decided to pipe down
and stop busting his balls at night.
He never got insomnia again.
Miserable isn't the word,
it's painful.
You and me,
we transcend painful.
Who says
I still want your painful happiness?
Sorry, I have to leave after lunch.
|'|| introduce you to Fanny.
Who's Fanny?
A student
at Angouléme University.
She's very charming
and adept at replying to mail.
That's new.
Two months already.
You don't call too often,
so you miss out on
details of my thrilling life.
She comes one morning a week.
You've reworked the final scene?
No, it resists.
I thought meeting Théo might help.
It will help.
We're going upstairs.
Won't be long.
Harriet, this is Fanny.
The letters you don't send me...
She opens them.
We'll leave you to it.
Pretty, huh?
Much more.
You should marry her.
There's an idea.
It has occurred to me.
Why theatre?
Because people like you
write what I wish I'd written.
As I can't, I enjoy acting it.
Anyone can be a dramatist.
At night perhaps.
In my dreams,
I stage little plays
of which I'm author and actor.
That don't lack imagination.
Not necessarily.
I dream I can't act.
I'm in a theatre.
We're in rehearsal
but there's always something
or someone
that stops me acting.
Why do you write plays?
It has to talk.
Film is full of silences,
and it's the only time in life
you escape. It's fun.
You probe,
you punish, you reward,
you blow people away,
you absolve,
you're always spying.
It's fun and you never let go.
You're a full-on bodyguard.
No, I have a sticky beak.
Do you know the expression?
It means to meddle.
Very picturesque.
And your character,
when he thinks he's been let go
and can do stuff on the sly,
he cops it.
And pow!
He gets slapped down.
We hound him, take all he has.
Feelings, passions, thoughts,
his lines, everything.
And we make him say stuff,
he maybe wouldn't dare say.
Isn't that fun?
Didn't you want to act?
I wasn't a good actor.
All I wanted to do
was spew stuff at the audience
that I didn't write
and wasn't accountable for.
And you?
How did Stéphane unearth you?
Where did you unearth me?
Who cares where we unearthed you.
The posters are ready.
And you know your lines,
unlike Harriet, the favorite.
Whose favorite am I?
On top of that, he's gifted.
It won't be his fault if it bombs.
I'm gonna make the play a flop.
I'll stand there like you,
front stage,
and I'll nix the character.
Are you saying I settle scores
with women through her?
V\fith one woman in particular?
She isn't positive enough,
or some such shit?
The question is,
Is it lacking in life?
My life is, sure.
Yours, definitely.
My play can't lack life.
As much.
Why talk about my life,
lacking life or not?
Talk about yours.
You're right.
I still want to know
where I was unearthed.
Predators like you
go to ground
in inaccessible places.
I don't want to hear this.
Put the pasta on.
I have to see the girl upstairs.
I'll be right back.
You don't deserve me sewing you.
Just invitations
and a letter from a German publisher.
And a check's arrived.
You need to endorse it.
That boy's way too flip.
And Harriet acts like he doesn't exist.
Not a glance.
Not a single expression...
of solidarity.
They're taking me for a ride.
And her life.
Her life that's...
so full of life.
That's new.
Know why they came?
To be sure
I'll finish the final draft.
Seeing them prowl around me,
I have no desire to.
And that thing...
What if I didn't do the rewrite?
What if I left it unfinished
so they couldn't perform it?
When she arrived,
I found her ugly.
She's pretty.
She can be pretty.
I find her ugly.
Hypocrisy taints the inside
and it shows.
She's too old for the part.
She doesn't have its innocence either.
She belongs to another man.
I'm sure of it.
It doesn't stop her visiting me
nearly every night.
By day, her interest
is strictly professional.
She's using the play discreetly
to sell me her lover.
Why does she think I'm so stupid?
The role doesn't suit her.
Everything will be overacted.
Innocence, naivety...
All she's lost with age,
she'll emphasize because it's gone.
She no longer feels it.
Can you read through a scene
I'd like to hear?
I bashed it out yesterday.
I can't act it,
I can only read it.
Good, I want to hear it
barely performed.
I look younger and feel befler.
Yes, I'm cutting back.
I'll only keep
the hours laughing with a child,
listening to music I love...
I said "read"
to stop you being dramatic.
Add a little music.
I look younger and feel befler.
Yes, I'm cutting back.
I'll only keep
the hours laughing with a child,
listening to music I love,
being caressed in beds,
playing ping-pong,
wandering aimlessly
through the streets
and trashing everything trivial.
Fanny...
Did you ever think about acting?
Would you like to work on
one or two scenes with me?
Yes.
You think no
and say yes.
You're funny.
I'll leave you to the mail.
Call me if you sense
that downstairs...
Thank you.
I'm much calmer now.
Before the charade,
remember to take a piss.
So, how does he like his pasta?
I like it very hard.
And your sperm sweet.
How do you get it so sweet?
Time I jumped you, right?
Your cock, anytime, anywhere.
You told me to behave,
I'm behaving.
Answer me.
How come yours is so sweet?
It's unique.
Kiss me or I'll rape you.
Is it the mood ofthis house
driving you sex mad?
"The pretty child that puts in your hand
a well formed breast...
I'm going-
I withdraw.
What music to go with that?
Pasta.
You bring that recipe for rabbit pété?
My mother's rabbit pété.
I have rabbits in the garden,
and no pété.
But a recipe
to stop them running riot.
Your shotgun!
No, that's for blowing my brains out.
Ask your friendly barber
for hair clippings.
Scatter them around young plants
and the rabbits run a mile.
You remember the braid you gave me?
You hung it on a carrot?
No, I unplaited it
and arranged it around the camellia
you gave me.
I couldn't use a stranger's hair.
Not even the woman
who gave you the climbing rose?
Come on, I want a word.
Let them stuff their faces.
What's he up to?
He wants to know.
It's not my best play.
I wrote it
without visualizing much.
I can't even see Harriet
playing Aurélie.
You're wrong to doubt her.
When she reads,
you want to see her on stage.
I always have doubts.
Her age bothers me, too.
I'm not sure she can play a woman
barely out of adolescence.
If you'd prefer me
not to be in your play, say so.
You can refuse Stéphane's choice.
You're funny, you actors.
You're far more paranoid
than anyone else.
True, you're so exposed and vulnerable.
You're way off.
I'm being open with you.
Open with me?
If you doubt Harriet, why not doubt me?
You don't know me.
It's your decision.
Stéphane can't impose me on you.
He's imposing you?
I suppose.
I thought it was Harriet.
She didn't mention you,
which is a way of "imposing" you.
Careful
she doesn't use you against me.
Against you?
It's over between us.
She might enjoy
throwing you against me.
I'm lost.
Yes, she might enjoy
throwing you against me to...
We'll use quotes, it's hip.
And the word's fallen out of favor.
- What word?
- "Offend".
She might enjoy throwing you at me
to offend me.
It may be over,
but there's no room between us. None.
Coming between us
is dangerous, you see?
I have no intention of offending you,
and whatever I do with the role,
you'll be disappointed.
You assume
I'll come to see it.
I thought you took me aside
for a kind of audition.
What's going on?
I took Harriet without permission.
I don't need your permission.
I won't do the play,
I'll go back to Paris.
Tell Harriet not to worry,
I'll be fine.
- I just wanted to warn you.
- Against what?
I'm marrying Harriet on September 26.
Warn me against what?
I hope the date's okay for you.
And stop threatening me.
He's not very strong.
He ran away like a rabbit.
Because he knows
coming between us will kill him.
- What did you tell him?
- The truth.
They can't take it.
It's an ordeal for them.
But I didn't have time to tell him
he touches me when he caresses you.
Yes, he's copping a feel of me!
You think I want to fight suicide?
That's your plan?
You're crazy!
You know why he seduced you?
I know.
So he could brag about it, right?
Exactly. You understand.
Nobody told me you were lovers,
but I knew it.
Intuitively.
You can't hide anything from me.
You belong to another man.
Not him. He knows it.
But we divorced, you and me.
Why on earth
did I bring him to see you?
Don't worry, if he can't stay,
he won't run very far.
You'll soon find him.
But when you leave him...
Be quiet!
When you leave him, he'll suffer.
A sore loser can't be a good actor.
What I've written is my revenge
on the people who hurt me.
Don't expect me to let one of them
act in my play!
Why didn't you tell me?
I brought him so you'd guess.
I knew it wouldn't take long.
How |ong's this been going on
behind my bac|C?
I chose him.
They'd never met before.
You're the matchmaker.
He's a good actor.
I couldn't work out
why finishing the play was so hard.
Since he came on the scene,
I've been stuck.
Now I know why I couldn't write.
They've known each other
nearly two months?
What are you going to do?
You've lost your actor.
And actress.
You haven't got a play.
I'll never finish it.
Not for them.
Studying law isn't a vocation,
it's Daddy's choice.
You want to please him,
but you have other dreams.
No?
I like law.
I need to write for someone.
And I can't write for her now.
The girl who captivates,
if she wants to and is talented,
that works.
Take a seat over here.
We'll do tests to reassure you
and gradually
you'll build up your confidence.
I'm not an actress.
In that case, I finish the play.
She performs it in Paris.
V\fithout me on the opening night,
of course.
And you take over on tour.
What counts is a strong presence.
What's said is meaningless
unless the right person says it.
For me, the only obstacle
is being afraid to let me down.
But you won't.
I won't let you down.
I'll drive you.
Say yes,
and then I can get back to writing.
Draw up a contract obliging me
to give you the play to read in 10 days.
You can still say no
if you thinkthe play isn't worth it.
Okay.
A contract between you and you.
You the writer and you...
No, between you and me.
Anyway, I don't believe you.
You're interested in acting.
At school and college,
there's always a smarlass teacher
who organizes lessons
for curious young girls,
only to seduce them, in fact.
- At college, there's a good one.
- Don't go.
You soon learn bad habits.
I can't help you
if you fool around with god knows who.
In the contract,
specify that you calmed me down.
Thank you.
She drives me nuts.
For so long now.
And I'll come with you.
You'll have the play in 10 days.
You keep the boy and replace Harriet.
She's too old.
We can't drop Harriet.
Only in Paris then.
Not on tour.
She wasn't lined up for the tour.
Put it in her contract.
Why can't she tour?
I just said,
she's too old for the role.
And she wasn't lined up for the tour,
so why argue?
How should I know.
- Call her to say it's all arranged.
- You call her.
There's always...
There's always a storm with her.
Why can't we meet without,
I don't know...
Serenity isn't the right word but...
I'm too old for this claptrap.
The girl upstairs
will be wonderful.
She'll take over the role
and reinvent it.
Who's the girl upstairs?
If I think of her,
I'll be able to write.
She's an actress?
No, a student.
Why? I may be wrong?
We all mess up.
She'll be ready.
You'll be the first to applaud.
|fyou're seeing her,
cut Harriet some slack.
Sure, I'll get married.
September 26!
Let's all get married together.
I'm not seeing her.
- Do you plan to?
- No.
You want me married again?
Why not?
Break-up scenes are a pain.
I write to console.
There's enough pain out there.
Weaving patterns is interesting
only if you see the light through them.
I try to.
I made this room for you.
So you could flee me.
Whenever you wanted.
You left before it was finished.
Do you like it?
You collect children's beds?
At the start, on your face,
I managed to erase a small part
of your anxiety.
I can't anymore.
I give you nothing and you know it.
Why'd you bring me up here?
We go back too far
to enjoy seducing each other.
You only derive pleasure
from your audience.
You need it to put on a show,
to continue your actor's striptease.
You only believe what plays on stage.
How life plays out with me...
never interested you.
You didn't bring your actor here
to hurt me.
Your brought him
to put us to the test.
I sometimes forget
what you've become.
- That's not a game.
- It is.
We stopped playing ages ago.
Let's start again.
And nobody...
can play us off against each other.
If I can't love you...
what's the point?
You see us as a rematch.
I want to start afresh.
You're not dumb enough
to believe that crap.
Or are you getting carried away again?
What are you doing?
Beethoven.
String Quartet no.13.
If you can't love me, why bother?
When did you plan to tell me
about the wedding?
What cheek,
inviting your lover into my play,
imposing him upon me...
It's more than a lack of tact.
It's so unlike you.
You're out to destroy me.
September 26.
Is it true what he said?
Yes, it's true.
You want to kill me.
You don't need an audience.
Stop, please.
Why were we so destructive?
I appreciate the "we",
even if it's sweet-talk.
Destructively speaking,
I was always ahead,
according to you.
You invite me to go to Prague with you.
I can't because of rehearsals,
fittings, costumes...
Last minute, I cancel everything.
I race home
and you're already gone.
And for a whole week,
no news, nothing.
Silence.
You switch off your phone
and I don't exist.
As if I never existed.
Eventually, you come back
all sweetness and light.
V\fith a gift even.
A very pretty Bakelite lamp
that somehow I don't throw in your face.
You're a monster.
Can you hug me
instead of conducting your orchestra?
A hug won't soothe anything.
That boy is a messenger of
reconciliation between you and me.
That's why you brought him.
Now he's brought you back to me,
he's gone.
He's more than that.
I do the kissing.
I miss you cruelly. I admit that.
But not as-was. Not like before.
I think of you.
Sometimes,
I wish you could hold me,
be nice to me.
Not as before,
not in the same way, not as-was.
No more as-was.
And most ofthe time...
I'd hate to be in your arms.
You seduced me,
stirred me...
Screwed me, too.
Never sank me.
You know that.
Our love was very powerful, yes.
And now,
if you fucked me,
you wouldn't gain a sliver of revenge.
He got a cab.
He arrives at the station.
The train pulls in.
Don't you start.
He's mad at you.
His exit was so you'd follow.
Now he looks a fool.
He thinks he doesn't love you.
He's proud of his exit,
but missing out on the play? Regret.
He hesitates.
He's quite capable of coming back,
no problem.
He's a great dancer.
You've no idea...
One step forward,
two steps back.
You need a good dancer.
When he turns on the charm,
you won't be able to resist.
He has no chance.
You'll see.
A more charming slut,
there's never been.
If he thinks he's in love,
does he steam out or come bac|C?
If he comes back,
he stays in the play.
He has a few beers and a sandwich.
He hasn't eaten all day.
I see him
taking refuge in the church.
No, not the church.
Nothing to see. Sinister.
He's in the café.
Where else?
Wondering how to come back
without losing face.
By beating me up?
Not very original.
- He'll be backthen?
- He'll be back.
As soon as he regains his composure.
He never lost it.
Can you imagine him
getting by without you?
Easily.
But I don't want to imagine it.
That would be unforgiveable.
Anything else, okay,
but he's on that train,
doing fine without you.
The girl upstairs
has potential as an actress.
Could you work with her in Paris?
Me?
Drama lessons?
You'll refuse the tour.
She'd make a good replacement.
You fall back on the girl
as my beau boards the train?
Don't worry, I doubt I interest her.
V\lhat'd you do if she's in love?
What would you do?
Can she get the better
of a guy like you?
Who loves the way you do?
What do you mean, the way I love?
- You know.
- No, say it.
Oddly.
She's inexperienced,
but has the right age and innocence.
And she has great presence.
You could adopt her
as a kind of pupil.
A disciple.
She'd be your spiritual child.
If you trained her, she'd be perfect.
It's up to you to adopt her.
Maybe she'd like that.
I don't need a spiritual child.
You don't want children anymore.
Why wouldn't I want children?
Having a child
means with me.
How about you go see the girl?
Not a word about me.
Ask her if Auguste interests her
in the short-term.
He hired you
for all the administrative shit
and you're doing his corrections.
It's more fun?
Yes.
Do you like his writing?
Yes, a lot.
I was happy to perform it.
And I was happy with him.
As well.
You could be happy with him.
I'm only 20 years old.
No, he is what he is.
He's handsome.
V\fith the body of a 20-year-old.
Smarter than the students you meet.
You want life insurance?
I don't want anything.
What could I give him?
My youth?
Yes.
And your sparkle.
We're dead weights at my age.
Cute butt and firm tits, a godsend.
I don't think
I'm into him that way.
He says to me,
There's a girl been working for me
a few weeks.
Presence, youth, and so on.
Perfect for the role.
If only she can act a bit,
she can do the tour.
I couldn't replace you.
His offer of acting,
are you interested?
It's tempting, but I'm no actress.
I'm a student.
Acting never appealed to you?
Sure. I took a few lessons
at a local school, that's all.
It's enough for him.
You're screwed.
- Does he know?
- No.
Screwed.
Touring pisses me off.
You won't replace me,
the part is yours.
When I read the last draft,
it was obvious
it wasn't written for me.
Up until now,
reading his work,
I could see my footprints.
This time,
the more I read,
the more I disappeared.
I'm no longer in his sights.
Right now,
he's writing the role of a young girl,
more you than me.
He doesn't know me.
He's allowed to work you out.
He talks about you to me
as if he's in love,
but I'm not sure
he's come to terms with the idea.
If you accept the role,
maybe you'll accept
more than the role.
Does that scare you?
Being in love?
For instance.
I doubt anything will happen.
Especially with you around.
You have nothing to worry about.
He's easy to love,
but day to day, he's horrendous.
He asked you to talk to me?
Everything's in place
to form a little group.
We'll make him write plays
for three characters.
A young man, Théo,
and two women,
beautiful, intelligent, in love!
We'll give him scope to invent
a fourth character if he wants,
and our quartet
will play
with such intensity and emotion.
Our children will play in silence
in rehearsal.
And kiss backstage
during the performance.
will write brilliantly
with a fluency
he's never felt before.
I've never lived in a group.
You'll never be alone.
Théo and I
will live just next door.
As soon as you feel down,
we'll be there,
quicker than paramedics!
By the ramparts of Seville
At my friends’ Lilas Pastia
I'll dance the seguidilla
and drink manzanilla
Here's what awaits you...
He'll tell you
life's been hard on him.
You must deduce that it's my fault
and that he wants to find some light,
meaning a woman
who can reconcile him with humanity.
Humanity is him.
Heartless women are me.
Reconciliation
with the big wide world is you.
He'll place his hands
on your shoulders.
He'll look at you very profoundly
with the intense gaze
of a newborn baby.
And he'll ask you,
V\fi|| you have a child with me?
Totally mesmerized,
you'll hear yourself say...
Yes.
I even replied,
Yes, thank you.
And we didn't have children.
My memories of the early days
are dazzling.
He was writing, he was happy,
and I was proud
to be making my contribution.
I'll let you get on.
I set it all out for your student,
as if we had never existed.
So that it's not an obstacle.
As if we no longer existed.
I'm afraid I may have belittled us.
Shit, it'll live forever.
You keep saying the opposite.
I have to resist you.
She's capable of playing the part,
don't you thin|C?
But I'm not sure
she'd be the right partner for you.
I came because I don't like
what we've become.
You...
All in the past tense.
Three days ago,
I was having a fine time dying,
in a cute little panic attack,
on a station platform in Paris.
To you and you alone,
I wanted to send a quick note.
Something like,
I'm dying at this very moment.
Dying-
Actually dying.
For real.
Suffocating.
Burst aneurysm imminent.
How to survive?
I know. By kissing you.
Why didn't you send it?
So he'd slyly read it at night?
I wrote it
and I didn't send it.
Send it to me
and stop burying us.
I want you alive.
I'd like more of you in my life.
Théo's crazy to love.
You too.
I like being
around people crazy to love.
And I'd really like
to have you all around me.
What about a threeway wedding?
It's already a disaster!
Just two of us is impossible.
I'm not good enough?
Fuck you then.
You're really getting married?
Yes.
And you claim I harass you every night.
Didn't you see my ass?
I saw myself in the hallway mirror.
You didn't say I had a big ass.
If he won't talk about your butt,
what use is he?
V\fithout you,
I'm not sure I can do it.
Two of you
will be much better.
I know you'll get on.
Show me your big ass,
to see if we two still get on.
I don't want to fuck.
Show me your ass.
We were in a parking lot, fucking.
You heard a car door.
In under 3 seconds, you were dressed.
You left me by the car,
bare ass drenched in jism.
I was too busy laughing at you
to get mad.
If he came in now,
you'd leave me bare ass?
Yes.
We'd both fuck you,
like in a porn movie.
Who suggested marriage?
He wants us to get married.
You're for it?
No, not like a bastard.
Stop turning me on.
Stop it.
Or three of us, with the girl.
Three of us, five of us, and so on.
I like your ass.
You think that
after 3 years of constant goodbyes,
I can listen to crap like
"3 of us, 5 of us" without it hurting?
It's not crap.
I often feel a need for you.
I don't say so. I should.
In case you think
I want to come back,
I hold my tongue.
At last, the pretty smile
your mother gave you.
It's good to see it back.
So you're the girl upstairs?
I suppose so.
What are you doing?
The mail.
Isn't mail boring?
You don't Iookthat kind of girl.
Here...
What I've got without corrections.
I can't take it further.
When I can,
you can tell me what you think.
Be gentle with me.
What about your life?
Where's your life at?
It's your play.
That makes a meager life.
The lover's return,
that could amuse us.
What do you thin|C? Am I in love?
I get the feeling you're not.
You were a serial seducer once.
No, I'm not in love.
There are few takers for what I've got.
In fact, no takers.
In the mirror, I see a void.
What I've got is a total vacuum.
Don't despair,
you have potential.
You get over everything,
even Harriet...
so now you're ripe for the picking
by the girl upstairs.
You should introduce me.
I don't want you all
taking turns up there
and debating among yourselves...
Is she right for him?
Is she good in bed?
- I don't mean sex.
- Is she fuckable?
Do you have any idea
what happened in my absence?
Curiously, no one drove after me.
You didn't see anything?
I don't look out the window.
You live here?
I don't live with Auguste.
I meant sleep with,
not live with.
He's insufferable, apparently.
They all think...
Or sleep with him.
But nobody seems to care.
The mai|'s your whole life?
Do you know who I am?
You're Harriet's friend and an actor.
When Harriet came up...
Why did she come up?
Auguste wants me
to do the play on tour.
In that case,
I want to do the play on tour, too.
The mail is a fagade.
I'm a student.
That's another fagade.
I really am.
She came up to kill you?
It felt like she was seducing me.
You don't like girls?
I'm not attracted to women.
Sure, but girls.
If they're pretty, young,
with small breasts, malleable...
Easy to dominate?
Yes.
No sense of initiative.
You can picture Harriet with a girl?
For a moment, I thought so.
And that girl couldn't be you?
I don't like women.
That's why I see you as a girl.
If I like women I'm a girl
because girls don't like women.
Confusing.
Ifyou see me as a girl,
am I pretty?
Yes.
I'm glad.
I'm a boy
who only likes women and girls.
Unlike you.
They're beginning
to doubt I'll be back.
People don't stop coming in and out.
V\fith all these visitors,
if anything happens between us,
this office becomes the boudoir
in an erotic farce.
"Fancy that!"
Could be a real laugh.
Nothing's going to happen.
Perhaps they're the real story,
not me.
Why not?
The real story is Auguste and me.
Auguste and you?
You don't sleep with him.
You don't live with him either.
From afar,
that makes a real love story.
Auguste and you.
That seems pretty convincing.
This is where you kiss me.
Sol leave...
I sneak round the kitchen
and I make my comeback.
I hope to see them
intrigued by my return.
For my writing,
I get by
on my mind's nocturnal ramblings.
Can't afford to miss them.
Catch them and hold on
to see if they can be used
to show a little wit,
to seduce one more time.
I live off those scraps,
off my own excrement.
I'm as green as can be.
No mess left behind.
The present returns.
I'm glad to see you.
We all bet you'd be back.
You'd like the three of us
to live together,
you, me and Harriet
in the same house?
No, not really.
She wants us to.
I said it was beyond me,
that I lack imagination.
I'm too old to experiment.
But if you're up for it,
I'd consider it as a solution.
We already have the house.
True, but a house without children
is nonsensical.
Feeding the birds,
chattering with them...
Down by the river.
In the woods.
I was waiting for you.
I was in the village café.
The radio was on loud.
Playing blasts from the past.
The owner knew all the words.
She was very impressive.
Yes, I know
her wa y of being mine
displeases you
Did you have a blast from the past?
Did you fuc|C?
No, but...
He does.
He caressed me.
All over?
Did you enjoy it?
No, I didn't enjoy it.
It turned me on.
You left without me.
Who are you
to leave without me?
Who are you?
It's what you wanted.
Alone time with him.
So he'd caress me?
Maybe so.
He's a funny guy.
No time for lunch,
he just kicked me out.
That turned you on, too.
Won't you turn me on?
I don't thinkl feel like it.
You really feel like it.
I'm sure you feel like it.
You're right, but not here.
Not here.
You never fucked on a riverban|C?
I told Auguste
you were crazy to love.
That's right.
Because he's crazy to fuck.
Living together
means you fucking us each in turn?
I never want to be free of you.
I did your corrections.
- It reads better?
- Yes.
The last quarter goes nowhere.
Actors are complicated.
We need to sense,
Yes it's him or Yes it's her.
It's got nothing to do with acting.
You can do it.
If you accept
all the faith I have in you.
I was thinking about life with you.
Life with me.
Life with me...
That means...
everything together.
Work, plays, life.
Auguste...
I don't want
that with you.
Your caresses
are expert gestures.
Hold me.
Don't be gentle.
If it's brutal, it's sincere?
No feelings?
I don't want your desire.
I'm talking about feelings.
I could talk about desire.
Desire's outdated? Disgusting?
I want another way with you.
Desire is sex?
So, no sex.
You're at a shitty age.
Torn between a tangled past
and a radiant future
supposed to last eternally.
But I'm alive,
I'm in the present, like a child.
I don't want to play with a child.
By dodging the issue of desire,
you raise it,
negatively.
Balling you, that's easy.
I'm in great shape.
I'll give you more orgasms
than you can take.
I'll give you migraines.
Your arm...
I should have ripped it out
and run off with it
to leave you in peace.
In a Japanese novel,
a guy hides under his coat
the arm a woman gave him,
most likely to get rid of him.
A girl way more generous than you.
That old need for consolation
becomes truly impossible to satisfy.
Feel sorry for yourself, poor victim.
But above all feel sorry for you,
the inadequate, incapable invalid.
Inadequate to be touched.
Incapable of accepting the caress
of an outstretched hand.
Shut up, you old fool.
Stop rambling.
Your mind overheats,
but your heart's cold.
I'm a great actor.
I believe every word I say.
I forbid you to leave.
Stop it!
Enough. Cut it out
Calm down!
Calm down!
Under the same roof? No way.
Let it go!
I'm kidding.
Yeah, I'm kidding, too.
I'm a fool.
They force me
to make a fool of myself.
I should go and apologize.
Why don't you leave?
Okay, come with me.
Downstairs.
|'|| apologize.
Can you tell them
I'm going to apologize?
That way, they'll come back.
We need to discuss the play.
I need to hear them.
My behavior's...
Harriet will sort things out.
Fatso'|| do us good.
Audition me.
Now.
Audition you?
Sorry, I'm cracked.
It's good to come back to work.
Even if I have complete faith
in Stéphanesjudgment.
Then I'll go.
I'll give you a scene I knocked up.
Something I wrote on the side.
The main character, Victor,
suspects Louis,
Gae||e's boyfriend of wanting to...
Odd idea, this audition.
It's not my doing.
Can you see if she's okay?
Come back for the read-through.
It's nothing.
Just Harriet
taking pot shots at pigeons.
The living room is your playground.
I'm Aya's husband. Can I have a word?
They keep meeting.
I know.
- It doesn't worry you?
- No.
I've never seen her so happy.
An audition?
breathing in a bell jar.
He's got nerve.
They've got nerve!
She has no befler friend than me.
We're in love
and going to have a child.
I believe she's happy with me.
Théo's funny.
The girl's a bit girlish.
Théo, a touch less whimsy.
Fanny, you have to be ironic.
Don't let him dominate.
The guy isn't capable of loving
anyone.
And he's messing up my life!
He's a sad Iitfle fire
that warms no one.
Keep him away from her.
You've no idea
how helpful it would be
if you were the person he needs.
Between you and I,
no one needs me.
I'm young.
And he's a big fan of youth.
He'll dump me
for a younger girl, not A ya.
Breathing easier now?
Anyway, I'm not with him for life.
You won't end yours with her.
Really, why?
Why shouldn't we be for life?
Why do you say such stupid things?
I didn't come to see you.
Besides a consolation kiss,
I don't see what] can do.
With the tongue?
Anyway, I don't want to.
Good, very good.
We'll leave it there.
That was good.
Thank you.
Did Théo get an honorable mention?
I found it quite amusing
and it'd be amusing
to work on it some more.
Work's amusing.
Very amusing.
sorfY-
First time I saw you,
I thought I'd devote my life to you.
You had no choice.
After that, I fought against you,
against my feelings.
I sense that...
everything's been unlocked inside
thanks to you.
Now, it's yes.
I forbid you to say no.
I forbid you to think I'm foolish.
You're not at all foolish.
- I can give you everything.
- Yes, everything.
My youth,
my stupidity, also...
Everything.
Don't move! Don't ever move!
You'll be a beautiful actress for me.
What I wrote
without thinking of you works.
Perhaps you'd begun to permeate me.
I was waiting for you.
I think I'll love Fanny very much.
We're still crazy to love?
My life is with Fanny.
V\fi|| you still love us?
You, yes.
Forever.
I can love her.
I'm sure of it.
I love her skin,
her smile, her lips...
Her transparency.
Her transparent skin.
Everything she says
and how she says it.
What am I doing?
What will I do with her?
Like you.
You kept falling in love with others.
Me too, I admit.
Like you said
"three of us, five of us..."
V\fith you, it was one more,
and then one more.
No life together. I was excluded.
What happens ifl sit here like this?
I want your child with Fanny.
And my child with Théo.
I'd have said,
I want a child with Théo.
Then all the rest.
Then, I want a child by you two.
And a child with Fanny.
We can cross-breed them later.
They'll be very beautiful and smart,
and very, very funny.
We'll sell them for big money.
She'll be scared, she'll get cold feet.
We'll wait for Fanny to get pregnant?
I like Théo. He's a good actor.
I'd hate him otherwise.
I knew you'd say that.
Théo, go get Fanny.
I'll go!
They want you downstairs.
Okay?
Fine.
The reading went well.
Auguste seemed happy with us.
Thanks by the way. You helped me.
How come?
It was good.
So the big story's you and him?
That's right.
Were you naked just then?
Yes.
Waiting for him
like a little pup ready to yap?
Let's go down.
This female side,
you kept it hidden.
It's very touching.
Sorry, but that is terribly attractive.
I feel a sudden tenderness
I didn't feel before.
That's very sweet,
but I don't need it.
We're going to play a game
where we all guess
what our neighbor's thinking.
I'll start with Auguste.
How does one keep warm
alone in bed?
Vae soli.
Woe to he who is alone.
If he falls, no one picks him up.
- I'm not thinking that.
- No comments.
Very good!
Now guess Fanny's thoughts.
A glad heart is the life of man.
Joyfulness prolongs his dreams.
Can we have
a little less trashy poetry?
What do you do if the one you love
doesn't love you?
There's only requited love.
Bad question.
No comments, I said.
There's no joy if life is too little.
contemplates
the blossom of the young cherry tree.
Thank you.
Harriet now...
I need to feel
the beating of other people's hearts.
Not out of impulse.
Just always.
And the urge to kiss you.
All of you.
Yes to requited love.
Harriet for Fanny...
You're not the only one
who can kiss everyone.
What's going on here
goes over my head.
If we're staying, we better buy food.
We better buy dogs and some kittens.
Hens, too, for their eggs.
Eggs for the children,
when they come along.
- I have to go home.
- Why?
It's my mother's car. She needs it.
AnywaY- --
It's a bit complicated here.
Harriet tried to kiss you.
Don't worry, forget it.
Can't you stop loving
everyone and no one?
Your hand's sulking.
If you want, I'll stay.
Earlier, you wanted everything for me.
If the first gust of wind blows us over,
we're a dud.
The kiss wasn't malicious.
I know.
- You really want me to stay?
- Yes.
First, I have to go home.
My hand says so.
I'll pick you UP-
I'm coming back.
I'm sorry.
What are you doing?
C'mon, drive!
- Stop it!
- Drive!
You heard it. She slapped me.
She's very playful.
Very Playful!
She's sincerity itself.
It's vital to match her.
Eyes on the road
when I talk to you.
When I say sincerity,
she's also a compulsive liar.
I need Harriet.
Did you observe her?
See the person she is?
I doubt it.
You want to kiss all the girls?
I love Harriet
and I love kissing girls.
She'll be back after she gives in.
You never could resist temptation.
She's not like you. Screw you!
Leave me alone,
I'm sick of talking.
You'll never know if he kissed her.
I'll see it.
If there's any doubt,
all three of you
had better clear out fast.
And go get married together
wherever you want.
You're scared
she'll go back to him.
Everyone knows they're through.
They can't get on. Don't worry.
He acted like he wanted to,
but he didn't.
He scared me, before I came here.
Now it's fun alarming him.
So if I don't kiss you...
I won't let you out of my sight.
The answer's no.
Not with your tongue.
It's nothing.
It's no, with or without.
I want to kiss you.
Stop the car and let me kiss you.
I'm stuck.
You're not even hard.
I didn't say "fuck".
You're pretty,
but it's not you I need.
I don't need you.
I don't need you either.
I'll call my mother later
about the car.
Did your little beauty just go
upstairs?
Can I go up one last time?
I'd like to say goodbye.
I won't scare her.
No more of your sacraments.
It's not easy
leaving without you both.
- Ready to go?
- Yes.
Subtitles: Simon John
Subtitlingz LVT - Paris