Therese (1962) - full transcript

Your father's here.

Case dismissed!

Tomorrow I'll have the official notice.

- There won't be any suprises?
- No, don't worry, it's over.

After my son-in-law's testimony,
it was all settled.

Settled - well... you know, Larroque,
the victim's testimony...

There was no victim.

I meant, victim of his own
imprudence, madam.

You should have your say
in the Sunday paper...

No. There's nothing to respond to.

It's perfectly clear the case
was slapped together.



Thank God we control the
editor of the Conservator.

That story about the girls...

Silence, concealment,
that's what's best.

I'll do whatever I have to,
I'll meet their price,

but for the family's sake,
we have to cover all that up.

It's time.

You've caused this family enough harm.

Free. What more could I wish for?

What will Bernard's first words be,
he whose testimony saved me?

What confession do I start with?

How do they get by, all those
who know their crime?

I never wanted to commit
the one I'm charged with.

I've never known where I would be led...

by this deranged power inside of me...
and outside of me.



Do I have to go back
as far as my teenage years?

Anne...

I'd need to tell Bernard
about her first.

To see things from the very beginning.

But where do our actions really begin?

Argelouse is at the end of the earth.

Beyond Argelouse, until the ocean,
there's nothing except

80km of swamps, lagoons,
and thin pines.

The Landes.

Bernard Desqueyroux had inherited
the house next to ours from his father.

As soon as the holidays started,
I spent my long days here,

in the care of an old deaf woman.
Aunt Clara.

I hated that game Anne indulged in,
innocent and happy.

But I stayed, unsatiated
by her presence.

Was I ever so happy, or so honest?

I was pure, pure as an angel.
But an angel full of passion.

To be as pure as Anne,
brought up in the convent,

I didn't need all those ribbons,
all those refrains.

Her purity was still largely
down to ignorance.

The ladies of the Sacré-Coeur
placed 1000 veils

between reality and their daughters.

Are you coming tomorrow?

Oh, no. Not everyday.

I'd end up getting ill.

Well there's no obligation,
just do what your heart says.

Will you put this back in its place?

- Do you want the birds?
- No, keep them.

Well go on then!

- Is it empty?
- Of course.

It's a shame you don't want to hunt.
It's such fun.

Therese! Don't go far,
we're about to dish up!

Bernard, Bernard.

How can I let you into this
confused world of mine?

You who belong to the blind,
implacably simple race.

You can't say Therese is pretty,
but it doesn't seem to matter.

Her charm always comes through.

The richest girl in Landes
doesn't need to be pretty.

Unfortunately she always has
a cigarette in her mouth.

But she has a very upright nature.
Honest as gold.

It won't take long to bring
her back to sound ideas.

It's not exactly a marriage
made in heaven.

Her father. Larroque has his flaws,
but he's well-connected.

The thing that worries me most
about Therese is her intelligence.

I'm worried that with her,
your Bernard might...

Take Anne, for example,
she's so much more delicate.

But you're her father, not Bernard's...
you're prejudiced!

I don't see the difference
between my own two children.

Anyway, Bernard will soon finish
his studies in Paris.

Don't forget, a husband must be
more educated than his wife.

That's what my poor husband used to say.

Your poor husband... that's me now.

Not that poor. You know what you spent
on the horses this winter?

Sometimes I wonder if I
was wrong to remarry.

Bernard doesn't write often...
to Therese I mean.

It's sentimental, isn't it.

He'll wait a bit longer,
but you know Therese.

She wants him so badly.

I wanted to marry him, yes.

Maybe firstly to have the joy
of becoming Anne's sister-in-law.

There was Anne.

But really, why be ashamed?

Bernard's 2000 hectares
didn't leave me cold.

Doubtless his domination
of such a forest seduced me.

Maybe I was also obeying
a deeper hidden feeling,

and sought in marriage not domination,
or possession, but refuge.

Careful with your cigarette Therese.

It could catch fire, and there's
barely any water in the Landes.

Is it true that ferns
contain prussic acid?

Hydrocyanic acid, yes, apparently so.
But in minuscule quantities.

Not enough to poison yourself?

Do you want to die?

Still a few bad ideas in there...

So destroy them, Bernard.

I never felt closer to peace...
or what I thought peace was.

It was just half-sleep,
the drowsiness before waking.

That stifling wedding day.

It was that morning I first felt lost.

Where are you off to?

Paris!

The wedding night. It was horrible.

Well no. Not that horrible.

When we look at a landscape at night
we imagine what it was like by day.

That was how I discovered love.

I played dead.

Well!

Do you know what mother's
writing about? Anne.

She's infatuated with
that Azevedo boy.

You know, that sickly chap.
It sounds serious.

You've got three letters from her,
we'll soon find out.

I want to read them in order.

And I won't show you them.

Oh, you make everything complicated.

Let's hope the Deguilhems don't know.

Their young lad might get cold feet.

She said she'd hold out until she's 18.

You need to make Anne see some sense.

My parents are counting on you.

You're a big influence on her.

It's true.

It's time we went home.

I'll send a telegram, and book two seats
on the Southern Express.

Are you doing this on purpose?

What are you waiting for
to read those letters?

For you to be gone!

When I met him I couldn't
believe it was him.

He was running with the dog,
and shouting.

I'm sure he's not prone to illness -
just being careful.

You wouldn't recognise him.

I fetch him his jacket
when it gets cold.

You remember the hunting lookout?

You picked out the spots
where I was to feel such joy.

Darling, forgive me, I'm talking about
happiness as if you'd never known it.

She's known such joy.

And what about me?

It's all sorted, we leave tomorrow.

For our final lunch, cost be damned,
I'm taking you up the Eiffel tower!

What's wrong? Not eating?

It would be a shame to leave
any behind, at this price.

I was thinking about little Anne.

Funny, I'd all but forgotten about it...

since you've taken the matter into hand.

I was wondering why your parents
are against the marriage.

The Azevedos are worth more
than the Deguilhems.

You know they're Jewish,
mother knew the old Azevedo man.

He refused to baptise his children.

The more I think about it,
the less I understand.

Even from your point of view.

Because you know, there's
no-one in Bordeaux older...

than those Jewish Portuguese families.

The Azevedos were already way ahead when
our miserable shepherd ancestors...

were shivering with fever
on the edge of their swamps.

Therese, don't argue
just for the fun of it...

All Jews think highly of themselves.

They're a family of
ill-breeding and disease.

And what did your grandfather die of?
And Aunt Clara. Have you seen her?

You're going too far Therese.

You shouldn't joke about our families.

Our families don't care about
what they don't see, or know.

They're experts at covering things up,
hiding their dirty secrets.

Without the servants we'd never know
anything. Luckily we have them.

I'm not answering.

When you get going,
it's best to let you finish.

But at home, it won't be put up with.

No more jokes about the family history.

Therese, don't make that face.
If you could see yourself.

I was laughing.
How silly you are, my darling.

To think of what strangers see...
what shame!.

And that's how they'll judge us.

I admired that this prudish man
was the same one

whose patient nocturnal inventions
I had to suffer.

That foolish girl,
thinking happiness existed.

She needed to know, like me,
that it doesn't.

Even if we had nothing else in common,
we should at least have that: solitude.

And certainly not love.
Not love, for Anne. Not love.

Would Bernard follow up to this point?

When I reached this parade I'm in now,
I'd have to recall for him

those first few weeks spent at
Saint-Clair... in my new family.

Do please make an effort!

And you Therese, eat up!
In your state you need to eat.

Pay no attention to her. I'd like to
coddle her but she won't have it.

In her state, the nausea...
it's understandable.

I remember when I was pregnant with you,
I had to sniff a rubber ball.

It was the only way to
settle my stomach!

What's the matter with them?

That's it: Anne's got to leave
for Biarritz, to stay with my sister.

As for that Azevedo, Therese will know
how to talk some sense into him.

Therese, where are you?

Here, on the bench.

Hold me, Therese.

Are you unhappy, my dear?

No, not tonight.

I know that one way or another,
I'll be with him.

What's important is that
he knows it too.

And you're going to tell him.

I've decided on this trip.
When I get back I'll be with Jean.

He told me,
"You're the only thing I live for".

Another time, "Our love is the only
thing I care about right now".

Right now...

What is it, do you think he was
only talking about that moment?

No need to ask if she was unhappy.

I could hear her suffering
in the shadows.

Why would I have pity?

It must be so sweet to love...
to be loved.

Are you crying Therese?

Is it because of me?

You love me, don't you.

I felt it under my head.

He's been moving for a few days.

The baby?

He's alive already.

At Argelouse, after Anne left,
I had to deal with Azevedo.

Bernard was beginning to feel
the first symptoms of an obsession

so common among his stock.

His fear of death.

What's the matter? Are you ok?

You can't imagine
what I'm going through.

Can you feel that?

Those irregular heartbeats.

Why don't you go to Bordeaux
for a checkup?

It's not that serious.

Doctor Pedemay said it's my nerves.

Well if the doctor said it's nothing.

He didn't say it was nothing.
He said it was my nerves.

Have you thought about the Azevedo boy?

Your heart...

Don't talk about my heart! You only have
to mention it and I can feel it again.

That proves it's my nerves.

Do you think it's that too?

Maybe. Your father died of heart
disease. And at your age...

Clearly the Desqueyroux's hearts
are their weak point.

What are you talking about?
My grandfather lived to be 90.

You're a funny one, Bernard,
with your fear of death.

Don't you ever feel helpless, like me?

Don't you think that a life like ours
already feels a lot like death?

The things you come out with.

You think your smart alec answers
are clever?

You just systematically take the
opposite position to everything...

Well it's not me you need to argue with.

Better save that energy for
your meeting with Azevedo.

You know he's leaving Vilmeja
in mid-October.

In mid-October, after a very bad night,

Bernard went straight to Bordeaux
to be examined.

The first wood pigeons
were passing overhead.

I'd decided to go up to that
abandoned hunting lookout,

contrary to my usual movements
in hunting season,

and I hadn't taken the precaution
of avoiding the woods,

where you had to stop, and whistle.

If a long whistle comes in reply,
you have to take cover.

A flock of birds swooped into the oaks.

It's nice to finally meet you madam.

I've heard so much about you.

I've heard about you too. Much too much.

From Anne of course. Your sister-in-law?

Yes, sir. Anne.

Do you know you've brought trouble
into a reputable family?

Do you think such a marriage
would ever be allowed?

So you think I want to marry her?
That I aspire to such an honour?

Get married, me? At my age?

Don't even think about it.

Well, she has thought about it.
She does think about it.

She's unhappy, because of you.

She's unhappy?

Perfect.

I know of your reputation, madam.
I know what they say about you.

You're not like the people round here.

Before she embarks on such a dismal
voyage in some old Argelouse house,

I've given Anne some illusions.

To save her from losing hope.

I ought to have been furious with
Jean Azevedo's pretensions,

but an awakening mind,
that seemed so new to me.

To think that I'd be able to
take care of a little girl in Paris.

Paris?

Yes. I go to the national
administrative school...

and I'm doing a degree in
Philosophy at the Sorbonne.

The bird's in the hand.

May I accompany you home?
Only if you don't mind.

No, on the contrary.

I get bored out here.
Counting the days until Paris.

But I feel I can talk to you.

Who else round here could I talk to
about, say, Chekhov?

I've been re-reading his plays.
Do you like Chekhov?

Yes of course. The Seagull.
Especially The Cherry Orchard.

I think I prefer The Three Sisters
to The Cherry Orchard.

I think it goes deeper into description;
evoking the things that we both know.

Maybe you better than I, madam.

This land. The heat.

The inescapable, unbearable
suffocation of the province.

I'm leaving Ekaterinburg...

...I'm finally going to Moscow.

I mean that I'm leaving Argelouse.

- Here we are.
- Already.

It was kind of you to
go out of your way.

Not at all, I can get back to Vilmeja
across that field.

And Anne? We haven't talked about Anne.

We've forgotton about her,
the little thing.

Well, we can't choose where
the conversation leads us.

If you like we can see each other again
and talk about Anne then.

When could it be? The sooner the better.

We should decide something
for Anne, draw up a plan.

Wednesday, same time, same place?

Come on.

Jean Azevedo was the first man I'd met,
to whom intellect meant something.

How quickly that walk had passed.

Get to Saint-Clair as soon as
the pharmacy opens.

Don't worry sir. I've other
prescriptions to fill.

There you are at last.

I'm fine, Therese.

A man like me, I hardly look
anaemic, do I?

I've been prescribed some drops to take.
Fowler's solution, it's arsenic.

You know who I met by chance,
up at the abandoned hunting outpost?

The Azevedo boy.

Did you talk?

We talked, yes, a lot even.

And was he difficult about it?

No. Jean Azevedo has never even
thought about marrying her.

Never even thought about it?
Jean Azevedo?

Ho! Hey, listen Aunt Clara:

The Azevedo boy doesn't want to
marry Anne. Isn't that lucky?

Lucky, yes! I always thought there
was nothing wrong with you.

An Azevedo not wanting to marry
Anne de la Trave? You're mad.

He knows he hasn't a chance. Why
take the risk when you're sure to lose?

You're still naïve, my dear.

Children, dinner's served.

Did I see Jean Azevedo many more times?

I only remember meeting to write
that letter to Anne together.

The naïve boy had come up with
some words to let her down gently,

but I could see, without telling him,
all the cruelty within it.

Good.

A good deed done. Shall we walk?

You said the other day one should
always be oneself...

but... we can only be what
we make of ourselves.

That's what I learnt in Philosophy.

Pindar's words, adopted by Nietzsche,
and quoted by Dubos:

"become who you are".

And what if you're condemned
to lie until death?

A few resist... and they give rise to
the dramas that families keep quiet.

Like they say round here,
you have to make silence.

Yes, sometimes I've asked myself about
that great-uncle, or grandparent,

whose photographs have been
removed from the family album.

And I've never gotten any answers
apart from: he's disappeared.

They made him disappear.

Therese, we've had a passage of birds!

Therese, come and see, I've brought you
some - see how nice they are.

The day got off to a very bad start.

I even said to Balion that it was
too late in the season,

there'd be no more big passages.
But at around 11 o'clock...

Being oneself.

Bernard would never understand
how I felt that one night

in the dining room at Argelouse,
after Jean Azevedo left.

For my health!

Therese, don't have a coffee.
It's not good for the baby.

In the eyes of the family,
only the fruit I bore mattered.

No doubt if the worst happened,
he'd sacrifice me for that child.

I was losing my sense
of being an individual.

Good night sir, madam. Sleep well!

Thank you, Balionte.

How can I wipe that October night
from my memory?

Where is he?

How did you get here?

I know how to take the train on my own.

Well yes, I escaped from Biarritz.

Where's Jean?

Paris, you know that.
I think he wrote to you.

That letter...

I don't believe you.

He was supposed to stay here
until All Saints' Day.

You're lying, like you always have.

That's not fair. I did everything-

You betrayed me to save me.
You fit right in with this family.

Since you got married
you're just like the others.

Where are you going?

His house at Vilmeja.

I told you he's been gone a week!

I don't believe you!

I'll leave tomorrow for Paris.

I'll find him in Paris.

Unbelievable!

Is that what I thought I heard?

What are you doing here
in the middle of the night?

Why are you back from Biarritz?

I'll explain. She's tired,
she needs to rest.

That's a bit much to take!

Mademoiselle runs away, and I,
her brother, can't have an explanation?

Answer me! Do you hear?

Get up. What's the meaning of this?

Fine. Don't answer, don't get up.

I'll make you speak.

You've got until tomorrow.

Do I make myself clear?

Until the end of December,
I had to live in that darkness.

Then I was taken back to town,
to the Saint-Clair house.

As much as I suffered in that time,

it was the day after giving birth
that I could no longer tolerate life.

There were no signs on the outside,
no scenes between Bernard and me.

That was the tragedy.
We had no reason to break up.

With such differences there's usually
a battleground on which to fight.

But I never ran into Bernard.
Much less my parents-in-law.

Therese! Walk in the shade,
the sun's bad for you!

Their words didn't reach me.

Since the baby arrived,
Anne's come to life.

She even made up with Therese so she
can spend more time with the baby.

But there's nothing left
of their old friendship.

She's so sweet, our little Marie.

Come and see grandma.

What a darling, she's smiling.

When she's with me she's always smiling.

She knows me better than her mother.

She prefers me so much
I'm a little embarrassed.

Anne was wrong to feel embarrassed.

At that moment in life,
I was detached from my daughter

just like everything else.

Get out of this world...

...but how?
And where to go?

What happened that year?

I only remember loathing my husband
even more than usual on Corpus Christi.

Folk hid away, to avoid having to
take off their hats or to kneel.

Bernard was the just about only man
to walk behind the box.

He was doing his duty.

Weeks passed without a drop of rain.

Bernard lived in terror of a bushfire.

Here's the moment I come face to face
with the act I committed.

What can I tell Bernard?

Nothing to do but remind him,
step by step, how it came to pass.

It was the day of
the big fire at Mano.

What news?

It's still far from Saint-Clair, but...
a lot of land's going to burn.

And the Mayor's not here.

Sir, the alarm bell. Is it serious?

I'd better go and take a look myself.

It's near Mano.

- Where's the wind from?
- North-East.

That's what I thought.
There's no danger.

You smoke too much, it's toxic.

You were right not to worry,
the fire's over at Mano.

No danger for my pines.

Did I take my drops?

I didn't plan to keep my mouth shut.

But that night, when Doctor Pedemay
asked me about the day's incidents,

I said nothing about
what I'd seen at the lunch table.

It wouldn't have been hard to
draw the doctor's attention

to Bernard's arsenic drops.

But I remained mute.

The act at lunch, which I never
knew I had in me,

started to creep out from inside me,

shapeless still, but beginning to
dawn on my conscience.

- How's Bernard this morning?
- He's much better.

It was just a small illness.

I didn't feel at all like I was
prey to a horrible tempation.

I just had to satisfy a
slightly dangerous curiosity.

The first day, before Bernard came in,

I put some drops of Fowler's solution
into his drink.

I remember saying to myself:
just this once, to be sure.

I'd know if it was that
that had made him ill.

Just once, and it would be over.

What followed, Bernard knows
as well as I do.

That sudden reprisal of his illness.

- Goodbye Doctor.
- Goodbye madam.

That hopeless Doctor Pedemay doesn't
have a clue what's wrong with Bernard.

We need to bring a better
doctor from Bordeaux.

Poor dear... he's so scared of dying.

Having a specialist in to consult
might finish him off.

Therese...

Bernard, who hoped to be better
in time for the wood pigeon hunts,

had travelled back to Argelouse.

I was alone, moving through
the darkest part of a tunnel.

I needed to get out of that darkness,
to reach fresh air.

At the start of December, a new crisis,
more violent than the last, struck.

A medical specialist was called
from Bordeaux.

You say he woke up and
couldn't move his legs?

Shivering, yes sir.

A racing pulse, and a low temperature.

Would you like to
wash your hands, Professor?

If you don't mind, I'd like to discuss
with Doctor Pedemay.

Oh. Of course. This way Professor...

Worrying. Very worrying.

- A horrible story.
- How did you realise?

Darquey - he's my chemist - two days ago
he showed me two forged prescriptions.

On the first, someone other than me
had added Fowler's solution.

I'd prescribed it for Mr Desqueyroux
when he'd had palpitations.

And the other prescription?

That's the one which made me suspicious.

It was for large doses of chloroform,
digitalis, and aconite grains.

You could poison a whole house.

Despite the high regard I have for the
family, I felt it my duty to complain.

A mistake like that would have
such consequences...

We need to move him urgently.
An ambulance will come in the morning.

A few days after Bernard left,
I was summoned before the judge.

Now that I'm about to meet Bernard,

my story, so carefully
reconstructed, collapses.

That's all there is
to this prepared confession.

Nothing to say in my defence.

Just approaching this man,
reduced to nothing any hope I had...

of explaining myself... of confessing.

Bernard won't even make
the slightest possible gesture.

What if he were to open his arms,
no questions asked?

The case was dismissed.

It was predestined.

Bernard.

Let me go, Bernard.

What? You dare to have an opinion?

You just have to listen. Take my orders.

What do you want from me?

I'm not going to be influenced by
personal considerations.

I'm keeping my mouth shut.

The family is all that matters.

For the family's pride, I agreed to
deceive my country's justice system.

God help me.

No doubt he will.

It's not about strength of character.

You will obey, or else.

Or else what? You spoke up in my
defence, you can't go back on it.

You'd be convicted for perjury.

We can always find new facts.
That right remains, thank God.

What matters for the family is that
the world thinks we are together.

And that I don't appear to be
questioning your innocence.

Also, I want to hold myself in
as best I can.

Are you afraid of me, Bernard?

Afraid? No. Appalled.

We'll do it quickly, and
it will be over for good.

I don't want your sick aunt living here.

From tomorrow, all your meals will be
served by Balionte, in your room.

You're forbidden from
all the other rooms.

On Sunday we'll go to mass together.

You must be seen on my arm.

And Marie?

Marie leaves tomorrow, to my mother's.

In a week I'll take her to Beaulieu.

You didn't think you were
going to keep her?

She needs protecting.

If I was dead she'd inherit
the estate when she's 21.

So you think it's because
of the pines that I-

Of course. Because of the pines.
What else?

The rest is unimportant.
I'm not interested.

You're nothing.

The only thing that exists,
is the name you've taken.

In a few months, when the world is
convinced of our good relationship,

and Anne has married Deguilhem's son...

The Deguilhems are having second
thoughts now, you know.

Only then can I return to Saint-Clair.

You'll stay here. We'll say you're...
depressed, or something.

Mad, for example?

No. That would be unfair on Marie.

But we can find plenty of
plausible reasons.

That's all.

You think you can hold me by force?

Know this: the only way you'll get out
of here is with your wrists bound.

I still have my father.

Your father? The two of us
are in complete agreement.

He has his career, the
ideas he represents.

He just wants to cover up this scandal.

If the court made a rushed job
of your case, it's thanks to him.

At least appreciate
what he's done for you.

Argelouse... until death.

This proof that Bernard thinks he has.

In this house where we never came, how
could he have found the poison I hid?

Mademoiselle Clara is dead!

Dead on her bed, fully clothed!

She's not even pretending to cry.

Who can say it wasn't her again,
doing her dirty deed?

At Aunt Clara's funeral,
I held my place.

Next Sunday I was seen in church
at Bernard's side.

Surrounded on all sides, before me
there was only the choir.

That empty space between two children

where a robed man stands,
whispering, his arms apart.

The poor thing can't be cheered up.

She doesn't want to see anyone and
the doctor said not to argue with her.

Bernard's being very supportive, but
poor Therese's morale is down.

Goodbye Mr Bernard. Have a good trip!

After sorting out that drama,
like any other matter of business,

Bernard left on his travels.

Me, in the Desqueyroux house, I was
cloistered, condemned to solitude.

Where are the books and records
I've been expecting from Bordeaux?

Mr Bernard cancelled them,
said it was not necessary.

The only thing you'll be receiving
is your supply of cigarettes.

Isn't that generous enough?

She doesn't get out of bed,
she doesn't eat.

But she empties those
wine bottles, I tell you!

If I keep on giving it to her,
she'll keep on drinking it.

She's even got cigarette burns
on the sheets.

She'll end up burning this place down!

That damn woman!

Have you ever seen such a life?

I don't refuse to sweep her room,
or make her bed.

But that lazy cow up there
won't even get up!

Mr Bernard's coming home in one week.

She'll have to get up!

And don't burn those ones!

Bernard wrote to say he was coming back,
that he was pleased to hear

from Balion's reports that
everything was fine at Argelouse.

Aren't you happy Anne got engaged
to the Deguilhem boy in Beaulieu?

If madam could only pull
herself together a bit,

it wouldn't take long to
get back on your feet!

Make an effort madam, please?

Sir is coming back in 4 days.

They'll all be there.
The Deguilhem boy and everyone.

I'll make you a nice chicken meal!

I'm not hungry.

Sir is here, Anne, her mother.
Anne and the young man...

Mustn't scare the boy.

Don't expect me to kiss her.
You can't ask that of your mother.

You should check on Therese,
maybe she's feeling worse.

I can hear her coming down.

It's very simple, the bad weather
meant I couldn't go out.

I lost my appetite, I was hardly eating.

Better to get thin than fat.

Watch her. Don't let her in the
kitchen or dining room alone.

She scares me.
Her state scares me.

Go back inside.

We'll send the car back tomorrow.

Unbelievable! Have you seen her?

Sir, I assure you we
took good care of her.

We treated her like a lady.

What do you think she is?

Just you wait!

They can just wait for their
long service medals.

Drink this.

Spanish wine, it's a real pick-me-up.

I think you'll eat better in the
dining room, than your bedroom.

I'll have a place set like before.

- Isn't that a lot?
- I said every 3 days.

Some women weigh themselves even more
often, and not even for health reasons.

Health. Think of that above all.

Your health.

And no more smoking. You can have
2 cigarettes after each meal.

Go for walks, often.

We'll come to some sort of
arrangement, the two of us.

I'd like you to wait
until Anne is married.

After that you'll be free.

Free?

Free. No divorce, no official
separation, why complicate matters?

We'll say it's for health reasons -
you only feel well when travelling.

Each year I'll pay off
your expenses, of course.

Of course.

You can move to Paris.

Will I go to Paris?

Yes, why not?

When I'm in Paris, I'll live in a hotel.

Or a little apartment. More proper.

I was no longer afraid of Argelouse.

It felt like the pines were parting,
giving me a sign to set sail.

Scared you'll set the pavement on fire?

Therese.

I wanted to ask you...

I want to know.
Was it because you hated me?

Did I repulse you?

Don't you know I was
after your pines?

Yes. I wanted your pines for myself.

I don't believe that... if I ever did.

Why did you do it?

You can tell me now.

Maybe I just wanted to see
a single flash of worry,

or curiosity, or trouble in your eyes.

Everything I've seen in the last second.

You're spirited to the very end I see.

Seriously, why?

A man like you, Bernard, always knows
the reasons for his actions, yes?

Of course, certainly... I suppose.

I would have loved for you
to see the whole picture.

There must have been a day
you decided to do it.

The day of the big fire at Mano.

It was in the kitchen.
You were eating standing up.

You were talking with your head turned
towards the two men raising the alarm,

forgetting to count the drops
falling into your glass.

And it came to you, just like that?
Via the Holy Spirit?

Listen Bernard, I'm not trying to
persuade you of my innocence.

With such lucidity and tenacity
I followed my intentions.

I gave in to a terrible duty.
Yes, it was like my duty.

These are just words. Tell me
what you truly wanted. I dare you.

I didn't want to play a role.
Go through the motions. Read my lines.

Constantly in denial of a Therese who...

Why does everything I'm
telling you feel so false?

Now, Bernard, I feel that the Therese
who liked to count her pines herself...

the Therese who was proud
to marry a Desqueyroux,

and to hold her place in a
good family of the Landes...

that Therese is just as real
as the other. Just as alive.

There was no reason to
sacrifice her for the other.

What other?

I'll need to come back sometime
for my possessions, and for Marie.

What possessions?
I own all the assets.

We can't go back on what was
agreed. Isn't that right?

You'll have your place at all official
events where we must be seen together.

In a family like ours there's
plenty of weddings and funerals.

For starters, I'll be surprised if
Uncle Martin lasts until autumn.

That'll be an occasion - but it seems
like you've already had enough.

12:20... just time to stop by the hotel.

If Bernard had said to me,
"I forgive you; come with me"...

I would have got up and followed.

But...

I want to tell you one last time
that I'm sorry, Bernard.

Let's drop the subject.

It would be better for you
if I were dead.

Don't worry about me.

Every Desqueyroux generation
has had its 'old boy'.

My only regret is that we had a girl,
because the name will die out.

Don't get up.

Remember, I've already paid for you.

Free. What more could I wish for?

It's not this town, built of stone,
that I cherish,

it's this living, struggling forest,

hollowed out by passions
fiercer than any tempest.

The moaning of the pines at
Argelouse only moved me so...

because they sounded so human.

Subtitles by: M. Nicholson