À demain mon amour (2021) - full transcript
The greatest things in human life,
every effort to think,
every effort to love,
are destructive for order.
I can't be bothered,
you can switch off the TV.
When's the next demo?
I can't remember.
I hope there'll be one soon.
Like the one
the day before yesterday.
I was happy with that one.
They're asking: "Who benefits
from the drop in unemployment?"
The unemployed, I hope.
Darling...
Good night, Monique.
Good night, my sweetheart.
Until tomorrow.
Until tomorrow.
With all your courage.
When you wake up in the morning
do you think
of the millions of people
who die of hunger?
Do you think of those children?
Of the starving Burkinabe?
No.
You think about the day ahead
or the dress you want to buy!
Well, it's the same
with the upper class.
You don't exist!
Do you understand what I mean?
You got it all!
Michel tells me that
the trickle-down theory is nonsense.
That's exactly it.
It's like the story of Jesus
who was born without
the Virgin Mary touching Joseph,
or like the invisible hand
of the market.
There are lots of childish tales
how people can believe such things?
I shouldn't talk like this,
but they're taking the piss
out of us.
And today more than ever,
the only solution is a Revolution.
A GUIDE TO LOVE AND FIGHTING CAPITALISM
- What shops do you see?
- Nina Ricci, Dior.
- Luxury shops.
- Look around.
It's intimidating.
What are you doing, exactly?
We're taking a walk
around the neighbourhood.
- Why?
- It's a school trip.
I see.
Goodbye, sir.
You find it oppressive?
Let's go.
The prime minister's offices
aren't here.
Matignon is just the street name.
- The Élysée Palace isn't far?
- It's a bit further.
Mind your manners, please.
Look how she's dressed!
No pointing, Nadir, please.
Haven't you heard of brunch?
It's when you get up late
on Sundays.
You can do cheaper ones.
Plastic sandals at 450.
There are harem pants at 1,370.
I get that in a month
as a cashier.
700. My dad's monthly pay.
Hold on, Farid.
I'm getting a piece of gold.
I'll sell it.
Thank you very much
for coming.
You must have loved
working in this area.
That's not quite how it was.
In reality, we were a bit intimated.
In the words of Pierre Bourdieu,
we sociologists call that timidity
"symbolic violence".
It means that when you see...
Especially me as I'm very small
with an unusual look,
faced with the lithe, elegant ladies
of Avenue Montaigne...
- You're more beautiful!
- Thank you. That's sweet.
Alongside those ladies,
I didn't feel good.
They're no better than you or me.
They were just in the right place
at the right time,
and that allowed them to study
and enter the workforce.
They're taught to exhibit
the right behaviour.
They speak nicely.
Not because they're more intelligent.
It's never that.
They simply do exactly
as expected.
It's normal for them
to see children's dresses at 700.
Whereas we're shocked
because we don't have that.
I find their lives weird.
For them, it's normal
but I find it weird.
It's a whole different world.
Two different worlds.
They don't want to know us.
When we said hello to the people
outside the palace hotels
they looked down on us.
They're scornful.
They don't want to know us.
The higher up in society you are,
the more your bearing is elegant,
and you stand straight.
So you think it's normal that
such a person is dominant,
or gives the orders.
It's normal that those people
are in politics and lead the world
as we can see
that they are better than us.
The violence that you felt
is the start of resistance,
the start of your critical thinking.
It's important to feel in your flesh
this confrontation
with those who dominate.
What you came up against
was domination,
class domination.
It's madness to say this
but something has taken
place in your minds,
that is irreversible.
Never be submissive.
Always stand straight. Vertical.
That's why we don't want you to sit.
Not because of the dog shit
but so we all remain
standing straight.
Thank you, very much.
We look great, like that!
Look at today's "Le Monde"!
It's the same nonsense
every day!
It's extraordinary.
Here's the front page
on Carlos Ghosn, "The Tax Evader".
The bastard, I didn't know
about the embezzlement.
He used Nissan to buy land
in Brazil and Lebanon
to protect his future.
Maybe to speculate?
Look! "H ow will climatic chaos
affect our lives?"
"By the year 2100,
half of humanity
will be threatened
by massive simultaneous catastrophes.
Drought, famine, floods!"
That's jolly!
And so?
That's everything we're up against.
You see.
"In CAR, a militia leader
has been brought before the ICC."
When can we bring Macron
before the ICC
for insulting the workers.
- Have you been drinking?
- No, I haven't.
I saw we had a lot of bills!
I kept you the gardening flyer
as you like to look at the plants.
Do you want a spot more wine?
We'll just say you've deserved it!
And she serves herself, again!
You eat like a peasant
from the Ardennes.
It reminds me of when your parents
were invited to my parents' home
in the nice house in Élancourt.
Mum had prepared sole.
You dad started cutting up his sole
instead of filleting it.
Like that.
I thought: "He'll eat the bones".
It was a moment of symbolic violence,
class violence.
So I filleted it for him.
For me,
it was even more violent
that my father, a magistrate,
spoke to you to ask if your father
or mother liked something.
My father didn't speak directly
to your parents.
It was incredibly disdainful.
He was incapable
of having an ordinary exchange
with a labourer
and a cleaning lady.
But Mother wouldn't have spoke
like that.
That means
that class violence
can be found in the smallest details.
Smallest details yourself.
If I may say so!
It's the morning mood
with the head of Radio France politics.
Who are these people
President Macron called lazy?
We'd like to know who he considers
lazy, cynical, extreme.
We're not sure whether he means
people or forces.
It needs to be put elsewhere.
Don't tell me you're working!
What else should I do?
"Needs and Habitus".
Remember? Social housing.
There were two volumes.
It was one of our favourite books
that we wrote together.
Especially as we took pleasure
in writing it.
I'll never forget the two letters
that Guy de Rothschild sent us
to congratulate us for our work.
It was a good idea
to accept that job
which followed a family
from the 18th century to 1999.
We understood
how fortunes are consolidated
by these internal marriages
between members of the same family.
Of the 19 grandchildren
of Amschel Rothschild,
the dynasty's supposed founder,
how many of them intermarried?
I can't remember.
Fourteen of them.
That's a lot. They're listed in here.
I'll give it my full attention, later.
It'll be my bedtime read, tonight.
I think I made a big mistake
live on a 24-hour news channel
on the subject of flat tax.
I said that the capital gains tax
has decreased from 60% to 30%.
I'd read somewhere that
it included all the social charges,
so, I said if I take off
17.2% of social charges,
it's a lie because
capital gains taxation
has dropped from 60 to 12.8%.
The 12.8% is exclusive
of social charges.
In fact, they've created an income tax
specifically for the rich.
A flat-tax at 12.8%.
- So I'm not wrong?
- No, you're not wrong.
This is very important.
You need to go slower.
We have to understand
and be able to explain.
Most of the income
of the richest people,
meaning the 500 richest families
in France,
comes from capital income,
not salary income,
but from interest or dividends,
linked to the sale of their shares.
So now they're taxed at 12.8%,
instead of 45%.
Of course, if you add on social charges,
that makes a total of 30%.
But if you add on social charges to 45%,
that makes a total of 60%.
So they say from 60% to 30%,
because 60% seems enormous
and 30% seems reasonable,
whereas if you said 12.8%,
there'd be a revolution.
Whilst the first tax bracket
for the man on the street is 14%.
Income tax is applied to flow.
What happens if you only apply
a 12.8% flat-tax?
It means there's a lot less tax
on flow.
So it will increase stock even more.
That's why I'll add a third line.
See, the flow is much more consequent.
So stock will increase!
It increases if the rich
make it increase.
Because if they consume it all,
it doesn't grow. But they can't.
If they consume more,
they'll burst!
Mrs Bettencourt has 81 million
in taxable income.
She doesn't use 81 million yearly.
Half is a hell of a lifestyle, already.
So she will always have
at least half of that 81 million
that will increase stock.
Do you know what, Liêm?
Thanks to Laurent Fabius, in 1999,
we got access to
the 100 richest payers of wealth tax.
He was Minister
for Economic Affairs
and we were quite friendly with him.
We asked him to ask
the Inland Revenue
to do a special job at our request.
The results of this research?
Financial products made up
97% of their personal wealth.
The remaining 3% allowed them to buy
yachts, castles, flats...
Their income is 500
to 1,000 times minimum wage.
People don't realise.
The "poor" have never seen
real rich people.
They don't know what they have.
They think that
the rich drive Ferraris.
It's a far cry from reality.
And now, can you explain the transition
from Employment and Competitivity
Tax Credit...
To long-term social charge decrease?
I think that's important.
This year, that will cost 40 billion.
20 billion in tax credit and
20 billion in social charges.
That's 40 billion.
That's 2 points of GDP.
It's a huge sum.
Ok.
Raising minimum welfare
to the poverty line
would cost 10 billion.
That's very well said.
If we put welfare up to 1,000,
that would cost 10 billion.
Instead,
companies get a 40 billion gift.
How can you smile when you say that?
It's horrendous.
Sometimes, I detest you.
It's horrible.
Better laugh than cry!
We're off to a bad start.
It'll take time to bring change.
It just upsets me.
It shows to what extent
we're in a democracy
that's decaying.
It will be awful.
It will be awful.
Carlos Ghosn did not commit
tax fraud in France.
The Government spokesperson
and I have asked our services
to check Mr Carlos Ghosn's
tax situation in France.
I just wish to confirm
that there's nothing to report
as regards Mr Carlos Ghosn's
tax situation.
So, no fraud in France...
I'm a journalist
at Le Soir newspaper in Brussels.
We'd like to invite you
to participate in our debate.
The main question will be:
Why is it that the richer you are
the more you fraud?
They refuse to pay their taxes
but it's not to save money, at all.
It's because they don't believe
in national solidarity
and welfare states.
They want multinationals to be free
like foxes in a chicken coup.
They don't want them
to come up against obstacles
represented by politics,
democracy or nation-states.
That's it.
The oligarchs, all those who monopolise
wealth and power,
they recognise only one homeland:
their own social class.
In the name of the revolution
and a brighter future!
- Happy Humanity Festival.
- Yes, you too.
From the plains to forests
and vales to hills
From spring to be born
from the seasons gone by
From what I lived
to what I imagine
I shall never finish
writing your song
My France
From the great summer sun
that scorches Provence
You're as hard-working as ever.
From Brittany's broom
to the heather of Ardèche
Something in the air
has that transparency
And taste of happiness
that dries my lips
That air of freedom
beyond the frontiers
Those foreign peoples
who made us feel giddy
Whose dignity you steal today
It still answers
to the name of Robespierre
That of old Hugo
railing from exile
Of the 5-year old children
working the mines
Those who with their hands
build your factories
Those of whom Mr Thiers said
we shall shoot it
Picasso holds the world
at the tip of his palette
Doves fly out
from Éluard's lips
Your prophetic artists
continually warn
It's time for misfortune
to die
The voices of the throng
ring out as one
The throng that pays
for the crimes of your errors
Filling history
and its communal graves
I shall always sing
of the workers' land.
The international ideal
unites the human race!
"This trickle-down manipulation
is a partial explanation
of the extent of abstention,
of the distrust vis a vis politicians,
of their expertise..."
I've finished, Michel!
I have to correct it.
I dictated it.
And sometimes,
the machine improvises.
There are 3 quotas...
There's sex...
It put "sexy aged"...
I'll correct it.
I'd dictated "sex and age"...
- How do I do it.
- Put the cursor there.
Just type that first...
I'm doing it as you watch.
See what happens?
You do it.
It works one day out of two.
You're not doing it better than me.
It's pointless getting annoyed.
It'll work tomorrow.
- How strange.
- It's working!
Well done. How did you do that.
I held that key down.
You learn something every day.
You're retired
but continue your research?
Yes.
I'm a bit reluctant.
A big bit!
You'd rather travel the world?
Why not?
- Have you travelled a lot?
- Yes, a bit.
We'd like to travel more
but we made a promise
to do this work.
We often hear the same names
in left-wing circles.
There's yours, Ruffin,
Serge Halimi, Pierre Carles,
- You're very up to date.
- Bourdieu.
It's an honour to travel with you.
What's your profession?
I'm a prison officer.
Oh yes, at the prison, nearby.
Not many of my colleagues
are left-wing.
I'm a bit of an outsider.
My colleagues laugh at me.
"As a civil servant, you are not allowed
to have an opinion."
As if they don't have an ideology.
If you talk too much to a prisoner,
as I sometimes do,
"Lefty's talking again.
You're not here to chat."
"Isn't reinsertion part of my job?"
"Reinsertion, stop dreaming."
They show fatalism.
They don't want to try to understand.
There's no sociology.
They call them "profiteers".
It's the poor who are costly.
You probably hear that.
All the time!
Let's open the suitcase.
We'll be happy
to have our slippers handy.
Look what I bought.
- I saw it before.
- I got it for on television.
- It wasn't for me?
- What?
I said it wasn't for me.
You don't look at me.
I hear you!
Is it possible for an oppressed
and disorganised class,
to come to power?
Is it possible?
It makes you wonder.
I say yes.
We all want to say yes.
History hasn't yet proven
it's possible.
History has shown that the
old aristocratic regime's disappearance
gave rise to the new
aristocracy of money.
We got rid of the aristocrats.
- But we created a new aristocracy.
- So we have to kick them out, too.
They don't feel any guilt.
None at all.
They don't feel any guilt whatsoever.
With the work we did
on the dominant class,
we know the strength represented
by sharing that wealth and power
within a very small number
of families.
As we share things
in all those dinner parties,
hunting parties,
closed circles and rallies,
we've really understood
how things work.
It's never Michel
who gives you a hand
and you, Philippe Poutou
who will give Michel a hand.
No. A helps B.
Then B helps C,
who will help D.
And in the end...
It all comes together.
It all gels.
As if it had been thought out.
Everything passes through this
worldly interaction,
that we had permission
to be a part of.
It's every day.
You start with breakfast
in a palace hotel,
then have lunch in a great restaurant
on the Place des Vosges,
where you have a private salon,
and you finish with coffee
at the Jockey Club.
In another private salon.
Then it's tea-time for the ladies
at Ladurée, with little macarons.
Then it's cocktails and dinner.
The pleasure of being together.
And I'm going to shock you
and ruin your evening for good.
Because happiness and communism...
They apply it?
Oh, it's just too hard.
We trade unionists
are suffering at the factory.
What were the consequences
of the threats?
The employees went back to work.
It didn't last long.
They heard the word "punishment".
I said to my big boss,
discipline me now.
I know I'm in for it.
If everyone stops,
he can't discipline everyone.
The problem is that
only a small number stop.
And they face disciplinary measures.
It's lucky our team's there.
We cause a lot of trouble,
but we take a lot of stick too.
But you're happy!
Yes, like I said...
I won't die on my knees.
My wife says the union
is my secret mistress.
She's even jealous.
Michel and I are sociologists.
For over thirty years,
we were researchers at the
National Scientific Research Centre.
That means that you, the taxpayers,
paid us to carry out
fundamental research,
which means discovering
new research subjects,
to discover interesting things
about society.
Our research into
those in high places
aimed to incarnate
or to personify the exploiters,
and understand how
as an ultra-minority
they manage to enslave the majority.
This discrimination has to be masked
or made to appear natural
like the moon that shines
or the sun that warms us.
So self-evident
that it can't be contested.
I shall add my part
to that stellar account.
I shall do my very best.
First of all,
I'd like to try to say
that almost everywhere
in the world
the rich lead a struggle
against the people.
The weapons used are more subtle
than canons and guns.
They are ideological weapons.
Workers are considered
as adjustable variables.
Costs and expenses...
You begin to see the difference,
I suppose?
The difference between
my darling wife and I?
She writes like a potato.
My speech is even worse
than her writing style.
So, as Ford prepares to
lay off 910 employees from your factory,
the American multinational
is declaring 6,000 euros
is that thousand, or million,
or billion perhaps?
That's impossible. Is that right?
Well, I just can't believe it.
I wrote it but it's unbelievable.
6.37 billion in profits.
I'll help you.
We'll do it together.
That's the final point.
What should you do?
You, the Ford workers?
You must do what the rich do,
support each other.
So, today,
we shall give nothing
to the lazy, the cynical,
and the extremists
of the predatory oligarchy.
United we stand!
United we stand!
I'm going to sing you a song.
After "Your Precious Hands",
I will sing to you
a new song, called "Hope".
Perhaps hope will fit in
with what's going to happen.
That will all depend
on the conviction of the fight.
I promised Mr Poutou I'd come back
if you occupied the factory.
I'm used to riot police lines.
You have to fight to the end.
On the darkness of the sun,
on the sand of the tides.
On the calm of sleep,
on my love found again.
The sun also rises.
And the stronger the heat,
The more you believe in life,
The more pain is erased.
And if hope returned
You would never believe me
Secretly
In passionate love
With all your strength
Go the full length
And if hope
returned
Is there a right side?
Yes, it's embroidered.
I hope it's not stained.
Oh look.
I'm so happy.
I don't know if the champagne glass
goes to the left or right.
We're a bit stressed.
I'd have preferred him
to invite us to his castle.
Everything will be fine.
I don't really agree with you
on the topic of abortion.
There's something that living people
don't think about.
What if I'd been conceived
and my parents
had decided to abort.
- Don't be afraid, Denis!
- But I am.
Me too.
Shall I do that?
I'm a bit of an expert.
I think Denis
would be reassured!
I have years of practice.
Thank you for coming!
You think I benefit from
an extremely favourable regime,
that you criticise.
We criticise it but accept that
the interested parties do not.
What I believe we have in common,
is that in our intellectual environment
we are considered iconoclasts
as are you, in your environment.
I believe we have that in common.
We are capable of being critical
of various subjects
that we discuss together.
We realise that reality isn't binary.
We can talk.
Even if we don't agree.
You remember when
we spoke previously
that I said you'd become
very radical
compared to when I met you.
At the time when you were
the specialists in castle owners,
you were more benevolent.
Then, when you published
"Sarkozy, President of the Rich",
you became quite virulent.
It was no more laughing matter.
I suggested you might
moderate your comments.
Not all the rich are the same.
There can be huge wealth gaps.
And differences in behaviour.
And you simply dismissed that, saying
there was too much misery.
So there was this
wholesale rejection.
In 2006, with your help,
we wrote "The Ghettos of Gotha".
Denis De Kergolay
in the book's conclusion!
It was our honeymoon period.
We got on very well.
And in 2007, we retired.
We were no longer bound to discretion
by our jobs.
We're getting towards the answer.
So you could let rip.
No, it's just that we wanted
a full vision of a social class.
We'd analysed the dominant class
with its lifestyle,
the hunting parties,
the castles...
- The hunters were very happy.
- They were delighted!
Afterwards, in "Castles and Chatelains",
you weren't happy
about everything
as there was a part
about the castle's tax.
But you said, fair enough
let's put the past behind us!
I wasn't horrified enough to think
"I couldn't have
anything to do with them."
I would say that
these political issues in France
that bring this considerable
climate of discontent,
are a real source of concern.
For us, for the country.
- For us all.
- Yes, for us all.
I would appreciate
if people could talk to each other.
Where are you heading
back to, Denis?
I'm staying in Paris.
I'm heading home.
We'll see you soon
and keep in touch.
We'll keep each other posted.
If he scratches that car
we'll be in trouble!
You look well.
- You always sleep well.
- What happened?
I slept badly.
Don't drop them on the floor.
You're dropping them
on the floor.
That's abundance, wealth.
You don't care.
You can drop stuff everywhere.
You're not the woman who cleans up.
You're going to squash them.
No, I want to eat them.
Monique, what shall we do
until we leave?
What sort of question is that?
You can tidy the kitchen,
mow the lawn.
You can sweep up, clean the windows,
and varnish all the shutters.
Macron resign!
Macron resign!
Riot police, on our side!
Riot police, on our side!
What happened?
The traffic lights have been
knocked down.
I like this.
They're very pretty.
We're ordinary people.
They can talk to us, calmly and simply.
Nothing is coherent.
Even ecological transition.
We're told to do this or that.
Then you've got all the people
who pay less carbon taxes than me
while they've got private jets
and yachts.
There's no tax
on jet fuel or ocean liners.
The cops will push us
up and down, all day long.
I'm lost.
Whether it's politics or unions.
Like many here, I'm lost.
For me, this movement
is the result
of Macron's total and constant
disregard for us.
Whether it's "diesel with fags
in your mouth",
or "cross the road
and you'll find work".
"You just need to buy
a 15,000 euro suit."
I'm from a working class family
in the north of France.
My dad's a labourer.
My mum's a cleaner.
They've worked like slaves.
I had my first holiday at 13.
I come from a very big family.
I know what dignity means.
They were exploited
but they had their dignity.
It's my first demo.
The people here are ordinary people.
We're ordinary citizens.
We need to repeat "normal".
Because when you don't want to face
what's happening,
others aren't normal!
I'm not the biggest fan.
I'm a sociologist,
so that interests me.
It's a good cause
but the methods are too violent..
It's a good cause.
So, that means you share...
Don't worry, it's anonymous.
Careful!
Here are the water cannons.
We'll see you another time!
If we go to one side
we'll get hit less!
We agreed, Michel.
If I die here, I'll be furious.
Where is my Michel?
It looks like
the riot police are leaving.
Cunts!
If everyone is here France is united.
Who are you?
What job do you do?
I drive a fork lift.
- How much do you earn?
- 1,100. Barely minimum wage.
- You can't live on that?
- No. Not at all.
I've got three children.
That's why I'm here.
They're there.
They've started eating.
Wealth tax for the bourgeois!
Wealth tax for the bourgeois!
Don't look any further.
That's where your taxes are.
Are we disturbing you,
rich people?
You don't want to see poverty.
They'd better hide
if they don't want to see poverty.
Oh, that'll look good on "Faceberk".
You can't ask them
to contribute to a collective effort.
They're so wrapped up
in their silver tower and selfishness.
We don't count the same way.
We count to make it
to month end.
They count to make more.
We care about what goes on
around us.
They're not bothered.
It's not their problem.
They just want to keep their privileges
and accumulate more money.
They don't care
if people die on the streets
as long as they can keep on
getting richer and richer
and have unbelievably
lavish lifestyles.
I looked at the wine list
and I'm appalled.
Another world!
How much was it?
Around 1,500.
One bottles of Dom Perignon.
I'm enjoying my meal!
Do they make that?
Maybe they'll bring you
a glass of champagne?
Why not?
I won't refuse.
Hello. Excuse me...
We don't speak French.
It's a pity I don't speak English.
I'm really starting to feel the cold.
You help me and then,
I'll help you.
Back with ex-minister, Luc Ferry...
I don't see why the police have
no means of ending this violence.
It's unbearable!
There's a risk
that you're aware of!
So, what! When you see people kicking
a poor policeman on the ground...
Let them use their weapons
once and for all.
Enough's enough!
That's enough of these thugs,
these ultra-right
or ultra-left bastards,
suburban youths
coming to beat up the police.
In any case, it's unacceptable.
Our army ranks fourth in the world.
It could end this foul behaviour.
- Hello. I'm a yellow vest.
- Yes.
I'm not interested in left or right.
I'm a demonstrator.
I can't afford Christmas presents
for my son.
I'm not afraid of you.
You're pitiful.
I vandalised things on Saturday.
I fought with a riot policeman.
If Mr Macron doesn't get it,
I'll start again on Saturday,
I'm not with the black bloc.
I'm a yellow vest
who is starving.
I'm Mr Macron's employer.
Do you know what that means?
Mr Macron's employer.
- Abdel.
- I pay him to look after me.
I'm angry.
I'm not afraid of you.
Abdel, who are you not afraid of?
Where does this violence get you?
Stop and think.
You have a family.
I did so many demos where
you're like sheep eating concrete.
Nobody listens to us.
When I've tried to behave well
nothing has changed!
It's not a demo, it's war!
That kid understands anything.
Open your ears, Mr Macron.
Come out of your palace.
It just awful because
it could all go horribly wrong.
And it frightens us, too.
How far can this all go.
When you look at what happened
last week,
and what will happen next weekend,
you can be scared.
But at the same time,
with Macron and his band,
we're heading for disaster.
It's a part of humanity
that's doomed.
It's hard to see
what you've got to loose.
In any case,
if there isn't a thorough revolution,
future generations won't experience
the joys we experienced.
The joy of living.
My Michel?
The joy of loving!
My throat hurts, too.
We're like two knackered
old people.
Let the revolution start,
and that's where we'll die.
Enjoy your nap.
It's always the same people
who work.
Look at that.
It was terrible.
KEEP YOUR MONEY!
WE WANT THE REST!
THE MONSTERS ARE IN MATIGNON
Has Michel gone inside?
I was worried you'd gone inside.
They wanted him to jump from there.
We saw "defenestration".
That's a step further.
First in the noose.
Hang yourselves!
I'll make a framed picture
with all the graffiti I've seen.
That could be nice.
In a frame poem.
"Steal from the people".
WE WANT YOUR ARSE.
The morning of December 2nd
at the Arc de Triomphe.
The anger of the yellow vests
who contest
Emmanuel Macron's legitimacy
mean that the king is bare.
"We fuck you, Macron."
"Load of cunts."
"Pay your wealth tax."
"Wealth tax for the upper class."
"I vote for your arse."
Michel, I've finished working.
We can read the newspaper together.
As a security measure,
following the demonstration,
the following stations are closed.
No links to other lines
are open.
He is a friend from the roundabout demo.
I'm all on my own.
Michel had to go and see
a family friend.
- We can use first name.
- With pleasure. Honour, even.
The movement has been going
for 15 weeks.
For 15 weeks, all our mates
who've had the courage to go on camera,
have been trashed
on every programme.
They arrive in a viper's nest.
The vipers are ready to bite
and they do!
Shortly after Jérôme lost his eye
he was seen on television,
with so-called journalists
or commentators,
who are just concierges or watchdogs.
We call them editocrats.
They kept asking him,
after he'd suffered
unbelievable violence,
now he feels the violence
of State power in his very flesh.
When he wanted to talk about
the law forces who
shoot at the demonstrators.
"Don't you think
that's violence?"
The editocrats change the subject.
Never ask if it's acceptable.
You must state: "It's unacceptable".
"Do you realise
the police use war weapons
against workers, civilians,
people who are just asking
for justice?"
You have to turn the phrase around?
You don't ask if it's acceptable.
You tell them it is unacceptable.
To go down well on television,
always attack your adversary.
You're not coming to cry.
You attack on the basis of the weapons
that cause injury.
Don't count the injured
and position yourselves as victims.
We don't have to be martyrs.
We have to accuse the criminals.
After that, you can talk about
the number of wounded.
I'm just reacting off-hand.
The aim of saying that
is to counter-attack
by saying that first of all,
they aren't vandals,
because all those who've lost eyes,
weren't taken to court...
- Don't get into that.
- We shouldn't?
I advise against it.
You dig your own grave with that.
Systematically, aim for the top.
First you counter-attack.
Then mention the number of wounded.
But don't provide justification.
Those people will manipulate you.
Your strength as yellow vests
is your class culture.
I don't think you realise.
That's your strength.
That's what you must
bring to the fore on television.
You're not martyrs.
You're fighters.
You're lucid fighters,
going in for the attack.
When you're in the media,
you're on the front line.
Even if it
is what hurts you most,
they don't give a damn
about your suffering.
I feel isolated.
"Would you like to start
with couple therapy?"
Last Saturday, 65,000 police officers
and gendarmes
were deployed around France.
Even more will be deployed
this weekend.
The gendarmes may also
bring in armoured vehicles
already used this week
in La Réunion
to evacuate the yellow vests,
and here, to clear the roads
around Notre Dame des Landes.
That's quite some presence.
First to evacuate the barricades
and if our adversary
uses fire arms,
we'll still be able
to move forward.
Some police unions say
these security measures are necessary.
I don't know if we'll go
seeing the terrible threats
we've received.
- Will we go, Saturday?
- What terrible threats?
Everything they've said.
It'll be horrendous.
They've dramatised it all
to frighten us.
We're not going to be
scaredy-cats.
We are. But you have to
control yourself.
- Monique Pinçon-Charlot?
- Yes.
I adore you!
You must adore my husband too.
I'm a bookseller.
I love your books.
There's a pretty girl
who adores me.
I first saw you
on the Tonight show.
You were presenting your book
"The Violence of the Rich",
which really touched me.
I needed to hear those words
and luckily you wrote them.
You helped me to live.
Goodness!
- Already?
- Yes, look.
Look at the troop!
Look after Michel,
he stayed outside.
Don't stay there.
You never know!
I've become very fond
of your Ardennes region.
It's becoming one of the world's
most beautiful places.
When the weather's good,
it's extraordinary.
Be careful of the eggs.
There's some blackcurrant jam.
Why are you so upset
that you slept late?
Because when you're not in bed,
I know you're working.
I was reading the paper.
And I read a book.
A book by André Gorz.
I'd have liked a letter
like that from you.
"Histoire d'un Amour",
published by Gallimard.
He wrote it a year
before he died.
She'd died shortly before him.
She had to die
for him to realise
that he'd instrumentalised her,
that he'd used her
to become who he'd become.
He says what I say about us:
"I am me, thanks to you."
But in his book, he wonders
if she could have said
the same thing.
So that's the question
I'm asking you.
Can you say:
"I am me, thanks to you"?
It's because there's reciprocity.
We are who we are
thanks to us.
How are you?
Dear friends, dear comrades.
- So is this the CGT union?
- It's Sud Rail union.
What shall we suggest
at the next general meeting?
Do we carry the strike through
to Monday,
or continue after Christmas
and the New Year?
Should I ask Seb what they did?
Seb, we wanted to ask you
what you decided at the GM.
We decided on oysters as our starter.
That's how you recognise mechanics.
Seriously, was there a general meeting
this morning?
No, we didn't do one.
Never mind. We'll do it together.
The railway workers fight
against the Prime Minister's
pensions reform
is a necessary fight.
The right not to be a slave,
not to be worked to death.
That right is crucial.
We've had it
with the world of numbers,
the world of experts,
money, money,
and still more money.
We want our humanity,
We want to enjoy life.
Move it over, a bit.
In the middle. Perfect.
Fix it in place, now.
This is the 23rd day
of our fight.
We want the reform removed
and that's it.
They need to take a reality check,
to listen to the people.
The majority is against
their project.
According to democracy,
the government has to listen.
They have to accept
the people's decision.
You'll have seen
the media smear campaign
against us
and the system's watchdogs'
growing aggressiveness.
Especially the 24 hour news channels
some of whom are here, today.
They want us down on our knees
because we're the final bastions
of all things social.
We're the only ones
who can still strike and show we exist.
That's why they want to break us.
They're doing their best
to divide us
by making us believe
that depending on your year of birth
you will or won't be
in their new system.
What they're offering
is a societal choice.
One we don't want.
You don't negotiate social regression.
You fight it to the very end!
We've gathered some great
wagons here!
Red wagons, green, blue, pink...
Yellow...
Thanks to the yellow vests!
We want just one thing.
We don't want charity.
We're the workers,
the working class.
We produce all
of this country's wealth.
We deserve thanks all year round
for running the trains.
We do it because we're proud
to serve the public.
I get up at 4 in the morning
so that you can study,
go to work,
go and see your families,
go to funerals, etc.
I've got a shitty income
but I know who I do my job for.
I do it in the name of public service.
I do it for you.
And I don't get up at 4.30 am
to fatten up the shareholders.
Fattening up people
who serve no purpose.
They're parasites.
We don't need them.
We can produce everything ourselves.
They need us.
We don't need them.
There aren't many of us now.
- There's been so much repression...
- I know.
They're expecting us now.
The law forces are just waiting for us.
They're ultra-violent.
We've all had a sort of PTS
after some demos
where it was really awful.
People got injured.
You know lots of people.
The last one
was Manu from Valenciennes.
He got a tear gas cartridge
right in his eye.
It was the yellow jackets' one year.
We did a demo for him.
He was there with
his blind eye.
When someone's blinded,
2,000 people don't come back
to the demos.
They've succeeded.
We went at first,
then got scared.
We're all scared.
I still manage to go back.
I need 20 minutes to calm down
at the start of a demo.
But we're careful.
I think the yellow vests'
historical moment was a miss.
Not the movement.
But we faced a lot of betrayal.
I call it betrayal.
From the union HQ, not members.
Political parties didn't join us,
massively.
We won't get another chance.
There was so much spontaneity,
so much energy.
It can only happen
every 50 years.
You don't plan a revolution.
Taking the roundabouts,
coming to Paris on a forklift...
You can't plan that sort of thing.
We missed out
through lack of support.
Maybe it's just a pause? I hope so.
We know it won't just kick off again.
- What day is it?
- I don't know.
Pull up your mask now.
The old lady we like isn't outside.
She's there but she's not outside.
"We'll pull through."
How sweet.
WE NEED OXYGEN, NOT TEAR GAS
I'm afraid. I don't want a crowd
around me.
Hello.
Are you the Pinçon-Charlots?
Thank you for everything
that you do.
"Money for the health service."
"Lutte Ouvrière" union. Super.
We have to stick together.
We were wondering who you are.
We recognise you
but can't remember...
You're The Pinçon-Charlots!
The sociologists specialising
in the richest families.
She's Charlot the clown.
We helped popularise
the notion of oligarchy.
The capture of wealth and power
by a very small group.
Have you come to support us?
Of course!
You are superb!
Have a lovely day!
How are you going to manage?
Give me your hand!
That's really disproportionate.
- Are they riot police?
- No, gendarmes.
- For orderlies and nurses?
- Yes.
How did it go?
It was a beautiful demo
but there were lots of police.
Macron said: "our nurses, our orderlies,
our health workers".
That's politics!
I can't laugh like you.
That's a pity because it's funny.
I know and I know that he's right.
But I can't.
Politicians tell you
what you want to hear
when you need to hear it.
When the situation changes,
they change too.
They're chameleons.
Doctors were like gods,
during the crisis. That's over now.
We each go back to our place.
And tonight they're getting beaten up!
Really!
What did you think
of Macron's speech on Sunday?
I stopped listening to politicians
a long time ago.
You've become reasonable!
I get on with my life.
I pay what I have to.
How do you manage your life?
I drive my taxi.
I spend most of my time in it.
I have to work 6 days a week
to reimburse my loans.
I've got a loan for my licence,
a loan for my car.
What about fullness of life?
Your happiness?
That's in the head. You have to look
on the bright side of life.
Stay calm
and let things run their course.
What do you want to do?
Me, I want a revolution.
They send you the riot police
if you demonstrate.
Look how they put down
the yellow vests.
Two cops went to court
for putting people's eyes out,
for broken arms,
fingers cut off.
Nothing happened.
The show must go on.
What do you want to do?
Attack the system
and the riot police come out
to get you back on track.
When the ecologists tried to occupy
Place de la République for the night,
did you see how they quashed that?
People thought they were crazy!
We all thought
they were crazy.
The 24 hours news channels
helped us think that.
They accuse them
of being dreamers.
What if we all stop working?
No. You know what?
- It's impossible.
- Why?
Take the taxi drivers.
They rip us off.
They impose things.
We're affiliates but they impose
their vision.
Some drivers say
that if others strike
then they'll have more work.
So it will never work.
You'll never get everyone
on your side.
You have to stop dreaming.
There won't be any revolution.
I'm sorry to ruin your dreams.
You've ruined our day.
It's a disaster.
Then, it's a disaster still.
What's your name?
Take care. Keep going!
You can count on us.
That did me a lot of good.
A moment of pure joy.
I'm checking to see
if we're dead.
And if we're not dead,
we're allowed to have a drink.
No kidding!
When?
Tonight, like every other night!
Apparently, we're not dead yet!
every effort to think,
every effort to love,
are destructive for order.
I can't be bothered,
you can switch off the TV.
When's the next demo?
I can't remember.
I hope there'll be one soon.
Like the one
the day before yesterday.
I was happy with that one.
They're asking: "Who benefits
from the drop in unemployment?"
The unemployed, I hope.
Darling...
Good night, Monique.
Good night, my sweetheart.
Until tomorrow.
Until tomorrow.
With all your courage.
When you wake up in the morning
do you think
of the millions of people
who die of hunger?
Do you think of those children?
Of the starving Burkinabe?
No.
You think about the day ahead
or the dress you want to buy!
Well, it's the same
with the upper class.
You don't exist!
Do you understand what I mean?
You got it all!
Michel tells me that
the trickle-down theory is nonsense.
That's exactly it.
It's like the story of Jesus
who was born without
the Virgin Mary touching Joseph,
or like the invisible hand
of the market.
There are lots of childish tales
how people can believe such things?
I shouldn't talk like this,
but they're taking the piss
out of us.
And today more than ever,
the only solution is a Revolution.
A GUIDE TO LOVE AND FIGHTING CAPITALISM
- What shops do you see?
- Nina Ricci, Dior.
- Luxury shops.
- Look around.
It's intimidating.
What are you doing, exactly?
We're taking a walk
around the neighbourhood.
- Why?
- It's a school trip.
I see.
Goodbye, sir.
You find it oppressive?
Let's go.
The prime minister's offices
aren't here.
Matignon is just the street name.
- The Élysée Palace isn't far?
- It's a bit further.
Mind your manners, please.
Look how she's dressed!
No pointing, Nadir, please.
Haven't you heard of brunch?
It's when you get up late
on Sundays.
You can do cheaper ones.
Plastic sandals at 450.
There are harem pants at 1,370.
I get that in a month
as a cashier.
700. My dad's monthly pay.
Hold on, Farid.
I'm getting a piece of gold.
I'll sell it.
Thank you very much
for coming.
You must have loved
working in this area.
That's not quite how it was.
In reality, we were a bit intimated.
In the words of Pierre Bourdieu,
we sociologists call that timidity
"symbolic violence".
It means that when you see...
Especially me as I'm very small
with an unusual look,
faced with the lithe, elegant ladies
of Avenue Montaigne...
- You're more beautiful!
- Thank you. That's sweet.
Alongside those ladies,
I didn't feel good.
They're no better than you or me.
They were just in the right place
at the right time,
and that allowed them to study
and enter the workforce.
They're taught to exhibit
the right behaviour.
They speak nicely.
Not because they're more intelligent.
It's never that.
They simply do exactly
as expected.
It's normal for them
to see children's dresses at 700.
Whereas we're shocked
because we don't have that.
I find their lives weird.
For them, it's normal
but I find it weird.
It's a whole different world.
Two different worlds.
They don't want to know us.
When we said hello to the people
outside the palace hotels
they looked down on us.
They're scornful.
They don't want to know us.
The higher up in society you are,
the more your bearing is elegant,
and you stand straight.
So you think it's normal that
such a person is dominant,
or gives the orders.
It's normal that those people
are in politics and lead the world
as we can see
that they are better than us.
The violence that you felt
is the start of resistance,
the start of your critical thinking.
It's important to feel in your flesh
this confrontation
with those who dominate.
What you came up against
was domination,
class domination.
It's madness to say this
but something has taken
place in your minds,
that is irreversible.
Never be submissive.
Always stand straight. Vertical.
That's why we don't want you to sit.
Not because of the dog shit
but so we all remain
standing straight.
Thank you, very much.
We look great, like that!
Look at today's "Le Monde"!
It's the same nonsense
every day!
It's extraordinary.
Here's the front page
on Carlos Ghosn, "The Tax Evader".
The bastard, I didn't know
about the embezzlement.
He used Nissan to buy land
in Brazil and Lebanon
to protect his future.
Maybe to speculate?
Look! "H ow will climatic chaos
affect our lives?"
"By the year 2100,
half of humanity
will be threatened
by massive simultaneous catastrophes.
Drought, famine, floods!"
That's jolly!
And so?
That's everything we're up against.
You see.
"In CAR, a militia leader
has been brought before the ICC."
When can we bring Macron
before the ICC
for insulting the workers.
- Have you been drinking?
- No, I haven't.
I saw we had a lot of bills!
I kept you the gardening flyer
as you like to look at the plants.
Do you want a spot more wine?
We'll just say you've deserved it!
And she serves herself, again!
You eat like a peasant
from the Ardennes.
It reminds me of when your parents
were invited to my parents' home
in the nice house in Élancourt.
Mum had prepared sole.
You dad started cutting up his sole
instead of filleting it.
Like that.
I thought: "He'll eat the bones".
It was a moment of symbolic violence,
class violence.
So I filleted it for him.
For me,
it was even more violent
that my father, a magistrate,
spoke to you to ask if your father
or mother liked something.
My father didn't speak directly
to your parents.
It was incredibly disdainful.
He was incapable
of having an ordinary exchange
with a labourer
and a cleaning lady.
But Mother wouldn't have spoke
like that.
That means
that class violence
can be found in the smallest details.
Smallest details yourself.
If I may say so!
It's the morning mood
with the head of Radio France politics.
Who are these people
President Macron called lazy?
We'd like to know who he considers
lazy, cynical, extreme.
We're not sure whether he means
people or forces.
It needs to be put elsewhere.
Don't tell me you're working!
What else should I do?
"Needs and Habitus".
Remember? Social housing.
There were two volumes.
It was one of our favourite books
that we wrote together.
Especially as we took pleasure
in writing it.
I'll never forget the two letters
that Guy de Rothschild sent us
to congratulate us for our work.
It was a good idea
to accept that job
which followed a family
from the 18th century to 1999.
We understood
how fortunes are consolidated
by these internal marriages
between members of the same family.
Of the 19 grandchildren
of Amschel Rothschild,
the dynasty's supposed founder,
how many of them intermarried?
I can't remember.
Fourteen of them.
That's a lot. They're listed in here.
I'll give it my full attention, later.
It'll be my bedtime read, tonight.
I think I made a big mistake
live on a 24-hour news channel
on the subject of flat tax.
I said that the capital gains tax
has decreased from 60% to 30%.
I'd read somewhere that
it included all the social charges,
so, I said if I take off
17.2% of social charges,
it's a lie because
capital gains taxation
has dropped from 60 to 12.8%.
The 12.8% is exclusive
of social charges.
In fact, they've created an income tax
specifically for the rich.
A flat-tax at 12.8%.
- So I'm not wrong?
- No, you're not wrong.
This is very important.
You need to go slower.
We have to understand
and be able to explain.
Most of the income
of the richest people,
meaning the 500 richest families
in France,
comes from capital income,
not salary income,
but from interest or dividends,
linked to the sale of their shares.
So now they're taxed at 12.8%,
instead of 45%.
Of course, if you add on social charges,
that makes a total of 30%.
But if you add on social charges to 45%,
that makes a total of 60%.
So they say from 60% to 30%,
because 60% seems enormous
and 30% seems reasonable,
whereas if you said 12.8%,
there'd be a revolution.
Whilst the first tax bracket
for the man on the street is 14%.
Income tax is applied to flow.
What happens if you only apply
a 12.8% flat-tax?
It means there's a lot less tax
on flow.
So it will increase stock even more.
That's why I'll add a third line.
See, the flow is much more consequent.
So stock will increase!
It increases if the rich
make it increase.
Because if they consume it all,
it doesn't grow. But they can't.
If they consume more,
they'll burst!
Mrs Bettencourt has 81 million
in taxable income.
She doesn't use 81 million yearly.
Half is a hell of a lifestyle, already.
So she will always have
at least half of that 81 million
that will increase stock.
Do you know what, Liêm?
Thanks to Laurent Fabius, in 1999,
we got access to
the 100 richest payers of wealth tax.
He was Minister
for Economic Affairs
and we were quite friendly with him.
We asked him to ask
the Inland Revenue
to do a special job at our request.
The results of this research?
Financial products made up
97% of their personal wealth.
The remaining 3% allowed them to buy
yachts, castles, flats...
Their income is 500
to 1,000 times minimum wage.
People don't realise.
The "poor" have never seen
real rich people.
They don't know what they have.
They think that
the rich drive Ferraris.
It's a far cry from reality.
And now, can you explain the transition
from Employment and Competitivity
Tax Credit...
To long-term social charge decrease?
I think that's important.
This year, that will cost 40 billion.
20 billion in tax credit and
20 billion in social charges.
That's 40 billion.
That's 2 points of GDP.
It's a huge sum.
Ok.
Raising minimum welfare
to the poverty line
would cost 10 billion.
That's very well said.
If we put welfare up to 1,000,
that would cost 10 billion.
Instead,
companies get a 40 billion gift.
How can you smile when you say that?
It's horrendous.
Sometimes, I detest you.
It's horrible.
Better laugh than cry!
We're off to a bad start.
It'll take time to bring change.
It just upsets me.
It shows to what extent
we're in a democracy
that's decaying.
It will be awful.
It will be awful.
Carlos Ghosn did not commit
tax fraud in France.
The Government spokesperson
and I have asked our services
to check Mr Carlos Ghosn's
tax situation in France.
I just wish to confirm
that there's nothing to report
as regards Mr Carlos Ghosn's
tax situation.
So, no fraud in France...
I'm a journalist
at Le Soir newspaper in Brussels.
We'd like to invite you
to participate in our debate.
The main question will be:
Why is it that the richer you are
the more you fraud?
They refuse to pay their taxes
but it's not to save money, at all.
It's because they don't believe
in national solidarity
and welfare states.
They want multinationals to be free
like foxes in a chicken coup.
They don't want them
to come up against obstacles
represented by politics,
democracy or nation-states.
That's it.
The oligarchs, all those who monopolise
wealth and power,
they recognise only one homeland:
their own social class.
In the name of the revolution
and a brighter future!
- Happy Humanity Festival.
- Yes, you too.
From the plains to forests
and vales to hills
From spring to be born
from the seasons gone by
From what I lived
to what I imagine
I shall never finish
writing your song
My France
From the great summer sun
that scorches Provence
You're as hard-working as ever.
From Brittany's broom
to the heather of Ardèche
Something in the air
has that transparency
And taste of happiness
that dries my lips
That air of freedom
beyond the frontiers
Those foreign peoples
who made us feel giddy
Whose dignity you steal today
It still answers
to the name of Robespierre
That of old Hugo
railing from exile
Of the 5-year old children
working the mines
Those who with their hands
build your factories
Those of whom Mr Thiers said
we shall shoot it
Picasso holds the world
at the tip of his palette
Doves fly out
from Éluard's lips
Your prophetic artists
continually warn
It's time for misfortune
to die
The voices of the throng
ring out as one
The throng that pays
for the crimes of your errors
Filling history
and its communal graves
I shall always sing
of the workers' land.
The international ideal
unites the human race!
"This trickle-down manipulation
is a partial explanation
of the extent of abstention,
of the distrust vis a vis politicians,
of their expertise..."
I've finished, Michel!
I have to correct it.
I dictated it.
And sometimes,
the machine improvises.
There are 3 quotas...
There's sex...
It put "sexy aged"...
I'll correct it.
I'd dictated "sex and age"...
- How do I do it.
- Put the cursor there.
Just type that first...
I'm doing it as you watch.
See what happens?
You do it.
It works one day out of two.
You're not doing it better than me.
It's pointless getting annoyed.
It'll work tomorrow.
- How strange.
- It's working!
Well done. How did you do that.
I held that key down.
You learn something every day.
You're retired
but continue your research?
Yes.
I'm a bit reluctant.
A big bit!
You'd rather travel the world?
Why not?
- Have you travelled a lot?
- Yes, a bit.
We'd like to travel more
but we made a promise
to do this work.
We often hear the same names
in left-wing circles.
There's yours, Ruffin,
Serge Halimi, Pierre Carles,
- You're very up to date.
- Bourdieu.
It's an honour to travel with you.
What's your profession?
I'm a prison officer.
Oh yes, at the prison, nearby.
Not many of my colleagues
are left-wing.
I'm a bit of an outsider.
My colleagues laugh at me.
"As a civil servant, you are not allowed
to have an opinion."
As if they don't have an ideology.
If you talk too much to a prisoner,
as I sometimes do,
"Lefty's talking again.
You're not here to chat."
"Isn't reinsertion part of my job?"
"Reinsertion, stop dreaming."
They show fatalism.
They don't want to try to understand.
There's no sociology.
They call them "profiteers".
It's the poor who are costly.
You probably hear that.
All the time!
Let's open the suitcase.
We'll be happy
to have our slippers handy.
Look what I bought.
- I saw it before.
- I got it for on television.
- It wasn't for me?
- What?
I said it wasn't for me.
You don't look at me.
I hear you!
Is it possible for an oppressed
and disorganised class,
to come to power?
Is it possible?
It makes you wonder.
I say yes.
We all want to say yes.
History hasn't yet proven
it's possible.
History has shown that the
old aristocratic regime's disappearance
gave rise to the new
aristocracy of money.
We got rid of the aristocrats.
- But we created a new aristocracy.
- So we have to kick them out, too.
They don't feel any guilt.
None at all.
They don't feel any guilt whatsoever.
With the work we did
on the dominant class,
we know the strength represented
by sharing that wealth and power
within a very small number
of families.
As we share things
in all those dinner parties,
hunting parties,
closed circles and rallies,
we've really understood
how things work.
It's never Michel
who gives you a hand
and you, Philippe Poutou
who will give Michel a hand.
No. A helps B.
Then B helps C,
who will help D.
And in the end...
It all comes together.
It all gels.
As if it had been thought out.
Everything passes through this
worldly interaction,
that we had permission
to be a part of.
It's every day.
You start with breakfast
in a palace hotel,
then have lunch in a great restaurant
on the Place des Vosges,
where you have a private salon,
and you finish with coffee
at the Jockey Club.
In another private salon.
Then it's tea-time for the ladies
at Ladurée, with little macarons.
Then it's cocktails and dinner.
The pleasure of being together.
And I'm going to shock you
and ruin your evening for good.
Because happiness and communism...
They apply it?
Oh, it's just too hard.
We trade unionists
are suffering at the factory.
What were the consequences
of the threats?
The employees went back to work.
It didn't last long.
They heard the word "punishment".
I said to my big boss,
discipline me now.
I know I'm in for it.
If everyone stops,
he can't discipline everyone.
The problem is that
only a small number stop.
And they face disciplinary measures.
It's lucky our team's there.
We cause a lot of trouble,
but we take a lot of stick too.
But you're happy!
Yes, like I said...
I won't die on my knees.
My wife says the union
is my secret mistress.
She's even jealous.
Michel and I are sociologists.
For over thirty years,
we were researchers at the
National Scientific Research Centre.
That means that you, the taxpayers,
paid us to carry out
fundamental research,
which means discovering
new research subjects,
to discover interesting things
about society.
Our research into
those in high places
aimed to incarnate
or to personify the exploiters,
and understand how
as an ultra-minority
they manage to enslave the majority.
This discrimination has to be masked
or made to appear natural
like the moon that shines
or the sun that warms us.
So self-evident
that it can't be contested.
I shall add my part
to that stellar account.
I shall do my very best.
First of all,
I'd like to try to say
that almost everywhere
in the world
the rich lead a struggle
against the people.
The weapons used are more subtle
than canons and guns.
They are ideological weapons.
Workers are considered
as adjustable variables.
Costs and expenses...
You begin to see the difference,
I suppose?
The difference between
my darling wife and I?
She writes like a potato.
My speech is even worse
than her writing style.
So, as Ford prepares to
lay off 910 employees from your factory,
the American multinational
is declaring 6,000 euros
is that thousand, or million,
or billion perhaps?
That's impossible. Is that right?
Well, I just can't believe it.
I wrote it but it's unbelievable.
6.37 billion in profits.
I'll help you.
We'll do it together.
That's the final point.
What should you do?
You, the Ford workers?
You must do what the rich do,
support each other.
So, today,
we shall give nothing
to the lazy, the cynical,
and the extremists
of the predatory oligarchy.
United we stand!
United we stand!
I'm going to sing you a song.
After "Your Precious Hands",
I will sing to you
a new song, called "Hope".
Perhaps hope will fit in
with what's going to happen.
That will all depend
on the conviction of the fight.
I promised Mr Poutou I'd come back
if you occupied the factory.
I'm used to riot police lines.
You have to fight to the end.
On the darkness of the sun,
on the sand of the tides.
On the calm of sleep,
on my love found again.
The sun also rises.
And the stronger the heat,
The more you believe in life,
The more pain is erased.
And if hope returned
You would never believe me
Secretly
In passionate love
With all your strength
Go the full length
And if hope
returned
Is there a right side?
Yes, it's embroidered.
I hope it's not stained.
Oh look.
I'm so happy.
I don't know if the champagne glass
goes to the left or right.
We're a bit stressed.
I'd have preferred him
to invite us to his castle.
Everything will be fine.
I don't really agree with you
on the topic of abortion.
There's something that living people
don't think about.
What if I'd been conceived
and my parents
had decided to abort.
- Don't be afraid, Denis!
- But I am.
Me too.
Shall I do that?
I'm a bit of an expert.
I think Denis
would be reassured!
I have years of practice.
Thank you for coming!
You think I benefit from
an extremely favourable regime,
that you criticise.
We criticise it but accept that
the interested parties do not.
What I believe we have in common,
is that in our intellectual environment
we are considered iconoclasts
as are you, in your environment.
I believe we have that in common.
We are capable of being critical
of various subjects
that we discuss together.
We realise that reality isn't binary.
We can talk.
Even if we don't agree.
You remember when
we spoke previously
that I said you'd become
very radical
compared to when I met you.
At the time when you were
the specialists in castle owners,
you were more benevolent.
Then, when you published
"Sarkozy, President of the Rich",
you became quite virulent.
It was no more laughing matter.
I suggested you might
moderate your comments.
Not all the rich are the same.
There can be huge wealth gaps.
And differences in behaviour.
And you simply dismissed that, saying
there was too much misery.
So there was this
wholesale rejection.
In 2006, with your help,
we wrote "The Ghettos of Gotha".
Denis De Kergolay
in the book's conclusion!
It was our honeymoon period.
We got on very well.
And in 2007, we retired.
We were no longer bound to discretion
by our jobs.
We're getting towards the answer.
So you could let rip.
No, it's just that we wanted
a full vision of a social class.
We'd analysed the dominant class
with its lifestyle,
the hunting parties,
the castles...
- The hunters were very happy.
- They were delighted!
Afterwards, in "Castles and Chatelains",
you weren't happy
about everything
as there was a part
about the castle's tax.
But you said, fair enough
let's put the past behind us!
I wasn't horrified enough to think
"I couldn't have
anything to do with them."
I would say that
these political issues in France
that bring this considerable
climate of discontent,
are a real source of concern.
For us, for the country.
- For us all.
- Yes, for us all.
I would appreciate
if people could talk to each other.
Where are you heading
back to, Denis?
I'm staying in Paris.
I'm heading home.
We'll see you soon
and keep in touch.
We'll keep each other posted.
If he scratches that car
we'll be in trouble!
You look well.
- You always sleep well.
- What happened?
I slept badly.
Don't drop them on the floor.
You're dropping them
on the floor.
That's abundance, wealth.
You don't care.
You can drop stuff everywhere.
You're not the woman who cleans up.
You're going to squash them.
No, I want to eat them.
Monique, what shall we do
until we leave?
What sort of question is that?
You can tidy the kitchen,
mow the lawn.
You can sweep up, clean the windows,
and varnish all the shutters.
Macron resign!
Macron resign!
Riot police, on our side!
Riot police, on our side!
What happened?
The traffic lights have been
knocked down.
I like this.
They're very pretty.
We're ordinary people.
They can talk to us, calmly and simply.
Nothing is coherent.
Even ecological transition.
We're told to do this or that.
Then you've got all the people
who pay less carbon taxes than me
while they've got private jets
and yachts.
There's no tax
on jet fuel or ocean liners.
The cops will push us
up and down, all day long.
I'm lost.
Whether it's politics or unions.
Like many here, I'm lost.
For me, this movement
is the result
of Macron's total and constant
disregard for us.
Whether it's "diesel with fags
in your mouth",
or "cross the road
and you'll find work".
"You just need to buy
a 15,000 euro suit."
I'm from a working class family
in the north of France.
My dad's a labourer.
My mum's a cleaner.
They've worked like slaves.
I had my first holiday at 13.
I come from a very big family.
I know what dignity means.
They were exploited
but they had their dignity.
It's my first demo.
The people here are ordinary people.
We're ordinary citizens.
We need to repeat "normal".
Because when you don't want to face
what's happening,
others aren't normal!
I'm not the biggest fan.
I'm a sociologist,
so that interests me.
It's a good cause
but the methods are too violent..
It's a good cause.
So, that means you share...
Don't worry, it's anonymous.
Careful!
Here are the water cannons.
We'll see you another time!
If we go to one side
we'll get hit less!
We agreed, Michel.
If I die here, I'll be furious.
Where is my Michel?
It looks like
the riot police are leaving.
Cunts!
If everyone is here France is united.
Who are you?
What job do you do?
I drive a fork lift.
- How much do you earn?
- 1,100. Barely minimum wage.
- You can't live on that?
- No. Not at all.
I've got three children.
That's why I'm here.
They're there.
They've started eating.
Wealth tax for the bourgeois!
Wealth tax for the bourgeois!
Don't look any further.
That's where your taxes are.
Are we disturbing you,
rich people?
You don't want to see poverty.
They'd better hide
if they don't want to see poverty.
Oh, that'll look good on "Faceberk".
You can't ask them
to contribute to a collective effort.
They're so wrapped up
in their silver tower and selfishness.
We don't count the same way.
We count to make it
to month end.
They count to make more.
We care about what goes on
around us.
They're not bothered.
It's not their problem.
They just want to keep their privileges
and accumulate more money.
They don't care
if people die on the streets
as long as they can keep on
getting richer and richer
and have unbelievably
lavish lifestyles.
I looked at the wine list
and I'm appalled.
Another world!
How much was it?
Around 1,500.
One bottles of Dom Perignon.
I'm enjoying my meal!
Do they make that?
Maybe they'll bring you
a glass of champagne?
Why not?
I won't refuse.
Hello. Excuse me...
We don't speak French.
It's a pity I don't speak English.
I'm really starting to feel the cold.
You help me and then,
I'll help you.
Back with ex-minister, Luc Ferry...
I don't see why the police have
no means of ending this violence.
It's unbearable!
There's a risk
that you're aware of!
So, what! When you see people kicking
a poor policeman on the ground...
Let them use their weapons
once and for all.
Enough's enough!
That's enough of these thugs,
these ultra-right
or ultra-left bastards,
suburban youths
coming to beat up the police.
In any case, it's unacceptable.
Our army ranks fourth in the world.
It could end this foul behaviour.
- Hello. I'm a yellow vest.
- Yes.
I'm not interested in left or right.
I'm a demonstrator.
I can't afford Christmas presents
for my son.
I'm not afraid of you.
You're pitiful.
I vandalised things on Saturday.
I fought with a riot policeman.
If Mr Macron doesn't get it,
I'll start again on Saturday,
I'm not with the black bloc.
I'm a yellow vest
who is starving.
I'm Mr Macron's employer.
Do you know what that means?
Mr Macron's employer.
- Abdel.
- I pay him to look after me.
I'm angry.
I'm not afraid of you.
Abdel, who are you not afraid of?
Where does this violence get you?
Stop and think.
You have a family.
I did so many demos where
you're like sheep eating concrete.
Nobody listens to us.
When I've tried to behave well
nothing has changed!
It's not a demo, it's war!
That kid understands anything.
Open your ears, Mr Macron.
Come out of your palace.
It just awful because
it could all go horribly wrong.
And it frightens us, too.
How far can this all go.
When you look at what happened
last week,
and what will happen next weekend,
you can be scared.
But at the same time,
with Macron and his band,
we're heading for disaster.
It's a part of humanity
that's doomed.
It's hard to see
what you've got to loose.
In any case,
if there isn't a thorough revolution,
future generations won't experience
the joys we experienced.
The joy of living.
My Michel?
The joy of loving!
My throat hurts, too.
We're like two knackered
old people.
Let the revolution start,
and that's where we'll die.
Enjoy your nap.
It's always the same people
who work.
Look at that.
It was terrible.
KEEP YOUR MONEY!
WE WANT THE REST!
THE MONSTERS ARE IN MATIGNON
Has Michel gone inside?
I was worried you'd gone inside.
They wanted him to jump from there.
We saw "defenestration".
That's a step further.
First in the noose.
Hang yourselves!
I'll make a framed picture
with all the graffiti I've seen.
That could be nice.
In a frame poem.
"Steal from the people".
WE WANT YOUR ARSE.
The morning of December 2nd
at the Arc de Triomphe.
The anger of the yellow vests
who contest
Emmanuel Macron's legitimacy
mean that the king is bare.
"We fuck you, Macron."
"Load of cunts."
"Pay your wealth tax."
"Wealth tax for the upper class."
"I vote for your arse."
Michel, I've finished working.
We can read the newspaper together.
As a security measure,
following the demonstration,
the following stations are closed.
No links to other lines
are open.
He is a friend from the roundabout demo.
I'm all on my own.
Michel had to go and see
a family friend.
- We can use first name.
- With pleasure. Honour, even.
The movement has been going
for 15 weeks.
For 15 weeks, all our mates
who've had the courage to go on camera,
have been trashed
on every programme.
They arrive in a viper's nest.
The vipers are ready to bite
and they do!
Shortly after Jérôme lost his eye
he was seen on television,
with so-called journalists
or commentators,
who are just concierges or watchdogs.
We call them editocrats.
They kept asking him,
after he'd suffered
unbelievable violence,
now he feels the violence
of State power in his very flesh.
When he wanted to talk about
the law forces who
shoot at the demonstrators.
"Don't you think
that's violence?"
The editocrats change the subject.
Never ask if it's acceptable.
You must state: "It's unacceptable".
"Do you realise
the police use war weapons
against workers, civilians,
people who are just asking
for justice?"
You have to turn the phrase around?
You don't ask if it's acceptable.
You tell them it is unacceptable.
To go down well on television,
always attack your adversary.
You're not coming to cry.
You attack on the basis of the weapons
that cause injury.
Don't count the injured
and position yourselves as victims.
We don't have to be martyrs.
We have to accuse the criminals.
After that, you can talk about
the number of wounded.
I'm just reacting off-hand.
The aim of saying that
is to counter-attack
by saying that first of all,
they aren't vandals,
because all those who've lost eyes,
weren't taken to court...
- Don't get into that.
- We shouldn't?
I advise against it.
You dig your own grave with that.
Systematically, aim for the top.
First you counter-attack.
Then mention the number of wounded.
But don't provide justification.
Those people will manipulate you.
Your strength as yellow vests
is your class culture.
I don't think you realise.
That's your strength.
That's what you must
bring to the fore on television.
You're not martyrs.
You're fighters.
You're lucid fighters,
going in for the attack.
When you're in the media,
you're on the front line.
Even if it
is what hurts you most,
they don't give a damn
about your suffering.
I feel isolated.
"Would you like to start
with couple therapy?"
Last Saturday, 65,000 police officers
and gendarmes
were deployed around France.
Even more will be deployed
this weekend.
The gendarmes may also
bring in armoured vehicles
already used this week
in La Réunion
to evacuate the yellow vests,
and here, to clear the roads
around Notre Dame des Landes.
That's quite some presence.
First to evacuate the barricades
and if our adversary
uses fire arms,
we'll still be able
to move forward.
Some police unions say
these security measures are necessary.
I don't know if we'll go
seeing the terrible threats
we've received.
- Will we go, Saturday?
- What terrible threats?
Everything they've said.
It'll be horrendous.
They've dramatised it all
to frighten us.
We're not going to be
scaredy-cats.
We are. But you have to
control yourself.
- Monique Pinçon-Charlot?
- Yes.
I adore you!
You must adore my husband too.
I'm a bookseller.
I love your books.
There's a pretty girl
who adores me.
I first saw you
on the Tonight show.
You were presenting your book
"The Violence of the Rich",
which really touched me.
I needed to hear those words
and luckily you wrote them.
You helped me to live.
Goodness!
- Already?
- Yes, look.
Look at the troop!
Look after Michel,
he stayed outside.
Don't stay there.
You never know!
I've become very fond
of your Ardennes region.
It's becoming one of the world's
most beautiful places.
When the weather's good,
it's extraordinary.
Be careful of the eggs.
There's some blackcurrant jam.
Why are you so upset
that you slept late?
Because when you're not in bed,
I know you're working.
I was reading the paper.
And I read a book.
A book by André Gorz.
I'd have liked a letter
like that from you.
"Histoire d'un Amour",
published by Gallimard.
He wrote it a year
before he died.
She'd died shortly before him.
She had to die
for him to realise
that he'd instrumentalised her,
that he'd used her
to become who he'd become.
He says what I say about us:
"I am me, thanks to you."
But in his book, he wonders
if she could have said
the same thing.
So that's the question
I'm asking you.
Can you say:
"I am me, thanks to you"?
It's because there's reciprocity.
We are who we are
thanks to us.
How are you?
Dear friends, dear comrades.
- So is this the CGT union?
- It's Sud Rail union.
What shall we suggest
at the next general meeting?
Do we carry the strike through
to Monday,
or continue after Christmas
and the New Year?
Should I ask Seb what they did?
Seb, we wanted to ask you
what you decided at the GM.
We decided on oysters as our starter.
That's how you recognise mechanics.
Seriously, was there a general meeting
this morning?
No, we didn't do one.
Never mind. We'll do it together.
The railway workers fight
against the Prime Minister's
pensions reform
is a necessary fight.
The right not to be a slave,
not to be worked to death.
That right is crucial.
We've had it
with the world of numbers,
the world of experts,
money, money,
and still more money.
We want our humanity,
We want to enjoy life.
Move it over, a bit.
In the middle. Perfect.
Fix it in place, now.
This is the 23rd day
of our fight.
We want the reform removed
and that's it.
They need to take a reality check,
to listen to the people.
The majority is against
their project.
According to democracy,
the government has to listen.
They have to accept
the people's decision.
You'll have seen
the media smear campaign
against us
and the system's watchdogs'
growing aggressiveness.
Especially the 24 hour news channels
some of whom are here, today.
They want us down on our knees
because we're the final bastions
of all things social.
We're the only ones
who can still strike and show we exist.
That's why they want to break us.
They're doing their best
to divide us
by making us believe
that depending on your year of birth
you will or won't be
in their new system.
What they're offering
is a societal choice.
One we don't want.
You don't negotiate social regression.
You fight it to the very end!
We've gathered some great
wagons here!
Red wagons, green, blue, pink...
Yellow...
Thanks to the yellow vests!
We want just one thing.
We don't want charity.
We're the workers,
the working class.
We produce all
of this country's wealth.
We deserve thanks all year round
for running the trains.
We do it because we're proud
to serve the public.
I get up at 4 in the morning
so that you can study,
go to work,
go and see your families,
go to funerals, etc.
I've got a shitty income
but I know who I do my job for.
I do it in the name of public service.
I do it for you.
And I don't get up at 4.30 am
to fatten up the shareholders.
Fattening up people
who serve no purpose.
They're parasites.
We don't need them.
We can produce everything ourselves.
They need us.
We don't need them.
There aren't many of us now.
- There's been so much repression...
- I know.
They're expecting us now.
The law forces are just waiting for us.
They're ultra-violent.
We've all had a sort of PTS
after some demos
where it was really awful.
People got injured.
You know lots of people.
The last one
was Manu from Valenciennes.
He got a tear gas cartridge
right in his eye.
It was the yellow jackets' one year.
We did a demo for him.
He was there with
his blind eye.
When someone's blinded,
2,000 people don't come back
to the demos.
They've succeeded.
We went at first,
then got scared.
We're all scared.
I still manage to go back.
I need 20 minutes to calm down
at the start of a demo.
But we're careful.
I think the yellow vests'
historical moment was a miss.
Not the movement.
But we faced a lot of betrayal.
I call it betrayal.
From the union HQ, not members.
Political parties didn't join us,
massively.
We won't get another chance.
There was so much spontaneity,
so much energy.
It can only happen
every 50 years.
You don't plan a revolution.
Taking the roundabouts,
coming to Paris on a forklift...
You can't plan that sort of thing.
We missed out
through lack of support.
Maybe it's just a pause? I hope so.
We know it won't just kick off again.
- What day is it?
- I don't know.
Pull up your mask now.
The old lady we like isn't outside.
She's there but she's not outside.
"We'll pull through."
How sweet.
WE NEED OXYGEN, NOT TEAR GAS
I'm afraid. I don't want a crowd
around me.
Hello.
Are you the Pinçon-Charlots?
Thank you for everything
that you do.
"Money for the health service."
"Lutte Ouvrière" union. Super.
We have to stick together.
We were wondering who you are.
We recognise you
but can't remember...
You're The Pinçon-Charlots!
The sociologists specialising
in the richest families.
She's Charlot the clown.
We helped popularise
the notion of oligarchy.
The capture of wealth and power
by a very small group.
Have you come to support us?
Of course!
You are superb!
Have a lovely day!
How are you going to manage?
Give me your hand!
That's really disproportionate.
- Are they riot police?
- No, gendarmes.
- For orderlies and nurses?
- Yes.
How did it go?
It was a beautiful demo
but there were lots of police.
Macron said: "our nurses, our orderlies,
our health workers".
That's politics!
I can't laugh like you.
That's a pity because it's funny.
I know and I know that he's right.
But I can't.
Politicians tell you
what you want to hear
when you need to hear it.
When the situation changes,
they change too.
They're chameleons.
Doctors were like gods,
during the crisis. That's over now.
We each go back to our place.
And tonight they're getting beaten up!
Really!
What did you think
of Macron's speech on Sunday?
I stopped listening to politicians
a long time ago.
You've become reasonable!
I get on with my life.
I pay what I have to.
How do you manage your life?
I drive my taxi.
I spend most of my time in it.
I have to work 6 days a week
to reimburse my loans.
I've got a loan for my licence,
a loan for my car.
What about fullness of life?
Your happiness?
That's in the head. You have to look
on the bright side of life.
Stay calm
and let things run their course.
What do you want to do?
Me, I want a revolution.
They send you the riot police
if you demonstrate.
Look how they put down
the yellow vests.
Two cops went to court
for putting people's eyes out,
for broken arms,
fingers cut off.
Nothing happened.
The show must go on.
What do you want to do?
Attack the system
and the riot police come out
to get you back on track.
When the ecologists tried to occupy
Place de la République for the night,
did you see how they quashed that?
People thought they were crazy!
We all thought
they were crazy.
The 24 hours news channels
helped us think that.
They accuse them
of being dreamers.
What if we all stop working?
No. You know what?
- It's impossible.
- Why?
Take the taxi drivers.
They rip us off.
They impose things.
We're affiliates but they impose
their vision.
Some drivers say
that if others strike
then they'll have more work.
So it will never work.
You'll never get everyone
on your side.
You have to stop dreaming.
There won't be any revolution.
I'm sorry to ruin your dreams.
You've ruined our day.
It's a disaster.
Then, it's a disaster still.
What's your name?
Take care. Keep going!
You can count on us.
That did me a lot of good.
A moment of pure joy.
I'm checking to see
if we're dead.
And if we're not dead,
we're allowed to have a drink.
No kidding!
When?
Tonight, like every other night!
Apparently, we're not dead yet!