October or November, 1980 -- already long ago --
Between us two, Babylon.
THE FIRST DAY
I'll get down here, thanks.
Bye!
Excuse me, I can't come in.
Could you bring me a croissant, please?
No, make that 2 croissants.
Thankyou.
"Removals"
Can I help you?
Is there something I can do?
Get out of the way!
Is that you, Julien?
Do you know when he'll be back?
Do you have his telephone number?
OK, too bad, thanks, sorry to disturb you.
"Dear Mathias, Hope that all is well at the Hotel Sante'"
"See you soon"
"See you soon!? Marie"
Hey!
You?
That's enough! What's this?
-- It's my record! -- No, it's mine!
-- What is this record? -- That's him who stole it!
"The Police"...
-- Who does it really belong to? -- Me! Me!
Hey! No more fighting!
The weakest shall have it.
I'm not the weakest.
He's the one who took it!
-- And now? -- Well, then. Could you give me a hand?
Could you go to the hotel and ask whether Julien L'Ange still lives there?
-- There you are. -- Oh! Thank you!
Hello, Julien?
It's not so easy to get hold of you.
Do you still recognize my voice?
Phew! I was afraid...
That's fine. I've never been up there.
I'll be as quick as I can.
Wait for me, Julien.
Hah!
Oh well, see you, I'm going that way.
If you're going that way, then so am I.
Ah? Why?
One, two, three. What's your name?
Marie!
Marie, that's right, it had to be Marie.
Why?
It had to be. Don't try and understand.
No, I won't try.
And you. What's your name?
I'm called... Baptiste.
Baptiste?
Baptiste isn't your real name.
It's my name. I don't have another.
You're the first person I've come across -- all these people in all these streets --
...who needed me.
I need only one person. And it's not you.
Not me? You need me more than you think.
Why?
Once, twice, three times.
Once, OK, that's an accident.
And again, twice, that's chance.
But three times, that's destiny.
There's no such thing as destiny.
When you say that, it's still destiny.
Ah! And if I hadn't said it?
It's the same -- it's destiny again.
Your "destiny", Baptiste, is just gossip.
Everything isn't written down in a book
I know very well that we can't always choose freely.
But if you are lost, like a leaf in the wind...
-- here, could you take my bag --
...it's not because you decided that things should change.
But I'm not stupid...
...I don't believe in miracles any more.
Things don't change just because you want them to.
But -- even so, I want to believe that we're not caught in a trap.
And yes, I have decided to fight.
And right now, more than yesterday, more than tomorrow...
...and the day before yesterday, and now more than at any other time.
And I've been thinking that....
Marie....
.... help yourself....
.... and the heavens will help you.
If they want to, Marie.
Who?
If they want to.
But don't imagine you can do whatever you want to.
From A to Z. It's all fore-ordained.
But listen, Baptiste, I am free. Look: I can take one step left...
...then two steps right. Watch out. Look...
...I can lift my arm, so!
Yes, you have just lifted it...
...towards a hidden star.
There!
Hiding behind that huge cloud there above us. Like a white whale...
...it reached for your hand...
...across the gulf of space...
...and the entire galaxy!
But no! Not at all!
The star [L'Etoile] is down there. In front of us.
Farewell, Baptiste!
See you again soon, Marie!
It was awful!
I couldn't breathe in the lift.
Feel better now?
Yes.
You know, they didn't change you.
You're beautiful, Marie. You're beautiful.
I'm all out of breath.
I've been running the whole way.
I was waiting for you.
You know, I've been waiting for you, such a long time.
Me too, I've been waiting.
It's nice, this cliff in the middle of the city.
You haven't forgotten that l like wide open spaces.
What's the matter, Julien? Is there something wrong?
You could have let me know that you were getting out today.
Have you moved? Where do you live now?
Yes, I'm moving all the time. I'm not very settled.
Because of your gambling debts?
No, it's not that.
I'll explain.
Here.
Take this.
For my hotel room. You're expected.
A hotel? I couldn't even step through the door.
What was it like, down there?
If you insist I'll give you the address, but it has to remain a secret between us.
What'll we do now? Will you take me out to eat oysters?
No, Marie, I've got some business to attend to.
But in 3 days it'll be over.
I love you, Marie.
We'll meet up tomorrow morning.
Wherever you want.
What's going on between you and that guy?
He's someone who's important to me.
Your fiancee?
Yes.... if you like.
Then how come you didn't stay with him after you found him?
Did your love grow cold?
I hadn't seen him in such a long time.
The place I was staying at, it was...
...it was like a boarding school.
I could never stand for such a thing.
Because as soon as I feel locked up...
...I have to escape. It's stronger than anything.
It was rather difficult to escape from where I was staying.
It was he who gave me the strength to live through it.
Actually, I was in prison. I just got out this morning.
Understand?
Why did they lock you up?
Stupid mistakes. I was tricked.
And because of my record, I was in for a year.
That's normal. We're all being watched.
Tell me, how did you survive there inside?
Like all the others... I'd rather not talk about it.
In there, the only thing that changes is the date.
And I thought about Julien all the time.
He wrote to me, came to see me as often as he could.
When I was arrested we'd only known each other for a week.
So it was like a great big novel, then?
It's not a novel Baptiste, it's real life.
Real life? That's a reign of terror.
Now Julien is everything to me.
You know, Baptiste, over the years I believed all sorts of things...
...and then I had, well, time to reflect.
And finally, the only thing that left to us...
...is love.
Even if sometimes it's like a deathly pain.
Oh, well... let's go.
Here, could you take my bag, because....
(I need to have a piss)
Love...
...that great fantastic lightning bolt...
so enormous, so extraordinary...
...and of such intensity that it sends all the senses flying...
...into dreams...
Isn't that beautiful?
No.
No, rather it's a lasting light.
It needs time to work its spell.
Oh, what a day!
I'm tired out. And you?
No.
Where do you sleep?
Everywhere.... nowhere
It's all the same to me.
When I was squashed in my cell for 2 months I dreamed of a big double bed with white silky sheets.
The king-size bed of the Tropicana Motel
What's that you say?
It's a magic bed I've been told about.
I don't know whether it's magic, but the fact is since this morning...
...I can't stay inside anywhere.
I get trapped by the open air. -- It's better that way, Marie...
...all the hotels are under surveillance.
Oh yes, I know that.
OK, let's go.
But not like you think.
It's an absolute surveillance. At every second.
All that you say, all that you do...
Do you really think that?
I know that.
I know it!
THE SECOND DAY
What charming manners.
Look after my armour.
People are very small this morning, have you noticed?
The food, it's really...(disgusting)
Got to eat.
I'd like some small mandarines please?
Clementines, madam
--Ah yes, they're clementines. --How much?
--A pound. --A pound.
Want some?
I'm not eating. I'm only eat when I'm completely starving.
You really don't want to eat? -- No.
A bit of cheese. That'd do you good.
How much are these shoes? -- .........
-- Pardon? -- 10 francs.
-- They're very nice. -- Ah yes? -- Try them!
-- And the soles? Are they in good repair? -- In very good repair, madam.
-- Can I try them on? -- Go ahead.
I'm wondering whether they aren't... old-fashioned?
The size is the important thing. That's what counts. -- Yes.
-- Old-fashioned? -- Do they feel OK? -- Well... old-fashioned?
-- Do they suit me? -- Absolutely! -- Very, very nice.
They're a bit, um, Minnie Mouse.
You know, you have to walk in them for a while...
How did it go?.... Where did you sleep?
Don't worry about me, everything's fine.
And you...
Where were you?
Wherever you are, I'll come.
You must be patient, Marie.... Believe me.
Afterwards we'll never have to leave each other any more.
Why?
Julien, you must tell me the truth.
I want to know what you're doing?
Marie.... I know that it's hard for you. ...But you must trust me.
In the end it'll be worth it, I swear.
I know you've got things to settle, but, at least tell me what it's about.
Don't think about it. At all.
I already told you: in 3 days.
Three days, three nights, without knowing. Do you understand what it means?
Already yesterday it was in 3 days. .... And tomorrow?
And tomorrow? Eh?
In three days.
Let me try my luck.
Here, I'll leave this with you.
Play... Here are the cards. Let's go. It's Lady Luck.
All up. Wait a minute, sir. This gentleman has won. Here. And you have lost, sir.
All right, let's go. In play. And here's the red card. Find it, find it.
Everyone's a winner at this game.
Come on now... Place your bets.
This one, sir... You have lost, sir. -- Oh, shit!
-- Don't say anything! -- Baptiste! Baptiste!
-- Lost everything! -- As usual. Aren't you the clever one!
I'll take a taxi. Have you got 100?
See you later... Stalingrad.
-- Don't you want this? -- Oh yes. See you.
Why did you take Julien's satchel?
-- Because I saw and I know. -- What'd you see, and what do you know?
I don't think you should have taken his satchel. I have a bad feeling about it.
That's for you to understand.
So what? It's just a map of Paris.
-- And why are these drawings here? -- That's just to make you ask why!
Here, give me that. Let me.
"Black Squad attacks the postmen"
"Maury-Laribiere kidnapper arrested in Tours"
"Pitoun kidnapping: no word from the kidnappers"
"The C.R.S. saved my life"
"Mesrine wanted to kidnap Philippe Bouvard"
"The prince's assassin is a hired killer"
"Mesrine's chauffeur arrested"
"As he fled, Hyvert killed the restaurant owner"
Hmm, that girl's pretty.
Looks like an actress.
What are those letters? That kind of letter.
Hebrew...
"Why Empain was freed"
"Lawyer kidnapping: ransom handover failed"
"Lyon kidnapping: mastermind arrested"
"To be the strongest"
I don't understand why some things are underlined in red and others not.
I don't know what it means.
"It's in everybody's interest that M. de Broglie does well"
"At Aix-en-St.Denis, Alexandre Sanguinetti has just died at the Val de Grace hospital..."
"... as a result of a massive heart attack" -- That's how it goes!
"Pierre Fit has taken a position on the Golman affair"
I don't understand.
I don't understand what all that means.
"De Broglie: the police close in on the killer" -- Again.
"Three gangsters get away" -- Again
"Ampin and his wife Sylvana...."
It's funny the way they all have their spectacles way up in their hair...
I've never understood why... generally specs sit on the nose, more or less.
"Golman got 9 thousand", yes.
"The Boulin affair: the R.P.R. is reunited"
"Mesrine slain. His accomplice too."
"De Broglie: he had the gift of friendship"
"An ex-minister assassinated in Paris"
"The victim's body lay on the pavement for more than one hour"
"Two witnesses: a concierge and a Spanish cleaning woman"
"With closed eyes, Dutronc has stumbled into the Swiss imbroglio without knowing what awaits him"
"Dassault's personal situation has reached crisis point"
"Rue Copernic affair: on the trail of the motorbike man"
"Lyon kidnapping: the anguish of Bernard Galle"
Ah, now they've found the gun at that policeman's place, Simonet...
...who murdered Debreuil. It still doesn't make sense.
Ah, now it's my turn!
"Credit Lyonnais at Saint Ouen" "Two criminals wounded, the third escapes"
-- That's you there? -- Yes. Marie LaFee.
I'm asking myself what I'm doing there..
And that guy, who's he?
Well, as it says... "The young Mathias D. and his accomplice Marie LaFee"
It's a young guy who joined up with me to do a job.
You see the way we look?
Always like that in the papers.
He's a friend. He's my young partner in crime.
We got together, just like that.
I came back.... from abroad where I'd been for several years...
...in Germany, in Italy. Just about everywhere in Europe...
But that's a long story...don't really want to talk about it now.
A long story... quite a few years ago. You probably weren't even born yet.
And then, I happened across a group of really nice people.
I dunno, they explained that we should take money where we found it, that...
...that the real robbers... ...were perhaps the banks, or...
...that's why we did the Credit Lyonnais at Saint Ouen...
Perhaps not the best choice... But at Saint Ouen, or somewhere else...
And then I... in fact it was Mathias and me who were tricked.
Perhaps I was, how to put it... I dunno, manipulated. In any case...
...we became the victims because we weren't specialists.
Mathias is still in prison, he was in for 3 years.
If I hadn't found the money for his lawyer...
...dunno, maybe he'd have been put away for much longer...
A really nice guy.
Can't say that one person is a victim more than another.
I'm almost certain that those people used us.
-- Obviously -- Ah, yes.
Now, in any case, they've dropped us, I suppose that's normal.
-- It's normal. -- We should have expected it.
Yes, it's normal!
We weren't professionals with plots and plans and tricks and scams...
The Credit Lyonnais at Saint Ouen...
That's how it goes...
All over...in the past...
-- Come on, give me the briefcase. -- As you wish, Marie.
-- In any case your Julien is always early. -- No, it's me who's late.
-- You don't say goodbye anymore? -- Goodbye. See you! Baptiste.
Here. A present for you.
That won't do at all. You shouldn't have done that, Marie. You're out of your mind.
I already told you, Julien. I need to know.
You're well mixed up in it now.
I don't think you understand. This is not a game. You almost ruined everything.
You've managed to save the day ....but only just.
You shouldn't have kept me in the dark.
You won't progress matters by behaving like that
-- Are those your things in there? -- No. It's a debt.
That's what you were waiting for, eh? Is there something important in those newspapers?
Since we've reached this point, I'm going to tell you. But on one condition.
That you forget everything I say, OK? -- Go on.
The other evening I was gambling with a guy I'd already met once or twice.
He gave the impression of knowing a lot about certain important people.
People who're in the news right now.
He talked a lot... but in the end he said nothing. -- And so?
I noticed he always bet the maximum. Since what he had with him wasn't enough...
...he had to put something up as a guarantee.
-- The briefcase? -- Yes. He offered it.
And what else do you know?
You saw as well as me what there was inside. At first sight, there was no connection...
...but I was certain that it was worth a lot more than it seemed at first glance.
Why aren't you telling me the whole truth?
Listen, Marie, that's the whole truth!
I've got to meet someone about it. And I'm running late.
I really have to go.
Julian, don't treat me like a fool!
It's the truth, I say! I really must go.
Julien, what's happening? I'm afraid.
Well, it's your own fault, Marie. Come, follow me.
I know your name.
Good day.
Good day, Max.
Ah yes, to be sure. Max.
I am sure.
Well, see you this evening.
I know where he's going, I heard the address.
Let's take the Aerial Metro.
No, I can't, we'd better take a taxi!
But the Aerial Line, it's just there.
Breathe.