Good Lord! It really is terrible.
They're good at beating us at swimming.
Thank you, my boy.
Let's drink to Suzette.
Yeah! To Aunty!
To Suzette.
- Cheers. - To Suzette.
He has no red wine.
What a drag!
What's that, then?
I see red.
Yes, you're a big red pumpkin.
There's enough sauerkraut and couscous for 2 days.
Yeah, wait a minute.
We once ate couscous
all together in the barn.
It was sweltering.
The next day, we were eating out. Jules was there.
We ate couscous up on the plateau.
No, sauerkraut!
It was blistering hot.
Yes, I saw the photos. I remember that.
Vegetarian sauerkraut!
No, the sauerkraut's another story. That one's not bad, either.
- Go on, tell us. - No, no.
There was a couple with a second home called
Roland and Suzanne.
They didn't have a phone, so they'd come to use our phone.
We'd chat, etc.
In the autumn, they invited us over for a meal.
So, they start... Since we like...
They'd brought some cooked meats from the Cevennes.
They gave us some to show us it hadn't gone bad on the way.
So, we ate it, but Jean-Guy loved oysters.
So, they'd prepared oysters for him.
Normal people had 6,
but he had 2 dozen.
No, a dozen. I'm exaggerating slightly.
After the oysters, as Jean-Guy loved fish,
there was sole a la creme. Very good.
I can't remember what came after the sole.
Then, there was a roast, vegetables, salad...
Then, a kugelhopf at the end of a meal like that!
Well, my husband had eaten
everything, he'd gone back for more,
he'd had plenty to drink, then came the kugelhopf!
- He ate what? - Kugelhopf.
He ate a piece with cream on top.
It's a dessert that's really filling.
It's really stodgy.
So, to thank the hostess, he said to her...
He vomited on the table?
No!
- He farted at the table? - No.
I can fart if you like.
- I want to, too. - Me too.
- Who? - Let's vote.
So, to say thank you, he said...
I didn't get it.
We're on tenterhooks!
I bet it's not even funny. Suzette, stop crying.
We may not even find it funny.
He thanks the hostess...
He says, "Well, it was very good.
But I could've eaten sauerkraut"!
- Could've eaten what? - Sauerkraut.
We go back to Villemagne, have a quiet winter and spring.
And the following autumn,
they invite us back. We put on our hats,
our best clothes and off we go.
So, we had a big meal like the year before.
And before the kugelhopf...
she says, "Jean-Guy, I haven't forgotten the sauerkraut!"
So, what was Jean-Guy to do?
She says, "You know, I cooked it in goose fat."
Oh, dear!
Then, we go in the car to stay with friends.
Well, of course Jean-Guy had indigestion.
He walked up and down all night in the corridor,
the living room, the kitchen,
Iooking for sodium bicarbonate.
Well, this friend is very tidy.
Everything is carefully put away in the closet.
He made such a mess, looking for it.
Let's take a break.
Guillaume can't stay up there like that.
The Thorn in the Heart
I know that with my parents, l...
I was very unpleasant to them.
They didn't like me marrying Jean-Guy.
But then, they accepted Jean-Guy, they accepted our child.
They helped us when we were in a mess.
When your grandma died, things weren't great.
I wasn't aware of it.
Life was good, we were young.
Everything was perfect, just fine.
But my mother saw that the situation was difficult
and that I couldn't cope on my own
with a husband, a brother-in-law and a kid.
So, when she learned that there were
vacancies in teaching in the Gard area,
that they were hiring teachers, she did all she could
to get me a job.
So, she sent me a letter with papers for me to sign.
I realized I'd be better off leaving.
I ended up in Les Salles where we're going later on.
I arrived in November.
You climb the hillside which is made of schist rocks.
In winter, the chestnut trees are
dark gray, anthracite gray.
The branches are violet.
It was utterly sinister.
"Mrs. Gondry was appointed to Les Salles.
"On November 10, she carried out her first replacement.
"The place is rather uncomfortable, especially for a teacher
"with a young child.
"ln addition to the limited size of the one room,
"the school pump has broken down."
It was the water pump.
There was no mains drainage...
"Mrs. Gondry has to get water from the river."
Just imagine if they had to
do that now!
"I'll talk to the mayor about this."
- Did it help? - No.
Just think, once they'd taken their baccalaureat,
the young teachers were thrown into the hardest classes,
with children of different ages, in remote places
where they had no cars.
Well, this was the kitchen door.
That was the classroom door.
Here...
is the playground.
Oh, dear.
Hydrangeas are the only thing that thrive in this soil.
That was the outhouse.
The road was above here.
At night, trucks would come down the hill.
They shook and rattled.
I kept expecting one to skid on black ice and end up
in the schoolhouse.
Guillaume, is someone up there or...?
No, it's a satellite dish, I think.
Oh, yes, I can see it from this angle.
I wondered whether I should go say hello.
I think there's no need.
It's handwritten. It's not me.
No, but...
I typed.
I had an electric typewriter.
Very modern back then...
This is my first inspection report.
I think it's my writing, because
the inspector sent this and...
- You did a copy by hand. - Yes, I think that's it.
Then, we sent back the original.
8.5 out of 20. He wasn't very generous, was he?
Yes, 8.5.
Some gave low grades, others...
"The attendance register for March is blank."
Well?
"The attendance summary is not up to date."
That's no good!
That's not the Gondry I knew!
- I never typed that about you. - There's more.
"The library has no catalogue or loans book."
My word! "lt is kept reasonably clean."
So, the broom worked!
"lnstructions have been given to Mme. Gondry
"concerning lesson preparation. It is hard for a beginner
"to grasp their importance
"before the real obstacles of the job
"become apparent. However, it is evident
"that the mere pages of a journal
"are not appropriate to guide a personal effort
"of notes and research."
They didn't spare you, did they?
- There... - Let's do it again.
Gravel comes loose every time.
- Does it hurt to get tattooed? - No.
- Really? - We had to keep busy in the army.
"Had to keep busy"! My word!
Why a pansy? Because it's a symbol of thought?
It's a thought for my mom.
- I see. - "To Mom."
- I can't read it. - "To Mom."
What did she say about it?
She yelled at me!
Gerard and my son used to sing in patois
"The Teacher Bores Us Shitless."
Imagine that!
And your mother said, "Be careful. The teacher understands you."
Sure, you're from Villemagne.
You didn't know.
What was it like, having your mother for a teacher?
Let's hear it.
- No fun. - No?
No, no fun at all.
Why not?
I had her from morning till evening.
From A to Z.
So, it's no fun.
I remember one time, we came home from school together.
There was Odile who looked after the house.
So, he told her what was wrong.
She gave him a snack
and checked his homework.
I was in the next room. He knew it perfectly.
Very well.
In school...
Jean-Yves, your lesson.
What grade could I give him after that?
He told Odile what was wrong.
She said, "He knew it. Why did you give him zero?"
Why wouldn't you recite it to me? You knew it.
You ask me now why I couldn't recite it.
How should I know?
He'll get yelled at again, poor thing!
How do you expect me to remember after all this time?
You never give up. Never!
If you remembered, it might help
people with the same problem.
You could tell me now why you wouldn't recite your lesson.
I don't think you should be in the same school
- as your mother. - True.
That was the grinding workshop.
In there were the grinders,
the workbench to repair...
There was a big bench
where Dad repaired the machines
and such like.
Next to that was the office.
Next to that was a storage space.
At that end, there was the forge to repair the chains.
I'd turn the handle on the forge.
How old were you?
I think I started at the sawmill at the age of 15.
- 18. - Yes, once I turned 18.
Suzette doesn't want to go to prison.
At 15, during vacations.
And weekends.
So, to recap, you spent the first part
of your life with your mom as your teacher,
then, your dad as your boss.
I guess so.
What about that?
Oh, it's...
Well, I sorta resisted it, but anyway...
The 10 years I spent with Dad, I tried to tell him
I didn't want to run the sawmill,
and he didn't want me to leave.
Yes, you should have...
I know.
You should've been more...
You didn't exactly help me.
- Huh? - You didn't exactly help me.
Whose fault is it? Mom's!
It's always the way in this family. Blame it on Suzette!
I didn't help you...
Let's just say, at one point,
you wanted to go to catering school.
It was hard work, you had to take an exam.
I told you to work at school.
With the spelling mistakes you made, young man...
There was a teacher called Mr Laurent. I asked him
to give my son French lessons.
One day, Mr Laurent said to me...
He was very angry.
"Madam, you save your money, I'll save my time. He won't work."
So, it wasn't easy to know what to do.
Well, I talked to the other teachers about my son.
They said, "lf you do this and that,
"we can get him into a school in Toulouse."
Then, all of a sudden,
he didn't want to hurt his father
and he said, "No, I'll carry on, I'll stay at the sawmill."
- Remember? - No.
When we were watching my movie,
you fell asleep. I went over to you
and said, "Suzette, if you're tired, go to bed."
You didn't recognize me. You said, "Mind your own business."
Yes, I thought you were my son!
Then, you recognized me and you spoke to me differently.
I had nightmares after that.
Really? How awful! I give you nightmares!
No, but...
I make your mother cry over the oven.
I give you nightmares!
Do you remember that moment?
Yes, I do, but
I thought it was Jean-Yves,
who always mixes up things about me.
Sometimes he treats me like an old
half-wit, and sometimes, like Superwoman.
I have to do this, that and the other.
He wants
to govern me, but I'm independent. I won't be dictated to.
Hello.
Sorry to bother you.
I'm looking for Mme. Stessels' house.
- lsn't it the old school? - Yes, it is.
Could you ask them
if we can have the key and go inside?
Hello there.
Sorry, I can't hear with these things.
Can you help me?
Hang on, I'll put the loudspeaker on.
Can you hear me now?
- Hello? - Can you hear me?
Yes, now I can hear you. I am
Suzette Gondry, the old teacher from La Mouline.
Have you heard about me?
I have a nephew who's making a documentary
about his aunt's schools.
Yes.
We made a mistake. We thought
Mme. Stessels was wrong about her sister-in-law's house.
She said she lived in the old school, but
in fact, she doesn't.
No, we do.
So, if someone has your key,
would you let us go into the courtyard?
Unfortunately, I didn't leave...
No, now it's a charming second home.
It's not my school anymore.
In November '62,
we heard a strange noise.
Everything was calm.
Suddenly, there was a rumbling
which grew louder and louder.
3 pupils and I were intrigued.
We went onto the balcony.
And I said to them,
"We are reading a page of French history,"
because they were trucks
which were taking to Villemagne
the Harkis (Algerian soldiers) and their families.
Women and children...
They all arrived in army trucks.
One day,
they stopped me on the bridge as I left the sawmill.
All the men stopped me.
I didn't understand, because they mixed French and Arabic.
So, I didn't know what to do.
And the officer came along.
And he said to me,
"They want you to do a class up there."
So, I went up there.
They were all there.
They looked like an apparition.
They had white shirts on.
There were 60 of them.
I can't tell you the effect it had on me, I was so moved.
So, I said I'd be glad to look after your children,
but the chief had to sign the paper.
Thanks for coming.
Every time I come this way, I have to call in.
I'll never forget that spring when we arrived.
- It must've been in '63... - That's right.
That spring in the mountains. We ran around.
There were wild strawberries, narcissuses...
I'd never seen them before.
I think there were narcissuses.
And daffodils.
Daffodils, yes.
That spring in the mountains, it was really...
Those 3 years were magnificent.
There were a lot of us.
There must have been...
- Thirty. - And the strange thing was,
there were only boys.
I saw girls in the village.
They said, "The girls don't go to school."
I said, "I'm sorry." The dads weren't pleased.
"I'm sorry, you're in France.
"The boys come to school." I said to the officer,
"l want everyone." Well, there weren't 30 anymore.
Then, in the 3rd trimester, we had another teacher.
So, there were 60 pupils.
The next year, there were 90. We were in that field.
- It was a prefab. - You know, our generation
hung on for dear life in school.
- We wanted to learn. - Sponges!
The kids realized they were done for, otherwise.
You saw both extremes, you saw the Russians and us.
I wasn't worried.
The neighbors were Russians, Spanish, ltalians.
So, when you came along, we weren't particularly disoriented.
We were Muslims,
so before the war in Algeria, it must've seemed different.
The male teachers didn't want to come and work here.
They'd fought in the war in Algeria, so the locals said,
"No, we've seen enough Arabs, thank you."
OK, go on, Suzette.
Oh, it's in ruins.
So, you taught the Harkis here?
Yes. There were 3 classrooms here.
I bet you're wondering what this building was for.
It was the screening room.
The school had a special feature:
It had sliding walls.
And on Saturdays,
films were screened.
Was Suzette the mother at school
or the teacher at home?
It was hard. Both ways!
- Both ways? - Yeah.
She was a bit... She wasn't always easy.
Right. She was always not easy.
We never understood one another.
You made films, too?
No... Yes, right now!
You made Super 8 movies.
Oh, yes, I did.
What did you film?
What we did at home, mainly.
Christmas and when my cousins came.
It was Michel's dad who got me into Super 8,
because he had a camera.
And when Mom went on school trips,
she said, "Take the camera and film us."
Then, I did Super 8 with sound.
Then, I'd splice it and...
and edit it.
Coffee break under the plum tree with the Calamis.
Sunday August 15
Noelle Gondry prepared green beans.
At table, always under the plum tree.
Francois Gondry, Olivier Gondry,
Michel Gondry, and myself.
Dad getting up.
The Boyers arriving.
The Boyers are welcomed by Jean-Claude and Noelle Gondry.
Don't you have a hammer?
Suzette, d id n't you bring a hammer?
Jesus!
Victory!
- It's shut now. - Damn!
Let's try and open it again, as if nothing happened.
Oh, Jesus!
I've had enough!
Can I suggest something?
Couldn't we find a pharmacy?
There!
We need an oil can.
There you are!
Do you know why we used
this wheelchair which caused us so much trouble?
- Why did you use it? - Why?
To film you while you're walking.
Are you still able to write?
Yes, I follow the line, but I can't see what I write.
I've taken my hand off the page
and I've lost my place. So I wrote
"Sat" for "Saturday"
and "urday" will be in a different place.
I'll try to apply myself.
Yes, I've joined them up.
Saturday 6 PM, screening of a film by Jean Gremillon
This film was screened in Villemagne
in 1963 when the village
was inhabited by the Harkis.
Saturday at 6, OK. We'll gladly come.
Bring a chair. It's pretty rough!
We'll put that in our list of demands!
Bring back the movies to Villemagne!
It's one of many demands,
but I still think it's important.
- Thank you. - Goodbye.
Why didn't the movies go down well?
I think that the culture of...
of their parents wasn't the same as ours.
There were scantily clad women, people kissing...
The kids said, "It's shameful, Ma'am."
I didn't understand why it was shameful.
It was a decent film.
But there were
people kissing, so it wasn't suitable.
OK? Are you coping?
Look out!
Khalid always says that when it's too late!
I knew it!
Careful!
- Lift it up. - Hang on.
- See you later. - OK.
There. Isn't that better?
Only another 550 meters to go!
Good evening.
- Is everyone here? - Yes, we're waiting for you.
You're waiting... That's nice.
Tell the guests to come.
You can come now.
It's all ready.
We can say we went to Villemagne's movie theater!
Off we go. Let the movie begin!
Stormy Waters
Bravo, up there!
Bravo, projectionist!
Can you tell us why you divorced?
Well, we didn't get along, and I'm pretty much...
I realized I preferred guys to women.
That doesn't matter if you're happy.
Yes, but it's not easy to explain to some people.
Especially people in the Cevennes.
- So, your Dad didn't know? - No.
Maybe he suspected it, but I didn't tell him myself.
Because you thought it'd hurt him?
Right.
And as he was sick, I didn't want to...
make it worse.
So, I didn't go and see him much either,
in the hospital or at home.
If he'd been in good health, would you have told him?
Well, I couldn't communicate with him, anyway.
Like I already said, because we couldn't...
When I told him I was leaving the sawmill, it was
hard... tough, so...
I couldn't communicate with my parents.
When did you realize Jean-Yves preferred guys?
I always... I always sensed it.
I always knew it.
I sensed it, but I suppose, in a way...
I think even Jean-Guy...
was aware of it, but you don't express it.
Let's say, it reaches...
your consciousness. Doesn't that happen to you?
You know something,
it's inside you,
you know it, but you don't want to...
You don't want to. There's a big block.
Or rather, an unconscious block, because you don't want
to face up to it.
That's how...
That's how I see it.
And above all...
the problem with Jean-Yves is that if you try to talk to him,
he pushes you away, so...
It's not...
it's not easy.
Did you talk to Jean-Guy about it?
No, he refused.
What do you feel?
Being homosexual doesn't bother me.
Because some are strong,
but Jean-Yves is weak. So, that's...
that's what...
which saddens me, in a way.
He was ashamed to tell Jean-Guy.
He never went to see him when he was sick.
Is it that Gondry thing of hating sickness,
being afraid of sickness?
Jean-Guy didn't like that much, either.
We don't like sick people, but
we think it's a duty to go and see them.
And that's the difference between his mother and me.
Her children were...
"bushy", with rough edges, whereas I was someone who was...
Iike a well-trimmed tree. There are things you have to do.
If you want to, good. If you don't want to, too bad.
You must do it.
My mother would say, "You'll do it, so don't bother asking.
"You must do it."
That's rooted in our...
It's rooted in me.
I hate doing some things, but I do them, because...
I must do them.
Such as?
Such as...
It's second nature to me, so I can't...
It's no longer difficult for me.
What do I do...
Such as looking after my son.
Yesterday, Jean-Yves was stuck
in the bathroom
due to the mere presence of the drying rack.
And we're going to recreate the scene.
For greater realism, we'll put some dry clothes on the rack,
because that was the situation yesterday.
Suzette, can you relate the event?
The door was shut...
I was in the kitchen.
I heard someone shouting their head off.
I didn't know where he was. I said,
"I'm coming." I came that way.
He couldn't see me, so he got annoyed.
Go on. Let's recreate the scene.
Jean-Yves...
Jean-Yves had done his business in the bathroom.
He wants to come out and...
- He wants to come out. - Action!
- Action? - Yes.
- Say "Mom" again. - Mom!
I'm coming. Where on earth is he?
Suzette's looking for him.
Go on, call louder.
Mom!
You don't have to shout like a madman.
Give me time to get here.
- You shouted... - How do I get out?
You shouted louder.
The voice is better today.
The head was further out.
That's better.
- There. - He's less hoarse.
The Drying Rack Tragedy has been recreated!
You screamed like a new-born baby yesterday!
That's not bad.
My word!
It's not a surprise, because you phoned me.
I knew it,
but I'm pleased. I haven't seen you in 4 or 5 years.
Yes. You still recognize me?
Oh, yes. You haven't changed.
Can you tell us who Mrs. Boyer is?
- Pardon? - I want Suzette to explain your job.
I'm a bit deaf.
- What? - Wasn't she the teacher before you?
Oh, yes, so Mrs. Boyer was the mayor's wife.
At the time. Before you started teaching here.
That's it.
And you also taught catechism to the children.
And so, when you went on trips...
- We both went. - She always thought of me.
- We have some memories. - Oh, many memories.
So, from time to time, you organize...
- Parties. - Go on, Suzette!
Parties for the old folks...
And also the Christmas party for the children.
Go on, Suzette.
Do you know that when Michel was little,
he attended this school for a month?
- No! - He came here from Versailles.
I wonder what memories...
he still has of it.
He didn't want to fly.
My husband took him to the airport.
Francois got into the airplane quite happily.
Michel said to my husband,
"No, I want a stewardess like Suzette.
"A blond stewardess like Suzette."
When the vacation was over, I took my little Michel to the school.
Lift the boom!
It's better than in the old days. This is the classroom.
The teacher's desk was here.
Here's the kerosene stove that was the bane of my life!
The pupils were here.
The little 'uns here.
So, when Michel came, he was right here.
There were the 2nd and 3rd grades.
And over there
were the 5th grades, and kids who'd finished primary school,
including Regis.
Is that Regis?
Ah, it's Regis. I thumbed you down!
My nephew really wants to film you.
Your mother told us where we could find you.
We're in Arrigas.
I loved this village. I really liked it here,
because I was finally in a place with some life!
A charming municipal employee.
If something didn't work, he sorted it out.
It really was a life of luxury.
Can you feel the difference between this village and Revens?
It was windswept. The people were very kind,
but if you'd forgotten to buy bread,
you were stuck.
Here, there was a grocer's store.
This might seem strange for an urbanite like you,
but I'd always lived far from the stores.
I had to try hard not to forget anything in town.
So, this was heaven!
Suzette, why are there so many people?
I think they're going to the lottery.
Hello there.
You're going to the lottery!
- I won't say a word. - Pardon me?
- But I wish you luck. - Thank you.
We're big fans. We'd go miles for the lottery!
Really? That's good!
Each of you has a piece of paper with 3 questions on it.
At the top, it says who you should ask.
Suzette Gondry or Michel Gondry.
But you should all write down all the answers.
Be careful now.
Let's go.
Did your pupils have difficulties with spelling or mental arithmetic?
Yes.
But I think that all children...
have difficulties with spelling.
It's not something you're born with.
You just have to keep at it.
Mental arithmetic is different.
Some have a gift for math.
They understand right away when you say 2 + 2 = 4.
But when you give them something harder,
the others don't understand how they do it.
Well, their brains are better wired
for mental arithmetic.
But I think that mental arithmetic
is less difficult than spelling.
Can you repeat that, please?
- What? - Can you repeat that, please?
Now we're going to give you costumes.
And you'll be invisible. Here we go!
OK, now don't move. I can see all of you now.
Who'll do the focus?
- Did you touch it? - No.
Well, thank you.
Thank you for coming. I think the children are delighted.
They'll have great memories of this for years to come.
When they see the tape of the invisible costumes...
- Oh, yes! - They'll love it.
Jean-Guy...
Actually, he...
I don't know if...
It was June 24, Saint Jean's day.
I thought, "l won't remind him of it.
"He won't last long."
And you know, we could see...
he was getting weaker. That evening, he said...
I said, "Do you want to eat? It's dinnertime."
He opened his eyes, he didn't say anything.
He just opened his eyes.
And that was it.
But I was with him.
I'm mean. I'm making you...
You didn't let him go free?
You didn't tell Jean-Yves immediately?
Because I knew that Jean-Yves would collapse.
And Sonia was taking her baccalaureatexams that day.
So, Sonia had exams on the Monday,
the Tuesday and the Wednesday.
So, I said to myself, "lf I tell...
"Jean-Yves that his father's dead,
"he'll collapse.
"So will the girl, and she'll fail her exams."
Now, that's typical Cevennes culture, you see.
I said nothing.
Since Jean-Yves didn't phone and ask for news, it was very easy.
So, on the Wednesday, Sonia took...
She was at school for the last day of exams.
And so, on the Wednesday morning, I went down to where...
- Jean-Yves worked. - Yes, the pallet factory.
So, I went down there
and I told him.
With me, he coped...
He held out...
And when we came home, he let it all out on Sonia.
When she came home...
she realized that her father was dead.
Suzette has incredible strength of character.
She went home and didn't open the shutters
for 24 hours.
To avoid questions.
None of the neighbors knocked at the door.
She didn't want to say that Jean-Guy was dead,
because Sonia had her exams.
Tell us about when you went to get Jean-Yves who was in a bad state.
It was September. We were in Nimes.
He called us one Sunday lunchtime. We were leaving.
He said, "I'm on the freeway, I'm coming.
"Wait for me at the freeway exit."
We went to get him there.
I've seen depressed people,
but never as down as he was then.
I took him home. He hadn't eaten, we fed him.
We told him to stay. He cried all day long.
All he'd say was yes or no, nothing more.
We couldn't get anything out of him.
On the third day, at table, he said he wanted to go to St Sauveur
to see if there were any wild mushrooms.
We got there,
and he started talking.
All afternoon... he talked about his father.
He'd worked in the woods there with him.
They'd cut down trees together there.
"l cut down a tree here with Dad..."
All the livelong afternoon,
he talked about his father.
Then, he said, "Now I want to go around Villemagne."
I said, "OK, we'll go around Villemagne."
We went home that evening. He seemed to be feeling better then.
He realized he was down.
He really was down.
And he wanted to go back to his mother's.
He was worried she wouldn't take him back.
I said, "There's no reason she wouldn't take you back.
"Of course she'll take you back."
Why are you filming me?
Because we're making a film about Suzette.
Yesterday you asked me which scene you'd be in.
I wanted to be seen in New York. It was more fun.
Because I was...
How would you describe Suzette?
She helped you with your homework.
Yeah, and a bit more than that, too.
What I liked was the apartment she was in, before.
Oh, in Waverly?
You went there after school?
Yeah, it was fun.
I can leave the scene now.
What are your impressions of that year in New York?
- Who, me? - Yes.
Well, I must say, I often had to grit my teeth!
Yeah, you wouldn't let me go out.
I wanted to go skateboarding in Union Square, but you said no.
- You were only 12! - Yeah, so?
You weren't aware of the dangers of being out in the street.
Did you have to fight to make Paul work?
Well, it was relatively...
There was a ritual: he'd arrive late, that would make me furious.
Then, he'd complain.
Once, with Paul and Romain,
we decided to search her room.
We found a little notebook. We wondered what it was.
On the first page, it said:
"Paul comes home at 6:30.
"At 7, he decides to go to the bathroom.
"At 8: 10, he comes out of the bathroom."
Yeah, and there was: "A math exercise
"gives Paul the urge to go to the bathroom."
It was funny.
You compared Paul to Jean-Guy, your husband.
I said Paul was like a gas generator.
It takes ages to get them going!
It's true that Paul has some of his ways.
That really struck me about him.
But New York is a good memory for you?
Yes...
I just wish I'd been 10 years younger.
But it is a good memory,
because if he hadn't been a good person, I'd have left.
Did you ever argue?
We argued lots of times.
Yes, often.
Lots of times I made her cry.
Often.
He made you cry?
- No, but almost. - I did.
Paul!
Doesn't that bother you?
No, he was a child. He was only 12.
I mean, I always saw him as a 12-year-old child.
This is the path the bishop took
to go to St Sauveur Church.
It's very, very old.
Every Sunday, we went to mass down this path.
And the dead had to be taken to the cemetery.
That's why it's called the Path of the Dead.
So, when I go down it, I think of all...
all the people who lived here. And life was hard.
Life wasn't easy back then.
Do you think about death much?
Not at all. I think about my grave.
But I don't think it's mine somehow.
It's bizarre, it's a kind of split personality.
I think about death, because I have to,
because at my age, life is bound to end one day.
Do you believe in God?
I don't know. I can't say I don't...
I don't think about the next world or eternity.
I do think we'll be coming back.
Death is not the end.
Maybe I'm just being over-optimistic.
I was all alone in this school.
I once said it would be useful to have a phone.
I was told they'd done without one till then,
so why not carry on like that?
What about an accident?
There were the neighbors.
In the countryside, neighbors were very useful.
So, knock on wood, I've never had any problems.
This is lsabelle. I first met her when she was...
very young. She's not old, but when she was very young.
- It was her first job. - That's right.
Her very first job.
- She'd just left college. - That's right.
She landed here with a mixed-age class.
What a jumble!
A real hodgepodge!
What do you call the teacher?
Miss.
And when do you call her "Mom"?
At home.
There!
She told me lots of necessary things, useful things.
They had to learn to read.
She reassured me a lot, too.
When you have children of different levels,
you think you won't manage.
I'm all alone.
Help!
It's hard.
It is hard.
So, she helped me a lot. She said,
"Don't worry, it's only one year.
"Whatever you do will be beneficial to the children.
"Focus on essentials." She told me what was essential.
She took a weight off my mind.
Suzette was very avant-garde.
She did things that were later set out in circulars
from the Education Ministry.
They sent out recommendations and advice
which I passed on.
But there were a few teachers, including Suzette,
who went above and beyond that.
Swimming lessons weren't common then.
Even in Le Vigan, they didn't go though the pool was just there.
She gave her pupils
the desire to see new things,
curiosity about
what was going on outside the place they were born in.
Yes, that's true.
And then,
the generation after that continued to evolve.
She played a large part
in the vision that her pupils had
of their environment
and the society they lived in.
Suzette was my teacher during all my schooling in Camprieu,
from the age of 5 up to 1 1.
Wasn't it a pain to have the same teacher?
No, not at all.
No, I have very good memories.
What about the other children? Didn't they mind?
I don't think so.
We had a very avant-garde teacher.
We always did amazing things.
We went on a trip to Paris.
It was extraordinary back then.
We did lots of things to raise money for trips.
It really was something.
I remember we collected cardboard to sell it
and get some money.
We did shows at Christmas.
- Oh, yes. - It was a big deal.
You remember doing "Snow White"?
Yes, I remember that.
We still have the Super 8 film of that.
I'd love to see it.
My daughter's learning to swim.
My family asked me where I learned to swim.
I said, "At Le Vigan in school." They were so surprised!
I remember
we'd go by taxi
with our plastic bags. We got carsick.
And we learned to swim thanks to Suzette.
Yes, I said,
"l can't swim, I look stupid."
So, I wanted my pupils to look less stupid.
We recited multiplication tables on the way.
They had time
if they hadn't learned them at home, so they did it in the taxi.
We lost 2 hours of lessons.
Just to learn to swim!
As if they needed to learn to swim!
- It wasn't easy to make friends? - No.
I didn't go out drinking, so...
I was a bit left out.
So, it's true that I started...
At weekends, I stayed home with my train.
I devoted my weekends and evenings to it.
It was everything to me.
I made models.
The houses, the church, the school...
A whole village.
Did your parents participate?
Dad sometimes came upstairs.
They had to ring the bell to make me come down
for dinner, because I lost track of time.
They rang the bell to get me down for dinner.
How are things with Suzette at the moment?
Oh, OK.
Things are OK. Sometimes, there's...
a bit of tension, but less than...
than in 2004.
You told me something more shocking.
I don't know if it's true, but you said
that she'd denounced you to the tax office.
I don't remember.
No? She can't have done it, then.
I don't remember.
When Jean-Yves had his first big breakdown,
he called me in tears.
He's good at that!
He said, "Mom denounced me to the tax office.
"Mom wrote to them."
The poor boy's crazy.
Yesterday or the day before, when I interviewed him,
I asked him if he remembered, and he didn't.
So, he admitted you hadn't done it.
- But l... - You believed it.
I thought, "How can anyone do that to their son?"
It's incredible to hide things from each other.
It reminds me... sorry, but I have to bring up your father's death
when she didn't tell you what had happened.
Yes, that really made me...
That's part of the reason for my nervous breakdown.
He died on a Monday night.
She only came to tell me on Wednesday at work at lunchtime.
It's true that I took it badly.
I couldn't tell you everything I've done for him.
If there's anything I regret,
it's that I did too much.
And I think that
in his own mind, he needed a good excuse for letting me down,
because when my husband died, he never came to help me.
I phoned him and said, "Jean-Yves, your father's very sick."
I left countless messages. He never came.
Now he blames me, it's always the same with him.
He doesn't blame you, Suzette.
He remembers how sad he was at the time, but...
He didn't call, so it was easy to keep his father's death from him.
If he'd phoned me, I'd have burst into tears.
He'd have known. He said nothing...
And now it's Mom's fault, of course!
Jean-Yves really is a thorn in my heart.
We remember her as being strict, but pretty dynamic.
- Hello. - Hello, Mme. Gondry.
- So, tell me, who are you? - lsabelle.
- You've grown! - Just a bit!
You seem to have shrunk, but it's because I've grown!
- Hello. - Caroline.
- Caroline? - Caroline Megent.
Really? I didn't recognize you. It's the hair.
Well, yeah!
- Is this your Mom? - Yes.
Well, hello there.
You've hardly changed.
- My hair's shorter. - Well, not much.
- I'm pleased to see you. - It's been a long time.
I retired 20 years ago.
I remember once in class... It was Marjorie Lebois.
There, I've said it!
She threw an eraser at your back.
She was behind me, so you accused me.
I said it wasn't me,
but you didn't believe me. You put me in the corner.
Oh, dear!
Yes, and I remember another time...
in Camprieu on a school trip.
There were several of us, a small group,
and we'd gone off on our own.
When you saw us, you grabbed us all by the hair
and hurled us like that into the room!
You'd gone off after your shower.
That's right. It was in the evening, I remember.
It doesn't bother me to hear I was mean,
because I was mean, but...
it was for your own good.
We said, "It's for your own good."
"Master Crow sat on a tree, Holding a cheese in his beak.
"Master Fox, attracted by the odor, Tried to attract him thus.
"Mister Crow, good day to you.
"You are a handsome, good-looking bird!
"ln truth, if your song is as beautiful as your plumage,
"You are the Phoenix of this forest."
- I can't remember the rest! - Me neither.
"Hearing this, the Crow felt great joy
"And to demonstrate his beautiful voice,
"He opened his mouth wide...
"...and let drop his prey.
"The Fox seized it and said:
"Know that every flatterer Lives at the expense...
"of those who take him seriously.
"This lesson is worth a cheese no doubt."
I forgot the end.
Aren't they sweet? Between the two of them, they got it!
It was very long.
What's your greatest satisfaction, Suzette?
I don't know. That's a strange question.
I don't know. Accompanying children, I think...
When you feel that...
The best class is 1st grade,
because at the end of the year, you've achieved something.
The children have learned to read. That's wonderful.
When you see that a child in difficulty has developed
and managed to progress, that's very rewarding.
Compared to people your age, you're more in touch with all ages.
I see old people your age
and they're not like you!
But that comes from being with the children and the parents.
You're dealing with young people.
When I retired, I felt silly, being with old people.
The first year, it was hard, because
I'd never lived with old people.
The children's parents were young.
So, I didn't really know
my generation.
Pierre Girot's wife. OK?
I recognize you up close.
I recognized your sister-in-law's voice.
I do apologize. I was busy.
No, you were on the phone, it's perfectly natural.
- You're back for a while? - Yes.
My sight is very poor.
Maybe Jacqueline told you?
As you haven't seen people for a while,
when you see them again...
Yes, absolutely.
You think of the people who are no longer with us.
You see, I didn't recognize the lady.
We worked you hard on "The Science of Sleep,"
I felt guilty
about your sight. You worked too hard for us.
Maybe that's why...
No, it's old age.
Some will say that:
"lf you hadn't worked so hard, it wouldn't have happened."
I don't think that.
And even if it were so, I had a very good time.
I discovered a world I knew nothing about.
And it's a fabulous world, after all.
She was intimidated.
Jacqueline was so intimidated. Unbelievable!
More than Regis.
There weren't many of us, we were lucky.
If we didn't understand, we just asked.
There weren't 40 of us in the class.
The sound's great.
It's very calm.
- It's average. - Congratulations.
You see the boom sometimes.
Let's forward it. Maybe we shouldn't...
Moms cry as well as their sons!
Everyone cries sometimes.
It's just a fact of life.
But this shot...
No, Aunt Suzette, you look great there.
It's magnificent.
You pulled yourself together.
But didn'tyou once win a prize,
because your dealership got the most...?
Not once... Several times, I think.
She's a good interviewer.
What do you think of your mom?
Good?
What do you think, Aunt Suzette?
I think it's perfect. I should have started earlier!
Excellent!
She got us all there!
No, I think you did me proud.
You did most of the work though.
No, it's thanks to the lighting, the sound,
the cameraman... Is that everyone?
She's gone all showbiz on us!
I like it!
I thank the lighting people!
She's rehearsing her Cesarspeech!
You did show me at my best though.
A great crew!
So, this shoot won't be too bad a memory?
No, because I trust you.
You've always been nice to me.
Even as a boy, we didn't have to...
to show our claws.
You were far more...
With you, there are things that...
I pick up on, that I grasp.
It was the same with Jean-Guy. I picked up on many things
without feeling the need to make long speeches...
Yes, that's it, long speeches.
I think that when you asked Jean-Yves to take part in this,
you did it for me, because you knew
it was important to the story.
A sort of harmony that's created between you,
the place, and the work I do...
- It makes a whole. - And the crew.
We're always pleased to see them...
They come back with no precise aim.
Khalid's coming back.
Ah, Khalid! Poor Khalid!
I won't ask him to clean the table, I promise!
Get in the frame with your pajamas!
What's happened?
Well, Khalid, one of my sheets is missing.
I did find...
What's the word? ...a comforter in the barn.
Why did you take a bottle of Coke and a comforter in there?
It wasn't me.
- Who was it? - I don't know.
I think it was Fabien.
Khalid was all alone.
Well, Fabien?
Khalid alone with a bottle of Coke... very worrying!
I'm too scared to sleep there.
You were doing something else!
People are curious now!
- Did you make love in the barn? - Oh, no.
- Who with? - Never!
- Who with? - He said no.
He's a liar.
Stay in the frame.
I want to know the truth.
We'll do a DNA test!
You should ask Fabien.
- Well? - It was Fabien.
Fabien and the other little chick!
Not true!
The little chick wasn't there.
I was away then.
He's criticizing his own crew. Who with?
Nobody. I was asked if I'd made love in a barn.
Well, no, because it's not easy in Paris.
Oh, right!
But we were in the countryside.
Yes, but it was Marco, I think.
He's lying!
Or Jean-Louis.
- I wasn't here. - No.
If it had happened to me, I'd have boasted about it!
OK, enough.
- Cut! - Let's go to Mrs. Fernand's.
You're able to talk about Jean-Guy now?
Able to...?
Talk about Jean-Guy.
No, not really. Well, he's now...
Before, when I talked about Jean-Guy, it was sacrilege.
He was dead. Well, I don't know how you felt about it.
Guilty.
Well, anyway...
Well, that's the way it is.
It doesn't stop you from talking about him.
OK, but I felt guilty.