Can we continue?
How long was I asleep?
An eternity...a quarter of an hour.
I was dreaming of an enormous...
wild cat that was hanging from my finger.
Here...
- Like that? - Yes.
Excuse me, I... I didn't see you.
No, it's me...
It's Edouard who...
I didn't tell you to turn your head.
So...
Can you see anything?
I think so...Yes.
ls it really what you want?
I can't stay, Françoise needs me.
I have to go.
I'm going.
It's you who told her to come?
It's none of your business.
Why?
What?
Why did you abandon it?
Abandon what?
The old painting with Liz.
Why are you so interested? Liz is not you.
But it's that one...
It's that painting you wanted to start again.
You can never start again.
Stop kidding me.
Tell me why I'm naked in front of you.
I need you.
Why me?
Why me? lt was Liz then...
You're too curious. You'd like to know everything at once.
Before anybody else.
Before things happen.
You can only know after.
And not for sure.
What are you using me for?
It's not me you wanted to paint, you said.
It's you and it isn't you.
It's more than you.
More of you than you can imagine.
If the painting's true...
it will be you.
I don't get it.
Neither do I. All the better!
But I need to understand!
To understand, to know...
Nobody really wants it. Nobody. Even...
the strong...
I am strong...
I think.
We'll see that.
You want me to flee.
That's what you wanted.
- From the beginning. - No. I want you to fight.
We've got to be strong till the end.
I'm beginning to see you...
Just beginning.
But...stand up straight!
You want to stop?
I think it'd be better.
Something's wrong?
I don't know.
One can surely get something out of it.
But not me.
For a while I believed I'd found it...
a miracle. But no...
I've done that 100 times.
I can do it again, better or worse.
But what's the use...
I'd rather die...
You give up too quickly.
You're telling me?
You told me to fight. If you give up now I'll think it's me...
that it's my fault.
It's me. My words made you drunk.
That's all I can still do. Enough.
No.
There's me.
I count too.
You've just hurt me so much,
that for a moment I couldn't breathe.
Neither could you.
Something has happened.
We can go on further.
Further? Yes...
To the famous point of no return.
That's what I can't reach anymore.
We'd better forget it.
You took me with you.
Whatever you say, you forced me to go with you.
You can't leave me like that, all alone in this void.
You're scared. I'm not scared any more.
I'll be here tomorrow morning. 10 o'clock.
You're sure she got angry yesterday?
You seem to like the idea.
I thought you wanted her...
to be Frenhofer's model.
I thought you wanted to see this painting.
I've changed my mind.
First of all, I want to see Marianne in person...
and go back home quickly.
Don't be in such a hurry.
What do you mean?
I'm up to his tricks.
If Frenho has got his mind on...
Excuse me.
You've come for me?
Listen,
we leave it, we're going home.
No, we're not going home.
I thought you...
You were wrong.
We can't stay. I've got my work.
You're free to go. I'm staying.
See you tomorrow, Liz.
Let's call it a day.
Let's go to bed.
Well, she looked quite determined tonight.
Yes, she has set her heart on it.
I wonder why.
You really wonder. ls that so?
What about you?
It's you who set her up and down.
Up and down, up and down...
Don't exaggerate.
We've been working...
I noticed.
Don't run away.
I don't run away. I'm just tired.
You haven't worked like that for a long time.
lt must be really important.
What do you mean "important"?
You know very well what I mean.
ls that it?
I don't know.
I think you're playing with this girl.
You don't care about the danger.
What grand words. Don't dramatize.
Sometimes you're a despicable coward.
And you make me sick.
And you...
Good morning.
Take your time.
Edouard's still sleeping.
Will you tell him I'm waiting, please?
Of course.
Be careful.
Careful of what?
He values his work more than anything else.
lt can cause a lot of damage...
to people.
Thank you. I'll try to defend myself.
If he wants to paint your face...
refuse.
I'm sorry, no.
- You want some coffee? - No, thank you.
I've just had my breakfast at the hotel. 2 croissants.
I could've said: "I've just shit."
You'd be just as interested.
I really find you interesting. There's no need to...
Look me in the face.
That's the only thing you forgot.
Help me.
Look out!
The way you work is your business...
Let me be myself.
You watch out for the painting!
Let me find...
my own place...
my way of moving...
my timing.
If you don't like it, we'll stop.
When I came here for the first time...
I thought of my boarding-school chapel.
I felt very bad at school... and well at the same time.
Everything was forbidden.
I was ill all the time.
Each morning I wanted to stay...
crouched in bed.
Terrible fevers...
Like that...
Where are you?
I'm here.
Listening...Watching...
Finally they got fed up and threw me out.
Why should I go on now?
It's not exactly the same.
No...
but the fever...
is back. All night long.
It's like before Nicolas.
Nightmares...
Nicolas did nothing for you?
He hates me. He thinks I'm crazy about you.
He's a bloody fool.
A fool and a bastard.
But first of all a fool.
No, first of all a bloody bastard.
After all, I don't know.
Anyway, this is all his fault.
And also mine.
No...
He just needed a pretext.
lt isn't true, I'm unfair.
I think he's proud to have something to do with your work.
Something like that.
He didn't realize...
he could blow everything.
Why? There's no reason...
Stop pretending.
As a cat in front...
of a bird.
What is it?
Nothing...continue.
Continue what?
I'm telling you my life's coming to a stop.
Everything's over between Nicolas and me...
and I don't even know how it happened.
He's the only man I could live with.
Others, I spit in their faces.
Including you.
What violence...
That's it. Now make fun of me.
I don't care about you with Liz...
but Nicolas...
Stay away!
But why did you move? The gesture, the look...
they were just fine...
I've almost finished. It's a rook.
Our delicious crow...
And this is the famous poison.
Take it easy. I don't use it.
I keep it because it's old and nice.
A green neck...
A painting by Oudry, one could say.
I think there's one like this...
in the Musée Fabre, by the stairs.
The head down...
It's true, animals also pose.
Tell me something.
Did you know about Frenho?
What about him?
You understood...
he wanted to start again with the Noiseuse,
with the girl.
He told you that?
So what? That's the best thing that could happen.
I don't know.
He got so downhearted the first time.
You can't always protect yourself.
It's decent of you to say that.
For you it's easy.
When it's all over you come to collect the pieces.
Except when it's me on the floor.
lt happened to me.
Last time at dinner.
Not that. You know very well what I mean.
- Let bygones be bygones...Balto. - Don't call me Balto.
There's no more Balto.
Did he tell you about the painting? You saw it?
Just a little bit.
What do you mean?
I hate you.
You've come because of that.
Just to know how it's going.
A friendly visit, my foot!
For hypocrisy you're the best.
Stop it.
I could've phoned, but I'm here.
I felt like seeing you.
You know very well...
So why aren't you staying for dinner?
I don't want to see him until he finishes.
And I have to be in Grenoble tonight.
You think he's on the right track?
Get the fuck out or I'll stuff you.
As you wish.
Don't forget. On Saturday I'm coming, whatever happens.
I hope he'll show me something.
Tell him yourself.
Are you Mr Frenhofer?
He's not here. Here's Mrs Frenhofer.
You want to see my husband?
No, I'm looking for Nicolas Wartel.
Do you know where I could find him?
He might be at the village inn.
Thank you. Good bye.
I'm Julienne, his sister.
Shit!
Can I have some?
More.
So, I'm going to...
tell you a riddle.
What is it that walks...
on a hollow track,
never goes to sleep...
and never goes back?
I don't know.
ls it you?
No, not really.
- It's me? - No...
not at all. Don't exaggerate.
I give up.
It's a river.
A stream.
Yes, sure. A river.
Disappointed?
No!
You're always disappointed with the answer.
You say it because you think...
you'll be disappointed when I finish.
No, I don't.
I'm expecting nothing. I lost the notion of time.
I could be 100 years old, or a baby.
I feel I'm in a tunnel with no light,
no rain, no wind, no sun, no cold, no warmth...
There's just a very small light right at the very end...
flickering...
I found you.
No, I lost you again.
Why did you move?
Did I?
Of course, it's my fault.
Yes, it's you who moved.
No, it's you, come on here...
You were like that...
and where was I?
- No. - What? Was I here?
Here. No...
Was I like that?
- I was...here. - No.
Or here?
Here. Right here.
What? Come on, what is it?
Don't move. Look at me. So, I was like that.
Tell me where I was.
Where was I?
Stop it. Where was I?
No, let's get serious.
I am serious.
We've got work to do. Come on!
Where are you?
I'm here. Where else?
Stop moving, come on.
Keep still, or I'll get angry.
Excuse me, anybody called me?
You're unbelievable!
I thought you'd be sulking...
but you couldn't get angry about seeing me.
You got it right.
It's fixed with the gallery.
I don't care about the gallery.
Tell me everything.
Now you can take a rest.
I'd like to go to sleep...
can I sleep here?
Certainly not here,
but you can rest in the house.
There are rooms for friends.
I have to telephone...
There's a call for you.
Yes, it's you?
No, it isn't worth the trouble.
lt may get cold at night.
It's nice.
There are some nice things inside...
I'm sure this one will suit you.
I don't like jewels.
You've never had anything like this.
Try it on...
Wait, let me do it for you.
I said no!
I've had enough of you treating me like a doll.
I'm sorry... I don't know what got hold of me.
It's all right.
It's all right, it's false.
Good night, Marianne.
- You're not coming? - I can't. Not right now.
Where are you going?
To the studio. Don't wait for me.
Damn it! What is it?
You've been fidgeting for the last hour.
I can't sleep.
Neither can I.
It's the room...
Just like la rue de l'Echiquier.
This one's bigger.
The ceiling's higher...
How I hated that studio...
You haven't always said so...
Before Marianne you'd loved it.
You're disgusting. lt isn't true.
I shouldn't have come here.
I didn't ask you...
You had nothing else to do?
Of course, I had a lot to do...
but I always choose the worst... you.
You know what? I found a job.
lt was high time...
Guess where!
You never miss me...
You never want to know how I am, you never write to me...
Stop it... Anyway I don't believe you.
You found nothing, you're going nowhere.
Believe it or not, Monday I'm gone and you will never see me again.
Where's Wellington?
The other side of the world. You never thought I'd be able to do it..
I've been thinking this thing over for 2 months.
A great site, excellent pay.
You can't do that to me...
Now, that was worth a million.
I don't regret coming here.
You do what you like...
only it's a bad time for me.
Yes, you can't stand the solitude.
- Who can stand it? - I can.
Don't worry, Nicolas, Marianne won't leave like that.
You hate her...
I'd surely give her my plane ticket.
You'll like that. I'm not really sure if I'm leaving.
I won't use this ticket.
You're disappointed?
No, but if it's because of me...
Don't worry, it's not you.
It's the guy who offered me the job. He loves me and it makes me sick.
But if it's well paid...
Come on, get me to walk the street!
It's not what I meant.
Still thinking about this call?
I don't even have the guts to go to the Frenhofers...
It's not difficult.
Speak for yourself.
I'll go there. Tomorrow I will.
There's the coffee.
I've been to the studio.
I've seen it.
I know.
I'm sorry...
I couldn't find you, so...
Don't be sorry.
It's bothering you.
It's a work in progress. I don't like...
Yes, I know.
But tell me something...
Since when for one work in progress...
you have to destroy another one?
It's not...
An old one, O.K., abandoned, O.K...
but there was my face there
and I liked it.
You had to wipe me out.
It's not you I wiped out.
What's the word for it? You replaced me, yes.
You put some buttocks in place of my face.
Give me some coffee.
I couldn't do it differently.
I can't go on with the work
if I keep recollections, regrets...
I just had to do it.
And believe it or not, it wasn't easy for me.
I can imagine.
You must've had a dreadful night.
Uncomfortable from all points of view.
You think I'm just jealous.
You expect I'll burst out.
I won't.
But ten years ago, when you started
the work you've just botched up.
Remember...?
We didn't go out of the studio for a week...
we slept on the little mattress...
there was no day, no night...
do you remember?
I do. It's exactly the kind of memory I don't want.
Not now...
At that time you were still...
so full of ideas and energy.
You know what I thought when I saw you asleep?
No. I don't want to know.
And yet I'll tell you.
No, you're right...
I won't tell you.
It's funny.
lt looks more and more like you.
Do you realize? 10 years ago...
you quit searching.
Just when you should have gone all the way.
And you got scared...
I'd have gone along.
I was ready to accept all of it...
because we had each other and it was stronger than before.
You mean stronger than before Balthazar?
Who cares about Porbus!
He suffered more than you and he's still suffering.
It's about you and me.
What you've done is...
diminishing us.
You've made us sick of each other.
Don't talk like that.
Why not?
Because we've had a nice life together?
Happiness, as you call it.
But happiness at this price...
is sad.
You are sad Frenho...
Look at yourself.
That was it, this morning?
No, it's not what I thought then.
You're sad because you're no longer young.
Your strength has left you.
10 years ago that painting was the beginning of a story.
But now it's not a new beginning...
It's the end...
You're saying it so coldly.
How do you want me to say it?
You've lied for 10 years.
It's easy to continue. Everybody does it. Go on, if you wish.
You're cruel.
I'm just like that...
Cruel.
Haven't you noticed before?
Don't get flabby.
Stretch all the way all the time.
Look at me.
He says...
he feels caught in a trap...
that he accepted some kind of a deal.
So I've come to you.
He's worried about Marianne.
He thinks they're going to have... how do you call it...
an affair, or something.
I think he's wrong, but he's right to worry.
Frenho is probably finishing the painting.
Marianne'd better not see it...
when it's over.
Why?
What can it do?
Frenhofer won't protect her.
I'd been his model for a long time...
his favourite model...
unique, you could say.
First...
he wanted to paint me because he loved me,
and then...
Then because he loved me...
he didn't want to paint me.
lt was me or painting, that's what he said.
I don't understand.
lt wasn't a question of life and death.
Why not?
They say when you're drowning...
you suddenly see all your life.
All the forgotten memories.
In a fraction of a second.
ls it really possible...
to capture a whole life...
on the canvas of a painting?
Just like that...with a few...
traces of paint?
lt seems unbelievable...
but actually this is what Frenhofer was searching for.
You mean this is something...
shameless?
Yes, that's it...shameless.
It's not the flesh that's shameless,
it's not the nudity...
it's something else.
Lower your arm.
Turn your face.
Look at me.
Raise your hand.
Turn it over.
Like that.
It's different.
No, it's more precise.
You're searching for something...
something you've once seen?
Maybe.
ls it finished?
Maybe.
Can I have a look now?
It's finished?
You'll tell me.
Anybody here?
Miss?
Go away!
Something's wrong? I'll tell Madame.
I'm fine.
What are you doing here? Where's Nicolas?
- He went out...He wasn't well. - Tell him I'm leaving.
- What will you do? - Get out of here.
Without talking to Nicolas?
Listen Julienne, you're not his wife.
I put up with you a long time...
but now mind your own business and leave us alone.
Shut up! Do you think putting up with you was a pleasure?
3 living in 6 square meters...
coming home late so as not to see you doing it...
but I said we'd find a solution...
So I found it, I just left.
Only I know how much I paid for it.
So you won't leave him like that.
Anyway I can't stay with him. I don't love him enough.
Nothing but yourself...
It's not true...if only you saw...
I must go before they found out.
Who cares about them? It's all in your head.
It's not in my head.
I saw it.
A thing which was cold and dry.
lt was me.
What are you talking about?
If you're leaving Nicolas, you tell him.
I can't.
So take a little rest.
Wait one night at least.
That's right. Tomorrow's another day.
I'm tired.
You can sleep in my room.
I'll talk to Nicolas.
You've finally escaped?
I waited until mum fell asleep. If she wakes up...
She won't.
Unless she stumbles. She walks in her sleep.
She's beautiful.
- It's the young lady? - Yes.
Now, listen...
I am much older than you are... but we'll share a secret.
Can you keep a secret?
Yes.
Hold it.
Hold it firmly.
Help me...
ls this the secret?
Hold it...
It's like letters from Joseph...
they're all stored in a shoe-box...
that I hid in the greenhouse, in the kitchen garden...
behind the old watering cans.
When it's raining I like going there...
to read them.
lt feels nice there when it's raining.
Yes, but this time...
whether it's raining or not,
you mustn't ever look at it. Never.
Our secret...
means you've never seen this painting. lt doesn't exist.
Do you understand?
Yes, sir.
How long should I keep it?
Always. Even when I'm gone.
What's the matter?
Shooting stars...
Make a wish.
It's a bit late to make a wish.
Why're you saying this?
Because I stopped expecting things.
You know what I thought this morning...
when I saw you asleep in the studio?
I thought you were dead... and me too...
I'm dead...
and then?
It's a funny kind of love...
sleeping together for the first time in a grave...
I'd like to know...
after such an exhaustion...
what remains dead...
and cannot be restored.
Everything.
So, here we are.
It's not the most wonderful moment for me.
I can barely stand it coming to an end.
Maybe you expected something different...
So did I, in a way.
A finished work is a new-born baby.
I need time to understand what it is...
what it will be.
But I've no more time...
It's my first posthumous work.
It's much more expensive.
What you've done is beautiful.
You mean the painting?
I mean the painting, the real one...
and also what you've done.
I hoped I'd surprise you.
You'll always surprise me...
always.
Can I have a cigarette?
You smoke too much, Marianne.
I like blackening my lungs.
Marianne put on her old mask again...
or maybe she took a new one.
I like your sister very much.
You're lucky to have someone like her.
I don't know if I'm lucky, but I will need to be.
Oh no, everything's going to be fine.
What's lasted for 3 years can't just break in 3 days.
You think so?
I'm sure of that.
So, what do you think of that?
It's nice, but I understand nothing.
You don't like modern painting...
No. All I like is Titian.
It's Titian that I've done!
You're satisfied? ls that what you wanted?
All I wanted was a painting. I've got it.
Let's have some more champagne.
You're still here?
Why not at work?
I need grey weather and Parisian light.
Who doesn't need it?
I'd like to ask you a question.
You said you're looking for truth in a painting...
ls it always so?
You're asking as a friend, or as an enemy?
I don't think a painter has enemies.
Except for his bad paintings.
What should I think you mean?
Think what you want.
I will always admire you, but...
I feel sorry for you, too.
I wouldn't like to finish like you... in a comedy.
Stay the way you are. I like you.
It's a little cooler...
That doesn't bother me.
It's not that...
I understand.
For me it's also difficult.
We both love someone for whom everything else comes first.
No, it's a vocation.
Your brother has a great talent.
He owes much to you, he says.
But he doesn't know how I believe in him.
And how strong my friendship for him is.
I never really dared to tell him.
Someone of such modesty...
We didn't have time to know each other.
I'd be happy to have dinner with you...
and him some time.
So the story is coming to its end soon.
I can't find the words.
In painting what is said doesn't count.
You're right.
Let's talk about figures.
What has become of Marianne...
you won't know tonight.
Marianne? It's me.
lt used to be me.
I didn't believe you when you tried to warn me the other day.
Forget it. Now you see I shouldn't have been afraid.
No, you were right and I was unaware.
I'm not unaware any more.
I wanted you to know it.
You're O.K.?
I am afraid.
I've packed our things.
We'd better leave early to avoid traffic jams.
We could take the long way through Spain.
Barcelona...
Montserrat...