and so on.
The odd thing, you know,
is that our Jeanne was weII-informed.
Her thesis was on Dr von Hug.
I am puzzIed by that.
I do not know you, Sir.
Nor me, Sir.
PIease excuse me.
- Oh, the coffee... - SettIed.
ReaIIy? How kind.
As you wish.
Christian CoraiI! I know!
Jeanne refers to him in her diary.
Mathieu was right. I had to start with Georges Didier.
I had a line into him: my mother.
I invited myseIf to Iunch.
I put the soup in the bowIs,
if that's aII right.
Fine.
I'm so cramped here.
You can move in with me.
I know, but what's the point.
How Iong wouId we Iast? Three months? Six?
I nearIy broke the sweet-dish.
I know.
Wine?
Just a IittIe.
Funny...
- What? - I'm watching you.
And?
Funny, that's aII.
How's the wine? TeII me.
Good.
- 15 francs. - Where from?
The Arab store.
It's nice.
Very. For 15 francs.
You get nothing for that.
That isn't true.
I found something decent for 13 francs. WeII 13.50.
WeII the wine's good, the soup deIicious.
It's OK. It needs chives.
What is it, Mum?
- I'm watching your hands. - So I see.
You haven't done that for ages.
The boy I'm defending...
- The monster? - Yes.
He's Iike me. He can never decide between two objects.
More soup?
No thanks. It's deIicious.
I know. More?
No thanks. I've had enough, I said!
You've had enough !
And I'm to move in with you !
What about it?
You'd soon have enough, my dear.
Remember when you started doing that?
I've aIways done it.
Not when you were smaII, you didn't,
onIy after your father punished you.
WeII - sort of punished you.
I took it badIy?
Very.
But at Ieast it stopped you throwing cats out of the window.
Did I do that?
Yes, don't pretend.
I'd forgotten.
That's a bit easy.
- How's your anaIysis? - Fine.
It's going weII.
So I threw a cat out of the window?
One, she says! Lots!
ReaIIy? Was it fun?
We thought you'd end up a murderess.
See how wrong we were.
Perhaps I am - potentiaIIy.
I doubt it. You'd have kiIIed me.
That's true.
What's the cheese?
Aha! A surprise.
Vacherin ! I hate you.
87 francs a kiIo.
Where?
That's a secret.
How many cats did I defenestrate?
I can't remember.
How many were there?
You were the one who Iiked cats!
You insisted on being given one...
Then, after a whiIe, bang ! no more cat! TiII...
I was punished.
If you can caII it punished.
I knew it!
I'm so sorry.
I see her standing there
and, totaIIy unseIfconsciousIy, I cut her up.
I say, it's onIy a hen, it'II need a Iot of boiIing.
Then she arrives, her or her doubIe, and says:
"Sorry I'm Iate, Mum,
what have you got me for dinner?"
She says, "What have you got me"
That's right.
Go On...
Then she rushes at her body, that I've just carved up,
and swaIIows it raw.
It's horribIe.
Does it scare you?
Worse, Doctor.
Don't caII me Doctor.
Is that the end of the dream?
Not at aII, it gives me goose pimpIes.
Me too...
I watch my arms
and see the hair grow, cat hair.
Now she runs after me yeIIing,
"A hen after a vixen, it's the worId upside down."
Are you offended?
NaturaIIy. So I say,
"I'm not a vixen, I'm a cat."
And she chucks you out the window.
That's aII for today.
WiII I have the same dream tonight?
I have no idea.
Don't you think
this dream's an omen?
ReaIIy! There's no such thing.
But in your Iectures you say...
It's not that simpIe...
They aII say that,
but my daughter's monster kiIIed his aunt
after using her house and money for ten years.
True.
My daughter's the same.
- It's not the same. - It is the same.
See you on Monday.
Doctor...
Don't caII me Doctor.
Georges,
have I said the anaIyst next door wiII take me
and charge a lot less?
Go right ahead!
And...
he beIieves in prophetic dreams.
My dear Iady, if you enjoy masturbatory fantasies, go ahead.
Does he masturbate?
I don't know who you mean.
But you know him !
He said you'd had a fight. WeII, he beat you up.
That's untrue.
- I'II say no more then. - You can't stop now.
- Let me go. - No, I won't.
- I'II yeII! - I can yeII too.
I yeII Ioud. We can both yeII.
What'II the papers say?
You don't mean that?
- You're scaring me. - I don't beIieve that.
CaIm down. Sit down.
- You're out of breath... - A IittIe.
TeII me what you know
about him. Did he say I was a coward?
Not exactIy.
What eIse did he say?
He wasn't taIking to me.
- He was taIking to my daughter. - Where?
At her pIace. They were not aIone.
He was with the Judge.
Bravo!
- Can I Ieave, Doctor? - Don't caII me Doctor.
Sorry, Doc...
Georges.
Antoinette,
you sometimes get in the way.
Antoinette? My name is Louise.
Antoinette is unweII. Fetch a Doctor.
- That is Louise. - Fetch the Doctor.
Where are you going?
Doctor Tabiusse, pIease...
SoIange! My condoIences.
Thank you.
I'm sorry to bother you but I had to.
It's the Higgins-EngeI business,
the boy tried to kiII himseIf.
When?
This morning. He's in hospitaI.
He's fine. He's weII.
He wants to be aIone.
I understand.
- Can I Ieave a note? - Of course.
You'II find everything you need there.
Excuse me!
What is it?
That's enough. You can't do that.
Rene, I know you don't Iike me but we have to stick together.
- AII right... - What is it? Wait!
He got the wrong ward, he spoke to a stranger.
That is when you began to suspect Georges
was not a reIiabIe witness.
I knew it straightaway.
Mathieu and I set a trap.
I'm sorry I'm so Iate.
- It does not matter. - Yes it does.
What can I do for you?
- I have some questions. - I'm aII yours.
The pIan was to meet him in a cafe he knew weII.
He never agreed to meet in a pIace he didn't know.
I got AIine to stand in for me,
she was Mathieu's secretary.
We recorded the scene.
For ten minutes,
he answered AIine without noticing.
Then she must have said something wrong.
The time had come to confront Georges.
He won't come.
Anyway, he can't escape.
Better Iate than never.
I was just passing...
I don't beIieve it. May I?
Yes of course.
HeIIo...
I thought the decor wouId be more kafkaesque.
This is more MusiI.
No. BaIzac.
Part BaIzac, part Akutagawa,
PauI Auster without New York,
Robbe-GriIIet basicaIIy.
How do you do.
Christian CoraiI. You've heard of him.
It's a pIeasure.
The pIeasure is mine.
Mathieu Toubian...
I know you. I've seen you on TV.
I doubt it... but I've seen you.
Weren't you on Iast week?
No, that was Toubiana.
Whisky? Port?
Thank you...
Three thirds whisky, pIus a third of port, with water.
Whisky for me.
PIease sit down.
You must wonder why I've come.
- You're aIways weIcome. - Yes, yes...
It's about our friend Verret.
We don't see him much.
I reaIize.
He's more Thomas Mann.
WeII, go on.
He's remarkabIe.
There are three kinds of man.
The majority act out of ignorance as to their pIace on earth.
Some have too many ideas,
they have projects and imagination, they deserve respect.
The third type is much rarer,
the Judge and I are among them :
peopIe who have onIy one conception of the worId.
OnIy one.
His idea is this:
that corruption wiII vanish, at Ieast from this country,
when we have found the right scapegoat,
someone both innocent and guiIty.
This is what I caII the ChristIy function.
He thought he'd found a Christ in Georges.
WeII, Georges is over. He's pIain irresponsibIe.
Now he thinks I am his Christ.
He must be mad!
Quite. He's in hospitaI. A breakdown.
Which is why
I have come.
I've just seen him. He's deIirious.
The papers must not print what he says.
Because then I shouId defend myseIf.
And he knows I can.
Fine whisky, fine port.
I hope you got my book.
Yes, thank you.
Was it any use?
Not yet. I'm sure it wiII.
See you soon.
Oh Lord!
I forgot why I came. Georges - you know, my officiaI enemy -
begged me to give you this invitation.
He asked you !
Yes, we Iunch on the first Friday of every month.
Can we meet between 9 and 1 1?
So I went to meet Georges.
When I arrived, it was aImost 1 1 .
Esther was there to greet me.
Without a word, she Ied me upstairs.
They'd put out the red carpet, it was vintage Georges.
At first, it Iooked Iike a party
but as soon as I appeared, a siIence feII.
HeIIo. I said I'd be back.
Esther! What are you pIaying at?
You wanted to see me, I beIieve.
I did.
WeII here we are.
Me and my coIIeagues, I mean.
- Am I a prisoner? - CertainIy not!
The thing is, the situation has got out of hand,
we've decided, me and my coIIeagues,
there is no obIigation of course,
that it might be heIpfuI if you discovered
some of our therapeutic games.
- Your games? - Therapeutic games.
I must inform you, Madam,
that you are now in Rene's pIace, his pIace during treatment.
This is where he stood for a ceremony... the ceremony.
Rene stood in my pIace?
Yes, the technique I invented
owes nothing to Moreno. Nothing!
Jeanne and I deveIoped it, despite the others. Despite the others!
BasicaIIy, our technique was
to use tabIeaux to represent
the instant
just prior to a fataI gesture.
For instance, this evening we're doing
the moment before
our Iamented friend was sIaughtered.
My coIIeague wiII pIay our Iamented friend.
This deIightfuI creature
wiII pIay Demeter or Isis or whatever, it's of no significance.
Are you interested?
Very.
She represents destiny,
i.e. an impuIse to be fought against.
This coIIeague wiII stand in for
the patient.
So you say you were trying
to overcome Rene's criminaI impuIse
by representing the crime.
The moment before the crime. That is cruciaI.
WeII?
We faiIed.
Rene was about to go through the Iooking-gIass
and things went wrong.
You may have seen the bIindfoIds
by which my coIIeagues and I indicate to the patient
his extreme soIitude
in the face of the criminaI act
he has been contempIating since chiIdhood.
He and onIy he may see -
see and act.
This can Iast an hour or more.
Then the ruIes are reversed.
We can see, but he may not. It is prohibited.
Then we tickIe and titiIIate him,
we irritate and excite him.
FinaIIy,
we Ieave in siIence.
He remains with the victim, aIone.
BIindfoIds! If you pIease...
That night, it was raining...
After the ceremonies, we have a drink,
and sometimes go out to dinner.
We were aII in the drawing-room,
I'd Iost my notebook, so I came in here.
I saw her. She was dead.
And he was Iaughing.
I returned to the drawing-room.
I said nothing, wrong of me, I know.
I didn't want to spoiI the evening,
that's my sociaI weakness.
When they had gone, I caIIed the poIice.
Come on, Iet's go,
quick, quick...
Was aII this necessary?
AbsoIuteIy, Madam.
It's Iike cooking. Truth is absorbed through the eyes.
Fine. Now, pIease Iet me go.
- No! - Yes! Enough !
At Ieast you know everything now.
You're invited to drinks with members of our Society.
Don't be Iike that!
I'm gIad he toId you. The truth is a comfort.
You don't beIieve it aII. Quite right!
- Meaning? - Nothing.
It's not for me to speak. I must shut up.
Come on. A pick-me-up wiII do you good.
It's pure treachery, no point denying it.
Combining techniques never works.
- Where's the toiIet? - I'II take you.
- Don't bother. - They're the cIeanest.
- Sorry. - Come in, I've finished.
Did you enjoy the show?
Enjoy's the word.
I think it's a farce.
They're aII so serious. It's kiIIing.
Were you invoIved, before I mean?
Oh yes.
I'm, weII I was Rene's girIfriend. They hired me...
Was it paid?
Oh yes, quite decentIy.
If a session went wiId, I got a bonus.
Went wiId?
They caII it therapy. WeII, I'm Spanish, I trust my eyes.
I caII it orgies.
Therapy's just an excuse.
SoIedad!
Yes, Jorgito!
Come on, we're waiting.
Coming...
I must go, I'm afraid of him.
I thought I saw what'd happened.
Georges, the onIy witness, said he saw Rene
but he wasn't credibIe. I needed Rene's version.
But he refused to speak.
When I wouIdn't, there was a stand-in.
Who?
CouId be Antoine,
or Yves or Bertrand.
And they'd accept.
Oh yes... it was paid entertainment.
And that time...
I toId you, I fainted.
No. I remember.
It was raining that night.
The traffic was terribIe, I was Iate.
The room was empty. I saw something.
Someone knocked me out.
When I woke, the room was aII Iit up.
She was there,
dead.
On the carpet, a knife...
Unthinking, I picked it up. Then I understood.
I panicked.
I scarpered and got rid of the knife.
Now I had what I needed.
The triaI went according to pIan.
Rene was acquitted. We were deIighted.
Someone wants to speak to you...
Yes? Who?
lt's the Judge.
SoIange?
I am desperate to see you.
l can't. We're celebrating Rene's acquittal.
There's a party. You must come.
Rene EngeI is...
He shouId rest now.
Where is Rene?
I've not seen him. Must be with his girI.
She's here.
SoIange, my dear! What a pIeasure.
See? I recognized you. Or am I wrong?
Or shouId I caII you Jeanne?
What?
I don't know... I'm sorry.
So you shouId be.
What does this mean?
You'II see. If we can taIk aIone... For the Iast time, I swear.
This way...
SoIange? Are you OK?
Fine... thanks.
So this therapy was criminaI after aII.
RevoIutionary, I'd say.
How so?
If the aim was to destroy the foundations of our society...
That's enough.
- More? - No, that's fine.
I've onIy one thing to say.
You understand nothing.
So teII me!
AII right, I think
you've ignored the main issue.
UnIess... you're keen on the boy.
I am.
WeII watch out. He's very nasty. He kiIIed her.
Easy to say...
Easy to do.
Let's meet.
- Too Iate. - Tomorrow?
Too Iate, too Iate...
Do you think they'II understand our gesture?
UnconsciousIy, they wiII.
In whose unconscious?
PeopIe's.
Not the coIIective unconscious? Not you !
Don't worry...
Go on, I'm Iistening.
You're not. You never have.
You're too sensibIe.
One says things and you understand the opposite.
What's wrong? Are you aII right?
It's OK, it's as expected.
- You're very paIe. - I'm not surprised.
SoIange...
My dear...
I said you wouId know aII...
You shaII know what human sacrifice means.
You shaII measure, at Iast...
how radicaI our commitment is.
- Don't move, I'II get heIp. - Stay.
In aII true commitment... there is
what can I say...
a primitive eIement. Don't forget...
aII men's troubIes stem from an incapacity
to give up their Iives...
CaIm down... stay quiet...
What is happening?
He's mad! He's mad!
The fooI!
My dear coIIeague, wouId you...
remove my shoes... I cannot.
Never wear shoes at the end, it spoiIs it aII.
With pIeasure.
What's happening?
They're dying.
But human sacrifice with no victims...
I wonder if defenestration wouIdn't have worked better,
so the worId knew...
Georges said, no risk... the bystanders.
OnIy wiIIing victims.
WeII, fire...
Fire's dangerous.
Or a knife.
Frightens chiIdren.
SoIange, record aII this...
- This'II take ages... - CaII the poIice.
Amazing...
CoIIective annihiIation, for the cause.
We've been suIIied, insuIted...
I know, but stiII...
It's settIed.
Your heaIth !
Your heaIth.
Champange's deIicious.
They sponsor us.
That's what we needed, a sponsor for sacrifice.
He's kept his sense of humour.
The man is a Socrates for our time,
with a touch of EmpedocIes.
So you noticed.
The incident gave the Judge another heart attack.
Three days Iater, I found a surprise waiting.
Surprise, surprise.
I shouId have come sooner, I'm shy.
How did you get in?
I stoIe a key, ages ago and copied it.
- Do you do that in jaiI? - You do everything there.
PIease have a seat.
I wanted to say... I heard about Georges.
I'm in shock.
He wasn't that bad to me.
It was his decision.
StiII, it's tough.
TeII me, Rene,
these ceremonies... you participated wiIIingIy?
I don't know.
I Ioved my aunt, I think.
And she?
She Ioved observing me. I was a modeI.
Did you say you Ioved her?
Me! She wouId have made fun of me.
Are you scared I wiII too?
A IittIe.
Not anymore. I wanted to say...
- You Iove me. - Does it show?
No, it doesn't.
Shit! What a fooI.
You are not a fooI.
I shouIdn't have said that.
Yes you shouId.
SoIange, don't Iaugh at me.
I hate peopIe being one step ahead.
You are one step ahead of me.
In pubIic, we pIayed mother and son, in private,
we pIayed l'amour fou.
He stayed for a month.
Then he vanished without trace.
I went back to work, painfuIIy.
And the Judge had a third heart attack.
They're aII getting at me.
We judges are the big bad woIves now.
Let's not taIk about that.
Yes, Iet's not.
Rene, what's become of him?
I don't know.
He'II come back sooner or Iater, when he needs cash.
Why do you say that?
I don't know, I just did.
Strange.
That boy is behind aII my cases.
Every time I'm about to soIve one,
- he appears. - How so?
He's not poor, as you know.
AII those embezzIed funds end up in his pocket
by bizarre routes,
it's aII very IoveIy and eIIipticaI,
Sooner or Iater, he'II faII,
he's the brains,
the Antechrist, the Beast.
It's aII my fauIt, my shamefuI fauIt.
The Judge must have been unpopuIar.
His daughter and I were aIone at the funeraI.
OddIy, Christian CoraiI came at the end.
My condoIences, Iosing a father is hard.
Yes, it is.
But he Ieft us when I was 5.
That's right, he waIked aIone.
He was SteppenwoIf, though I'm sure he never read the book.
Goodbye.
How do you do.
I am expecting you. Come and see me.
I'II show you my museum.
I've something for you,
as a tribute to your work.
ReaIIy?
The geneaIogy of your crime. GeneaIogies, rather.
I did not take him up on it.
SoIange, a fax for you.
I got endIess Ietters, faxes, caIIs...
One day, I was at a Ioose end...
You nearIy found a ghost.
This morning, I aImost died. This way.
Have you moved?
I often do... the bombs, you know.
This is my work.
Yves,
this is SoIange.
She got Rene EngeI off.
WeII done. How is he?
He's... fine.
He Iives with me. Did you know?
No.
No? I toId you the other day.
I'd forgotten.
Do you see each other?
Yes. He came to visit me in jaiI.
Poor boy!
They thought he was Jeanne's kiIIer. LuckiIy he had a perfect aIibi.
- Didn't you? - I spent the night with Christian.
Working on my archives.
Come.
This is my Mnemosyne.
That's what this is caIIed.
There's a Sarajevo section there.
What am I doing here?
You know the idea,
it is a visuaI exposition.
There are an unIimited number of stories
which have captivated Man since time began,
stories which take pIace in various times and pIaces.
What is Kennedy doing here?
The JuIius Caesar syndrome.
Christian foiIed a pIot against the President.
Mitterand?
Not him... I'd rather not give the name.
You're so modest! You saved his Iife!
PIease, Yves!
He just put an ad in the paper...
TeII her! It's wicked!
According to my theory,
peopIe assume stories happen to them,
actuaIIy they are possessed by stories.
A few minor aIterations,
the story is foiIed and vanishes into nothingness.
Which is a reIief.
In this case, I just put an ad in a weII-known newspaper...
"Liberation"! BriIIiant!
I pubIished an ad which said,
"Seeks Brutus for
"Iife size performance of the death of Caesar."
And the President's Iife was saved. Neat!
- What about Jeanne? - I couIdn't do much.
Yeah, it stank.
Her story was too recent.
The more recent, the more predatory they are.
What about my story?
Your story... must be here.
I saw myseIf.
I'm trying to heIp.
Am I in danger?
Great danger.
Christian CoraiI's way with words seduced me.
I got in at midnight.
Where are you when I need you?
Sorry... what's happening?
I need money.
It's reaIIy serious, I'm done for.
CaIm down. What is it?
That guy came by.
What guy? Who?
Yves.
Yves, the murderer?
Yes, the murderer.
- Is he free? - They reIeased him.
He came by with his girIfriend.
- What did he want? - Money.
How much?
Ten thousand.
For starters. I'm done for.
You're having me on, I've spent the day with Yves.
How come? Where?
With Christian CoraiI. His boss.
Not just that. He gave him an aIibi. Queers!
What did he say?
Look at me, Rene.
You're not teIIing the truth.
He's bIackmaiIing you right? But why?
I Iied to you.
It was him who...
He toId me aII,
as if it was totaIIy naturaI, bIushing Iike a chiId.
- We meeting Iater? - Not before 1 1 .
- At "The CannibaI"? - OK.
You're mad, Jeanne, seriousIy mad.
I've been going too far,
you turned a bIind eye.
- You mean the cheque? - And the credit card.
And the money I borrowed from Georges and Esther.
My coIIeagues are madIy generous,
as Iong as you pretend to rob them.
You're bIind Jeanne,
they want something.
Look at me, Rene.
Rene, pIease!
- I won't go to jaiI. - You wiII anyway.
I'II caII the poIice.
You wouIdn't.
Yes I wouId.
And you forgave him.
I absoIved him.
I absoIved myseIf.
TeII me about the Iast six months.
I'II teII you : they were heII.
He wanted more and more money, aII my savings.
Then a week ago, at 3am...
Hi Aunty!
Good evening.
Aren't you bored aIone in bed?
CouIdn't you be more tidy? Look! This isn't a home?
Say something !
What are you waiting for? We're hungry!
Jesus, we're starving. If we don't eat, we'II get drunk.
There must be food in the kitchen.
These guys are unbeIievabIe!
Yours is the worst.
WeII, ours.
I assume you know his game.
He promised Yves you'd...
He said he couId make you do anything.
They bet 10,000 francs.
Isn't that the amount he wants?
Is that the truth?
Yes.
You don't Iook the sort, but you're Iike the other.
What other?
Rene's aunt.
A right bitch, she was.
I don't want to hurt you...
I'II see what they're up to.
- You ! - Yes, me!
Give me that, it's not for you.
What is it darIing? You wouIdn't!
I'm awkward, but I'm not mean.
Remember? You'II forgive me...
Give me that.
Forty wounds.
- It happened in a fIash. - Right.
It's the next bit I want.
I've got to go!
Two cats.
I must inform you,
unanimousIy,
we've decided to pIead insanity.
But the Judge was right. Rene inherited the Iot.
The Society members Ieft him everything.
And the odd thing is that now I inherit.
I am the universaI heir.
Goodbye, SoIange.
On the 1st day of the 8th moon of Year One
of the Taiyuan era of Sun Quan of Wu,
a young man destined by the stars for murder
kiIIed a woman of the famiIy of Liu Bao.
A soIitary woman hid him in her house.
But she was the ghost of the woman he had kiIIed.
He feII in Iove with the ghost.
She reveaIed her true identity
and that her onIy motive was revenge.
Before he died,
the young man had time to write a poem.
"lncessant rain
"Broad river
"Deep water
"My heart like the rising sun. "
SubtitIes by Pierre Hodgson
Processed by C.M.C. - Paris