Claude de Givray,
when did Truffaut talk to you about the sequel to Stolen Kisses,
I mean Bed and Board?
I think he gave himself a bit of time after Stolen Kisses,
and then at some point there was a lull in his career and he was a bit low,
so, as therapy, he decided to bring forward the sequel to Stolen Kisses,
Bed and Board.
Claude Jade, when did he tell you there would be a sequel to Stolen Kisses?
- Some time later... - Bed and Board is two years later, in '70.
It was precisely two years later. Yes. So he must have told me around '69.
In the meantime, he had made The Wild Child
and Mississippi Mermaid.
So two films between '68 and '70.
The Wild Child was a great success
and Mississippi Mermaid was commercially a disappointment,
and then Bed and Board, which we are about to see.
So he asked you to play the same role again?
Absolutely. When Stolen Kisses was first shown at the Cinémathèque
and Langlois, Henri Langlois, said to François Truffaut,
"You have to pick up this couple again," I think that stayed with him.
It was great for him
to have had Jean-Pierre Léaud as Doinel for years
and I was lucky to be involved in the project.
I have to say, the way Christine developed in Bed and Board
was much more interesting for me as an actress, for the actress I'd become,
than the role of Christine in Stolen Kisses, because there was much more to it.
I think he really spoilt me as an actress in Bed and Board.
No... It's Madame!
- We've gleaned a lot in a very short time. - With, "Not Miss, but Mrs."
- You were married... - I 'd like to point out,
the newspaper seller who gives her the little poster and says, "Yes, yes, take it,"
is voiced by François Truffaut.
We get to know you from shots of your legs, and you have a violin...
- Yes. - So we assume you're a musician, or...
So the setup is very quickly established.
- We realise that Antoine is a florist. - Always...
There are lots of little characters like that who live in this courtyard around the flat.
You're dyeing them red?
Claude de Givray, was writing
with Bernard Revon the same as for the others...
Yes, it was a bit more chaotic. We wrote it very, very, very fast
because there was only five or six months between Truffaut talking to us about it
and the shoot itself.
We especially...
We wanted to do some things in more detail about the violin,
so we went to see the Pasquier Trio, who told us about violins,
and to find out more about flowers, we went to see florists who told us stuff.
Why did he choose this job?
He's not simply a florist, he's a magician working with flowers.
What's he doing here?
Because he really liked finding unusual jobs.
Yes, unusual jobs.
And he also wanted a job that could take place in a courtyard.
To be honest, there's a reference to The Crime of Monsieur Lange
and the pre-war films of Jean Renoir.
I mean, all the action there is, and it's nice to film.
There's the cafe,
the room at the back of the cafe that backs onto the courtyard, the flowers.
Everyone gossips.
The old Pétainist who doesn't want to leave his flat.
The waitress, the little boy, little Christophe.
The little lad.
It's Pierre Maguelon, little Bobo.
A reference to The Crime of Monsieur Lange.
There's an element of The Crime of Monsieur Lange.
He filmed actors who he really wanted to film.
He wanted to film Jouanneau, Maguelon, the little Bobo,
who was at the Cheval d'Or cabaret as well and whom I filmed in The Army Game.
You should go into business for yourself.
Telephone!
Hurry UP!
You can see why the Americans liked the film.
It's really the idea of Paris as a village.
- Courtyard buildings, old Parisian buildings. - Lots going on.
It's called “Bed and Board“ in English, isn't it?
Hello. Could you tell my wife her mother's calling?
- Was it filmed with location sound? - Yes.
Hello, Mama.
I can't hear...
The garbage cans!
Tonight?
"The dustbins of the new society."
It was an insolent remark vis... à-vis Chaban-Delmas
who then wanted to create a "new society."
Chaban-Delmas's important speech...
To change peoples' lives, that's what it was.
So there, he's talking about dustbins. His anti-authoritarian tendencies showing.
A distrust of politics.
When he was very young, he said to me,
"I'll only vote when my vote is worth 10,000 votes."
- I was struck by that. - Amazing.
I'll get you yet!
Give me a hand, please.
- And there's Daniel Boulanger. - Scriptwriter and writer.
Daniel Boulanger never collaborated on any of Truffaut's scripts, did he?
- No. - He's in...
- Shoot the Pianist? - He was in Shoot the Pianist.
Isn't that the Carrosse building?
That's it.
- The top floor. - The top floor.
We actually filmed in a flat that belonged to François Truffaut.
- That was François' dream, to film... - To film at his home.
To film in his flat.
He filmed all The Green Room in a house in...
- In Honfleur? - In Honfleur.
You can set your clock by him.
He's an opera singer, always exits on cue!
You're neighbours, aren't you?
Same floor, next door.
He's always right on time
and always mad at his wife!
She's like your flowers,
a little red here, a little blue there.
- Oh, here comes... - Claude Véga.
He even gave a part to his childhood pal.
- Claude Véga was a childhood friend... - At the local school.
...of François Truffaut.
In the 9th arrondissement. Claude Thibaudat.
That's it.
Here, he plays a mysterious guy. Someone disturbing?
That was the idea.
And that's the...
- The house. - The house.
- The Darbon family's house. - The Darbon family's house.
Christine, would you get the wine?
The personnel wanted to work!
Antoine, come help me.
- The cellar always features. - Always,
and we'll see the same scene as in Stolen Kisses, but turned around.
- That was deliberate. - Of course.
To replay that scene.
That bottle, please.
There are cellar scenes in Shoot the Pianist and The Last Metro.
Things like that often reoccur and the women protect the man in the cellar.
Yes, and... And then... That's the...
In The Last Metro, the woman protects the man.
In Confidentially Yours, she investigates.
- Exactly. - It's the same idea.
From my neighbour... Plates?
I thought you brought them
for Mother's Day.
Mother's Day? I'm sorry, Mama, I forgot!
Mother's Day is a Nazi invention.
Yes, during the war.
I put in aspirin.
Aspirin in the water?
That's nonsense. You should cut the stems.
I do that, too,
about half an inch.
Out of the water?
That's useless, too.
You have to cut them in the water, so that
no air gets in.
The water goes straight up to the flower.
That's our research. We learnt all about flowers.
They know all about flowers.
Floral art.
What about me? Don't I get any soup?
I spoke to the Senator.
He might invest in your idea,
a self-service flower stand.
I'm not interested any more.
I thought it over.
Too much spoilage.
Right?
Except near a cemetery, you could sell wreaths.
I've got a new interest.
A process to obtain Absolute Red.
Too bad. The Senator loves flowers.
Anyway,
he says you'll get a phone soon.
It's true, at that time it was really hard to get a phone and it took ages.
People said that half of France was waiting for a phone
and the other half for the dialling tone.
This is really a harmonious scene, Doinel in his wife's family.
You feel it could almost work...
The young couple, the parents, the parents-in-law.
It works at a certain point. It works at the beginning. It's later that it turns sour.
There's always the slightly whimsical father-in-law.
Play what?
It's the same set as in Stolen Kisses, the same picture.
Mademoiselle from Armentières?
Something livelier.
Autumn Leaves?
Too slow!
Carmen?
Claude de Givray, Truffaut liked actors talking over each other, didn't he?
- Yes. - He liked this son' of...
Overlapping a little. It's complicated, but he made them overlap a little.
- And a few things were improvised. - Absolutely.
Oh, no! Can't be done.
It's scripted and acted as if it were unscripted.
Exactly. Ceccaldi is very good at that.
Everyone knows that.
I'll get the light.
- A bit like the Serge Rousseau's character. - A bit enigmatic like that.
- In Stolen Kisses, it was... - You really don't know...
Something's creepy about him.
Doesn't Madame Martin know who he is?
No! He sublets. In three months,
he's had no visits, no mail!
Didn't you notice his hairy hands
with forked fingers
and sharp nails that come out at night...
- Always legs going up staircases. - Yes.
At women's legs!
Damn! I forgot the light.
I think Jean-Pierre Léaud has Truffaut's gait,
a bit hurried and nervous.
Don't look!
I'm reading.
I think naked men are ugly!
How do women stand it? Naked men are repulsive!
- Not all men. - Yes, all men!
Except one!
That's true.
All except one!
In Bed and Board, Jean-Pierre was very charming.
He was happy to make this film.
He was very happy. He was really good, he was... I don't know.
- Yes. - For once, he was playing someone normal.
- And he matched... - He's very good.
He always got the part of someone mad,
shy, or an immature teenager.
That's what must also have impressed people.
American films are only about immature teenagers,
to appeal to a young audience.
Adults acting like teenagers. It's true that we have...
It's not true.
It is true!
- Then it's normal! - Not at all.
If they had names they'd be...
Laurel and Hardy!
What strikes me, watching the scene,
is that their relationship is almost more like brother and sister than man and wife.
- Yes. - It's...
Get up! My pupil's coming.
She's got a photo of Diberti on the left.
Six sheep, five sheep, four sheep, three...
Two... One... Zero sheep!
The little girl really did go on to become a violinist.
- Did she? - She was very talented.
I'll call my wife.
It's your pup"-
- Claude Jade, did Truffaut ask you to... - I took violin lessons.
- Yes, to take lessons. - I only ever got as far as the scales
because I'd learnt the piano.
But to get the right position and to hold the bow correctly, I took lessons.
About an hour a day.
Shall we start right in?
Think about your attacks, and your tone.
- The little girl was amazing even then. - Yes.
And extraordinarily serious.
Anybody here?
- That's Guy Piérauld. - That's him.
Do you remember how the idea of the courtyard came about?
The idea of creating a series of subplots in a courtyard?
That's it, I...
It was very original. That would be much more difficult today.
Yes, it's less fashionable now.
François also had an idea for a television series
- that would take place in a... - In a courtyard?
In a courtyard with a house, with flats around.
I never looked at it that way.
For me, it's not just the girl.
It's her family. Father, mother...
I enjoy parents, when they're not my own!
- That's exactly one of François' remarks. - Exactly.
About other peoples' parents.
About well-brought-up girls and their parents.
The traffic warden.
Sure, Dad, make it a pair!
I'm supposed to fix a I V set. You know a... Desdoigts?
Monsieur Desbois, up there.
That's funny.
Maybe he's gone out.
I'd be surprised. He hasn't for 25 years.
Sort of voluntary confinement.
Says he won't go out till Marshal...
Marshal Juin?
No, the one who ran France during the war.
Marshal Pétain!
Won't go out till Marshal Pétain is buried in Verdun!
Where is he?
The TV repairman is here.
About time! Hurry up!
Take it easy!
How's Josianne?
- It's a good copy, isn't it? - Yes.
- The colours are very good. - It's really...
It was Néstor Almendros who was in charge of the cinematography.
Néstor Almendros, yes. It was just after...
- And Denys Clerval who did Stolen Kisses. - Denys Clerval.
He worked On The Wild Child.
I think he first worked with François Truffaut on The Wild Child.
Excuse me. Be right back!
This film is more built around space than Stolen Kisses, isn't it?
More built on space and less on plot, on fiction.
It centres more around a collective space.
Soon you'll give the lessons,
and my wife will pay you!
I forgot to pay your wife!
It doesn't matter.
Yes, yes! I forgot last time, too!
No hurry...
Two lessons.
Well, thank you. Goodbye.
- That was a prop he had at his place. - Yes!
- Those library steps were in his office. - At the Films du Carrosse.
- Yes, there's Robiolles. - Jacques Robiolles.
That gag ran throughout the film.
- The scrounger. - Yes, the scrounger, it's a running gag.
What are you doing?
Practising.
Why up there?
To get used to heights.
I got panicky at my last concert
looking into the orchestra pit
I was really just dizzy,
so I'm practising.
What are you doing?
I'm thinking.
I'll bet! Let me get down.
Close your eyes.
Oh, no! I know you!
Nothing's further from my mind.
I won't touch you!
Promise?
Scout's honour!
You were never a Boy Scout!
You bet I wasn't!
Close your eyes!
Eyes closed?
Now open them.
What's that?
A library staircase. I've always wanted one.
We don't have a library!
- Is that improvised or not? - No, it was scripted.
- Scripted. - It was scripted.
- It's more fluid, less, less... - It's strange.
It's less staged than other scenes.
The character was more Truffaut's age than in Stolen Kisses.
So it's really... There are moments... I don't know if Jean-Pierre Léaud realised.
It's astonishing. You really think it's François you're watching.
- Totally. - Totally.
In the jokes, in things,
in deliberately being dishonest, in colluding.
Dial the hospital and see what you get.
How's the letter?
Almost finished.
Can I read it?
"Thanks for getting us, in one week,"
"what others wait years for!"
You can't send that!
It's true, isn't it?
Listen!
He's Lucien's customer. You can't do that!
I can't? Then you write him!
I will! You're a selfish monster!
Everybody has to help you!
I didn't ask for anything.
I didn't want the damn telephone!
Why? Because friends might call us?
What if we're bored?
I don't know what boredom is!
I know some people get bored,
but I don't know what it means!
There's always something to do.
That's François to a T.
It's staggering. For the last 20 minutes... You think Jean-Pierre must have realised,
but there's also François' self-analysis.
And the way it ends up with him going off to the toilet with loads of books.
He equips himself as if for a Paul-Emile Victor expedition.
How were the work meetings with François Truffaut?
Did you meet on a regular basis?
Yes, we met about once a week with Truffaut.
Revon and I worked all week and then we met with Truffaut
and we told him what we'd got.
We had been working four days longer than him.
And the problem with François was that he went so very fast.
You'd suggest something and he'd say, "No it's not possible."
Then suddenly he'd consider it and say, "Yes, perhaps it is possible provided that..."
And he would write a piece of dialogue himself.
I couldn't take notes.
- He was so fast, I had to use a tape recorder. - To record what he said.
And later, when I was alone or with Revon, I worked out what he was saying.
He was in an almost trance-like state.
He'd say this scene isn't feasible unless X says this, Y repeats that,
and the tone was so right that I couldn't have...
And later I typed it out and showed it to him
and he said, "Oh, well done. That's just right."
So that's how it was, five or six days without him, then the update.
And often he came up with good scenes or told us the scenes he wanted.
Then we'd do the plotline,
which didn't always put the scenes in the order he'd imagined.
- Those are really visual gags. - Yes, he makes the most of...
He makes the most of the framing.
Important new American hydraulic company
seeks dynamic young man who speaks English...
- Is this a homage to Playtime with the set. - Yes, a bit.
- I thought maybe? - There's a homage to...
- The sound of rubber soles. - There's also a homage to Tati later on.
Absolutely, with the double.
- There it is nearly... The sound. - Yes.
"Dear sir, I wish to recommend"
"the son of an old friend."
"Former Scout leader and a loyal Frenchman,"
"he is completely fluent in"
"the language of Shakespeare."
"His dynamism should be useful to your firm."
So here we are in a very serious world.
Yes, he's looking for work.
Before, you had the dustbins of the new society,
and now, people who are well-connected and those who aren't.
Could you give this letter to the director?
He filmed it in a pharmaceutical laboratory to have a very smart setting.
With modern fittings. At one point, we show a tube of toothpaste.
- It was the... - Advertising.
Advertising. You'll see. He made a gag out of it.
- But you're right about the noise. - It's very Tati.
The soles and the leather shoes and all that.
And the modern setting.
There it's mute. Without sound.
That's the son of Jean-Louis Richard and Jeanne Moreau, Jérôme.
He became an artist, a painter.
And that was Nicole Félix, who was at the Théâtre du Soleil with...
She was the wife of the stage designer at the Théâtre du Soleil.
- And she did the make-up on Stolen Kisses. - That's right.
And then Pierre Fabre, who was married to Anna Karina.
- With Anna Karina... - And at the back, our friend, Marcel Berbert.
From Films du Carrosse.
He always thought that Berbert was a repressed actor.
- He was in a number of his films. - Yes, then one day...
Claude Berri filmed him when François died
because Berri thought that poor Berbert wouldn't appear in any more films.
You speak English well?
A little.
You read it better than you speak it.
The problem
for our employees here
is transportation. You have a car?
- That's also a self-portrait of Truffaut. - Yes, but his answers aren't totally way-off.
No, but he doesn't do anything to get the job, does he?
In fact, he does everything not to get the job.
Not even that because...
We've made a model of a harbour
with the port installations.
You'll manoeuvre the boats...
In fact, it's a rather childish job because there are models...
At the time, I saw reports saying it was a joke, but it's a really serious job.
We learnt about it with these guys,
how to cross the Suez Canal using these scale models.
And Revon and I went to visit the hydraulic laboratories, it was at Chatou.
We made them look older, we built harbours and made them look older.
He used that idea again in, what's it called, where Depardieu who looks after boats?
The Woman Next Door.
Like the job?
"You'll see, my employees"
"are so happy here"
"they hate to stay home Sundays!"
He says that to all the new ones!
Lovely scene.
Listen, it's about
the Common Market, in Brussels.
"Afterwards, in their rooms,"
"each delegate found"
"a sensuous call-girl awaiting him!"
Impossible!
It's true!
Imagine... In Le Monde!
"...each delegate found"
"a sensuous call-girl awaiting him!"
It's not true!
Read it yourself.
"...each delegate found a sumptuous"
"collation awaiting him!"
You liar!
- It's... - It's great.
- Typical Truffaut, isn't it? - Typical.
The whole scene turns on the one thing. It's very scripted, but at the same time...
That's maybe Sacha Guitry's influence.
There are a lot of scenes in bed in Sacha Guitry's plays with private jokes.
There...
I bought some.
The laboratories made that toothpaste.
I didn't know it was from those laboratories when we filmed that. They didn't tell me that.
- A bit like the advertising in Godard there. - Yes.
When they advertised Marlboro with the car rather than the cigarette.
What is there in the film that makes it of its time?
Because it's something Truffaut didn't really like, but even so, there's Paris,
you can see the era it was filmed.
What was Truffaut's attitude to that?
Did he want to show it was of the era, or was he wary of that?
I don't think he analysed that.
I was surprised when I spoke to the younger generation
who identify with this couple.
It's very curious.
They look at Stolen Kisses with a retrospective respect, whereas here, it works.
- It works. - It's great.
We discussed some scenes for about a week.
Truffaut asked us what we should do to learn that Claude Jade is pregnant.
- That's how. - "Soon I'll have to eat for two,
"there'll be three of us" and all that. And this idea goes with him.
The audience remembers the word "gynaecologist" subliminally.
There are the old metro gates.
And then there's the poster and he looks at the poster, the advertisement.
There as well, it's...
So without saying a word, the audience gets it.
- A silent movie scene. - The audience gets it.
- And there, "Give birth painlessly." - That's it. No one said anything.
No dialogue.
She didn't say a thing. Done without dialogue.
"That was what Truffaut wanted. He said, "I want to do a silent scene
"and how will the audience and Jean-Pierre Léaud"
"learn that Claude Jade is..."
Half of it was Truffaut's idea.
"Go on, go on, go on!"
- That was Claude Miller's mother-in-law. - Oh, yes.
- And there's the bump. - There we go. It was fast-forward.
They made me a stomach out of foam
and they cut it with an electric knife so it could be fixed.
- So that it would... - So it would hold...
There must have been a belt or something.
From a narrative point of view, it's incredible. In three minutes, the problem's solved.
You have to show nine months passing and so you have to fast-forward.
Truffaut really sets a challenge for the writing, to edit...
"Absolutely. He said, "I don't want it to be like Gent.“
In Gent, information is delivered in a very straightforward manner. He didn't want that.
"Find me an elegant way of showing this." There's another point where he asked us to...
It'll be... We'll see that a bit later.
Looks mean.
I'm coming, dear!
It's soon, isn't it?
You're so lucky!
Monsieur Doinel? Not here.
Don't hang up!
The hospital?
I'll give him the message.
A girl or a boy?
It's another very visual scene to... To link things together.
To show him running towards...
- The information... - You get that a lot in Ophüls' films.
"I would like a needle and thread," and all that, you see.
Yes. ..
She shows him a boy.
It's amazing, all the nods to silent films.
- It was always like that. - Always.
It was amazing, all you could do in silent films.
Truffaut always said that the directors
who had done silent films were the strongest.
They first always look for a silent scene
and add dialogue only if it's too complicated.
Whereas directors who used sound are somewhat lazy.
They always use dialogue.
So you're right about the reference to Jacques Tati.
He had no time!
Let's get them the extra room.
Knock out the wall, it'll be perfect.
Hold his head up!
That was the first scene that I filmed in Bed and Board.
- Really? - I had been ill.
I'd had viral hepatitis and François had to completely change the schedule.
And I remember very well François' assistant, Suzanne Schiffman,
phoning me two days beforehand to say, "The baby's been born."
Because in fact we were waiting for a newborn to film this scene.
It was a little girl,
and all the children who play the little boy, Antoine Doinel's son,
were, in fact, little girls.
It's quite funny.
That was filmed at the Belvedere Clinic in Boulogne,
- where François' own daughters were born. - Yes.
- So that was the start of filming for you. - Yes, I started with that scene,
so I could be quiet, in bed.
I'd like to be alone now.
There's a change of tone there. And it's you who gave it that.
The baby blues perhaps?
François thought that as soon as a woman becomes a mother, she changes.
Go away!
Please.
She's still a young girl, and as she gives birth,
"leave me alone" and all that.
- She changes. - He doesn't understand why.
You can understand why women prize François' films.
It's because they are aimed at girls.
It's strange, he was a guy who was rather egotistical, not egotistical but macho,
though that's putting it too strongly, but he was...
- But he also had a feminine side. - He really understood.
It's incredible how well he understood. And Jules and Jim and Two English Girls.
And that's Helen Scott, the woman sitting at the table in the cafe.
- Helen Scott, an American and good friend. - She translated Truffaut.
- She helped him with his book on Hitchcock. - The interviews.
She translated all the interviews.
And who at that time lived in Paris. She moved to Paris for Truffaut.
And who is now buried in the same cemetery as Truffaut in Montmartre.
Nearby.
Good news, I'm a father!
It's a boy.
- Happy? - And how!
I owe you 5,000 francs, right?
Lend me 5,000 more? I'll pay you 10,000 in a lump sum.
- You must be real happy! - And how!
Here, Truffaut acknowledges his friends
and the people he liked or admired.
Is Jean there?
May I speak to Jean?
That's really a subtext for cinephiles...
Yes, it makes an impact even if you don't understand it,
simply because it shows the guy who doesn't know, it's quite moving...
- To say he's happy to be a father. - The girl's low and he doesn't know who to...
I think he went for a walk when his daughters...
He was on the Champs-Elysées.
I think Mocky was filming there and he didn't know what to do.
- He needed to tell people he was a father. - Yes.
And the character of Antoine Doinel was known to film buffs.
It was a way of saying he's grown up and developed a bit.
Alphonse.
I like Alphonse.
Makes him sound like a peasant.
I have an uncle Ghislain.
Mother, Christine Darbon Doinel.
He's up to something there. He's going to cheat.
Alphonse.
Alphonse is the first name of Jean-Pierre Léaud in Day for Night.
I come back to Eustache, but it was just a year before The Mother and the Whore.
One or two years. The Mother and the Whore was in '72.
Yes, it must have been the time of Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes.
It's striking how much Jean-Pierre Léaud had changed since Stolen Kisses.
- In two years, he... - Yes, he...
So the script takes his development into account. He's really a man now.
Yes, absolutely, but in Stolen Kisses...
But it wasn't a problem because Jean-Pierre Léaud has such a light touch,
he's so much the adolescent that he could do it,
but it's true he was between the two stages.
But in it, he has a maturity that he didn't really have in real life,
but that François gave him. But he does it extremely well.
- At that time, he was staying at François'. - That's right.
Above the Films du Carrosse offices?
I don't know. No, at his place.
He stayed in a maid's room for a while and then, you're right, afterwards...
Because François wanted to keep an eye on him, too.
- Yes. - To make sure he was eating...
Because he was with François a lot,
he also went to stay at Madeleine Truffaut's as well.
He saw François as a young married man
and he brought him back to life in the film.
It's true that it's a genre film, and I think that's why...
I didn't realise what an influence it must have been.
When the Americans talked about Bed and Board, I didn't understand why.
You couldn't remake Stolen Kisses,
it's too complicated, too mysterious.
Whereas this one, you feel the...
- There's a boss, humour, a situation. - Yes, it's got a bit of everything...
And at the same time, what is remarkable, and perhaps why he made it,
it's the film which is most like him.
- Himself. - Yes, it's staggering.
It was strange because I reproached him when he made The Soft Skin.
I said to him... The film wasn't a success. "The problem with The Soft Skin"
"is that the character in The Soft Skin has to have some charm."
Two women are in love with him
and he must have a bit of charm, as it was partly autobiographical.
Because François was very charming.
- Of course. - And in this film is Frangois' charm.
- Totally, but Jean-Pierre... - There are things that he...
For example, I'll tell you a story that he never included.
It was as if he put his life on the screen.
I remember one day, it may have been in connection with Bed and Board,
we were going to see the rushes at the Billancourt studios.
François was at a bit of a distance from us and I was with Bernard Revon.
François didn't come over straight away and we started to talk about another film,
saying it was terrible, it really wasn't very good and so on.
François came over, and it was typical of his humour,
he pretended not to realise we were talking about a different film
and he said, "You know, you've only seen a small part of it that I've done today."
He pretended to think we were talking about his film.
It was... You see?
And I was quite gullible. I sometimes believed he misunderstood.
I said, "François, don't jump to conclusions,"
and Revon had realised it was something François did to make life more amusing.
He did it to stage-manage life a little.
To play gags, to create misunderstandings and things like that.
Yes, he loved telling jokes as well. He was a great joker.
All girls think about that.
They do, eh?
So you admit it!
I'll take Ghislain now.
He didn't cry once.
She's still calling him Ghislain,
she doesn't know Antoine's registered him as Alphonse.
So that was the second baby, another little girl.
It's a certificate.
You named him Alphonse?
Look.
Antoine did it!
He won't get away with it!
He knew I didn't want that name!
I'd lay her badly but I'd lay her gladly!
Alphonse'll be a great writer.
Know what I'm going to do?
Educate him myself,
at home. Alphonse'll only learn
important things!
We'll see.
Come, Ghislain.
Alphonse!
Pretty little bottom.
Alphonse? Just like his mother!
Watch Papa.
He's going to the bathroom.
It's an arctic expedition!
"Getting ready for a Paul-Emile Victor expedition."
It's true François would go to the toilet with books that needed to be out open.
- He was always cutting books. - At that time, most books were not...
- They were always... - You had to cut open the pages.
He didn't like cutting them as he went along.
And at that time, there were very few books that were guillotined.
They were all...
it was quite cheeky, wasn't it? It's the height of intimacy.
They were like Hemingway's toilets. There were shelves of books in the toilets.
He dramatised that very well.
That is rue Robert-Estienne with the primary school that was underneath.
If he wakes up...
You know Alphonse never wakes up!
- So he filmed right above his offices. - Right above them.
- He watched a lot of television, didn't he? - Yes.
Yes. He was a Dallas fan, surprisingly.
Look. The Strangler!
It's amazing how present television is. They watch it, too.
It's because of the TV that they got together, because she broke the TV in Stolen Kisses.
Obviously what is really very subtle is that he's imitating Delphine Seyrig.
...was it in Carlsbad or Marienbad?
The little ambiguous smile.
The long corridors,
luxurious, lugubrious...
I am not an apparition.
- That's the sentence... - It's from Stolen Kisses.
We're in a surreal world there.
You could imagine that Antoine Doinel is thinking about Fabienne Tabard.
- Truffaut really is thinking about TV here. - All the time.
- Even the space is a bit like a soap... - Soaps, the influence of TV we'd seen.
And then the domestic nature of the story. In people's homes...
Everyone knows everyone else.
Mademoiselle Hiroko, that superb Japanese woman.
She was great. She was a model.
With Cardin, and I think François found her thanks to Jeanne Moreau.
Yes, I think so. Yes, you're right.
And strangely, he never got her to smile. She doesn't smile once in the entire film.
Deliberately.
Was the film a success?
- Was it successful? - Yes. It was relatively successful.
And it earned quite a lot of money for Truffaut
and for me because I was on a percentage
because it was distributed... It was, in fact, a financial problem.
It was distributed by a French distributor
and that's when Truffaut thought
that having films financed by Artistes Associes wasn't necessarily...
It was a solution without risks, but not a very lucrative one
because Artistes Associes tended to combine the profits of his films
with their own, like The Graduate and so on. That was the case with Stolen Kisses.
This film earned a lot more for Truffaut than Stolen Kisses
because it was taken up and distributed by a French distributor,
so we could control the accounts
and it was then that Truffaut was advised to take charge of...
- The distribution of his films. - The distribution of his films.
- Another silent film scene. - Yes.
That's also like Tati, isn't it,
to have the voices too loud, to play with the sound?
Yes, in order to introduce some fantasy.
THE NEXT MORNING
Remember me?
I brought you something.
It reminds me of the scene in Stolen Kisses
because she's in the same role as Delphine Seyrig.
I mean she's the magical woman.
- Absolutely. - And he comes to her
and brings her something, but she is a bit of an incarnation like that.
- Yes. - Magical.
Claude de Givray, do you remember this scene...
No, I wasn't there for the filming of this scene.
But the writing of it?
Yes, yes, especially as...
There must have been some improvisation...
Yes.
Because François would have let the Japanese women talk to each other.
Won't you sit down?
I'm sorry, I have to go...
We were just having tea.
I'm already late.
I'll show you out.
That's Hitchcock.
- Hitchcock? - Yes, in To Catch A Thief,
when Grace Kelly turns towards Cary Grant and she hugs him
and he doesn't know what she's doing.
- The woman takes the initiative, you know. - Yes.
We never see you any more.
You like working for the Americans?
Yes. It gives me time to think.
I'm writing a novel.
No kidding!
My wife doesn't know. I write at night.
A novelist? Like Baudelaire...
He started with flowers, too.
He didn't write novels.
What about Flowers Of Evil?
That's poetry.
I know more about him than you.
I just read an article.
You know he was a priest's son?
His father was an ordained priest.
Then he worked for a family,
Choiseul-Praslin,
as a tutor...
Open the door.
What's your novel about?
Life in general, my youth...
From the particular to the general.
Oh? Well, We'll have to read it.
I get an autographed copy, right?
"For Césarin."
What's the title?
Haven't found one yet.
It shouldn't be hard...
Any trumpets in your novel?
Any drums?
Then call it Neither Trumpets Nor Drums!
- That's... - Here's Philippe Léotard.
I think it was his very first part in a film.
- He came from the Troupe du Soleil. - The Théâtre du Soleil.
And he appears two years later in Two English Girls.
Then later in A Gorgeous Girl Like Me.
We cater to old folks and children.
You don't want to fight them, right?
If you want a fight, there's a café
at the corner. You'll get
what you're looking for!
This is a semi-silent film scene based around a...
Collusion.
It's very subtly erotic.
That was the image on the poster for the film.
Let's see.
You look good in glasses.
I don't like them.
I've finished.
I know why you like glasses.
She wore them.
Who?
Your first girl.
No, she didn't.
I thought she did.
She made you suffer.
She had me going in circles!
What a nightmare!
Then, one night, it was all over.
At 8:00 p.m., I loved her.
I think people really can be like that.
He was in love at 8:00 but not at 9:00.
He was either interested or it was all off.
What is autobiographical and what is not? How does it interweave?
It's totally... it's strange, it's as if he's writing about himself in the third person.
And then talks to himself.
It's very strange. It's as...
When you see him in Day for Night as a director, you can see it's him.
But here, it's true, it's...
That's a great idea. He tells her to put the glasses back on.
An erotic idea.
His glasses fetish, something like that.
- Am I too early? - Not at all.
What shall we do tonight?
I thought we'd go to a movie.
I haven't picked one out yet, though.
I thought we might have dinner here.
That'd be fine.
We could go to a movie after.
I'll be right back.
- He must have... - There are things he doesn't understand.
- That? - He had an affair...
- With a Japanese woman. - With a Japanese woman.
- Truffaut did? - He had an affair,
and it was funny because she had a friend, she had a friend herself
who wouldn't have minded having an affair with Jean-Pierre.
- And one day... - With François?
François had an affair with a Japanese woman, and she had a friend
who wanted to have an affair with Jean-Pierre.
And Jean-Pierre told me he was invited to dinner
and there were the two Japanese girls and François.
And so he gets there, he has an immature reaction.
And when he realised it was set up, he left.
He didn't want François getting involved in this thing.
He must have enjoyed filming people so far removed from his world.
But then there's always the idea that was also in The Soft Skin
and which he doesn't fully develop, which is that there's much greater collusion
- between him and his wife than... - With his mistress.
Why do you take a mistress? It's to have an adventure, to...
There's something rather pathetic about it. He doesn't understand what they are saying
and the crowning point is the scene where he gets bored with her on the phone
- and he phones his wife. - In the restaurant?
In the restaurant. And the best thing is, it happened in real life.
Where he phones her to tell her how bored he was.
Did you just get home?
We worked late.
Look at the time!
I had to eat, didn't I?
He tiptoes in,
but I'm awake!
3:00 a.m.! I want an explanation.
Know what he says?
"I had to eat, didn't I?"
"Kyoko loves Antoine."
Here, Truffaut asked us...
"He said," Find me a way with a silent scene
"to show that Claude Jade's character realises her husband is cheating on her."
He wanted that to be a silent scene.
We struggled for a long time and Revon came up with the idea.
It was funny, he said, "She puts little notes inside some tulips"
"and he won't be able to get rid of this bouquet of tulips"
"and in the end he gives them to his wife and the tulips will open."
And Truffaut looked at us and said it's not possible, it's not doable.
We finally came up with a solution...
He needed to believe it could work
and Revon was great, he said it could work, he knew a girl who had done it,
or a man, a boy, one of his friends, Jean-Christophe Averty.
He'd placed notes in the flowers, the flowers opened.
So Truffaut said, "Well, maybe..."
He didn't understand how the carnations could open up. It was stretching credibility.
It must have taken a long time to film the flowers opening.
Truffaut's thinking was if it had really happened to someone...
You had to make him believe it had happened.
But it was touch-and-go there because we made some of it up.
What was a bit complicated... There are, of course, people who put little notes...
But what if Jean-Pierre can't get rid of these flowers
and in the end he finds himself with the packet from the kid? It's very neat.
So the boy gives the flowers back to Antoine, so he feels bound to give them to his wife.
What follows from that
is how Jean-Pierre, or rather Antoine Doinel, realises that his wife knows.
It's when he comes home and he sees her disguised as a geisha.
- That's it. - And it's all done very visually.
What's that?
Can I see Alphonse, please?
He's in there.
Look at what he brought.
I know about them.
They were for you, I lost them.
That's the third baby that played Alphonse. Another little girl.
She was the daughter of the actress who played the concierge
with the dustbins of the new society.
- So Alphonse was never played by a boy. - Never.
And what's this?
Nose? Hana.
Hana... Not bad.
You answer the phone with, "Machi machi."
What does that mean?
No. It's, "Moshi moshi. "
It means hello.
Then if you say, "Hello, hello,"
it's four "moshis"?
No, just two!
This is nice, isn't it?
If I commit suicide with someone,
I'd like it to be you.
That's really harsh. He wasn't very nice to the Japanese.
It's in the humour throughout.
It's almost as desperate as The Soft Skin, the liaison is almost as...
And when he says cheating on his wife with a Japanese girl isn't cheating...
It's all about the problem of adultery much more than...
There are the flowers opening.
- Special effect. - Yes.
Like a special effect.
- It took a long time to film that... - Of course.
In fact, it wasn't completely mad.
He sees her dressed up as a Japanese woman.
The idea of a woman in Japanese dress
came from one of Blake Edwards' films or somewhere.
We'd spoken about it, and I spoke to François.
The idea was to get closer to Claude, and to see that she had tears in her eyes,
because without that, it would be like an American comedy.
And here there's a judgment. He says something to her.
- I couldn't cry. It was awful. - Really?
That's why I'm just crying out of one eye. It was very hard.
Still the same thing. He sent for Revon and me.
He said it would be the story of a couple
and it won't have a particularly happy ending.
He said, "OK, you'll tell me I've already done it in The Soft Skin,"
but here, it was more of a bittersweet comedy.
He made a son' of joke, he said it's less serious than The Soft Skin
because being unfaithful to your wife
with a Japanese woman isn't being unfaithful.
So he had this idea of making a comedy
about a couple which ends in adultery
but more from Antoine Doinel's point of view.
- Things are looking bad. - Are those explosions?
- It's a storm. No, it's a storm. - Oh, yes, it's a storm.
What a mess!
You left without waking me this morning!
Mind if I kiss Alphonse?
We had to talk.
Remember?
We'll always have time to talk!
Besides, I was late for work.
Your parents are coming for dinner and to see the baby.
Didn't you say no?
How could I?
You're out of your mind!
Claude, it's a bit like what life could be...
The start of a bad...
It's moving because you saw them getting on very well and then suddenly...
It's the start of Doinel's dishonesty.
He's got a guilty conscience, so he's...
- It was great to act... - It was violent.
Because they were really dramatic scenes.
- Confrontation as well. - Yes.
The female character doesn't want...
But in fact he often gives the good part to the woman.
He found that they were better than men.
Yes, of course.
That's the case in The Soft Skin.
In The Soft Skin, the two women are incredible and the men are useless.
Let's see Alphonse.
What's that?
A duck for Alphonse.
- Anything wrong? - I'm fine.
I'm fine!
The duck isn't for you!
You see, I just read a novel called
The Mischievous Duck.
It's about a judge who falls in love
with a duck, like this,
his son's toy!
Couldn't happen to Antoine.
He loves people, not things,
though he's very partial to yellow!
Just look at him!
He's cute!
He's grown.
Look at the duck!
Come to Mama.
He wants to walk. Watch!
He's too young!
The baby doesn't want to walk at all.
I'll call you.
Good.
Sorry about tonight. I was tired.
We all were.
Don't catch cold.
Help me with the mattress.
Must we do this?
If I sleep next to you,
the world won't end!
I'm not like you!
I hate what is vague, elusive,
ambiguous.
I like what is clear!
Don't come near me, don't touch me!
That's the way you want it!
All right!
The refusal to compromise...
He used things he wasn't happy with in The Soft Skin.
- Things going off course. - The importance he gives to the woman...
Nelly Benedetti was too strong or powerful, Claude carries it off very well.
Interestingly, maybe not in this scene, but in others, he changed some of the words.
He said some words have too much weight when you say them
and he changed them... Because he was very precise.
- Yes. - He knew exactly what he wanted.
I could never eat the chocolate because I had just got over viral hepatitis
and I wasn't allowed to eat chocolate, but I still had to take a bite.
She has tears in her eyes. That's lovely.
That's...
She picks herself up, she gets her revenge.
I think this scene was quite important for François and for Jean-Pierre Léaud.
I think when François was in Japan,
he found it very uncomfortable to sit on his feet
and so he made him do really crazy things, contortions
so that he could hold the position.
Over the different days.
- He's not really at home in this world, is he? - He's getting pins and needles in his feet.
- It's a bit burlesque there, eh? - Yes.
- Slightly burlesque. - But at the same time, he makes it real.
That's what's so great, that he does it...
It had been done lots of times before.
Michel Leeb did a whole sketch on it. But he does it again.
- There was a photo of François doing that. - François showing him how to do it.
- That's it. - Yes. I can find it if you want.
A photo of François doing it.
It's great to see both of them.
- Jean-Pierre is really Frangois' double. - Absolutely.
- There, the scenes... - It all gives the idea of boredom setting in,
the fact that it's not his world and this woman...
And he tires of the food as well as of her, in a way.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
You're living alone?
More or less.
Doesn't it bother you?
I don't mind solitude.
What's nice here is that there are two parallel scenes...
- Where Antoine confides in Bernadette... - To this woman.
Barbara Laage. And where Christine confides in her neighbour.
I handled it badly.
Instead of smoothing it over,
I panicked and made it worse.
It takes patience. All men are children.
I thought you loved her?
Very much!
At first I couldn't get over her good manners.
So polite! Funny, yet touching.
François is making fun of me there.
That was what I was like when I first met him.
- A bit. - Yes. And Madeleine, too.
- You mean... - Thank you, sir. Good morning, sir.
- Rather old-fashioned, well-mannered. - Yes.
Peggy, because of her British reserve.
Proper, because she was!
Know what I mean?
I was a virgin. I'm not proud of it!
I dated as much as I wanted.
But I was scared and ignorant.
Imagine, a virgin at 20!
I was a living anachronism!
Here's a little sociological moment. It seems that he's giving voice to...
They're really conversations that he heard.
You should see her smoke!
She doesn't know how.
Like an awkward little girl...
Dramatically, it's very important because it shows...
- That they need to confide. - But at the same time...
- That they mean a lot to each other. - Yes.
Those colds of his!
At first, when he'd sniffle...
It's an artificial technique that gives a truth to the characters.
Yes. Just as the dialogue is exactly right, so is the parallel editing...
My husband!
- Oh, there's... - There's the homage to Tati.
You know in Jacques Tati's films it wasn't Tati who appeared in the wide shots.
- Tati had a double who looked like him... - Who was this man here?
And who appeared in the wide shots, leaving Tati free to direct.
There was no video playback then,
so we've seen this actor loads of times in Jacques Tati's films,
and so he hired Jacques Tati's double.
We've already had homages
in the sound and the ultra-modern sets which are reminiscent of Playtime.
- And also... - It makes me think of Playtime.
And the costumes are a bit... Truffaut really dressed like that.
Yes.
Was Alphonse good?
Fine! He smiles and blows kisses.
You noticed... Did you see his tooth?
You have a tooth!
A little tooth!
I packed your summer clothes.
I'll get them another time.
Hook me up. I'm late.
What I find amazing is the practical,
everyday nature of the dialogue.
Nureyev's autograph.
At the same time, it's obviously very stylised.
I'm ready to babysit.
Am I too early? I can come back.
Not at all!
- That was the baby's real mother. - Yes.
- Oh, really? - She could watch over her nicely that way.
Why's she here?
The character of the woman is always very strong.
Women and children. Women and children first.
- It's Christine who... - Has a maturity.
Has a certain freedom, she's herself, she's smiling.
But you find all grievances that women have done to men over a 30-year period in films.
- For the first time, women began to... - Yes.
- ...have the nerve to claim their rights. - Yes.
They told men that they were egoists and all that.
You make sure you're happy, you tell lies and I don't know what else.
It was the first time that they dared...
And François was one of the first to have a female character, a great character.
One of the first. And then later, the American films showed women like that.
It's true that in French films, most women are caricatures.
That was something that belonged to François.
There's the same scene in The Soft Skin with the Foujita.
- That was the little Balthus. - That was the little Balthus?
In The Soft Skin, it was...
Nelly Benedetti, who wanted to give the Foujita to Desailly.
You're in a good mood.
Surprised?
Coming here, you think,
"She's going to yell at me again!"
- Admit it! - It's not so!
- It's not possible... - Sorry?
We had to include that line, where he says, "Ah, the anxiety!"
But Jean-Pierre talked like that, too.
I was just helping.
I don't need help!
You're a pain!
A real pain!
All you know is what you want!
A kiss when you want it!
Solitude when you want it!
I'm not "yours to command!"
Not any more!
That was a very long tracking shot.
I'm sorry.
I understand.
I know that line,
"I'm too rotten"
"for a girl like you!"
I'd never pull that.
You have 100 times!
The female character perks up.
- She leads... - It was great to act.
The character is almost Bergmanian,
a bit like the character of The Woman Next Door.
Once it's done, we'll get along better.
Always the alibi. "I'm writing a book, a film..."
The idea of something creative as...
You're getting even with your parents,
washing dirty linen in public.
I'm not smart but I know this!
Writing to settle old scores
isn't art!
How could Truffaut say this?
Or have one of his characters say this when he wasn't sure that was the case?
That a work of art couldn't also be a way of settling scores.
No, it's strange... It's because he has been told this
- and then I think... - He makes the girl say it.
He makes the girl say it. So he had really decided to...
Like in The Soft Skin and especially in The Woman Next Door.
Where's that cab?
They said six minutes.
Anyway, I hope you're happy.
I don't think about it.
It can't work. We hardly talk now.
You can always smile.
That's all we do!
By evening, I have lock-jaw
from smiling!
Restaurants are hell!
Isn't he singling out one of his characters for very harsh treatment here?
The Japanese woman in this case.
- And him, too. - No, because the Japanese woman...
- It's rather him... - It's his attachment to the Japanese woman.
He could have left the Japanese woman where she was.
It's not a psychological description.
The Japanese woman is what she is. She's not silly. She's sensual.
There's a cultural difference, so you don't have to think she's silly.
No, I'll just go for a walk.
I find it interesting that the character played by Claude Jade,
who was more like an understudy for Liliane at the start, becomes very like Madeleine.
- You mean Madeleine, Truffaut's wife? - Yes, Truffaut's wife.
You are my sister, my daughter, my mother...
I'd hoped to be your wife.
- "I'd hoped to be your wife." - It's something Madeleine could have said.
Wait for me here.
No, no. I'll be right back!
This is a foretaste of The Man Who Loved Women.
- Yes... No... - He had to choose one but...
Don't you like any of them?
I didn't know it was like this.
It's very simple.
You look and choose, then...
And then there's that nice scene with Marie,
who says this wonderful line, "It's the end of the film."
Oh, it's amazing. It's the end of the film.
- She was his girlfriend at the time. - Yes.
Who was in a car accident.
Set in Pigalle again.
It's slow right now.
We used to be busy till the 23rd.
- He introduces a little... - Yes.
He introduces a bit of sociology.
It's the sort of thing a girl would say.
Anyway, I agree with you.
They're all bums.
Some bums cost us more than others.
"If you don't follow politics,"
"politics will get you in the end!"
The end of the month, the ends to an end,
the end of a film... I hate all endings!
It's realistic. It's the end of the film. That's a relatively Godardesque scene.
This girl is really Godardesque.
To come into the film and say, "it's the end of the film."
It's true, we're near the end of the film.
She's a bit exterior to the film.
- It's like a parenthesis. - It allows him to...
Here he is, back on his feet.
Walking in your sleep?
Glad to see you.
Nothing like a good house
to complete a happy home!
- The Grand Palais again, isn't it? - Place de Clichy.
- So it's the Grand Palais? - Yes.
It was the Grand Palais.
- I owe you 10,000, right? - Me? No!
Overall, the tone of it is a bit sad.
Yes, absolutely.
Well, it's the analysis of a failure, after all.
- Oh, yes, it's... - A failure.
I think he suffered from that because he would have liked, in some way...
Seeing it again, I think it was a film that had a major influence, even on Woody Allen.
I think it exerted a lot of influence because it's relatively modern.
It's totally Frangois' character, but at the same time...
And on Robert Benton, who wrote Kramer vs. Kramer'?
Yes. And Robert Benton sent a script to François.
- He corresponded with François. - He wanted...
- It wasn't Kramer, it was... - It was Bonnie and Clyde.
- That's it. It was Bonnie and Clyde. - A bit before.
And François said you'd have to be American to make it.
But you can imagine that it had an influence on American film.
A lot. It's only now I realise to what an extent it influenced, because...
I think that was filmed at La Coupole.
- It influenced comedy, the tone. - The tone, exactly.
Mazursky, as well. I think it influenced Mazursky's films.
- At the beginning of the 1970s. - The 1970s.
Cheese.
I have another call to make.
Excuse me.
Claude de Givray, there's a telephone call at the end of The Soft Skin as well.
It's a bit like it. But that's what really happened.
Madeleine often told me that François was with someone
and he'd call Madeleine a number of times. It's dumbfounding!
- He wasn't really at all interested in dining. - Exactly.
A waste of time. Not sitting down to eat.
So, in some way, it was a present.
It was very selfish of him, but it was a sort of present for Madeleine,
because he colluded with her,
treated her like a friend.
But you said it was a way of remaking The Soft Skin in a more comic way...
No, but you're right, I forgot to what extent...
The Soft Skin is not a typical drama.
It's not.
- Whereas this is a genre film. - Yes.
So I think The Soft Skin would be difficult to imitate or to decode for the Americans,
and for other countries because there's a sort of strange analysis of adultery.
So it's an auteur film a bit like Hitchcock's The Wrong Man, which is atypical.
Whereas curiously, this one plays by the rules of comedy, not dramatic comedy.
The Soft Skin could perhaps be considered an ineffective film.
Whereas this is extraordinarily effective.
I still think it's rather to the detriment of the character...
- Léaud's? - Kyoko's.
You can't hold anything against her because she's from a world...
Imagine that a Japanese director makes a film
and puts you in the role of the lover...
- She doesn't stand a chance. - She doesn't stand a chance.
But I think the Japanese felt Truffaut hadn't been very nice to them.
- I didn't know that. - She doesn't stand a chance.
The film doesn't give her a chance. She's only a stereotype.
- It wasn't at all like Delphine Seyrig... - But at the same time, it's realistic
because I've met Japanese people who came to France to have a bit of an adventure
and then they went back and got married.
So they didn't try to integrate because she was going back to Japan.
"Drop dead." It's quite sweet she gets her revenge.
ONE YEAR LATER...
- It's quite unusual to have an epilogue. - It's pan' of this genre of film.
That's the fourth Alphonse, baby Dolbert.
- It's a son' of happy ending. - She's a girl.
It was the prop person's daughter. It was always kept very much in the family.
And now they love each other.
He's taking up the position of Daniel Boulanger.
- He used Daniel Boulanger to... - As a model.
It's like Lubitsch in tone.
It's how the characters in the couple emerge.
- So it could go on for a lifetime. - And now they love each other.
- That's it. - It could last a lifetime with...
- A happy ending, after all. - It's great. You get to choose.
It's like the happy endings of Fritz Lang films or things like that.
You either go with it or you don't. It deliberately has a different tone
and a different style so everyone can think that the film ends earlier.
And you add the happy ending because it means...
- People can... - You believe it or you don't.
You may not believe it but you're still pleased to have something.
- It was first and foremost a comedy. - Yes.