A Gentle Woman
She looked about 16. Remember?
Yes.
I paid no attention to her at first
I was being smart
What a treasure!
At that moment, I suddenly noticed her...
...and began to think about her
Next time, she brought an amber cigarette holder...
... nothing special
I wouldn't do it for another
She took the bills
I knew she'd return
When she did, we spoke
Her parents dead...
...some relatives used her as a servant
I spend the little they give me on books
That's all I have. I've nothing left. After...
After?
- I'll manage - How?
I don't know. Maybe I'll advertise, like this
No...
This is how it's done
Young student...
Young student seeks au pair or housework
Come. The gold interests me
You keep the Christ, I'll take the metal
Me? Why? No.
Don't scorn what is offered you.
I've been poor too,
and if I do a job I detest...
Your revenge is on the poor, but not on me?
I am the power which intends evil...
...but engenders good. I know the saying
Have you read Goethe?
Not very carefully
Mephistopheles says that when he meets Faust.
You are odd.
She meant: "I didn't expect to find an educated man"
I'm sure she thought that.
She was delighted with me.
Museum of Natural History Zoological and Botanical Garden
Say yes, and I promise you happiness.
It all seems impossible.
All what?
Men... a man...
And love? Don't you love anyone?
No. Not yet.
You don't want love. You want me to agree to marry you.
What do you want?
I don't know... something more. Marriage bores me
Millions of women... hope for marriage.
Perhaps. But there are monkeys, too.
Don't come with me. I live just here
I asked you not to follow me.
Why? - This house is sinister...
The people are sinister.
Say yes, and you can leave here forever
Say yes! Say it!
You have given your vows, and I pronounce you man and wife.
I quenched this elation.
This apartment will have to do until we can afford better.
We can go to the cinema...
...but rarely to the theatre, it's too costly.
It will take 4 or 5 years to save capital.
What capital?
You despise money, I know.
I just don't care. I must broaden your outlook, so you see thing differently.
I wanted a solid happiness.
Why did we take to silence from the first?
.....
- Who are those girls? - Peasants, come to lend a hand.
How beautiful they are, what rosy cheeks!
I know whose eyes are bigger than his belly
....
I was sure, then, of her love. She loved me.
Or wanted to love me? Or wanted to love.
All that time... I suffered from incessant jealousy.
Where've you been?
She had a passion for books and records.
You know the Natural History Museum?
You must go, you'll be amazed.
The same material for all animals, differently arranged...
...for a mouse, an elephant, for a man.
She made me see woman as an instrument of pleasure.
We make a pair, too. All built to a pattern
- Don't you like flowers? - Me?
- What are you looking at? - You.
Isn't this dangerous?
No.
Our first quarrel arose over her whimsical buying...
...paying too much.
Thank you, thank you.
It's easy to be generous
It's my money.
Maybe. But it gives you no rights over me.
I have the right to protect our living.
Don't try ruling me with money. Understand?
Idiot!
Coward!
Her face changed in a second.
Gentleness was replaced by defiance, revolt.
I waited for her all day. I'd been given tickets for "Hamlet"
Hurry!
Where have you been?
I can't not know.
Not know what?
A hit, a very palpable hit
Hamlet, this pearl is thine.
To thy health. Pass him the cup
I'll play this bout first; set it by awhile
On guard!
Another hit; what say you?
Our son shall win
He's fat and scant of breath. Here, Hamlet, take my napkin,
The queen carouses to thy fortune,
Gertrude, do not drink,
I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me.
- The poisoned cup; it is too late. - Come, let me wipe thy face
I dare not drink yet, madam by and by.
Part them
They are incens'd
Look to the queen there, ho!
They bleed on both sides. How is it, my lord?
How is't Laertes?
Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe; Osric
I am justly killed with mine own treachery
....
No, no, the drink, the drink
O, my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink! I am poisoned.
O, Villainy! Ho! Let the door be locked! Treachery! Seek it out
It is here, Hamlet. Thou art slain
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand unbated and envenom'd
The foul practice hath turned itself on me
Lo, here I lie, never to rise again. Thy mother's poisoned
I can no more. The king, the king's to blame
The point, envenomed, too!
....
O, yet defend me, friends. I am but hurt
Here, thou incestuous murd'rous damned Dane
Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?
Follow my mother
He is justly served. It is a poison tempered by himself
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee, nor thine on me!
Report me and my cause aright to the unsatisfied
Never believe it. I am more an antique Roman than a Dane
As th'art a man, give me the cup. Let go. By heaven, I'll have it!
What a wounded name,
things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me!
If thou didn't ever hold me in thy heart, absent thee from felicity awhile
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
to tell my story
O, I die! The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit
But I do prophesy th' election lights on Fortinbras
He has my dying voice,
so tell him
with th' occurents, more and less, which have solicited
The rest is silence
Now cracks a noble heart
Good night, sweet prince
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
Why does the drum come hither?
I knew it they omitted this, so they could bellow
This is Hamlet's advice to the players:
Speak the speech as I pronounced it to you,
But if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the towncrier spoke my lines
for in the very torrent, tempest, whirlwind of your passion,
you must acquire and beget a temperance...
Carrying on as if nothing had had happened infuriated me
I feared her silence, so I asked no more questions
That night as always, we delighted in each other
But she didn't change her ways...
...and I sought only the possession of her body
My real torment began one day...
You changed the desks without telling me
This was his third visit!
Suddenly, I wanted to shoot, to destroy them
Do you know what it is to suffer with such a gentle woman?
...beautiful woman...
It's a rending, burning agony.
I was sure I'd find them together.
She was back, as if nothing had happened.
Afterwards, everything was an excuse to quarrel.
....
If it hadn't been the flowers it would've been something else.
I thought you didn't like flowers.
Who gave them to you?
- No one. - Someone did. You're lying
Tell me!
Let me go!
- Where are you going? Stay! - It isn't possible now.
I know where you're going.
Operation Adler was to destroy the R.A.F. prior to invasion
Goring promised troop transports would be unopposed.
This great air battle lasted from July 1st to August 20th.
1,300 German bombers and 1,200 fighters, against 57 British squadrons.
The entire R.A.F.
I feared she might act against herself.
She was tormenting me.
Is it true what they say?
3 years ago you were a bank manager; they fired you.
I'd never told her. Why not?
I wasn't fired, resigned over an irregularity I didn't commit.
After that you were more or less a beggar.
I was desperate, out of work.
Not now; you've become a financier again.
Who told her?
I went to her former home.
I had to know.
Was it the boy who saw her at the shop?
They game me a name and address.
Boulevard Lannes.
I forgot about the gun in my pocket.
Why did I decide to walk that way?
Suddenly, she sat up and spoke.
Get out. Come on.
I'd made out a few words. They were to her credit.
She might've seen me in the mirror, and thought quickly.
But such doubt was impossible. She had rejected his advances.
I knew it. To hurt me, out of hatred,
she'd gone to this boy, whose face I didn't even try to see.
She was deeply affected... It lasted till we got home.
I was exhausted. She just sat in the chair.
It was the first time she hadn't slept beside me.
When I awoke, daylight shone through the curtains.
I pretended to be asleep.
I'd glanced so quickly, she might think I was really asleep.
It wasn't likely I'd close my eyes having seen what I had.
She might stop if she thought I'd seen and expected death.
The bed proved I had seen that I knew.
The gun remained on the table.
I'm here, alive. It's me. Look.
For 6 weeks you and the nurse cared for her.
I spared no expense. I was even happy to spend on her.
But I avoided her eyes.
After the funeral, I'll go away for a week.
No, wait! Anna. Stay.
Sleep...
I want to pray, but I can only think.
When she got up, you sat her in that armchair.
She, too, was content to say little.
I told myself she must have time to forget.
Winter passed as a time of waiting.
We often walked together; not always in complete silence.
I tried to dispel the air of silence.
You were right: the same raw material for all animals.
It's extraordinary.
I never saw her looking at me.
Was it timidity on her part?
She had such a gentle manner
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
There's a gulf between painting, and this.
irritated sometimes, but not angry.
I didn't see her as a criminal I'd forgiven her.
She seemed beaten, humiliated. I felt great pity for her.
But I felt a certain satisfaction, too. I enjoyed our inequality.
I bought some worthless things, as a gesture.
I felt she was really pleased about that.
She was so pale and thin, I was struck by her pensiveness.
She's weak after her illness.
Take her to the sea... or to the mountains.
I feel quite well.
I didn't realize then:
because I cared like a real husband, she was ashamed.
But a month later... you remember.
Is she singing? - Sometimes, when you're out.
In my house! Has she forgotten I exist?
I did not pity her it was something else.
No one would understand my feeling of rapture.
The fault was mine... a man's foolish image of a woman.
I wanted to take, not give; take you and give nothing.
But I shall give you all, make a paradise for you.
Say something.
I want to believe in you, to be proud through utter faith.
I love you. I want you.
Don't torment me.
We're going away. This shop is a great mistake.
We'll go wherever you like. Tomorrow, now, at once!
I love you.
And I was thinking you'd leave me.
She let slip words that pierced my heart.
As long as I was near her, I couldn't but hope; I was happy.
I was not paying attention to her fear.
She said: I was thinking you'd leave me.
And me appealing to her; me, the husband in need of love.
Is it hereditary, the young bird's ability,
to emit the particular song of its species,
or is it learned by listening, by imitation?
What can we do?
It seems almost certain that, to a variable degree,
every bird is predisposed to its characteristic song.
We must leave everything and go.
Where?
I thought merely of going, that was the main thing.
Anywhere. Far away... with space and sunlight.
We'll live new life together.
But we won't be new.
We will be.
- Can one change? - Completely.
Our quarrels and unhappiness will disappear.
Nothing will remain. You will let me adore you, worship you.
I want something else.
Why? I love you. I'll always love you.
Isn't that enough?
That terrible evening, when I found you on Boulevard Lannes,
I saw how understanding you were, repulsing that boy.
How innocent, too.
This morning she was still alive
I was struck by her calm; I'd tossed all night
I shall be a faithful wife. I will respect you.
I kissed her wildly,
like a husband after a long absence.
But why did I go out then?
And why did she...?
What's wrong, Madame?
Nothing, leave me. No. Come here
Are you reconciled? Happy?
Yes, Anna, happy
Open your eyes. A second, for only a second.