Original subtitles

The King of the Mont Blanc (The Eternal Dream)

Based on history, this film tells the story

of the first ascent of the Mont Blanc.

At that time people still looked up with superstitious fears

to the eternal ice of the mountains.

Then a peasant from Chamonix,

Jacques Balmat, a contemporary of Goethe,

overcame his own terror of the spirits of the mountains

and conquered the highest peak of Europe,

driven by a fanatic belief in finding large fields of gold up there.

This heroic deed made him the true founder of alpinism

and millions of people owe him

the feeling of happiness and freedom of mountain-climbing.

The historical persons:

Jacques Balmat, the child

Jacques Balmat, the man

and...

the Mont Blanc.

Over there, messieurs!

There lies the Mont Blanc.

And behind it begins Italy.

I will lead you over the Alps,

into those most fertile regions of the world.

There we will find honour, gold and power.

Father, what is he looking for here?

He's looking for gold, my boy.

He wants to become the most powerful of all.

Look, boy, how it shimmers

at the peak of the accursed mountain.

What is that shimmer? - It's gold.

Lots of pure gold.

Then why don't you get it, father?

Quiet, Jacques.

The spirits of the mountain

are guarding their gold

and if someone dared to ascend,

with tempests they will lash him down,

the cold will gnaw at his bones,

and the sun will burn out his eyes.

Woe to that one!

Woe to that one...

Gold!

Greetings, Jacques!

Are you still dreaming...

of that accursed mountain?

Greetings, Maria.

Come with me to the village, Jacques.

It will be fun this evening when the visitors arrive.

Come then, Jacques.

You shouldn't always be alone on your alp up there.

But they don't accept me down in the village!

They all will be spiteful against me. - All?

You know it, Maria.

After all you're the only one.

Don't imagine things.

Saussure is coming once again.

The famous professor from Geneva.

And only because of our mountain!

Accursed mountain...

Come along, Jacques,

if only for my sake.

Hello, Maria!

Hello, Paccard! - Greetings!

Finally found your way back from Geneva?

Won't you come in? - Coming.

Mother, Paccard has returned! - Our Paccard?

Greetings, all of you! How are things?

We thought you had forgotten about us here in Chamonix.

A rich doctor from the city....

- ...will always remain a peasant like you.

How beautiful our Chamonix is....

You won't recognize Balmat

now that you've been away for four years.

Terrible how the old one is corrupting the boy.

Is he still musing about the gold?

If it were only that.

To be always the first,

always to ascend higher than the others.

Would that be so bad?

You tell him.

So it's no wonder he has to hole up

on his alp up there.

Paccard, it's a misfortune...

for my girl.

Look, look, the King of the Mont Blanc.

Greetings, Jacques! So you come down to us again?

To you, yes. Greetings, Rudi.

Oho, Balmat is back again!

The fairy tales he will tell now!

Surely he plundered another crystal cave!

Hey, Maria, where did you pick up that guy?

Balmat is here!

Balmat is here!

Are you having half a glass of red wine?

A full one.

Look...

Don't bother, Jacques. - No, Maria, this time it's true.

This is gold.

True, pure gold.

Just look.

How it shimmers!

Just like up there at the peak.

Let's see your gold.

We'll show you! Snatching it all away.

Show us!

I won't show you anything!

Search for yourself!

You fools! - Fool yourself!

A fool? A liar!

Balmat, the liar!

Father!

What noble gentlemen!

Good afternoon, honourable sir!

Greetings!

I'm glad you came, Paccard.

Too late, Maria.

There will be misfortune in this village.

You stay here. I'll go in.

Why, Monsieur Paccard!

Gee! You here with us?

Greetings.

The city? No, Jacques.

Only up here it's beautiful.

Up here, you said?

Don't we live at the bottom like the city-folk?

Always down at the bottom of the valley?

Never up,

really up, where we are drawn to?

Out of the damned Chamonix!

Good afternoon!

Good afternoon.

Excuse me...

Who is that man?

The King of the Mont Blanc!

Liar!

Liar! Liar!

Greetings, Father.

What's wrong with you?

Got yourself into a brawl, eh?

You know how they all treat me.

Be proud of it.

They're just envious

because you always find the most beautiful crystals.

But tell me boy...

Haven't you found anything?

Still not found anything?

Show me, Jacques.

You never return from the alp with empty hands.

But this time.

Gold, father!

Fool's gold it is!

Common fool's gold.

Where did you loaf to get it?

I got it from the mountain

from the very top of it.

Well...I know!

You too are afraid of the highest peak!

I will show you all that I'm not afraid!

I'll get you the gold,

even if lies at the highest peak of the accursed mountain!

I didn't mean it that way.

Boy, think of what I always told you.

You always told me: Gold!

and there you wrote it down even fifteen years ago!

Yes, boy.

but...

I also told you:

The spirits of the mountain are guarding it

with tempests they will lash him down,

the cold will gnaw at his bones,

and the sun will burn out his eyes.

Woe to that one!

There is one in this village, Monsieur Saussure,

who might make such an attempt.

Only one....

Jacques Balmat.

Do you think it is possible

to reach the peak?

If someone can do it, then Balmat.

And only Balmat.

Shouldn't we take the man as a guide tomorrow?

To the Mont Blanc?

No.

Tomorrow we only want to go to the Mer de Glace

to survey your Mont Blanc.

The Mont Blanc, sir!

From here it's at its most impressive!

What a benefit for science

when people will be able to stand at 5.000 meters height.

One should consider it.

A lot was deemed impossible

before it was achieved.

One should think it over,

think it over thoroughly.

And you would have the right mind for it.

Sir, I am the only one who can get up there.

I, Jacques Balmat.

And I will get the gold that lies up there.

And what would you do with all that gold?

Look, sir, once I saw the Emperor.

Over there he stood.

And he said: "Gold is power".

And once I have fetched it,

they will no longer laugh at me.

They will bow down

and will be friendly to Jacques Balmat,

those gentlemen

from Chamonix.

Gold and fame

That's all he thinks about.

That accursed mountain.

Isn't there an old tale among you

about gold on that mountain?

A fairy tale, yes, sir.

And even as a child he always dreamt about it

and told such strange stories.

We call this 'a poet'.

Here they call him 'liar'.

With that word they even embittered the child.

Look...

Everybody wants to be accepted.

And he is the strongest and most daring here in the village.

And yet they all treat him with scorn and derision.

"Liar, liar, liar!"

It's a pity for a boy like him.

But you understand him well?

Yes.

I understand him.

One thousand Louis d'Or, I said.

One thousand Louis d'Or in gold

for him who first sets foot

on the peak of the Mont Blanc.

One thousand Louis d'Or...

One thousand Louis d'Or.

In gold.

Look! Your Paccard!

He believes in it.

He'd be the only one who could guide you.

Yes, people, I believe in it!

We start tommorow at dawn.

Better tonight.

It will be a race to go up there, anyway.

And the winner

will be Balmat.

Hey, do you already want to give up?

Eternally they hunt for gold, the poor ones.

But happiness lies so close,

far away from gold's calling - in love.

For whom did you put that on the wall?

For the two of us.

Yes, perhaps he's right

that man from the town.

Maria...

I've brought you something.

Hey, father!

Sleeping like a log again?

Got anything to eat?

What, you're not up on the mountain?

As you can see, for once I'm at home.

The mountain won't run away.

It won't run away?

And the one thousand Louis d'Or,

they won't run away, either?

Half of Geneva is pursuing them,

even on command by the King of Savoy himself.

Those tomfools from the town.

No, father.

I'm not going.

I pledged my word.

So... You pledged your word.

You want to impress that hussy.

The richest girl in the village,

while you have nothing except a pair of torn trousers.

Don't be a fool, Jacques.

With nothing

you won't get a girl like Maria.

Only Paccard might fetch her.

Leave that to me.

Yes, but Paccard is the guide!

And he is more sober-minded than you!

You stubborn donkey!

Silentium!

Greetings, courageous guides,

you sons of the white mountains!

By order of his majesty

the King of Savoy

we here begin, at the edge of the eternal ice,

the memorable ascent

onto the sublime mountain

of your noble valley of Chamonix.

It's damn cold out here.

Good we got rid of the townsfolk for tomorrow's ascent.

A pity Balmat isn't with us. He's just the best of us all.

He will look surprised when he sees us on the peak tomorrow.

We move on right at dawn.

Nobody will catch up with us then.

Not even Balmat!

Look!

That bears Balmat's mark!

He surely passed us by in the fog!

Greetings, Jacques!

How the hell do you get here? - Good morning, gentlemen!

Up early today?

But where do you come from, Jacques?

From where you want to go.

If you want to, I'll show you up.

Herewith the world shall learn about

the deeds you have done

during this enormous first run

on the king of all mountains.

You can walk over that chicken ladder alone.

If it breaks, no-one will return!

Be careful, Jacques!

It's allright.

Yes, Paccard, you were right.

Without a ladder he couldn't cross it.

I'm going back!

Help!

Pull him up!

And out you are!

Don't gawk, you stupid donkey!

I'm going back!

Me, too! Risk your own bones

for your stupid gold!

Come on!

You cowards!

Listen everybody!

Some news! Some spanking news!

Listen...

...pretty Princess of Chamonix!

Way down...

at the grand plateau,

two are descending head over heels

And the first of the two

is your Jacques Balmat!

The liar!

That isn't true!

You are lying! All of you!

If tonight someone stands up there

on the peak of the Mont Blanc,

it will be Balmat, Balmat only!

What's up?

Let him walk ahead alone.

He's possessed by the devil!

Don't flag out!

Don't bother about those wets!

Leave them here? - Yes!

But they will perish from the cold here!

Bah, because of one hour?

But I have a resposibility, Jacques!

I'm supposed to turn back, 400 meters below the peak?

No, my friend.

Pull yourself together!

I wanted to go alone

and I will go alone.

See how you get them down before they croak.

You'll croak yourself if you go alone!

Now we'll show him.

And how!

An ascent through the avalanche corridor

seems easier to me than via the Bosse de Dromadaire.

Here lies the key to the Mont Blanc.

Woe...

...to that one!

Woe...

...to that one!

Woe...

....to that one!

Monsieur Paccard...

Paccard!

Has he returned? - No.

He'll never come back.

Nobody can survive such a night.

But someone like Balmat?

Not even Balmat.

Nobody can help him anymore.

Nevertheless, we must go.

So then, round up everyone with some courage left.

All right. We'll go at dawn.

I would go,

but would the others want to risk life and limb

if there's no hope?

Paccard!

You returned without Jacques?

Where is Jacques Balmat?

Dirty trick!

You dogs!

The key...

The key to the Mont Blanc!

The key to the Mt. Blanc. J.B., the liar!

The sun will burn out his eyes

Maria!

He'll end up down in hell,

that Jacques Balmat.

A lost soul,

driven by the devil of the gold.

Even you won't save him.

Trust your old father.

That's what I always told her.

Then you should have set the girl straight earlier.

I couldn't see to it.

Look, child - I'm not against it.

He is a real man.

A bold fellow,

Even his worst enemy must admit that, but...

He must abjure by God and all saints

this craze for the damned gold.

Otherwise, my girl is too dear to me.

He will abjure.

For what is a man profited,

if he shall gain the whole world,

and lose his own soul?

This is the word of the Lord

that I want to burn into your souls

which with envy and mischief

deny God

and the gospel of love,

since they have seen the gold

up there on the highest peak,

on the altar closest to God.

Instead, you have forgotten

the most sacred commandment of our mountains:

to abandon noone

to the adversity of rocks and ice.

And you want to be Christians?

You who let one of your own perish helplessly up there?

You know who I mean... - The King of the Mont Blanc!

He's still alive,

your Jacques Balmat.

You haven't been able to kill him yet,

you... - Jacques!

Jacques Balmat!

You desecrate the House of God.

Leave the church!

Maria!

I here abjure, by God and all saints,

the mountain and its accursed gold!

Let me, father.

It is my way.

Hello, Monsieur Paccard. What news do you bring from Geneva?

You'll see what I bring.

And you? - Fine, thanks.

Are you still looking for that gold up there?

No, my friend,with this we'll get gold more safely.

Well, you arrived at the right time, doctor.

Do you need a physician? - No...but...

you know, with my Maria...

it will happen within a week.

Then I come at the right moment.

It'll be a boy. I know it for sure.

Ah, Paccard... Le docteur.

But... It isn't necessary.

Yes, Jacques.

It will be soon.

Give us today our daily bread

Amen.

Greetings, Jacques Balmat!

Greetings, Sir.

Well, master,

when will you come to fetch the prize?

Looks like you'll have use for a larger farm soon.

That's true... Sit down, professor.

See...

Nobody will conquer that mountain.

Each of them turned back

in all those years,

up at the Bosse de Dromadaire.

But you don't have to go over that dangerous ridge

Doctor Paccard, with whom I came here,

told me that this isn't the right ascent.

Well, he surely knows!

He knows the key to the peak...

How? Which key?

Well, through the so-called avalanche corridor and then

over the left ridge.

Paccard lies!

There is no such way.

I'm sorry, I only know that Paccard wants to go up

with my Englishmen tomorrow.

And you should go with them.

I don't need any Englishmen.

I can climb the Mont Blanc alone.

When I decide to.

All right, I'll go with you.

Without the English?

Without the English.

And the gold?

It's yours.

Science is enough for me.

And who will be known as the first who climbed the peak?

As you're the guide...

I am the guide. - Done, Jacques.

Done. This night.

Jacques! - Yes?

What are you doing?

Coming.

Is anything wrong?

Are you working on something?

I want to file clean the key a little.

It has become somewhat rusty.

The key to the Mont Blanc, my friend!

We're some daredevils for sure.

Just wait, I've known that route for long.

Have a look, wiseacre!

They're up on the peak!

Jacques...

Jacques!

Oh Jacques...

The child...

A historic moment, Gentlemen.

The first men on the highest peak of Europe.

An incalculable event for science.

It's Balmat! It isn't Paccard!

Here, this good old wine will warm you up.

God how beautiful the world is, from up above.

Now let's drink to my old man!

He will look surprised with his

'Woe to that one!'.

The death bell.

Someone's dying.

Maria?

Maria!

The spirits of the mountain

will take revenge on Balmat.

He broke his vow.

He broke his vow.

Maria.

Jacques...

Have you been up there?

Did you find...

your gold?

Excuse me...

The one thousand Louis d'Or. In gold.

In gold... - Yes, in gold.

One thousand Louis d'Or in gold. - Get out!

Get out, I said! - But that's gold!

Get out of my house! - But that's gold...

Now I've found it,

the gold.

My gold.

Eternally they hunt for gold, the poor ones.

But happiness lies so close,

far away from gold's calling -

in love.