Original subtitles

APARTMENT FOR RENT 4 ROOMS... ELEVATOR

- A phone token, please. - No tokens. At the end, on the left.

- Mom? Yes, it's Jeanne.

I've found a flat to rent in Passy. I'm going to see it.

Then I've got to go to the station to meet Tom. I promised him.

OK, see you later. Bye!

I've come to see the flat. I saw the sign.

- The sign? - Yes.

It's always the same! Nobody ever tells me anything.

- I'd like to see it. - You want to rent it?

- I don't know yet! - They rent, they leave,

and I'm the last to know.

Do you think that's right?

If you want to go up alone,

go on. I'm afraid of spiders.

The key is missing.

Strange things happen.

They drink six bottles a day.

Wait! Don't go! There must be a duplicate.

Here it is.

You must be very young.

- Let go of me!

She's crazy!

Who are you?

You gave me a fright. How did you get in?

- Through the door. - Oh, yes. I left it open.

I didn't hear you come in.

- I was already here. - Sorry?

Oh, it was you who took it.

I had to bribe the concierge.

They're fascinating, these old houses.

An armchair by the fireplace would look good.

- The armchair should go...

in front of the window.

- Are you American?

You've got an American accent.

- Are you going to take it? - Are you?

- I don't know.

Oh la la!

Do I answer it or not?

- There's no one!

I don't know.

- So you're going to take it? You've decided?

- I had already decided.

But I'm not sure now.

Do you like it?

Do you like it?!

- I don't know. I shall have to think about it.

- Think fast.

- I thought you'd left.

- Watch out! - Have they taken us for someone else?

- We're in a film. We're in a film.

If I kiss you,

it might be cinema.

If I stroke your hair,

it might be cinema.

What's going on? Do you know them?

It's a long story. In short, Portrait of a Girl.

It's been accepted for television! And the girl is you. It's you!

- You're mad! You might have asked me first.

Yeah, but I wanted...

I wanted to start with shots of Jeanne at the station meeting her fiancé.

Yes, I know them. They're my crew.

- So you kissed me...

and you knew it was being filmed.

You're a bastard! Traitor!

No, you'll see. It will be a love story.

Tell me, Jeanne, darling. What did you do while I was away?

- I thought of you day and night, and I cried.

Darling, I can't live without you!

- Wonderful! Cut! That was perfect!

- I'd have finished by now,

but the cops wouldn't let me touch anything.

They didn't believe it was suicide. There was so much blood everywhere.

They had fun making me do a reconstruction.

"She went there."

"She came through here."

"She opened the curtain."

I copied all her actions.

The guests were awake all night!

The hotel was crawling with cops!

They enjoy playing around with blood.

They were all spies!

Asking if she was sad, if she was happy,

if you fought,

how long you'd been married, why you didn't have any children.

Pigs!

They got familiar right away!

They said, "Your boss is a bit unstable."

"Do you know that he was a boxer?"

So?

"It didn't work out,

so he became

an actor."

"Bongo player,

revolutionary in South America,

journalist in Japan."

"One day, he lands in Tahiti...

hangs around,

learns French."

"Then he comes to Paris. There

he meets a woman with money, marries her and..."

"Since then what has your boss done?"

"Nothing."

I say, "Can I clean up now?"

"No! Don't touch anything!"

"Do you really think she killed herself?"

He pushed me into a corner and tried to paw me...

- Turn the tap off now.

- They'll be doing the autopsy right now.

- Why won't you turn the tap off?

- They told me to give you your razor back.

- It's not mine.

- They said they don't need it anymore. The investigation is over.

Yes, she had cuts there,

and on the neck, too... Agh!

- Excuse me, where shall I put this?

- You could have rung the bell. - The door was open. I'll put it there.

- In front of the fireplace.

- Careful, Madame. - There.

- What about the table? - How do I know? He'll decide.

- This is a king-size! - It won't fit.

- Well, your husband has no idea. All this in an hour... It's not long.

- What a mess!

- Thank you. - Thank you.

The armchair goes in front of the window.

Like that.

- But I only came to return the key.

To return it to you. - I don't care about the key.

Take your coat off.

Take your coat off and help me.

OK.

Get those chairs and bring them here.

Put them on the other side.

Take that, too.

That's it.

- You didn't waste any time.

Listen, monsieur!

I've got to go.

- I thought you'd be here. - I expected you later.

PRIVATE

- I took the first train.

Oh, Paul! How awful! How awful, Paul!

Papa is in bed with asthma.

The doctor wouldn't let him come.

It's better like that.

I'm stronger.

- What are you looking for?

- Something that would explain...

a letter, a clue. - Nothing.

I told you, there's nothing, nothing at all.

- My little Rosa wouldn't have...

Nothing for her mother. Not a word.

- It's useless to keep on searching.

- Not even for you, her husband!

- You need to rest.

I think room twelve is free.

- With a razor?

What time did it happen?

- I don't know. In the evening.

- And then?

- Then I... I already told you on the phone...

When I found her,

I called the ambulance.

- After you called

Papa and I stayed up all night,

talking about Rosa and you.

Papa kept whispering,

as if it had happened in our house.

Paul!

Where did it happen? - In one of the rooms.

- Did she suffer?

- Ask the doctors. They're doing the autopsy.

- The autopsy.

I already had some announcement cards.

I've seen a lot of death.

I think of everything.

I'll prepare her a beautiful room with flowers.

- The cards,

clothes, relatives, flowers.

You've got everything in that suitcase.

You didn't forget anything.

But I don't want any priests here.

- But... - No priests.

- But, Paul... - Understand?

- We have to. Funerals must be religious.

- No!

Rosa didn't believe!

- Paul, don't shout. Don't talk like that.

- They'll give her absolution.

Absolution and a nice mass. That's all I ask, Paul.

Rosa... Rosa is my little girl, do you understand?

Rosa... Why did she kill herself?

- Why? Why did she commit suicide?

Why?

You don't know, huh?

You don't know.

- You shouldn't have done that to me.

- It's not a wig, it's my hair.

Doesn't it suit me? Tell me, don't you like it? Tell me.

- Of course I like it.

Listen, you know...

I don't know.

You have changed, and yet you haven't.

I can see the shot now.

The camera is up high.

It descends slowly and follows you.

You come forward, and it moves in on you.

There's music, too.

It gets closer and closer to you.

- I'm in a hurry. Let's start.

- But...

can't we talk a little first?

- Tonight we improvise.

You follow.

He was my childhood friend.

He used to watch me for hours and hours. I think he understood me.

- Dogs are worth more than people. Much more.

- Meet Olympia, my nanny.

- Mustapha could always tell the poor from the rich.

If someone well-dressed came in, he never stirred.

But if someone scruffy came in, you should have seen him! What a dog!

The colonel trained him to recognize Arabs by their scent.

- Olympia, open the front door. - Give me a kiss.

- Go and open it.

Olympia is a compendium of domestic virtues.

Faithful, admiring, and racist.

After Papa died, we moved back to the family home for a while.

My childhood was made up of smells.

Musty smells, the smell of walls and rooms.

Children used to come and play in my jungle, all day long.

Growing old is a crime.

That's me there.

And that's Mademoiselle Sauvage, the teacher.

She was very strict and very religious.

- She was too good. She spoilt you.

- That's Christine,

my best friend.

She married the pharmacist and has two children.

It's like a village here. We all know each other.

- I couldn't live in Paris.

- We're safe here.

It's odd looking at the past. - Cut!

Why is it odd? It's you! It's fantastic, it's your childhood.

It's everything I was looking for.

What are you up to? Move it! Move it!

Who are these zombies who are always following you around? Scoot!

Go on! The door, the door...

I'm opening the door.

I'm opening all the doors.

- What are you doing? - Setting up my shot.

There it is! That's it! I've found it.

Reverse gear!

What are you doing there?

Beat it!

That's it. Into reverse. Yes!

Do you see? Like a car, you go into reverse gear.

That's it. Close your eyes.

Start reversing. Close your eyes.

That's it, come on. Come on backwards.

That's it. Go back to your childhood.

- Papa? - You're soaring.

Take off and return to your childhood. - In full uniform.

- Don't be afraid. Overcome the obstacles.

- Papa in Algeria.

- You're 15.

14...

13... 12...

11... 10... 9.

We're there. - My favorite route when I was eight.

My old notebook.

French homework. Theme: The countryside.

Exposition: The countryside is cow country.

The cow is all dressed in leather.

The cow has four sides: The front, the rear...

the top and the bottom.

Isn't that good? - Beastly!

- Here are my cultural sources. Le Grand Larousse.

I just copied from it.

Menstruation. Noun, feminine.

Physiological function comprising the discharge of menses.

Penis. Noun, masculine.

Male copulation organ, measuring five to forty centimeters.

That's Le Petit Robert.

Tom! Look!

- Who's that? - My first love.

- Who? - My cousin Paul. My first love.

- But his eyes are closed. - What?

- His eyes are closed! - He played the piano divinely.

That's how I remember him.

Sitting at the piano.

His fingers would skim the keys.

He played for hours and hours.

At the bottom of the garden, there were two big trees.

A plain tree and a chestnut tree.

After mass on Sundays, we used to sit there,

each under our own tree.

It was wonderful. We sat gazing into each other's eyes.

Aren't my trees beautiful? They were my jungle.

- What are you doing? - Having a shit.

- No, we're doing a poo.

- Shame on you, doing it in my jungle! - Watch out! Run for it!

Oh, these dirty little Arabs! Go and shit in your own country!

- Keep filming. Keep filming!

Don't stop, whatever you do!

- Did you get it? - Everything.

- Olympia was great.

It'll give a good idea of race relations in the suburbs of Paris.

- It's a real jungle here.

So, tell me about your father.

- I thought we'd finished. - Five minutes.

- I'm meeting someone for work. - But the colonel...

the colonel!

- The colonel had green eyes and shiny boots.

I worshipped him.

He was so handsome in his uniform.

What? Don't...

- He died in Algeria in '58.

- '58. And don't joke about things like that.

- Why aren't you listening to me?

- The first time?

I was really late for school.

I started running and it was downhill.

All of a sudden, I felt a strong sensation here.

So I ran and ran...

and I came as I ran.

The faster I ran, the better it was and the more I came.

A couple of days later, I tried to do it again,

but no luck.

Why aren't you listening to me?

Why do I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall when I talk to you?

Your solitude weighs on me.

It isn't indulgent. It isn't generous.

You are selfish!

- I can't sleep with this music.

- I came to this hotel a long time ago, to spend one night.

And I stayed for five years.

- When Papa and I had the hotel...

people came here to sleep.

- Now, there's all sorts.

They can hide, take drugs, play music.

Take your hand away.

- You're not alone, Paul. I'm here.

Agh! You're crazy!

I'm starting to understand.

- Do you want me to make them shut up?

- What are you doing, Paul? - I'm afraid!

- Put the light on!

- The light, Paul.

- Good evening, Madame. - Good evening.

- Good evening, Marcel.

- Goodnight, Paul.

- Who's that?

- Do you like him?

He was Rosa's lover.

- Again!

I'm coming! I'm ready.

Shall we leave together?

Bastard!

He's a git! Not even goodbye!

- What are you doing there? I'm coming! I'll fly!

- Wait! I've got to talk to you. - Why didn't you speak on the phone?

What's up?

- You must find someone else. - For what?

- For your film. - Why?

- Because you're taking advantage of me.

Because you make me do things I've never done.

Because you're taking up my time.

You make me do whatever you want.

The film is over!

I'm tired of being raped!

- Come in!

- You wanted to talk to me. Go on, then.

You know I haven't come to cry with you, huh?

- Do you mind if I carry on working?

It helps me a lot after what has happened.

Identical.

Rosa wanted them identical.

- Our bathrobes, huh?

You can't tell me anything I don't already know, huh?

- Same color, same pattern.

- Yes, yes, yes.

You're meticulous.

I've always wondered why you save newspaper clippings.

Is it work? Or a hobby?

- Hobby? I don't like that word.

- Ah!

Let's say it's some extra cash. I do it for an agency.

- Oh, so it's serious.

It's a job that makes you read, huh?

Very educational.

- Be honest.

You didn't know we had the same bathrobes.

- Marcello.

- We've got a lot of things in common.

- Marcello, I know everything.

No, Rosa often talked to me about you.

I don't think there are many marriages like that.

It's strange.

I'm thirsty.

- Would you like a shot of bourbon? - Hold on.

Here's the bourbon.

- Was that a present from Rosa, too?

- I don't really like bourbon,

but Rosa wanted me to keep a bottle here in my room.

I was asking myself this question.

If, with these little things,

unimportant things,

we could go back over things, and understand together.

- Together?

- It's almost a year that Rosa and I...

Not passionately, but regularly...

I thought I knew her as much as you can know...

- Your mistress. - For example,

a while ago, something happened that I still don't understand.

Do you see there, on the wall?

She had climbed onto the bed,

and she was trying to tear at the walls with her hands.

I stopped her because she was breaking her nails.

She had a strange... violence about her.

I'd never seen her like that.

- Our room is painted white.

Rosa wanted it to be different from the other rooms in the hotel.

To make it look like...

a more normal home.

But...

it had to be changed here, too.

I think she started with the wall.

- A cold sore. I don't know. Shit.

- You're lucky, huh?

You were... you must have been very handsome

twenty years ago.

- Not as much as you.

- You've still got all your hair.

- My hair... I have to have it trimmed often.

And wash it. I wash it nearly every day.

- Don't you have massages?

- Yes, I do.

- You're in good shape.

What do you do for... your stomach?

That's my problem.

- For that... I have a secret.

- Tell me!

- Are you leaving us? I saw your suitcase was packed.

America.

Why was she unfaithful to you?

- You can't believe that Rosa...

killed herself.

It's hard for me to

believe, too.

- This is my secret!

Thirty times every morning.

- Are you in?

Is anyone here?

Hi, monster.

Is something wrong?

Do you really think

that an American sitting on the floor in an empty flat,

eating cheese and drinking water is interesting?

There's something under here. Can you hear it?

It's hollow.

- What are you doing?

- Shit!

- Do you know why I sent the others away?

- Because you're angry, or you want to be alone with me?

- And why do I want to be alone with you?

- You have something really serious to tell me.

- I have something really very serious to tell you.

- Is it happy or sad? - It's a secret.

- So it's happy. What sort of secret?

- A secret... - Speak up! I can't hear anything.

- ...between a man and a woman. - Is it dirty or is it about love?

- About love. But that's not all.

- A secret about love, but which isn't love.

What is it?!

- Voila! That in a week I'm marrying you.

- What? - I'm marrying you.

- What?! - I'm marrying you!

- You're marrying me? - Yes!

- We're getting married? - Yes.

- No? - Yes.

- No! - Yes.

- Yes? - Yes.

- No. - Yes.

- Yes? - No.

- Are we getting married or not? - I don't know.

- So, yes, then? - Yes!

- No! - Yes!

- Yes. - No.

- Yes or no?

- Of course, I'll send everything to the country.

What do you think, Jeanne?

- Olympia will be happy.

I went there yesterday with Tom.

She's preparing a family museum.

- Of course, I'm not sending the boots. I'm keeping them with me.

I get strange shivers when I touch them.

All these military things never age.

When I was little, it seemed really heavy...

when Papa taught me how to shoot.

- I'm keeping that here.

In a respectable household, it's useful to have a weapon.

- You don't even know how to use it.

- The important thing is to have one. It makes an impression.

- You really kept everything of Papa's.

Who's that? His orderly?

- A fine example of a Berber. - Oh.

- A strong race. I tried to employ them as servants, but it was disastrous.

I'm glad I decided to send everything to the country.

All his things were piling up and piling up.

- Don't worry. You'll soon have all the space you want.

- What does that mean?

- Nothing.

Madame, the colonel's lady,

I announce...

- What? What?

On this solemn day...

- What? What solemn day?

- I'm getting married in a week!

- What did you say? - To Tom! In a week!

- Pardon? - Tom!

In a week! - What are you doing in a week?

- Five... two!

Move into shot! We're shooting!

So... how do you see marriage?

- Marriage? - Yes.

- I see it everywhere. All the time.

- What do you mean, everywhere?

- On walls. On buildings. - Walls and buildings?

- Yes, on advertising hoardings. What are they selling?

- Cars. Tinned meat. Cigarettes.

- No. They're all about young couples.

Before marriage, no children.

Then the same couple, married with children.

In short, marriage.

The perfect, ideal, successful marriage.

It's no longer the preserve of the Church.

The husband was burdened with responsibilities and the wife nagged.

Now, weddings in advertising smile!

- They smile. On posters.

- On posters, of course. But why not take poster marriage seriously?

Marriage... Pop marriage!

- Pop? That's the formula.

For pop youth, pop marriage!

But... what if the pop marriage doesn't work?

- Then you have to fix it like you would a car.

The spouses are two workers in overalls,

bending over an engine to fix it.

- And in case of adultery what happens to the pop marriage?

- In that case, there are three or four workers.

- What about love?

Is love pop?

- No. That's not. Love isn't pop.

- Love isn't pop. So what is it?

- The workers retire to a secret flat,

take off their overalls and become men and women again,

and make love.

- You're wonderful.

- It's the dress that makes the bride.

- You're better than Rita Hayworth.

Better than Joan Crawford!

Better than Kim Novak!

Better than Lauren Bacall!

Better than Ava Gardner...

...when she was Mickey Rooney's lover!

What are you doing? Stop! Stop, but keep filming!

Why aren't you filming in the rain? You're crazy!

- Where's Jeanne? - She must have run off.

- When? In the rain?

- Please forgive me!

- I wanted to leave you and I couldn't.

I can't leave you, do you understand?

Do you still want me?

- Voila!

- I want to get out of here. I want to go.

I can't stand it here any more.

Yes. I'm going.

I'm not coming back...

...ever.

- Quo vadis, baby?

- What?

- Is anyone there?

- There was a noise in there!

- Well? Is anyone there?

- Here he is. Hurry up!

Wake up!

- Open up! Open up! - It's four in the morning.

- I need room four for a while.

Half an hour? Yes, that'll do.

Yes, half an hour.

- We're full. - That's not true.

When you're full, you put a sign outside.

I know the hotel.

I'm sick of arguing out on the street.

Call the owner.

What are you waiting for? The owner has never made a fuss.

Rosa and I are old friends.

Open up.

Don't make any trouble or I'll tell your boss.

Come in, it's all sorted...

You've won. He's taken off.

- I'm very sorry.

- Hurry up! He can't be far away.

Make him come back. Tell him he can't just walk off.

- Oh... please don't tell her you found me.

I don't fancy it any more. Did you see her face?

Once, my wife satisfied me.

But now she's got a skin disease. It's like snakeskin.

Put yourself in my place. - Come. Come with me.

- But... let go of me!

You're crazy!

Let go of me! Let go!

- Try and remember! The man from the fourth floor.

He moved in a few days ago.

- I told you, I don't know anyone.

They come and go. The man on the fourth, the woman on the first.

What do I know?

- Where did they take the furniture to? It's empty.

Where do you send his mail? Give me his address.

- I don't have it.

I don't know these people.

- Not even his name? - Nothing!

Mam'zelle!

- I've found a flat for us.

1, rue Jules Verne.

Yes. In Passy.

Come quickly! You'll come now?

Do you know where it is?

I'll wait for you. Come over.

Come in, it's open.

Do you like our flat?

It's very light.

There's a tiny room, too. It's too small for a double bed.

It would be fine for a child.

Fidel. That's a nice name for a boy.

Fidel, as in Castro.

- But I'd like a girl, too.

Rosa. As in Rosa Luxemburg.

Less famous, but I like it.

You know...

I wanted to film you every day.

In the morning, when you wake up,

in the evening, when you sleep.

When you first smile...

and I didn't film any of that.

Here.

Today is the last day of shooting, you know?

The film is finished.

I don't like things that finish, things that end.

You have to start something else right away.

This flat is huge!

Where are you? - I'm here!

- It's too big! We'll get lost! - Stop it! Don't start!

- How did you find this flat? - By chance.

- We'll change everything! - Everything!

We'll change chance to destiny.

- Go on, Jeanne. Take off!

Fly away, you're in heaven!

You're soaring, you're in heaven!

Come down, take a nose dive, come down!

Make three turns, come down.

Jeanne, what's happening? There's an air pocket.

- What's happening?

- The patches of turbulence are over.

We can't play like children anymore, Jeanne.

We're adults. - Adults? That's awful!

- Yes. It's awful.

- What do adults do?

- I don't know.

We'll have to invent the gestures and the words.

For example, adults...

But there's one thing I do know.

Adults are calm, serious,

logical, measured, level-headed.

- Yes.

- And... they face up to problems. - Yes, yes. Yes, yes.

- You see, Jeanne, this flat won't work for us.

This flat, it won't work for us, Jeanne.

- Where are you going? - To look for a flat.

- What kind of flat?

- A flat we can live in.

- We can live here.

- It's squalid. It smells. It makes me sick.

Are you coming with me? - No, no.

I've got to close the windows and return the key. There's a lot to do.

- OK.

- Bye. - Bye.

- The jury has chosen

the following ten best couples:

Number three!

Seven!

Eight... Nine...

11... 12...

13... 14...

15... and 19!

And now, ladies and gentlemen, good luck for the last tango!

- That's the limit! What are you doing?

You'll have to leave, sir.

- Madame! 'Tis ever love.

- Go to the circus if you want to see love!

Go on! Get out of here!

You'll have to leave.

- It's over.

- Stop it! We're finished.

- Go away! Go away! Go away!

Go away!

- I'll call the cops!

- After you, mademoiselle!

- It's over!

It's over!

- It's over!

- Help!

Help! Help!

Please, help!

Help! Help!

- Help! Help me!

Help!

- I don't know who he is.

He followed me in the street.

He tried to rape me. He's a lunatic.

I don't know what he's called.

I don't know his name.

I don't know who he is.

He tried to rape me.

I don't know.

I don't know him.

I don't know who he is.

He's a lunatic.

I don't know his name.