Original subtitles

Excuse me. A dressing gown is up there.

Behind the curtain.

Take 1 step ahead.

Would you please join your hands behind your back?

I didn't really think you'd come.

Hello.

Is Madame Frenhofer home?

Yes, follow me.

Don't mind it. I'm allergic to lion's skin.

It's upstairs.

It's high.

Yes, very high.

Oh, you frightened me. I thought it was the police.

These species are protected.

I risk a sentence.

And Magali... she is under age.

Marianne's with your husband?

Of course.

I won't need you any more. Go and help your mum.

Can you help me? Hold the wing, please.

Wider, please.

This one's going to be difficult.

Has it been a long time...

Has he had many models after you?

It's the first time for many years.

You're white as a sheet. Even green.

Don't worry. Frenho's a gentleman.

You don't have to be afraid.

I'm not afraid of him.

I should never have. I don't know what to do.

There's nothing to do now.

It's too late to ask if you're going to be hurt.

Give me the wing... Let go...

You're going to spoil it.

What's the matter with you?

This way.

I also have a little bump where you hit me yesterday.

Here, I feel it.

How long are they going to...?

I don't know.

Maybe the whole day. Maybe 5 minutes.

How much time do you need?

I work with photos.

Had you known him long...

before you posed for him...

the first time?

I hadn't known him at all.

I did it to pay for my studies.

He was so...

so attractive that I fell at once...

I really fell down. Knocked a chair down.

The chair, the table, the colours...

He helped me to stand up.

I met Marianne in the metro. 3 years ago.

She really felt like throwing herself down.

I talked to her... and we stayed together.

Very romantic.

Very...

He knew what he was talking about...

when he asked if she were ready to sacrifice me for a painting.

No...

he talks without reason or rhyme.

- Or reason. - Pardon?

Or reason. Rhyme or reason.

Yes. Without reason or rhyme.

I couldn't stand if she got hurt.

At first she needed me.

Now it's me who needs her.

If she went away all would be destroyed.

All I am and all I do.

Everything.

Don't leave like that.

We can wait together.

No, I don't want to wait.

I can't. I'm sorry.

I have pins and needles in my legs.

Let's stop.

It's better anyway.

I'm not doing any good.

So, it's over?

Well, yes.

So, good bye.

- See you in Paris maybe. - In Paris? Here. Tomorrow.

I thought...

You are...

As it went wrong...

you thought I'd let you leave like that.

It's normal. I was as ill at ease as you.

Even more...

paralysed.

I'll be waiting for you tomorrow...

10 o'clock.

It's too early?

Good bye.

- It wasn't good? - Very good.

A nightmare. For nothing.

What does Edouard say?

He says it's all right.

Wait! Did he ask you to come back?

Yes.

But I didn't come for that.

I'm not made for it.

Please...

try. It's really important to him.

I don't know...

I do.

Come back tomorrow.

I don't know why he needs me.

He made a mistake and doesn't want to admit it.

I'm sure it's not like that.

I'm sure. I felt it at once. I'm sure...

you'll find it interesting too. You'll see.

I'll see you off. This way.

Tomorrow you just enter this way.

It's always open.

You don't have to ring.

Good bye.

Is it difficult?

Yes, it is.

Bastard...

She didn't want to come back.

I'd run after her. I wouldn't let her go.

You're so interested in her?

That's not the word. She pesters me.

You mean she's a pest?

Rather a nice breast.

A breast. You bastard. I was sure...

You went for a walk?

I walked.

- You came back long ago? - No. 5 minutes.

So...?

What so?

It was good?

More than good.

Which means...?

I've never seen that.

This guy's a magician. He goes straight to the point.

What happened to me is unique.

You're saying it to annoy me.

If the truth annoys you...

He's finished?

You're joking. I'm going back tomorrow. 10 o'clock in the morning.

No sugar.

Give me the...

Take off your necklace.

I feel like a beginner with you. So...

I will do it like Academy students. Starting with the back...

to see your foundation, your balance...

see how you stand. Turn.

Like that.

Straight.

Hands on your hips.

Do I put my hair up?

No, you just loosen it, it's O.K.

But stand straight, you're like all the rest of us.

Nobody taught you how to walk with a sewing machine on your head?

Imagine it like that.

Straight! As if you were stretched up to the ceiling.

It hurts.

It means it's good.

Lean against it.

Bow. I want to see your backbone.

Stretch your arms.

The hand... here.

This one... here... Right.

I'll get a cramp...

- You've got it or not? - Not yet, but I will.

Tell me when you've got it.

Put all your weight on the other foot, please.

The nape of the neck's hurting.

Forget about it.

In the past they tied up the models.

They hanged them by their wrists or ankles to keep the pose.

It's not the pose I want.

What are you thinking about...

at this moment?

- About your lover, Nicolas? - No.

About me.

I've got it... cramp.

So move a little.

Turn back.

I don't want to see your face.

The foot.

Would you like some?

You're never hungry? I could eat 10.

I don't particularly like ham.

Do you know Rubek?

The sculptor...

Dead now.

Died in an avalanche in Norway...

with his only model.

Never heard of him.

He did 2 or 3 things that weren't bad.

In marble.

A Resurrection...

He could've been great...

It's a pity.

You get stuck inside of what you're searching for.

Possession...

They're all after a possession.

They don't know it's impossible.

Giving up everything is frightful.

Her name was Irene.

Rubek and Irene.

A strange girl.

A little crazy, I think.

I'd known her before him.

This way you look a bit like her.

I must have painted her exactly in this pose.

One of my first paintings.

So disconcerting, their death.

Almost all the girls, the models before Liz...

there were so many. I forgot them all.

I picked them up in the street.

Every time a torture.

It worked?

They consented?

Almost always.

There was one... what was her name?

I kept her a long time...

there was something about her...

A sort of indifference...

provocative, almost insulting.

Lie down.

Naked she looked as if she were dressed

and dressed she looked as if naked.

Just the opposite of Liz.

How about Liz?

You met her in the street?

No.

In a cafe near the Odeon.

Her back was bare,

it was April and she was shivering.

It was pouring buckets.

I covered her shoulders with my jacket.

So, she told me...

What is it?

I want a cigarette.

Later.

Come on.

Here.

Here.

Wait... here.

What did she tell you?

The first time in the cafe?

That she posed for money.

I like coincidences.

I don't know if that was it and she never tells.

Straight, the fingers straight.

Anyway, at first I wanted her, before wanting to paint her.

For the first time, I was scared.

The fear became the driving force behind what I did.

A change of speed, like a whirlwind.

I became blind.

A tactile painting.

As if it were...

as if it were my fingers that saw...

and commanded themselves.

That's what I'm looking for.

That's what I want.

Yes, that's it!

It was then, maybe...

that I became a real painter.

So, why?

Why didn't I continue?

I'd have died of it.

Or else, she would have.

Besides...

It's enough now.

Come on, we've had the rest. To work!

Here.

You look sad. Is it because of your fiance?

I haven't got a fiance.

What about Joseph from Triadou?

I no longer see him, I no longer love him.

And he's gone away.

Far away?

To Saint-Vincent.

Oh, it's at least 2 miles from here.

Oh no, you're not going to cry.

It's the thing that stings.

Come on, hold the perch, please.

You know, once I was...

sad, very sad.

What was the reason?

The reason's not important... Because of my lover.

Mister Frenhofer?

Of course not. I was your age.

You know what I did? I took some modelling clay...

and made a little figure.

I glued a piece of my fiance's hair to it...

and I started driving needles into his body.

I felt better with the first one...

and with the thirty third I was real fine.

What about him?

You mean the fiance? Never heard of him again.

I'm sure he died at the age of 33.

Like Jesus.

But this bastard was no Jesus.

I'll break you to pieces...

I'll get you out of your body...

get you out of your carcass.

You've done it already.

You think so? You think I'll take what you're giving me?

I want to know and see the inside of your body.

That's why I can't move at all?

You're not free and neither am I.

Like that!

When I was little I loved pulling my toys to pieces.

I want to see...

How many models I exhausted...

until their bones got dislocated.

Once I put Liz's shoulder out ofjoint.

- Now it's me! - Come on, I'm not hurting you.

The whole body, not just some pieces...

I don't care about your breasts, legs, your lips...

I want more.

I want everything.

The blood, the fire, the ice... All that's inside your body.

I'll take it all.

I'll get it out of you and put it into this frame.

Here!

In this blank.

Like that.

I'll get to know what's inside...

under your thin surface...

I want the invisible.

No, it's not that!

I want...

It's not me who wants...

It's the line... the stroke...

Nobody knows what a stroke is.

And I'm after it.

I'm running, running...

Where am I going?

To the sky? Why not?

Why wouldn't a stroke burst the sky?

As you wish, but I'm fed up.

It's only just begun.

No more breasts, no more stomach, no more thighs, no more buttocks!

Whirlwinds!

Galaxies, the ebb and the flow...

Black holes!

The original hubbub, have you never heard of it?

That's what I always wanted from you.

I'm going to crumble you,

you're going to break up.

We'll see what's left of you...

when you forget everything.

Don't worry, you'll get it back...

if you still want it.

You're rotten.

I'm nothing. I'm doing nothing.

I want nothing, I told you. It's the painting...

You and I, we're just involved.

It's going to be a whirlwind, a cataract, a maelstrom...

Faster, faster...

until you see nothing, feel nothing.

Mach 1, Mach 2, Mach 3.

Your ears aren't buzzing?

I've no more ears, I can't feel my body.

Very well, neither can I.

That's almost it... almost.

All we need is just...

I'm sorry...

It's what I'm saying?

It's me...

I'm sorry, it's not you, it's me...

Listen, Julienne. I can't come back.

You have to do it for me.

No, I don't want to call him. I prefer you go to the gallery.

He likes you. It'll be better.

Tell him what you want, make it up.

We'll take the photos next week.

I'm doing as fine as I can.

It's Marianne and it's not. She lives her own life.

Listen...

all I'm asking you is to take care of this catalogue.

Big kiss.

Yes, me too. Very much.

Can we continue?

How long was I asleep?

An eternity... a quarter of an hour.

I was dreaming of an enormous...

wild cat that was hanging from my finger.

Here...

- Like that? - Yes.

Excuse me, I... I didn't see you.

No, it's me...

It's Edouard who...

I didn't tell you to turn your head.

So...

Can you see anything?

I think so... Yes.

Is it really what you want?

I can't stay, Francoise needs me.

I have to go.

I'm going.

It's you who told her to come?

It's none of your business.

Why?

What?

Why did you abandon it?

Abandon what?

The old painting with Liz.

Why are you so interested? Liz is not you.

But it's that one...

It's that painting you wanted to start again.

You can never start again.

Stop kidding me.

Tell me why I'm naked in front of you.

I need you.

Why me?

Why me? It was Liz then...

You're too curious. You'd like to know everything at once.

Before anybody else.

Before things happen.

You can only know after.

And not for sure.

What are you using me for?

It's not me you wanted to paint, you said.

It's you and it isn't you.

It's more than you.

More of you than you can imagine.

If the painting's true...

it will be you.

I don't get it.

Neither do I. All the better!

But I need to understand!

To understand, to know...

Nobody really wants it. Nobody. Even...

the strong...

I am strong...

I think.

We'll see that.

You want me to flee.

That's what you wanted.

- From the beginning. - No. I want you to fight.

We've got to be strong till the end.

I'm beginning to see you...

Just beginning.

But... stand up straight!

You want to stop?

I think it'd be better.

Something's wrong?

I don't know.

One can surely get something out of it.

But not me.

For a while I believed I'd found it...

a miracle. But no...

I've done that 100 times.

I can do it again, better or worse.

But what's the use...

I'd rather die...

You give up too quickly.

You're telling me?

You told me to fight. If you give up now I'll think it's me...

that it's my fault.

It's me. My words made you drunk.

That's all I can still do. Enough.

No.

There's me.

I count too.

You've just hurt me so much,

that for a moment I couldn't breathe.

Neither could you.

Something has happened.

We can go on further.

Further? Yes...

To the famous point of no return.

That's what I can't reach anymore.

We'd better forget it.

You took me with you.

Whatever you say, you forced me to go with you.

You can't leave me like that, all alone in this void.

You're scared. I'm not scared any more.

I'll be here tomorrow morning. 10 o'clock.

You're sure she got angry yesterday?

You seem to like the idea.

I thought you wanted her...

to be Frenhofer's model.

I thought you wanted to see this painting.

I've changed my mind.

First of all, I want to see Marianne in person...

and go back home quickly.

Don't be in such a hurry.

What do you mean?

I'm up to his tricks.

If Frenho has got his mind on...

Excuse me.

You've come for me?

Listen,

we leave it, we're going home.

No, we're not going home.

I thought you...

You were wrong.

We can't stay. I've got my work.

You're free to go. I'm staying.

See you tomorrow, Liz.

Let's call it a day.

Let's go to bed.

Well, she looked quite determined tonight.

Yes, she has set her heart on it.

I wonder why.

You really wonder. Is that so?

What about you?

It's you who set her up and down.

Up and down, up and down...

Don't exaggerate.

We've been working...

I noticed.

Don't run away.

I don't run away. I'm just tired.

You haven't worked like that for a long time.

It must be really important.

What do you mean "important"?

You know very well what I mean.

Is that it?

I don't know.

I think you're playing with this girl.

You don't care about the danger.

What grand words. Don't dramatize.

Sometimes you're a despicable coward.

And you make me sick.

And you...

Good morning.

Take your time.

Edouard's still sleeping.

Will you tell him I'm waiting, please?

Of course.

Be careful.

Careful of what?

He values his work more than anything else.

It can cause a lot of damage...

to people.

Thank you. I'll try to defend myself.

If he wants to paint your face...

refuse.

I'm sorry, no.