Original subtitles

Papa? What?

The mosquitoes.

They're back.

Which one?

The young one.

The singer. Come inside.

She's dying.

That won't? I can't think of how Mary.

She's still there and it doesn't look like she's budging. Do I hang on? Yes,

wait for a little bit.

Is the patron coming?

Not today. He's gone to the doctor.

I'm ready for you.

Shoes!

A symptom of claustrophobia.

What? That little habit of looking out of the window.

Just the top.

This insomnia, is it with you all the time or just now and then?

Well, now and then.

Digestion?

So -so.

Too many petit -femblants.

Cognac, anise.

And madame's good cooking. Sit down.

Oh, by the way, I still have to remind you.

Dinner on Saturday.

Duck with orange.

Oh, an occasion.

My birthday. Which?

50th. So now everything is clear. The winter gazing, the insomnia.

What do you mean?

You are facing the climatic.

You make me sound like a woman.

Ah, with a man that is spiritual.

The half century, the grand turning point.

The effect can be just as great.

When did they retire you?

55. Oh, so young.

I envy you.

Five years, eh?

Then it'll be the cottage at Mearn or Mawson, the garden, the fishing line.

Every time I pass one of the anglers on the quays, I'll see myself five years'

time. You must learn to get used to it.

You permit?

Yeah. I give it, though.

Another jaw robbery.

Mm -hmm.

Oh.

What?

Well, they've given you a nose like an old regime.

Dinner's nearly ready.

You've plenty of time for your drink, though.

Oh, did you remember to call Armand?

The pardon's about Saturday night, your birthday party.

No, I saw him.

You went to see him?

It was nothing. Just a routine check.

Refer him to the police surgeon.

What did he say?

Oh, perfect.

Excellent.

Having a change of life.

Did you tell him you haven't been sleeping well lately?

He gave me some pills.

What you need's a holiday, a real one.

Oh,

you're awake.

How are you?

I couldn't sleep.

I'll be all right now.

You're talking to yourself.

You going to keep that light on?

I've been thinking.

It'd be nice to go off for the weekend somewhere.

What about the party?

Next weekend.

I thought we could go to Mayong. It's so nice up there.

All right, Moon.

More sun.

More, more sun?

I thought while we were there, we could...

Have a look round, you know.

Call in on one or two of the agents.

Well, there's some lovely cottages there down by the river. Perfect for fishing.

You and Pardon, both preparing me for the grass.

I was only thinking that if we're going to buy, we ought to buy now.

I'll never double the price in five years' time. It's only said, June.

We can use it for the weekend.

Madam, I am 50, not 80.

If you want any further proof...

Oh, June.

Oh.

Hello?

Is it Commissioner McGray?

McGray here?

Who's that?

Oh, God, please.

You must help me. I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. I've got

money. They gave me something. I've been drunk.

Some girl. She sounds drunk.

What's your name?

Wait

a

minute now.

Just tell it to me slowly. Where are you from?

La Rochelle,

right. Start from there and tell me what happened.

She met me at the station, but Marco wasn't there.

Huh? Who is this Marco?

art gallery on the other side of the street.

Look through the window.

Yes.

Who's that fellow?

Well, stay there. Someone will be with you in ten minutes.

Wait there.

It's after midnight.

Send one of the inspectors.

It's only ten minutes away.

I'll put her in a hotel and come back.

No, I've got a small one.

Yeah.

Now, wait a minute. Don't worry.

Would you like some more coffee?

No.

Nicole Galby.

You?

I won't leave Nicole.

I had tea.

Why did you think of telephoning me?

Well, because I'd heard about you.

You sure you wouldn't like some more coffee?

No.

When did you get to Paris?

It was thick.

And you had no idea where your friends took you? No.

This man Marco, what was he like?

He was... He was dark and... He wore a brown suit.

Was he short? Tall?

He wasn't tall.

You're feeling sick, aren't you?

Where are your parents, Nicole?

There's only Papa and... He's a magistrate.

In La Rochelle?

They'll be looking for you.

We'd better talk to him.

Oh, no, please.

I can't talk to him like this.

They gave you a lot to drink, didn't they?

Oh, I think they put something in.

But that would be nothing.

He thinks I'm in my arms, you know.

And I want to sit and lie down. Come.

Can you walk?

Come on, then.

It's not far.

You all right?

Young lady needs a room for the night.

16, second floor. Okay,

16.

Come on then.

Sit down.

Now, which is it that we... Go to sleep or throw up first?

I think you'll sleep.

Go on, sign back.

Thank you, madame. You've been most helpful.

You'll just sign your statement.

Adieu, mes enfants.

Adieu, Patron.

Patron d 'Auguste.

As you saw with the car drive -off, doesn't even know the make or the

The other reports are on your desk. They're all the same.

Who's covering Aline Palmare today?

Jean Vier.

Patron de direct... Now, come on. Get me the hotel this time, will you? Yes,

Patron. Patron de direct, this meeting has started.

Hello?

Madame,

I'd like to speak to Mademoiselle Nicole Calvé, room 16.

Mademoiselle... Ah, yes, the 16.

She left this morning, monsieur, at 7 o 'clock.

She had no money.

She said Commissaire Mécré would pay.

I see.

All right, madame. I'll be round later in the day to settle the bill.

Yes.

See if there's a magistrate named Calvé at La Rochelle.

Shall I get him for you?

No, just see if he exists.

I'm beginning to doubt it.

My apologies, director.

asked to speak to the minister in person.

Yes, it is important.

I'm going to find it here.

Long? Yes, Friar.

This is a matter on which I must see you at once.

Hello, Joseph.

So, thank you, sir.

The preface.

Thank you, Joseph.

Patron, there's no... I've been swept in by the new broom. What the traffic?

I am convoked.

Very full.

September the... Today.

Now. Perhaps he won't forgive you a medal, patron.

What happened about that magistrate, Calvet, La Rochelle?

Oh, you're right. He doesn't exist.

Commissaire.

You've been in the police service a long time, Monsieur Macrae.

Since I was 22, Monsieur le Prefet. So long.

And your duties have taken you widely.

The metro, stations, the big stores, vice, gambling.

And now you're a divisional commissaire.

Yes. Within five years of retirement.

And three days.

In 28 years, you must have seen many changes in methods, procedures.

The criminals haven't changed.

And you, like them, prefer to keep to the old ways as well.

They work.

The use of informers, the what one might call highly personal approach that you

have evolved, in which you have gained a certain celebrity.

I have here a statement made by Mademoiselle Nicole Prieur of 7

Champs -Élysées at 9 o 'clock this morning.

Prieur?

Her uncle with whom she lives is Jean -Baptiste Prieur, president of the State

Board of Appeal.

He was present at the deposition.

It is quite short.

I will ask you to read it in my presence.

It would be possible at this moment for me to accept your resignation.

Your pension will remain unaltered.

You would merely enjoy it five years earlier than you had anticipated.

May I read the document, monsieur?

before the witness is undersigned.

At 7 o 'clock yesterday evening, I was at the apartment of my friend, Martin

Bouet, in the Boulevard Saint -Germain.

Martin is a fellow student at the Sorbonne studying history of art.

I bought some new records and we were playing them.

At about 11 .30, I left to go home.

The evening was very fine and warm.

I was going down the rue Guénégou when I remembered that I'd left the records

behind at Martin's.

She knew I wanted them to play next day, and I was afraid she might phone home

to tell me I'd left them and wake my uncle, who always goes to bed early.

I thought this was the bar she desired.

I thought I'd call her from there.

I knew she'd still be out.

I don't know how long we talked for.

You know how it is. Once you get started, you go on from one thing to

Anyway, I've finished.

And I went to have my coffee, which was pretty cold by now and wholly bitter.

And then I saw a man looking at me through the glass.

I don't know why, but I had the feeling he'd been looking at me for minutes.

I stared back, because I felt somehow I recognised him.

And he must have taken that as a signal, because...

Recognise me?

I'm not sure.

Make way.

In person.

Take this. That's me.

And all the papers.

Layer of criminals.

Something for the young lady.

You were taller than I thought.

Not the fat of his pictures.

And I don't think that was the first drink he'd had that evening.

You know, a lot of people have funny ideas about my job.

You too, I wouldn't mind betting.

Well, we always hear about the wonderful confessions you get from people.

Oh, that comes at the end.

First, you have to catch them.

I'll take tonight.

I'm out looking for a criminal.

Really tough specimen.

I expect to put the handcuffs on him in one of these bars around here.

Hey, you're in a hurry to get back.

Huh? Daddy waiting up and all that?

My uncle trusts me whatever time I come in.

Well, then, why not stay around?

See the fun.

The great migraine action?

Be in all the papers.

Well, why not?

Why not?

Let's pay it back.

I don't know which bar he took me to first.

I keep to remember going down the road I go up and then down another street.

His name, I can't remember.

He bought me a drink. It was whiskey.

I didn't really want it, but my mouth would dry after that coffee.

I don't see him yet. My little Marco.

Dirty.

See that type?

He's called Jojo Le Plastiqueur.

Just about.

14 years for double homicide.

Shouldn't have got five years.

That one got ten.

Go on.

Finish up. I've got a lot of calls to make tonight.

I think I'd better go home.

Another half an hour, and then...

I thought I only

had one drink, but my glass must have been filled several times without my

notion.

You're an old Sandy school chick.

No, no.

I'm going to be sick.

I suppose at the last moment, he got scared.

you require of me, monsieur?

I repeat my offer.

To resign?

The answer is no.

Then you will give me your statement in reply to Mademoiselle Prière's

deposition by three this afternoon.

All I require is an exact account of your movements between nine o 'clock

night and one this morning.

And then?

Then you will have nothing further to do.

You can simply occupy yourself with your normal duties.

There will be an investigation.

You will be given a decision within 48 hours.

Who will make the investigation?

That is no concern of yours.

That must not leave this office.

But it must if I'm to make my statement.

The young lady's gone into a lot of detail.

Very well.

But it will be seen by no eyes but your own.

and returned under field with your statement.

And, Commissar, you will divulge nothing of this to any of your staff or seek to

carry out any investigation of your own. That is a strict order.

Who from? The uncle of Nicole Prieur?

From the Minister for the Interior.

You remember me?

Last night, after midnight, there was a girl.

People come in all the time.

Not last night.

Just the two of us. I don't know. I don't remember.

She used the telephone.

She made two calls.

You must know, because you made me pay for two calls. I told you, I don't know

anything. You don't know. I don't know anything.

They've been at you already, huh? Who?

The bill has been paid, monsieur.

Oh, by?

It has been paid.

Where's the man who was on duty last night?

He is the night porter.

He is at home.

Where is he, sir? I want to see him.

I do not know, monsieur.

Did he tell you to say that?

Good day, madam.

Where's LaFoyant?

He's got the fuel. It's still turned off.

Get my wife and bring a notebook in here.

Yes.

Hello?

Oh, it's me.

I won't be home for lunch today.

Oh.

I'll get on with my curtain, then.

Has something happened?

Yes.

What about tonight?

Tonight, no.

Something nice.

Shall I get some fish for a change?

Yes, yes.

Right.

Do you want to see me, Pat? Yeah.

Sit down, Ike.

Read that.

No,

give me five minutes. Take it away.

No, take this down.

Statement. Anjou la madame aigre.

Et cetera, et cetera.

Date it.

Fill that in later. Yes, patron.

Now then.

At nine o 'clock on the evening of August the 2nd, 1968, I was watching

television with my wife.

With my wife.

At this point, the girl, whom I now assumed to be Nicole Prieu, lay back on

bed and appeared to fall asleep.

I immediately left her and went home, which took me approximately ten minutes,

and went straight to bed.

The time was 1 .30.

Wherever Mademoiselle Prieu's account conflicts with the above, it is a lie.

No, cut out that last bit.

I have the honor to be, etc., etc.

Two coffees, accolade, and your best typing.

Yes, patron.

Who is she?

Nicole Prieur, niece of Jean -Baptiste Prieur, president of the State Board of

Appeal, leading jurist. I've looked him up.

Big wheel in the Fifth Republic. Like that with the Minister of the Interior.

And no doubt with Monsieur le Prefet.

With whom I just had a pleasant quarter of an hour. You mean they believe all

this? I take it you don't.

Is that bit where you say, I am the police?

I could follow the rest.

Thanks.

Look, she telephoned me last night, about midnight.

Some story about running away from home, lost in the big city.

Some man tried to seduce her, got her drunk, took her money.

Went to the bar, found her there.

Too ill to...

Speak much, or seem so.

Put her in a hotel and left her there, that's all.

Why did you go yourself, patron?

Why not whistle up a local man? Because I had insomnia.

And because once in a while your habits, your whole way of being become a trap.

Oh, yes, they believe it.

Why should she lie?

Why make up that farrago?

I thought I'd stop believing in a pure will to evil.

Your wife, she must have heard the phone call. Exactly, my wife.

She talks here about phoning her friend, Martine Bouet. That could be checked.

That would mean she must have made two phone calls. Yes, two phone calls.

One to me, one to her friend.

First thing I went for.

If I could prove that, I could crack a story.

But the man, the theory, runs the bar, won't talk.

The specials got at him before I did.

Zombies.

Been to the hotel, too.

All that deposition.

You'd have your scalp for even knowing it exists.

I'm sorry, Lepointe.

I had to talk to someone. You can forget it.

The director, he said anything?

I know them. They haven't even told him.

We've got to find out more about that girl.

All we know so far is she's a de Sorbonne, she's the niece of Jean... I

forget it.

Yes, patron.

Photo. I must have a photo.

To Luc.

Get me a passport record.

Rich girl, she must have been abroad.

DeLuke, your old friend La Pointe. Hello.

How's the Maserati?

Fabulous. Had a rally last Sunday. Phantom blown back in four hours.

It's crazy about cars.

And back, fantastic.

Listen, Louis, I want you to do me a favor.

I want a photo.

Nicole Baptiste Prieur, niece of Jean Baptiste Prieur, who's the... President

the Board of Appeals. Exactly, that's the man.

Address, 7 Rampointe des Champs -Elysées.

a whole minute. You're slipping.

I'll be there.

He's having a look.

What's the betting?

It's bound to be there.

Zombies have had an hour's start.

They'll never have thought of this one.

Those boys work by the book. Half of them can't read.

Are you there?

Yes, Louis.

You've broken your record.

I'm afraid it's been removed for authentication.

When? 10 .30 this morning.

That's a bit of bad luck.

No, no, no, it doesn't matter. It's not important. Thanks, anyway.

Well?

Removed for authentic patient.

10 .30 this morning.

Well, I was still with the prefect.

Oh, they're good. They're very good.

We've got to have a photo.

Barnack and his little camera.

No, I'm not dragging that poor old devil into this. Patron, he's three months

off retirement. His pension's assured.

He doesn't give that for the new broom.

Accolon, find Inspector Barnard to get him up here, will you? Right.

This girl's just a pawn, love one.

She never thought all this up by herself.

Not unless she's a criminal genius.

So? There's someone behind her.

Maybe someone who's got it in for you.

Who wants me out of the way?

That's it, patron.

That's your motive.

Whose hair have you been getting into lately?

Everybody's. Some of these students mix in pretty weird company.

Drugs, sex.

She could be blackmailed. This is not the work of some petty crook.

There's a brain here and a will.

Whose?

Ray, I'm not interrupting.

Murder it! Don't get up on it.

Make Ray, I've been convoked to the preface office.

Another of his press conferences.

Of course, it's the...

Public outcry against the jewel robbery.

If crime could be solved by press conferences, Paris would be another

Before the fall.

You still think you're on to a good lead with your... What's his name?

Manuel Palmari.

He may be the man behind them, director, or not.

Either way, he knows who it is, I'm certain.

He's got his ear to every villainy in Paris.

Informers. Well, we have to use them.

What about pulling this Palmari in?

Two years ago, he was shot up.

Rival gang with machine guns.

Left crippled for life.

He knew who it was, but he never spoke.

Let me do this my way, Director.

He's beginning to trust me. One of these days, he'll pass me the right kind of

hint.

Very well, Macrae.

They haven't told him.

He's told me something, though.

When did I last see Balmari?

The day before yesterday, Tuesday.

Before that?

Monday, I took you there.

Before that?

Saturday. You've been sitting on his neck for three weeks.

It could fit. He's got the brain.

If he is the type behind the jewel robberies, he'd have the motive.

12 .30.

We might find a lien there, too.

On the chair.

You wanted to see me.

Good luck, Benna.

You again.

One of these days, Monsieur Magret, you'll finish by upsetting me.

Now, come into my room.

Can't stand this one Aline's idea.

Salon. What does an old cripple like me want with a salon?

All right, Monsieur Magret.

What is it today, then?

Look, I'm a free citizen. I pay my taxes. I've got a clean record.

I used to run an honest bar.

Yes, honest.

till they peppered my backside.

Now I live like a mouse in a hole. I have to be washed and dressed like a

Just a harmless old cripple. So what happened?

My telephone's tapped.

No, don't deny it. I wasn't born yesterday.

And I have to put up with your pipe every day, turning me slowly into a

eel. If you'd only tell me what it is you're after.

Just a talk, Manuel.

I like talking to you.

You have an interesting mind. All right, Monsieur Magret. For me, I don't care.

Do what you like.

But Aline, that's something else.

Has anyone bothered her?

Ah, Monsieur Magret, you're smarter than me.

If I were that, you'd have been inside ages ago.

The old story.

Aline, yesterday it was a young fellow with a felt hat like a singer.

The day before, a dark one with a moustache.

Today?

She can't go out for a loaf of bread without one of your mosquitoes for

Now, you and me, Monsieur MacGray, we've always got on well together.

I've nothing personal against you. Where is Aline?

Shopping. When does she go out?

At ten.

Three hours, not back yet? Well, first she had to go to the dentist.

Oh. How long's she had toothache?

Two, three days.

What's his name, this dentist?

Name I don't know. Look, he's across the road. You can see his plate.

If it wasn't for the curtain, you could see his chair.

Let's go after that. Ask your boys. They know.

Who is Desiree? What?

On the bar. Never heard of him.

Or Nicole?

Nicole? Nicole what?

There's a Nicole on every street corner.

This one's at the Sorbonne.

Oh, what's that?

University.

I'm supposed to know a college girl.

Papa?

Oh, poor Papa Romney.

Are you hungry?

What is going on down there?

Why doesn't he bring his pyjamas and a toothbrush and we'll put up a vest for

him? Good afternoon, Aline.

Aline. Do you hear what he calls me? Aline, not Madame Palmari. Aline. Oh, be

nice to Monsieur Magret, Cherie. You know he's my friend.

Hmm. Look at him.

His hands will need bags in a minute.

With a pair of knickers and a bra.

That'll give him a thrill.

Hello? Is Commissar Magret there?

Yes, he's here.

To you, Monsieur Magret.

What did I tell you? He'd moved in on her.

OK. Jean -Pierre here. Yes, Jean -Pierre.

Patron, is she back?

Yes, she is. She pulled a switch on me in the metro.

What station?

The Madela. Double back. I'm sorry, patron.

Where did she go before you lost her? Which stores?

Magazine de Louvre and... Trois Quartiers. Yes.

Did she speak to anyone? Make any phone calls? No.

All right. And Jean -Pierre?

Shave off that moustache. You're getting noticeable.

I hope it's the young one tomorrow, Papa. He's got nice eyes.

Arlene, how often have I told you not to make fun of the police?

Remember, they're our friends.

I'm still waiting for an answer, Manuel.

Waiting, Monsieur Magret?

About Nicole.

Oh, yes, yes.

Arlene, do you know any college girls called Nicole?

Me? Nicole Proyeur.

She lives on the rond -pointe des Champs -Élysées, and her uncle is a very

important person.

Do we know any important persons, Papa?

Except, of course, Monsieur Magret.

Monsieur Magret, why don't you tell us what this is all about?

Someone in this town is trying to rub me off the scene.

Rub you out? I can think of a few.

Forced my resignation.

They threw a girl at me. And you fell for it? No. I would in my day.

Papa. The effect is the same. The story is the same.

An enemy taking revenge?

I thought of that, but it doesn't fit.

Now, I think it's someone who feels that I've been sitting on him for too long.

He wants to get out from under.

Maybe he's afraid I'm going to put the finger on him for something big.

He'd have to be someone pretty smart, who knows me well, with a twisted sort

humour.

Does that remind you of anyone, Manuel?

I can't think who it could be.

Oh, I swear, by the life of Aline.

I'll be back.

Hello?

But if I told them that I'd heard you talk to the girl... Would you tell a lie

to save me?

But it isn't a lie. No, but would you?

Yes, of course I would.

There you are. They know that.

So does the party who thought up this little piece.

What kind of a creature can she be?

I was thinking of Nicole.

Oh, Nicole. I can't bear to say the names of a human being. She's a monster.

She's human.

I think she's in love.

Lying for love?

She wouldn't be the first.

Oh, Shoop.

You're going to fight, aren't you?

Of course I am.

But you'd better know what we're up against.

This is no 18 -year -old perjurer that I could break like that.

This is the apparatus.

A parallel police.

Every country has two police forces. The ones you see, the ones you don't.

These are the ones you don't.

How can you fight them if you don't see them?

Why do you think I have this aubergine?

Come

in,

love.

They're, like, good, I think.

Crane, you've got the right girl. Come in.

Oh, madame. Let me see him.

Mr. Owen, that's her.

All right, you've made your glimpse of the enemy.

Now go on with your curtain.

Well done, Bernack.

Who do we know at the Sorbonne?

Oscar. In fact, it's her husband's cousin.

Professor Sorbonne? Professor?

Not exactly. He's a porter on the main gate.

Couldn't be better.

We'll know when he comes off work, yeah?

Oscar! Victor!

How are you, Oscar? As you see, I get no smaller, and you, it must be ten years.

Time flies.

Oscar, I want you to meet the patron, Commissaire Maigret, my cousin, Oscar

Couton. At your service, Monsieur le Commissaire.

Sit down, sit down. What are you drinking?

Cognac? Cognac. Monsieur, another cognac and two bamboo.

It is always a pleasure to meet the famous.

And after being famous, I took you for bigger.

Well, excuse the expression.

That seems to be the general impression.

So you were interested in the children.

Well, I shall call the students my children. I have 5 ,000 of them. Only

Nicole Prieur.

Prieur. Prieur.

I know them all.

Oh, yes, I knew I was right. She's one of them. The Equal Gang.

Ah.

Your help.

Thomas Hill.

Oscar. Victor.

Sante. Hmm.

Yes, um...

Three -year with a history of art history of art with a friend Bonnie a

said the 12 gang Yes, we call them that because they live around the 12

district. Oh some 20 or more. Oh rich mad They come in for all these Jaguars

fuck in the place is reserved for the professor It's fortunate. Most of the

professor's can't afford cars. Are they always the same? Oh, they change you

understand a quarrel one goes off another comes in I'd like to go to a

We talked about it in the newspapers, but you will appreciate I don't go to

places. In Monmouth somewhere, there's a restaurant on the ground floor and

below a club that you have to be a member in. The Hundred Keys.

How do you know? I read the papers.

It's where every member gets a golden key.

I'll be back.

Won't he be better?

What do they say to fish?

I've never seen a fish at home.

The soul, I think.

Yes, after the beast, the soul.

Petit pois, la reine?

Bon crevillon.

Just salad, thank you. Good idea, just salad.

Very expensive.

For wine, monsieur?

No wine, thank you.

Have you a good vin d 'alzheimer?

Yes, monsieur, may I recommend the Gewurztrauminer, the 61, an excellent

for outside.

Oh, and what is that stairway there with the key over it?

That, monsieur, that's the club, the Hundred Keys. It's under the restaurant.

Ah, not very busy.

Ah, it doesn't warm up till later, monsieur.

About 11, then the young ones come roaring up in their cars and the dancing

starts and the noise.

Dancing, eh? Like to dance?

It is for members only, monsieur.

Oh. How do I become a member?

If Monsieur is interested, I will send the secretary.

Sure, if you don't want to become a member.

Ah, the bisque.

Is it as good as mine?

Nothing is as good as yours.

Monsieur Magret?

Monsieur Philippe Landry.

How do you do, Monsieur?

Monsieur Landry, my wife.

Monsieur. Honored madame. We've had acquaintance before.

He wants to try to buy my memoirs for a magazine, Paris Sensation.

Bring up a chair.

He was only 18 at the time.

Now you're the secretary of that place.

Secretary, master of ceremonies, referee.

Do I hear that you want to become a member?

Isn't there an age limit?

There was some idea of that at one time, but they found it would have left out

some very charming people.

Are there really just 100?

Actually, only 89 at the moment.

Are you seriously interested?

Seriously?

Well, the entrance fee is 1 ,000 francs. Oh, but the drinks are cheap, barely

cost price. You, um, have to be sponsored by two members.

Do you know any?

Well, now, if I could run my eye down the register of members, I dare say I'd

see a few I knew.

Down below, I'll get it.

As you see, the, um, names are in alphabetical order with, um, the stone

Mm -hmm.

Abouchard.

Micondarceau.

Barillard. Barillard Chemicals.

Patel.

Probost.

Prier.

Isn't that the name of someone in the government?

Her uncle.

That book will be called The Who's Who of the Young Fatter.

Hmm.

Nicole Prieur.

Seven.

Sponsored by Martin Bouet.

Eighteen. Student.

Sixty -five. Boulevard Saint -Germain.

And by François Mellon.

Thirty -eight.

Stomatologist.

Eleven. Rue Gabriel.

Stomatologist? An odd word.

A superior sort of dentist.

Thank you, Mr. Landry.

You've been more than helpful.

I can hope to welcome you as a member.

All things are possible.

I think some of your guests are arriving.

Yes, by the time I went downstairs.

Apropos, how is Manuel?

The actor?

Manuel Palmari.

Should I know him?

Best not.

Thank you again, Mr. Ludwig. Monsieur?

Madame? Monsieur?

You wanted to see me, monsieur?

Did you find out what you wanted?

Isn't that what he called? A superior kind of dentist.

Did you make an appointment?

No.

I'm not sure that Dr. Milan can see you.

The plate outside says ten till twelve.

It's only five past ten. Were you recommended by anybody?

Madame Aline Palmari.

I can't guarantee that Dr. Milan can see you, but I'll make out a card.

Your name?

Mekai.

June Mekai.

Your profession?

Clerk.

Your age?

Fifty, tomorrow.

And your address?

31 Bouvard, Wickshaven, Lenoir.

Which tooth is giving you pain?

My wisdom, I think.

I don't know. It came on the night.

Will you wait here, please?

Dr. Miller, I'll see you in a few minutes.

Mr. McGray, will you follow me?

This pain came on suddenly?

Yes, it came on in the night.

Have you had it before?

No, no. My teeth are good, I think. A little clean.

Rest your head back no more.

A little more.

Does that hurt?

Uh -huh.

How's that?

Not very pleasant.

But no sharp pain?

No. Rinse your mouth.

Your teeth are perfectly healthy.

If you had any pain, it could be sinusitis.

Is there anything I can do about it?

It's a matter for your doctor.

Do I pay you?

Do you have a social security card?

The fee is 20 francs.

Your local office will refund 80%.

Mr. McRae, this way, please.

Oh, I mean, she took the way out.

Carol, will you show Mr.

McRae out?

You wanted to see me, director?

Ah, Macrae, sit down.

You weren't at the report this morning.

No, I had to go to the dentist.

There's been another jewel robbery.

This morning, just after nine, a jewel is in the Rue Saint -Honoré.

You've been to the scene.

No. But you've had the report.

No.

This visit to the dentist, was it your usual one?

Is that significant, monsieur?

Macrae, I'm trying to put myself in your place.

Believe me, my own is painful enough at this moment.

Yesterday you were sent for by the prefect.

I don't know why he wanted you or what he wanted to talk about.

But before you left his office, he ordered you strictly to stay away from

matter.

Not to speak of it to anyone, staff, colleagues.

That is correct.

It is.

Leaving his office, you went to a bar in the Rue de Chacayo, then to the Hôtel

de Seine. These visits... Were they in connection with the jewel theft?

No.

But with the matter regarding which the Prefect had warned you?

Yes.

Returning to your office, you instructed Inspector Barnard to take certain

photographs of a person you've been forbidden to concern yourself with.

That is so.

Later, you detached Inspector Le Pen from his duties and with him interviewed

concierge from the Sorbonne.

About the same person?

Yes.

That night you took your wife to a restaurant.

Frequented by that person.

And your visit to the dentist.

You want my resignation, monsieur?

McRae, don't make things more difficult for me.

You've been here 15 years to my five. You know my admiration for you.

You know the outcry there's been about this jewel robbery. The impudence.

with which these gangs have committed their outrages.

Yet you detach your staff from their duties and put them on investigations

you've been expressly forbidden to follow.

I have to find a solution.

I think the best thing is you've been working hard, exhausting yourself.

A few days sick leave would... It would only be for a few days until you...

What are you doing?

Thank you director.

Your leave would start at once.

Who's Santa Maria job do you mind the jewelers another leafy job through the

ceiling don't be a dad said you'd be coming I've showed Nicole's photo in

Manuel's old bar in Walmart.

No luck.

What about the dentist?

Well, maybe some connection He knows Aline Palmari and Nicole for you

Maybe one of many old things

Last night I felt some of the threads coming into my hands, but today I... I'm

going to drop the whole thing up on it and warn my nut.

It's an order.

It'll be my last.

He's sent on leave.

The police department, in its tender mercy, thinks that I need a rest.

He'll concern himself with the jewel theft.

And nothing else.

But, patron, you'll be back?

This machine makes such a noise.

What's happened?

Your idea about a trip to Moon.

Mightn't be a bad thing if we took a look round.

You've resigned.

I've been sent on leave.

They didn't believe you?

They tried to tie my hands.

I disobeyed orders.

And so...

That 48 hours, you've still got time. You've got a day.

I never knew how much I depended on her.

Appointment, accolade, the whole machine.

How often in the past have I ordered a telephone line to be tapped?

Never much like doing it.

In the future, when you're telephoning your Aunt Melanie, if you hear two

clicks, watch your language.

Start getting the duck ready for tomorrow.

I don't feel much like a celebration.

I've got new candlesticks for the dining room.

And these new curtains.

I wanted the flat to look nice.

Bit thin for a bedroom, isn't it?

You can't see through from outside.

That they should behave like this after all you've done for them.

All I can say is they've no right.

Jules.

Jules.

Oh, Jules.

I've been nice to you, Monsieur Magret.

I've flipped you a tip or two when it could have cut me my throat.

But enough's enough. I warned you. Leave Aline out of this.

Manuel.

I still believe that you're the man behind these jewel thieves.

Oh, you know who is.

But I swear to you that what I want now is nothing to do with that.

Ask him what it is, Papa.

Well, Aline, when you went to see Melon, what happened?

Not in the surgery, but before that, in the waiting room. I want you to remember

every detail.

She filled in a form, mademoiselle Mott.

Your assistant?

How do you know her name?

Carola told me, the servant.

Does Carola live in the house?

Yes.

But not Mademoiselle Mott.

Well, she's got a place somewhere. I see her come in in the mornings.

Well, go on. What questions did she ask you?

She asked me my name and how I knew of Dr. Merlin, and I said I lived opposite,

and then she filled in the rest of the form, and that was the... No.

When she stood up, she sort of looked me up and down and said, is there nothing

else wrong with you?

As if I needed a clean bill of health to go to the dentist.

Well, leave.

I think you and I share the same habit.

What? We both spend a lot of time looking out of windows.

I've had something to say about that.

When a woman starts looking out of the window, it means something, eh?

There's nobody out there that comes up to your elbow, Barbara.

Did you ever see her go in there?

Is this the girl that threw at you?

Yes.

Any others?

Yes.

But she didn't go about her teeth.

I don't know.

Because it was ten o 'clock at night I saw her going in.

That's the way she walks.

Did any other women go in at night?

Sometimes.

Well, I'm not a concierge. I don't spy on people.

Does the light go on in the surgery?

Yes.

But he closes the shutters.

What are you thinking of?

There are better places than a dentist's chair for a bit of a... You know what.

Eileen.

Have you ever had an abortion?

Of course.

Eileen, is this why you... Oh, no.

No. No, I swear to you. No.

So that's what he is.

Manuel, may I use your telephone?

Hello?

Hello. Armand?

Jules. Hold on a minute.

If that's Sergeant Julien on the monitor panel, leave that pimple alone.

Armand? No, it was nothing. Just someone on the line.

I'm sure you must have some professional colleague who has acquaintance with a

stomatologist called Dr. François Mellon.

Yes, yes, I have.

This case, it concerns the commission of a crime?

Probably the strangest in my career.

Curious. But not unexpected.

What is it you want to know?

Anything you can tell me about François Mellon.

He was my student.

Later, my assistant gifted remarkably, because you realize he

came from the poorest of the poor, from a small village near the Somme. His

father, a drunkard, he was the eldest of the sons, and then there was a sister

two or three years older.

He had been my assistant for two years before I even discovered that

much. Closed in on himself as it were.

Tortured. The students respected him for his ability, but he had no friends.

And as far as we knew, no relations to women.

The other students called him, or rather nicknamed him, Little Virgin.

He was normal.

In the sense you mean, I'm sure, yes, he was attracted by women. I could see

that. When a girl student came into the class, his eyes were on her all the

time, and he became disturbed and confused.

I often tried to get a bit more out of him. I thought if I knew more about him,

I could help him to overcome this disability, this block.

It was like pushing against the wall. Then one night...

We had been working late together.

I forced him to come home with me. I gave him dinner, I gave him a little

He normally never touched it, but this time... And finally he began to talk.

It seems he was not more than ten when the first German soldiers came to his

village. Two motorcyclists, the first German soldiers he had seen in his...

life.

He was playing with his sister. They asked the way to the next village, had a

word with each other, laughed and beckoned to the girl. You've seen his

That's when one of the soldiers slammed with a rifle butt his hand.

They pulled the girl down, raped her, and laughed.

that the boy who had not moved.

After an experience like that, would he be capable of real love?

In the spiritual sense, I think not.

It would mean horror, degradation, death.

And in the physical sense?

Perhaps that too would be destroyed.

But the need, hmm? The need would still be there. Yes, as I said.

In every hour, I expect he was normal.

So how did he express it?

Oh, friend, pardon his better psychology than I. In some cases, it will be

sublimated in work or in some ideal of service.

In others, it will become perverted.

In this case?

Perversion.

Do you know his assistant, Mademoiselle Mott? Oh, yes, I provided her for him.

A devout woman, very religious.

Do you know where she lives?

I suppose where she always lived, I think. We were discussing Francois

before you arrived, Jules.

There's something very interesting which I think you ought to know about him. As

a student, he would never go for the direct, simple solution.

He had a better mind in his class, but he would often fail a problem by

delighting complexity for its own sake.

Well, if the problem were not a classroom exercise, but...

Something that could mean his personal destruction.

How would he respond then? Simple or complex way?

Complex. Very complex.

Au revoir.

Au

revoir.

And then, about two weeks ago, he seemed to change.

He told me I must be careful about the women patients.

Did he tell you why?

No, but I guessed.

And then I saw you.

And I was sure.

He was terrified.

Till yesterday I didn't know of his existence.

But you were watching him.

Every day from the balcony opposite.

It's a habit of mine looking out of windows.

He thought I was watching him.

All I could see was a window with a white curtain. Nothing beyond.

Can't see through from outside.

My interest was with the Palmares.

Nothing to do with talking alone.

The servant, Carola. Does she know what he really does?

What? She lives in the house. She has an attic at the top. The rest of the rooms

are empty.

Is she his mistress?

He has none.

He's alone.

He goes to the club, under keys?

Only to kill the silence.

And sometimes to... To find clients?

Yes. And Nicole Prieur?

I'm sure at first she came for the same reason as all the others. Is she his

mistress? I've told you, he has none.

She's an hysteric who threw herself at his head.

I've tried to talk to him to get him to stop.

He doesn't do it for the money.

He's sorry for these women, and he's skillful.

He's not like these creatures in Back Street who are...

If he had to go to prison, he won't be able to bear it.

You love him?

I pray for him.

Is he a Christian?

No, he has no religion.

In that case, abortion for him would not be a great sin.

There's something else.

There's no mademoiselle.

What else is there that you pray for?

A man with a terrible history?

Incapable of real love?

But with the means, if he chose to take his will, a case is on record.

A doctor in America with an attractive patient. He anesthetized her first and

then.

But she died under the anesthetic.

When did you first guess?

One night a woman came into the surgery.

I showed her in.

I was surprised when she didn't come back into the waiting room, but there is

doorway to the back, and when I asked him, he said he'd shown her out that

In that case, Carola would have seen her go out, did she? I can't tell you

anymore. Then let me help you.

Does he employ a gardener?

No. He looks after the garden himself?

Yes. And that night, did you ask Carola if... No, she told me.

She saw him in the garden.

When was this?

About two years ago.

Ouch.

You said nothing to anyone.

He's alone. He thinks he's ugly.

Do you want to help him?

How can I?

Pick up your telephone.

Call his number.

Tell him that you must speak to him about something urgent.

He must come here.

He won't go to the guillotine. He won't even go to a prison. No, no!

Don't you know what this man is?

Don't you know?

He'll be alone.

Like the woman in the garden, she's alone, isn't she?

Or are there others?

You can go now. He won't be seen.

What's the matter?

He's gone. It doesn't count anymore.

Love me. Love me. No, Nicole.

No.

Yes? Doctor, this is Mott.

Yes? No, not on the telephone.

I must see you here.

Please, you must come at once.

Very well.

You had a car?

Yes.

Take him along.

You have been waiting for me a long time.

But I haven't, Francois.

I haven't.

How long have they been there?

Hard to say about this one. At least two years.

That, not so long.

And the third?

Quite recent. Not more than a month.

That's what I expected.

They're still digging?

Yes, of course.

There are only three.

Oh. You sure?

Sure.

Of course, I haven't determined the cause of death.

They died of heart failure.

Under anaesthetic.

But why all this?

Big old head of only big