Original subtitles

With you it all seems simple.

Alone, I'm worthless.

I'm like a zero ; only useful with other numbers.

Priests are so wretched.

They spend their lives seeing God humiliated.

People make fun of me.

I'm like a wall covered with obscenities.

You're weary.

Weariness is an evil thought.

Suspend your visits.

I do more harm than good.

At first I didn't know what evil was.

I learned it from the moths of sinners.

No one knows better than a priest.

...the awful monotony of sin

&nbsp

I can't talk to them.

I can only absolve or weep.

&nbsp

If one absolution in thirty did its work...

the world would soon be converted.

&nbsp

You're silent tonight, Estelle

Still no coffee at night, Father Donissan?

No thanks, Dean

&nbsp

I'll take mine in the next room.

&nbsp

I've been waiting for you.

I know

I want the Bishop to return me to the monastery. Please back me up.

Why?

I don't belong here. Parish work is too much for me.

My superiors thought so. You do, too.

&nbsp

I'm willing to request your recall, but it's complicated.

Are you overtaxed here?

Don't be childish. The parish is too poor to feed a useless mouth.

Perhaps...

...I could go to the Trappists for a while.

Trappists! You all want to go there! A monastery's no rest home.

&nbsp

What should I do?

Now you're showing sense.

If you can't guide others, how can you judge yourself?

You've been given a master ; me!

I know it...

You were allowed to take holy orders...

despite your superior's doubts.

I am not totally incapable...

...of parish work fitting my intelligence.

Luckily, my health...

Health is God's gift.

I know its price too well.

Your strength and manual skills.

suggest you were meant for a humbler vocation.

It's never too late to admit an error.

Should you try something else,

or return to your plow? I'm asking, not answering.

A man like me is easy to size up.

You're being tactful.

I'm eager to obey. Don't keep me in suspense.

I know you're impatient.

But what you hope I'll say maybe be too great a temptation.

You want my decree. Will you obey it?

&nbsp

I'm not just a crude, ignorant priest,

unable to make himself loved.

I was a poor seminary student.

&nbsp

It took a miracle...

to get me admitted to the priesthood.

I lack intelligence, memory, diligence.

Yet I can't overcome...

...my stubbornness.

Your submission touches me... I must have seemed cruel.

I'm going to be even more so.

Do you know whose hands you've put yourself in?

Please...

The hands of a man you don't respect!

&nbsp

I seem to live like a wealthy layman.

You're ashamed of my leisurely ways, admit it.

You know fools praise my experience...

You think it's sterile, of no use to anyone.

&nbsp

That's how you see it, no?

&nbsp

The thought was unintentional... That's not an excuse.

&nbsp

Now you know my wicked mind...

and now...

&nbsp

My dear boy!

&nbsp

I thought so!

&nbsp

My boy, our Lord is not displeased with you...

&nbsp

Burn this devilish thing tomorrow. We'll find something better.

&nbsp

Your mortification is misplaced. a proper priest wears white linen.

&nbsp

You know, my boy.

&nbsp

your opinion of me is by and large correct...

&nbsp

but it errs on one point:

I judge myself harshly.

I'm reaching my end empty-handed.

&nbsp

You're very different from me.

&nbsp

You've changed me!

&nbsp

I sent for you dreaming naively...

...of bringing in a young priest with poor grades,

lacking the qualities I so prize,

and shaping him.

This was a heavy burden to take on.

&nbsp

But you are shaping me!

I need you!

[i]They[/i] didn't see the gift the Holy Spirit gave you.

[i]They[/i] never see anything!

God appoints us.

&nbsp

The spirit of strength is within you!

&nbsp

Anyone but me, assuming he'd seen as clearly,

wouldn't dare speak to you as I do.

Human prudence is a trap.

&nbsp

Truth will out.

Sanctity!

&nbsp

My pronouncing that word pains you, I know.

You know what the word means ; a vocation, a calling.

You must cilmb to where God calls you, or be lost.

Except no human help.

Doubting your powers and God's aims led you into a blind alley.

I'm setting you back on your road.

&nbsp

I am giving you to those who will prey on you!

&nbsp

May the Lord bless you!

Allow me to withdraw.

Listening to you, I felt despair, but not any more.

&nbsp

Only you, God, may judge me as I am.

&nbsp

A man knows what is happening within him.

It's an impenetrable secret to anyone else.

&nbsp

Father Donissan?

You'll be late.

&nbsp

Are you ill?

No, Dean.

&nbsp

I won't be a minute.

&nbsp

It's me!

&nbsp

What a situation!

&nbsp

You come here at 1 A.M. after your father's visit...

You deserve a spanking.

I'm tired.

I fell in the mud, I'm soaked.

&nbsp

My throat's dry from crying. I was out of my mind.

They'd have ended by killing me.

What parents! They'll never see me again!

Nonsense.

I've god money. I can catch a train to Paris.

My aunt has a nice house and a grocery store.

I'll work for her and be very happy.

Are you of age?

I will be, in time.

&nbsp

Let be stay!

&nbsp

Stay? Where?

They'll all be on our backs... including Gallet.

that damn Deputy!

I was seeing him tomorrow with Dad.

Mouchette, I've god enough problems... I need time.

They say your furniture's the finest around.

&nbsp

Will you answer me?

Answer what?

Answer what!

You can't move in here. It'd stir up a storm.

It's late. I'll take you part-way back.

I won't go to Campagne tonight.

Where'll you sleep?

Here, by the road, anywhere...Do I care?

Sleep wherever. You should've give me time.

In a month, I'd have sold all this. But your father threatened me...

Because you blabbed, like at confession...

Don't cry...please don't cry.

Why are you crying?

&nbsp

I didn't mean what I said.

&nbsp

I can imagine your bully of a father...Did he whip you?

&nbsp

I didn't tell him a thing.

&nbsp

-Why wasn't I told? -You wouldn't have believed me.

&nbsp

Come on, it's over.

&nbsp

You don't believe me?

&nbsp

I don't believe you?

&nbsp

I've done a lot of thinking in the last week.

But it all just became clear.

&nbsp

Life, that is.

&nbsp

I hardly knew myself... Me, Germaine...

I take pleasure in anything, sunshine...any silly thing.

&nbsp

But deep down there's a longing for something else.

&nbsp

But what?

Something you must have, nothing else matters.

&nbsp

We girls'd say: "He gets the prettiest ones"

&nbsp

So I thought, "Why not me? It's my turn"

&nbsp

And now my dad scared you... You're pitiful!

&nbsp

What did I do wrong?

&nbsp

Listen...

If I can sell the mill at Brimeux, I'll have...

...30,000 francs after settling my debts.

&nbsp

10,000 for you, 20,000 for me.

Keep your money. You need it more than I do.

&nbsp

Alright, turn down my money.

&nbsp

But don't spit at me. I'm not ashamed of poverty.

Neither am I. And I didn't ask for anything.

You didn't, but your father...

What's that got to do with me?

&nbsp

He lied ; I didn't give you away!

&nbsp

Last night when he said that, I was furious!

I could've stuck my scissors in my throut...to spite him!

&nbsp

You two don't know me. Trouble's just starting.

&nbsp

I'm wrong to get angry...

&nbsp

Take me to Paris...anywhere...

&nbsp

After the baby's born.

&nbsp

The baby! My father lied to you and you believed him.

&nbsp

Shut up!

&nbsp

If he did, I'll break his neck!

&nbsp

Once everything's sold, I'll find us a place.

&nbsp

Think I'll settle for a country cottage?

&nbsp

At my age? For a life of rural excitement!

&nbsp

If you don't want me, I have ideas of my own...

I know the perfect man...

&nbsp

Who?

&nbsp

...who'll refuse me nothing... he's rich...educated...a scientist...

&nbsp

A Deputy...

Yes, a Deputy.

Gallet! What a catch!

&nbsp

He has two kids and an ambitous wife.

You have big ideas for your age!

&nbsp

Well, your father sells lousy beer.

&nbsp

and you selll what you've got!

Gallet's mistress... and under Papa's nose!

He'll set me up in Paris.

Yes, with a pretty room and freedom!

A Deputy's mistress...

&nbsp

Next a Minister's... then the president's!

&nbsp

Laugh!...Why not me?

&nbsp

Alright....

You can stay till tomorrow.

&nbsp

But tell me the truth; have you and Gallet...?

&nbsp

Yes, I've slept with him.

&nbsp

Come here!

&nbsp

Little bitch!

&nbsp

What are you doing?

&nbsp

Answer me!

&nbsp

Put that down!

&nbsp

You hear me, Mouchette? You're a pest!

Why are you here?

&nbsp

I'm pregnant. It doesn't show yet.

How long?

About 3 months.

You only admit it now?

"Admit" Big word!

&nbsp

Undress...in my office.

I'll freeze in there!

&nbsp

I won't leave tonight.

&nbsp

I told Dad I was going to my aunt's

&nbsp

Your wife's back tomorrow, no?

Your rashness will be our ruin.

We used to only meet out of town. Now you make up and lie.

Scared?

&nbsp

Ever known women like me?

&nbsp

It's fun to be beautiful.

A new suitor is always handsome.

But a suitor who never tires of us is even handsomer.

&nbsp

That's how you look at me.

&nbsp

Men are so sad.

&nbsp

We grow too used to them to notice.

&nbsp

You didn't examine me!

I will now.

Another time.

Anyway, I know more about it than anyone.

&nbsp

In 6 months I'll be a "proud mother",

This pregnancy seems unlikely.

&nbsp

You love me?

&nbsp

I ask because of an idea I have.

&nbsp

What idea?

Do you love me? Answer me!

&nbsp

Don't give me that! Tell me you love me.

&nbsp

You don't dare say it? Scared?

&nbsp

You hate me, but less than I do. You don't know about self-hate.

&nbsp

About what?

Hate and contempt... you've never felt that.

&nbsp

It's like an idea that you get... you want to sink...

&nbsp

into a pit where the contempt of fools can't reach you.

I used to be afraid...of a word, a look, anything...

&nbsp

That Rageot woman really hurt me once.

I was crossin the Planques bridge.

She grabbed her niece away, as if I had the plague.

&nbsp

You feel ashamed...

&nbsp

Whoever you sleep with...

&nbsp

Sometimes, at night, a few paces from my snoring father...

&nbsp

I, scorned buy everyone, but for what?...

&nbsp

I get up, I listen... my little body feels so strong...

&nbsp

I go to the window, as if drawn by a voice outside...

&nbsp

I wait... I'm ready...

&nbsp

I must be insane...

&nbsp

You're over emotional... Let me examine you...

I've changed my mind.

&nbsp

All right. I suspect you've been pregnant longer than you say.

&nbsp

There's no hiding from Science!

I didn't lie to you. It doesn't show yet.

&nbsp

I know you won't let me down.

What do you mean?

I'm not stupid.

I know it's easy for you people.

One, two, three and it's gone.

&nbsp

Love won't make me lose my head.

What you're asking is illegal and I won't do it.

Then don't... I'll go to Boulogne!

&nbsp

All I'm asking is a trifle!

You can leave if you want.

&nbsp

Don't let me go.

&nbsp

Don't throw me out today.

&nbsp

Usually, I'm not scared... This is the first time.

&nbsp

I also want to apologize.

I was so unpleasant just now.

&nbsp

If you'd made me go, I'd have been back.

&nbsp

Because I need you.

Not for what you think.

&nbsp

Let's not squabble over a baby that'll never be born.

&nbsp

I need you because you're the only man I don't lie to.

&nbsp

Think that's nothing? You're wrong!

&nbsp

I lie all the time, I can't help it.

&nbsp

Even as a kid I hated my lies.

&nbsp

With you I can be natural, as I want to be.

&nbsp

Why aren't we like animals?

They live and die unthinkingly

&nbsp

Oxen calmly chew hay before they're slaughtered.

&nbsp

I envy that.

&nbsp

If I'd put you out, where'd you have gone?

&nbsp

To kill myself.

&nbsp

I pictured a place.

...at Vauroux pond to drown myself.

&nbsp

You can see the chateau from there.

&nbsp

It's silly, I know..

&nbsp

What are you scared of?

Sometimes my wife comes home without warning.

&nbsp

Do you believe in hell?

&nbsp

Mouchette, don't be silly!

&nbsp

Stop it! you can be so annoying!

&nbsp

You believe in hell?

&nbsp

Of course not.

&nbsp

I knew it.

&nbsp

You fear your wife, but not hell. You're so stupid!

&nbsp

Enough! Shut up or leave!

&nbsp

Now you wish you'd put Mouchette out.

&nbsp

She'd be in the pond now.

her little mouth full of mud, safely silent.

&nbsp

Coward!

&nbsp

You fear your wife, but not me! Why not me?

&nbsp

Because you're a good girl.

&nbsp

No doubt.

From Mouchette you want only pleasure. You just proved that.

&nbsp

But Mouchette's baby...!

&nbsp

It's not my child!

I didn't ask you to recognize it.

&nbsp

We're both at the bottom of the same pit.

&nbsp

What pit?

Who suspects Mr. Gallet makes love to a girl of 16?

&nbsp

Two-timing your wife here is half your fun.

&nbsp

You like troubled water.

&nbsp

In my Vauroux pond I see odd creatures..

&nbsp

Like centipedes, only longer.

&nbsp

They float on the clear surface, then suddenly dive.

&nbsp

A cloud of mud rises.

We're like those bugs.

&nbsp

Hidden from the fools by a cloud: our big secret.

&nbsp

When you realize that, we'll love each other.

&nbsp

What do you mean?

Listen:

You're not the father!

&nbsp

Guess who is?

Cadignan...the Marquis de Cadignan!

&nbsp

Kiss my hand!

&nbsp

Go on, kiss my hand!

&nbsp

It's the hand that killed him.

&nbsp

This is insane!

&nbsp

You're upset and having an early pregnancy.

&nbsp

Is this a joke?

&nbsp

Believe what you like!

&nbsp

I killed him.

&nbsp

What day? The 27th

What time? 5 A.M. I can still see the clock.

&nbsp

I took his gun. It was on the table. I didn't know it was loaded.

&nbsp

I fired when the muzzle touched him.

&nbsp

Convinced now?

&nbsp

The inquest is over, the verdict given. I'm not judging you.

&nbsp

Seducing minors has its drawbacks.

&nbsp

I'm your friend. You can talk to me.

&nbsp

You didn't go home on the night of the 26th?

&nbsp

What a question!

&nbsp

Your father?

Asleep. Sneaking out was easy.

-How'd you get back? -Same way.

&nbsp

But the next day, when they heard...?

&nbsp

They thought it was suicide, as everyone did.

&nbsp

You killed him and ran away?

To the pond, to wash my shoes.

&nbsp

I examined the body. It looked like suicide.

Such close range...

Under the chin... I was so much shorter than he...

&nbsp

He came right toward me... He wasn't scared...

&nbsp

It weighed too much on my mind.

&nbsp

You're mad! I don't believe a word of it!

&nbsp

It's true!

&nbsp

I can't live or breathe because of that awful lie.

&nbsp

Now I've told all!

&nbsp

You had a bad dream, Mouchette.

&nbsp

If I doubt my own mind.. what can I believe?

&nbsp

Why reject the word of a repentant killer? I do repent.

&nbsp

If you doubt my "dream" I'll tell it to everyone.

&nbsp

Alright, let's drop it.

&nbsp

I scared you, huh?

&nbsp

A bit. You're so nervous and impulsive right now.

&nbsp

Don't worry. I've seen nothing, heard nothing.

&nbsp

You've nothing to fear from anyone.

&nbsp

What's that mean?

True or not, your story's like a dream.

No one saw you go out or come back. No witnesses.

no bloodstans, no evidence.

It'd be just as silly if I said I did it.

&nbsp

Chatter, chatter...

Be serious.

&nbsp

Think you deserve absolution?

&nbsp

We'd give you God without confession,

&nbsp

but God, He knows...

&nbsp

We've a baby to baptize...Sunday. That possible?

Of course. Father Donissan will do it.

&nbsp

What do you say that flusters our people so?

&nbsp

When I talk of you, they can't meet my eye.

&nbsp

I'm sending you to Etapies to help the priest there retire.

&nbsp

&nbsp

It's 8 miles on foot along the road.

Dean, you're wanted...

Coming!

You like to walk, unless you want to take the train...

&nbsp

I'll give you my coat. You'll freeze in your cassock.

&nbsp

A dark night, eh?

We're still a long way from daybreak.

Darkness draws folks together. It daunts the wiliest.

&nbsp

If you met me by day, you'd pass right by.

&nbsp

Come from Etaples? Going where?

&nbsp

To Campagne.

I won't go all the way. We'll cut across country.

&nbsp

Thanks for your kindness and charity.

&nbsp

My cassock frightens some people.

Ignoramuses! Illiterate yokels!

&nbsp

You see them at fairs and markets all over the North.

&nbsp

My uncle, my mother's brother, is a priest.

&nbsp

I know this area well.

Live around here?

I don't live anywher.e I travel for a horse trader.

&nbsp

I was on the coast yesterday, but I'm moving inland.

&nbsp

No time to take root.

You married?

To poverty. I haven't time to think of that!

&nbsp

I move around, never stay put.

&nbsp

Look out!

&nbsp

Come, come...

&nbsp

May the Lord repay your trouble.

He put you in my path when my courage flagged.

&nbsp

This has been a long... hard night for me,

&nbsp

&nbsp

more than you can imagine.

Etaples to Campagne: 10 miles of bad roads!

&nbsp

My short-cut has saved us over a mile.

&nbsp

Here's the Chalindry road.

&nbsp

I won't go that far with you.

&nbsp

You in a hurry?

&nbsp

I've already lost too much time.

&nbsp

If you like, we can spend the night at my place.

&nbsp

I mean...

there's a hut at the edge of the woods...

Belongs to a charcoal-burner. We can make a fire.

&nbsp

Stop for a moment. You've walked a long way.

&nbsp

You're worn out.

&nbsp

Forgive my weakness.

&nbsp

I'm ashamed to be seen like this.

&nbsp

A poor priest like me, trying...

&nbsp

to solace the poor, to bolster their courage...

&nbsp

when God deserts me..

&nbsp

I saw you before, walking on all fours.

&nbsp

You saw me?

&nbsp

Don't be embarrassed. You're exhausted.

&nbsp

You've overdone it. Patience... that's a good remedy, preacher.

&nbsp

Less drastic than some, but surer.

Patience...

&nbsp

It's not fatigue. I'm sturdy, I can fight a long time...

&nbsp

but not against some things...

&nbsp

Lean on me.

&nbsp

I'm your friend.

&nbsp

I love you dearly.

&nbsp

I have no friends.

&nbsp

Rest...

&nbsp

I sought you... hanted you ardently...

&nbsp

A friend's kiss.

&nbsp

A trifle!

&nbsp

I've kissed others.. lots of others!

&nbsp

Want to know something? I kiss you all!

&nbsp

You bear me in your flesh... None of you escapes me!

&nbsp

I'm leaving you... You'll never see me again!

&nbsp

Cling to your obstinacy!

&nbsp

If you knew the fate your master plans for you...

We alone are not fooled! We chose his hate, not his love!

&nbsp

Why enlighten your muddy brain about this,

&nbsp

cringing dog, enslaved brute?

&nbsp

That's enough now!

&nbsp

It's time we split up!

&nbsp

What did you want of me?

To test you... From now until you die.

&nbsp

God assigns the test. I'll wait for it!

&nbsp

I don't want to hear about it now... and from such a mouth!

&nbsp

Seeing us is scary, eh?

&nbsp

Look me in the eye... You'll recognize yourself!

&nbsp

See how transparent you are?

&nbsp

Back, Satan!

&nbsp

To know oneself!

&nbsp

See oneself!

&nbsp

Who hasn't dreamed of such a vision?

&nbsp

So perfect an image... Not like in a mirror!

&nbsp

Every thought's there, from start to finish!

&nbsp

Your conscience is trained to examine itself,

&nbsp

but it can never achieve such insight!

&nbsp

You can grasp only one thought at a time.

&nbsp

Man never fully knows what's going on in himself.

&nbsp

You see yourself in enigmas, not clearly!

&nbsp

-Look!-

&nbsp

All your thoughts are here, in detail...

&nbsp

the endless web that links them...

&nbsp

You know your whole life!

&nbsp

Go away!

&nbsp

How can you refuse such a vision?

&nbsp

I don't need that!

&nbsp

I don't want to know myself this way!

&nbsp

I'm sure you already wish you did!

&nbsp

Have I any time left?

&nbsp

Answer me!

&nbsp

Am I going to die here?

&nbsp

Then if I live a day or 20 years, I'll tear your secret from you!

&nbsp

I'll follow you if I must! I don't fear you!

&nbsp

I'll nail you like an owl to the center of my prayer!

&nbsp

Your prayers don't scare me!

&nbsp

You were graced tonight.

&nbsp

You'll pay heavily for it... my dear exorcist!

&nbsp

What grace?

&nbsp

You'll see!

&nbsp

What grace!

&nbsp

Your curiousity lost you!

&nbsp

You'll see a few others as you saw yourself.

&nbsp

I held you to my breast.

&nbsp

I took you in my arms.

&nbsp

I cradled you.

&nbsp

You will often fondle me, thinking you're fondling [i]the other![/i]

&nbsp

You are marked now...

&nbsp

with the sign of my hatred!

&nbsp

Who are you? What do you want?

&nbsp

I'm a quarryman in St. Pre. Feeling better?

&nbsp

You'd fainted.

A horse dealer found you before I did.

&nbsp

The two of us put you here.

You saw him? He's here?

&nbsp

Shall I call him?

No thanks... I need to stretch my legs.

&nbsp

You know him?

Who?...Yeah, last month he sold me two fillies.

&nbsp

We can walk a ways together.

&nbsp

If you're tired, get a carriage at Sansonnet's.

&nbsp

You alright?

We're here, Father.

You go straight ahead. I could come with you...

No, the walk did me good.

&nbsp

You're back, Marquis?

&nbsp

Oh, it's just you.

&nbsp

What do you want? Stopping people at this hour!

&nbsp

I came the long way...

&nbsp

Odd? Not really.

&nbsp

I can't sleep nights.

&nbsp

A man of God who hides in the bushes to peek at girls?

&nbsp

You don't think it's funny!

&nbsp

I love to laugh. Is that forbidden?

&nbsp

We don't have much to say.

&nbsp

You assume I just left my lover.

&nbsp

You're not entirely wrong.

&nbsp

Let's walk.

You have nothing to fear from me...

&nbsp

I'm glad we met up... It's not too late...

&nbsp

Maybe too soon.

&nbsp

I didn't seek you. I came a long way round to meet you.

&nbsp

To draw you away; you know the dead man you await is not here.

&nbsp

What dead man?

&nbsp

When I saw you... I saw God in your heart.

&nbsp

Don't be ashamed.

&nbsp

No sermons! They mean nothing to me.

&nbsp

Harsher ordeals await you.

&nbsp

How old are you?

You should know, since you know so much!

Till now you've lived like a child. Who won't forgive a child?

&nbsp

God helps us even in our madness.

&nbsp

Even when we curse Him, He supports us.

&nbsp

What do you want with a girl like me, a child?

&nbsp

You won't meet many in your choirs like me.

&nbsp

You'll save on holy water!

&nbsp

May your God spare you what I've been through!

&nbsp

You feel special.

&nbsp

I think you've never left the beaten path.

&nbsp

Why did sin seem so worth the trouble to you?

&nbsp

You're an odd priest.

So being evil is nothing... even if...

&nbsp

Forget that.

&nbsp

To God, you are not guilty of that murder.

&nbsp

You are Satan's toy.

&nbsp

Satan!

&nbsp

I have the power to see inside you.

&nbsp

I now know your story as well as you do, Germaine Malorthy.

&nbsp

I know every twist and turn, every thought...

&nbsp

Pull yourself together...

&nbsp

You're exhausted...

&nbsp

You've said enough.

&nbsp

Said enough? What have I said? Nothing!

&nbsp

You spoke at length...

&nbsp

I spoke?

&nbsp

That's impossible.

&nbsp

What right have you...?

&nbsp

I have no right over you. If God...

&nbsp

- God! -

&nbsp

God's a joke...God means nothing.

&nbsp

I didn't mean to offend you.

&nbsp

You lied to me just now? I said nothing. Did I?

&nbsp

You can't refuse to answer. I must know.

&nbsp

To find out, I'll do anything you want...

&nbsp

Now you know... I admitted everything...

&nbsp

So what? I have nothing to fear.

&nbsp

Did I really talk in my sleep?

&nbsp

I saw you. As no other person was ever seen.

&nbsp

Now you can never escape me.

&nbsp

Does your sin horrify me? You offended God no more...

&nbsp

...than animals do... Your only sin was a foetus.

&nbsp

Look inside yourself..

&nbsp

The vice you're so proud of has died there...

&nbsp

Your heart's filled with self-loathing.

&nbsp

You've found only vain dreams.. You think you've killed a man.

&nbsp

Poor girl!

&nbsp

Later you crawled to a man baser than the first.

&nbsp

Whom you scorn and who fears you.

&nbsp

You can't escape him; you told of your crime.

&nbsp

I can't escape him... Yes, I can.

&nbsp

Whenever I want.

&nbsp

People thought me insane.

I didn't deny it. I was waiting to be ready.

You never will be.

Think you're free? Only God could free you.

&nbsp

Your life repeats other lives, all alike.

&nbsp

Lived like troughs where cattle feed.

&nbsp

Your actions betray your heredity.

&nbsp

God lets me see those from whom you spring.

&nbsp

Truly...I have seen you in them, them in you.

&nbsp

All those faces blend into the face of vice.

&nbsp

Their actions become an act of murder.

&nbsp

Evil everywhere, that's your generation.

&nbsp

Hundreds of men and women linked by the same cancer...

&nbsp

You saw yourself in your family, as one of the herd.

&nbsp

Nothing you've done was not done before.

No thought, that wasn't already buried with the dead.

&nbsp

Only age-old actions.

&nbsp

Not similar; exactly alike. Not repeated; unique!

&nbsp

You feel the vast deceit of your life?

&nbsp

You hear the laughter of your deceiver?

&nbsp

Your wretched ancestors have claimed you as their own.

&nbsp

And you surrender all.

&nbsp

You're feeding them your own life.

&nbsp

What can you do? They've left...

...their sins in your child's heart.

&nbsp

Back already?

Made a fool of myself again: I got lost.

&nbsp

You reached Etaples too late? Confession was over?

There's more to it...

Arrive late, alright, but not get there at all...?

What will they say?

&nbsp

Too bad. I'll write to Etaples tonight.

&nbsp

I didn't lose my way.

&nbsp

I took the main road and left it only briefly.

&nbsp

By going straight ahead, I couldn't miss it, even at night.

I didn't get there.

Even stranger...worse... an ordeal awaited me.

&nbsp

Go on.

God twice let me see through a body to the soul.

Not by ordinary means, but... by a special grace...

&nbsp

Which you see as a miracle?

&nbsp

I think so.

&nbsp

Report it to your bishop.

&nbsp

I've awaited a supernatural sign of God's plan for you.

&nbsp

The sign has come.

Now I'm more puzzled than ever; the sign is ambiguous...

&nbsp

the miracle isn't pure.

&nbsp

There's more.

I met Germaine Malorthy...

I had a vision... a certainty...that she...

...killed the Marquis de Cadignan.

Her only consolation is to revisit the places she can't forget...

the silent walls where her mute witness waits...

&nbsp

She confessed it all.

&nbsp

Harsher ordeals are in store for her.

&nbsp

She's desperate...

&nbsp

It may outweigh her remorse...

&nbsp

If you've misjudged and harmed that girl...

what an awful responsibility!

&nbsp

I can't let you behave like that in the parish.

&nbsp

I can't trust you!

&nbsp

We must follow the infallible word and no other!

&nbsp

Did you help her?

That you, Germaine?

It's me, Mother.

&nbsp

Cousin Georges took me to Viel... on his way to market.

&nbsp

At this time of day?

&nbsp

He had a load of pigs... so I got a lift part-way.

&nbsp

You had no dinner. I'll make coffee.

&nbsp

I'm tired, I just want to sleep. Let me be.

&nbsp

You're a lunatic!

&nbsp

What have you done?

&nbsp

Do something!

&nbsp

What have you done?

&nbsp

I tried to restore her to God...

&nbsp

Are you responsible...? What's happened?

&nbsp

I tried to restore her to God...

&nbsp

Bringing a dying girl to the altar... a relic from the past.

&nbsp

Father Donissan will enter the Trappist monastery.

&nbsp

Later we'll find a suitable parish for him.

&nbsp

You baffle me.

&nbsp

I'm used to wisdom from you.

Wisdom is the vice of the old.

&nbsp

Here's the "Imitation of Christ" with your annotations...

&nbsp

You made it yours.

&nbsp

Soon there'll be no way I can help you.

&nbsp

No! I'll remember you even in Satan's arms.

&nbsp

I didn't teach you blasphemy.

&nbsp

That wasn't blasphemy.

&nbsp

I was shown man's misery and Satan's power for a reason.

&nbsp

You began with too much self-mortification.

&nbsp

You threw yourself into the ministry!

&nbsp

You were pleased with yourself. You should have found peace.

&nbsp

You haven't.

&nbsp

God never refuses peace. You're rejecting it.

&nbsp

I suspect you've made some dangerous vow.

&nbsp

I've made no vow...no promise..

&nbsp

barely a wish...

&nbsp

It's poisoning your heart.

&nbsp

You like that picture, no?

&nbsp

Very much.

&nbsp

So many souls possessed by sin... that enraged me.

&nbsp

To save them, I offered all I had...

&nbsp

My life, first...it's not much... My salvation, if God wants it.

&nbsp

You risk damnation by straying from the path, as you've done.

&nbsp

The spirit of evil has entered your life.

Fools ignore such things, some priests daren't utter Satan's name!

&nbsp

Inner life today is a battlefield of instincts.

&nbsp

Morality? Hygiene of the senses.

Temptation is a mere carnal appetite.

People want only what's pleasant and useful...

&nbsp

There's nothing for a saint in such a world...or he's called mad!

&nbsp

Are we truly so wretched?

&nbsp

You're surely not meant for a cloister

Your retreat will be a time of better trial and moral loneliness.

&nbsp

It will last longer than you think.

&nbsp

Hope is almost dead in you!

&nbsp

You'll be alone on your chosen road!

I didn't ask for that! Let me live and die in humility!

&nbsp

What was begun here will not be finished!

&nbsp

We'll miss you.

&nbsp

You weren't born to please. The world hates your taste for strength...

Will you ever vanquish the distrust, pity, and opposition...

of others? They'll never let go of you.

&nbsp

Who'll stop me from being what I was?

I attract no attention. I've the reputation I deserve.

&nbsp

If you let me, I could pass unnoticed...

Unnoticed!

God's work in us is seldom what we expect.

He seems to get things wrong, to waste time.

&nbsp

God wears us down!

&nbsp

How old I feel!

&nbsp

And how...unsuited for it... I'll never learn to be old!

&nbsp

Poor pastor of Lumbres... He's good for nothing!

&nbsp

So many nights like last night, until the final night!

&nbsp

I can no longer love.

&nbsp

Does my life have a meaning?

&nbsp

Never any rest...

&nbsp

They've pushed me to the brink...

&nbsp

Beyond it...silence,

&nbsp

true silence!

&nbsp

To die...

&nbsp

In the parlor, Father...

&nbsp

It's Mr Havret, about his sick son.

&nbsp

Which one?

&nbsp

Father, I've come to get you.

&nbsp

Since last night my son's been paralyzed.

&nbsp

The doctor said there's no hope; meningitis!

&nbsp

My wife begged me to come for you We must go, Father.

&nbsp

It's not my parish.

&nbsp

You've a priest at Luzarnes.

&nbsp

I'm touched that Mrs Havret thought of me...poor woman!!

&nbsp

Let's go.

&nbsp

Marthe! I have to go to Luzarnes.

&nbsp

Not on an empty stomach... I'll make coffee.

&nbsp

Stay, Father, don't leave us!

&nbsp

Pierre!

&nbsp

I'm ashamed.

&nbsp

Forgive this poor woman's ignorance.

&nbsp

I have great esteem for you.

&nbsp

Pray for me!

&nbsp

Don't tempt me!

&nbsp

Let's go out.

&nbsp

I can't go on... I'm a poor priest...

&nbsp

...a wretched blind man...

&nbsp

Don't say that... Your imagination, fatigue...

&nbsp

Why'd I leave her...?

&nbsp

What greater pain than the death of a child? Nothing's worse.

&nbsp

As I stood before her, I thought...

&nbsp

What?

&nbsp

Nothing...

&nbsp

Only that inner voice...

&nbsp

I knew... I still know..

&nbsp

I'm sure that a word from me would have...

&nbsp

revived...

&nbsp

that dead child...

&nbsp

Look at me, answer me frankly...

&nbsp

Who stopped you from testing your power?

&nbsp

I don't know...

&nbsp

Follow me in, I'll find some excuse...

&nbsp

Go to where the body lies...

&nbsp

I'll try...

&nbsp

You think me insane.

&nbsp

Not long ago, I'd have wished for it...

&nbsp

Be careful, Sabroux... You haven't understood me.

&nbsp

He is there...

&nbsp

He is in our conscience... He is our conscience!

&nbsp

Men like you!

&nbsp

Satan is prince of this world, he holds it in his hands.

&nbsp

He is here, victorious!

&nbsp

You understand?

&nbsp

We are conquered, I tell you.

&nbsp

And God is conquered with us.

&nbsp

What blasphemy!

&nbsp

Leave me... Don't listen to me..

&nbsp

Leave you! Nothing is impossible for a man like you.

&nbsp

I'll follow you. God inspired you...

&nbsp

Restore the child to its mother.

&nbsp

God is mocking me.

&nbsp

Say who is master, him or You?

&nbsp

Show yourself before abandoning me forever!

&nbsp

O Father, I would have sacrificed even eternal life!

&nbsp

I accept Your sovreign decision.

&nbsp

He's alive!

&nbsp

You are a saint!

&nbsp

One day you'll know, you'll understand...

&nbsp

I hope for your forgiveness... Forgive me...

&nbsp

My God! Do not forsake me!

&nbsp

Father Donissan will be glad to see you. He's out just now.

&nbsp

He's visiting a sick child. And you know how he is...

&nbsp

Yes, I do...

He arrived here by cart one evening,

with his few possessions,

a bedframe, some odds and ends, his clothes and books...

It was very foggy...

He had a hard time finding the village.

Next day, he rang the bells, so the village knew it had a priest.

&nbsp

The presbytery was in ruins.

&nbsp

The wind swept through the walls,

&nbsp

Tons of rubble had to be removed.

&nbsp

He worked with the laborers, he fixed it all himself.

&nbsp

He hasn't changed.

&nbsp

I got here later.

&nbsp

to look after him and the house.

&nbsp

Downstairs, that is; I never go up to his room.

&nbsp

From the start, he said he'd deal with that himself.

&nbsp

I don't even make his bed.

&nbsp

He speaks of you every day.

&nbsp

Father...

&nbsp

Your pain is barren, Satan.

&nbsp

When did I first yield?

&nbsp

You suffered,

&nbsp

you prayed with me.

&nbsp

Even that miracle...

&nbsp

Don't mark our time, Lord.

&nbsp

Our attention wavers...

&nbsp

Lord...

&nbsp

if I'm still useful,

&nbsp

don't take me from this world.

&nbsp

He's so pale!

&nbsp

In the name of the Father, the son and the holy Ghost.

Amen.

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.

&nbsp

I confess to Almighty God,

to Blessed Mary, ever Virgin,

to St. Michael the Archangel, to Blessed John the Baptist,

the Holy Apostles...

Peter and Paul,

and to all the Saints, and to you, Father,

that I have sinned exceedingly

in thought, word,

deed, and omission...