1 00:00:27,994 --> 00:00:29,859 (Indistinct shouting) 2 00:00:32,599 --> 00:00:34,362 Right, yeah, we've got it. 3 00:00:35,435 --> 00:00:36,902 OK. 4 00:00:45,578 --> 00:00:48,877 (Man over megaphone ) Over here with the pumps, please. 5 00:00:48,948 --> 00:00:52,509 Mr. Hamilton, you're wanted over here, please. 6 00:00:53,653 --> 00:00:56,178 Let's get them lined up as quickly as possible. 7 00:00:58,591 --> 00:01:00,957 (Horse neighing) 8 00:01:02,062 --> 00:01:04,053 Make-up, please, make-up over here. 9 00:01:04,130 --> 00:01:08,590 Now, this great composer has died of cancer. 10 00:01:08,668 --> 00:01:11,193 He's known hundreds of people in his life 11 00:01:11,271 --> 00:01:14,468 but because of quarrels and because a war was going on, 12 00:01:14,541 --> 00:01:17,077 there's hardly anyone at the funeral. 13 00:01:17,077 --> 00:01:20,240 This was the worst period of the war for Paris. 14 00:01:20,313 --> 00:01:24,477 The city's being shelled, Germans are threatening to take it, 15 00:01:24,551 --> 00:01:26,018 France is about to collapse 16 00:01:26,086 --> 00:01:29,419 and hardly anybody notices the death of a man 17 00:01:29,489 --> 00:01:33,357 who has now taken to signing himself ''Musician of France''. 18 00:01:33,426 --> 00:01:36,623 His wife is there, of course, and Chouchou his daughter 19 00:01:36,696 --> 00:01:38,163 but hardly anyone else. 20 00:01:38,231 --> 00:01:42,463 Now, when the carriage gets there to the end, 21 00:01:42,535 --> 00:01:46,869 I want you to run out into the road, look at the wreaths for the name, 22 00:01:46,940 --> 00:01:51,172 run back and say to your mother, ''It seems he was a musician.'' 23 00:01:51,244 --> 00:01:53,337 All right? Good. 24 00:01:54,214 --> 00:01:57,672 We'll wait until it's turning. Turn over. 25 00:01:57,750 --> 00:01:59,081 Action! 26 00:02:01,321 --> 00:02:03,448 (Director) More water to foreground. 27 00:02:05,125 --> 00:02:08,288 Steady with the coffin. 28 00:02:09,395 --> 00:02:11,056 Steady. 29 00:02:14,067 --> 00:02:17,264 Spray the hearse. More water! 30 00:02:19,205 --> 00:02:21,332 OK, pull away now. 31 00:02:30,717 --> 00:02:32,548 Start to zoom... 32 00:02:36,589 --> 00:02:38,750 Follow them with the hoses. 33 00:02:38,825 --> 00:02:42,556 There's more rain than you have here. 34 00:02:45,398 --> 00:02:47,229 Just keep walking on. 35 00:02:58,044 --> 00:03:00,706 It seems 36 00:03:00,780 --> 00:03:02,680 he was a musician. 37 00:03:18,565 --> 00:03:23,901 (Melvyn Bragg) Claude Debussy, born in poverty in 1862, 38 00:03:23,970 --> 00:03:27,804 died friendless in 1918. 39 00:03:27,874 --> 00:03:33,870 A film based on incidents in his life, his own words and his relationships - 40 00:03:33,947 --> 00:03:37,212 with Gabrielle Dupont, attempted suicide, 41 00:03:37,283 --> 00:03:41,617 Lily Rosalie Texier, attempted suicide, 42 00:03:41,688 --> 00:03:45,681 Chouchou, died at the age of 13, 43 00:03:45,758 --> 00:03:49,592 Madame Bardac, wife of a wealthy banker, 44 00:03:49,662 --> 00:03:54,656 and the man who took most of these pictures, Pierre Louÿs, 45 00:03:54,734 --> 00:03:59,364 pornographer, novelist, photographer. 46 00:04:37,543 --> 00:04:40,011 Cut! Cut! 47 00:04:44,117 --> 00:04:46,347 OK. That's it. 48 00:04:46,419 --> 00:04:48,250 Pull out the arrows. 49 00:04:48,321 --> 00:04:51,017 reak for lunch, everybody. Thank you. 50 00:04:51,090 --> 00:04:55,026 (Man ) One hour for lunch only! One hour only. 51 00:04:59,499 --> 00:05:02,400 - Eastbourne Gazette. - OK, thank you. 52 00:05:02,468 --> 00:05:06,131 - Hello. How do you do? - How do you do? 53 00:05:07,507 --> 00:05:11,443 Ah! I believe you've been having some fun on our beach this morning? 54 00:05:11,511 --> 00:05:14,105 You should've done your reporting then. 55 00:05:14,180 --> 00:05:15,943 - Oh, yes? - Yeah. 56 00:05:17,450 --> 00:05:20,510 The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. 57 00:05:21,387 --> 00:05:26,723 When they first did this, they wanted Sebastian to played by a naked woman. 58 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:28,652 Really? 59 00:05:28,728 --> 00:05:31,162 Well, you didn't...? I mean, she didn't er...? 60 00:05:32,398 --> 00:05:35,799 (Clears throat) Are you doing it all here? I thought he was French. 61 00:05:35,868 --> 00:05:38,803 Most of it here and in London. 62 00:05:38,871 --> 00:05:42,568 When we shoot in France, the unions make us double up the crews 63 00:05:42,642 --> 00:05:45,270 and we can't afford it. 64 00:05:46,913 --> 00:05:48,380 I see. 65 00:05:50,650 --> 00:05:53,813 - That's Debussy, over there. - Oh, aye? 66 00:05:56,622 --> 00:05:59,785 This scene is when Debussy is in his early twenties, 67 00:05:59,859 --> 00:06:01,986 long before he came to England. 68 00:06:02,061 --> 00:06:04,529 He is with Madame Vanier. 69 00:06:04,597 --> 00:06:07,395 She was looking after him at the time. 70 00:06:07,467 --> 00:06:09,992 He always needed someone to look after him, 71 00:06:10,069 --> 00:06:13,004 always found someone, usually a woman. 72 00:06:13,072 --> 00:06:18,408 (Laughs) He gave her singing lessons, she gave him money. 73 00:06:18,478 --> 00:06:21,538 You know, he loved gambling at cards 74 00:06:21,614 --> 00:06:23,639 and whenever he lost, which was often, 75 00:06:23,716 --> 00:06:27,516 she would slip into his pocket enough change to get him home. 76 00:06:27,587 --> 00:06:32,854 And a packet of cigarettes - consolation prize. 77 00:06:32,925 --> 00:06:37,589 But it was with Madame Vanier that he first played his composition in public. 78 00:06:37,663 --> 00:06:40,632 She sang the songs he had written especially for her. 79 00:06:40,700 --> 00:06:42,065 There's Monsieur Vanier. 80 00:06:42,135 --> 00:06:43,500 He liked Debussy 81 00:06:43,569 --> 00:06:46,265 but he doesn't seem to have known all that was going on 82 00:06:46,339 --> 00:06:49,467 between the young composer and his wife. 83 00:06:49,542 --> 00:06:52,306 (Debussy ) And before he could find out, I met Gaby. 84 00:06:52,378 --> 00:06:54,539 (Director) Gabrielle Dupont. (Debussy ) Gaby. 85 00:06:54,614 --> 00:06:58,209 (Director) They met when Debussy was 26, he lived with her for ten years. 86 00:06:58,284 --> 00:07:00,013 He was back from the Prix de Rome. 87 00:07:00,086 --> 00:07:03,715 He'd won this great scholarship from the conservatoire in Paris. 88 00:07:03,790 --> 00:07:06,418 (Debussy ) Forced labor. I hated it. 89 00:07:06,492 --> 00:07:08,460 (Director) Gaby was as poor as he was. 90 00:07:08,528 --> 00:07:10,496 He had a good time with her. 91 00:07:11,297 --> 00:07:13,629 ( 92 00:07:44,897 --> 00:07:46,194 Debussy was born poor. 93 00:07:46,265 --> 00:07:49,132 (Debussy ) My father was a soldier, a shop-keeper, a prisoner, 94 00:07:49,202 --> 00:07:52,171 a salesman, a clerk and a layabout. 95 00:07:52,238 --> 00:07:55,173 I never went to school. He wanted me to be a sailor. 96 00:07:55,241 --> 00:08:00,008 (Director) He only took up music because of a meeting with Verlaine's mother-in-law. 97 00:08:00,079 --> 00:08:01,444 She taught him the piano. 98 00:08:01,514 --> 00:08:04,915 (Debussy ) I owe her the little I know about the piano. She knew Chopin. 99 00:08:04,984 --> 00:08:08,351 (Director) He needed somewhere to live, someone to love him, 100 00:08:08,421 --> 00:08:12,289 (Debussy ) My only memory of my mother is that she used to slap my face. 101 00:08:12,358 --> 00:08:13,950 I can't afford to live at home, anyway, 102 00:08:14,026 --> 00:08:16,688 my father expects my music to pay for his billiards. 103 00:08:16,762 --> 00:08:20,129 (Director) And Gaby was prepared to be his housekeeper. 104 00:08:20,199 --> 00:08:24,397 (Gaby ) To go out and work for you, to do anything you want. 105 00:08:24,470 --> 00:08:29,100 (Director) He wanted to be free, free to roam Paris at night, 106 00:08:29,175 --> 00:08:31,837 to meet poets, painters, critics, 107 00:08:31,911 --> 00:08:36,007 to row with the conservatoire, to experiment. 108 00:08:36,082 --> 00:08:38,448 (Gaby ) As long as you stay with me. 109 00:08:38,518 --> 00:08:40,952 (Director) Now he wrote his music for her. 110 00:08:41,020 --> 00:08:43,853 (Debussy ) Gardens In The Rain, for Gaby. 111 00:10:23,322 --> 00:10:26,758 (Director) Most of the young students and artists in France in the '9s 112 00:10:26,826 --> 00:10:31,058 were impressed by the Pre-Raphaelites, especially Debussy. 113 00:10:31,130 --> 00:10:35,567 They seemed to choose the subjects that he himself wanted to do. 114 00:10:35,635 --> 00:10:39,833 For instance, one of the things he wrote while he was on the Prix de Rome 115 00:10:39,905 --> 00:10:44,239 was based on a poem by Rossetti, The lessed Damozel. 116 00:10:44,310 --> 00:10:47,768 You see, Rossetti's situation was similar to that of Debussy. 117 00:10:47,847 --> 00:10:51,112 The poem is about this illiterate Cockney woman, an English Gaby, 118 00:10:51,183 --> 00:10:56,143 whom Rossetti is supposed to have loved for her very willingness. 119 00:10:56,222 --> 00:11:00,420 He double-crossed her, of course, just as Debussy double-crossed Gaby. 120 00:11:00,493 --> 00:11:02,893 Art Nouveau aestheticism, 121 00:11:02,962 --> 00:11:06,295 it was all going on in Paris and in London in the 199s. 122 00:11:06,365 --> 00:11:08,765 ( 123 00:11:38,964 --> 00:11:43,867 (Women's voices) 124 00:11:43,936 --> 00:11:48,805 125 00:11:53,913 --> 00:11:59,909 that the abyss 126 00:11:59,985 --> 00:12:03,580 127 00:12:03,656 --> 00:12:07,490 128 00:12:10,963 --> 00:12:15,696 129 00:12:15,768 --> 00:12:21,331 130 00:12:28,814 --> 00:12:33,114 You know, they wanted all the arts to be mixed together. 131 00:12:33,185 --> 00:12:35,119 Now read this, this is by audelaire, 132 00:12:35,187 --> 00:12:37,849 but Debussy said the same sort of thing himself. 133 00:12:37,923 --> 00:12:42,826 ''It would be truly surprising if sound were not capable of suggesting color, 134 00:12:42,895 --> 00:12:45,728 ''if colors could not give the idea of a melody.'' 135 00:12:45,798 --> 00:12:48,596 He saw Turner's paintings when he was in London. 136 00:12:48,667 --> 00:12:54,128 He wanted his music to be like paintings, to be paintings in sound. 137 00:12:54,206 --> 00:12:58,074 His titles are for paintings - clouds, moonlight, fog, 138 00:12:58,144 --> 00:13:02,171 sketches for La Mer, Studies In lack And White. 139 00:13:02,248 --> 00:13:03,715 Sorry, start again. 140 00:13:05,518 --> 00:13:09,352 ''It would be truly surprising if sound were not capable of suggesting color, 141 00:13:09,421 --> 00:13:12,117 ''if colors could not give the idea of a melody, 142 00:13:12,191 --> 00:13:15,718 ''and if sound and color were inadequate to express ideas. 143 00:13:17,129 --> 00:13:20,098 ''For things have ever found expression in reciprocal analogies 144 00:13:20,166 --> 00:13:24,660 ''since the day when God put forth the world as a complex and indivisible whole.'' 145 00:13:24,737 --> 00:13:25,999 Amen. 146 00:13:26,972 --> 00:13:28,667 Oh, can't we go? 147 00:13:28,741 --> 00:13:31,369 I'm bored. 148 00:13:31,443 --> 00:13:32,705 Yeah, OK. 149 00:13:32,778 --> 00:13:34,075 Ciao. 150 00:13:36,849 --> 00:13:38,146 Wait. 151 00:13:39,318 --> 00:13:42,014 Let me show you just one more. 152 00:13:53,899 --> 00:13:55,423 Whistler. 153 00:13:55,501 --> 00:13:57,969 He called his paintings ''nocturnes'', 154 00:13:58,037 --> 00:14:00,597 and Debussy, who wrote three nocturnes himself, 155 00:14:00,673 --> 00:14:03,233 said that they were studies in gray. 156 00:14:03,709 --> 00:14:09,011 The one I like best is Ftes. 157 00:14:09,081 --> 00:14:11,242 The fantastic procession, 158 00:14:11,317 --> 00:14:14,775 the vibrating, dancing rhythm of the atmosphere 159 00:14:14,854 --> 00:14:17,414 with sudden flashes of light. 160 00:14:18,224 --> 00:14:19,521 ( 161 00:16:35,127 --> 00:16:37,095 (Music fades) 162 00:16:42,735 --> 00:16:45,067 - Is this Lily? - Yes. 163 00:16:46,372 --> 00:16:47,896 - Hello. - Hi. 164 00:16:47,973 --> 00:16:50,737 Come along here, darling, I want to talk to you. 165 00:16:51,877 --> 00:16:55,643 - All right? Can I help you? - That's OK. 166 00:16:55,714 --> 00:16:57,909 - Are you cold? - No. 167 00:16:57,983 --> 00:17:00,383 - Did you have a nice swim? - It was fine, thanks. 168 00:17:00,452 --> 00:17:04,354 This is er... Debussy. 169 00:17:04,423 --> 00:17:05,515 Hello. 170 00:17:08,761 --> 00:17:11,025 This is er... 171 00:17:12,064 --> 00:17:14,089 Sorry, darling. 172 00:17:14,166 --> 00:17:17,932 This is er...our little Gaby. 173 00:17:18,003 --> 00:17:19,800 Hello. 174 00:17:22,341 --> 00:17:25,435 And this is my secretary. 175 00:17:26,712 --> 00:17:29,306 All right? Shall we go and see the rough cut? 176 00:17:29,381 --> 00:17:30,939 All right? 177 00:17:31,016 --> 00:17:33,507 Oh, please. Not again! You behave! 178 00:17:36,221 --> 00:17:40,385 - What am I going to see? - Did you read that book I told you about? 179 00:17:40,459 --> 00:17:42,120 Most of it. 180 00:17:42,194 --> 00:17:43,821 Oh. 181 00:17:43,896 --> 00:17:46,626 I'm surprised. 182 00:17:46,698 --> 00:17:51,465 And did you read this chapter about Pierre Louÿs? 183 00:17:51,537 --> 00:17:53,061 I didn't get that far. 184 00:17:53,138 --> 00:17:54,435 Ah. 185 00:17:54,506 --> 00:17:56,667 To follow this, you must know. 186 00:17:56,742 --> 00:18:01,679 Well, er... Can we hold it for a few minutes, please? 187 00:18:01,747 --> 00:18:03,112 Thank you. 188 00:18:03,182 --> 00:18:07,175 Er, Debussy is working in Paris, 189 00:18:07,252 --> 00:18:09,550 living with Gaby. 190 00:18:09,621 --> 00:18:12,886 Or rather she's working and he's living, 191 00:18:12,958 --> 00:18:14,823 he earned next to nothing. 192 00:18:14,893 --> 00:18:18,556 Then he met Pierre Louÿs. Louÿs was rich. 193 00:18:18,630 --> 00:18:21,326 He collected rare books, oriental tapestries, 194 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,231 cocktail recipes, betting systems 195 00:18:23,302 --> 00:18:26,738 and as many experiences as money and agility could buy. 196 00:18:28,207 --> 00:18:30,971 Debussy became his favorite 197 00:18:31,043 --> 00:18:35,139 or he sponged from him, whichever way you want to put it. 198 00:18:35,214 --> 00:18:38,274 Anyway, they were friends and er... 199 00:18:39,551 --> 00:18:41,610 worked together on various projects, 200 00:18:41,687 --> 00:18:44,155 most of which collapsed. 201 00:18:45,491 --> 00:18:49,928 ut Louÿs introduces him to all sorts of writers. 202 00:18:49,995 --> 00:18:53,453 The two of them were going to share a house at one time. 203 00:18:53,532 --> 00:18:56,399 He wanted Debussy to come to North Africa and the Middle East with him 204 00:18:56,468 --> 00:18:58,333 but Debussy didn't go. 205 00:18:59,104 --> 00:19:01,231 Louÿs liked young girls. 206 00:19:01,306 --> 00:19:05,868 He wrote to Debussy saying he couldn't get on with the work they were planning 207 00:19:05,944 --> 00:19:10,472 because he did nothing with his fingers except unmentionable things. 208 00:19:12,151 --> 00:19:17,521 Mm. And the music behind this scene is from L'Après-midi D'un Faune. 209 00:19:17,589 --> 00:19:19,819 Debussy took the poem from Mallarmé. 210 00:19:20,826 --> 00:19:23,954 - We're ready. - All right. 211 00:19:24,029 --> 00:19:25,758 What happened to Louÿs, the kinky one? 212 00:19:28,033 --> 00:19:29,660 Kinky. 213 00:19:31,336 --> 00:19:33,031 He got what he deserved. 214 00:19:33,105 --> 00:19:37,201 He lived to a cultured old... dirty old age. 215 00:19:37,276 --> 00:19:38,470 OK? 216 00:19:38,544 --> 00:19:40,307 OK, let's run. 217 00:19:42,681 --> 00:19:44,376 Who's playing Louÿs? 218 00:19:46,385 --> 00:19:48,012 I am. 219 00:19:48,086 --> 00:19:50,520 Me. 220 00:19:50,589 --> 00:19:53,786 That's me. That's Louÿs. 221 00:19:53,859 --> 00:19:57,955 He wrote a very successful pornographic book, 222 00:19:58,030 --> 00:20:00,464 took lots of strange photographs. 223 00:20:00,532 --> 00:20:04,593 What he really liked to do was manipulate people, 224 00:20:04,670 --> 00:20:06,262 a kind of Svengali. 225 00:20:06,338 --> 00:20:10,240 And Debussy was good material for him, always dreaming. 226 00:20:10,309 --> 00:20:15,975 At one time, he and Gaby used to spend more time in Louÿs's home than their own. 227 00:20:16,048 --> 00:20:19,313 And Debussy would always be dreaming, 228 00:20:19,384 --> 00:20:24,378 dreaming his way through the strange beauty of all Louÿs's possessions, 229 00:20:24,456 --> 00:20:30,554 dreaming his way through a hot summer afternoon with Gaby. 230 00:20:35,100 --> 00:20:37,568 They did play with balloons. I checked. 231 00:20:38,136 --> 00:20:40,297 ( 232 00:29:39,277 --> 00:29:40,244 ( 233 00:29:49,821 --> 00:29:52,415 - Toulet, René, Peter... - René Peter. 234 00:29:52,490 --> 00:29:54,253 - René Peter, audelaire... - Mm. 235 00:29:54,325 --> 00:29:56,259 - Mater... Material? - Maeterlinck. 236 00:29:56,327 --> 00:29:57,294 Mallarmé. 237 00:29:57,362 --> 00:30:00,422 - Yes. - Louÿs, also? 238 00:30:00,498 --> 00:30:02,659 What, and he based his music on writings of all these? 239 00:30:02,734 --> 00:30:06,465 Yes, 9% of his music started from a painting or a poem or a play. 240 00:30:06,538 --> 00:30:09,632 They're just a selection, they were all in Paris. 241 00:30:09,707 --> 00:30:13,165 If I put down everyone he worked with or knew well, 242 00:30:13,244 --> 00:30:16,179 it would sound like the last roll call of all the brilliant dead. 243 00:30:16,247 --> 00:30:20,240 - Who were Chocolat and... Footitt, is it? - Yes. Clowns, friends of his. 244 00:30:20,318 --> 00:30:23,116 - And the Revue lanche? - A magazine. 245 00:30:23,188 --> 00:30:24,780 He was music editor for a time. 246 00:30:24,856 --> 00:30:27,347 According to your list, he was pianist at every nightclub. 247 00:30:27,425 --> 00:30:31,122 - What did he do for kicks? - It's all in his music. 248 00:30:31,196 --> 00:30:33,130 What's this Gigue bit? 249 00:30:33,198 --> 00:30:35,098 It's a poem by Verlaine. 250 00:30:35,166 --> 00:30:38,932 He came to London for a time to get away from scandals in France. 251 00:30:39,003 --> 00:30:41,130 - What, like Debussy? - Like Debussy. 252 00:30:41,206 --> 00:30:42,503 ''Dansée La Gigue''. 253 00:30:42,574 --> 00:30:45,702 Dansons La Gigue, that's the title of the poem. 254 00:30:45,777 --> 00:30:48,007 ''Everybody danced a jig.'' 255 00:30:48,079 --> 00:30:50,547 - It sounds lousy in English. - Yes. 256 00:30:50,615 --> 00:30:53,743 Yes. He wrote it here in Soho in a café. 257 00:30:53,818 --> 00:30:57,117 - The jig that's the Keel Row. - Keel Row? 258 00:30:57,188 --> 00:31:00,180 Keel Row. It was being played on a barrel organ outside. 259 00:31:00,258 --> 00:31:04,388 It's about the streets. Debussy based one of his Images on it. 260 00:31:04,462 --> 00:31:06,362 It goes like this, er... 261 00:31:06,431 --> 00:31:11,562 ''Let's dance the jig! Most of all I like her dancing eyes, 262 00:31:11,636 --> 00:31:16,573 ''Sharper than stars, malicious, I love her eyes. 263 00:31:16,641 --> 00:31:18,666 ''Let's dance the jig!'' 264 00:31:18,743 --> 00:31:20,870 ( 265 00:31:24,515 --> 00:31:28,315 ''She had the fine gift of making her lover desperate 266 00:31:28,386 --> 00:31:32,948 ''and doing it so charmingly. Let's dance the jig! 267 00:31:37,262 --> 00:31:40,561 ''Even more, I liked the ripe feeling of her kiss, 268 00:31:40,632 --> 00:31:44,261 ''especially as she was dead for me. Let's dance the jig! 269 00:31:51,676 --> 00:31:55,874 ''I remember, I remember those hours, 270 00:31:55,947 --> 00:31:58,245 ''those embraces - 271 00:31:58,316 --> 00:32:01,285 ''my finest possessions. 272 00:32:02,387 --> 00:32:03,820 ''Let's dance the jig!'' 273 00:32:03,888 --> 00:32:06,618 ( 274 00:34:54,592 --> 00:34:57,493 (Debussy ) ''Even more I liked the ripe feeling of her kiss, 275 00:34:57,562 --> 00:35:00,122 ''Especially as she was dead for me. 276 00:35:00,198 --> 00:35:02,428 ''Let's dance the jig'' 277 00:35:10,108 --> 00:35:13,874 Right. You are depressed. You don't know where Debussy is. 278 00:35:13,945 --> 00:35:15,435 You have no money. 279 00:35:15,513 --> 00:35:18,676 He's gone to buy meat but he'll probably bring back a bit of silk, 280 00:35:18,749 --> 00:35:20,808 a dirty statuette or something. 281 00:35:20,885 --> 00:35:24,184 OK, walk it through. That's right. 282 00:35:24,255 --> 00:35:30,125 Now remember, he was lazy. All his friends said that he was lazy. 283 00:35:30,194 --> 00:35:32,287 He never appeared to do any work. 284 00:35:32,363 --> 00:35:35,958 He would only write the music he wanted to write. 285 00:35:36,033 --> 00:35:38,866 And he would only write it in his own time. 286 00:35:38,936 --> 00:35:42,394 He took ten years - ten years! - 287 00:35:42,473 --> 00:35:45,067 over Maeterlinck's play Pelléas and Mélisande, 288 00:35:45,143 --> 00:35:47,168 turning it into an opera. 289 00:35:47,245 --> 00:35:50,442 And you didn't understand any of it. 290 00:35:51,382 --> 00:35:54,783 You're fed up with him. He's probably with another woman. 291 00:35:54,852 --> 00:35:59,812 Or talking. Always talking about things that don't interest you. 292 00:35:59,891 --> 00:36:03,520 He won't even give music lessons to help feed himself. 293 00:36:03,594 --> 00:36:07,690 You have to look after him, you serve him. 294 00:36:08,833 --> 00:36:11,427 Is he going to be all right, this man? 295 00:36:11,502 --> 00:36:15,768 Well, it depends how much I like him and how much you can hate him. 296 00:36:16,841 --> 00:36:19,139 - I hope he's not drunk today. - Exactly. 297 00:36:19,210 --> 00:36:20,677 - Is he always drunk? - I don't know. 298 00:36:21,646 --> 00:36:24,012 ( 299 00:36:44,335 --> 00:36:45,700 (Yells) 300 00:37:08,859 --> 00:37:11,623 - (Gun pops, cat yowls) - Death to Debussy! 301 00:37:13,931 --> 00:37:16,559 Next time, it will be the real thing. 302 00:37:16,634 --> 00:37:19,467 A real bullet or me? 303 00:37:20,104 --> 00:37:22,595 oth. 304 00:37:22,673 --> 00:37:24,334 Let's have a drink. 305 00:37:33,618 --> 00:37:35,245 (Turns music down ) 306 00:37:35,319 --> 00:37:39,619 - Do you mind? - Yes, I do, since you ask. 307 00:37:39,690 --> 00:37:41,351 I certainly bloody well do. 308 00:37:42,393 --> 00:37:45,328 - Isn't it to your refined French taste? - Yes. 309 00:37:46,430 --> 00:37:50,890 ut sometimes it tastes a little too strong and I have to spit it out. 310 00:37:52,270 --> 00:37:54,670 He's a spirited lad. 311 00:37:54,739 --> 00:37:58,539 Well, I suppose I'm to be filled in. 312 00:37:58,609 --> 00:38:02,739 Do you know anything about Maeterlinck's spirit? 313 00:38:02,813 --> 00:38:06,840 I know he wanted to shoot Debussy and practiced on the local cats. 314 00:38:06,917 --> 00:38:10,182 Yes, I'm aware he was the elgian Shakespeare 315 00:38:10,254 --> 00:38:13,155 and wrote many beautiful Symbolist dramas, 316 00:38:13,224 --> 00:38:17,684 including The lue ird and Pelléas et Mélisande. 317 00:38:17,762 --> 00:38:21,289 in which Debussy saw the perfect subject for an opera. 318 00:38:21,365 --> 00:38:25,699 So he begged Maeterlinck's permission to be allowed to use it, 319 00:38:25,770 --> 00:38:30,730 which Maeterlinck very generously granted him. 320 00:38:30,808 --> 00:38:33,606 And ten years later, very generously took it back again. 321 00:38:34,645 --> 00:38:36,408 I was betrayed. 322 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:39,142 You forget we agreed 323 00:38:39,216 --> 00:38:44,176 that Georgette Leblanc, my mistress, was to sing Mélisande 324 00:38:45,256 --> 00:38:50,626 and you engaged Mary Garden, a Scottish soprano. 325 00:38:52,330 --> 00:38:54,594 Do you honestly believe that that's the true reason? 326 00:38:54,665 --> 00:38:56,189 Mm? 327 00:38:56,267 --> 00:38:58,963 You walk around here like some third-rate clown 328 00:38:59,036 --> 00:39:02,028 because you haven't got the guts to face up to the fact that your play 329 00:39:02,106 --> 00:39:03,437 was a monumental failure. 330 00:39:03,507 --> 00:39:08,570 Furthermore, I find you uninteresting, a self-opinionated bore, 331 00:39:08,646 --> 00:39:11,376 and what is worse to me, tone deaf. 332 00:39:17,021 --> 00:39:18,488 Let's have a drink. 333 00:39:19,457 --> 00:39:22,483 And let's have some music. 334 00:39:24,095 --> 00:39:29,431 - You hate Debussy's music, don't you? - It doesn't go with any drink I've got. 335 00:39:29,500 --> 00:39:31,525 - ( - And that does? 336 00:39:31,602 --> 00:39:35,936 Oh, on that I could get drunk before I start drinking. 337 00:39:36,006 --> 00:39:40,375 You know something, I find this music like you - loud and vulgar. 338 00:39:43,147 --> 00:39:44,273 Come on! 339 00:39:44,715 --> 00:39:46,842 (Director) The whole thing was crazy. 340 00:39:46,917 --> 00:39:49,385 Maeterlinck jumped through Debussy's windows, 341 00:39:49,453 --> 00:39:52,013 threatened to beat him up with a walking stick 342 00:39:52,089 --> 00:39:55,581 and promptly challenged him to a duel with pistols. 343 00:39:55,659 --> 00:40:00,323 He even found a fortune-teller who saw Debussy drenched in blood. 344 00:40:00,398 --> 00:40:02,923 After that, he tried to sabotage the opera, failed, 345 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,525 shot as many cats as he could find 346 00:40:05,603 --> 00:40:09,767 and, honor satisfied, went back to Belgium and Wagner - crazy. 347 00:40:10,341 --> 00:40:11,968 Olé - oop! 348 00:41:07,731 --> 00:41:09,323 (Debussy laughing) 349 00:41:45,102 --> 00:41:46,330 Where have you been? 350 00:41:47,905 --> 00:41:49,463 Got the meat? 351 00:41:51,542 --> 00:41:54,204 Well, are you gonna answer or not? 352 00:41:55,045 --> 00:41:56,740 You never listen to me. 353 00:41:56,814 --> 00:41:59,715 ut I suppose I'm not worth listening to 354 00:41:59,783 --> 00:42:02,980 or talking to or looking at or sleeping with or living with. 355 00:42:03,053 --> 00:42:06,386 Oh, I'm not good enough for you, go on, say it, go on. 356 00:42:06,457 --> 00:42:09,551 You never even seem to notice I'm around these days. 357 00:42:12,396 --> 00:42:15,229 That's it. Ignore the statuette, Gaby. 358 00:42:15,299 --> 00:42:17,164 Your taste is different. 359 00:42:17,234 --> 00:42:19,168 ( 360 00:42:29,213 --> 00:42:34,241 I always want to be by your side 361 00:42:36,353 --> 00:42:39,117 362 00:42:39,189 --> 00:42:41,214 363 00:42:43,027 --> 00:42:45,962 364 00:42:46,030 --> 00:42:49,659 so I don't know what I'm doing 365 00:42:49,733 --> 00:42:52,930 you really got me now 366 00:42:53,003 --> 00:42:55,301 367 00:42:55,372 --> 00:42:58,603 368 00:42:58,676 --> 00:43:00,507 369 00:43:11,355 --> 00:43:12,720 What's that? 370 00:43:12,790 --> 00:43:15,623 It's Debussy, Danse Profane. 371 00:43:15,693 --> 00:43:18,127 Oh, this is a party. Who wants to listen to that? 372 00:43:20,130 --> 00:43:21,620 I do. 373 00:43:21,699 --> 00:43:24,167 Does anybody wanna shake to Debussy? 374 00:43:24,234 --> 00:43:27,328 (Shouting) 375 00:43:28,272 --> 00:43:32,038 This is a party, we're all supposed to be enjoying ourselves, aren't we? 376 00:43:33,310 --> 00:43:37,542 Oh, you don't want to listen to that. You're only doing it to annoy me. 377 00:43:37,615 --> 00:43:39,583 It's a load of old crap. 378 00:43:40,517 --> 00:43:44,715 Oh! Can't anybody ever have a good time while you're around? 379 00:43:44,788 --> 00:43:47,313 Look, I want to listen to the music, do you mind? 380 00:43:50,094 --> 00:43:51,686 (Record player mechanism clicks ) 381 00:43:53,197 --> 00:43:55,893 - ( - (Man ) Hey, come on! 382 00:43:55,966 --> 00:43:58,992 - (Whistling) - Put some music on! 383 00:43:59,069 --> 00:44:00,400 - What's this? - Come on, music. 384 00:44:00,471 --> 00:44:02,268 (Shushing) 385 00:44:20,391 --> 00:44:22,951 ( 386 00:44:35,339 --> 00:44:36,863 - (Man ) Come on, then. - That's it. 387 00:44:36,940 --> 00:44:39,101 Gaby's got the idea. 388 00:44:39,176 --> 00:44:41,144 That's more like it. 389 00:45:00,531 --> 00:45:01,896 (Laughs ) 390 00:45:06,603 --> 00:45:08,628 (Man ) Ooohh! 391 00:45:10,340 --> 00:45:11,898 (Cheering and clapping) 392 00:45:20,651 --> 00:45:22,551 (Man ) Come on, come on. 393 00:45:24,722 --> 00:45:26,155 Yes... 394 00:45:26,223 --> 00:45:27,247 Mmm... 395 00:45:27,324 --> 00:45:29,724 Whoo... 396 00:45:31,261 --> 00:45:33,229 (Clapping and cheering) 397 00:46:09,266 --> 00:46:11,131 (Man ) Over here, dear. 398 00:47:07,724 --> 00:47:10,192 (Shouting and whooping) 399 00:47:10,260 --> 00:47:12,490 (Man ) The suspense is killing us. 400 00:47:13,797 --> 00:47:16,459 Here she goes! 401 00:47:16,533 --> 00:47:18,057 (Cheering) 402 00:47:19,570 --> 00:47:22,403 (Clapping and whistling) 403 00:47:41,124 --> 00:47:43,615 - (Record skids ) - (Cheering and laughter) 404 00:47:50,100 --> 00:47:51,965 (Cheering) 405 00:47:52,035 --> 00:47:54,526 More! More! 406 00:48:08,485 --> 00:48:11,545 Don't be so bloody miserable. Stuff them down you. 407 00:48:11,622 --> 00:48:13,522 I've earned it. 408 00:48:13,590 --> 00:48:17,321 Damn your earnings! I've told you before, leave me alone. 409 00:48:17,394 --> 00:48:19,862 - I won't, why should I? - Leave me alone! 410 00:48:19,930 --> 00:48:22,558 You're rotten, you bastard, you bastard. 411 00:48:22,633 --> 00:48:24,897 I'm fed up with living in this bloody place. 412 00:48:24,968 --> 00:48:29,029 Why don't you flippin' get out and do some work instead of sitting around 413 00:48:29,106 --> 00:48:31,370 looking at those stupid statues? 414 00:48:31,441 --> 00:48:35,707 I've fed up with everything in this place, there's no clothes, no food. 415 00:48:35,779 --> 00:48:39,010 Leave me alone. I'll give you bloody money. 416 00:48:39,082 --> 00:48:41,243 All right, then, where is it? 417 00:48:41,318 --> 00:48:43,616 Money, it's there. 418 00:48:43,687 --> 00:48:45,587 And there! 419 00:48:45,656 --> 00:48:49,217 Go on, eat it. Tell that to some of your friends. 420 00:48:49,293 --> 00:48:51,454 - You never understood anything I did! - You hate me! 421 00:48:51,528 --> 00:48:55,555 - You never will! - You're mean, you're selfish, you bastard. 422 00:48:55,632 --> 00:48:57,497 - You filthy tart! - You hate me, hate me. 423 00:48:57,567 --> 00:48:59,000 Get away. 424 00:48:59,069 --> 00:49:01,003 You bastard, you bastard. 425 00:49:01,071 --> 00:49:02,368 You bastard. 426 00:49:02,439 --> 00:49:05,499 - Stop it. - You're lousy, you're mean... 427 00:49:05,575 --> 00:49:08,840 - How about some money? - I hate you, I hate you. 428 00:49:08,912 --> 00:49:10,174 - Stop it. - (Sobbing) 429 00:49:10,247 --> 00:49:13,808 She destroys me. She doesn't understand anything. 430 00:49:13,884 --> 00:49:16,614 - She hates everything I do. - I can't blame her. 431 00:49:16,687 --> 00:49:19,155 - (Sobbing) - This is awful. 432 00:49:19,222 --> 00:49:23,886 Now, darling, smell this flower, it will be... 433 00:49:23,961 --> 00:49:25,724 Oh, I don't want it. 434 00:49:25,796 --> 00:49:27,525 How lovely. 435 00:49:27,597 --> 00:49:29,292 I like it. 436 00:49:30,067 --> 00:49:31,591 Cut! 437 00:49:32,636 --> 00:49:35,161 Can I have my script, please? Thank you very much. 438 00:49:35,238 --> 00:49:36,637 And my pencil. 439 00:49:36,707 --> 00:49:39,141 - Was he really such a bastard? - Oh... 440 00:49:39,209 --> 00:49:40,938 Didn't he ever do any work? 441 00:49:41,011 --> 00:49:46,278 Well, er, he played in one or two nightclubs, he taught, 442 00:49:46,350 --> 00:49:48,477 but mainly, he wrote music 443 00:49:48,552 --> 00:49:51,578 and that didn't sell well enough to buy him a decent piano. 444 00:49:51,655 --> 00:49:55,056 What about her? Wasn't she on the game before she went to Debussy? 445 00:49:55,125 --> 00:49:57,116 Ah, probably. 446 00:49:58,362 --> 00:50:00,330 There's isn't a great deal known about her. 447 00:50:02,532 --> 00:50:05,126 She only seems to have had one friend, Lily. 448 00:50:08,138 --> 00:50:11,505 Good, er, thank you, it was really lovely. 449 00:50:11,575 --> 00:50:14,100 Close-ups after lunch, OK? 450 00:50:14,177 --> 00:50:17,112 Thank you. Is the pianist there? 451 00:50:17,547 --> 00:50:19,515 ( 452 00:50:58,722 --> 00:51:00,212 Ugh! 453 00:51:02,426 --> 00:51:03,791 (Debussy laughs ) 454 00:51:45,469 --> 00:51:47,266 (Shot) 455 00:51:58,548 --> 00:51:59,879 ''And then... 456 00:51:59,950 --> 00:52:03,044 ''Gaby with her steely eyes found the letter in my pocket 457 00:52:03,120 --> 00:52:07,216 ''which left no doubt as to the advanced state of a love affair 458 00:52:07,290 --> 00:52:10,384 ''with all the most romantic trappings to move the most hardened heart. 459 00:52:12,129 --> 00:52:14,689 ''Whereupon... 460 00:52:14,764 --> 00:52:17,426 ''tears, drama, 461 00:52:18,668 --> 00:52:22,434 ''a real revolver and a report in the Petit Journal.'' 462 00:52:24,107 --> 00:52:27,133 You wrote that just afterwards. 463 00:52:27,210 --> 00:52:29,974 You hated melodrama in real life. 464 00:52:31,581 --> 00:52:34,175 Gaby had offended against your taste. 465 00:52:35,452 --> 00:52:37,317 ut you were lucky this time. 466 00:52:37,387 --> 00:52:39,480 She didn't die. 467 00:52:39,556 --> 00:52:41,319 Now it was Lily. 468 00:52:42,626 --> 00:52:46,722 Lily was Marie Texier, a dress model. 469 00:52:49,032 --> 00:52:52,229 Once again, the Bohemian life closed in around him 470 00:52:52,302 --> 00:52:54,497 and he dreamt his way through it, 471 00:52:54,571 --> 00:52:56,266 this time with Lily. 472 00:52:56,339 --> 00:53:02,141 And, as always, with the help and cash of his patron Louÿs. 473 00:53:03,213 --> 00:53:05,613 He had decided to marry. He wrote to Debussy, 474 00:53:05,682 --> 00:53:10,949 ''Write me a wedding march, pompous, lustful and ejaculatory in character. '' 475 00:53:11,021 --> 00:53:16,687 For he was having, as he said, a volcanic experience, he announced. 476 00:53:16,760 --> 00:53:18,250 ''Because of her love for a rich rhyme, 477 00:53:18,328 --> 00:53:24,995 ''Mademoiselle Louise de Heredia is changing her name to Louise Louÿs. '' 478 00:53:25,068 --> 00:53:28,162 - Soon Debussy replied. - ''Please remain seated. 479 00:53:28,238 --> 00:53:32,334 ''Mademoiselle Lily Texier has changed her disharmonious name to Lily Debussy 480 00:53:32,409 --> 00:53:36,846 ''much more euphonious, as everyone will agree. '' 481 00:53:36,913 --> 00:53:38,847 (Director) But Louÿs was gone. 482 00:53:38,915 --> 00:53:42,282 His wife disliked Debussy, this scruffy musician, 483 00:53:42,352 --> 00:53:44,013 and he was dismissed. 484 00:53:44,087 --> 00:53:46,021 (Debussy ) No money. 485 00:53:46,089 --> 00:53:47,818 To pay for the wedding breakfast 486 00:53:47,891 --> 00:53:51,019 I gave a piano lesson an hour before the ceremony. 487 00:53:53,363 --> 00:53:56,093 Lily fell ill. 488 00:53:56,166 --> 00:53:59,533 We hadn't the money to carry out the doctor's instructions. 489 00:53:59,603 --> 00:54:01,503 I had to support her. 490 00:54:04,474 --> 00:54:08,001 (Director) No patron, no one to support his long trances, 491 00:54:08,078 --> 00:54:09,875 his rejected work. 492 00:54:09,946 --> 00:54:11,607 ( 493 00:55:15,145 --> 00:55:16,339 Cut! 494 00:55:16,413 --> 00:55:18,244 Stop it, for heaven's sake. 495 00:55:18,315 --> 00:55:20,010 What are you doing? 496 00:55:21,284 --> 00:55:22,683 Come along here. 497 00:55:29,359 --> 00:55:32,487 You don't have to be like that in front of her. 498 00:55:32,562 --> 00:55:35,690 What is it all about, this clowning? 499 00:55:38,068 --> 00:55:39,933 Well, it's... 500 00:55:41,671 --> 00:55:45,869 It's difficult to get the feeling that I'm finding refuge in a foreign country. 501 00:55:45,942 --> 00:55:49,241 Well, I don't understand what you're talking about. 502 00:55:49,312 --> 00:55:51,280 That's got nothing to do with it, 503 00:55:51,348 --> 00:55:53,111 all this clowning. 504 00:55:53,183 --> 00:55:57,017 The only thing you are really concerned about is the sea. 505 00:55:57,087 --> 00:56:00,523 Madame ardac and Debussy stayed here all summer 506 00:56:00,590 --> 00:56:04,048 and it was here he finished writing La Mer, 507 00:56:04,127 --> 00:56:05,992 his greatest piece. 508 00:56:06,062 --> 00:56:09,759 - He used to listen to the sea. - ut she's not going to accept this. 509 00:56:10,734 --> 00:56:14,329 I mean, what's she going to think? She leaves her husband, her position in society 510 00:56:14,404 --> 00:56:17,999 and elopes with this composer, goes all the way to exotic Eastbourne 511 00:56:18,074 --> 00:56:21,635 and then he sits down on the beach and listens to the sea - it won't work. 512 00:56:21,711 --> 00:56:23,372 - You mean, it's all wrong? - It's wrong. 513 00:56:23,446 --> 00:56:24,572 - No, it isn't. - Why? 514 00:56:24,647 --> 00:56:28,515 ecause she would understand. She wasn't like Lily or Gaby. 515 00:56:28,585 --> 00:56:31,679 She was like Madame Vernier or Camille Claudel. 516 00:56:31,755 --> 00:56:35,589 She was very intelligent. She was an artist herself. 517 00:56:35,658 --> 00:56:37,387 - And she was rich. - Exactly. 518 00:56:37,460 --> 00:56:40,918 For the first time in your life, you had no money worries 519 00:56:40,997 --> 00:56:43,761 and you could concentrate on your music. 520 00:56:45,268 --> 00:56:47,236 And just listen to the sea. 521 00:56:52,976 --> 00:56:54,637 Right? 522 00:56:55,678 --> 00:56:57,339 Right. 523 00:56:57,414 --> 00:56:59,348 Good. Let's get on with it. 524 00:57:04,687 --> 00:57:07,485 (Director) The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne. 525 00:57:07,557 --> 00:57:11,755 It was here that Debussy came to get away from the scandal in Paris. 526 00:57:11,828 --> 00:57:15,264 Madame Bardac left her husband for Debussy. 527 00:57:15,331 --> 00:57:17,492 She was his new patron. 528 00:57:18,668 --> 00:57:22,729 Debussy was no longer an enfant terrible. 529 00:57:25,041 --> 00:57:28,704 For 20 years he had been absorbed in composition, 530 00:57:28,778 --> 00:57:32,373 taking new ideas from poets and painters, 531 00:57:32,449 --> 00:57:35,418 slowly working out new patterns of music, 532 00:57:35,485 --> 00:57:37,282 ignoring his rejection. 533 00:57:37,353 --> 00:57:41,619 His work came out of this long daydream. 534 00:57:41,691 --> 00:57:44,125 (Debussy ) Music will begin where words are impotent. 535 00:57:44,194 --> 00:57:47,357 Music is made for the inexpressible. 536 00:57:48,298 --> 00:57:50,994 I would like it to appear that it came from a shadow 537 00:57:51,067 --> 00:57:53,331 and from time to time, it will return there. 538 00:57:53,403 --> 00:57:56,895 (Director) And here, with Madame Bardac supporting him, 539 00:57:56,973 --> 00:57:58,873 he finished La Mer, 540 00:57:58,942 --> 00:58:06,075 this sea in which all his experiments blended into a new and strong form. 541 00:58:06,149 --> 00:58:07,844 ( 542 00:58:49,993 --> 00:58:51,961 La Mer proved him. 543 00:58:52,028 --> 00:58:55,862 From now on, he was regarded as a great composer. 544 00:58:55,932 --> 00:58:59,732 The listless drifting of garret life was over. 545 00:59:40,910 --> 00:59:44,346 The listless drifting of garret life was over 546 00:59:44,414 --> 00:59:46,905 and with it, Lily. 547 00:59:46,983 --> 00:59:51,249 He had married Lily and he had introduced her to his friends. 548 00:59:51,321 --> 00:59:53,516 She was very popular with them. 549 00:59:53,590 --> 00:59:56,787 She was excited by the new people she met. 550 00:59:56,859 --> 00:59:59,760 Life was slovenly and difficult 551 00:59:59,829 --> 01:00:06,462 but to her it appeared secure, sophisticated, different. 552 01:00:06,536 --> 01:00:08,561 But Debussy abandoned her 553 01:00:08,638 --> 01:00:12,130 when he realized that she had nothing to give him 554 01:00:12,208 --> 01:00:13,698 and left her isolated. 555 01:00:13,776 --> 01:00:17,371 And this caused a scandal. 556 01:00:17,447 --> 01:00:22,578 It was this that forced Debussy and Madame Bardac to quit Paris. 557 01:00:25,054 --> 01:00:26,851 I have discovered you. 558 01:00:26,923 --> 01:00:29,949 It was so charming, just the two of you. 559 01:00:31,494 --> 01:00:33,257 Just look at her get-up. 560 01:00:33,329 --> 01:00:36,264 You've chosen well, my dear. My congratulations. 561 01:00:37,166 --> 01:00:40,431 And your eyes - your horrible eyes, both of you. 562 01:00:41,571 --> 01:00:43,937 Tie your tie again properly, you idiot. 563 01:00:44,007 --> 01:00:45,531 That's enough. 564 01:00:45,608 --> 01:00:48,008 Get out now, I order you, or I'll use force. 565 01:00:48,077 --> 01:00:49,374 I told you, I want to talk. 566 01:00:49,445 --> 01:00:51,777 I'm going to talk you and nothing is going to stop me, 567 01:00:51,848 --> 01:00:54,146 - not even your threats. - You're crazy, come away! 568 01:00:54,217 --> 01:00:56,447 - No! - Don't interfere! 569 01:00:56,519 --> 01:00:59,682 Madame has a right - we do owe it to her. 570 01:00:59,756 --> 01:01:04,056 Oh, God. She doesn't look a bit like Madame ardac. 571 01:01:04,127 --> 01:01:06,459 - I suppose you think you do? - Shh! ehave yourselves. 572 01:01:06,529 --> 01:01:08,759 They are giving a special performance for us. 573 01:01:08,831 --> 01:01:12,665 My most sincere desire is to put right as far as possible 574 01:01:12,735 --> 01:01:16,330 the wrong I've done you and to offer you a life worthy of you, 575 01:01:16,406 --> 01:01:19,136 and that of a kind your husband cannot afford. 576 01:01:19,208 --> 01:01:22,177 I know this is only a small compensation. 577 01:01:22,245 --> 01:01:24,042 Now it's charity! 578 01:01:24,113 --> 01:01:27,480 And your charity. I'd be ashamed to accept it. 579 01:01:27,550 --> 01:01:32,487 ut if I don't, I can go and die on the bare floor, that's the alternative. 580 01:01:32,555 --> 01:01:35,922 Well, my offer, as I see it, cannot be called charity. 581 01:01:35,992 --> 01:01:40,429 elieve me, it will be much more generous than anything usually known by that name. 582 01:01:40,496 --> 01:01:41,963 Huh! I should hope so! 583 01:01:42,031 --> 01:01:45,967 You'd take everything away from me and not do anything to make up for it? 584 01:01:46,035 --> 01:01:49,334 Money? I should say I shall need money, and lots of it. 585 01:01:50,540 --> 01:01:51,939 You're rich, you. 586 01:01:52,008 --> 01:01:54,943 When one pays for the luxury of getting a man, 587 01:01:55,011 --> 01:01:56,706 one should learn what it costs. 588 01:01:56,779 --> 01:01:58,610 - Lily! - Congratulations, Madame, 589 01:01:58,681 --> 01:02:01,844 On this ground, we will understand each other much more. 590 01:02:01,918 --> 01:02:04,887 Now, let's talk about the practical side of it first. 591 01:02:04,954 --> 01:02:08,583 - You will have a regular income... - ut I don't want your filthy money. 592 01:02:08,658 --> 01:02:11,684 Keep it! Do you really think I would soil my hands with it? 593 01:02:11,761 --> 01:02:15,219 - Who wrote this? - Henri ataille. 594 01:02:15,298 --> 01:02:19,826 It's called the Naked Lady. Most of it was based on Debussy's own experiences. 595 01:02:19,902 --> 01:02:22,996 - Didn't Debussy sue him? - He couldn't do anything about it. 596 01:02:23,072 --> 01:02:25,540 To have sued would've been admitting it was true. 597 01:02:25,608 --> 01:02:27,633 Oh, what a mess it all was. 598 01:02:27,710 --> 01:02:29,302 Well, it's a bloody bore. I'm off. 599 01:02:29,378 --> 01:02:33,144 Shut up and stay where you are. It's just that one scene. 600 01:02:33,216 --> 01:02:36,049 - I wouldn't say no to Lily. - For heaven's sake. 601 01:02:36,119 --> 01:02:38,587 What must I do to remake my life? 602 01:02:38,654 --> 01:02:42,613 Run from one man to another to find one who will take care of me? 603 01:02:42,692 --> 01:02:46,321 (Gasps ) Must I return to prostitution? 604 01:02:46,395 --> 01:02:48,488 I couldn't do it. 605 01:02:48,564 --> 01:02:52,898 It's your fault, you have given me a conscience. 606 01:02:52,969 --> 01:02:55,494 What for, good Lord? 607 01:02:55,571 --> 01:02:58,768 Every time I failed you, you dragged me back to the heights. 608 01:03:01,377 --> 01:03:02,935 Well, I'm there. 609 01:03:04,247 --> 01:03:07,876 At last, I have become the woman you wanted me to be. 610 01:03:07,950 --> 01:03:10,851 I can no longer go back. 611 01:03:12,455 --> 01:03:15,583 It's finished and you have a duty to perform. 612 01:03:16,325 --> 01:03:18,384 It is me whom you have to keep 613 01:03:18,461 --> 01:03:21,862 and you are going to keep me. 614 01:03:21,931 --> 01:03:24,422 I've made you what you are. 615 01:03:24,500 --> 01:03:27,025 I have helped you to attain a certain social standing. 616 01:03:27,103 --> 01:03:31,335 I am leaving you on a higher plane which can serve you as a springboard. 617 01:03:31,407 --> 01:03:35,036 Life is far richer in its resources than you think. 618 01:03:35,111 --> 01:03:37,443 You can remake your circle of friends. 619 01:03:37,513 --> 01:03:42,143 Like everybody else in the world, you can find a better love than mine 620 01:03:42,218 --> 01:03:44,948 and far, far happier. 621 01:03:46,289 --> 01:03:50,851 My poor girl, if you know how I'm torn, torn to pieces. 622 01:03:50,927 --> 01:03:53,327 (Lily) You see? He has pity on me. 623 01:03:53,396 --> 01:03:56,695 You are not going to take him away, you are going to leave him to me. 624 01:03:56,766 --> 01:04:00,099 You have no idea what you are doing. Don't do this, don't do this. 625 01:04:00,169 --> 01:04:01,761 Have pity on me! 626 01:04:01,838 --> 01:04:05,239 Come away, let's go home now, my dear, my love. 627 01:04:05,308 --> 01:04:07,833 You do love me a little, don't you? Let's go home now. 628 01:04:11,180 --> 01:04:13,171 - (Screams ) - (Screams ) 629 01:04:13,249 --> 01:04:16,241 ( 630 01:04:23,993 --> 01:04:25,756 (Shots ) 631 01:04:37,640 --> 01:04:39,608 - Again? - Yes. 632 01:04:39,675 --> 01:04:42,508 ut this time it happened six months after you left her. 633 01:04:43,546 --> 01:04:45,377 I don't understand it. 634 01:04:46,616 --> 01:04:48,709 ut why all the scandal?? 635 01:04:49,986 --> 01:04:51,783 I mean, he had done it before. 636 01:04:52,855 --> 01:04:54,686 Other people had done it. 637 01:04:55,758 --> 01:04:58,056 - And she didn't kill herself. - I know. 638 01:04:58,828 --> 01:05:02,059 There is so little real evidence for what happened. 639 01:05:03,532 --> 01:05:06,399 Maybe you were a swine with women, as they said. 640 01:05:06,469 --> 01:05:09,336 Everybody was against you. 641 01:05:10,907 --> 01:05:13,000 They said that you had in fact told her 642 01:05:13,075 --> 01:05:16,476 that she could always make money out of prostitution. 643 01:05:17,647 --> 01:05:22,107 Some people said that Debussy's father robbed her when he visited her in hospital. 644 01:05:23,486 --> 01:05:24,817 ut this list... 645 01:05:26,689 --> 01:05:31,217 This public fund set up to provide for Lily, hmm? 646 01:05:31,294 --> 01:05:32,420 Yes. 647 01:05:32,495 --> 01:05:36,522 Debussy cut everyone who signed that list. 648 01:05:37,566 --> 01:05:39,966 And nearly all his friends did sign it. 649 01:05:41,504 --> 01:05:42,971 And what happened? 650 01:05:43,039 --> 01:05:45,200 He never spoke to any of them again. 651 01:05:46,509 --> 01:05:48,374 Not even to me... 652 01:05:49,378 --> 01:05:50,743 Louÿs. 653 01:05:50,813 --> 01:05:53,077 ( 654 01:07:07,990 --> 01:07:11,926 (Director) Madame Bardac secured a divorce, 655 01:07:11,994 --> 01:07:15,293 and with it, a large settlement of money. 656 01:07:16,399 --> 01:07:18,060 Debussy and she were married 657 01:07:18,134 --> 01:07:19,863 but before the marriage, 658 01:07:19,935 --> 01:07:24,736 she had already given him his first and only child, Chouchou. 659 01:07:24,807 --> 01:07:26,707 (Debussy ) I write only for her. 660 01:07:26,776 --> 01:07:28,801 (Director) A ballet, a suite. 661 01:07:28,878 --> 01:07:31,005 (Debussy ) To my dearest Chouchou, 662 01:07:31,080 --> 01:07:33,571 with her father's apologies for what is to follow. 663 01:09:18,787 --> 01:09:22,314 But the first sign began to appear 664 01:09:22,391 --> 01:09:27,351 of what was to be a long and agonizing illness. 665 01:09:29,098 --> 01:09:32,158 (Debussy ) I began to work on two stories by Edgar Allan Poe, 666 01:09:32,234 --> 01:09:35,863 The Devil In The Belfry and The Fall Of The House Of Usher. 667 01:09:36,939 --> 01:09:38,133 (Director) He wrote little. 668 01:09:38,207 --> 01:09:40,732 Life was highly respectable and luxurious. 669 01:09:41,644 --> 01:09:43,874 Debussy's luck didn't hold. 670 01:09:43,946 --> 01:09:47,814 His wife's income was cut off and he was back looking for money. 671 01:09:47,883 --> 01:09:49,783 Everything was more difficult now. 672 01:09:49,852 --> 01:09:52,616 He had a daughter to support and a big house to maintain. 673 01:09:52,688 --> 01:10:00,094 And although he was very sick, he had to travel all over Europe on conducting trips. 674 01:10:01,530 --> 01:10:02,827 Start the P. 675 01:10:05,234 --> 01:10:07,532 He was the leader of a movement in music 676 01:10:07,603 --> 01:10:10,003 and so the commissions poured in 677 01:10:10,072 --> 01:10:14,065 at a time when all the experiments and struggles which he had undergone 678 01:10:14,143 --> 01:10:16,771 were being hauled into the open 679 01:10:16,845 --> 01:10:19,643 and thrown up in concert halls and on stages 680 01:10:19,715 --> 01:10:21,615 all over Europe. 681 01:10:22,751 --> 01:10:27,916 Ida Rubinstein, it was for her Debussy wrote The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, 682 01:10:27,990 --> 01:10:29,821 a big, phoney epic 683 01:10:29,892 --> 01:10:34,295 contrived to satisfy the ego of an aging Russian ballerina. 684 01:10:34,363 --> 01:10:37,389 On the opening night, she caused a scandal - 685 01:10:37,466 --> 01:10:40,867 a Jewess impersonating a Christian saint. 686 01:10:40,936 --> 01:10:42,164 The whole thing was a flop. 687 01:10:42,238 --> 01:10:46,436 And yet Debussy worked on it as he had never worked before. 688 01:10:46,508 --> 01:10:48,669 - Why? - (Debussy ) For Chouchou, 689 01:10:48,744 --> 01:10:52,271 with her father's apologies for what is to follow. 690 01:10:52,348 --> 01:10:56,045 (Director) He continued with his conducting trips all over Europe, 691 01:10:56,118 --> 01:10:58,279 even though he collapsed many times. 692 01:10:58,354 --> 01:11:03,018 And contracts - he signed to do films, operas, ballets, anything. 693 01:11:03,092 --> 01:11:04,582 (Debussy ) I needed the money. 694 01:11:04,660 --> 01:11:08,858 (Director) And sometimes, he was so ill that he let others orchestrate his music 695 01:11:08,931 --> 01:11:11,058 and just signed his name to it. 696 01:11:11,133 --> 01:11:13,363 (Debussy ) It's ugly. 697 01:11:13,435 --> 01:11:16,063 Paris is becoming more and more odious to me 698 01:11:16,138 --> 01:11:19,198 and I wish I could leave. 699 01:11:19,275 --> 01:11:21,937 Literally, I cannot endure it any longer. 700 01:11:22,011 --> 01:11:25,674 (Director) A week later, war was declared. 701 01:11:27,082 --> 01:11:31,041 The Daily Telegraph commissioned him to write a piece of war music. 702 01:11:31,120 --> 01:11:34,749 (Debussy ) It was to be for Albert, King of the Belgians. 703 01:11:34,823 --> 01:11:38,122 It had to include the Belgian national anthem. 704 01:11:38,193 --> 01:11:39,990 (Director) Berceuses Héroique is possibly 705 01:11:40,062 --> 01:11:45,398 the most unheroic, unbloodthirsty war music ever written. 706 01:11:45,467 --> 01:11:48,368 ( 707 01:12:57,473 --> 01:13:02,001 Now, for the last years of his life, Debussy locked himself away. 708 01:13:03,045 --> 01:13:07,345 There is mention of his daughter but of no one else. 709 01:13:07,416 --> 01:13:14,686 His dreaming became a sort of endless, isolated self-communion. 710 01:13:14,757 --> 01:13:16,952 Time, place, the pattern of life - 711 01:13:17,025 --> 01:13:20,426 none of these had ever mattered much to him. 712 01:13:20,496 --> 01:13:23,158 Now they mattered not at all. 713 01:13:23,232 --> 01:13:25,860 He was working on The Fall Of The House Of Usher 714 01:13:25,934 --> 01:13:27,561 by Edgar Allan Poe. 715 01:13:27,636 --> 01:13:29,627 (Debussy ) Roderick Usher is sensitive, 716 01:13:29,705 --> 01:13:32,196 as I am sensitive. 717 01:13:32,274 --> 01:13:34,868 He hears and feels everything in the world 718 01:13:34,943 --> 01:13:38,606 and tries to force these impulses into his work. 719 01:14:07,676 --> 01:14:12,477 (Director) Roderick Usher lived with his twin sister in a large, lonely house. 720 01:14:13,649 --> 01:14:17,050 He was morbidly engrossed in his artistic experiments 721 01:14:17,119 --> 01:14:19,178 and in his sister. 722 01:14:20,456 --> 01:14:24,552 (Debussy ) She died and he incarcerated her in one of his vaults. 723 01:14:24,626 --> 01:14:28,494 (Director) Debussy become obsessed with Roderick Usher. 724 01:14:28,564 --> 01:14:31,658 (Debussy ) Working on Usher is an excellent way to steady one's nerves 725 01:14:31,733 --> 01:14:33,462 against all sorts of horrors. 726 01:14:33,535 --> 01:14:38,438 There are moments when I lose the feelings of things around me 727 01:14:38,507 --> 01:14:41,943 and if Roderick Usher's sister was suddenly to walk into my home 728 01:14:42,010 --> 01:14:44,410 I wouldn't be a bit surprised. 729 01:14:45,380 --> 01:14:49,840 (Director) Enormous effort, all his impulses were put into this 730 01:14:49,918 --> 01:14:52,113 which was to be his greatest work. 731 01:14:52,187 --> 01:14:56,749 For 12 years, this composition drove him to anguish. 732 01:14:56,825 --> 01:15:01,194 And all that he had, after those 12 years, 733 01:15:01,263 --> 01:15:04,198 were two or three sheets of music. 734 01:15:05,434 --> 01:15:07,368 (Debussy ) I am Roderick Usher. 735 01:15:36,698 --> 01:15:42,568 (Director) A violent thunderstorm releases Usher's dead sister from the vault. 736 01:15:42,638 --> 01:15:44,538 (Debussy ) I am Roderick Usher. 737 01:17:54,936 --> 01:17:57,564 (