Original subtitles

My handbag!

But there's no mirror!

Our faces are quite different.

True.

But the same coats,

the same bags...

The same handbags,

the same cases.

That's awful.

l don't feel l'm myself any longer.

As if l had no longer a life of my own.

As if we knew all about one another.

Same petticoats.

- You're 5 ft. - And a 1/4!

But l'm 5.5 ft.

Appearance is not everything.

We must have different personalities.

l am Brigitte.

Me too.

l was born on March 6, 1946 in Mariaud in the Alps.

And the only girl that year.

It's a tiny village, no road, no electricity.

l was born on November 28, 1945 in Mantet, Pyrenees.

No road, no electricity either.

But they're planned for 1974 by De Gaulle's next 5-year plan.

l did my first year at Aix.

l did mine in Montpellier.

You've no accent.

Accent disappears with the ascent.

l'm coming for my degree.

Me too.

We're average French girls, that explains all.

They don't live at the back of beyond.

Average girls don't exist:

100%% have singularities. 0%% are like the average girl.

Our differences make us the same.

l am small. How stupid! l took you for me.

You are small, l am tall and we're equally pretty.

You're Pyrenean, l'm Alpine, but from similar villages.

Our singularities make our similarities.

We wear the same fashionable clothes.

Sure, we've very different personalities.

We're equidistant from and parallel to the norm on either side of it.

l studied sociology. Now l'm doing German.

l'm doing geography. l go to my cousin's in the West End.

l'm going to register at the Sorbonne.

- l'll be there at 11. - Where can we meet?

On the steps.

- Your first time? - l saw a photo in the Guide.

There must be a metro here.

What's up there?

That's not it, the tube runs underground.

Well, it's not a tramway.

It must be the metro then, but it oughtn't to be.

- No, cousin! - Last time, you were that high.

We played on a seesaw.

You liked me to tickle you.

- Where's your wife? - She'll be back on Monday next.

My cousins are still away. Registered?

Queue now for a ticket to queue in 11 days' time.

In 12 if you don't hurry.

Join me at the counter for lodgings.

You can't get a room unless you've got a restaurant card

from the next counter.

Anyway, it's November now. it's too late to get lodgings.

You can't get a restaurant card

unless you've got lodgings from the next counter.

Anyway, it's November now. It's too late to get a good restaurant.

l'm starving.

Too expensive.

The more l eat, the better l think,

and our problem is a tough one.

Look out! They're filming!

"Tadgotted crests, 50 cents."

Quick, a dictionary!

"April swacks."

l'll see what it's like.

If you don't like it, l'll eat it.

l'll eat yours if you don't like it.

l'll have one, as well as "falvaws of young dwukarnillons."

That sounds nice.

l can't read this.

"Napkins."

l didn't ask for one.

l can eat perfectly well, without making a mess.

"Bread," OK.

But a percentage for the cutlery, that's ridiculous!

l don't need more cutlery for a 1 $ meal than for a 50 c. one.

And 15%% for service on top of all that.

The room is let

Room to let

This is the new campus.

Well, where's the room?

- l'm taking the next train home. - Don't take it to heart!

Pretend you're climbing. Never look up, count the hours:

in a fortnight we will be lodged, fed, registered etc...

And tonight?

The youth hostel is nearby.

Excuse me, where can l find the house parent?

l am.

Can you sell my friend a YWCA card?

Right! An English party have just left.

So there'll be none too few of you to clear up.

Is it the stand that gets Figaro first?

lt always gets here about 6.15.

Saved!

University re-opens in 10 mns.

There's a strike today.

Everyone's out.

Your 'varsity card?

l don't see why l should show it to you.

Blackleg! Fascist!

German linguists, into the lecture!

Sign here.

Down with strike! Go in!

A strike! Great! Quick to the movies.

Retirement at 55!

Truth about Ben Barka!

110 $ a month for each student!

Right there.

How did it happen?

We were fully protected: cops were everywhere.

And suddenly... l can't remember.

Lazy bones must avoid fascists.

Plodders must avoid the Reds. In geography, "Minos" lead...

Minos won a majority in Students' Union.

Before gaining a majority they made a minority.

"Majos" are today's minority. No majos in geography.

To hell with geography!

l'm studying something less risky.

No more Huns for me,

take my place, you swot!

OK. You, slack off in geography!

ls the moon going around the sun,

the sun around us, or us around the moon?

l know nothing beyond...

Apart we get into trouble,

but together we manage perfectly.

Let's choose a subject we both like.

French, l'm with it.

l've first to study Greek.

To decipher it, l need glasses. They don't suit me.

History?

lt's in with geography.

Philosophy?

There are only backward boys with spots.

Sociology?

Soci... what?

At least you'll get it.

To get on in it, it's better to know nothing.

It gives it some suspense and excitement.

In July, you won't have a clue what it is.

It's new: there must be Reds in it.

One bump's enough. My other foot hates trouble.

Italian?

l hate spaghetti. And they raped Grand 'Ma in 1940.

- There's only English left. - We've no choice.

We'll sign on Friday.

How much?

28 $ included restaurant tickets till the 31st.

l haven't. l bought drugs.

l made Pa send me here, l can't ask him for more than my 68 $

on the 31st.

l only get 60 $ .

Let's put it all together.

To spend: 58 out of 59 $

We'll have to fast.

...a polysyllable if it ends in a consonant and a vowel.

It is closed in a mono if it ends in one or several consonants.

In a poly, if it ends in several consonants.

A syllable is open in a monosyllable if it ends in a vowel.

In a poly, if it's in consonant and vowel,

closed in a mono if in one or several consonants,

and in a poly if it ends in several consonants...

Mate, give me the perfo 102 with the inverse neck.

Fantastic, no boys here!

In the films, students wait to pounce on you.

What a genius! He is my pet-teacher. l only come in for him.

He? Swell!

We need a brolly.

Let's see Paris. l've got some tube tickets left.

That'll be spiritual food for us.

It doesn't lean, as one says. That's publicity.

You're wrong, it leans to the right, not to the left.

Right.

Our nice Minister Fouchet built it just for us.

It's so big l'm sure to get on in it.

It looks like a Goldfinger set.

Mark 18/20.

Let's go to TV House.

Why "Champs Elys�es?"

One more step you'll end up in Elysean Fields.

Now Notre-Dame!

You lever up into that bit gutting out.

You go up 3/4 of the wheel.

Jump with a pendulum onto the right saint,

back up a 4th degree grave groove...

Trash! The tall tapering spigolo is a child's play.

As for the tower, short rappel easy enough for Grand 'Ma.

Follow the cornice on the left, get over the slab.

No thanks, at 2 in 1!

There are thingumybobs and zinc sticks to the feet.

Afterwards, the tower is crenellated all the way.

- Overhang 2! - You dreamt it.

If it was real, this guy wouldn't be on the top.

Much overrated, Notre-Dame.

Ask for his autograph to know who he is.

250.

l can't stand that any longer.

Look out: You've no other Sunday shoes.

Free ball in the Studios. Let's go in: l'll get a partner.

Work first: l'll dance only when graduated.

First things first.

Supper's laid on. Get an invitation!

Good idea: l work better after eating.

But spend nothing: we have only 20 c. more.

You dance?

l hate niggers, yellows, Arabs and Jews.

You racist!

Wogs are stuck up, cheeky with us.

For our ancestors persecuted them.

Who paid?

A cute coloured boy. He is in the WC.

There is no WC here.

You'll have to pay.

And our registration?

The last ticket for the Club's tombola.

Take it. That's a good chance.

What about a dance?

l'm tired.

You've won your weight in sugar.

- 7 stone 1. - Don't lie: we'll win 1 $ .

- 8 stone all included. - With tax.

l am hungry.

You won't manage it.

Don't hug the wall, you'll get dirty.

Who's that guy?

That's Fouchet.

My Minister of Education.

- He's married. - It's only a photo.

He is ugly.

He who builds such a handsome campus must be handsome.

It's so spacious.

It's better when there's no room.

A crush helps human contacts: the aim of education.

Students only get to meet in a crush.

Clubs are made for that.

If it's made for, girls won't go.

l'm giving a talk with you:

"US movies, art or mythological factories?"

Not bad.

A film expert like Leon might help us.

- Are you free at 2? - After lunch!

No, sorry, l'm not an expert.

But Jack is. Call him.

He loves it.

- Go and see him. - No, he lives in the West End!

l'll never meet a West End man, and whom l don't know!

You'll see him in the campus snack.

My cousin lives in the West End as well.

Try and be free this afternoon.

l'll see you at 2.

As you swiped my afternoon, l'll tackle Jack. Could be a good bet.

l'll prepare a questionnaire for you.

Question 7...

Funny, we both study English but never met.

Boys never go to lectures. Only fools and fanatics.

Girls like to lend them their notes in caf�s

and campus snacks.

For one hour, l took 14 pages of notes.

Brigitte is into her 17th note-book. How great!

You take down too much.

You definitely do.

l was lent the same lecture, look.

If you take down everything, you won't have time to understand.

It's easy to read, one hasn't to think,

and one gets bored stiff.

Lectures are no use.

You can only study in the Provinces.

- There's too many people in Paris. - But the best teachers are here.

That's why l left Aix.

l would have done the opposite,

but l work and have no time for studying.

l register only for the restaurants, the girls, the Social Security,

to get reduced income tax and reduced movie prices.

Shall we go to one? lt'll answer your other 28 questions.

Deeply touched at interviewing the film-maker n�1 of the world

and l forgot my questions.

Me too, l am...

You're so pretty,

so charming that l couldn't have

answered you anyway.

Cinema is the only artistic medium in the US,

which beforehand were primitive.

Actually, the myth-factory isn't cinema but American literature.

But commercial Hollywood created

two generations of juvenile delinquents.

The romantic halo of failure

in E. Hemingway, F. S. Fitzgerald and T. Williams

was the excuse of three generations of adult delinquents.

Childish westerns make movies mediocre, don't they?

Quite the opposite. Bad US films are adaptations.

Becket, from Anouilh,

Zhivago, The Old Man and the Sea, from Hemingway...

Who are the three best US film-makers?

Hitchcock,

Orson Welles and Jerry Lewis.

Who are the three worst film-makers?

Hitchcock, Orson Welles and Jerry Lewis.

The exact order is:

321st Hitchcock,

322nd Jerry Lewis and bottom is Orson Welles.

Your three best US film-makers?

Vincente Minellli, Harry Revier and Edward Ludwig.

Ludwig's last film was so fabulous that l took twelve pages of notes.

No, thirteen.

You go to cinema near home?

l go to London or New York when a new Ludwig film is released.

Your greatest wish as a movie-fan?

To die seeing a film.

l thought Hitchcock was the best.

Where's the other interview?

What a tunnel!

And l had no compass!

- Is Hitchcock good or bad? - Hitchcock is a genius.

And Compton?

Compton is a bum.

Sure?

Jack is positive.

There are three bums: Compton,

Ulmer, Fuller.

You're crazy. Fuller is a genius.

l admire electricity.

When l was five, l dreamt we had it at home.

Today, l've got it above my bed. That's the 20th century.

l'll check in my History of Movies.

He is not in it!

This travelling is rough, but the action tender by the slow,

supple,

distant way of... shooting it.

This succession of shots-cross shots

is sublime because it is based both on the theoretical idea

and on pure realism. Cinema...

"leads to a communion of souls."

"Cinema teaches us

"that woman

"is made not for work

"but for

"love.

"They used a very short focusing.

"How do you get such a soft skin?"

While l have sleepless nights?

l'm done in.

- From your Ma. - Thanks.

"Dear Brigitte..." l hate being called like that.

"We've had no letter from you this month.

"We were very worried for we feared Grand 'Ma had got singles.

"Happily it was only cancer.

"She got down to the hospital before the snowfall

"which cut us off. Otherwise, she'd died here.

"She's lucky.

"Since Saturday, Dad could not bring the mail up

"so he's been clearing out the town hall and the stables.

"Now they look like new. The phone line was put by the path

"and in a fortnight we haven't had a single break-down.

"lt'll be fine when you get back for Easter.

"l'll stop now as there's no more room.

"Dad will dig a way through to the Post.

"Since Tuesday we've been living on rusks. l am longing for bread.

"l'll write to you

"on the postal order. A gift this month: Dad adds 1 $ to your 68 $ .

"Everyone in Mariaud

"sends kisses.

"Your long eared-ass moans for you. Ma"

So you see continental films!

What's the link with US movies?

Jack says it's a must to grasp them. Europe influences the US greatly.

And l must get all this together

for tomorrow's talk, all alone:

and you, you go and flirt

with a West End boy and see French films!

You'll end up a spinster with a doctorate.

Marriage won't bring you a secure future.

One slip

and you're back in the Alps!

l have no prejudices, l'm looking for sexual freedom.

l'm up to date.

Look.

The Force of Circumstance

You've only to watch it the first time.

If it doesn't work, it marks you for ever.

First attempts.

l knew girls like that.

Afterwards, you can do all you want, but not the first time.

Wait till the day you're sure it will work.

Anyway Jack got no job.

Besides his degree, he is a film-critic and a delivery man

so he'll save enough to shoot a feature in Scope.

But he hasn't got his Union card!

Listen to my talk.

No, l can't listen to it any more.

It's not serious: it was the opposite of what l was expecting.

- It's supported by evidence. - By very little evidence.

Why look for empirical evidence?

Only the concrete analysis of statistics has any value.

And it proves the harmfulness of US films.

Someone wrote:

"A teenager stuttered and bit his nails

"on seeing a US film

"in which a cuckold vainly pursued

"the lover into the swamp.

"At the end, he was writhing about with staring eyes.

"Out of 400 films

"there is a great number of crimes: shop lifting: 642, murders: 310,

"adulterers: 213, adulteresses: 192,

"robbery under arms: 269."

l must put a "?" on your record.

l'll rub it out if you do better.

What would you like to be?

To be ugly. l feel you love someone else.

l would like to be a bum.

l could remain a bum or become clever. l could choose.

l'd be free, but l am not. l'm forced to remain clever. No fun.

Say something clever.

A friend is coming here for Easter. He's lending us his farm.

It will be easy for us, peasant girls,

to hole the fort. OK?

Your landlord agrees?

She likes us. She is Mrs. Marcus Aurelius, our concierge.

All the Parisians in hotels in the country. Or the contrary, it's stupid.

When there are so many empty houses, easy to burgle.

If everyone followed our example,

more provincials,

repelled by the excessive cost of Paris hotels, would get holidays.

In eleven days' time.

Hurry up.

Yes, you look fine.

One moment.

The girls are waiting.

- What is Brigitte doing there? - She's voting.

Are you of age then?

- It happens sometimes, you know. - Vote took a long time.

When you're required to vote,

you feel important, that's nice.

You can vote for Tom, Dick or Harry,

you feel a part of the crowd who vote the same.

It's so delightful that l'd like to vote all my life.

Make sure your train will be on time. We'll watch you.

OK for 2 miles, but not for 100.

l'll hitchhike.

These damned changes! l had too many bags.

The customs rummaged about in them, and l'm late.

Two miles from the farm. The meal's ready.

Hurry up!

The sparking plug's going. And slow puncture: only 5 mns left.

In one go! The inner tube burst.

Wait. We've made it.

l overtook Brigitte 12 miles back.

l'll bring her back on the bike.

One smashed up his left wing,

gravel broke the wind screen of the other

plus a 300-yard jam at the frontier.

- Jack drove faster. - Did he take you on his scooter?

- Here come two pin-ups. - My poor bike!

We'll get a bath in milk from Black.

No use locking us in.

l've got the sight-line.

l didn't know Belgian cows were lesbian. Better for Jack.

l'm hungry!

May l go to the?

When l was 6,

l did all the cooking while Ma went down to the doctor's.

l'm not hungry any more.

What about a walk?

OK, Brigitte?

lt helps digestion.

l must go back to make dinner.

Of course, he can't.

Take the world as it comes. Sold in every good chemist.

With concentrated food, no more cooking or washing up.

Guaranteed by Eurasian Scientific House for Paranutritional Application.

There's pulverised liver of pulps,

rich with well-balanced essential amino-acids,

natural dried yeast with many oligo-elements,

skimmed milk, concentrated egg full of lecithin,

rice flour, extract of predigested malt,

glucose without saccharose and a delicious fish catalyst...

...and l forgot what else.

Each biscuit has 83 calories,

each tube has 300 calories.

It has no taste.

It hasn't a bad taste. No risk of illness.

l don't find it disagreeable.

Sacrilege! You'll destroy the balance of your whole meal.

No, there's dietetic salt!

No mustard!

You'll drive me crazy!

Mix them...

3 chocolate biscuits, then 2 vanilla,

3 lemon, one cheese.

As it is not an ordinary lunch, take cheese first.

The best mixture is half a lemon,

then the tube,

3 vanilla, 3 chocolate, 2 cheese...

But vanilla on top, choc under. Cheese on top, lemon at the bottom.

l feel as if l ate nothing.

The more you stuff your belly, the less fed you are.

All that stays inside, you can't absorb it.

l can't manage to shut my mouth.

You eat too fast.

Slow down!

Like this.

Some laxative. An inner tube 700 C for the bike.

A couple of loaves.

Two pairs of net stockings.

Ten pounds of potatoes. Some D.D.T.

A Dover sole. Brussels' Le Soir.

Four cutlets and a carton of milk.

No, the cow will give us fresh milk for breakfast.

Look.

They won't notice the difference.

That's fresh milk!

"A syllable is open in a monosyllable if it ends in a vowel..."

Page 1, and 285 pages! So hard!

You've no use for a degree.

Dad's right: with a good degree in philosophy or English,

l can soon have a good job in the Post.

Inspector or head of the sorting Dept.

Only a month holiday...

As a teacher, l'll have three. Twenty hours of work a week.

Socially, they're the most active,

so l'll retire at 60,

my children at 55,

my grandchildren at 50.

After 60, l'm free.

You'll get bored. A film-maker never gets bored.

He can work even at 80.

Look at Chaplin, DeMille, Dreyer...

You do well to get your degree and not your film Union card.

Living in the screen world, l'd never taste real life.

To make films, you must know and show real life.

Be a tradesman, official, workman or contractor.

Don't go to a film school, nor be a film-assistant.

When a film-maker sees the life,

he has a kink in his mind

because he lives in order to show it.

It is our original sin.

Good film-makers live

without a film in mind and make it,

but often they have neither the idea nor the strength

nor the means to shoot it.

We leave out either ideas or reality.

Here.

Quick, a can!

What's that?

That's fresh milk!

ls that all?

l am a student, you see.

You're going from bad to worse. Is it on purpose?

l'll tell your Dad.

Hold it! Customers are always right.

Without me to earn your 3 easy bucks, you'd work!

l work hard with you. Your A level is your problem.

l do it only to give Dad a boost.

Guitarists despise A level. l can easily get by in English.

You'll need it afterwards.

No, NATO's given up the ghost!

l can't manage to speak with a British.

The three clever ones l met spoke French

and never let me speak English.

Use is not all. You can study the metamorphosis of the beetroots.

What counts is your effort to understand.

You can reproduce it elsewhere.

English needs no effort, only memory.

Man is not made for bothering. Absolute escapes him.

So, he likes human absurdity, adds to it to assume it.

Far from aimless tasks, he'd forget his mortal nature.

This rubbish makes money:

18 mns worth of teaching will buy you a lipstick.

Jabber more, your bread's more buttered!

Extortioness, you suck me dry to tittivate!

You, vampire, for whom people's purse perish,

you can go shopping now,

but you might pay me for having made you feel useful.

Next lesson tomorrow.

The concierge sent her dog for her rent.

She reminded me of it.

Pay with your sweet pupil's money.

l have other things to buy.

If we don't pay, we'll get thrown out,

as sure as your failing the exam.

It's not sure. l've eight days left in which to begin my studying.

l've a good chance.

l'll pay the whole rent if you get better marks than me.

The bet's on.

No time to lose.

"A syllable is open in a monosyllable if it ends...

A man at the window!

Ladies, where am I?

What were you doing at our window?

l am a builder's mate. l am painting.

There's a patch up there l could reach only on tiptoe.

Suddenly, l saw double beneath me.

l flattened myself on the window and here l am.

But l've still to paint it over.

If my boss notices it, l'll get the sack.

At 16, that's a bad start.

Thanks for the drink.

- Wait, you might get giddy. - No rope?

No one has. l'd be laughed at: "He can't stand upright."

Social Security ought to demand ropes

to lessen building accidents.

Pass me the rope.

l'm four inches taller. l'm not Alpine for nothing.

- Fantastic! - Roped up, no problems.

That looks great:

l read a syllable is open in a monosyllable...

That's exciting.

But what happens

when a syllable ends in two vowels or one consonant?

He's grasped straight away what l couldn't in six months.

We ought to swop jobs.

l'm not illiterate: l just finished secondary school.

May l borrow it?

To read in bed tonight.

He outclasses me.

At 14, l learned as quickly as he did.

l am old now: l think l can learn no more.

At 15, l wouldn't paint it.

That's normal: you grow up in mind before body.

The bones aren't finally formed till you're 19.

Goodbye.

But kids start physical work whereas we study after we're 18.

It's the medieval heritage: one studies after 18, as an extra.

- It was a luxury for the rich. - It still is.

Today, it provides jobs but the poor can't keep teenagers.

The rich prefer mental work: it's money for jam.

They spread out studies to walk over

and to feel it's harder than manual work.

But l am a state scholar.

Few are. Don't shut people up in one job all their lives,

give them mental work

before 20 and after 50,

manual work in-between.

No more boring retirement. Efficiency doubles!

You're always unsatisfied...

Only a child wants to right the world.

It's a hobby for idle minds.

Stop jabbering, get on with work: we made a bet.

"A syllable is open..."

My God!

What a nightmare!

l dreamed l had graduated.

But strange, l wasn't happy.

l was teaching in a tunnel.

All alone.

You were happily doing another year,

especially with the creation of student salaries.

Did l fail? Nonsense. l studied a set up.

l've spotted a hiding place.

You've lost: beware easy bets!

You lack the nerve. Caught in the act.

That's your fate. You can't get through without studying.

Especially in English.

Cheating won't help.

Success means a prolonged effort.

Wait and see.

Mate, give me the trowel.

Let me reach it, for Mom and Dad's sake.

l'll give one dollar to St. Anthony.

l'm through.

Am I?

Here is only one Brigitte.

- The time? - 4 o'clock.

- A. M? - P.M. more like.

Only 113 hours to go. And cheating's so hard in the orals.

l hope l won't be examined by a woman.

Fido again!

Pay the concierge. We can't avoid her always.

l haven't the time.

You look like a candidate for a doctorate

or an old spinster.

Stop working!

l got through with every day ideas, not with work.

Teachers hate vanguard.

"To get by, do badly," said Novalis.

Take vitamin C.

You haven't even ten minutes to do your hair in?

l'd only have 112 and 3/4 hours left.

Stop talking, it bothers me.

My slipper!

What you did, Fido, no man in the world would have done it.

It's a bad way to cram.

Go for a nice walk with your dictionary.

Each word imprints on your mind at each spot.

Think back at it in the exam.

Stop preventing me working.

That's the list of the dresses to borrow for the orals.

That's Brechtian!

Go for a nice walk with your dictionary.

Each word imprints on your mind at each spot.

He said to Jesus:

"Remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom."

And Jesus answered:

"A syllable is open in a monosyllable..."

l know who's examining. He likes me. l'll play him up.

Give me the shortest dress.

Nope, the other one.

No , This one !

While l dress, tell me his CV. File 1413.

"Born 1911, son of an adviser to the Treasury and a doctor.

"Divorced Silvia Ramirez. Two children: Arnaud, Sabine."

Louder!

(His university nominations match De Gaulle's progress.)

"Wrote: Heautontimoroumenism and Hedonism in Stevenson."

"Awards: Croix de Guerre...

"Hobbies: Dutch cows, archeology.

"Sport: gliding,safari 9 avenue foch Paris"

The concierge sent us a summons. 48 hours left to pay the rent

Why haven't you honoured our bet? Pay up!

No, l won't pay.

Sister, you're a cheat!

l'm no more your sister, and you're the cheat!

You triple-crossing! l gave you the tip.

l would pay because you cheated?

No, keep your room and pay up.

l'm leaving.

To your cousin's?

l'll manage.

l don't know...

Under a bridge...

For tonight, you can have a bed at home.

Your turn for the pot!

Hurry up, Brigitte!

Come on, prompt me with our code.

Now you can lose yourself.

Miss, take a paper. That'll be your subject.

Stop looking at whatever it is out of the window.

So cheating is punished.

No use cheating if you won't know why.

For the first time, l see you without Brigitte.

Brigitte and Brigitte is finished.