"Subtitles by IRNBRU, Spec and others Please repost corrections on extratitles" "On January 6th 1917" "Five soldiers condemned to death were lead to the sector of Bouchavel, near the front at the Somme." "The first one" "Previously adventurous and happy, he wore on his neck the number 2124" "He came from a recruitment centre of La Seine" "He was wearing boots that he took from a German soldier." "Before "Soldier 2124"" "his name was Bastoche" "He was with a beautiful redhead girl called Véronique Passavant." "He was a carpenter in "La Bastille"" "Sometimes between two furnitures" "They went to drink a beer in Petit Louis' pub on the street "The Golden Hand"." "He took the boots from an enemy who didn't need them any more in order to replace ones filled up with straw or newspaper, his own, old boots." "He appeared in front of a military tribunal for self-mutilation." "They had found traces of gunpowder in his hand wound, and he was condemned to death." "The second soldier was number 4077 from another recruitment centre of La Seine." "He was a welder for the state railroads in Manille." "His name was Francis Ganière;" "we called him "Sixpence"" "He knew that the poor were building the canons which would kill them and that the wealthy people sold them." "He tried to explain it at the barracks, but he didn't explain well." "And the cheap wine, their friend in the misery, made the soldiers so empty-headed, that he didn't even know how to reach them." "1818 was without doubt the bravest soldier," "And the most dangerous one." "Once, he killed an officer of his company." "An officer who hit the dead." "Get up!" "Get up!" "You, attack!" "No one knew it." "Benoît Notre Dame was a farmer from the Dordogne" "One morning in August, they came to take him away from his farm, and put him on the train." "Watch out for the cable!" "The phone cables were the only connection to the world of the living." "By that fine thread they were hoping for the grace of president Raymond Poincare to spare their lives." "Even if the only one here believing in that was him..." "Number 7328, recruited from the island of Corsica." "Ange Bassignano" "According to all who knew him, no one ever had a less appropriate name" "'The Angel' was a liar, a cheat, a fake, an informer and agitator." "Previously, he was the pimp of Tina Lombardi" "For her, he was jailed for five years for what he described as a matter of love or honour, depending on whether he was talking to a woman or a man." "In fact... it was a settling of accounts between the pimps of the village." "During the summer of 1916 they recruited delinquents in order to be able to replace losses within the massacred regiments in Verdun hell." "It was up to them." "For whom are those graves?" "Well in fact... well... as tomorrow you are going to attack..." "So, we anticipate." "Watch out for the cable." "The fifth soldier was a kid who belonged to section 17" "He needed only 5 months to be 20 years old." "And now, he was afraid of everything." "Of the French canons which shot too short." "Of the wind that spread the gas, of the trench thieves, of the executions to make an example." "Before the war he was not like this, he was entirely the opposite..." "He defied storms to help keep lighthouses working when the tide was high." "Charge!" "And then a piece of shrapnel changed everything." "There you go kid, you will return to see your fiancé, you just got your way out." "Yep, you got your way right to the court-martial" "My sergeant, close your eyes for a change, he already suffered enough, don't you think?" "Sergeant, they may condemn him to death" "Be understanding for a change!" "Shut it!" "Come on Sergeant..." "Shut it!" "When Mathilde and Manech made love for the first time" "Manech fell asleep with his hand over her breast." "Whenever he felt the wound on his hand throbbing, it was like feeling Mathilde's heart beating" "And each beat will make him closer to her." "If Manech were dead, Mathilde would know." "After the news of his death, she desperately clung to her intuition like a fine thread." "Still, she never gets discouraged." "Mathilde has a cheerful disposition." "She tells herself that if ever her thread doesn't connect her to her lover it doesn't matter, she still can hang herself with it." "In June of 1920 Mathilde received a letter from a nun." "A sick man from "Le Reim" hospital wanted to meet her." "He was with Manech in January 1917, at the front at the Somme." "In August 1912, I was quite handsome, wasn't I?" "It had two horse power, with a direct gear box." "Please tell me what happened to Manech" "In January 1917 they ordered me to escort five condemned men to the front." "Was he among them?" "Yes." "I had to take them to the front line trenches." "Gendarmes waited for us with the prisoners next to a small ruined cemetery." "What the fuck are you doing with those German boots?" "I am waiting." "Waiting for what?" "To be spared by Poincare?" "In your dreams, mate!" "He already signed it." "Normally I should not have been condemned." "I am from Corsica, you know, not French!" "Let him be." "He's lost his head a little" "Lucky him." "Are you done, my lieutenant?" "That soldier, the cold serves him." "In summer, the gangrene would kill him." "What about Manech?" "..." "Does his hand wound make him suffer badly?" "We had to amputate two fingers, but apparently he was doing okay." "I had to take them to a trench called "the Twilight Bingo"." "Fucking hell." "Couldn't you have kicked these useless people out of the truck along your way?" "To kick their asses out instead of bringing them here?" "My orders were to deliver to you the five condemned men;" "I don't care about the rest." "Then I will tell them what my orders are..." "to toss these guys from the trenches and to let them die like dogs between the two firing lines." "Those are my fucking orders Sergeant!" "You understand Sergeant, with the Bosch we have a type of truce" "The sector is a little bit sleepy, a kick in the ass and the shit will explode in our faces!" "The soup, guys, you are lucky it is warm." "And what would you like to have, kiddo?" "A big cup of chocolate with a piece of bread with honey." "Even if I have to kill my parents, I will get that to you." "Leave it, lieutenant" "He's an orphan." "Perhaps, but no doubt he'll get him what he wants." "He is the thief of the kitchens." "15 minutes later, he brought everything." "Salted butter, lavendar honey and..." "Cacao of Nigeria." "Happiness" "There you go kid, do you have anyone to write to?" "Do you have a girlfriend?" "Mathilde" "His girlfriend's name is Mathilde." "Mathilde" "I feel her heart beating, it's like Morse code." "We are about to get married." "They condemned us and we don't have to wait for the end of the war anymore." "I will go home when the execution is over." "Maybe it's better that I don't tell you the end." "I am lame, not stupid" "Tell me what happened." "We opened a breach in the wire fences and we helped the five soldiers to fight against the cold." "Célestin Poux gave your boyfriend one of his red wool gloves, so the hand was protected." "Is it far away?" "Less than 100 metres." "Too far for the grenades and too close for the artillery." "Not to mention the gas." "Do you think they'll be alright?" "If they don't fly in the air, they will very likely die of hunger and cold." "In any case the Germans will be laughing at us for a while." "Bastoche the carpenter was embraced by a corporal." "It was obvious they knew each other before the war." "Soon... we took them outside the trench." " Assholes." " Shit!" " Shut up!" "In September 1914, I could easily lift 70 Kilos" "But I was already less fit than in the past." "But that morning, in January 1917, was Manech still alive?" "At dawn, Favart shouted out their names." "All responded, except the farmer from the Dordogne." " Bassignano?" " Present." " Bouquette?" " What the hell do you want?" " Langonnet?" " Yeah, I am here." "Kid, you should hide in a better spot." "Notre Dame?" "Notre Dame?" "I know nothing else." "I retired to write my report young lady." "At last, soldier, the English come to take our place; we can go." "And the Bingo thing?" "What is that?" "The list of the condemned signed by Captain Favourier" " Do I leave it there?" " Nope, give it to me." "Don't stand there like an idiot, what are you waiting for?" "You are promoted to sergeant first thing in the morning and leave for the Vosges." "Even so my commander, this mission will always stick in my throat." "Good news, there are balsamic caramels for the throat there." "The caramels of the Vosges." "Leave!" "Some months later, I was wounded in the Somme." "I found myself in the same ambulance as Chardolot one of the officials in "The Twilight Bingo"." "But he had just a few days to live." "Eh oh, it is me, Esperanza." "Twilight Bingo, you remember?" "Oh, sorry, I didn't recognise you." "Tell me, my No Man's Land boys..." "How did the story finish?" "What do you think?" "No survivors?" "Do you feel remorse?" "You should have stayed with us in Bingo." "I saw the capital Ms written down ... underpants, an albatross." "You are delirious." "You have the flu." "We threw between two lines five live boys, then we recovered five cold cuts of meat." "So..." "I lost my sight sergeant, but I can imagine your face." "That makes my day." "He really spoke of capital Ms and an albatross?" "Yes... and of underpants." "There you go young lady, everything the condemned men in Bingo ever possessed." "They asked me to send everything to their families." "My health didn't allow me to do it." "It is a copy of the letter farmer Benoît Notre Dame wrote to his wife." "I sent the original one to her when I left Bingo." "Are you here because of the gas in the lungs?" "Nope, it's because I got the Spanish flu." "However, when death does not want to take you..." "Mathilde, if you can't cry, you can talk to me..." "If you can't talk, just stay quiet..." "But sometimes when we start speaking, it's when we start crying... and when crying we talk about what you didn't want to..." "You know what I mean..." "Or you can continue to have that silly face." "Petit Louis, tell Vero that I will always think of her and that it is too bad she doesn't want to talk to me." "I met Biscotte again and we made up." "Good bye my friend." "Bastoche" "Benoît Notre Dame Number 1818." "I will not be able to write again for a while." "Tell Berney I will pay everything by the month of March." "He sells his instalment too expensive" "You have to be careful." "Tell my Bagtistan that I hope nothing bad will happen to him" "I have never known such a nice person." "I love you." "Benoît" "For Tina Lombardi from Ange Bassignano." "If the dog enters the room before they call me for dinner, Manech must still be alive." "I am not hungry." "The dinner is ready." "Come Malthide, let's go to eat." "I'm coming." "Mathilde was born on the first of January 1900" "That makes it easy to determine one's age." "In 1903 her parents passed away in an accident on a 44 bus." "Since then Mathilde kept saying" "Late parents..." "late parents..." "Her uncle Sylvain and her aunt Bénédicte took care of her, thanks to the life insurance managed by her parents' lawyer, Pierre Marie Rouvières." "At five years old, Mathilde caught the polio virus." "She stayed in bed for several months in spite of the mustard poultices, the pendulums, and the infusions of four-leaved shamrock." "Today Mathilde is 20 years old, she plays tuba, because it is the only instrument that seems to give the distress signal." "The dog always farts when it sleeps" "Whenever Bénédicte hears the dog, she says" ""A dog that farts, happiness imparts"" "Mathilde needs daily massages for her legs." "George Cornu, the Breton freestyle swimming champion, gives her massage." "At first she was anxious but she got used to it." "When Mathilde was in the mood, she imagined that George Cornu admired the shape of her body and he couldn't repress his desire." "As a matter of fact, one day he dared to remark:" "You have very beautiful curves young lady, and I can assure you that I've touched a few women." "So Mathilde didn't know anymore if she could call him:" "My dear George..." "My beloved George..." "Jojo" "Sometimes, before sleeping she imagined herself in hot situations" "Mathilde never had to use all her imagination to succumb to the pleasure." "But since he disappeared, she cannot think about her fiancé when she seeks pleasure." "If I were you I'd forget everything Mathilde, it's useless to look for nothing," "Moreover, if he were alive why did he not give any sign, huh?" "Because he had been taken prisoner" "He stayed with a German girl with two blond tresses and big tits." "A Breton eating sauerkraut every single day... impossible." "Are you sure you don't want me to help you?" "Oh no, but I prefer you to keep your feet on the ground." "It's ok, I am capable of standing up!" "What did you say?" "Nothing" "I heard you." "What you just said doesn't make any sense." "Manech cannot be a prisoner in Bingo, because we took that territory." "In general, winners take the prisoners." "Maybe he lost his head, or he hides somewhere so as not to go to jail" "My sweet Mathilde, you read too many novels." "You have to get back to reality." "You are young and beautiful, you could easily find a husband in spite of..." "In all that story there is something that does not add up." "I must find the plunderer of kitchens..." "Célestin Poux" "What would you want, kiddo?" "Or maybe the prostitute from Corsica, maybe she knows more than I do." "Tomorrow I go away to Paris." "What?" "What for?" "To look for a survivor of Twilight Bingo." "... I have archives all the way up to the ceiling," "You can't imagine the number of cases which would never see the light of day if Germain Pire was not at hand." "Have a look at this," "A big case, an extremely delicate one." "In 1917 a train carrying soldiers derails 427 deaths." "Thanks to the investigation we discovered that the official gave the order to depart although the brakes did not work." "It was a cover-up by the government of Poincare" "The only option for the victims' families to find the official..." "Germain Pire." "Worse than the weasel." "Oh way worse, young lady." "And I found the official unluckily for the high military spheres." "Well ok, in the cemetery of Craon." "As soon as I packed my suitcases I went after them, Célestin Poux and his Corsican lover" "And what about the fees?" "Look my lady, the spy that chirps knows whom he should pluck." "For you it would be 20 francs per day" "Plus expenses, of course." "And why would you do me that favour?" "Hélène, come and say hello!" "Don't worry about the expenses of Germain Pire." "He eats little, does not drink and he is very sparing in gratuities." " Good morning" " Good morning" "Notre Dame de Paris?" "No, not Notre Dame de Paris, I call you from Paris about Notre Dame, Benoît" "Ah Benoît Notre Dame yes, a strong farmer and of great heart." "He died for the mother country." "The mother country has cleared me out of good people" "His wife and her small Bagtistan still live there?" "Madame Minnet I can't hear anything!" "No, one day she sold everything and they went away without leaving a forwarding address." "Is that a choir that I hear behind you?" "It is indeed a choir, dear lady, I am in the church." "However, that is not church music that I hear behind you." " Thanks Father." "Good bye." " You're welcome." "Twilight Bingo." "That has neither feet nor head." "This is grotesque." "I thought that your vocation was to defend lost causes." "When you were 10 years old your insolence was charming, but not when you are 20 years old." "As a matter of fact, it would be time to take me seriously." "Mathilde, Mathilde, you squander your inheritance in an absurd chimera." "Twilight Bingo, and why not Yupi Tralalala..." "I want to consult the military files." "Mathilde, let's say there were some truths in there and if one of the condemned men survived he would face forced labour." "And you know it!" "Your investigations would cause him very dangerous problems." "Be sensible, they trusted the interests to me  your parents" "Late parents" "Actually, my happiness was one of their interests." "Good bye, and thanks." "My sweet Mathilde please don't be like that." "I think about your future, it hurts me much to see you got worse despite your massages." "All right, all right." "I will see what I can do." "I went to Lourdes..." "Good morning." "I'm looking for Tina Lombardi." "I've known her since she was a kid and..." "Pardon ladies, I am a step uncle of Tina Lombardi and I would like to erm...." "Please, I am in charge of the interests of the Lombardi family in the continent, and I'm looking for Tina." "It is about a small inheritance..." "Are you the man who is looking for Tina Lombardi?" "No, in fact no" "Don't you know Corsica?" "It is a very pretty place" "Very colourful." "But Tina Lombardi went away after a bad business" "Luckily a member of the police found her whereabouts in the bar Leville." "Valentin Emilia Maria Lombardi, called Tina, has been registered in 1916 near the quarter of regiment 23 of Marseilles." "After that she flew away." "I lost her tracks in Lyon, and trust me I didn't stop working." "She disappeared in the district of the Croix Rousse." "What you mean is that you gave up" "Not at all, Pire never lets go." "Pire is obstinate." "A detective who gives up, he doesn't exist young lady." "Perfect, thanks." "Not the eyes, no" "What do you drink?" "This is my fiancé, and there is the carpenter" "I believe that you know him." "No." "Suddenly I feel like a glass of good wine." "It gives strength without putting money in the doctor's pocket." "My great aunt told me the same thing." "She died in Besançon in 1911 aged 99 and she had never been ill." "Good luck." "I touch wood." "The war." "No, a hyena in the botanical garden" "I wanted to stroke it to be a smart ass." "Bastoche and his friend did this for me." "Biscotte?" "His best friend." "They met in 1910 saving a woman from drowning in the flood." "Bastoche was skillful, but Biscotte..." "He was an artist, the virtuoso of the chisel." "He did all the joints." "It is a wonder!" "It is for you." "Petit Louis, tell Vero that I will always think of her and that it is too bad she doesn't want to talk to me." "I met Biscotte again and we made up." "Good bye my friend." "Bastoche" "If they made up, they must have had a falling out." "Do you know the reason?" "A mystery." "But to tell you the truth, they went through so much together," "and out of the blue, they can't bear each other." "Biscotte joined a different company in the army and he died in the bombing of a military hospital where he was injured." "Anyway, I am glad they made up before." "It seems that it will not be very busy here today." "Do you serve a drink?" "It seems you are again thirsty, huh?" "Maybe he has a wooden hand but he still has a big heart." "Let's drink to love." "The true one!" "Do you know who is that Véro?" "Véronique Passavant." "His girlfriend, his lover." "He often came here with her." "What could have happened that she didn't want to talk to him anymore?" "I suppose he was unfaithful and she never forgave him." "Voila, here is the place for the year 1917." "What are the red files about?" "Top Secret Defence" "We need higher clearance for them." "This way please, upstairs." "Go and help him" "Oh, right." "Suppose that the highest person is yourself ... then Mr. Rouvières and I would have clearance, right?" "If I had that kind of mind" "I would not be an Official." "Mathilde, please consider yourself lucky to have been able to come here." "Normally it takes months." "Like I told you, they say everything's in order but actually it's total chaos" "Let's see... front at the Somme" "Sector Buchavel, trench 108." "You know what I mean." "This is chaos!" "It's a real mess." "Can I help you?" "I thank you for agreeing to this ... with the General." "Good, he is a great friend mine." "I know the sector very well." "Two friends of mine died there." "Then it has been a very bloody war..." "Things weren't much better in Paris." "It was hard to find a taxi home from the opera." "Yes, it was the same." "You're right." "We would like to know what happened in trench 108." "...104, trench 105, 107, where is the one for 106?" "See?" "A mess." "Trench 108... this is a bloody mess." "Good 108, here these  Taken by us in October of 1916 and renamed Twilight Bingo." "And why not Yupi Tralala?" "On 6 January there is nothing" "On 7 January great confrontation with numerous losses..." "Captain Favourier, the professor of history died in combat..." "The lieutenant..." "An insurance adviser!" "The corporal.... insurance adviser..." "That is weird, a part of the losses are classified confidential." "Confidential?" "It means..." "I am sorry" "And we can do nothing about it?" "No, nothing" "Up to here we can arrive." "I am sorry" "Not even the general himself could do anything about it" "Even so, I thank you for your time" "I am sorry, there's nothing of interest to you." "Really ordinary files." "It was a possibility." "Everything is chaos!" "You are incorrigible, Mathilde...!" "... no lady, that is totally impossible" "No, without the seal of the ministry it is impossible." "I hope that this page is not a defence secret." "Pierre Marie, if it is important you must tell me." "Nope, that is nothing." "Only one license." "Of the president?" "So what, every so often the president can give it to deserving soldiers." "That is it." "I'll see you out" "Corporal Bouquette Clevert, Ganière Francis" "Soldier Notre Dame Benoît, soldier Bassignano Ange" "Soldier Langonnet Manech" "Sentenced to death for self-mutilation." "I count up to 7 and if the train doesn't enter a tunnel" "Or the conductor doesn't come..." "Manech is dead" "One, two, three, four, five, six" "Tickets please." "April fool!" "As soon as the newspaper strike is finished, we will pay for your announcement." "It rewards all information relating to Twilight Bingo." "Is that okay for you?" "Yes, try to encourage her, it would give her appetite." "You could have taken her to the Camperre festival." "What for?" "To distract you a little." "Not to mention you could find a nice boyfriend." "But what for?" "So you can marry and raise a family!" "Tell her!" "Can I have some too?" "Do you drink wine now?" "A glass of wine gives strength without putting money in the doctor's pocket." "Where did you get that from?" "On "The Gold Hand" street, the owner of the bar "The Dead Hand"." "He has a wooden hand." "His great aunt said that before dying, at the age of 99 years in Besançon in 1911." "Can you say that again?" "In Besançon, in 1911 ... an old lady aged 99 died, leaving behind a little nephew with a wooden hand" "He is the owner of "The Dead Hand", a bar on the street "The Gold Hand"." "You see?" "She's drunk already." "Look!" "This is the Albatros." "It knows that it can use the wind at will." "Oh my gravel!" "My gravel!" "Véronique Passavant on July 17th 1920" "Lady, I write to you from the bar of Petit Louis, who told me about you." "I have to tell about about a meeting I have had which gave me a fright." "I was on my way to the factory of Bastoche because I was sad." "I would like to speak with Bastoche" "Bastoche... but he died  at the front at the Somme, you didn't know?" "But I am looking for something else." "What exactly?" "In the hospital where I help the patients, there are terminal syphilitics." "One of them has given this to me for you." "If you don't want to die covered in purulent abscesses, you would do better answering me!" "The companion with whom Bastoche hides" "Tell me, tell me... who is he?" "Well, well." "I would not let myself be upset by some young lady" "Tina Lombardi knows something we don't" "What did you say?" "Tina Lombardi knows something which eludes us." "Something that would prove that Bastoche is still alive." "And the other condemned men." "It is obvious she believes I am his angel." "But if Bastoche has been saved, then I am sure that he protected Manech." "If he ever survived, that is." "Wait." "With so many 'ifs' you can put a big fish in a match box" "Perhaps." "But without 'if' there is only the thread by which to hang myself." "Are you winding me up, smart ass?" "Whenever you come here I must fix the gravel." "As for the gravel, it is a question of style." "A letter for the young lady." "Ironworks R. Leprince, Paris 1920 July 25." "Young lady, I take advantage of Sunday to write to you about your announcement where it says that you are looking for Célestin Poux and other survivors of Twilight Bingo." "I knew that guy very well, he was the best go-getter that I ever met." "Thanks to him I myself never starved." "Olivier Nergeton, mechanical toys manufacturer." "Célestin Poux was our provider, we called him the terror of the kitchens" "He falsified the number of losses, to multiply the money in order to get the soldiers more food" "If you ever meet him, tell him that the veterans of Fontenau will never forget him." "Etienne Mauriaux, Professor, August 3 of 1920" "He made us laugh our heads off." "To get us food, he would even train the company mascot." "Good morning Madam." "Germain Pire, private detective." "Oh yeah, Mathilde told us about you." "Sylvain, tell Mathilde to go downstairs, the detective wants to see her." "The great Pire moves like hell, he can spend a day in each site." "In any case we will need luck and patience to get him." "A shame." "Mathilde, I got you some salty cakes." "See if you like them." "You won't be better in the kitchen?" "Thank you Bénédicte." "Alright, I leave you alone." "Poux is a mystery, whereas Tina Lombardi, that is another story" "She misleads us with dead end leads." "And to make matters worse she changes identities." "Anything new about Biscotte?" "Wait!" "Look at this, this is Benjamín Gordes" "It's the day they got the carpentry prize, for the sixth consecutive year." "But!" "And yes, young lady." "Biscotte, the best friend of Bastoche, is none other than Benjamín Gordes and a soldier of the company told me that they were close-knit before they fought." "Leave me alone." "I don't want to fight with you." "Leave me alone." "Calm down!" "Bastard, Asshole." "Who got that idea?" "Me?" "It was his idea." "It was just for a skirt matter." "Véronique Passavant broke up with Bastoche in June 1916 and immediately afterwards, Bastoche fought with Benjamín Gordes." "You don't have to be a lynx for that, huh?" "So they didn't see each other until they were in Twilight Bingo?" "Twilight Bingo is where everything finishes." "No, it's where everything started, Mr. Pire" "Where everything starts." "Tina Lombardi is sure Bastoche is still alive." "What made Bastoche different from the others in Twilight Bingo?" "That he was the only carpenter, no?" "There is one thing that differentiates Bastoche from the others  the German boots." "He was the only one to wear German boots!" "But of course!" "You are right!" "Tina Lombardi knew that her man by wearing German boots, he could have got away with it." "It would suffice that they had seen him with some companion." "I met two Frenchmen they looked like tramps ... One of them had boots belonging to a Bosch." "He was carrying a lame guy." "In addition to the German boots, we know that Bastoche made up with his best friend." "Exactly!" "Who knows if it didn't change things that night." "If I can peel this apple without breaking the skin then" "Gordes found a way to help out and save Bastoche, and Manech." "At that rate I won't put the cake in the oven before next year!" "I must return to Paris" "What?" "I have to return to Paris." "Again?" "The inheritance of your parents will go away like smoke." "Late parents." "Excuse me, where is Elodie Gordes?" "That's the woman with the carrots." "Ah, thanks Sir." "Elodie Gordes?" "Here, for you." "I do not know him." "Which person don't you know?" "Would it be that one by any chance?" "Because Bastoche and Biscotte fell out?" "Was it because of you?" "You exaggerate, I do not have anything to tell him." "No, I just need to know." "Leave me alone!" "They saw each other for the very last time in the Twilight Bingo" "My fiancé was there too with Bastoche in that excrement trench." "I need to understand." "I need to understand!" "It is not what you think." "I can tell you everything." "Give me your address, although my spelling is bad," "I will put everything in a letter." "I promise you." "No letter for me?" "What did you say?" "There is no letter for me?" "Only the newspaper..." "It talks about the whole world but not about Elodie Gordes." "Very funny." "You are wrong." "You can learn a lot of interesting things." "The president has opened an investigation into the condemned men of Twilight Bingo?" "Maybe he would have, if he hadn't fallen out of the train in the middle of the night and in pyjamas" "At least him, he sleeps in pyjamas." "Eh?" "He sleeps in pyjamas!" "... and we recovered five cold cuts" "You are already a thief, and now you are a pyromaniac." " Are all those for me?" " No, just this one." "For a change I don't have to gather the gravel, but to collect the mailman." "You took away the gravel!" "It's a good war!" "There is no good war." "Do you want to drink something?" "Yes please." "Miss, please keep secret my little secrets" "When I met my husband, he had four children from a first marriage." "No one kid was his." "By generosity he married with a young widow with tuberculosis of Polish nationality, like me." "He considered the children as his own before she died." "Myself, I was an unmarried mother of a girl of 3 years." "So we found ourself with a family with 5 children," "We had four years of happiness." "We had many plans." "We dreamt to be able to see the sea once in life." "But then the war started." "At first I thought that his friend Bastoche would take care of him because they were together but when he came back for the first time, in September of 1915, right after the campaign of Artois," "I understood right away nothing would be like before." "This gives us the strength to get on in life." "A day in a battlefield in flames I saw my companions exploding as if they were firecrackers." "One time we even used the body of a companion as a shield." "He had been thinking about something for a long time" "It was on the second night that it started" "You understand that if I desert they will arrest me" "The only way of getting away is to have a sixth child." "When we have 6 children, they send the soldiers back home." "As I already told you, he couldn't have children." "I could not imagine what he was thinking." "But voila, he again brought up the subject." "But it is me who asks you, Elodie; that is not adultery." "And even less if it is with Bastoche." "Don't touch!" "None of the five children are mine, who cares about another one?" "Even if I were pregnant, we would have to wait 9 months ... by then the war would already be over." "But no, it will never be over!" "Those nine months will represent a hope for me." "Don't you have any compassion?" "Then one day I found a letter of Clevert Bouquette, AKA Bastoche, in the letterbox." "I put something colourful in the window so he would know where to show up." " Good morning." " Good morning." " I made some coffee, do you want one?" " Oh yes, it would be nice." "Thank you." " Come in" " No, you first." "Thank you very much." " Do you want sugar?" " No, thanks." " It is mother of pearl?" " Yes, Benjamín made it." " It is curious we never met" " Yes, before." "Are the children not home?" "Yes, they are playing in the backyard." " A digestive with the coffee?" " Yes please." "Actually, no..." "I am sorry." "I don't need it" "I don't need it either." "Look Elodie, we tell him we did it." "So he'll be at peace for a while." "That is for the best for you... for me... for everybody." "It is funny, when you smile it opens a bracket." "And I'll close it as late as possible." "So, the day after tomorrow, at the station." "Time to go, a very last smile, okay?" "In order to close the bracket." "I never became pregnant." "But soon after, it was no longer the fear which tormented my husband, but the jealousy." "Where?" "When?" "How many times?" "In which positions?" "Did you enjoy yourself?" "It became an utter torture for him and me." "Now Bastoche died..." "And my husband died in the hospital bombing." "It made me feel good to confide in you, Miss." "Sometimes I'm scared of going crazy." "Elodie Gordes." "Mathilde, hurry up." "Mr. Rouvières is on the phone waiting for you." "Move, Move." " Hello." " Mathilde, it's me Pierre Marie." "Erm, I have bad news for you," "Bad news that you must have already known ... and that from now on you will no longer be able to ignore." "The bottom line is, you were right about one thing" "Manech and his four companions were indeed in that trench." "They are buried in the Tertullian cemetery" "They were first buried below a canvas in a crater" "There, there, my little Mathilde" "In June of 1909 Mathilde was 9 years old," "Manech Langonnet... 10" "Does it hurt when you walk?" "It must have been Friday or Saturday." "Mathilde doesn't remember anymore." "Do you have friends?" "If you want I could be your friend." "What is wrong, do I smell like fish?" "Have you ever gone up the lighthouse?" "I can carry you up there!" "...my father is the lighthouse keeper." "As you wish, you are a stuck up little girl!" "Hey!" "Do you want me to kick your ass?" "How far can you see from the top of the lighthouse?" "Lunch." "A dog that farts, happiness imparts!" "Manech Loves Mathilde" "Manech Loves Mathilde" "Manech Loves Mathilde Mathilde Loves Manech" "Manech Loves Mathilde" " Take this" " But I don't smoke!" "I know, I know, just take it." "It will help you make friends." "If I get to the curve before the car" "Manech will come back safe" "If I get to the curve..." "If I get to the curve before the car Manech will come back safe." "If I get to the curve..." "Good morning." "You used to brag about being a year older than me." "Now I am older." "The name of the one that gave you the glove is Poux" "Célestin Poux." "He is very slippery" "The detective I hired is called Pire." "Germain Pire." "He has found neither him nor the prostitute from Corsica" "The thread has been broken Manech ...but I will not quit." "I have faith in Tina Lombardi's clue." "I need to know." "Do you understand?" "That is why it's important that I find Célestin Poux." "Well it's really a great pity, you know?" "We would be very happy by now" "Let's go Mathilde." "It's getting cold." "Killed in combat June 7th, 1917" "Thouvenel?" "What do you want?" "Who are you?" "Are you the one who called me?" "Who are you?" "The days passed without news from Célestin Poux" "Mathilde was overwhelmed with sadness" "She has to eat or she'll get sick." "Then leave her the best part." "She'll end up leaving us a taste for tragedy, you'll see!" "At last, on September 15th, 1920, at midnight." "The thread connected again..." ""Victory!" "I have finally found that slippery Poux"" "I'm sending him with God's blessing and Harley Davison's" "Expenses included, of course." "Germain Pire." "Célestin Poux, Road Terror." "Is this your announcement?" "Mathilde clenched her fists together, it was all she could do to avoid shaking, crying or looking like an idiot." "I didn't see your fiancé fall, I had gone to look for the grub" "Then I met Levert, a guy I had met at the Vosges." "A neighbour from the Mosa Valley." "More a jerk than a neighbour!" "But he knew how to distinguish Arabic coffee from stomach medicine." "We had a big argument when I mixed coffee with charcoal granules to trade it for Dutch tobacco." "The last time you saw Manech, was he alive?" "It was impossible not to see him, instead of hiding he was carving an M on the trunk of a charred tree." "He had time to carve three M's before the albatross took him down." "The albatross?" "Albatross. "Big sea bird that follows like a travel companion without worries, the ship that sails the bitter depths."" "It's a poem by Baudelaire" "But in 1915, it was also a German plane, with a machine gun on the back." "Back then, it was impossible to shoot through the propellors." "Did you give him the glove?" "Red, thick wool." "I had a girlfriend that used to knit scarfs and gloves." "I traded them with the Senegalese that had frostbitten fingers for gold teeth that they took out of dead German soldiers." "I melted them and thanks to them I could buy the Harley." "But, are you sure Manech is dead?" "A friend that saw the body told us, that with a wound like that, there was no doubt about it." "Of the 5, I only saw 3 of them get killed, with my own eyes" "I give up..." "I give up..." "Don't shoot." "Mercy..." "I give up..." "Let me through!" "I'm on your side..." "Mercy!" "I'm not French!" "I'm Corsican" "I have nothing against the Germans." "Poor man." "So you are not French." "Then let's nullify your birth certificate." "It was one of our soldiers who shot." "Thouvenel" "He had an itchy trigger, with a heart of stone and an eagle's eye." "Poor man." "It looks as if you love my food" "I'm an easy man, I would kill my whole family for a good stew" "Don't worry, he is an orphan!" "As well as for pickled meat and truffle puree" "I just came from..." "Ok!" "Who did you see die with your own eyes?" "The one infected with gangrene." "Sixpence?" "Yes, the welder." "Comrades, before I die" "I have a last wish." "I would like to pee standing up, like a man!" "After that, comrades, fire at will!" "Goodbye to life" "Goodbye to love" "And to all the women it is over it is the end" "I curse this damn war" "This is the end" "We will lose our lives we are all condemned they are sacrificing us" "And Bastoche?" "He was very well hidden and we couldn't find him." "The morning when we called all the names he answered but no one could find him" "He was like a ventriloquist." "No, he was a carpenter." "For what I heard, the albatross shot him down at the same time as your fiancé." "The explosion set on fire the albatross that went down on the German line, at home." "And what happened to the farmer of the Dordogne" "He faked death from the beginning, but it didn't do him any good." "The Germans didn't like what happened to their plane." "When I came back with the grub the shooting had begun." "Then they started bombing." "Those that haven't lived it don't know how it is." "Your legs shake, they don't respond." "The heart beats like that of a terrified animal." "Then I saw the farmer from the Dordogne get killed" "We have to attack before they kill us" "Prepare bayonets!" "Prepare bayonets!" "Prepare bayonets!" "What I'm telling you is music compared to what happened" "For France..." "Attack!" "We had left behind the prisoners' bodies when the shooting of the machine guns started, the Maxim, ...it was a massacre." "Lavrouye kept the paper..." "Bring the stretchers!" "A paper?" "What paper?" "There wasn't time to say any more." "That night there were triple soup servings because I had prepared for a regiment." "Favart and Chardolot were doing the report of casualties." "Why are the five condemned listed as soldiers of the battalion?" "We are following orders." "That sounds like fiddling" "Fiddling!" "C'mon, the soup is getting cold!" "It is already cold" "But out of the five, you only saw three die." "With your own eyes." "Lady, false hope can only cause pain." "No, it is not false hope." "Will you taste my plum pie?" "I don't think I should!" "With a little cream." "I like it when people appreciate my cooking" "You'd better lie down" "We all need to rest" "Easy, easy!" "You need more dignity, style!" "It is clear that farming is your thing." "Hop in Mr. Mailman, I'll take you to the next mailbox" "But my bicycle." "I'll take care of it I'm no quitter, I've been in the war" "Let's go!" "...is not my fault, I have asthma" "Yes, an asthmatic that rides a bicycle!" "But near the sea." "Oh sure, near the sea!" "Careful Célestin, you are not in a sidecar." "Men, they are like children, eh?" "As long as they don't play at being soldiers ...tell Berney I want to liquidate everything by the first days of March." "Sell the manure very expensive..." "I can't believe this is about such trivial things." "Don't you think?" "It might be in code." "But the code of lovers cannot even be solved with divine inspiration." "And Bastoche?" "If he was seen with the German boots, he had to come out alive!" "Not at all, miss." "Private Gordes didn't want Bastoche to leave the trench wearing enemy boots" "If the Germans see you with them" "They will know you took them from one of them" "Then Tina Lombardi started with a wrong clue." "Her soldier with German boots... wasn't Bastoche!" "It was Gordes, exactly madam" "He was accompanied by a young man from the class of 17 called Derochette." "I ran into some stretcher-carriers that had just seen them." "Eh, are you from Bingo?" "Why?" "Say that Private Gordes was wounded on the head that we saw him next to a young man in a worse condition." "His name is Derochette, they were going to the aid station." "Hooray for anarchy" "Anarchy!" "What's wrong, Mathilde?" "Mathilde, open up!" "Please, be reasonable!" "Could you tell me what you did to her?" "Nothing..." "You have known for three years that Manech is dead" "That's what I call stubbornness" "No, it is called hope, and Mr. Poux just killed it." "Can I do something to make it up to you?" "Yes" "Take me to Twilight Bingo." "You look like an Indian princess riding an elephant." "With her court, riding her sadness." "Here it is!" "There it was, 100 metres ahead the German trench." "And the tree, the charred tree, where is it?" "Oh!" "The trunks and all the bodies were used to cover both trenches" "The five of them had one hand wrapped, we found them there, 20 metres ahead, below a canvas with a little dirt thrown on them." "It was not a pretty sight." "I can imagine!" "The youngest looked like a boy." "Do you remember if he had a glove?" "A red glove, of thick wool?" "All of them had one hand wrapped, I remember that but nothing on the other hand, I didn't see a glove." "Athos!" "I don't like him removing the dirt." "In this zone you can remove a little dirt and find a mine that could blow off an arm or leg in the blink of an eye." "That's a crypt, there was a chapel between the German line and ours all that's left is a bunch of ruins" "I can't remember anything!" "I can't recognise anything!" "Is it possible Manech lost the glove when he fell?" "It was made of thick wool, tightly woven" "It fitted very tightly, the other one lasted me until the end of the war." "Maybe he took it off to write on the trunk" "That I don't know, but I don't think so." "And what kind of red was it?" "Bright red?" "Intense red." "It had white dots woven in it, it looked like an apple with worms." "Excuse me for approaching you like this, but my husband's family suffered a lot during the war... and I don't want anyone to see me get near the table of a French veteran, do you understand?" "What do you know?" "Before he died, my brother saw your fiancé carve three letters on the trunk of a tree" "He had a red glove with white dots." "A friend of his told me everything." "When one of our planes shot at your fiancé he got disgusted by it." "And just after that all hell broke loose." "That day, God saved the life of that French soldier twice" "Suddenly, your men returned the attack they killed my brother!" "He was 23." "I have come to see his cross at the cemetery." "I'm very sorry." "Time heals everything." "You'll see!" "I have to go back, or he will start to wonder." "Then I haven't completely killed it!" "What?" "...hope!" "Now what?" "Tina Lombardi." "She is going to be beheaded." "They are calling her the Officer's Killer." "She killed Lavrouye and Thouvnel amongst others!" "She planned to kill Marshall Petain." "When I think you used a wheel chair to get my pity... you are the only one I have agreed to talk to because I know we are alike." "Fine!" "Let's leave them." "What I did, you could have done too." "No, I don't think so." "I would have been too scared." "I am not afraid nor do I regret anything." "Except my hair they will cut it before executing me" "I will look like Joan of Arc when I meet my Ange." "Why Marshall Petain, what did he do?" "It was his idea to throw out the mutilated soldiers from the trenches." "And why not Poincare, he denied the pardon." "What, you don't know?" "He had pardoned them, the five of them." "It is only a license." "Lavrouye kept the paper..." "And why did Lavrouye do that?" "Because pigs act like pigs!" "But don't worry, I took care of him" "We have carried out the same investigation" "Each one in her own way." "Looking for any Bingo veterans I found a nurse that had healed my Ange and the others" "This nurse, Philippot, had seen one of the five." "A strong young man, wounded on the head" "He was strong, wounded on the head, he had German boots." "According to him, he had German boots." "And was carrying a thin young man." "I think so I mean, I'm sure!" "...strong, wounded on the head." "His boss suggested he kept quiet." "You, better than anyone, can understand the hope I felt" "But some time later I met the one who killed all my illusions." "First Seargent Favart" "He told me how that Thouvenel pig murdered my Ange." "With a single shot." "I also took care of him." "I only had one thing in mind eliminate everyone that hurt my Ange" "Your Ange left this for you." "Revenge is useless, try to be happy and don't waste your life for me." "Ange" "...Gordes, the one that traded the German boots with Bastoche..." "Was he strong?" "Biscotte?" "No, he wasn't athletic, he was like you or me." "And, have you heard anything about Jean de Desrochelles?" "Desrochelles?" "Ah yes, he was not very sociable, he lived alone with his mother." "I'm sorry, I have to leave you." "I'm leaving in one hour for Venezuela." " Good luck Célestin." " Same to you" "When I think you didn't tell me about Poincare's pardon..." "It would only have made things worse, please understand." "I have a last favour to ask of you, Pierre Marie." "I suppose it has to do with that Bingo thing." "Son of the bookshop owner Paúl Desrochelles died February of 1897" "Jean Desrochelles, that's it!" "Wait!" "Yes, in the Somme." "Yes, fine." "Thanks" "Tell me Mr. Pire, Tina Lombardi, you must have known what she had planned!" "It was wiser not to interfere with her." "When the panther comes, the weasel disappears?" "No... he who spies tries not to be seen." "By the way I have a last clue to give to you" "Jean Desrochelles evacuated from Somme Front on January of the 17th, only relative, her mother." "Widow of Paul Desrochelles." "22 Rue de l'abbeyie, Sainte rue Charente" "And what do you want me to do?" " Did you want to talk to me?" " Yes" "My brother's friend, the one I talked to you about, he remembered something that could be of interest to you." "The two French soldiers that escorted him, that Monday morning, wanted to go again through "No man's land"" "They saw the bodies of the condemned, one of them was in some kind of cavity and the two French seemed surprised" "I don't know if that could be useful, miss?" "Thanks." "...tell Berney that I want to liquidate everything by the first days of March sell all the manure really expensive, you better be careful with him." "sell all the manure really expensive." "Well, it has to be in code." "Mr. Pire called." " He didn't find anything at Sainte..." " I know" "Hello, who is it?" "Yes miss, I remember you" "Berney?" "No, that doesn't sound familiar" "I don't know anyone with that name." "Benoit Notre-Dame fertilises his land with his animals' manure, he didn't buy any." "Thanks father." "I have to decipher that letter" "I'm getting close." "I will be..." "Berney..." "March...sell...everything" "Say...nothing...no one" "Benoît." "Excuse me sir, the farm at the end of the world?" "The last house, at the end of the road." "And what if he doesn't come?" "He'll come!" "Don't worry." "Come back in two hours" "Hello Mathilde" "It's dangerous to bring back the dead." "When I saw your announcement in the paper" "I knew it was only a matter of time before the gendarmes would catch me." "Don't worry, I could have killed you but I didn't" "You're not only a thief, but also a pyromaniac!" "I couldn't kill you" "When we need to kill a rabbit or a chicken my wife takes care of it." "War has left me unable to do so." "You know what I want to hear!" "Is Manech alive?" "The last time I saw him he was not well" "But he is stronger than he seems." "We have to stay together" "When the fighting ended, I rested to regain my strength" "What do you want?" "Notre-Dame?" "Then the Corsican decided to surrender." "After that they killed the welder from Paris" "Then your fiancé carved some letters on the trunk of a tree and the German albatross arrived" "I regained my consciousness when the earth trembled" "I still don't understand what happened the only thing I saw was a trap door that the projectile uncovered." "...For France!" "Attack!" "They got into No Man's Land and on the second line they were all killed by the machine guns." "A few hours later I was woken by voices." "Oh my God!" "Bastoche is dead!" "We can't leave him here." "Oh Bastoche is dead" "We will come for him later, he won't go anywhere." "Look!" "That one is moving." "That one is the kid, he is going to die too." "The explosion destroyed the trap door." "One of the soldiers was badly wounded." "Bastoche is dead!" "We are all going to die." "He was Bastoche's friend, the one who had taken the German boots." "After eating I smoked his tobacco." "Then I heard more voices." "Oh shit!" "Isn't that the kid!" "What is he doing here?" "And the farmer from the Dordogne, where is he?" "Sir!" " I'm cold!" " Be calm!" "Although he was badly wounded, your fiancé wanted to live," "I could see it in his eyes." "I carried him on my shoulders and started walking by the trench." "He had a high fever, I could feel it on my back." "He was delirious." "He talked about a heart beating in his hand." "Private!" "The hospital is 500 metres ahead" "Do you want us to carry him on the stretcher?" "No." "If you find any Bingo sub-officer" "Tell him that Private Gordes went to the hospital with Soldier Desrochelles." "Ok, as you wish" "I arrived before the explosion" "I have to say that the heads of the military didn't have a better idea than to place the hospital in a hangar with a blimp full of hydrogen" "The kid was evacuated in the convoy that just left" "Will he be ok?" "The wound on the hip is not bad but the pneumonia doesn't look good" "I listed you by the name on your tags" "I don't want to know anything else." "Good luck" "The lever!" "The lever!" "Please!" "Then I arrived at Berney, on foot." "I couldn't have known if my wife had received the letter" "So every day" "I waited for her at the station" "With the money from the sale we bought this farm" "The farthest we could find" "The villagers called it "The end of the world"" "Goodbye" "It's curious, you punctured your life line" "It's normal" "I died...at Twilight Bingo, just like your boyfriend" "If you ever find Jean Desrochelles alive" "Let me know." "You know where to find me" "Come on in!" "Feel at home, at Christmas you can enter via the chimney" "For Miss Mathilde" "Ok." "I'll give it to her later." "I think you should wake her" "What is going on?" "He is alive!" "Don't move Mathilde, whatever happens, don't move" "I'm on my way." "Germain Pire" "I'm such a fool!" "Nicer than the marten and much faster than the gazelle" "He is alive and well but he can't remember anything." "His amnesia is total." "He even had to learn to read and write again" "The psychiatrist that treated him since the 17th doesn't have much hope." "but everyone knows that there are as many amnesias as amnesiacs." "Where is he?" "Orphan for the second time." "He just lost his adoptive mother" "Pierre Marie, do you know Mr. Pire?" "Only by reputation" "Nice to meet you." "Mathilde, I'm telling you I won't believe it until I see it." "With your own eyes!" "When Jean Desrochelles was born his mother was 40 years old and she had no other children" "When the gendarmes came for him to support the front" "Yes" "She fell into a depression" "One day she was visited by a friend of her son, his name was..." "Chardolot!" "Chardolot!" "...sadly it was Jean" "A bullet had reached him, and he had been dead for hours." "I also have to tell you..." "It is possible that the youngest of the condemned stole Jean's identity" "Exchanging their tags." "I think she lost her mind the day they called her to the hospital to tell her that her son was there." "He is asleep." "I'll leave you alone." "Good morning!" "Who are you?" "Your mother, little one." "I am your mother!" "I conducted the official investigation and Mrs. Desrochelles died two months ago" "She was hit by a truck after having an argument with a merchant and this is from the official minutes." "We know that!" "Mam please, calm down." "Mrs. Desrochelles didn't suffer, she died immediately." "I'm not crying about that" "I'm an idiot." "I didn't believe you little one." "Please forgive me!" "I should've known" "What she later would call the Millie expedition:" "the sun, the sky and all of nature, were on her side." "Flaunting her femininity, she fixed herself as best as she could." "Dressed in white, to look fresh, she painted her lips for the occasion." "She outlined her eyebrows but went without mascara to extend her eyelashes" "She knew what would happen if she lost her composure" "We told him about your visit." "We told him that a young woman that he loved very much was coming to see him" "He asked your name and thought it was beautiful" "He is waiting in the garden." "Does it hurt you when you walk?" "Do you want to see what I'm doing?" "I'll let you see it when I'm done" "Why do you cry?" "And Mathilde sat there with her back straight against the chair's back with her hands on her skirt and looked at him" "Under the harmony that enveloped them, under the light of the garden," "Mathilde looked at him, looked at him looked at him"