"I'll give it to you anyway." "No, I'll tell you something..." "If we do something..." "Something good." "I will make myself useful." "But..." "Only if it's worth it." "Well then?" "I'll give you the script..." "Ah, for my granddaughter..." "She'll read it to you, tell you the story..." "I don't need her to, my French is as good as hers." "But not so well..." "Call me when you've read it." "You can count on me." "Hello, Films du Poisson..." "Yes, we did run the ad..." "How old are you, Madam?" "I'll take your name." "Do you speak Yiddish?" "W-A-J..." "Yes, it's a film, a real movie." "How about Thursday, 2 pm?" "2h30?" "Okay." "No, dress casual..." "No tie." "No, not Spielberg." "I'll call on your behalf." "For a film by Emmanuel Finkiel set in the French Jewish community." "Men and women sought between 60 and 90 who speak Yiddish." "Actors or non-actors." "Remuneration." "It's called "Casting"." "Is casting French or English?" "English." "That's why I would always see the word on flyers." "First, tell me your name for the camera." "My name is Weitzman." " And your first name?" " Rukhela." "It's like Rachel." "How old are you Rachel?" "Almost 80..." "I'll soon be 80." "You were born in Poland." "Born in Poland." "You speak Yiddish." "Yiddish is my mother tongue." "Yiddish is in my veins." "My name is Rosa Barenfeld." " Where are you from, Rosa?" " Russia." "Okay, Russia." "How old are you?" "74 years and 2 days." "Okay." "I am 97." "97?" "79." "You mixed up the two numbers." "Is it because of the camera?" "It's not about..." "The interview isn't about me." "No, it's to meet me." "So, your name is Max..." "Zwangé?" "Tzwange." "And in French?" "Ciszewski." "Hard to pronounce in French." "It's like C..." "It's French." "Whereas in Polish it's like a "tse"." "Like "tsiseron" and not "ciceron"." "Simon." "My name is Simon." " Simon Fenigstein?" " Fenigstein." "Why do you want to talk Yiddish?" "We're after Yiddish-speaking people." "For a movie?" "Really..." "Like I said," "I'd like to leave something for my children, for them to see me on a stage once." "That's all." "So tell me, is it Jonas Sebrien or Sebrier?" "I used to have another name." "My name used to be Srebilnikamin." "A 13-letter name." "Officially, the real original name is Zonenlicht." ""Sunlight"." "But it was changed." "First, they changed it when I was naturalised." "Did they simplify it?" "They gallicised it." "What year did you come to France?" "I came here in 1921 for the very first time." "What can I say?" "My name is Samuel Grinbaum." "But in Hebrew we say Shmuel." "Shmulik?" "People say Shmulik because in Poland almost all names were diminutives..." "That's how life was but now it's Samuel or just Sam." "Sam too?" "American style?" "Maybe American, maybe French." "It suits me." "I have a little boy called Samuel." "It's a popular name." "What can I tell you?" "I'm 83 years old." "I was born in Warsaw." "All my life I studied, worked." "I was in the Polish army, I fought the war." "Then when Warsaw fell" "I had to stay 24 more hours with the regiment." "We were prisoners of war, then we were freed." "I was in the ghetto, then in the ghetto uprising." "The Germans eventually sent me to the Maidanek concentration camp." "From Maidanek, they sent me to the great hostel" "Birkenau:" "Auschwitz 2." "After a few months in Birkenau I went to another 5-star hotel:" "Auschwitz 3, the concentration camp called Buna." "As the Russians advanced, so did the front." "So they sent me to another camp." "First we walked 75 km:" "The "Death March"." "Then we arrived at Buchenwald." "I stayed there a few weeks." "Then they sent me to another place to prepare a field for airplanes." "But none ever landed because, in the meantime, the English had come and set us free." "I stayed in hospital for 6 months, they gave me an overhaul." "I'm okay now, even though I had gall-bladder surgery over there." "I left hospital on December 13, 1945." "I started working as a typographer for a printer." "I was fine, once I'd recovered," "I became a me#nsch# again, as they say in Yiddish." "I wanted to see the family in France." "I had a 3-week tourist visa but the 3 weeks are not yet up, that's why I'm still here!" "I can also sing..." "If we made you sing songs in Yiddish could you master the language?" "Absolutely." "That can also be done in Yiddish." "It's very nice." "I've never learned it but..." "I can learn, it's not very difficult." "He wants Ashkenazim!" "I only want Ashkenazi people." "I don't want actors imitating the accent." "I want real accents." "That's why I'm looking for people who are not real actors but who can maybe act a little." "Of course!" "Who has never acted?" " Do you speak Yiddish?" " No, I don't." ""Yiddish-style stories" as we say in Yiddish." "If you don't speak Yiddish, why the ad for Yiddish speakers?" "Let me explain." "I've written a story... set on the Croisette..." "What's the title?" "Madame Jacques sur la Croisette." "We have a friend called Madame Jacques." "Really?" "But how old is your star?" "I haven't found her yet." " But lots of people..." " Let me talk for a minute!" "So you can go to the Croisette at 2pm and shoot until 6." "All the Jews are there." "You can talk in any language." "I know." "But you have an accent." "You are not from Poland." "This is a picture of me aged 18 with my grandparents in Besarabia." "Beautiful woman!" " I was." " She was..." "Did you both come for an audition?" " Not me." " You wouldn't be interested." "But if your wife gets a part you could appear in the movie..." "Let me tell you something." "I'm a member... in certain deportee groups." "If they called me" "I would be in films about deportation." "I'd do that..." "But not this." "I would like to explain, if it deals with deportation, there's no problem." " That's it." " I understand" "But look, there are deportees on the Croisette too." "So you are Mr Finkiel?" ""The characters."" ""Maurice - a widower, Mrs Jacques - a widow..."" "I've circled Mrs Hermann for you." "A friend called Nathan..." "You saw the ad..." "Have you ever done any acting?" "Well, I used to sing." "I sing a lot." "It depends on the kind of acting." "I mean, saying things like in everyday life." "Lines." "You'll be given a script, then you'll see..." "Because a text..." "I need one like this..." "In Yiddish..." "This is my newspaper." "It comes out 4 times a week..." "You saw the ad." "I support this paper and I helped." "It's been like that since I came to live in France." "Which means that you read French?" "I don't bother with it much." "If I give you a French script, how will you read it?" "I don't know." "Maybe my wife..." "I would be very interested in Yiddish." "I sing in Yiddish, I sing in Polish..." "I sing a song I like very much." ""A Yiddishe Mama"..." "It's very beautiful." "It's very sad." "There are girls over there..." "Who can understand" "A holy mother's love?" "Even if in my heart I deeply feel" "Her sorrows and bitter cries" "The goal of a mother" "Struggle to survive" "To experience the joy and happiness of her children." "Alone on a rainy night" "A young woman wanders crying" "What use do you have of velvet and silk?" "For velvet and silk" "Also bring pain" "It is better to be an honest and decent girl" "In a simple dress" "Than to own velvet and silk..." "It's better to stay poor and not do that." ""It is better to be a decent girl."" " To do that job they..." " Better be poor and respectable." "Poor and not be a streetwalker." "That's it!" "That's what the Yiddish mother asks of her daughter." "So, Mr Becker, do you think you'll be able to learn a text?" "Maybe, I don't know." "You know, I'm already pretty old." "You see?" "Maybe I look much younger the way I am." "May I ask how old you are?" "Guess." "Well?" "Yiddish is so beautiful when spoken" "Yiddish slides off the tongue" "The Yiddish spoken by our fathers" "Yiddish is so beautiful, so beautiful..." "For the sequence that takes place in Paris, we don't need a cantor, we need an actor." "So I suggest we give it a try." "We're going to read a little as if you were in character." " The actor?" " The one we were going to take." "But... the actor must be unremarkable?" "A lover?" "A politician?" "I'm going to tell you." " I need to know." " Could you still play lovers?" "Why not?" "Nowadays a man of my age is not old." "The truth is, I'm very young inside and I don't think I look like an 87-year-old man." "Let's get started." "Dad..." "Yes, my little one." "Remember where we used to live?" " Where we used to live?" " Our address..." "Our old address." "That's my line finished!" "Now you let me speak." "It's important you listen to me." "And now you look at me..." "This is easy, I've got it already." "Very well, let's do it a second time, okay?" "No, I think I've got it." "With my normal voice..." "Nothing more..." "Cinema is better when it's natural." "There's more charm to it." "The paper..." "Will you quit playing games!" "You've made me unhappy." "You've always been unhappy, complaining all your life, again and again!" "And you think I'm only here to listen to you." "Do you ever think about me?" "You only think of yourself." "Right!" "She takes a walk..." ""Stop frowning all the time."" ""What have I done to be here?" So they are there..." "He means here, in this bus, on this excursion." "No, it doesn't say they're in a bus." "Let's cut, "What have I done to be here?"" "Just say, "Stop frowning all the time." ""Remember, you wanted to come."" " That's why..." " It put you off." "I didn't even want to learn it by heart." "I could see there was something wrong." "Speak more slowly." "Do you think I could be an artist?" "Why not?" "Act like in real life." " At my age?" " That's what we're after." "Do you have a good memory?" "People used to say I had a dictionary in my head." "I used to read a lot." "I was a secretary in Warsaw, in an organisation." " Let's try it." " I look over there..." "And a little at me too." "From time to time." "In 1942" "I hid with my daughter in..." "Rom..." "Where is this town?" " It's Romorantin." " Where's that?" "I'll tell you later." "It's not even interesting." "I had to baptise her." "You're laughing at me." "I'm stupid, aren't I?" "Too bad you don't speak Yiddish." "If you did..." "because Yiddish... is my home." "Do you understand?" "I understand Yiddish." "Are you laughing because I'm stupid?" "You're very smart but you remind me of my grandmother." "It made me laugh!" "Maybe I am your grandmother, you never know." "But you're not stupid, not at all." "I'm from Poland." "Yiddish is in my veins." "I'm very Yiddish." "I like Yiddish people." "I'm from Poland you know, I always think..." "Do you understand Polish?" "Nor Polish?" "Let's get back to Mrs Zalcberg." "Let's go." "That was good." "I'm going to tell you a story from 1942..." "We have to say a few words in Yiddish." "What do they want to hear?" "A few words in his machine." "He wants to know if we know any Yiddish." "He doesn't understand a thing!" "Yes, he understands a few things." "Bring me some money..." "That, he understands!" "I have a wife, she's a Sephardi." "She understands only one thing:" ""Moyshe, give me money!"" "How old are you, sir?" "I'm going into my 72nd year now." "72nd?" "But I wasn't even 15 when I got caught in 1939, when they came." " Where?" " In Poland." "Two weeks later I was arrested in a raid." "Recently, I made a tape for..." "For Spielberg." "When I speak Yiddish it rings true." "A mother tongue is not like a learned language." "Of course not." "So what I'm saying is in French." "It's light and shallow because it's not my first language." "But I had to speak French for my children." "You do pretty well in French." "I never went to school." "I didn't have the time." "There was a school next door but I didn't have the time to go." "I had to work, I had to eat." "I was paying rent, paying for clothes." "That's how I learned." "I wasn't so deaf back then." "It got worse with time." "I learned at the workshop with French-speaking people." "When I was young I learned as I went along." "Then I married a Sephardi so I had to speak French." "Even now I almost never speak Yiddish." "Occasionally at Buttes Chaumont, close to my place." "Do you know it?" "Now it's only a handful of old people talking about their illnesses, their past..." "Some were in Russia." "It was no cakewalk there either." "I've already told you about my past." "You see?" "So he has to say this." "In Yiddish... in French." "I don't care..." "No need to go "hmm"." " It says "surprised"." " Ignore that." "He goes like this:" ""Is that you?"" "He's surprised to find his name in the letter." "You see?" "So she died in 78." "Is that you?" "Yes, yes." "Yes... it goes on." "He finishes the letter..." "He politely finishes..." "There's another phone number." "You see?" "The guy has bad handwriting." "See what you're doing?" "That's an acting indication." "When you do... it's too much." "It's overdone..." "More natural." "Since you don't read Yiddish well..." "Not you, Mr Zalcberg." "He uses bad handwriting as an excuse." "I see." "He always blames others." "Exactly." "The guy writes badly." "Abraham, I have a question for you." "If ever I think of another part for you, a part that would require some work for it to be good..." "Would you be ready to give it everything?" "It depends on the part, in French, Yiddish, or whatever." "It would be a mixture." "First it has to adapt." "First it has to adapt to my personality so I can get into it." "Have you tasted the herring?" "What did you think?" "It tasted strange, didn't it?" "It tasted strange." "To him." "Don't ever look at us, Jonas." "Just him." "It had a strange taste?" "How could you say that even in Poland, in a hotel, they would serve rotten herring!" "Can I add a word we used to use back home in Poland?" "Of course." "You'd better listen, you dumb ass!" "He's going to upset me." "He uses a word as if I was nothing compared to him." " Meaning, "you didn't get it"?" " Yes." "But he said a bad word." "Who has the strongest accent?" "You don't have exactly the same accent." "But those are nice accents." "I love them both." "I'm not just saying that." "Come on, let's try it..." "Mr Milo, do you know what revisionism is?" "If I tell you I didn't eat herring today." "If I tell you we're not on this bus..." "Mr Milo, you know what revisionism is?" "I didn't eat herring for breakfast." "I'm not in this bus with you." "And, by the way, neither you or the bus exist." "We are not going on a pilgrimage to Auschwitz." "We've never been to Auschwitz." "That is revisionism!" "Let me tell you something else." "You go on?" "So I'm the one who says that." "I didn't see you this morning for breakfast..." "I went for a walk." "Tell me, have you tasted the herring?" "What did you think?" "It had a strange taste." "Excuse me but how could you say that even in a hotel in Poland they would serve rotten herring?" "I didn't say they were rotten," "I said they had a weird taste." "Do you want me to start over?" "No, that's enough for me." "I would like you to be in the film." "We're seeing people for other parts." "I'd like us to see each other in a couple of weeks." "If you like..." "You have my number." "Don't worry." "And you won't believe this, you'll think I'm making it up." "Every child wants to be someone." "It wasn't like that in my country." "We couldn't even..." "But the thing was blocked." "Why?" "Because they wouldn't let us get on." "So we had to..." "My mother always told me I ate bread with movies." "I started seeing beautiful American films, subtitled in Polish." "First Tom Mix, the famous cowboy." "I also saw Frankenstein with Boris Karloff, old stuff." "Not to mention Charlie Chaplin..." "So I really loved cinema, you know?" "I was playing the part, seeing myself in it." "Time would pass and I didn't even notice." "But sadly, things changed." "Sadly, things turned around." "I had to..." "There was war, I had to come here." "And I started being a tailor." "I didn't like that job..." "If we need you, it will be as an actor." "Do you still have a good memory?" "Not really." "Speaks Russian and Yiddish" "I believe you were a tailor..." "You're wearing a very nice suit..." "I still am, I still dabble." "You still dabble?" " Tailor." " You were a tailor." "Tailor..." "For women." "So how is your health doing?" "Still alive." "Langman?" "No, Graneck... from Vilno." "How's your health?" "Always fine." "Langman." "No, not Langman." "Graneck from Vilno." "Ah, Graneck..." "How's your health?" "Fine and yours?" "So, so..." "Was his name Samuelson or Samuel?" "Samuelson." "Because Samuelson is more of a Russian name." "Every time, the text..." "And the woman knitting..." " She's probably an old lady." " Precisely." "Well..." "And these are your lines, every time it says Samuelson." "But you know, Mr Sessoisis..." "Read it, I'd like to hear your opinion." "On the text too, I'm interested in your point of view." "Lf, for instance, we should add a few words in Yiddish..." "Of course, on the contrary." "Even if you'd like to add an entire scene, I'd be interested." "Well, listen..." "It's okay." "I was born in 1900." "1900!" "I remember when I was five." "I can remember all that went on when I was five." "You know, I even wrote stories." "Really?" "Can you read Yiddish?" "No, I can't." "Well, I started writing but I have to keep it up." "So it's in Yiddish." "What is it, your story?" "It's my own personal story." "Everything I've been through." "I've lived through World War One." "In 1914, I was 14." "Read it, you'll see." "Unfortunately, I don't understand Yiddish." "Then I'll read it to you." " What, now?" " If it's useful." "Because there are already 3 pages." "I'd intended to carry on at the first opportunity." "But sometimes I don't have the strength." "I understand." "Well, there you go." "Anyway listen, it's the path from World War One... until we were driven from our country..." "You were in Lithuania?" "...by the Russian Army." "At the time, Lithuania belonged to the Russian Empire." "So they ordered all the Jews living in the area to leave." "Because it was a military zone for them." "So this happened in 1915." "We were forced to leave our home." " Where did you go?" " Anyway, all this is history." "And we stopped at Vilno." "Personally I did not want to go any farther for at the time, Vilno belonged" "to the Polish army." "The Polish claimed that Vilno was theirs." "So there you are." "At Vilno we lived through pogroms carried out by Polish people." "For Jews were still despised..." "They blamed the Jews for all their troubles..." "So I decided to leave for France in 1923." " Alone?" " I had relatives in Paris." "Did you leave on your own?" "I got married there." "To a young woman I'd met during my military service." "But you know in Paris... it was hard." "Like all the emigrants, I was working ten hours a day." "What kind of work?" "Tailor." "Made-to-measure." "As a result... we made a mistake - a big mistake." "We weren't yet naturalised and we had this idea that over there they had a left wing government which to us meant Soviet." "We asked for permission to go back home to our so-called country." "We were given it." "So we went back." "The people over there kept staring at us." "They knew that war between the Germans and Soviets was inevitable and 2 months later, the war started." "This was June 22, 1941." "So my parents were killed by the Germans." "They captured all the surviving Jews who lived in the villages." " This you already know..." " Of course." "Anyway, we were still young." "They created a ghetto near Kovna." "The ghetto lasted 3 years." "They opened it in 1941, in August." "It lasted 3 years." "Another greater misfortune..." "O holy rabbi!" "O holy Shmuel!" "At home there is no bread" "Soon winter will come" "Our children are half naked" "And Yankel is still singing..." "Oh joyful Yankel Yankel full of life" "Do not be afraid" "Oh joyful Yankel Yankel full of life" "There is a great creator" "Tshiribim, my little lady" "Tshiribim, my dove!" "Do not worry" "God will protect us..." "Too bad he doesn't understand." "It really is too bad." "It has a hidden meaning." "I would come home at midnight with my key." "In Poland, the keys are always huge, like this." "I'd come in... we lived just beside an intersection:" "The synagogue, Jerusalima street, the main street in the ghetto..." "I saw a soldier with a blue lamp with a thing like this and boots." "When I came home I'd put the key in the door, open easily and go upstairs." "My mother sensed what time I was going to come, but she could still hear the boots on the sidewalk." "It was dark." "I see this guy from a long way away." "I take the key, a big one like this." "I put it in the lock..." "It wouldn't open." "I pushed for over ten minutes but it didn't work." "So he sees me doing this and calls me over." "I call him sir in German." "I work in a glass factory for the German Army." "Now I'm going home." "My mother hears all this from the window." "He tells me to go inside but if I turn my back on him" "I see what will happen:" "Bang!" " A bullet in my head." "Before I know it I'm running and I'm on the other side." "So I come, I turn the key..." "It opens." "Maybe fear had stopped me opening it before." "I closed the door, my mother hugged me so hard in the dark." "She said: "You're still alive?" I said: "Hush!"" "When I told her how it happened, she said..." " You know, I'm not religious " ""You survived this", she said, "so you will survive the war"." "Those words came back to me every time I was in trouble." "Because I had my share." "I'd remind myself she'd told me I'd survive." "Yet I'm not a believer." "I believe in people's destiny and things like that." "It wasn't because an angel told me..." "She thought I was dead when she heard "Komme, komme!"" "I lived at Dachau." "Hard to believe isn't it?" "I lived at Dachau for 11 months." "Since I was a tailor," "I was employed in the workshops in Dachau." "We were freed by the Americans and after the liberation, there was no trace of my wife and daughter." "I came back to Paris." "I found no one." "So then..." "I started doing some research." "We were told that there was a list of women who had been freed by the Soviet army near Dantzig." "So we took the list and started searching for the names of my wife, my daughter and my sister-in-law." "We were separated, my wife and child and I, for 11 years." "And why?" "Because the Soviets were already ruling Lithuania." "My wife was considered to be a Lithuanian and if you were a Lithuanian, you were a Soviet." "So she was not allowed to leave." "And when they came back, they were given authorisation when Krushchev was in power." "He granted some freedom of movement." "When they arrived, I didn't recognise my wife." "Not at all." "She looked like she was dead." "I recognised my daughter because she was young." "My wife died 8 years ago." "Oh Stalin, the wise one!" "Father of all Nations!" "Check your hair... in the mirror." "Do you know how long it is since I last spoke Yiddish?" "Since my husband died." "But it's not something you forget." "Are you Russian?" "From a suburb of Moscow." "How old do you think I am?" "I don't know... 75?" "No, I know that." "That's where I think I've made a mistake." "You got mixed up." "Because I think in Yiddish," "I put in my own words." "You're right to do it that way." "I'm a sad person." "I said to myself..." "In Yiddish we can say..." "It's hot!" "It's cooler inside." "Do you know how long it's been since I last spoke Yiddish?" "Since my husband's death." "But it's not something you forget." "You're looking at me wondering how old I am." "Take a guess." "I don't use glasses to read." "I get them out from time to time." "When I can't see." "How are you with your glasses?" "Are they for reading?" "I can see without glasses but sometimes I need them." "This way I see better." "I found a comb but I don't have a mirror." "Would you take off your glasses?" "Thank you." "Esther, you see the window?" "Turn around." "It's as if you're looking in a mirror." "My hair!" "My hair is all messed up." "I was at the hairdresser today." "Say it as if you were saying it for you." " My hair..." " Lower." "And less dramatic." "Look at my face." "My hair's a mess." "I'm adding words because some words don't translate too well." "Let me check..." "So I'm adding words." "Some Yiddish expressions cannot be said exactly the same." "In Yiddish it has another flavour." "In French, it's different." "We don't say where she was born." "Although we could." "For me, she could easily have been born in Poland." "History has it that she found herself in Russia." "Like many others." "My family for instance." "She's not an intellectual but she has travelled." "Not just a simple woman." "She has lots of energy, lots of strength..." "Lots of joie de vivre." "A little bit of folly." "How old do you think I am?" "72?" "75?" "I'm going to be 81 this month." "You know, a woman never reveals her age!" "Any relatives in Russia?" "No, I have nobody." "What did I have to lose?" "I had no one in Russia." "Do you know how long it is since I spoke Yiddish?" "Since my husband died." "Are you feeling better?" "I feel a little better." "I speak real Yiddish." "Because people from Warsaw, from Volynia, have another accent." "I have a real Yiddish accent." ""What are you doing?" "How are you?"" ""How is you health?"" "There, I said a few sentences." "R-l-N-T-l-N" " Gorintin." " And your first name?" " Esther." " And your age, please?" " 84." "I'll be 84 on January 24." " Where do you live?" " 4 rue de Rivoli." "Where were you born?" "In Poland, in a little town in Sokulka." "Between Grodna and Bialystok." "I was in high school in Grodna." " When did you come to France?" " In 1933." "I spent all my younger years and childhood in Poland." "I went to high school over there." "So I knew Jewish life really well." "Because you know Jews did not mix with the Polish population." "It was a people within a people." "In 1942, I went into hiding with my daughter near Romorantin." "I had to baptise her." "Do you hear?" "She ended up marrying a goy over 20 years ago and lives in a café." "That's the War!" "Do you feel responsible?" "What else could I have done?" "It's a big catastrophe for me but what else could I have done?" "Now she's been living for over 20 years with a goy in a café." "Soon after, she married a goy." "She's been living in a café for 20 years." "It's terrible." "I did what I could but she wanted this." "It's terrible." "It's shame." "It's sad." "It's horrible." "Even worse." "But excuse me, I have the example of my niece who got married at the synagogue with the son of a Pole." "Both of their fathers came from the same village." "Their first child was a boy." "They didn't want him circumcised." "I swear, this is a true story." "What's the use of marrying a Jew if you don't circumcise the child?" "How awful!" "But I tell you..." "Better a Sephardi than a non-Jew." "Do you think all this is any good?" "She doesn't like the text." "Of course not." "She says provocative things, she's a little mean." "And racist too." "Rather than a goyak." "Everyone is going to laugh when you say this." "It means we don't know the difference between a Sephardi and a goyak." "That's no good." "I start with the War?" "Start with, "I'm going to tell you about 1942" etc." "Yes, in 1942..." "But I wasn't deported in 42 so I don't know if it works." " Is it a big deal?" " You're acting, it doesn't matter." "Yes, it's not your life." "Okay." "I was captured by the Germans in 1942..." "What do you want me to tell you?" "My life story?" "If you like but it'll take some time." "He understands, doesn't he?" "You are a good looking boy." "Thank you." "He gets it, he gets everything!" "He's going to be jealous." "You'll be my Yiddish teacher." "My father was almost a rabbi, that's why his daughter is not the religious type." "My mother... was like any other woman there." "He used to teach - what do you call it?" " catechism." "He taught in a shule." "He wasn't quite a Rabbi." "Do you know what a beadle is?" "You do?" "Great!" "He's cultured." "Your father can't have taught you all that." "You learned on your own." "Yes, in literature." "Maybe your wife is an Ashkenazi." "You should have married one." "I deeply regret it every day." " Surely not." " Honestly." " It was my dream!" " He's kidding." "I would have liked to have found a Sarah or a Ruth." "That was my dream." " No!" " Really!" "He's kidding." "If your wife heard you..." "An Ashkenazi was my dream." "She is not a goy I hope." "She is." "There!" "Everything is lost for us, that's all we ever see." "But why?" "Aren't there enough..." "Even my father married a goy." " Like father, like son." " I'm just a poor goy!" " Really?" " Yeah!" "That's funny." "My days pass by, my nights cry and cry for time" "My reason drowns and dies as time dies" "This dead time I regret so much" "For without joy, it stops" "I wait for you" "There in the air that we breathe" "Is spring" "I wait for my laughs and my youth" "My calm seas and my tempests at the same time" "For without joy life stops I wait for you" "I wait for you" "Come, do not tarry" "Wherever you come from, whoever you are" "Comes the time..." "My husband takes such good care of himself that he never gets ill." "But he is ill with his nerves." "But it's like I don't exist." "It hurts, I can't take it anymore." "Let him go to hell." "I can't stand him anymore." "I've had enough..." "Listen to him eat..." "Keep me informed." "You shouldn't see all those doctors." "You should be stronger, Mrs Herman." " Hermann." " Sorry." "You know, my kidneys are paralysed." "I can't raise my arms higher any than this." "And Hermann does nothing." "He's the only one that matters." "He only takes care of himself." "I'm freezing." "Now I know that my son Lucien was right to fail in medicine." "Pharmacy is another thing." "We know what we pay for." "Surgeons cut you open and don't know what they are looking for." "That's if they don't put you to sleep forever!" "Pharmacists are just like shmates." "Excuse me!" "Pharmacies are scientific!" "I'm freezing..." "It's cold." "He doesn't even pay attention to what the doctors say." "He's the only one who matters." "He wants to go out so we go out." "So what?" "Cut him some slack." "What's that about?" "So that's how life is." "I think you know all that..." "But you're not here for a documentary." "We'd like you to play a part in a story." "But there are stories similar to mine." "You probably have other Jews who were freed in Mauthausen in Austria, like me." "I don't know..." "How far are you in the making of your film?" "We're meeting people at the moment." "So you don't have anything yet." "We've written the script." "What year does the story begin?" "The present day." "Which means that you're telling the past." "No, we're not." "It'll be people's lives now." "So that's how you're doing it." "As we are now." "We're old." "Is it good to be old?" "To be old?" "Yeah, probably." "It's good to grow old in the right conditions." "It's good to live until you get old." "But if you turn the question around..." "Say you're the last survivor of a family of 7 children." "Is life worth it?" "Yes, probably." "I'm not so sure." "But if you turn the page and you're talking about children, about grandchildren who are grown-up, settled, who aren't stupid, who know a thing or two..." "Then it's probably worth it." "Do you see what I mean?" "You know people like us are difficult to live with." "Because in our minds there's only the past." "Even if we try..." "People tell us to try to forget." "Is it possible?" "It isn't." "It's impossible to forget." "We try to forget for a minute but a minute later it comes back." "What's your surname?" "Touitou." "No relation to Raphael?" "No, I don't know him." "In Faubourg St-Martin." "Raphael Touitou." "Is he nice?" "Unfortunately, he passed away." "A cousin?" "He was a very nice man." "Anyway we'll call you back with a short text." "If you could send it in advance so I can answer you properly." "So I don't get lost for words." "When I was deported it wasn't directly to Auschwitz." "I was somewhere else before Auschwitz." "But I was freed in Mauthausen." "Anyway, you already know all this." " I know a bit of history." " Naturally." "I've read a few books." "Do you remember those things or just read them?" "I remember a lot." "You learned something?" "Such as?" "If I told you that I wasn't feeling well." "The war came too soon for us to have children." "My husband died when he was 42." "I myself stayed the same, as you see me." "And I was happy to forget Yiddish." "I've forgotten Yiddish..." "I forgot the ways, I forgot things because the war caused us so much trouble." "I told myself it was time to get it over with." "Are you recording me now?" "Yes, do you mind?" "No." "Did you ever sing in Yiddish?" "Always in Yiddish." "In Yiddish it's..." "I had a dream" "It dreams in me, it dreams me" "I dream I stand like this" "I am at my table" "I cut this way" "I sew this way" "A piece of clothing for me" "And I see..." "In the middle of the room a tree" "And on the tree grows golden coins" ""Tell me, are you asleep?"" ""No, I'm not asleep."" ""What about you, my husband?" "Are you asleep?"" "Here it is." "She's more beautiful..." "Is she your girlfriend?" "How old is she?" "Same age as my daughter-in-law." "She's a beautiful woman." "You bet!" "How long have you known your girlfriend?" "It's been ten years." "Without being indiscrete..." "do you live together?" "Well, what do you think?" "I gaze into her eyes." "I still make love." " You have to." " Of course." "That's why you look so young." "It's part of life." "The doctor told me not to stop." "I would be happy to give you a part in the movie." "If you agree." "Of course I do." "At the same time, it would keep me busy." "Don't forget that a man like me, 50... 50... 90 years old..." "You're in great shape for your age." "Well..." "You can't just find good shape around the corner." " You have to work for it." " It's inside." "There are people who complain all the time." "Those people are sentenced to death." "They'll die. "Ah, it hurts!"" "It's nothing!" "Don't complain." "Walk straight." "Try to do something." "Something useful for you, for your body." "My wife is 13 years younger than I am." "She is my love, she's everything to me." "She's my wife, my friend, my mother, my father..." "She's everything." "Do you understand?" "I came here... after I'd been in a camp." "A prisoner of war, hiding out as a goy." "I met her in 1947, we got married and that's it." "We have 7 grandchildren." "I'm already a great-grandfather." "Really?" "I even lost a son." "He was 31." "He died leaving 3 children." "He wasn't like me." "He was rather left-wing." "I've always supported Israel." "I came to France intending to go to Israel." "But my wife said, "How can I come with you to Israel?"" ""I won't leave my family." She tricked me." "And I deeply regret it." "Had I left for Israel, maybe my son would still be alive." "Well, I'd better go to the shops." "Then I'll go home." "Mr Beker," "I gave the last script to Mrs Riback." "Can I mail it to you?" " To whom?" " To you." "To me?" "Yes but don't write anything..." "Let me give you an example." "I sometimes go to where Mrs Riback goes." "A club on Rue Château d'Eau." "They sent me an invitation." "On the envelope was written the word "Jew"." "Yes!" "I go to the meetings and I told them," ""Don't do that next time."" "I've been in the neighbourhood since 1952." "I don't hide but nor do I just introduce myself." "If I send you anything..." "I had a tailor's shop." "It said "Adam Beker" over the door." ""Adam B"." "That's all." "What if we took you to Poland to shoot the movie?" "Have you ever been back?" "I went back to Poland but I didn't return to my home town because I also made a trip to Russia." "I had relatives living there." "So I went there after the War to visit them." "We stopped at Warsaw for a few days." "But I didn't go to Sokulka." "My parents' house is still there." "My parents... were in the leather business." "There's a house belonging to my parents with a field, a garden..." "But I didn't go there, I went through but didn't stop." "It was too painful." "The main thing in the first part of the script is..." "It's not a very funny story." "It's a trip to Poland, a pilgrimage." "A party of people set off." "They're in the bus and the bus breaks down." "I already went there on a pilgrimage." "But we couldn't go where we wanted." "I wanted to go to the city where I was born to see what it was like but I couldn't." "With the group I was with." "I went alone a second time with my daughter." "I wanted her to see." "I wanted her to know." "Didn't you tell her before when she was little?" "She didn't care." "Too busy studying." "What if we took you to Poland for our movie?" "Is that your family?" "These are all the names, including mine." " You brought all the papers?" " From Auschwitz." "That's how I am, that's how I'll stay." "But how, by bus?" "We'll fly there but we'll shoot the movie in a bus." "In a bus..." "How does that sound?" "When I asked I was told that it wouldn't take place in Poland." "Although between you and me, I'm always laughing..." "It's in here." "Seeing Poland again where my whole family was killed, every last one of them..." "It would break my heart." "I don't like sad things." "Is it a sad movie?" "I hate sad things." "Listen, I went there once." "My wife wanted us to visit Poland." "I gave in, we went in 1976." "In 1976." "I cried like a child." "I don't relish it but I don't know yet." "I'll think it over." "You really won't go to Poland?" "Definitely not?" "Not even with your husband and a whole crew?" "You don't know." "Impossible." "I've closed the door." "Never, ever, ever." "Poland?" "Yes." " I've never been back there." " Never?" "I've never been back because there is hate in me." "My whole family..." "But if I have to..." "You wouldn't be alone." "It'll be different with an entire film crew." "You don't want to go?" "I want..." "I want to do this." "At the same time, it's an opportunity for me because I never had a chance to go to this place." "My health wouldn't allow me to go by myself." "In a group, something always prevented me from going." "Having said that... if I had a day off," "would you allow me to spend it in Warsaw?" "Please?" "I'm a little scared." "Not that I'm afraid I'll be shot." "So you'd be okay to go." "Morally, I'm going." " But physically?" " No, not morally." "I'm going voluntarily but at the same time..." "I know that the ground will burn my feet." "So are you ready?" "Meaning?" " Shall we try it?" " If you like." " In French first?" " In Yiddish." "I play Mrs Sonia." "I need my glasses, it's so bright." "Can you see now?" "No looking at the script." "Do it by heart..." "You got bothered alone in the streets." "Didn't you see the taxi lurking nearby?" "You see?" "Like I told you, always tuck your bag under your arm." "In Poland, they grab the bag from you." "They're ready to grab it." "They weren't after your bag!" "You think so?" "They weren't after your bag!" "You know what they're like." "You don't get it, you know what Poles are like." "Will you stop grepsen?" "See how he talks to me?" "I didn't come to see the Poles." "But what Poles?" "Where are they?" "I didn't come to see the Poles." "What Poles?" "There are no Poles." "Hush, stop." "The little girl is here." "We weren't supposed to stop overnight in Poland." "You know what I mean." "It's in the baby's bottle." "In the blood." "I tell you, I'm sure of it." "Believe me..." "It's in their blood, believe me." "So what's the matter?" "You didn't have to come." "You shouldn't have come." "How dare you say that!" "Let me finish." "It's what the group wants." "It's always like that with groups." "It's what the group wants." "It's always like that with groups." "Next time, you can hitchhike to Auschwitz." "Next time, you can hitchhike to Auschwitz." "Why are we stopping?" "Is it a bomb attack?" "What bomb attack?" "Where did you see a bomb attack?" "You've gone totally nuts!" "She is nuts." "What bomb attack?" "Where is there a bomb attack?" "What a crazy woman!" "I'll have something to say if they've run out of petrol." "Then go and see." " Excuse me?" " Go check, I don't feel safe." "The bus is stopping." "I hope it's not a bomb attack." "A bomb attack?" "She's crazy!" "Go and check." "Go and see, Jacques." "Go and see." "Excuse me?" "Jacques, I don't feel safe here." "They're not after our bags." "Not so mean..." "Try it again." "They're not after our bags." "You don't think so?" " You have a short memory." " Stop it!" "I told you, always tuck your bag under your arm, like this." "I told her." "Especially abroad." " They're not after bags." " You don't think so?" "It's in babies' bottles, not in the blood." "Believe me." "Say that again but..." ""It's in the blood"." "It's in babies' bottles." "And not in the blood." "Believe me." ""It's in babies' bottles." "In the blood." "Believe me."" "It's in babies' bottles." "In the blood." "Believe me." "What's the matter?" "You didn't have to come." "You could have stayed home." "Just stop it." "Sorry, miss." "Am I blocking your view?" "Why did we have to go to the cemetery with a flag?" "Do they really need to know we were there?" "Who cares anyway?" "We shouldn't have spent the night in Poland." "Nor we." "So Herman, how's your health?" "Be quiet, be quiet!" "It's as if I'm paralysed, I can't unfold my arms." "He takes care of himself, he sees nothing!" "Shut up!" "Listen to him!" "If anything happens to me, it'll be his fault." "Dinosaurs." "I'm going to repeat it because I think it's an accent..." " Animals that disappear." " Exactly." "I'll start just before you say, "It's true that in the paper..."" "It's true that in the paper recently the only sure thing has been the necrology." "So we are dinosaurs." "Dinosaurs!" "Well, listen..." "I accept your proposition." " But we should..." " The text..." " We should rehearse." " Of course." "Okay, now I need the text." "Give it to me." "So I know what it's about." "That way, we'll learn." "We should learn it by heart." "We can't afford to wait for the prompter!" "The prompter will be miked up so we can hear him." "If somebody is prompting, you'll hear him." "So we mustn't." "The text... there's one here." "Take your time." "Time is one thing I have." "Sometimes, I'm looking for something to do." "So I read a lot." "I read Yiddish writers, French writers:" "Zola, Victor Hugo and then..." "I have lots of books in Yiddish." "I'll work on it chapter by chapter." "Because you know..." "Just take it slowly." "Anyway, thanks for coming." "I have my script." "I put it in here..." "Take your time." "What was your husband's name?" "At first it was Gorenstein, which became Gorintin." "His first name?" "David." "With David and Esther you can't hide anything." " Goodbye." " Thank you, Mrs Gorintin." "I'll let you work." "Did I forget anything?" "I don't trust my memory." "Shmile, your clothes have no style" "You are no handy tailor" "Look at the neighbour's son" "The cut of his trousers" "Cardigans and jackets, what a pleasure" "For parents to have such a child!" "People of the Left" "And those of the Right" "Let's not talk about them" "You will always be ordinary" "If you can't do better than that..." "The song goes on like that..." " Is the mike working?" " Fine."