"I won't get the role?" "I can't play me?" "It's your role, not you." "You can act but not your part." "I want someone to play you." "What's the difference?" "I don't know yet." "Who'll play your role?" "You?" "I'm not in the ﬁlm." "Why not?" "why isn't your role in it?" "I want to see you, not me." "Then use me." "You don't love me." "You love my role." "Otherwise, you'd use me." "If you don't, then have someone play you in the ﬁlm... to be opposite my part... to love my part." "Don't you want to see us together?" "See me compared to you?" "Afraid of us together?" "Look at us in the mirror." "You refuse." "You want to see me or you." "And yet that's all loving is." "It's seeing one another at the same time." "You'd say, "I love you"..." ""Mathieu loves Jeanne" but... not "is loved" by her?" "I don't understand." "If so, you'd use me." "You'd show how I love you." "You'd show it to people." "You want to show you love me... not being loved." "You're afraid of being loved." "Because it's difﬁcult." "It's hard to accept." "Why does each one always say, "I love you"?" "One says, "Love me"?" "The other says, "I love you"... but not "You love me"..." "Why?" "It's always a question, never a statement." "Come here..." "Take me..." "Take me!" "Hello..." "I'm Mathieu's wife." "I'm glad to be able to study you for the role." "No, I'll study you... since he wants you to be me instead of me." "Once we're dead, people'll say... you're his wife." "He chose you as his movie wife." "He has you in real life." "He wants me in his life only?" "His life's so important?" "It matters the most?" "Cinema doesn't?" "He has a son with you." "He'll make a ﬁlm with you." "You'll give him a ﬁlm... as I gave him a son." "What matters more to him?" "Sons or ﬁlm?" "That's not the question." "I mean, no one's asking it." "You're not, but I am." "Don't." "I can't answer." "But you can!" "How?" "By refusing the role." "What'll that change?" "It's not a question of you or me." "It's the part." "If he wants me, it's 'cause he thinks I'm better for it." "If I say no, you may not get it." "He'll offer it to another." "I'm asking you to turn it down." "I don't see why." "Because I want you to." "It's between him and me." "He asked me to play it." "I agreed." "You have nothing to do with it." "But I'm here anyway." "Give me the part?" "I can't give or refuse you a thing." "It's odd you won't look at the facts." "I'm here to ask you for it and you act as if I weren't." "You'll give it to me?" "Mathieu asked me." "I accepted." "Meaning what?" "Are you dumb?" "I'm asking you for a simple yes or no answer... and you refuse." "It's no question for me to answer nor you to ask." "Don't we exist?" "Aren't I here?" "You opposite me?" "Can't you exist for me?" "You won't let yourself exist?" "You don't exist?" "Of course, I exist!" "The answer's no." "There." "That wasn't hard." "Why do you want the role?" "You're still at it?" "It's starting." "We've proved we exist." "We can talk like two people with the right to say yes or no." "Why do you want the part of me... an actress able to play the role myself?" "Whether I want the part..." "No, we've gone beyond that." "We're grown-ups now." "Remember?" "We've decided we're able to say yes or no." "I asked for the role." "You said no." "Why do you want it?" "I like it." "You'd take it?" "Knowing what it means to me?" "Written about me by my son's father?" "Think of the consequences for Mathieu and me." "Don't you have enough roles?" "Aren't you rich and famous?" "Why this greed?" "Why take a part... that's the ﬁrst ﬁlm role for a poor unknown stage actress?" "Her only chance to work with the man she loves." "Blackmail?" "No." "It's a question." "A senseless question!" "You know we're beyond that." "Answer me." "Exist!" "I want you to exist just for a minute." "If it's that important... tell Mathieu I said it's yours." "You'll have to tell him you won't do it." "You tell him." "It concerns you." "It's up to you." "I can't." "If I tell him, you won't do it?" "So your playing the role depends on me." "Yes." "But you want it?" "Yes." "Ask me for it." "What?" "Want it?" "Yes or no?" "Are you mad?" "Ask and it's yours." "If that'll calm you and end this..." "I'm asking you." "It's yours." "I saw Minouchette." "She's not up to the role." "Why're you crying?" "Why?" "But use her if you want." "Why're you crying?" "'Cause I'm sad." "What for?" "Mathieu!" "Phone!" "Yes?" "I want to say I know I can do a lot of good with the role and... you can do me a lot of good." "It could be a beautiful ﬁlm." "I'd like to be in it." "Minouchette, I'll call you back after I put my boy to bed." "When will I see you?" "Sorry to call so late but I had to tell you this." "As a child, we had a crane with a bad wing." "It was very gentle with us." "It'd walk behind us, yelling to slow us down." "When migrations ﬂew over the village, it'd get nervous." "I understood that." "Don't cry!" "It's over." "You don't wipe your face right." "You stayed to keep me from hanging'." "Say something." "I don't know..." "Why'd you cut me down?" "I was scared." "You did it 'cause the night was so sad." "That's bad here." "Coming!" "— Okay..." "Tell me..." "See you at home tonight." "When you address the audience with..." ""You did it 'cause the night was so sad"... use speaking to the audience... as your method for... convincing him not to commit suicide." "It's a way of talking to someone to ﬁnd... a stronger argument that's... more dynamic with a touch... of humor when you describe the house, your life... and all that." "Shall we try it?" "When you arrive here... make your attack a bit stronger." "Otherwise, it's rather poetic." "Give me 10 seconds..." "Whenever you wish..." "I was scared." "You did it 'cause the night was so sad." "That's bad here." "Dawn is a dangerous hour too." "Facing misery, men refuse... life that's unbearable." "Talk to me." "About what?" "I have a shop." "Not a streetwalker?" "I was, but now I own a shop." "The gods gave it to you?" "Yes." "One night they gave you the money for it." "One morning." "Not very amusing..." "I played the zither." "After the shop, I gave it away." "I thought, "Now I'll do nothing."" "I'm rich and sleep alone." "A whole year without a man!" "Now you're marrying one... who has the teahouse by the pond." "What's love?" "Everything!" "Nothing!" "Was it nice?" "And that?" "Nice?" "You're easily pleased." "What a life!" "No friends?" "But none who care I'm unemployed." "They treat me as if I'd said... the sea has water in it." "Got a friend?" "A cousin." "Beware of him!" "He's gone for good." "He only came once." "Why do you despair so?" "Without hope there's no kindness." "Keep talking!" "A voice is a voice." "Some people are still kind." "As a child, I fell and an old man picked me up." "You know Mouchette?" "I love her work." "She's fantastic!" "It's not a whim!" "It's silly to say but it's the ﬁrst time... my character'll watch me act!" "I usually play someone I don't know... with no body, ideas or feelings." "This time I'll know if I'm real or not." "How's that?" "Isn't it your wife?" "You'll act." "I'm not using her so it'll be different." "It'll be different." "But there has to be truth." "Truth?" "It's a ﬁlm.Truth in a ﬁlm..." "But the distance between reality and ﬁlm." "Don't you want me to show you something you don't see?" "Maybe..." "Don't you want the ﬁlm to say something?" "Isn't that why you chose me over someone else?" "I don't know." "Mathieu..." "Before a ﬁlm's made... everyone knows exactly how it should turn out." "That's a preconceived idea based on the past." "But for a ﬁlm to be unique someone must have... no idea what it's to be." "And he should be in charge." "So that's me." "You have a screenplay." "Yes, no one can do without a story." "It's about your wife." "Yes, about a woman who has a child with a guy..." "It's not too clear." "So you don't care if it's me or not." "No, I want you to do the ﬁlm." "This ﬁlm counts more than another?" "If you wish, no." "You want me to be in it." "If you wish, yes." "I love you." "You don't want to stay?" "Of course I do!" "| love you and Lo and can't live without you." "So why use that girl?" "Papa's ﬁlming girls?" "Papa'll make money for you and... come home to you both." "You don't love me." "I prefer Mama." "I love you both alike." "I must earn a living." "Wait till you're an architect!" "You only say you love me to keep me out of the ﬁlm." "Okay, I'll let it all drop!" "I wonder how we'll eat." "You said how'll we eat?" "Your foot against mine in bed I listen to you breathe." "I'll make a ﬁlm to feed our son and us." "Jeanne!" "LOL" "Did you hear?" "You could do that elsewhere!" "Come on, LOL!" "Stop." "I don't want the part." "Films're always alike." "Small roles are sacriﬁced to the stars." "The part's not meaty." "A good character but not developed!" "Play Falstaff." "That'd be meaty for you." "I saw a great Falstaff played by a beanpole with a phony belly." "He was ﬂatter than a fat guy." "And play Don Juan too!" "Don Juan..." "Do it, instead of improvising daily." "Our ideas... about women differ." "I've no ideas about women." "For me there's only one woman..." "Jeanne." "How's it going?" "I found her with a man in our bed." "Maybe her idea of a man." "I was joking." "That wasn't nice." "I know it hurts... but maybe it'll do you good." "Like nourishment!" "Right." "I'm not an actor nor a role." "I found a real guy in my real wife's bed." "Film it!" "You can't toss all the junk you want to get rid of into a ﬁlm." "Nor in your bed." "Meaning?" "I don't know." "Think." "Maybe... the guy's a way of getting into the ﬁlm." "I refuse ideas like that." "Seen Paul's ﬁlm?" "Sure!" "It's good." "Yes." "Fantastic!" "Did you see his dialogue?" "Yeah, it's good." "Got some this time?" "Yes, I got a dialoguist for the dialogue." "Good." "It's important." "Cinema's not just pictures." "Yeah, that's why..." "It works?" "Between the two of you?" "He does text, I do photo." "Aren't you afraid....7" "Is that how Paul works?" "I saw Mom." "Is she okay?" "Yes...as usual." "She's fantastic." "She mentioned you." "And me too." "For her it's the same thing." "She has her own ideas about men." "She owes it mainly to you." "She says it's my fault Jeanne's upset." "Because of me?" "No, me." "Isn't she right?" "My fault?" "She did what she did." "I didn't!" "People are free to think... and make decisions." "You make them seem... to be molecular chain reactions." "He did this, so naturally she did that." "Maybe I did hurt her." "You did, so naturally she wants revenge." "Can't she say, "He hurt me but I won't hurt him 'cause I love him"?" "Not so simple!" "You confuse love and morality." "You think loving people means wishing them well, but it's also... wanting them for oneself." "I'd like it to be simple." "To suit you." "To suit both of us." "Mind being in the ﬁlm?" "One day I found an earring my son's mom had lost." "Size '0' come home 520'." "I put it next to the other one by her bed' without telling her." "Quick!" "My love..." "Cold?" "— Yes." "Come on..." "Head up!" "You're my love?" "— Yes." "My love?" "— Yes." "My love..." "What?" "— You're my only love." "Don't sleep at home anymore." "Never!" "Not even tonight when we get home." "I've got a hotel as of the 27th." "You found a room?" "I told you that before we left." "You got one?" "I can't live with you." "| know..." "I understand!" "No, you don't." "Not at all!" "Jeanne, wait!" "Not asleep?" "Have no doubts about it!" "Don't ever have any doubts about it." "It's not my fault it's over between us." "I'd have loved you all my life." "Don't be so stupid!" "It's not for something like that... that you don't love me anymore." "Maybe, but it's unimportant." "One thing's more important than love." "It's dignity!" "If I love you, I lose it." "I can do without love." "I already have." "Not without dignity!" "You know... a man and a woman know certain moments of love... that seem to be more than just moments... unlike other moments that come and go." "We're sure it's impossible to lose them forever." "So we have a child... not for the child but for Love... to keep those moments alive." "If we stay... in love... we think he's the incarnation of our love." "But if our love ends, we feel him... break away from the love that created him." "He exists on his own." "He's no longer involved." "Lo's breaking away from me because..." "Jeanne doesn't love me." "Or you don't love her." "It takes two people to begin or end love." "You're not over yet." "Lo's there." "Trust him." "But how?" "He's with you both." "He wants your love to continue." "He's clutching your hand." "Mathieu..." "Yes?" "It's important to me that you be happy." "Call Papa." "You!" "Can he come up?" "Come with him!" "I can't." "I have things to do." "Stay!" "What is it?" "Nothing..." "Go see Papa." "Leaving?" "Yes, I'll see you later." "Man'z'a/ L 0 ve." "What's this, Lo?" "What's going on?" "It's not funny!" "Give me that!" "Why'd you do it?" "At the circus..." "What've you got?" "What'd you pick up?" "Playing with nails is very dangerous!" "Got any more?" "Let's see." "Why'd you say no?" "Here's another one!" "Any more?" "Don't play with nails!" "You found them?" "You okay?" "No." "Don't come in." "Hello?" "Yeah..." "It's me." "You okay?" "Yeah...| saw Lo..." "I just saw him." "Listen..." "You must see him all the time." "Pick him up after school" "Work that out with/same." "Nobody can bother you." "Don't get a lawyer for that stuff" "Mathieu..." "Yes?" "I have to go now." "I have a surprise for you." "A surprise at home!" "What?" "I bought you a little crocodile." "A what?" "It's fun." "A crocodile?" "You press on its mouth and... a thing makes it open and close." "It's funny." "You can have it later." "Look at the little pigeon!" "It won't ﬂy." "When'll we go home?" "Right now!" "Come in!" "Hello." "Compared to a lifetime, this is silly." "Done anything foolish?" "The other day while you were asleep..." "I thought of Josette and Paul." "My dad likes Paul's ﬁlms a lot." "Remember?" "I said, "If Paul's writing a screenplay with Josette"..." "I said..." "No, you did. "I hope he knows how to write, 'cause if not...!"" "Those who make love together, write together one way or another." "I never said it that way." "They're more in love than we are." "They've no kid to care for while writing." "I dreamt about something." "Paul said he was living at a hotel with Josette." "I'd rather be with you and Lo at home." "I was speciﬁc with him about dignity." "Dignity!" "In love you know how that ends?" "Dignity, my ass!" "Just write him a letter." "Wait for me." "My key, please?" "What name?" "Lourquin." "Here!" "Great!" "Bye!" "Here." "What is it?" "For living together." "Wait for me." "Mama!" "Darling!" "Want a sandwich?" "I have ham." "You want ham?" "A sandwich?" "Please don't smoke!" ""I haven't lost yet." "I still have hope." "Here's Susanna!" "I'll try!" "Pretend not to see her!" "He wants to wed this pearl." "One couldn't wish more for Figaro." "Money is all!" "That's intelligent." "With such a modest look and pious air!" "Then... what a charming wife!"" "Like in an Antonioni ﬁlm!" "Louis!" "How's my son?" "Fine." "It's not easy, eh?" "What's not easy?" "Talking to Mom." "I don't mind." "It's normal." "We only talk to strangers... or those in our lives." "I'm not in yours." "That's life!" "Lo's replaced you." "We talk a lot... like you and I did at his age... like your dad used to talk." "Anyway... men and women at any age only talk to say... they're in love or not... or maybe they'll fall in love or surely not." "That's all they say?" "Of course!" "They only have love." "When they don't, they stop talking." "Papa sends his kisses." "He mentions you a lot and says you're great." "I'm not great?" "Sure!" "You both think I'm great." "That's good." "You okay, Mama?" "Sure!" "What'd I just say?" "You don't listen!" "It means you don't love me." "Wanna hear the tune she gave me?" "Pretty?" "Yes, it's pretty." "I sent your mom one of your love letters." "I mixed up the envelopes." "I realized it today when I found my letter to her in my bag." "Upsetting?" "No.just explain it to her." "It upsets me." "It's sad." "Why?" "Our love's not sad." "Is Lo there?" "Under the table." "I hurt my foot!" "Careful!" "You liked it?" "A Jacques Rozier ﬁlm..." "Some people blind at birth can now get their sight but... some of them go crazy because they can't see." "What?" "They can't choose." "They don't know how to prefer certain things." "As babies we learn to sort out reality because... we're taught how." "Their minds can't." "Josette, if you look at a street, you see everything alike." "Like a camera?" "Maybe that's what a camera's for." "The story makes us choose." "If each of us doesn't have a story to tell?" "Each one of us." "Each day I ask "What's life?" "What am I in life?"" "Impossible!" "Each time we begin a ﬁlm or shoot a scene... it's like getting up and wondering..." ""What's that blue up there with white stuffing it... or those boxes on wheels?"" "But it's still a story." "Without one, we couldn't meet people... or be in love." "You're my story!" "A story's a love story." "Love makes the stories in our lives." "Each time we love... it's the countdown of another love story." "I was born to love him." "If I hadn't done this or that..." "I'd never have met those who made me meet him." "Only love gives a meaning to things." "We can't make a story alone." "We ﬁnd someone to love... to make life a story with a beginning, a middle and an end." "cheery!" "A story's end's like the end of love." "As a kid I'd cry when I ﬁnished a story I liked." "You get used to it." "Living a love is like reading and writing a story." "You watch it happen and try to keep it going." "That's why love's interesting." "How can we discuss love?" "It's not a thing, a machine or a function." "It's us." "How can we discuss us or our lives as something interesting?" "Because I'm not afraid to look at us." "You don't dare." "You're scared." "Men use love to live but can't make it work... as if driving a car and saying, "Don't let it break down!"" "They couldn't ﬁx it so they're scared." "But you get out, raise the hood and ﬁx it." "You make it go." "Nobody makes a story go." "It goes!" "You said... ?" "We see to the daily maintenance." "We don't steer it." "It runs along alone until the accident." "Accident?" "An accident always happens... as in all stories." "Why must a story end?" "Everyone wants it to last but it ends." "Even the author can't say why." "It's an accident." "You say that so coldly." "It's like death." "It exists but we refuse it." "I'll die in your arms." "I'd like to die that way too." "Believe what you said?" "Jeanne did the talking!" "You agreed." "Sure, all women say the same thing." "But you give words too much importance." "And you?" "We're too busy." "Running the world?" "Keeping it running." "And us?" "You talk about what goes on." "You tell stories." "Women don't need them." "You said we can't love without a story." "That's the story of life." "I mean other stories... based on the story of life." "We invent our love?" "No, you sing and dance around it." "It's beautiful." "It's necessary too." "What do you do with it?" "We live it." "Beautiful!" "Do you believe what you said earlier?" "Yes, but it's unimportant." "What you hear is important." "You remember what you want to." "We never recall things the way they were said... but we repeat them." "That's how stories happen." "And we see?" "Meaning?" "The man in your bed." "Same thing." "You saw what you wanted, not what I did." "And you did what?" "What I had to." "What had to be done." "To keep the world going?" "Yes, to continue loving you." "You're sure?" "Maybe not, but it worked." "You could've been wrong... and fallen for the guy." "A woman who sleeps with a man... never fools herself and... in love she's always right." "Love me?" "Yes, I love you!" "Have a nice trip?" "Not too many people?" "Not too long?" "Was it nice?" "Did you sleep well?" "You okay?" "Fine." "Anything to tell?" "Nothing." "Nothing?" "I was quick." "Yes." "I'm so glad." "I'd had enough." "It was so long." "Too much waiting."