"THE LOVERS on NINTH BRIDGE." "It's Alex again!" "Come on, Alex!" "Come on!" "Don't you talk to me like that!" "Don't fuck with me!" "The name's not Marie, asshole!" "It's Madame Jean." "Hey, peanut, what do I do..." "I don't know..." "Please come here, lieutenant." "How about picking up the empties?" "Bottles and bodies!" "Yeah, all bashed up." "Come on, smartass." "Us, too." "Shit!" "We're fed up with helping you." "That's the third time you hit me!" "The good lord's going to kill you." "That does it." "Let's go." "See, Alex, it'll do you good to talk to me." "You got to try to talk." "You don't want to?" "You got to tell me something." "I'm going to take you down south." "I've got my wife and my two little girls there." "Laura and Muriel." "We'll be much happier there." "It'll be better than in Paris." "I got to go back to the bridge." "Look, I'm like you." "I've only got one life." "Right?" "I want to live it." "I want to choose my life." "I'm going back to the bridge." "Listen, Alex think it over." "Take a minute to think it over." "A minute." "While it's too late." "ÝPTAL" "1989-1991, City of Paris, restoration of Pont-Neuf." "Paris's oldest bridge, in hazardous condition will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians." "Reopening:" "Summer 1991." "Hans?" "Hans." "It's me." "It's me." "I told you." "When you go nuts you come to me not the bottle!" " What's that?" " Nothing." "My ankle's healing." "Yeah, right." "I fell down." "Pass me my downer." " Did the cops pick you up?" " Yeah." " Been in the shelter?" " Yeah." "Asshole." "Here, go to sleep." "Some guy is sleeping in your spot." "Can't figure how he got in." "Tomorrow, he's out of here!" "You!" "Get up!" "Get up!" "Pick up your shit!" "Beat it!" "Don't ever come back here!" "Ever!" "Hey!" "Miss!" "Shit!" "Is that me there?" " That's me?" " Yes." "From memory." "Where'd you see me?" "I thought you were dead." "Will you give it to me?" "No." "You really want it?" "Yes?" "Pose for me, right now." "And you got it." "A portrait." "Don't look at me." "Over there." "Julien..." "Julien...?" " Julien!" " That's not me." " "My Michèle..."" " Michèle." ""I'm so worried." "Such worries, nightmares, apprehensions."" ""Where are you living and by what means?"" ""Your portraits of Julien remain here."" ""I look at them each night and think of you."" ""Don't leave me without any news."" ""I love you." "Your Marion."" "It's really dark." "I passed out, huh?" "Was I drawing?" "Yeah." "Louisiane." "You brought me here?" "Yeah." "The old guy, he doesn't want me to stay here?" "No, it's ok." "Want to eat?" "Raw fish like in japan." "Is it fresh?" "They call it "sushi"." ""Wake up, little sushi, wake up!"" "You have a name?" "Alex." "One day, maybe I'll draw you." "I got to be able to sleep more." "Sure it's ok here?" "Yeah." "Thanks." "Tomorrow, she's out on her ass!" "Here." "Fish again!" "Where's Saint-Cloud?" "Saint-Cloud?" "Way out west, in the rich suburbs." "Why're you asking?" "No reason." " The girl... she's got to stay here." " Huh?" " The girl's got to stay." " Out of the question!" "A couple of days." "She's sick." "I don't want her in my face!" "Why?" "I don't want her in my face!" "Get it?" "Here, go to sleep." "No!" "Oh, Alex." "Alex!" "Give me your hand." "The girl." "Just a couple of days." "No drink for her!" "Not a drop!" "Make sure she's never in front of me." "Never." "Just a couple of days." "Just a couple." "Michèle and Julien or the Love of a Girl and a Boy, Notes." "Michèle?" "Who's there?" "What's it mean?" ""First love?"" "Julien..." "Julien the only one she loved." ""Love forever."" "I don't get it." "I don't." ""First love."" "She drew him, over and over." "Only him." "He played music for her." "Only her." "Then something happened." "I don't get it." "Fights... it's sad." "Then he drops her." "She's waiting for him... so much that's why her eyes are so bad." "She can't forget him." "That's why she loves him." "That's why she's in the street." "Maybe looking for him?" "You've done a good job!" "I got to go to work." "Shit!" "Here I bought it for you." "Oh." "Thanks." "You can get the news without leaving the bridge." "I got to go to work." "...city moves into high gear for the 1789 bicentennial..." "This is my spot!" "If I see you again in the subway, I'll bust your instrument!" "Beat it!" "Hello." "Did you see the guy playing the cello?" "It wasn't a guy, it was a lady." "She got on the train." "It can't be." "A fat lady." "Who's there?" "Michèle." "What do you want, Michèle?" "How did you find me?" "Open up, Julien." "I don't see you." "Move your finger." "Open up." "No, Michèle, we have to forget each other now." "I'm not asking for love." "No!" "There's something you don't know, Julien... about me." "Don't be cruel." "Move your finger." "I need to see you, one last time, Julien I need to paint you." "No!" "You can't refuse!" "No!" "Love..." "Love." "If you refuse, you'll see..." "I'm thirsty, too!" "What's wrong with him?" "You know?" "I think..." "I don't know." "You think, you don't know?" "Whatever he says, we'll drink together but not your way like an old wino staring dead-eyed." "I want to be drunk with you so I can see you laugh." "I can't drink with an old guy." "Firecrackers!" "Fireworks!" "Wait, wait." "Wait." "Where'd you get that?" "My dad's a colonel in the army." "Shit." "Take a look." "No bullets missing?" "Yeah." " Yeah, what?" " No, none." "All there, sure?" "Still 15?" "15, yeah." "Well, fine!" "I feel like shooting, too!" "Blow everything sky high!" "Let's do it." "7 for you, 7 for me." "Keep one for the future." "Catch!" "Shoot!" "Go on!" "The city's full of music." "Want to go to the Bastille?" "No." "We're better here." "Speed ok?" "I can't hear, but you're so beautiful!" "You ok, Louisiane?" "Is it an Egyptian cat?" "Abyssinian." "A gift." "Dry me, boy." "It's real good you're here." "I'm going to fall asleep soon." "Never with wet hair." "Here throw it over the side." "It gives you nightmares when it's in your pocket." "Throw it." "I'm zonked." "Wait for me." "Hans!" "Hans!" "Wake up, I got to sleep." "Give me an ampoule!" "An ampoule!" "What, the shoe didn't fit?" "Quick, I need my ampoul." "No." "You drank too much." "It doesn't mix." "She's going to go to sleep and I'll be alone." "Hans!" "No!" "Go on!" "Go on!" "Go on!" "If you love somebody, tell him tomorrow:.." "..."The sky is white." If it's me, I'll answer:.." "..."But the clouds are black."" "This way we'll know we love each other." "Michèle..." "Michèle..." "Michèle..." "Michèle..." "Michèle..." "Michèle..." "Michèle..." "Michèle..." "Michèle..." "Go back up there." "Try to sleep." "I can't." "Want your ampoule?" "Too late." "Fine." "Fine." "I think the girl doesn't love me." "The girl doesn't what?" "'Cause you too, you want love?" "Huh?" "Like the others?" "Tenderness, like the others?" "Look around." "There's no love here!" "There's no cold air in bedrooms!" "It doesn't fit your life!" "So forget it." "Forget it!" "The girl, she can't stay." "She's got to go!" "Leave me alone." "I'm hungover." "You have to go." "That's all you have to say to me?" "Go?" "I have good reasons to be on this bridge." "My eyes are going." " Listen to me..." " When I..." "When I try to paint this eye here bulges out of my head, like a snail." "At the museum over there I wanted to see a painting." "See it again, before I'm blind." "But a fucking neon set the eye on fire." "It hurt like hell." "I couldn't see." "Listen, I have a proposition for you." "Go fuck yourself with your "go"!" "Look at this." "See that?" "30 years a guard." "Factories, buildings cemeteries." "It's all there." "One night, you and me... we'll go to the museum." "I worked there, I have the keys." "You'll be able to see your picture with a candle." "So, you weren't always...?" "No." "Steady job, a home not bad-looking." "Ladies called me "camembert"." "Camembert?" "Because of the smell?" "No, because I was ripe and ready." "What was her name?" "Florence." "Young, beautiful made life beautiful." "Always liked a drink in high spirits." "But after our little girl died she downed more and more, without joy." "How do you stop it?" "Not that she didn't love me." "But the pain inched between us." "Florence couldn't look at me without tears." "One day she up and left." "For weeks I searched and I found her." "Wreckage!" "Days in the streets nights in a train station." "I stuck with her followed her." "She died at 33 and looked 50." "I threw her body in the river." "Yes, your honor over there, near the barges she loved." "She resembled you a bit not the nose." "That's why you can't stand me." "Look a woman who sleeps outside gets beat up, raped she drinks, doesn't get her period she becomes insane!" "Life outside it's right for me, for Alex." "But it's impossible for you!" "You have to go and live!" "The sky is white today." "The sky is white." "But the clouds are black!" "Say "Michèle"." " Call me "Michèle"." " Michèle." "Michèle!" "Stay with me." "Wait!" "You got to be patient with me." "I'll tell you stuff one day..." "about me." "We'll make love, sure we will, but not yet." "Later." "Want to go for a walk?" "Yes." "The whole city's asleep." "Yeah, let's walk!" "It's quick?" "Real quick." "Real powerful." "Take it often?" "I can't sleep without it." "What's the taste?" "No taste." "I got an idea." "No more swallowing this poison." "I'll teach you to sleep without it with me." "Alex!" "Another $150!" "Let's spend it!" "Ever seen the sea?" "No, but..." "The horizon?" "No need." "Come on!" "The sea!" "The sea!" "It's wet!" "It's wet!" " Michèle!" " Alex!" " Michèle!" " Alex!" " Michèle!" " Alex!" " Michèle!" " Alex!" " Michèle!" " Alex!" " Michèle!" " Alex!" "Michèle!" " Michèle!" " Alex!" " Michèle!" " Alex!" " Michèle!" "Michèle!" "Michèle!" " Alex!" "Alex!" "Alex!" " Alex!" " Michèle!" "I'm about to drop off." "Didn't you forget something?" " Huh?" " Didn't you forget?" "Oh, yeah." "Here." "Good night, love." "I'm proud I taught you to sleep that it was me." "Proof of love." "I can't see the horizon." "My eye's too weak now." "But you, you only look at your feet." "I want to go back to the bridge." ""I want to go back to the bridge."" "Still asleep?" "No." "My eye is worse." "Want an apple?" "Not now." "You count it?" "God, I'm stiff." "I'm going to end up like an old bag!" "Almost two thousand!" "Think of what we can do!" "The bridge is fine in summer, but in winter..." "We'll go underneath it." "It stinks down there." "Oh!" "Hey, peanut...!" "Where?" "Don't know..." "Oh!" "Hey, peanut...!" "Where?" "Don't know..." "Oh!" "Hey, peanut...!" "Where?" "Don't know..." "Oh!" "Hey, peanut...!" "Where?" "Don't know..." "The money!" "No!" "No!" "Fucking clumsy cunt!" "Blind!" "I'm no good anymore." "Sorry, Alex." "First floor." "I know." "This way." "Stop saying "shh!"" "Stop." "Shh!" "Your shoes squeak." "What are you doing here?" "Come on." "I'll take you back." "Michèle?" "Michèle." "It's there." "Turn that off." " I can't see." " Shh!" "Are we going?" "Where are you?" "Where?" "Where are you?" "Where are you?" "Where are you?" "Where are you?" "Where are you?" "Where are you?" "Where are you?" "Where are you?" "Where are you?" "Where are you?" "Hey, you!" "You ok?" "Forget about me." "Just look." "Got to go back to the bridge." "Try not to suffer that much." "I want to do a lot of things with you." "I really want to." "But you're so closed." "You got to open up!" "Never do that again!" "We're going to stick together, you and me." "When it all goes black soon you'll be my last image in my head forever." "Who else is in your head?" "Not many." "Who?" "Faces in paintings my parents my old friend, Marion my cat, Louisiane and then Hans and a boy whose name was Julien whose name is Julien." "I must tell you sometime." "Yes, it'd be good." "You know I'm ready to live in the dark." "Because, right now, the world's just a lot of blurry dancing flames and I'm sick of it!" "You'll be there?" "My white cane?" "My seeing-eye dog?" "Playing dog?" "Already I can't see small things." "They're the most exciting." "If you smile just a little, I can't see it." "You got to make it big." "You got to do it all on a big scale for me." "Wait." "Where you going?" "What're you doing?" "See me?" "Michèle?" "I see you." "Clown." "Missing." "Where are you?" "The cops are checking." "I don't like it." "I'm taking you back." " What's the big rush?" " What?" "What's the big rush?" "Sorry." "Michèle STALENS, 24 years old, 1.67 m., missing for 6 months, suffers from a rare eye disease." "A new operation could save her sight." "EVERY DAY COUNTS!" "See, Louisiane...?" "...a loose wire." "Alex'll fix it." "Michèle!" "Speak of the devil and he appears." "Hold me." "Hold me." "Radio's on the blink." "I've got your coat on." "I'm scared, Michèle." "In the rain, I had a bad dream." "Hold me." "It was night." "You weren't on the bridge... but lost in the dark." "I couldn't find you in the dark." "But I'm here." "Hold me." "...Colonel Stalens's daughter 24, 5' 6", brown hair." "Michèle's sight can perhaps be saved by Dr. Destouches's new operation." "Any information concerning her..." "The radio!" "You hear?" "They're talking about me!" "My eyes!" "A hope if ever could it be?" "The end of this nightmare." "Just think, Alex." "My eyes!" "Come let's share a bottle." "Another one?" "Yeah." "Alex." "ALEX, I NEVER LOVED YOU." "NOT REALLY." "FORGET ME." "Michèle." "No one can teach me to forget." "Get up!" "Come on, get up!" "Hey!" "You Alex Vogan?" "You're Alex Vogan, aren't you?" "Let's go." "We'll talk about a guy who got torched." " Talk!" " Talk!" "The kid saw you!" "Piece of shit!" "The defendant will rise!" "The jury finds you guilty of manslaughter and sentences you to 3 years in prison." "Vogan!" "Vogan!" "Vogan!" "Call Vogan." "Nearly two years." "You knew it was me?" "You want me to go?" "I had to see you." "I wanted you to see me my eyes." "You don't talk?" "You're handsome." "It's strange to see you just like in my book." "I thought I'd forgotten you." "But every night for weeks images of you." "That's why I'm here." "My dreams sent me." "The people in your dreams, you should call them when you're awake." "It would make life simpler." ""Hello, I dreamed of you."" ""Love woke me."" "You look at me." "You wonder who I was." "You don't recognize me." "But I imagined you in every detail even your hair." "But you changed." "Same shining eyes as in my dreams." "We were both running through cities valleys and plains." "And you didn't limp anymore." "I don't limp anymore." "What?" "I don't limp." "You see...?" "...nothing's... irreparable." "I went to the bridge last night." "It's all repaired." "Now it's solid." "Why'd you try to forget me?" "I never told you about me." "We led such a strange life." "Why'd you never come to see me?" "I waited." "I'm afraid of us... at times often..." "You're cowardly." "No." "Will you love me?" "Yeah, like before but not the same." "I'll visit you." "Never, not here." "I miss you." "So many things to fix..." "inside me." "I'm not ready." " I want you to see the new me all at once." " A new man." " When I get out." " Six months." " Christmas." " Yes." "Midnight on the bridge." "To do your portrait." " With wine." " Good wine!" "No poison in it!" "A room in a hotel." "I have money." "Breakfast in bed." "You'll see butter on our thighs honey, marmalade, crumbs of croissant in our pubis." "Dr. DESTOUCHES EYE SURGEON." "Louisiane." "I'm on your eyes." "I'm on the shadow of your mouth." "Done!" "I'll do better." "Do you like yourself?" "Yes." "Yes yes or yes no?" "Yes." "Oh!" "Shit!" "Clumsy!" "Take off your mitten." "No." "It's ok." " You look happy!" " Yes!" "I'm loaded... on love!" " Know the happy man story?" " No." "Two guys in a bar really down, wonder if they fuck enough to be happy." "So, the first one says "Me, I get it every two weeks."" "The second one says, "Me, once a month."" "To them, it doesn't seem a lot." "But there's this third guy at the bar all alone huge grin on his face, ear to ear." "The guys wonder, why's he so happy." "So a little embarrassed, they ask how often he has sex." "The guy, beaming, says, "My friends..."" ""..." "I make love every three weeks." "No, no, every three years!"" ""What?" "Every three years?"" ""So why're you so happy, sir?"" "And the third guy says "Because tonight's the night!"" "Because tonight's the night." "Oh." "My head hurts." "Because tonight's the night." "Tonight's the night." " Tonight's the night." " Tonight's the night." "Three o'clock?" "I didn't hear it strike two." "Tonight's the night." "Alex, I have to go." "I'm dead tired." "Love, what's wrong?" "It's not true." " What?" " You're not tired." "Yes, I'm tired." "There's a little hotel nearby." "It's called Louisiane, same as your cat." "I asked." "They serve breakfast in bed." "Love, I have to go." "Where?" "I'll tell you." "What?" "Don't shout!" "Some things... take time." "Don't make me say, not tonight." "You're killing me." "You've got to be patient with me." "No!" "Lies." "Lies." "Lies!" "Michèle!" "Are you the sand man?" "No, we just haul it." "It's our last trip." "Where're you bound?" "All the way." "To the Atlantic." "The Atlantic." "We are too." "Right?" "Ok if we come along?" "Yes, it can be arranged." " Yeah." " Sure." "Oh!" "Hey, peanut...!" "Oh!" "Hey!" "Don't know..." "Paris can stay in bed!"