"Do you know the full mystery of Mathilde Stangerson?" "I've no idea." "Mathilde and her husband, Ballmeyer, had a child." "A boy." "He was born secretly in America." "No one ever knew about him." "Not even Larsan, alias Ballmeyer." "The Perfume of the Lady in Black based on the novel by Gaston Leroux" "THE Immortal" "Good evening..." "Naja-Bey, alias Ballmeyer, alias Larsan!" "Larsan!" "The living ghost" "The doors must remain open should anyone wish to oppose this marriage." "A marriage is never simple." "A marriage is an adventure." "Very few ever turn out well." "Fidelity..." "Not easy." "Not at all easy." "You'll be marrying today for better... occasionally." "And for worse." "After all, married life isn't a barrel of laughs." "Are you without sin today?" "No, of course not." "A lot of sins?" "And, for these numerous sins, have you sought God's forgiveness?" "My children, I'll ask you now and I won't ask twice." "Have you..." " prior to marrying before God - have you confessed?" "My poor children!" "Right now, please." "It's not too late." "No." "Stay here." "Ten "Our Fathers" and ten "Hail Marys"." "She has a lot bugging her." "Forty "Our Fathers" and fifty "Hail Marys"." "Now that's out of the way..." "Mathilde Stangerson, do you take as your husband" "Mr Robert Darzac here?" "Say so, mademoiselle." "I do." "Good, madame." "Mr Robert Darzac, do you take as your wife" "Mathilde Stangerson here?" " l do." " Dig in." "I hereby declare you joined by the holy bonds of matrimony." "Please..." "Mr Darzac, please..." "Ready..." "Cheese!" "Thank you." "Ah, latecomers..." "Your Honour!" "He'll stop at the buffet." "Your Honour!" "More..." "Like that!" " There's room here." " Excuse us." "We caught the wrong train." "Well, let's get the photo right." "Cheese!" "He's cheesing me off." "Where's the cheese?" "It's to make us smile." "It's stupid." "Sainclair didn't invent hot water." "Ready..." "Cheese!" "I only believed him dead after the wedding." "Larsan simply had to show himself to prevent it." "Where are we going now?" "." "I'm seeking a conviction." "I must follow the trail to speak to her." "What?" "We're seeking the perfume of the lady in black." "You'll end up knowing as much as I do." "And be as frightened as I am." "Because you're kind and you're fond of me." "This is it..." "The perfume of the lady in black." "Even in my wildest games, I was never as happy as when Father Simon sent me to the visiting room where the lady in black was waiting." "I hope the room is still there!" "She'd come at twilight, before the visiting room was lit." "I never once saw her dear face clearly." "So when she hugged me in her arms, I would become intoxicated on her perfume." "I didn't live with her image but with her scent." "On the days after her visit, I would flee to the visiting room during break when it was empty, like today." "I would inhale... I would religiously inhale the air she had breathed." "I would hoard up this atmosphere that she had frequented and leave with a fragrant heart." "It was the most delicate, the most subtle, most natural and sweetest perfume in the world." "Thank you." "She would often bring me a brioche." "I love brioches." " Got any paper?" " l don't know." "Yes, here." "The article." "What are you doing?" "Making a boat." " You can still make boats?" " With my eyes closed." "We made them under our desks." "And the lady, did you see her again?" "In that corner, an orange tree grew by miracle in its pot." "We weren't allowed to touch it." "That last summer, we were happy because it had grown an orange." "A single orange that had become sacred." "But, one day, someone stole it." "No one owned up, so Father Simon punished us all." "By deduction, I discovered that the cat had played with it and took the fruit to Father Simon." "No one believed me and they called me a thief." "The others held my head in a puddle." "I was distraught to think that the lady in black would believe I was a thief." "So I ran away." "I dived into the canal from the wall." "They all thought I had drowned." " And the lady?" " Her too. I never saw her again." "Darzac gave you this?" ""M is in danger." "Save her."" "M for mother?" "Mathilde!" "To Mathilde's rescue... in hiding at Hercules' Fort" "Why haven't you spoken to Mathilde?" "I'm too afraid to." "Maybe she isn't the lady in black." "It's a secret between you and me." "The boy at school is dead, except for you and me." "The lady wouldn't want salvation by pitting a son against his father." ""The lady wouldn't want salvation" ""by pitting a son against his father."" "The father!" "He's your father?" "Yes!" "My father!" "I'm the son of Larsan." "Of Ballmeyer." "He was your father?" "He's not dead." "But, if he's not dead... that means he's alive!" "Obviously." "Chilled wine on our lips" "Ah, how good it is" "To be alive..." "Hello, hello!" "How are you?" "Lovely day, isn't it?" "I'm pooped." "My sculptures get my knickers in a twist!" "Hello." "The famous Mr Rouletabille, I presume?" "Joseph!" "You weren't at the wedding." "You were." "His loyal friend." "Loyalty is a fine thing." "That's pretty. ls it a dancer?" "No, pal, this is the way to do it." "Friendly boys, aren't they?" "Rikki was a ventriloquist in Russia." "I projected my voice, now I project my gut." "Tell Madame Bernier to prepare their rooms." " l got your wire today." " Are the Darzacs here?" "Robert is out." "Mathilde is with her father." "Right!" "The first courtyard, my own little corner." "Our quarters, known as the New Castle." "And here, all the way along, Barbarossa's rampart." "Very dull to look at but rich in history." "Governor De Frouste was hacked to death here while his wife was locked up with 15 spongy squirrels that ended up getting excited and devoured her whole..." "Horrible." "Now, the Saracens... I love a good scare." "You will tell me some scary stories, won't you?" "I know some scary stories too." "Really?" "Charles the intrepid's caves, now Old Bob's workshop." "What's he up to now?" "." " Old Bob?" " Père Jacques, my uncle Jacques-Bob." "I've always called him Old Bob." "After the to-do over the yellow room, they sought refuge here and Old Bob keeps on trying to build prototypes from the professor's abandoned plans." "He manages quite well." "The half-square tower." "The Darzacs are staying here in the oldest part where the Duke of Gromor died disembowelled." "Half-brother of Jean lll, son of Charles the intrepid, he couldn't have children or stand puffins..." "Buffins?" "Puffins, pelagic birds that sound like a baby." "Pelagic?" "Professor, our reporter friends are here!" "And here's our secret dungeon." "Not that secret..." "What?" "Now then, over here... the lodgings of our charming caretakers." "You already know them." "Mr and Mme Bernier." "Everything okay?" "Yes, in this pleasant little breeze." "Gentlemen... ls Mme Darzac in her room?" "I haven't seen her." "A fine beast." "It's a male." "A young male." "What have you come up with now, Octave?" "Let me see." "What is it?" " A cucumber?" " No, a cannon." " A cannon." "What a good idea!" " lt needs a hole." "I like the parsley around it." "I'll do the balls tomorrow." "Not too many." "Your last one was full of balls." "Right, follow the leader!" "So everyone paints here?" "I like all our guests to have a creative pastime." "Creative in a broad sense." "Mme Bernier stuffs the groupers Tullio catches." "You must find a pastime too." "Where is Mathilde?" " Probably at the beach." " The beach?" "Actually, I don't know." "I don't see much of her and her husband." "Here." "The rule is simple:" "make yourselves at home." "There's a nice view." "My American girlfriends paint here in summer." "Well, I'll leave you now." "See you later for welcome drinks." " Drinks will be welcome." " lt's a tradition." "A very sociable one." "Like you." "You too." "We're silly." "See you later." "We're silly?" "Not at all." "We're just trying to have..." "to be..." "Taking a sweater?" "It may turn cold..." " Let me run down to the shore!" " To do what?" "What I have to do!" "I forbid you to touch that man!" "Larsan!" "Ballmeyer!" "Ballmeyer!" "Frédéric!" "Did you see him?" "Who?" "Joseph?" "No, him!" "Yes, I saw him!" "Do you know if she saw him?" "Yes, with Rouletabille." "The devil has nerve!" "When I got here, he had gone." "I must go to Mathilde." "Goodbye, Sainclair." "Goodbye, sir..." "Robert." "Know what Joseph Prudhomme said?" ""That's an almost absurd amount of water."" " Doctor..." " Yes, of course." "Watch closely." "Careful..." "You have lovely eyes, Gwendoline." "Open your mouth wider." "You have such big... titties, Gwendoline." "That'll do!" "At your service." "I'm proud of that trick." "Artie, you're a seducer." " Not at all." " You are!" " My darling spouse..." " Yes, Artie?" "They say Artie's fast but I'm just an Artie-fact!" "Welcome drinks!" "Come and have a drink!" "Octave!" "Rikki!" "Rickety Rikki!" "Artie, stop it now!" "Welcome to all newcomers." "Welcome to Hercules' Fort." "As usual, we shall begin with our motto." "Ready?" "All together now." "Hip-hip..." "No, Mr Sainclair, our motto, I said." "All together." "There are no fleas... on Hercules!" "Let's drink now." "Did anyone see that boat near the fort?" "I know the man who was piloting it, not the strange chap standing in it." "Does anyone know who was that?" "Larzan!" "Larsan." "That's why you're here!" "And the pilot?" " Tullio." "The butcher of the seas." " Who?" "He didn't invent the eggcup!" "I'll cut his water if he fishes like that!" "The best sabres stay in their sheaths." "I did warn you." "It's cracked open now." "Sorry." "He calls himself a doctor... lt's kind of them to welcome us all to this..." "No, thank you." "A sponge finger." "Odd, she seems relieved to have seen Larsan." "She'd rather deal with Larsan alive than with his ghost." "She doesn't see him everywhere, just where he is." "She's not a widow now, but a bigamist in God's eyes." "Let's eat!" "I'm locking it." "Put the beams in place." "You see, Sainclair, any fool would think I'm trying to defend myself." "I'm doing this to think." "Nothing must elude me." "I couldn't think in a forest." "How can you think in a forest?" "It's Fort Alamo!" "Why not just call the police?" "I didn't save Larsan at the Château du Glandier to get him arrested here." "Of course." "In the meantime, let's eat!" "Honestly, all people talk about now is croune potash." "That's a pretty amphora." "Isn't it?" "Phoenician." "I found it down there." "At Le Rascas." "Ten grand." "It's yours for ten grand." "Good idea, turning welcome drinks into a dinner buffet." "Fun, isn't it?" "If I may, madame, I shall turn this dinner buffet into a council of war!" "Larsan..." "He has many ways to harm us but we can't harm him!" "Mathilde and I should leave this place." "We must fight Larsan once again." "If you leave, he will track you down when you least expect it." "Here, we're forewarned." "We're on our guard." "Good night, dear." "Good night, Mathilde." "Good night, Mathilde." "Doctor?" "Can we trust Mattoni?" "Of course, Mattoni is..." "Our gardener?" "He has been with us for years." "Since when, Artie?" "Absolute ages." "Actually, Mattoni is the brother of Tullio, the butcher of the seas." "They hate each other because Tullio battered to death, with a mattock," "Mattoni's goat the first time it went out for a swim." "It was horrible." "I can hear the goat's bleats as it went under." "The poor animal... lt tried to do the breaststroke, its eyes bulging..." "All right... I'll put Mattoni on watch here, facing south." "Share out these weapons." "They're all Bernier could find." " There's no..." " No, there isn't." "We open fire on all strangers." "Certainly not!" "We let them identify themselves." "We need a password." ""There are no fleas on Hercules."" "What a song and dance!" "Don't worry, we're here." "If I see that we're being attacked..." "Sainclair!" "My amphora." "I'm sorry." "I'll go diving for another." "Well, in any case, we said ten grand." "You owe me ten grand." "The attack may lie in all that is silent but also in speech." "It can be in a word, a sigh, a breath." "It can be in a gesture and perhaps in what is visible too." "What is visible yet invisible." "Are you an angel?" "Are those gentle features honest?" "is that vivacity natural?" "Who goes there?" "Password!" "No bugs on Hercules." " No fleas on the apple trees..." " Mr Sainclair!" "How sweet of you to call by." "You must have a drop of my pear brandy." "What a pretty thimble." "Silly!" "That's your glass." "To us." "A real droplet." "We won't be singing rugby songs after that!" "I can't take drink anyway." "I'd love to meet this Larsan fellow!" "Ballmeyer..." "The conman of high society!" "The most gentlemanly of gentlemen!" "The lightest-fingered conjurer!" "He threw pepper at his captors and, that same evening, attended a theatre première without a disguise." "He left France for America." "I could talk all night about the man who became Larsan." "They've poisoned her!" "My angel!" "What's wrong with you?" "Let me sleep." "A thousand pardons..." "We're all a bit on edge." "The visible... and the invisible" "Hercules..." "My fleas..." "Hercules..." "Give me back my fleas..." "Good night?" "Yes." "Good watch?" "Yes." "No major events to report?" "No." "You're right to take your time over it." "We're in too much of a hurry these days." "We don't take time to see things, to see them properly." "This emptiness is beautiful..." "This white..." "But white isn't empty." "It's the most intense colour of all." "Here, professor, my peach..." "Your peach brandy." "Who's that?" "That's Tullio." "The cudgel he's got!" "Ah, but he didn't invent the head on beer." "And there?" "What's that floating dome?" "It's shining." "See it?" "That's Père Jacques working on one of my old dreams:" "the "Megalodon", a solar-powered submarine." "And that's the solar cell we can see?" "He's been down ages." "What can I say?" "It still needs some work." "The man should take a break." "Like everyone." "Let's eat!" "Oh, crêpes!" "Bernier, you get on our wick!" "Robert, what language!" "A thousand pardons." "Here we are!" "We've prepared crêpes and chilled cider in a bright and merry atmosphere!" "The pretty cause of our wakeful nights." "Mathilde." "Oh, feel that pulse..." "Doctor..." "A rather turbulent pulse, hmm?" "You're all bewitched." "Not all of us." "Prince Galitch!" "Prince Galitch..." "Who?" "Feodor Feodorovitch, Prince Galitch, a mystery." " He lives on that island." " Sober, miserly, a poet, delicate yet muscular!" "How can a poet possibly be miserly?" "A great musician, a benefactor of the senses..." "Actually, he hypnotized our dear Edith at a meeting of his young old folk." "His young old folk?" "Or old young folk." "He runs a "rejuvenation" centre." "They even say that he is a former patient himself." "He's so handsome!" " He's not very nimble." " That's true." "It's so romantic..." "Lord, it's so romantic!" "Let's eat!" "The sun strikes the carae" "Our raised glasses shimmer" "Friends, let us drink to ourselves" "Just a drop, thank you." "Chilled wine on our lips" "Ah, how good it is" "To be alive" "Stop that." "What's this instrument, Feodor?" "It's a flute I use for hypnosis and relaxation sessions." "Oh, do tell." "You'll laugh but I found it on the seabed." "Humanity's oldest flute." "Dating from the mammoths... carved from the bone of a rhino with partitioned nostrils." "Partitioned?" "The poor rhino!" "How did it breathe?" "It's quite simple... lt had to have rhinoplasty!" "Excuse me." "For your wonderful works." "Thank you." "Feodor, I... I don't like this Feodor fellow." "Allow me to introduce you." "Meet the..." "My wife." "Old Bob!" "You had to swim back again?" "The sun went in." "Stop playing with that submarine!" "How did he enter the fort?" "Go and change!" "Larsan's eyes" "Who hasn't had a crêpe and mash?" "Me, darling." "Well, Feodor..." "How are your sprites?" "Sprites?" "Young nurses, for the treatment." " Treatment?" " Yes." "Aquathermal sessions." "Aquatommyrot, I call it." "Sorry." "Père Jacques' hair is already dry." "It's a wig." "Relax." "What's wrong, Sainclair?" "Nothing. lt's absurd." "No." "You're right to see him everywhere." "He wasn't here earlier but could be now." "I dread him less outside than in." "I sense him here." "I feel Larsan's eyes on me." "I don't now." "He has stopped looking at me." "We have to..." "Do not seek Larsan where he appears but wherever he hides." "He appears in one place to go unnoticed in another." "I'd like to pluck my eyes out to think." "Let's pluck them out for five minutes and maybe we'll see clearly." "Count them off, one by one." "Robert Darzac." "He wouldn't have appeared to Mathilde in that case since Larsan's return takes Mathilde from Darzac." "Père Jacques." "Believe me, when my father wears a wig, nobody notices." "Edith." "She rules this place." "You like her." "Prince Galitch." "A good flutist." "Odd eyes." "If Feodor Galitch is Russian, I'm Lapp." "Like Mattoni." "He didn't invent the toothbrush." "But I don't trust him." "Nor Arthur Rance?" "As subtle as a rhino but no fighter." "And not funny." "Professor Stangerson." "He's out of it." "What's he painting?" "White." "Well, white..." "Mathilde." "Sorry." "The Berniers." "She fancies Mattoni and Galitch." "She does?" "You never see anything." "The visible and the invisible." "Bernier..." "How does Père Jacques get back in?" "By a secret passage." "is Mattoni still on the gate?" "I'm taking him his crêpe." "Just one?" "Poor fellow." "is that the sea?" "Fancy!" "The sea... lt could well be." "Do you prefer figurative or abstract art?" "Relax." "It's like the curving of the sky." "Why do you want to paint the sea?" "Because it's pretty." "When you look at a painting, don't complicate matters." "Follow that boat!" " Come on, hurry!" " Turn the solar cell first." "Go on, the solar cell." "Very good." "The sprites!" "Odd nurses..." "The sprites?" "Where?" "Over there!" "Hide!" "We've been spotted!" "Larsan!" "Accident?" "Suicide?" "Murder?" "Dive, we'll be less obvious." "It's not easy..." "This is a submarine, isn't it?" "Hold your horses." "First o all, I have to take on ballast..." "How do I lower the periscope?" "Pull it down." "It's letting in water!" "The submarine isn't entirely waterproof." " lt isn't?" " You have to bail out." " Where does the water go?" " ln that pot." " And the pot?" " After... we'll throw it out." " Out?" " Yes, when we get back." "In any case, there's no need to panic..." "There's no sun for now." "Where are we?" "How can you see?" " What's that?" " The bottom." "We've touched the bottom." "That's not a bad thing." "We won't drift around now." "There's no pump?" "is this to breathe with?" "That's the urinal." "Just relax." "Isn't this ideal for meditating?" "A cup of coffee?" " Don't you have any tea?" " Of course I do." "Do you mind if I smoke a eucalyptus cigarette?" "The fish are huge here!" "They're huge all right." " lsn't there any sugar?" " No." " Here he comes!" " Who?" "Old man sunshine." "Good." "Let's head back." "I can never find the way into my cave. it's terrible." " All right?" " Fine." "Père Jacques' workshop!" "You frightened me." "Where is Rouletabille?" "I have no idea." "That's pretty. lt shows talent." "It's a disaster, more like." "Pathetic!" "Bailed out well?" "Have you seen Rouletabille?" "You smell of eucalyptus?" "Yes." "You'll dine in the corridor." "Larsan is at Galitch's." "With women in white and he had... his death mask on." "Why would Larsan wear a mask on an island?" "That's right." "Why?" "Larsan is here, ready to attack!" "Where's the Darzacs' apartment?" "That's a fancy word for it." "Follow me." "I saw women in white shooting arrows." "Smell that, Sainclair?" "The perfume of the lady in black." " This door leads..." " To the keep." " And?" " No one's up there." "So, at five minutes to five, there is no one in the Darzacs' apartment." "We establish that when Mr Darzac enters his room, it is empty." "And that's the truth." "Right now, it is exactly..." "Five o'clock." "The sun strikes the terrace" "Our raised glasses shimmer..." "Can you stop that?" "That's enough, Old Bob!" "Come back in!" "It's getting dark!" "is he still down there?" "Bernier, get back to the tower door!" "Please!" "Honestly!" "He's kind but didn't invent the toboggan." "I have a strange feeling of imminent tragedy." "is Darzac still here?" "He hasn't moved." "Right, honey?" "We haven't seen him." "You're still here." "Yes, I'm here." "Here..." " Here." " Now." "I'm here now." "But I was just going out." "Perhaps Père Jacques is back." "What's this?" "A glaviole." "Trying for a finer nose?" "I'm sorry." "A face!" "If you like, yes." "Are you getting anywhere, Robert my boy?" "Nowhere." "I spent a whole hour on the nose." "Mathilde's nose is so fine." "Close your eyes and you'll see her nose." "Do you know where she is?" "No." "Let's eat!" "Joseph!" "I have a..." "That perfume..." "Where is Joseph?" "He's seeking something." "What was at the school?" "How did you know..." "You're his friend." "Tell him we've both suffered enough." "You missed your crêpe." "Be silent!" "Let's get some sleep." "Good night." "Over here!" "A periscope." "Look in here." "I've used one before." "I've brought you a crêpe." "Mathilde wanted you." "She won't let me touch the man." "She'd die if I fought my father." "She thinks he's stronger." "She fears for me, I fear for her." "And I don't know my father or my mother!" "Mother!" "Mother!" "My baby boy!" " He isn't dead." " Who isn't?" "You, my child." "You're not dead." "What happened?" " l don't know." " Nothing!" "Nothing serious." "Just a simple mistake." "Mr Darzac's gun went off by accident." "Madame took fright." "I was frightened too." "I ran up to see." "Mr Darzac let me in." "No one was hurt." "is Mr Darzac still in his room?" "Monsieur Sainclair, no one heard that shot." "There's no need to alarm people." "I'd like to ask a favour of you." "Go on, Robbie..." "Robert..." "Use me however you wish..." "Just try to persuade Rouletabille to go to bed." "If he does, my wife will calm down and get some rest too." "We all need a little peace and quiet." "Of course." "You're all very odd." "Mother, you know..." " l never stole that orange." " What orange?" "You thought I was dead?" "Why didn't you look for me a little harder?" "You believed what they said." "The headmaster and the police said the same thing." "What?" "That you died in the canal." "And my body?" "Carried off by the current." "That's an easy answer!" "It wasn't easy!" "My disappearance suited you in fact." "Don't talk rubbish!" " Did you look for me?" " Yes." "I looked everywhere for the lady in black." "But you left no trail." "No clues." "Why?" "Why didn't you tell me you were my mother?" "I couldn't!" "It was impossible!" "I couldn't do it." "I couldn't be your mother." "I couldn't be a mother." "But I thought of you every night." "Sometimes, my only joy was the brioche that I had in my pocket... like a warm little heart to give to you." "I promised not to see or hear what happens in the keep now." "My first promise to my mother." "But I must see and hear!" "Someone's dying in the tower." " Who?" " Someone they're hiding." "Why?" "Who?" "It's not Mr or Mme Darzac, or the Berniers." "Someone who can't be in the tower." "See anything?" "No, nothing." "I'm dying for a pee." " What?" " l'm dying for a pee." "Not now!" "What are you doing?" "You're disgusting!" "We must be brave." "He's still moving." "It's the end." "Mercy..." "The impossible corpse I swore not to talk!" "Talk to us or it will be out of my hands." "What will be?" "Your safety." "I've done nothing." "Was he in the keep?" "Hidden in your lodge?" "Me, helping Larsan?" "Don't name him." "You know Larsan is dead." "True." "We defend our masters without knowing the enemy." "Bernier, you're an honest man but negligent!" "Me?" "I was in the lodge." "I have the key, no one entered the apartment." "Except Mr Darzac and Mathil..." "Madame." "After our visit at six, did you lock the door?" "Yes, sir." "And then?" "I unlocked it to let the Darzacs in tonight." "I heard them bolt it." " Where were you?" " Near my lodge." "We dined in the corridor." "It was a bit awkward." "Go on." "No one passed by. I swear." "I swore to Mr Darzac on the corpse." " Where was it?" " ln his room." " Dead?" " Breathing." "I heard it." "So it wasn't a corpse!" "Almost." "Shot in the chest." " How did it happen?" " My dear chap..." " l'm not your dear chap." " Sorry." " You heard the shot?" " Yes." "My wife and I were there on alert." "They hit the walls..." "My wife asked, "What's going on?" "No idea," l said." "Then she said, "Me neither..."" "Go on." "So I go up... I knock..." "Madame cries, "Help!"" "They were fighting." "I recognize Larsan's voice saying..." "Saying?" " This time..." " This time?" "This time, I'll slay you!" "Slay you!" "I broke the door down!" "I'll slay you!" "No lights!" "He mustn't know!" "A sack, Bernier, a sack and a stone!" "I wanted a light." "Madame stopped me." "He was no longer groaning." "He's coming, I can hear him!" "So..." "So, I had an idea." "I thought..." "A sack, Bernier, a sack and a stone!" "I thought of the fish sack." "We put the body in it." "That's all I wanted to know." "Look, I'm as filthy as a pig!" "It's an honour to kill a man like Larsan!" "Sorry." "You got the handcart." "Yes." "But we were worried:" "the corpse sighed." "What a sigh!" "It went..." "Thank you." "Go and wash now." "Up you go." "Larsan is dead... I fear so." "Why do you fear that?" "Because Larsan's death, when he was neither dead nor alive, scares me more than his life!" "It scares me too." "Mathilde said nothing?" "Don't be so curious." "She just said..." "Nothing parts us now." "Nothing parts us now." "Darzac isn't back." "Perhaps Père Jacques is." "That way, I'll forget the circle that's strangling me, exhausting me." "What's strangling you?" "He still isn't back." "Look at the paint." "What's wrong with it?" "It's dry now." "is it blood?" "Larsan's blood?" "Who knows Larsan's blood?" "You'd have to slash my wrists for that." "No one takes my father's blood." "And you don't just kill my father!" "It would be too horrible..." "The lady in black must tell us everything." "Everything that happened in the sack." "You promised not to see anything." "I have to." "I have to." "We're free now." "To be sure, you must tell me everything." "Mother..." "As soon as we entered the room," "Robert locked the door." "There was just one tiny candle burning." "A creaking sound made us look up." "It came rom the wardrobe." "The wardrobe was moving." "The door swung open..." "The shadow had a face." "Was that shadow Larsan?" "You didn't see his face." "Maybe you didn't even kill his shadow!" " He's dead." " Who is?" "Bernier heard his voice." ""This time, I'll slay you!"" "They started fighting... I couldn't see Robert." "A gun went o." "Who was dead?" "Who was alive?" "Who would speak?" "Whose voice would I hear?" "And then... I heard Robert speak to me." "Your will has been done." "He's where you wanted." "But did you see his face?" "By opening that sack?" "Of course not." "You didn't?" "That's very good." "We mustn't close the circle." "You can help us." "Did you go out between 5 and 6 yesterday?" "I'll find a way to save us." "Aren't we already saved?" "To save our brains!" "Rouletabille is right." "We must find out how he got in." "A secret passage, I bet." " Did the yellow room have one?" " lt's different." "This room is more hermetic." "You can't get in before or after." "It's different." "The opposite, in fact." "There, we had a missing body." "Here, an extra body." "Père Jacques'?" "Luckily, he didn't use it." "And your gun?" "Larsan-Ballmeyer uses guns only when forced to." "He hates making a noise." "If he didn't shoot, he just wanted to scare you." "There's no sense in staying armed now." "You think so?" "Where's the corpse?" "I've forgotten." "So have I." "This awful night is over." "It's over." "We'll laugh about it soon." "Only when we know how he got in." "What does it matter?" "It's a mystery he has taken with him." "And now he's dead..." "He won't be until we know how he got in." "Of course, until we know that... he will be there, haunting our minds." "We must cast him out." "Let's eat!" "It's wonderful!" "I've just seen a seahorse swimming upside down, its brows knotted." "Magnificent!" "The attack may lie in silence but also in speech." "In a word... in a sigh... in a breath, in a gesture... I love how these plates sound." "A baby grouper sneezed." "So cute." "Crêpes!" "No, just joking!" "What a sense of humour..." "Come on, we have a lovely quiche." "Has anyone seen Old Bob?" " Rouletabille, a slice of quiche?" " No, thank you." "Quiche me, my love!" "No one was allowed out." "No, no one was allowed in." "Still, the doors can be opened now." "So Robert and Mathilde are no longer in danger." "That's right, since last night." "Something happened during the night?" "Last night, in the half-square tower..." "Call it a "keep", old chap." "Just relax." "Darzac shot and killed Larsan." "Never!" "Well done, Robert!" "Tell me, wouldn't it be wiser to send for the police?" "Mrs Edith, should we send for the police?" "I think we should have done that a while ago." "We'd have avoided hours on watch, sleepless nights acting like fools..." "None of it any use." "I ascertained the mysterious presence of a extra body and the no less mysterious absence of a missing body!" "What do you mean, a missing body?" "Père Jacques." "My Old Bob?" "What did he say?" "He says he found this sack in an inlet, with his handcart." "Where's my Old Bob?" "Where's my Old Bob?" "No idea, he's not in the sack now." "Who was in the sack?" "I dumped the sack with Larsan, now the sack comes back alone." "The whispers o the night" "A hypocritical night." "Everything seems to sleep yet nothing sleeps, no one sleeps." "The butcher of the seas!" "That perfume..." "Don't say I no longer love you." "I shall love you again, like I did before, I promise." "We must be happy." "We must." "We must." "That's Larsan!" "What are you doing?" "Joseph wanted some wood." "He feels a bit cold." "It's heavy. I'll lend you a hand." "Thank you." "We all suspect each other." "That's just like Larsan." "And that's just like Darzac." "I know!" "I have to pull his beard." "It's perfectly simple." "is that you, Sainclair?" "What do you want?" "I was chasing after a little mouse that..." "What are you doing?" "I'm going to bed." "Don't you sleep with Mme Darzac?" "I mean..." "Mathilde is with her father." "Bernier has put me here." "Never mind, I can't sleep anyway." "That hurt!" "Forgive me." "I have a confession to make." "Sometimes, I stupidly suspect you of not being you, of being in disguise..." "Go to bed now." "A little mouse!" "Thank you." "I'm an idiot." "I didn't invent elastic." "Monsieur Sainclair!" "Monsieur Sainclair, wake up!" "Monsieur Sainclair, wake up!" "It's important." "From Monsieur Rouletabille." ""l'm looking for the missing body and the extra body."" "The extra body?" "The extra body." ""Please get up and kindly go" ""to gather for my lunch" ""some of those excellent clams" ""that thrive on the beach." ""All the best, Rouletabille."" "What's wrong with him?" "Clams... Investigating, my dear Sainclair?" "Yes." "No, actually, I'm getting some clams." "Do you feel well?" "Yes. lt's a chance to get some air." "Will you come with me?" "There are no clams here!" "Really?" "No." "Why did he..." "Midday, the king o horror" "Seen my Old Bob yet?" "Isn't that it?" "Not this bob." "Old Bob vanishes occasionally but this... I hope those worriers the Darzacs haven't hurt him." "What a delightful spot!" "Listen!" "Listen to your ear." "It echoes like a seashell with mysterious sounds, more mysterious than those that rise from the land at dusk." "A puffin?" "Close your eyelids and look into your eyes." "You'll find a host of silvery visions there, more unsettling" "than the night's ghosts." "We loat, we alter..." "Old Bob!" "Stop playing with that submarine!" "We loat, we alter, we lirt... I can't hear." "Robbie of the Megalodon... I don't understand." "Stop playing with that submarine, Uncle Bob!" "You mustn't do it again!" "Edith, please, let me do my job in peace." "I can't hear." "His pulse is weak." "A good catch?" "We fished out Père Jacques." "You knew we'd find him." "Certainly not!" "I'd never have left him there, you idiot!" "Watch it... I'll ask just one thing of you." "Whatever happens, don't speak to me or to Darzac." "You don't want me to..." "Let's go and greet Prince Galitch." "How are you, professor?" "Feodor is here to see us." "There's a hint of suspense in the air, don't you think?" "No!" "Don't touch him!" "Larsan!" "Stand back." "Please, Robert!" "The flute pierced his lung..." "My prince is dead!" " He's dead?" " He's dead!" "Enough, you two!" "He was alone here." "You mean you and Feodor were..." "Slut!" "Bernier, belt up!" "Robert, what a way to talk!" "Was that the lunch gong?" "It doesn't make sense!" "There's an extra corpse?" "He accused Larsan." "In whose body?" "What proves that Larsan is among us?" "Everything that can be proved is a little vulgar." "Where's Mathilde?" "Up there." "Bodily demonstration... o the possibility o an "extra body"" " Don't let anyone out." " l know." "Are you thirsty?" "Anyone for pear brandy?" "This room contains everyone for whom the demonstration of the possibility of an extra body may be interesting." "What do you mean?" "I mean those among whom Larsan can be found." "Frédéric..." "Larsan is among us?" "I'm sure of it." "It won't surprise you since you have always thought so." "Did you paint this portrait?" "Yes." "I tried to... ls this rounded nose your work?" "Yes." "But her nose isn't easy to..." "All right." "I have discovered that this red paint dries in 15 minutes." "Therefore!" "Why wasn't the paint dry when we were there with Darzac?" "Even though Darzac had been in his room for an hour." "There's one explanation, just one!" "Another Darzac painted this portrait one hour after the first Darzac entered the keep." "My reasoning clearly tells me we are dealing with two Darzacs!" "Another Darzac had painted that portrait..." "His taste is just as poor." "So that's how he entered the keep." "In disguise." "Bernier let him in and he hid in the wardrobe." "Bernier didn't see you the second time." "He was watching the submarine." "And Madame Bernier was stuffing her grouper." "To think I was locked in this room alone, with that thug hiding here..." "He could have killed me without a fight." "And why didn't he?" "He was waiting for someone." "You see, Mr Darzac, we're dealing with two Darzacs." "To ascertain which one was Larsan in disguise, I needed to examine the two of them in turn." "I started with you, Mr Darzac." "If you no longer suspect me, tell me who Larsan is." "I demand it!" "We all want to know!" "lmmediately!" "You as Darzac... lf you were Larsan, Mathilde would have realized." "Obvious, isn't it?" "In observing your new wife's attitude, I became convinced she suspected you of being Larsan." "Could you think such a thing, Mathilde?" "Yes..." "Of course not." "Her eyes were saying:" ""Can I really see Larsan everywhere," ""even in the man who meets me at the altar" ""to carry me off with him?"" "You seemed so solemn, I thought you had discovered that Mathilde, deep down, in looking at you and in talking, saw you as Larsan." "The idea that she sensed that didn't clear my doubts since she sensed it!" "Calm down, Robert." "As I said, I'll explore in full the idea that you, as Darzac, were hiding Larsan." "You, on the boat with Tullio." "You, on the beach as Darzac." "What can prove me innocent now?" "." "A certainty." "Some absolute proof." "You entered your room at five o'clock." "And we told you that!" "Did you go out between 5 and 6 yesterday?" "No." "The real Darzac would have said, "Sorry!" ""l didn't come in at 5, but at 6."" "Your silence lied to us." "Only Larsan wanted to hide the second Darzac." "Of the two Darzacs, the false one was lying." "You were Larsan!" "Darzac was in the wardrobe!" "You're lying!" "He still is!" "You're lying!" "I'll be back." "He'll get away!" "Flop." "Flop." "Stand back!" "Flop." "Not enough powder." "I'll stuff this damn gun full now!" "Flop." "Bloody hell!" "Forget that." "Get behind me." "It's stupid, I had the key." "Where has he gone?" "Can anyone see him?" "My father..." "He's dead!" "Go away!" "Leave me alone!" "It stings a bit." "Let's eat!" "How about some peach brandy?" "Yes." "We'll have a little drink." "To buck us up." "The bullet hit the sternum." "External haemorrhage, no vital organs hit..." "You were lucky." "Robert, how did you reappear in the wardrobe?" "Rouletabille put me there, after we left the island." "What island?" "Galitch's island." "We went there." "They were holding Robbie." "I knew that island was fishy." "Why were you there, Bob?" "I was helping Mr Sainclair to follow Galitch." "He wanted a taste of the sprites." "The sprites?" "You know, the nurses at the clinic." "You went to see the girls in white?" "That's where you were?" "My darling little sprites..." "They made me wear an iron mask to go out." "Brignolles was cruel." "Brignolles?" "My guard, Larsan's henchman, a sadist." "He showed me the news of my wedding in the paper." "No, Mr Darzac!" "Listen only to my voice." "Listen only to my voice." "On one of my walks, I saw the Megalodon, the submarine, and Père Jacques." "I ran towards it." "I got away by holding onto the cell." "In the workshop, I smashed the mask." "I took Père Jacques' gun." "And, on leaving, I saw myself." "I had a simple plan:" "enter the room, show myself to him and unmask him in front of Mathilde." "When Mr Darzac enters his room, it is empty." "And that's the truth." "Right now, it is exactly..." "Five o'clock." "And you Uncle Bob?" "I wanted to go back to see the little mermaids." "That's enough, Old Bob!" "Come back in!" "It's getting dark!" "is he still down?" "Get back to the tower door!" "Please!" "Honestly!" "He's kind but didn't invent the toboggan." "I found some clean clothes, I hid and I waited." "This time, I'll slay you!" "He shot me and I fainted." "I woke up in the sack." "He started moving..." "He scared the pants off me!" "He's still moving." "It's the end." "When I woke again, I was wearing the mask back in that cellar, tied up, with my wound hurting horribly." "Père Jacques was singing, unaware I was there." "He's not the one who commands..." "Wonderful nurses." "I pretended to be young to get their attention." "Shame on you!" "My poor Robert." "Did Joseph save you that time?" "I'm swit in my demands I'm not the one who commands... I'm not the one who com... I'm not the one who com... I'm not the one who commands..." "He's not the one who com..." "He's not the one who com..." "He's not the one who commands..." "Lovely, a tender man at last" "Sweet, behind all the bombast" "An innocent, picked rom the crop" "Whom nothing and no one can stop" "Whom nothing and no one can stop" "That's good..." "Ballmeyer?" "Larsan?" "All right." "Sorry." "Father?" "Arthur Rance?" "In the next cell, beneath my mask, I was trying to understand." "It was Brignolles." "Where's Robert Darzac?" "I warned Rouletabille that Galitch was a hypnotist." "To rejuvenate you, he could put you to sleep with a few notes." "We loat, we alter, we lirt..." "We cuddle, we caress, we concert..." "And we expect the worst..." "Bandages!" "Père Jacques, watch Galitch." "Let no one get away to go to the fort!" "Hurry!" "We returned to the fort on Galitch's boat." "And then?" "Rouletabille put me in another room." "All right!" "I saw the real Darzac." "His beard..." "Your beard was firmly attached." "I was very worried." "If you had mentioned that encounter to the other Darzac, thinking he was the real one, all was lost!" "Why didn't you tell me?" "Rouletabille told me that you are impulsive." "The sight of a criminal justifiably enrages you and it could have harmed our plan." "Really?" "Joseph said that?" "So he sent you for clams." "Being with Edith, you wouldn't talk to Darzac-Larsan." "I understand." "He got me out of the way." "But who killed Galitch here at the fort?" "And why?" "I know who killed Galitch on Galitch's island." "We loat, we alter, we lirt..." "We cuddle, we caress, we concert..." "And we expect the worst..." "My eyes." "Listen only to my eyes." "My eyes." "My eyes." "Listen only to my eyes." "I's outta here!" "My sprite got revenge by slaying the tyrant with humanity's oldest flute." "I followed Galitch." "Tyrant!" "Open up!" "You little bastard!" "A puffin?" "Larsan!" "Don't touch him!" "Stand back." "Let me see to it, Robert!" "The flute pierced his lung." "He was Ballmeyer's accomplice." "Spiritualism led him to hypnosis." "And hypnosis to sleep cures in his clinic." " He was..." " So handsome!" "Handsome... but he didn't invent feathers." "That'll do, professor!" "I missed everything." "I saw nothing." "So much has happened!" "There you go." "It was a seabed." "An orange gorgonian." "Yes, if you like." "When I swam with a diving mask, I'd spend hours watching the sun's rays lighting up all the shells, the seaweed swaying in the current, the fish..." "It was... lt was beautiful." "That looks like a woman." "A woman?" "Fancy!" "Yes, you're right. lf you step back." "How amusing." "Quite involuntary." "A woman... I know what you're going to say." "Good, because I wouldn't have dared..." "You too think Mathilde knew she was marrying Larsan." "You can't fool a woman." "How long had she known?" "I don't know." "From the beginning." "What beginning?" " The confessional!" " Of course." "The real Darzac goes to confess..." "Right now!" "Hello, Mr Darzac." "Goodbye, Mr Darzac." "I can guess the rest." "The priest explains things." "Larsan will kill Darzac if she doesn't play along." "That's what Rouletabille thinks." "But he hasn't told us everything." "Or it's what he wants to believe and ignores logic." "I think Mathilde understood differently." "How?" "." "With the kiss." "With the kiss!" "She said nothing." "She just kept kissing him." "But in that case... she became his accomplice." "His lover." "It's perfect." "She marries to keep everyone happy and lives with her perpetual lover." "By the way, would you become my wife?" "What about my husband?" "That's right." "Honestly..." "Sorry, it's absurd." "It's not totally absurd." "Really?" "But..." "Patience, my sweet Sainclair." "A lot of patience." "Sublime patience." "Sublime..." "For how long?" "Subtitles:" "Ian Burley" "Subtitling TVS" " TlTRA film Paris"