" Don't you recognize me?" " No." " It'll come back." " Yes." "Ten years without seeing each other, it's too long, we shouldn't have." "True." "I should have sent you some pictures, but we don't think about it, you know that." "You're covered with gold." "You have no idea how much." "No." "You don't know." "Marcelle lives with me, I wrote you that." " Hello Madam." " Hello Miss." "I recognized you." "Really?" "Jacques has pictures of you, so..." " Did you have a nice journey, Madam?" " Yes, very nice, thank you." "It always makes me happy when I come back here." "We bought this apartment, my husband and I, for holidays in France, with the children." "It's funny, it seems so small." "Yet it's very large, it's very large here." "Of course, I'm used to huge spaces." "Large gardens, acres around." "Houses too big." "As your ideas, your projects." "Oh, he told you so." "Yes." "Come and see your room." " Didn't you sleep on the plane?" " No." "No, I was afraid, afraid to see you again." "Me too." "As if I was dead from seeing her again." "I eat, what do they want, I dream, I'm used to eating." "Huge amounts of food." "Can you hear?" "She doesn't sleep." "Getting like that, with that sort of..." "One must have patience and courage." "But I'm hungry, I must eat something." "Finally, one must be patient." "What was your childhood like?" "Happy, I think." "Your father?" "Nothing." "He liked only us." "There's nothing to eat." "Ham, salad, that's it." "It's going to be fine." "It's unbelievable." "Then all that is..." "I'm hungry..." " Have you slept, Madam?" " I tried, but I couldn't." "What time is it?" "2:20." " Maybe you're hungry?" " Oh yes, I'm always hungry." "By day, by night, always." "And today..." "What do you have?" "We thought, after being shaken on the plane, some ham and salad..." "Sadness, ham-salad." "No way, I must eat, do you understand because I don't assimilate well." "So I must swallow huge amounts of food." "To make up for it." " Didn't he tell you that?" " Yes, yes." "We don't have any money." "What do I take?" "What you'll find, ready-made things." "Anything." "But a lot." "I'm going." "Were you there." "I recognized your step." "Now I recognize you perfectly." " Me too, what bliss!" " Oh yes!" "I'm hungry." "Me too, I'm always hungry." "As at 20?" "Yes, as at 20, when I eat that's luck." "What a son!" "Last week we held on with tonic samples." "What a son!" "Be kind!" " I wanted to tell you..." " No!" "Don't imagine anything!" "I haven't changed." "Always the same, then?" "Always." "We can't help it." "Neither you nor me." "Nothing." "She's slow coming back." "I also wanted to tell you," "I can't live alone, but that's all." "That's all, do you understand?" "I understand, yes." "I used to get all those I wanted, but now it's a little harder." "Already?" "Already." "What I'd like, is a good sauerkraut, cooked in white wine well macerated, hot." "She knows you love sauerkraut." "And it's quickly made." "A drop of white wine, warm it up on a low heat." "You know how good it is." "So good." " Nothing better?" " Nothing." "I should have brought them one of those big pâtés like Mimi makes." "We throw some away every week." "When you think about it, so sad." "War." "War everywhere." "Again, all the time." "What a bore." " And she still sings!" " Yes." "So, Madam, that's it, you've seen your son again?" "Yes, yes, that's it." "It's soon done, a minute and that's it." "Unbelievable!" " You like sauerkraut, don't you?" " That's true." "I have to say that this sauerkraut," "I've been thinking about it for a month." "And even sometimes" "I saw the sauerkraut and then I bit my son." "Besides sauerkraut, why did you come back?" "Maybe to buy a bed?" "Mine is broken so..." "My boy, give me that chop." "Give her the eye of the cutlet, it's tender." "No no, the bone too, my child." "I like to nibble bones." " This bed, how will you send it?" " By boat." " Are there still some?" " Yes." " Will it take long?" " 6 months." "Waow!" "When it arrives, you'll be dead and buried." "Right." "A good trick to play on Mimi." " How you can put it away!" " I always have." " Even in misery, so..." " That's true." " Now..." " Now?" "Now that you're rich, right?" "Very, I'm very rich." "There I have a factory." "80 workers." "Mimi runs it, I check it." " Mimi is your daughter, right?" " Yes, yes..." "I've drunk a lot?" "I can't take it." "Me too." "What do you make in that factory?" "Concrete beams for the civil engineering of this booming country." "For some reasons that I don't get, every year the factory expands." "Just like that." " It grows like a mushroom." " Yes." "If we really think about it, this country isn't quite a colony anymore." "But that's a matter of perspective?" "Funny, I thought there were no colonies any more, that it was over." "You know, between being and not being, there's some space." "When something is over, before another one starts, it's a mess." "That's where we are." "Mess is alright." "True." "You know, Madam, you overeat, you'll burst." "No way!" "I swallow giant rations, but what do I keep?" "100 grams." "That's it." "To ensure breathing a little heat." "Though a body is a funny thing." "Interesting, it knows what it wants." "If it doesn't want to eat, it doesn't." " I think I've had enough." " ?" "All this junk is so heavy." "Indeed." "I haven't dared leave them there, with those men around the house, all day long, so I haven't dared." "Is gold the only thing that leaves that country?" "Yes, gold, and the dead." "I thought there would be a small dessert." "There." "Let's put it on the mantelpiece." " Do you want to count them?" " You never know really." "Never." "So let's forget about it, it's better." "Yes." "Just a tiny slice to taste it." "Oh Madam, your bracelets, it's funny, you look like you're naked." "How disgusting, cake too." " Do you have the time from there?" " Yes." "The time of the factory." "In an hour, the men leave." "Come on, have a drink." "I haven't had time to get used to money." "It arrived when I was already old, so..." "I wasn't expecting it anymore." "Every day it enters the house and Mimi and I store it." "We hide it in the safe." "Let me tell you, one night, they'll bump you off, for sure." "We've been expecting it for so long, Miss." "It's quite abnormal they haven't done so already." "Talk to me a little." "We have a small room in the Champs Elysées, and then" "I make lampshades too." "At night we work in a nightclub." "A nice little nightclub." "They feed us, 3 drinks, cigarettes." "And it's not tiring at all." "How are you fed?" "Meat?" "Yes." "And at noon?" "At noon we sleep." "That's why you're as pale as turnips, the both of you." "Well..." "We only see the sun when you're here." "And if I got it right, you've had insufficient education." "None." "One shouldn't regret." "Dumb like me, I've never seen the like." "But he wasn't so stupid." "Of course not." "He was different." "That's it." "So what's needed?" "To find a job like my son's?" "Being handsome and smart." "That's all." "He could have done so many things." "So many." "How could he have preferred one?" "Ocean navigation, railways, he loved them." "So of course, you thought of Polytechnic." "Course." "What mother wouldn't have thought so?" "At 15, over." "He no longer wanted to hear about anything." "What happened?" "I should have made him cry." "Lock him up." "In jail, in a prison." "Even so..." "As we can't simply let... time go by," "as you know, I gamble." "Obviously, in the early hours, winter, as you wait the first tube train, you think perhaps that can't last forever." "If I've got it right in the evening I'll be alone here waiting for you." "No, we thought about that." "You could come with us." "It would be nice." "This bed, what do you say?" "Shall we go buy it?" "It's early." "Hardly half past 4." "The weather's nice." "Why not?" "Have you understood?" "Gold, gold to win." "Locked gold." "Locked, yes, but with you it's different." "When you feel money coming." "When profits increase day by day." "It's so interesting that spending it becomes secondary, superfluous, we forget about it." "You've become frightening." "When I was poor, I was already that woman, but I didn't know it." "We are all the same, money people." "As soon as you get some." "No initiative, no work." "It works by itself." "You check, that's all." "It looks like nothing, but after some time, you can't get rid of it, you check everything, all day long." "Then life makes sense." "What if I didn't like money?" "I thought so, you know." "You know so well how to take it." "To take it, yes." "You check." "You realize nothing can be done without you." "I'll give you the factory." "All." "I came here to tell you that." "I'll give you everything." "No." "I'm not ashamed." "I bankrupted my mother 10 years ago and she's forgotten about it." "Idiot." "This fortune there." "She calls for bankrupting just as well, finally someone who knows about it, who would match this bullshit, if it doesn't interest you." " And how to spend it?" " There are always ways." " Baccarat perhaps?" " Of course." "They'll come to it sooner or later." "No." "Look, I'm begging you." "Two days to sell this trash." "Just come to steal them." "Then the three of us would flee, they trust Mimi." "But you're crazy!" "Nothing is to be taken from this plant." "It belongs to this country." "As the Earth itself." "One can blow up the Earth." "Come mom, I'll take your coat." "What are we like?" "It's true." "We don't match." "Funny," "I don't want the bed anymore." "Come mom, there are sales at the Galleries." "Even so, I don't want the bed anymore." "Look at me, to buy a bed?" "It's nobody's fault if you're a hundred years old." "At times it's you again." "It's difficult but you can do it." "There is always something left from childhood." "Always." "Come to please me." "I can't." "So go out for nothing, just for a walk." "I can't even do that anymore." "Going out for nothing, kills me." "And when the weather is nice, it's worse." "Madam, what do you want to do?" "I don't know." "Come on!" "Let's play cards." "You and me." "Here, sit down." "We'll play." "Madam, there is a lot to do at your son's." "Late repairs, you can't imagine." "If you like it, we could do some tomorrow." "You see, Miss," "I must be busy, I mustn't think at all, or else..." "I'm afraid." "I understand that." "And if we have some time left at the end of the afternoon we could, why not, go out a bit, couldn't we?" "Why not?" "He won't see again the trees in the park." "What a pity." "Are they beautiful?" "Yes." "Who knows?" "All that time until dinner, we'll have to fill it," "all that time left." "What will become of us?" "But Madam, we'll find something to do." "The other day in town, I passed in front of the big cafe, and who did I see?" "My Mimi sitting with men from the town hall." "The wedding will take place in two months." "Now you know everything." "Do you know what I think?" "When I'll feel my time has come," "I'll buy dynamite, hide it from Mimi and then I'll blow up the factory, and I'll blow up with the factory shouting, Vive la France!" "Well, no, I mean shouting your name." "Yours of course, yours." "I've just had enough walking." "I've simply forgotten" "I could buy a bed over there." "How stupid, I've become unfriendly." " Are you alright?" " Yes I am." "Mr. Dede, my mother." " Hello Sir." " Pleased to meet you, Lady." "I've heard a lot about Jacques' mother." "Will you have something?" " Some champagne perhaps." " Yes." " Do you like champagne?" " Oh yes I like it." "I'll get dressed, I'll be back in ten minutes." "Jacquot often speaks of his mother." "Well I'm not deaf, don't talk so loud." "Yes, I'm rich, Sir." "For those who speak about me, I became very very rich, but rich when you're supposed to die." " Did you have a nice journey, Madam?" " Yes, very good, thank you, Sir." " A long one?" " 18 hours." "Excuse me, I'd like to ask you something, Sir, because I haven't seen my son for 10 years, then, if someone is surprised to see me here, just let me know." "But Madam, your presence honours me." "You'd say that you don't know who I am, I've just entered." "It's not your fault." "But Madam..." "Never mind, say whatever you want, Sir." "To be honest," "I was happy to enter such a place." "I've never had the opportunity." "Nobody in this house could possibly make any remarks." "What about the age limit, Sir." "You're kidding." "Yes, I would still ask you something, Sir." "I'm wondering if I can still interfere with my son's business?" "Jacques has only been here for 15 days, Madam." "Well, thank you, Sir." "You know, I haven't quite understood what he told me." "Your son's job here doesn't have a name, Madam." "Everything and nothing at once." "Thank you, Sir." "He welcomes clients, he dances." "He is here." "That's the main thing, he is here, do you understand?" "A trade, in fact." "Not everyone could do it." "You're right, tact, judgement, elegance, some handsomeness." "Wit." "Have you been in France for long, Madam?" "Oh, this morning." "Madam, you must be tired." "Admirable." "Stopovers?" "Rome." "Oh yes, I think Rome." "Admirable." "What beautiful jewellery you have, Madam." " So much." " Oh yes, I'm very rich." "My son and I are very rich, in these colonies." "I know, Madam, I know." "Who is she?" "She's my mother." "She came to see me from the colonies." "To see me." "Here, sit down, my girl." "Tell me a little bit about yourself." "Well, I..." "Oh, you're nice, my girl." "That's true that I'm nice, but..." "But what?" "I'm very stupid." "Really?" "Really, you didn't notice, but" "I'm very very stupid." "Well, well." "I've never met someone who doesn't think so." "Yes, you've come from the Child Welfare?" "Yes." "How did it happen?" "It was in winter, Republic Square," "I was 6 months old and they found me half frozen." "Then?" "They dropped me at the Child Welfare." "And I stayed there until I was 13." "13?" "I'd like to tell you another story, but I only know this one, so..." "At 13 they put me in a sewing workshop." "That was boring;" "I learned nothing, all wrong." "So after a year..." "This one is on Mr. Dede." "What were you saying?" "Leave her, she must finish it." "So, darling?" "As I was so dumb at sewing, they sent me to peasants in Auvergnes." "I kept the cows." "I learned nothing but I was fine." "Good food, outdoor living and everything, then... the farmer's wife didn't beat me." "But one day who knows what went on in my mind, I stole five francs." "I remember as if it was yesterday, because it was Christmas Eve." "Hey dear, I'll eat my melba." "It's melting, a real disaster." "But I'd rather die than go back to the Child Welfare." "Although it wasn't worse than anywhere else." "But the thing is that as we were locked up, we couldn't know that..." "So, after?" " After?" " Yes." "One night I ran away on the road and then I reached a cave." "It was on the road to Clermont." "I remember as if it was yesterday, because it was Christmas Eve." "That's it." "So what about that cave?" "Nothing special, it was that one, not another." "Inside there was a big Berliet, which was parked." "Well, a big Berliet." "Yes, but after the big Berliet?" "Oh that's all." "Oh no it's not finished." "Then I waited for 2 days and 2 nights in that cave fearing the police, believe me." "Nothing to eat." "I could drink because there was a small spring by chance." "After two days the truck driver arrived, then it's over." "But the truck driver, what was he like?" "My life began." "But what do you mean?" "Nothing special." "Usually these things are vague, don't you think?" "Yes." "That's damned good." "You know," "I'm sure I'd have done just like you." "All we do when we're hungry, I can understand." "Sorry." "She's nice." "I hadn't understood, this morning." "It doesn't matter." "Yes it does." "I left her, she's come back." "I wanted a nice, beautiful, smart one," "I haven't found her." "Oh, the poor little thing." "She had just started her melba." "Don't worry!" "You're evil." "Yes." "Remember." "It makes me happy when I see people eating, when they're hungry." "It doesn't mean anything." "Simply that one's had children, perhaps." "Excuse me." "Did I see the children then?" "Maybe when they ate their chocolate." "Perhaps it wasn't chocolate by the way." "A slice of bread, jam too." " Come here." " Oh." " Yes." " Oh no." "Come here." "I wanted to say," "I only want to do good to you." "What good?" "I want you immortal, only you." "Immortal for nothing." "Alas." "You're the only one I love." "I know." "And waltzes are still so nice, eh?" "You'll never return there?" "Never." "I can't stand it." "Oh, then I become wicked, unjust." "I know." "With everyone." "These men, there, in my factory..." "Oh, I hate them." "You understand, what there is out there, the work." "While you..." "That's stupid." "You know I'm your son just like that, for nothing, to laugh, you know it." "I know." "I wished everything would be given to you." "The work also, the taste for work too, at the same time that taste for doing nothing." "Yes, I'm contradictory, but still I understand myself." "I don't know what I want, but I want it." "Oh, I have nothing left, no more morality, no more heart." "No more sleep, no more hair, nothing." "Even my name, no one ever says it." "I have only you." "Here, drink it up!" "Drink it up!" "I want to tell you something." "I don't cry over nothing anymore." "That's good." "Sometimes I remember, in summer we used to sleep anywhere in the house." "The shade of blinds." "Yes, green." "When I got up, I found you crying, sitting on the floor in the hallway." "You cried softly not to wake us up." "Why were you crying?" "Your father, money." "Or the fear that you'd be mean." "Yes, when you'd have grown up." "I thought about that." "Dishonest too." "I wouldn't wake you up, you didn't want to go to school and I didn't wake you up, then I cried." "Oh no, not again, mom." "Yes, yes, and that way all the children of the world would sleep if not woken." "And the world would go to pieces, but I didn't wake you." "Stop it, will you!" "Oh, you were blond, to lose one's head." "And I wept because you were mortals." "I've stopped." "You asked me why I was crying, I'm telling you." "I was crying because I didn't wake you up, what." "I didn't wake you up, so I cried, because I didn't wake you up." "It happens, out of 5 children one keeps the ideal one." "It's a tragedy." "It's me, can you hear me," "It's me who once awakened, was climbing in the trees." "You thought I was at school." "I pretended you were at school, but I saw you, then..." "Drink up your champagne." "One should twiddle one's thumbs throughout one's whole life." "While twiddling one's thumbs all the time is boring." "To work, not to work..." "Look at me, do I look like I'm unhappy?" "No, you look like..." "I don't know... go, go dancing." "Everything is my fault, do you hear me?" "I don't care." "Others waste their time like me." "You know, just like me." "And Mimi, if you want my advice, let her if she wants to lose it like that." "Sure they waste their time, but the others, those who work," "I don't know why, but they get vanity, pride from it, these are feelings, everyone says the opposite, but it's wrong." "These are feelings that bring joy, painful sometimes, but strong." "Sometimes very strong." "And you, you will never know them." "Go, dance." "You know that." "Really, unlikely, you have 5 children and then..." "Ridiculous, ridiculous." "I don't know what to do." "So..." "Marcelle!" "You can't just stay like that doing nothing." "At what time is there a plane, I don't know." "Where were you?" "After dancing, I went for some fresh air." "It feels good after all these famous meals." "Look!" "Look at my son how he dances!" "Oh, for that..." "He would have done just as well with everything else." "If he had wanted to work." "He would have been the king of work." "Madam," "I love your son." "I don't know why I love him, I can't explain it." "He'll never love me." "He'll never love anyone." "Who is she?" "She's my mother." "It started like that." " Not going to school." " Never?" "No, never." "But if he would have, you wouldn't have been happy, Madam." "Yes, maybe." "If at least he kept me at home," "I don't ask anything else." " He doesn't want to keep you?" " No, he doesn't want." "Every morning he kicks me out." "So, let's drink champagne, help me to do it, darling." "But you," "I can see through you, but no way." "I'll never tell you to come home, never, I'm too discouraged." " Madam..." " No." "3 years ago I would have said, come, since you don't know where to go." "I have so many spare rooms, come, come, since my daughter gets married to that filthy mayor," "I would have said, come, but not now..." "Madam, calm down!" "It's not possible, it's over, that's all." "Madam, I wanted to tell you," "I wanted to tell you something," "I've been trying since this morning but I can't, it's," "even if you are a great lady and then me..." "I'm a little bit a whore... we're both the same." "If only there were only birds." "That was all that mattered to play, to play, whole days in the trees." "No never." "I'll never tell you to come home, no way." "Even at point of death, at the heart of loneliness." "Say, I was a teacher, then I say what I think." "I'll never tell you to come home, never more, that's it." "Yes Madam, but you keep repeating the same things, we could talk about something else, don't you think so?" "Well, if I like repeating all the time the same things... it's true, repeating the same things I want, unbelievable!" "I'm here as a matter of form because I agreed to come and see my son before dying, that's all." "Nothing more, no more duty, and the world can collapse!" "I won't make a move, they can take that rotten factory, I give it to them." "I'll give it all." "They'll have the factory." "But what, my last days, never," "I need to be alone more than ever." "Even more sad, I don't know why," "I need to understand, to think, that whole comedy, my life that's lasted... over 77 years, enough!" "Pointless, completely." "I'm not dead yet, eh?" "Well let's think, perfectly." "Absolutely." "Let's forget about the past." "Worked for 3 generations;" "it's true, 12000 kms to see this, and then not the right to drink champagne!" "Whole days in the trees." "We found you bird-nesting, what mattered to you, blackbirds, birds, those bastards." "You've been talking about birds for 100 years, forget about it." "We called you, Jacquot, Jacquot!" "You didn't answer." "It's useless to regret, you said it yourself." "I started to beat you." " Do you remember that?" " Yes indeed." "At 15 you were still beating me, you laughed." "If I could still beat you to a pulp." "Oh my God, look, you see, at night sometimes, I dream about it." "That would be good to beat you." "What?" "Oh, but she left her melba." "Everything's getting lost, what a misfortune!" "I liked it, the others at school and, you in the trees." "The others have been very successful." "One out of four, there's nothing to complain of, my brothers are very good." "Easy characters." "You can't understand." "True, you're like I never finished you." "Then the others... so... completed." "Completed." "To vomit." "What was I saying?" "So, so I thought, this one who is always playing, I'll make a trader of him," "no need for studies, and I like it, trading." "You didn't like it, did you?" "Oh, why not." "A nice little restaurant, why not." "A nice little casual restaurant, steady prices, 2-3 courses, no menu, limited but exquisite..." "Ah, I knew it!" "I knew it." "But you didn't speak at all, nothing..." "I should have guessed, of course." "But no, not 3 courses." "Two would have been enough." "But quality, huh." "True, a fortune in 10 years." "He asked me..." "What would he think about that, wouldn't he like that now?" "Yes then the menu is a mistake." "No, people don't have so much diversity in their taste." "They have prejudices, as usual." "A good sauerkraut." "True, everybody likes sauerkraut." "It's good." "Madam..." "Ah, there you are." "You come, you go, what a bore!" "Sorry." "We're leaving." "If you want it, we can eat something when we get home." "How do you mean, we're leaving, we've just arrived?" "Jacques decided so." "I like this place, I really like it." "Madam, aren't you rather tired?" "I must have displeased my son, you see." "I must have said something that infuriated him, oh I know him." "Oh well, we could as well go to bed." "True, a good night's sleep, and that's better." "Call the bartender and I'll pay for the champagne." " Dede, Mr. Dede!" " Yes." "For once I like a place." "What else could have I done?" "I hope we'll have the pleasure to see you before you leave, dear Madam." "I don't think so." " And why not?" " Just because." "200 francs please, dear Madam." "What?" "It's the price everywhere Madam I'm used to it." "I don't care, I won't pay 20,000 francs for 2 bottles of champagne, no way." " What again?" " She thinks it's too expensive." "Dear Madam, I understand your surprise, such a long time, you haven't had the opportunity..." "Let me handle it." "It's the price, Mom." "You can ask, it's the price everywhere." "Marcelle can confirm it." "I don't care, I can't." "As you wish, if you don't want to pay, don't." "That's it." " So?" " Nothing, I don't care." "Madam, since everyone tells you..." "It hurts me so much to pay such a price." "An incredible pain." "Excuse me, I'm not used to it." "Please, dear Madam." "It's understandable at your age." "After all these years far from the capital..." "Hypocrite Mr. Dede." "I wouldn't have believed that." "It's almost as expensive as a mattress." "Come Mom, I'm exhausted, come." "You can't stand me anymore, can you?" "Yes, mom, yes." "Oh, I understand." "If I could leave myself... what a relief." "Go back home with Marcelle, I'll go back later." "I'll be there in half an hour." "Where is he going?" "Do you see that door there?" "It's the baccarat room." "For your son, madam, that's his garden." "There he becomes young, handsome, friendly again." "Here." "She's sleeping." "Did she wait for me?" "Hardly." "She ate." "She spoke of a restaurant she wanted to give you." "She talked and talked..." " I wish she was dead." " Shut up." "Dead here right now." "Shut up, Jacques I beg you, come." "What else did she say?" "Jacques, let's go and sleep, come." "Oh, I understand." "When?" "Tomorrow." "What time is the plane?" "12:10 pm tomorrow." "She said she can't do otherwise." "I believe her." "She went round like a beast, then she made up her mind." "Afterwards she spoke of other things." "She ate like a horse." "She fell asleep while eating, so I laid her down." "May she die, may she go to hell!" "Tomorrow." "Tomorrow, come, Jacques come!" "And you leave tomorrow too." "Don't think about it any more, come here." "I've lost." "I've played badly." "I wasn't able to save myself." "Tomorrow." "Jacques, come to bed." "She came out of her room, and put all that down." "Jacques, I'm begging you, come to bed, eh?" "What will I tell her if she wakes and can't find anything?" "She won't ask anything." "She brought all that for me." "Give me back what you took." "You'll go back there, Jacques." "You'll lose everything." "Tomorrow, the same old song." "Nothing to eat." "I'm unhappy." "I know." "I love you, Jacques." "Stay." "Stay this last night," "You won't see her again, it's the last time." "I told her otherwise, but it's true, she's been a bad mother." "She knows it." "We know it, both of us." "A scoundrel mother." "I've been her evil deed." "Don't do it, Jacques, don't go!" "I'll win, stupid!" "Comedian!" "Liar, but it's terrible." "What a coward, my God, it's true." "Even she doesn't know how much." " I'll win." " Impossible." "Were you born there?" "Yes." "In that house?" "Yes." "Do you think she imagines things about the plant, or is it the truth?" "Why do you ask that?" "I get information." "The factory was nationalized, Mimi is the trustee." "It was that or going back home." "Mimi tells her stories, but she knows everything." "She knows everything about everything." "She left everything there because she knew I would take it." "To please me, do you hear me?" "And also to make sure there is no more hope." "Tomorrow I'll leave, you'll stay alone." "You won't have to repeat it to me." "As you wish." "What's come over you?" "A change now." "I don't know, I feel giddy." "That's all." "Disgusted, the cute one." "Yes." "All the children of the world would do as me tonight, if she had brought them up like she did." "That's true." "You were the child... she wanted... you to be." " Did you talk?" " No." "Ha, I thought not." "Oh, that bed!" "Here I'm awoken again, not knowing where I am." "Madam..." "And where is my son?" "He came and left." "But don't worry, Madam, he'll come back." "How long the nights are at my age." " What time is it?" " I don't know." "2 o'clock." "Madam," "Madam, you should go back to bed, try to sleep." "I'll try, but you see, at some point in the night, sleep leaves me completely, as completely as if I should never sleep again." "Like your son, Madam." " My son?" " Your son." "Did he win, my son?" "No, Madam." "Doesn't he win sometimes, this child?" "Yes, Madame, and then he's the happiest one on Earth." "Often?" "Not really." "He's often jinxed, poor Jacquot." "It's not fair." "That's true." "He left to play?" "Yes." "It's so long to subtract each day small amounts from Mimi's till." " Madam, you are sad, Madam?" " Oh no." "But he'll come home, Madam, don't worry." "Then we'll drive you to the airport around 10:30." "At that time there's a traffic jam, so we'll call a taxi by phone." "But he'll come back, madam, don't worry." "One thinks he'll never come back, but he always does." "That's true." "Oh come, don't cry it's useless, it doesn't even do the good it's supposed to." "Excuse me, Madam." "Who else throws away money like that, as if there was in excess." "In excess of what?" "Of what!" "It's strange, that force." "Childhood." "Wasting time with that perfection." "Nobody could." "No fortune could withstand it." "None." "The largest, he would take it," "He would spend it, wholly, in one night." "He'll win Madam, I swear." "You'll see." "Madam, you knew he would steal the money, the jewellery, you did it on purpose, you knew it." "I wasn't quite sure." "Not quite." "Madam, I'm sorry to have said it to you, to have given him this way or another, would have been the same." "No." "So why did you choose this way." "So he doesn't have to say thank you to me." "These horrible words." "And so it's luck" "a small windfall." "Madame, you're dishonest." "Yes." "It's terrible." "Terrible." "But then, children, when they're small?" "Even so?" "Then we forget them." "I have a hard time to remember them, in spring, in the trees," "the way they eat, the insolence." "I've made an effort and" "I hardly see anything." "I no longer hear their voices." "I'll try to go back to bed." "Yes Madam, try." "In an hour he'll be here." "But does my son know I'm leaving?" "Yes." "Does he understand?" "Of course he understands, Madame." "Tomorrow would have been difficult." "That's true." "It's terrible." "But you, my child, try to find another job." "It's too late at my age, I'm no good at anything." "I can't think of one example." " I don't know one." " Are you sure?" "Sure." "And then I'm like him, Madam," "I don't want to work." "Deep down, I think you're both right." "But you must leave him, you must leave." "It's done." "I'm leaving tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" "Like me?" "But what will he become?" "He'll find." "That's how you like him Madam, miserable and alone." "Now you must go to bed." "I'll go." "Don't be sad, I'm not sad." "I only suffer from one thing, that pride I have in him," "I am alone in feeling it," "I can't share it with anyone, not even with you," "I will die, and nobody" "will feel it anymore." "It's the only thing in the world that makes me suffer a little," "that's all."