"We couldn't see a thing." "As usual." "I hurried." "I wanted to see you." "Here." "I picked these for you." "They smell nice." "Camille..." "You don't look well." "You're ever so pale." "Are you eating enough?" "Are you sleeping enough?" "You've been up the hill again." "The front..." "Do you know how far away it is?" "Do you really think you'll see something?" "You're all so stupid!" "I'm sick of your sentimental superstitions." "Do they get in that state over you?" "I bet they're glad without women!" " You'll see when..." " When I'm married?" "I won't spend my time waiting for my husband." "I'll follow him no matter what." "Has the postman stopped by?" "He had nothing for you." "François can't write every day." "He's all you care about anyway." "You were different before you married." "Here!" "Frankly, you don't deserve it." ""Post Code 313." "May 15, 1917." "Camille, I don't want you to write back to me." "You'll never see me again." "François. "" "Where are you going?" "I'm leaving home." "Go home, madam." "A woman shouldn't be out alone." "I have to go." "Don't be a nuisance." "Go home!" "Who are you?" "What're you doing here?" "I was lost." "I spotted you so I came over." "Who are you?" "Where are you from?" "Verneuil." "I've walked a long time." " How old are you?" " Seventeen." "No whiskers yet." "Where are you going?" "To fight the war." "You're too young." "Get lost." "Don't waste my time." "Go back where you came from." "Who goes there?" "Who goes there?" "Anyone not on our side is an enemy." "You should have said something." "I'm not your enemy, I'm with you." "You bloody fool." "You could have been killed." "No, impossible." "No other wounds?" "You've examined him?" "There's no need." "Whatever you say." "We'll get rid of him tomorrow." "He won't be better by tomorrow, sir." "Go to sleep, lad." "My name's not "lad", my name's Camille." "Pour the batter on the Montmorency cherries." "A real clafoutis needs Montmorency cherries." "At the orphanage..." "Shut up." "You're a thief." "Even your rifle was stolen from a German." "When you wake up the aroma of clafoutis straight from the oven." "...is magical." "Got any family?" "No, nobody." "Nobody?" "Nobody at all?" "No, I'm alone in the world." "Incredible, you're just like me." "I don't have anybody either." "They have family." "Where are you from?" "None of your business." "No one wants to know where I'm from?" "Antoine, where are you from?" ""Atlantis, that land beneath the sea where giant squid swim gracefully... where mermaids let down their hair." "while waiting for lost sailors... where the sun's rays nev... "" "How does it go?" ""..." "Never reach people's eyes no more than their heartbeats. "" "What a load of rubbish." "What are you talking about?" "We don't want to talk anyway, so shut up." "Talk." "Talk." "I'm like you." "I won't make any more efforts." "I'm sick of it." "Philippe..." "Get up!" "Philippe!" "Lieutenant." "It's nearly over." "You'll be able to rest soon." "Don't think about it." "It's over now." "You're not alone." "We're here." "What are you staring at?" "You've never had a nightmare?" "Go back to sleep." "The lieutenant knows what he's doing." "I have the feeling we left from here... we're here now ...and that we have all this left." "At least." "If we left from there, we're not here now." "I reckon we're here instead." "We headed to the left?" "We made a detour at one point." "It's like a tiny forest." "It's funny." "Afir tree..." "A birch." "We'd need to crawl through it." "Like ants." "Like ants." "What's going on?" "We're meeting La Douce." "We can't miss her." "A woman?" "Yeah, a very beautiful woman old, cold but that's okay." "Why are you meeting her?" "You ask a lot of questions." "She'll help us." "To do what?" "To find our way." "Give it a rest now!" "That's north, that's south." "I thought we'd never make it." "I expected it to be a lot bigger." "So where's La Douce?" "In front of you." "Old, cold, showing the way." "But you stop here, Camille." "If you head upstream, you'll reach a village in an hour." "They'll look after you." "Which way are you going?" "I'm coming too." "No." "Fetch him." "All right." "Where were we?" "Chapter two." "Remember what had happened?" "They were under the sea." "That's right." ""Atlantis opened her arms to them. "" "I don't get it." "Is Atlantis a woman or a country?" "It's a "wonderful land"." "We already told you that." ""Atlantis opened her arms..." "The depths were deep blue so blue, it made your head spin." "It was cool, cooler than on land but very mild." "They would never know bad weather again." "This climate didn't prevent the fauna and flora from developing freely." "Even the insects were of prodigious dimensions. "" "No, that's not the right tone." ""They were struck dumb by this fabulous discovery... "" "I've seen Atlantis." "You're not dead then?" "You've seen Atlantis?" "Yes, it was beautiful." "But I've forgotten everything." "You don't know what you're saying." "Keep reading." "You're not in Atlantis yet." "You don't look like us." "Wear these to be like a soldier." "The cadet will rob anyone, especially corpses." "You'll smell of death even more now." "You should have stayed at home." "I want to fight." "I hate childishness." "It won't work with me." "I know why you're clinging to us." "You don't look like you want to live." "You look like someone." "who's known hardship." "A lot of it." "You're clinging to us so you can die?" "No, not at all." "You're looking for something." "I don't know what." "I can't worry about that." "I want to get my men out alive." "I won't put them at risk, understand?" "I'll hand you over to the authorities once we reach the front." "They punish boys who want to fight?" "I won't let you set a bad example." "...or give ideas to my men, dumb ideas." "I don't have any bad ideas!" "You don't know yourself then?" "Since I can't get rid of you, do me a favor." "Leave them be." "Don't bother them." "They need to stay focused." "I, the blind girl." "It may be the influence of the seasons." "But I can tell I'm back in France." "I slept badly last night." "I dreamt of England I was expecting." "The last child of a little lord." "He was caressing me." "Saying things I didn't understand." "I wish I could have known." "The color ofhis eyes." "But I don't speak English." "He held me captive, I swear." "In his bedchamber." "There were long drapes everywhere." "The little lord." "Came to me every night, I swear." "In his bedchamber." "I beg you." "I must continue myjourney now" "He was caressing me." "Saying things I didn't understand." "I wish I could have known." "The color ofhis eyes." "But I don't speak English." "He held me captive, I swear." "In his bedchamber." "There were long drapes everywhere." "It may be the influence of the seasons." "But I must say farewell." "To the little lord." "If I needed him." "Would he come to me?" "Would he come to me?" "What's this?" "French soldiers who died in battle." "It's not good to stay here too long." "And that one?" "A German soldier." "You know how to cook?" "A little." "Only one man here does a fine job." "Antoine's a schoolteacher." "Do you hit your students?" "Are you crazy?" "Look at him." "He's the soul of kindness." "His kids all get good grades." "My teacher used to belt me." "You were rude to her?" "No, but I was slow." "I held the others back." "Like us now." "Did you like school, Frédéric?" "It's ready." "You seem calm tonight young Camille." "I'm not hungry." "I'll get more wood." "What are you doing here?" "We're heading up to the front." "And the others?" "Gone for food." "They'll be back soon." "Who are you?" "Georges Guibert, liaison officer." "I'm Camille." "Camille Robin." "Can I ask you something, Georges?" "Go ahead." "Any news of the 30th?" "I can't give out that information." "Who do you think I am?" "The postman?" "I need to know." "You're not allowed to know." "Here, this was a present." "I'm very fond of it." "I don't care if you are." "Is it worth much?" "Yes, it's gold." "The news isn't good." "Meaning?" "With the dead and the prisoners that regiment's nearly gone." "Where are the prisoners?" "No idea." "I have to go now." "You fooled me." "This isn't worth much." "I thought he'd never leave." "You're a talkative one." "He was just a liaison officer." "Why were you up there?" "No reason." "A false alarm." "Lieutenant!" "Is it true what he said about the 30th?" "You think we're stupid?" "Who was that soldier earlier?" "Why these questions about the 30th?" "We weren't born yesterday." "We spot them right away." "What are you talking about?" "About guys who follow soldiers... who pretend to be with us... who are there when we need them then tell the Germans everything." "I'm not a spy." "The bastard!" "No time to look for him." "Let's get going." "I was unfair with you." "It can't be helped." "I'm sticking with you anyway." "You're wrong." "You're a stranger among us." "Whatever you do, you'll stay a stranger." "Not anymore, I think." "You're different." "I know that." "And don't ask me why." "I, the blind girl." "I wasn't seeking favors, only work." "I left at seventeen for Italy." "Tell your prophets to pray for me." "For I am still unemployed." "I met a man from Turin at the age of twenty." "Some things are beautiful." "For the things that men have made." "Live on throughout the years." "But work has no meaning." "Unless it absorbs you completely." "Are you asleep, my brother?" "You who have stayed on the front." "Listen to this." "Listen to this, little brother." "If I needed him." "Would he come to me?" "Would he come to me?" "Lieutenant Paulhan... 80th infantry regiment, 12th company." "And the others?" "Private Marin..." "Private Briançon, Private Périnelle..." "Private Cohen..." "Private Ménicourt, Private Lamouroux and the others." "What are you doing out?" "We're joining the 26th regiment." "Go on." "I'll make my report." "What's that uniform?" "His clothes were stolen." "We'll see the quartermaster to get him new ones." "We'll stop here." "The front is a mile or so that way." "All right." "The branch there." "The trunk there." "Move it!" "You remember the story of Private Philippe?" "Jacques, tell Camille." "He doesn't know it." "Tell him!" "It's the story of a soldier called Philippe." "He's twenty." "He's been fighting for eighteen months." "Before the war, he was young and handsome... with blue eyes." "He has a pretty sister." "Alice." "He has shown her photo to all the others." "She is blond... with blue eyes, blue as the ocean's depths." "He often writes long letters to her." "He loves his sister." "Letters that say things like:" ""Alice it was a beautiful day today." "The moon was shining in the sky at five p." "M." "It's odd but that's what happened." "The birds sang all day but then fell silent." "when night started to fall. "" "He certainly knows how to write." "Not like us." "Well, I don't mean you, Antoine." "In real life, he's a student." "A history student." "He loves Greek history." "He always talks about it." "He loves giving details about it." "He can translate anything into Greek." "He has a passion:" "Atlantis." "He loves to sleep." "Some love to eat or drink." "He loves to sleep." "In any case, he needs to sleep." "You can't sleep when you want in a war." "He gets woken in the middle of the night or at dawn." "He sleeps three hours, then has to get up." "Two hours, then he has to get up..." "Sometimes, he doesn't sleep for two or three days." "It makes him ill." "That's what Philippe is like." "Then, little by little he talks less and less about Atlantis." "He says he's not interested." "He doesn't want to talk about it." "He says none of it is any use." "Even when we ask him questions, he refuses to answer them." "He can't sleep." "He won't talk about the Greeks." "He even stops writing to Alice." "Little by little, he talks less and less about Atlantis." "He says he's not interested." "He doesn't want to talk about it." "He says none of it is any use." "What are you doing?" "We're not soldiers now." "What do you mean?" "Because of Philippe." " He doesn't exist!" " Watch it!" "Calm down." "We'd been together sinceJanuary 1916." "We were very close." "Then, one day last April... we were ordered to attack once again." "It was April 20." "I'll always remember." "I saw Philippe turn as white as a sheet." "I'd never seen him like that." "He stood up." "He started to speak, saying he didn't want to go." "I tried to reason with him." "I didn't want him punished." "I didn't want his record hurt." "So I swore to him." "...that he would be like before." "Just like before..." "We ran off along the trench." "Then I heard him cry out." "I heard Philippe cry out, "Lieutenant!"" "I turned for a second." "...and I saw him on the ground behind us." "The German fire started raking us." "They had made it in too." "We had no choice." "What did you do?" "The only thing we could do." "We left Philippe there and we ran ran as fast as we could." "And then?" "Then... we went back had leave and never returned." "And we're alive." "And now?" "We're deserters!" "It's the only spot on the river." "Once we cross, we'll be in Belgium." "La Douce is just back there." "That bastard will give the alert." "Camille!" "What does this gesture mean?" "It means he had three children." "Where did you get that?" "There's a farm nearby." "I helped myself." "I never taught you to pilfer." "You're putting us at risk you thieving idiot." "What do I do?" "Take them back?" "Here, eat." "You can't let yourself starve." "We mean bad luck now anyway." "We weren't ashamed of you before but now..." "You can never tell your fiancée this." "You'll have a secret." "I don't know where she is." "You don't know?" "No." "She's a long way from home." "I don't know where she is." "If she's alive or dead." "I, the blind girl." "I'll walk along the ramparts." "I have a tendency to do that." "My path is marked out before me." "But I need." "To find those cardboard ramparts." "It will soon be too late." "I've promised my lover." "A German who's hard ofhearing." "The idiot doesn't know France." "I told him, "It doesn't matter." "As long as you don't tell anyone"" "He's hard ofhearing." "I'll guide him." "And he'll tell me what he sees." "Who am I tojudge him?" "My eyes are dull, my steps are slow" "Sometimes, his eyes." "Try to express things for me." "If I needed him." "Would he come to me?" "Would he come to me?" "Camille!" "I've written about this photo of my parents." " Can I read it to you?" " Yes." ""Oh God, when I return to my past my family is full of beauties." "My mother had such red hair it looked like a spring fire someone knocked over. "" "This was in the 80s." "I was still a baby at the time." ""She was a religious woman, without the joy of Catholicism." "which, if need be, covers the marks on the wall." "when family portraits fall." "She wore a hat like a tabletop her bosom in a motley corset." "...and my father sitting stiffly next to her." "He wore an absurd, little yellow jacket." "...and a tobacco brown bowler perched on his ears." "He must have been furious." "...because he was squinting strangely." "Perhaps ideas about my mother." "...in an area where he held no sway. "" "What do you think?" "I don't know anything about that." "I'm a bit disappointed." "He thinks he's a writer, but he's never written a book." "I bet he never will." "I hope minds are small there." "...but not narrow." "Minds." "That's all you ever talk about." "It means we can't live like you." "Eat, sleep, drink." "We don't really sleep anymore." "All we can do is be ashamed or scared standing or lying." "I hope it'll be like Atlantis that's all." ""The night suits the risks... "" "Cut it out!" "I can't feel my leg!" "Help!" "Help!" "Get up!" "We heard you shouting." "You're lucky." "Not many people pass this way." "My name's Elias." "This is my son." "Lieutenant Paulhan... 80th infantry regiment, 12th company." "Where are you going?" "What are you doing here?" "Thank you for your help." "We'll look after them." "Follow me." "You don't want to talk." "You must be tired." "Everyone is tired here." "We know what it means to be tired too." "Sometimes, we don't want to talk either." "My dad and I will look after you... we'll feed you." "...and everything will be fine after, you'll see." "Try to rest now." "Thank you." "It must have been good here before the war." "Me and my son." "...can only come after dark." "Otherwise, the locals might see us." "...and then they'll denounce you." "Denounce us?" "I saw right away you were deserters." "How?" "By the state of your uniforms." "And the number of you." "And your cadet too." "He talked to my son." "He spoke about your journey." "And about things..." "Things that you have seen." "He isn't very smart." "There's the look on your face too." "What look?" "I won't say." "It'll only scare you." "What do you risk by hiding us?" "A lot." "But it doesn't matter." "You've done so much for us." "I have one favor left to ask of you." "Could you send." "...my dog tag to this address?" "It's for my superior." "It's very important." "He'll know what it means." "Yes, I'll do it." "I'll bring you local maps tomorrow." "You have to be careful." "Alfred!" "Camille..." "My son!" "Shit, they'll find the bodies." "I'm Camille Robin, wife of François Robin." "François is like you." "He's a soldier." "When I met him, he had an open smile." "Not a smile like yours, Alfred." "Not like yours either, Antoine." "An open smile like someone without worries." "On our wedding day, I was sick so sick I could hardly stand." "People kept saying the bride looked odd." "I told myself that I had to last the day out that I could collapse after but that I had to keep going." "That evening, François said I'd never been more beautiful." "You've no idea how happy I was with my husband." "My sister was even a bit jealous." "When he left, he wrote often as often as he could." "And then nothing." "I waited." "I didn't worry." "And then I had a letter." ""Camille, I don't want you to write back to me." "You'll never see me again." "François. "" "That was all." "He's been badly advised." "He's been misled." "He must have nightmares." "I bet he wrote after a nightmare." "The nights are cold." "You can't think straight." "The noise of the front is scary too." "You never know what tomorrow will bring." "The war has come between us." "But once it is over once I find François again, once he sees he was wrong..." "Are you an orphan though?" "No." "Not even?" "I feel like smashing your face in." "You must love your husband a lot to do this." "Yes." "Sure you love him that much?" "Yes." "I didn't fool you." "And now, Camille... what do you plan to do?" "I don't know." "I don't know where he is if he's dead or alive." "So I'm following you." "That way, I feel as if I'm with him." "Camille told you a tall tale, true but that's no reason to change." "Everything must stay like before." "For you too, Camille." "Keep your male clothing." "If you get yourself noticed... we could get caught." "My sole concern." "...is to get us to Holland safe and sound." "You're just as full of infamy as we are." "Camille, I can help you too." "Wait here, I'll fetch the cadet!" "I can't see him." "We can't stay here." "Let's go!" "Here lies Thibault Marin, alias "the cadet"." "May he rest in peace." "He's waiting for us in Atlantis in Holland... wherever there are orphans full of infamy." "I, the blind girl." "I'll tell you one last time." "Put your head on my shoulder." "You Pole, there's a room." "Where I'll tell you all my secrets." "It's my bedroom so come to me." "It's dark, I'm alone." "And I won't be afraid." "I love the way you dress." "I'd like France to be invaded by Poland." "I feel pleasant vibrations." "Close my eyes." "You seem much closer now" "I must keep these vibrations oflove." "I have seen many things." "But Poland is what I prefer." "If you leave me, I'll never." "Feel these vibrations again." "It may be the influence of the seasons." "How could I know?" "This morning, I opened the shutters." "You were looking at my belly again." "I had no time to promise you anything." "I love the way you dress." "I'd like France to be invaded by Poland." "I feel pleasant vibrations." "Close my eyes." "You seem much closer now" "I must keep these vibrations oflove." "I have seen many things." "But Poland is what I prefer." "You mustn't feel ashamed." "No, no, don't worry." "It wasn't your bedroom." "And it wasn't your country." "If I needed him." "Would he come to me?" "Would he come to me?" "Where have you come from?" "From Beverloo." "Let me by." "I've done no harm." "Beverloo?" "It's a prison camp in Belgium." "I escaped." "Where are you going?" "I'm going back to my country." "France." "And then?" "Then?" "I don't know." "Get up." "I can't." "I'm too tired." "Get up." "What do you know of my life?" "Stop complaining." "Why are you crying, François?" "It's because my eyes hurt." "Camille..." "Wait here." "Well?" "I already told you." "What?" "You just want to die." "No." "I wanted to find my husband." "It's the same thing." "We won't say good-bye, Camille." "Slowly, François." "Be more gentle." "All right." "Alfred..." "Jean..." "Antoine..." "The lieutenant and his men never reached Holland."