"On a hot summer afternoon on the Briare Canal ..." "A wagoner ..." "Olivier Maldone" "A gypsy girl ..." "Zita" "At the sluice gate." "Still having your eye on the girls ..." "You're not 20 years anymore." "Days are all alike ..." "The clairvoyant Missia" "Much happiness ..." "But ... it might happen that somebody stole something from you." "In the mountains is the Ponds Estate, that Olivier Maldone would have owned today if he hadn't quit the family manor in a fit of anger 20 years ago." "The only ones living there now are Marcellin Maldone, Olivier's younger brother;" "Juste, their uncle   and Leonard, the old family servant." "At the Marine tavern." "Put a buck in the hand ..." "And another one." "Your enemy is inside you." "I see a man and his enemy in the same man ..." "A vagabond ..." "A rich man ..." "One of them must destroy the other." "Marcellin Maldone was returning to the estate ..." "Give me your hand, Zita." "It's my turn to tell fortunes." "I see a gypsy girl who is a gypsy girl   and her DESTINY ..." "My past ..." "Bah!" "It's long gone, who remembers me by now?" "After Marcellin's death." "Leonard, I have finally received some informations." "There are traces of he who is missing, Olivier is still alive; he should be in the St-Jean I'Ecluse area, on the Briare canal." "Olivier is the owner of the estate." "He must be brought here at any price." "In the local train that stops at St-Jean I'Ecluse." "Impossible to find one's way in these flat landscapes!" "The big dance at St-Jean at sunday night." "There is no way to dance to this!" "The old man is putting us to sleep." "Grab the accordeon, Maldone, and make us swirl!" "And now, let's play a medley!" "Ouch, that Maldone really plays like a madman!" "Tracing Olivier Maldone." "At the break of day ..." "You are sole master of the Estate." "I have come to seek you." "Back at the family estate, Maldone, who seems to have settled with his heritage, has married Flora Lévigné, daughter of a rich neighbouring landowner." "Three years have passed since the union took place." "Already the trelldom of wealth and contentment is weighing heavily on him." "While his uncle Juste devotes himself to his favorite hobby   Olivier travels through his estate on horse." "Olivier, why are you so restless while free of all worry?" "Why do you make Flora unhappy?" "You should distract yourselves, travel ..." "Olivier only gets along with the hired farmhands, who ressemble so much the people he used to know in his former life." "Olivier has followed Juste's advice;" "he travels with Flora to escape his restlessness." "But you can't escape destiny ..." "Do you know who that lady is?" "That's Zita, Monsieur, the dancer, star of the casino." "That night Flora returned to the hotel alone." "No ... here ..." "that's not possible ...." "Delighted to have dined with the past, my dear." "But ..." "I have my life to attend to ... 5 o'clock in the morning ..." "Olivier and Flora return to the Ponds, but Maldone is constantly haunted." "A strike of madness passed through Olivier's mind." "Am I turning mad?" "I'm not a bad man, Flora, but I have brought you unhappiness." "This whole thing must end." "Olivier is constantly restless." "Everything leads him back to his obsession ..." "Every night the prison of contentment closes in on him ..." "The next day ..." "Your behavior is intolerable." "I am protecting Flora's happiness." "What are you, after all?" "A vagabond, an adventurer of the road, a ..." "I have brought trouble and misery here." "Forget me, forgive me." "My duty is to go away, to leave this place in the hands of those who are able to ensure happiness and peace here." "One of them must destroy the other." "Subs by Knappen Paris, november 2008."