"I never left Indochina." "Camille's hand was ice cold in mine." "Her father and mother had just died." "They had been my dearest friends." "Their plane had crashed into the ocean." "I had no children." "She had no parents." "The little princess of Annam became my daughter." "I adopted her." "Prince N'Guyen, his wife and I had been inseparable." "In our youth we thought... the world consisted of inseparable things... men and women... mountains and plains... humans and gods..." "Indochina and France." "By adopting Camille I inherited her parents' land... increasing the property my father and I already owned." "The Lang-Sai rubber plantation... became one of Indochina's ten biggest." "That was my domain:" "15,000 acres of rubber trees." "No!" "Watch it!" "Mama!" "We'll never get it right." "Is something upsetting you?" "Tomorrow, send away Mr. Emile's new girl." "Send Hoa away?" "Why?" "Too greedy, too expensive, bad girl... mouth too big... always wants more." "Today it's rice, tomorrow it's pig... after that it's butfalo." "Me know many girls ready to replace her." "Very nice ones, with smaller mouths." "No." "This one you will keep." "Father has never telt better." "He's almost cheertul." "He might even smile soon." "You keep her." "Congaie is no good." "Love costs too much." "But he's happy." "He may never love again." "Does your father train them a lot?" "Every morning for the past month." "Then they're too tired to work on the plantation, but he's happy." "Rowing is exhausting." "Harder!" "Harder!" "And in this heat!" "Your men-- okay, I understand." "But mine?" "Still, I hope my sailors beat them!" "But, Admiral, it's my crew." "Eliane, we shouldn't give these people ideas of victory." "I bet you 2,000 piastres." "Fine, but you'll lose." "Oh, stop it!" "In your condition!" "Some days you drive me crazy." "We haven't done it in a week." "And what do we do at nap time?" "That's not really making love." "And be pregnant during monsoon season?" "No thanks!" "Not me!" "Time to go all out!" "Madame Devries, how awful for Mr. Emile!" "All that training, and then to lose." "How awtul!" "Like Raymond says, the Indo-Chinese aren't built tor it." "Eh, Raymond?" "Calm down, Yvette." "They haven't lost yet." "We won!" "Admiral, you owe me 2,000 piastres." "Who won?" "I saw nothing." "Ladies and gentlemen, the race was won... by the crew of Madame Eliane Devries." "Crew members..." "Lui Van Min, Phan Van Dong" "Coxswain:" "Mr. Emile Devries!" "A statue of Joan of Arc, in stucco... of uncertain origin, attributed to a student ot Bouscasse." "Bidding starts at 600 piastres." "Sorry I'm late, madame." "I almost bought a bedroom set, but I only liked the bed." "Buy the bed." "Oh, no." "The pieces have always been together." "They shouldn't be separated." "They'll bring good luck to whoever buys them." "You are poetic." "That's exactly it, Yvette." "You're a poetic person." "Is that what you came for?" "Has everyone seen it?" "Thank you, Mr. Gabriel." "Painted with great sensitivity." "Starting price, 300." "Three hundred." " Four hundred." " Four-twenty." "Four-fifty." "Four-sixty." "Five hundred." "Madame, please let me have the painting." "They say you're rich." "I'm not." "I can't continue bidding, but this landscape means a lot to me." "Sit down, sir." "What is your bid?" "Well?" " Wait." " Stop." "I'll lend you the money." "Let go!" "Tell me why you like it... and it's yours." "That's enough." "Madame Devries, 500?" "I sketched that landscape dozens of times as a boy." "But I was never satisfied." "It needed... that valley and hill in partial shade." "They don't exist." "The artist invented them." "Me, I wouldn't have dared." "At age ten, one doesn't know the world needs to be changed." "I need this painting." "I suffocate in Saigon without the seashore." "I do not parade my feelings before strangers, as you do." "Especially when something moves me." "All right." "The benefit of the doubt, then." "Sold!" "Madame Devries is a collector." "Sold!" "Mind your own business!" "Me no trafficker." "Me never traffic opium." "French officer knows me." "My madame sick..." "I go get medicine." "What is the time?" "8:09, Lieutenant." "No boats in the delta after 8:00." "You know what to do." "Stop!" "That man's papers are in order!" "You're crazy!" "They didn't do anything!" "In just one year, they've drained you!" "You're already glassy-eyed, like someone lying in an opium den." "Soon this country will suck you dry." "They'll drown !" "Are you proud of yourself?" "I followed orders." "I leave indulgence and generosity to you." "You're like my father." "He always said the same thing." ""Let yourself go." "Follow your instincts."" "And he'd disappear to pursue some passion." "He spread unhappiness all around him." "I'll never be like that man." "Nobody'll steal what's in my head." "Not even eternal Asia!" "Nobody!" "You wanted to run away." "You're a deserter." "You made me beat you." "You think mothers like beating their children?" "You're my mother and father." "Why are you here?" "I'm lost." "I took a wrong turn." "Going where?" "I'm looking for the occupants of a sampan the navy sank last week." "I heard it happened near here." "So you're the one going village to village." "You're wasting your time." "People here won't tell you a thing." "Would you know something?" "Maybe." "He's called Liem." "Let him go." "You're scaring him." "His father's fine too." "He came to see me last night." "We talked very late." "I ordered the sampan sunk." "I thought the boy had drowned." "I even dreamt about it." "I kept seeing it." "Why did you do it?" "I had to." "You were right." "There was opium aboard." "They're traffickers... ot high-quality opium." "Bao, the man you sank, is a well-known supplier." "His father was before him, and his son will be after him." "If you repeat what I've said, I'll deny it all." "Don't you mind how they look at you?" "Why should I?" "They're my coolies." "They're also men." "I'm their boss, that's all." "Commanding men is a man's job." "Men usually say that." "What's wrong?" "I'm regressing back to childhood." "I had to stay this way for hours." "My head would spin." "I'd start dreaming." "Here." "About what?" "The admiral who defeated the Turkish fleet at Lepante." "He was 23." "The hero ot all of Europe." "Don Juan ot Austria." "What did you dream about?" "I wanted to be a boy." "And now?" "I don't need to dream." "Everything I love is right here." "Wait." "Don't move." "I think it's stopped now." "Don't get lost this time." "The chief is back trom his trip." "What's his mood?" "It's always good to see you." "A secret?" "With all these people?" "Luxury, mystery" "That's all it takes to seduce a woman." " You look tired." " This time it's serious." "In Canton the oftensive is ready." "The communists and nationalists have joined forces." "With Moscow's blessing." "To us!" "Now you have no choice." "You'll need protection." "And marriage is the best protection." " They're looking." " I don't care." "No, what?" "About the marriage, no." "Very well." "To friendship." "Mama..." "Tanh will forget me in Paris when he meets those French girls." "Honestly, how do I look?" " Perfect." " You always say that." "Do all French girls have light skin like you?" "The difference between people isn't skin color... it's this." "It's this." "The taste... the fruit." "A child who only crunches apples... can't be like me." "I'm an Asian." "A mango." " When will Tanh return?" " Not until next year." "Paris still fascinates him?" "He asks whether I love him." "Well?" "What's it like to love someone?" "When it happens, you'll know." "I wanted to protect Camille." "She knew nothing about my life, the men I'd met... or those I'd loved." "I had had casual affairs... the kind that leave no trace." "Jean-Baptiste met me at the house where I grew up, near Saigon." "My father never wanted to sell it." "It contained his whole life and all my childhood memories." "While waiting for you, I thought..." ""He won't be here at 4:00." "He'll be a little late."" "So I thought I'd quickly tidy up... close the house and leave." "As it nothing had happened." "Our first meeting... our rendezvous here, all erased." "Jean-Baptiste" "There's still time to keep our story from beginning." "I should have fled." "But nothing existed but him." "I know he loved me too." "Prepare him the opium." "Good day, sir." "Eliane's not here." "Yes, I know." "Thursday she's at the bank." "She'd brought no one here in years." "I'm going to tell you a story." "I'm not interested." "Oh, no, you don't!" "You're in my house!" "Now listen !" "Father was so afraid of losing me." "He was capable of anything then." "Old Tchung told me one day... that Father had offered Jean-Baptiste money." "How much?" "How much is your daughter worth?" "Go ahead." "Humiliate me, pay me!" "Name a price." "Give me a figure!" "100,000 piastres?" "200,000?" "I saw how the steward, the coolies, the bankers were all at her beck and call!" "So it'll cost you!" "500,000." "It I leave her to you, 500,000." "Say it!" "I want to hear it!" "Yes. 500,000." "No, sir." "Such things don't have a price." "You have your life ahead of you." "She and I don't." "Leave her!" "Jean-Baptiste?" "Mister ofticer gone." "When will he be back?" "Me not know." ""Flee, jealousy, tortures" "Wherever you are, your soul will embrace mine."" "Now, lovely archangel, it's your turn." "Stop it." "I'm trying my luck." "An apparition !" "You, here?" "I've looked everywhere for you." "Talk to me, Jean-Baptiste, talk." "There will always be hours, days and weeks to myself." "All to myself." "Understand?" "The same goes for you." "We're two people." "I need you." "You're part of my life now." "I need your voice... your tenderness, your hands" "Protect me." "You must protect me." "Stop it." "This pleading woman isn't you." "I want the world, not a little corner like a tomb." "I want to discover the world." "Are you upset, madame?" "No." "Why?" "Because you're crying." "Go away." "Go away." "You're crazy!" "Forgive me." "Jean-Baptiste!" "Stop!" "Stop!" "Get out." "Satait, please leave." "Life continues as before." "The sound of footsteps on dead leaves... sap oozing from the wounded trees... and above all, what I loved most and others didn't-- the smell of rubber." "I didn't believe it." "I'm so used to Guy's jokes." " You arrived when?" " Two days ago." "You'll be staying?" "Tanh was expelled from France." "What?" "What did you say?" "He's been expelled." "Positively." "But why?" "She knows about Yen-Bay?" "It's her country." "She's entitled to know." "Three months ago, Indo-Chinese troops... massacred their French otficers." "So we executed the assassins." "End of story." "Not at all!" "In Paris, supporters ot the assassins demonstrated." "The demonstrators were jailed." "End of story." "Not at all." "It triggered solidarity movements." "They marched up the Elysee!" "And Tanh was among them." "So they kicked him out." "And now?" "Now it is over, Camille." "I was bad." "I was punished." "On the boat coming back..." "I thought about our childhood here." "Soon this land will be ours again." "I know my son." "Youthful tollies, bad influences in Paris" " I know how to straighten him out." " Money?" "He'll be an oil and soap merchant, like me." "He'll be very rich." "Richer than the French engineers." "I was against his studying in France." "But you and your friend Guy kept insisting." "Young people like Tanh are this country's tuture." "An Indo-Chinese elite should be created." "We are the elite, because we are rich." "Tanh is an intellectual." "Business wouldn't interest him." "He should stop dreaming." " What's wrong?" " I've cried a lot." "My buffalo died and my boy is sick." "The boy took the remedy?" "Yes, but he's hungry and I need money." "You'd gamble with money." "Send me your wite." "I'll give her the sack of rice and the medicine." "You will get nothing." "Some champagne?" "No thanks, Aunt." "Camille's mother was my cousin." "We always wished for a marriage between our children." "When you adopted Camille... that was my only condition." "The ties must not be broken." "Now she's my daughter and I want her to be happy." "Two boys-- They'll give us two boys." "We'll be happy in our old age." "The older one will marry a rich girl... and our children will care for us." "And when our time comes, we'll die contentedly... surrounded by our children and grandchildren." "I hadn't seen Jean-Baptiste again, but I hadn't forgotten him." "What did people know about our story?" "Certainly not my distress." "I hid my feelings so well." "And then we lived in peace, under an illusion." "The thunderbolt shattered the "Day of Tranquility. "" "My father and I were the only Europeans invited by the mandarins." "They killed the mandarin !" "It's the communists!" "They'll kill us all!" "Run!" "Madame Devries, Mr. Emile!" "Come quickly!" "The fire was no accident!" "All the rubber has burned up." "When can the work start again?" "The vats need cleaning." " Maybe tomorrow." " Why not now?" " They're afraid they'll get shot." " By whom?" "Boom!" "Danger!" "No work." "Don't go!" "I think I heard shots." "You think?" "Yes?" "No?" "Make up your mind!" "There is no danger!" "Back to work!" "Raymond, start the generator." "Too dangerous." "Wait for the police." "Kim!" "The generator!" "The Devries are alive." "There's no danger!" "Get going!" "Hurry up!" "I won't go to school Monday." "When I'm not with you, I imagine awful things." "That they burn the house, and... kill you and Grandpa." "You mustn't be atraid." "If we're afraid, they've won." "Guy said, "Be prepared for cruelty."" "The crank!" "Firing you for a minor illness-- that's inhuman." "After years of serving her." "That's just not human." "You can say what you want, she's got nerve." "She enjoys humiliating people." " I considered her a friend." " Shut up." "I'll say this-- she'll get what she deserves." "A lack of love is never good." "That's the worst illness." "Keep on feeling superior." "The truth is nobody here likes you." "Even the trees wouldn't grow if they had a choice!" "I pity you." "Your future looks bleak!" "Everyone will leave you." "Without love, there's a smell." "It keeps you from breathing." "Good-bye, madame." "Your looks are deceiving." "Sure, you're beautiful." "But it's sad when there's no inner beauty." "Get in, Raymond." "There's nothing tor us here." "It stinks." "My respects." "You'll talk soon enough." "They average one communist per hundred arrests." "My respects, sir." "I'm Inspector Perrot... from the backup contingent." "What did you get out of him?" "Remove his handcutfs." "Your tather came this morning." "You were always a respectful son." "Rebelling against the authorities... is as serious as rebelling against your dad and ancestors." "Perrot..." "I'll drop him, you punch." "Ready?" "Harder." "I know all about you, Kao." "Go back to your cell meetings." "Nothing has changed." "Except you'll report back to me every week, starting next week." "If not, you'll be in Poulo-Condore prison with your father and brothers." "All right?" "Wait!" "To the side!" "What's going on?" "Stop!" "Get the doctor!" "Hurry!" "It's the prisoner's blood." "I'm alive?" "You saved my life." "Leave her alone." "What's wrong?" "What's the matter?" "Is it serious?" "Mama, I can't marry Tanh." "I love another man." "He saved my life." "I love him." "Help me, Mama, please." "My darling, my Camille, of course I'll help you." "I promise." "Who is he?" "If I don't marry him, I'll die." "Who is he?" "The otticer who saved me." "His name is Jean-Baptiste." "And he-- he loves you?" "He will." "I'm sure of it." "How can you be so sure?" "You wouldn't understand." "Nobody can understand." "He's always with me." "He talks to me, smiles at me." "Sweeps me otf my teet, takes me in his arms." "I am his." "You have enough eggs?" "Hurry!" "You want to ruin everything?" "He's not here." "He won't come." "Sure he'll come... at the last moment, so everyone sees him." "I'm sure he's hiding nearby, watching you." "So, that's the surprise!" "A Yule log, like in France!" "A real Christmas!" "Coming?" "Fan it." "Fan it." "The record will melt." "It's not made for this climate." "I'd like to be alone with you... in a small mountain chalet... with a smoking chimney, like in fairy tales." "Stay here." "No!" " I'm leaving Saigon tomorrow." " Where to?" " Haiphong." " Pertect." "Near the ocean." "You'll discover the world." "The decision wasn't mine." "I was transferred... thanks to you." "A woman decides my fate." "That's how you run your colonies?" " My daughter's crazy about you." " What?" "She thinks she is." "Same difterence." " I hardly know her!" " It's not you." "It's her." "Camille is young, romantic." "She thinks you saved her lite." "But I didn't do anything!" "You won't be able to resist her." "She's irresistible." "I wanted to save her from you." "I don't want her to associate love with suffering." "Good night." "Save her trom me?" "You just want revenge." "You feel threatened by freedom." "Let go!" " You won't let others live!" " Let go!" "You think you have a monopoly on life... and you control me, Camille, your coolies" "That's awful." "What do you want?" "To stifle Camille like your father stifled you?" "You treat people as if they were trees!" "You buy them and drain them." "You're vultures!" "You've lost your mind, Le Guen !" "Follow me immediately." "Le Guen!" "Lili, come with me." "No, I'm cold." "I don't wish to be disturbed." "Your driver brought your clothes yesterday while you slept." "You feel better now?" "A little better." "Bring us some tea." "You, prepare the betel." "I was at the school." "It's a disaster!" "Camille's in quarantine." "The other students yell insults at her." ""Little congaie, chink."" "The Mother Superior had to isolate her." "I'll go and get her." "She retuses to see you." "You spoke to her?" "Yes." "I don't care." "I'm going." "Listen, Lili." "We'll get them married fast." "I'll take them to the palace." "The court has to approve the marriage." "It's the custom." "I'll speak to Camille." "You two should be reconciled." "Meet us at Hue." "I can't promise it." "You must torget that man." "I'll never understand French people's love stories." "There's nothing but folly, fury and suffering." "Just like our war stories." "You know the secret." "I've already told you." "Yes, I know." "Indifference." "After that Christmas Eve..." "Jean-Baptiste's transfer became a sanction." "He was sent to the most remote outpost..." "Dragon Island in the bay of Ha-Long." "I had thought he would refuse... that he would quit the French Navy." "I thought I knew him." "I didn't know him." "Sheer mockery, dear friend." "We're deep in mockery." "You either fight it or do as I do." "Revel in it." "You can be a hero here, but nobody'll know." "A mere drop ot water in this ocean ot jade... but it's your drop of water." "And our presence here?" "Nothing." "Ghosts ot the empire." "From here, observation of foreign vessels." "Some sampans, tishermen... nothing." "The pirates stay far away trom the bay." "Occasionally we make our presence known to the world." "We fire the cannon at a target, a suspicious boat." "Nothing much." "But once a month... the celebration." "The big celebration!" "The slave market." "Up north they recruit manual laborers... volunteers." "They have no choice." "They're too hungry." "Here's where we serve France!" "The volunteers are brought here... and under your lotty supervision the southern buyers pick workers... for the plantations of Cochin China." "You need do nothing, just be here." "For the first time, I let someone else take over." "Madame Minh Tam had arranged everything." "Camille was with her and would marry Tanh." "Camille returned to her relatives." "She was shut inside the palace for days of meditation... and purification, imposed by court tradition... upon fiancees." "Being a European, I couldn't be at the ceremony." "But Madame Minh Tam had arranged a meeting with Camille... the day before the engagement." "I saw Emperor Ming Mang's tomb." "He was 25 when he began searching for his burial place." "One day he tound the place." "It resembled a place he'd dreamt about." "So, he designed it." "He had trees and flowers planted... in gentle, continuous lines." "Not a single broken line." "Once it looked exactly like in his dream... he said..." ""I can die."" "I also dream of a harmonious place, but to live in." "That place exists, Camille." "It's yours." "The domain is yours." "Soon you'll be my daughter." "She was so gentle, so calm... as if she had accepted her fate... to marry the man chosen for her." "Actually, she had secretly decided her future." "That's why she looked so beautiful." "Tell them we know what we're doing." "I loved her more than anything... and I had never told her." "She was leaving for good." "She had decided to join Jean-Baptiste." "She had chosen... and I hadn't wanted to see it, hadn't wanted to understand... that she loved... as one loves the first time." "Nothing would stop her." "Continue." "They didn't arrest her at the Hanoi station." "She knew they'd be waiting for her." "I remembered her father's phrase..." ""In Asia one doesn't die. "" "I hoped he would travel with her... and protect her." "Tai!" "There's been no progress since yesterday." "Wait!" "Wait!" "Well?" "I'm heading north... to the sea." "My name's Sao." "Sao!" "It's tor a family." "That's enough." "You'll answer for Camille's misery!" "Camille is tree!" "She is living her life without owing anything to anyone." "I'm leaving too." "You dare to abandon the sacred altar of your ancestors!" "On your knees!" "That's an order." "Obedience has made slaves of us." "The French taught me about freedom and equality." "I'll fight them with those." "Good-bye, Mother." "Cholera, most likely." "The north is cursed." "On Dragon Island they recruit for the plantations." "There we'll get work and rice." "I often dreamed about her." "I don't remember static dreams." "I saw her walking through the gently moving countryside." "The scenery entered her body through her eyes, like blood." "I thought:" "Now she has Indochina inside her." "We are saved." "We're going to live!" "At dusk the boats would pick up the volunteers." "They arrived by the hundreds, hoping for a better life." "The boats took them to Dragon Island at night... to hide this shameful human traffic in the darkness." "This way." "Get down." "Go on, down." "Darling!" "You see them there, docile, squatting." "Someday they'll rise up as one, and we'll have to leave." "What happened?" "The start of an uprising." "You mean a riot." "They wanted to stay together." "They tried inciting the others with war cries." "They had to be silenced." "But the child?" "A public menace!" "A hysterical creature!" "A devil... gesticulating, howling." "Control yourself." "They're watching." "Nobody saw what I did." "What's he doing?" "Picking himself a congaie?" "Do something!" "Go, get them!" "Hurry up!" "Shit!" "You're completely crazy." "Goddamn it!" "Start the boarding." "Sao!" "They didn't do anything!" "You killed them!" "Shut up!" "Go, Camille!" "Hurry!" "Stop her!" "Stop that bitch!" "Run!" "Run tast!" "Guards, take her to the fort!" "Stay where you are!" "Stop them!" "They'll attack!" "Stop that, Lieutenant." "The bitch killed him." "She's mine." "I want her!" "She's in my protection." "You have no right." "Let go of me." "I want to kill her!" "I want her tried!" "I'm the one who'll decide that." "Get down there!" " Shoot!" " Down!" " Shoot." " Down!" "Goddamn it!" "Shoot!" "You're lying!" "My daughter's not a murderer." "Yes, a bullet in the head." "Blood, brains all over me... my shirt, face, eye." "Enough." "Put that down." "That chink may be your daughter, but she's a terrorist, communist." " Such hatred in her eyes!" " Enough!" "If I catch her and that bastard, they'll get what Hebrard got." "Two bullets in the head, just like dogs!" "That's enough, Castellani." "Just leave." "I'll go find her." "Nonsense." "Let me do my job." "The Corsican briefed you?" "You'll go with him." "Officially, he's in charge." "But you'll report directly to me." "Minh, I love her as it she were my daughter." "Then why send Castellani?" "He'll kill her." "Because he won't give up until he finds her." "And Minh will be there." "Trust me!" "What did they say?" "I didn't answer my father." "Camille was mine." "What did they want?" "I wouldn't discuss her with anyone." "I felt my silence would protect her... that it would conceal her having killed someone... that time would erase it." "They headed toward the labyrinth of Ha-Long bay." "A holy place for all Indo-Chinese." "Mountain people, peasants, fishermen from the Gulf of Siam... they all know about it without ever having seen it." "They know of the curse of these islands." "When I heard that Camille and Jean-Baptiste had fled there..." "I read every book... every account I could find." "They all say the same thing." "They're never seen again... those who foolishly or boldly... braved the curse." "They become invisible to others." "Extraordinary." "They're alive." "Save her." "I want her to live." "Take them to the valley." "I'll be there." "Speak to no one." "For centuries my country was otten invaded... but no foreigner knows the entrance to this valley." "We'll hide you there." "You're not prisoners, but you can't leave except with me." "Don't be atraid." "We're sate here." "I'm not afraid." "It you surrender now, they'll pardon you." "Go see Guy." "He'll help you." "He'll say it's not your fault." "Tomorrow, when I wake up, it you're gone, I'll understand." "The water is rising." "The cave will soon be flooded." "We'll come back after the monsoon." "We must leave." "Good-bye." "Goddamn shitty country!" "Can't the old monkey help us instead of just bowing?" "He bows because you're a respectable man." "A white man." "Get some help!" "Hurry!" "Have you been searching long?" "Three months." "It's a very difticult task." "There are things that women know... that we, the men, don't know." "Where are they?" "Who has seen something here?" "They're there?" "Women!" "Where's the tall French soldier... small Indo-Chinese girl?" "Minh!" "Translate!" "That's it." "That's it!" "Finally, a lead!" "Where?" "They're mocking me!" "Shit!" "How was your trip, sir?" "Useful, Minh, as always." "China is a great reservoir." "And you?" "I'm talking to you." "Nothing, obviously." "We've spent four months all over Tonkin." "Intormers, nothing!" "Threats, nothing!" "Rewards offered, nothing!" "It's clear... either they're in China, or they drowned." "It's time to call it off." "I give up." "You'll find them." "It's your only job." "You'll find them if it takes your whole life." "Inspector Castellani is right." "We won't find her." "She rolls up in a ball" "And nibbles her knees" "That rubber gal" "All the things you can do with her" "She grabs you and you turn into mush" "She's something else She'll put you out of joint" "Was she your surprise?" "She's quite a number A funny little thing" "She's the real thing and she suits every taste" "That rubber gal" "When she's out to please you the things she'll do" "Because she's such a tease" "I'll tell you, just between us" "Well, that rubber gal" "Is me" "Yes, that's what they call me" "Marshmallow is like wood next to me" "As for the snake-woman I'm just as good as she" "I'll do a cartwheel for you and pinch my cheeks too" "I hop like a bird" "I taunt you" "I give you the eye" "But with my belly button" "How are you?" "All right." "I'm glad you brought me here." " She has a nice tigure." " Ah!" "You noticed it too?" "The champagne is on me." "Let me kiss you." "It's so good to see you, especially with what happened to you." "So awful." "How are your children?" "Raymond took them with him to France." "It simplifies things in a way." "But when I think they're 10,000 kilometers away..." "I could cry forever." "Forgive me, Yvette." "I must leave." "Won't you stay for a drink?" "And I was being sincere." "You shouldn't act so proud, with what they're saying about Camille." "There's talk about you, too, in Saigon." "Yes, my dear Yvette." ""It's awful."" "Today I staked out a small parcel of land with Kim." "For ten minutes I thought only of my rubber trees." "And then, while I was dressing..." "I tell to my knees, sobbing." "And here I am, almost cheertul." "Sometimes the despair lessens... as it it had evaporated, gone." "Other times, it takes over." "Swear you're not hiding anything?" "Same old story:" "We search everywhere." "The intormers are going crazy." "We follow each lead, nothing." "She's becoming a legend... an Indo-Chinese Joan of Arc." "You think she's still alive?" "The truth !" "Will you find her?" "Yes, I will find her." "Go in the pagoda." "Don't let anyone see you." "You must leave." "You can't stay here." "We have more important people to hide." "Come with us, Camille." "The Party needs you." "Much later I learned of Tanh's role and his importance." "He was among the secret heads of Indochina's communist party." "Xuy will try to get you into China." "That's all I can do for you." "He had convinced his friends to protect Camille and Jean-Baptiste." "Any news trom my mother?" "None." "Neither from your mother nor mine." "That's all in the past." "Stay inside the wagon." "You're a white deserter." "Don't forget that." "But there's nobody!" "This place is completely deserted!" "There are eyes everywhere." "Put that in your ignorant French otficer's head." "You're a threat to our safety." "The French are blocking every road." "Even leaving you here during the performance is dangerous." "Jean-Baptiste." "Push harder." "You wanted to stay." "I warned you." "This isn't for men." "Wipe that off." "You look like a devil." "You'll scare the baby." "Harder." "Here he is!" "It's a boy." "You have a son." "A son is good." "Better than a girl." "Death to the land robbers who starved us!" "Death to mandarins and notables." "They support the French!" "You're worthless cowards!" "Your pay, your bonuses... carrying on with submissive congaies, that you know!" "But when it comes to ideas, torget it!" "Because of sheep like you, France will lose the empire." "I think I'm tighting Asia all by myself." "I'm tired." "All right." "Disturbances broke out here, here, and last Thursday, here." "What does that mean?" "It means someone's moving along that line, starting fires." "Agreed?" "Now, who travels on this route... without attracting attention?" "Who has been traveling from village to village for centuries... so that it seems as natural as the wind or the rain?" "So natural that you don't even stop them." "Well, who?" "Theatrical troupes!" "Actors in our country are free and neutral." "Since centuries ago." "The communists couldn't possibly have corrupted them." "You've no right to suspect them." "Yes." "Well, within one week I want all the actors... dancers, singers and puppeteers... who tour in northern Tonkin to be arrested." "Code name: "Operation Moliere."" "In five hours we're in China, Yunnan province." "You know what Yunnan means?" ""The land south of the clouds."" "Where are you going?" "Not far." "Don't worry." "With the child?" "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost..." "I baptize you..." "Etienne Marie Loic." "My baby." "My little baby." "You have killed." "They'll kill you." "The child will also die." "Let them go." "We must flee." "You'll see them again someday." "For that you must live." "Flee with us." "She had no time to become attached to you." "You had just been born." "I've offen wondered whether you should know all this." "I had thought of meeting Jean-Baptiste's family." "I didn't do it." "Neither did they." "Wait, Lieutenant." "Calm down." "He's hungry." "What can I do?" "Find a woman." "Congaie!" "Congaie!" "At every stop, Indo-Chinese women gave you their milk." "That's how the legend began." "With you." "All the women claimed they'd fed you." "Even some who'd been dry for years." "Even some that had never seen you." "And then the legend included Camille and Jean-Baptiste." "It spread across the whole country... from village to village... from the border of China to Saigon." "Why did you bring me here?" "Nobody move!" "Follow them!" "Hurry up." "Tell me, Guy." "Why am I here?" "Camille's in Poulo-Condore prison." "She's alive!" "Get her out." "I want to see her." "You won't!" "Nobody can see her." "Not even I" "Stop!" "Stop talking!" "You're in charge." "I want Camille." "In Indochina right now... a hundred troupes are pertorming Camille's story." "I can do nothing!" "Get her out of prison !" "Please!" "Don't you understand?" "Not only won't she get out, but she'll end up a communist!" "Poulo-Condore prison is the world's largest communist breeding ground." "You go in a criminal, a prostitute, a nationalist... you come out a Marxist!" "And I hope that she does become a communist!" "It's her only chance!" "Everyone else dies!" "Now I know who you are." "Nothing!" "You're nothing but words." "You're worse than a coward." "You're there." "You watch, snitf around, and you talk!" "You wonder why I never slept with you?" "I didn't want you as a lover!" "Women need more than words!" "Eliane!" "Eliane!" "Madame, this is Etienne." "Please sign here." "Him ugly." "Him a drop ot mud." "You're right, Shen." "Very ugly." "Not handsome at all." "Not much big." "Not pretty, dressed "anywhen."" "Not "anywhen," Shen." "It's "any old way."" "The evil spirits are listening." "If we say he's handsome, they'll harm him." "Give me Le Guen." "What'll you do with him?" "I'm awaiting orders from Paris." "Let me question him." "What he knows about the communist networks and leaders... is ot major interest to us." "Three points, Mr. Asselin." "One:" "Le Guen doesn't talk." "He hasn't spoken since his arrest." "Not even to my chief of staff, his classmate." "Two:" "If I hand him over to you, he might talk." "But I'd rather not." "We know your methods." "Three:" "Le Guen is a sailor." "His case will be tried by sailors." "Any relevant information will be passed along to you." "Thanks." "Another example of navy-police cooperation." "That's what makes empires great." "You've decided to talk." "I'm listening." "I have one request." "Only one." "Jean-Baptiste." "Hello." "Hello, Eliane." "They gave me 24 hours ot freedom." "I gave my word." "I'll ship out tomorrow morning." "I'll be tried in Brest." "A trial here would have harmed the navy's honor... and placed France on trial in Indochina." "I have one day to settle all my affairs." "Will you take him to France to your family?" "No." "I'm asking you to keep him." "Later on, we'll see." "You accept?" "I wouldn't have let you take him." "You haven't changed." "I never had a little baby ot my own." "Where will you spend the night?" "I don't know." "Take him to the house in Saigon." "He should spend a night with his tather." "Do you want Shen to help you?" "No, I'll manage." "I'll see you off tomorrow." "Any news?" "None whatsoever." "You'll see her again." "She's gotten so strong." "Did they sleep well?" "Me not know." "You didn't go upstairs?" "No." "Baby crying last night, then sleep." "My Etienne." "My darling." "We're going home... back to our home." "Madame!" "Madame Devries!" "Swear you didn't do it!" "Swear it!" "That I didn't do what?" "Jean-Baptiste is dead, and you killed him." "He's in Emile's house." "The gun is in his hand." "No one kills himself while holding his own baby!" "Calm down, Eliane." "His day of freedom!" "You were all in on it!" "He was free, tree to die... free to get shot!" "I'll fight." "I'll get proof against you, the army, the government!" "Stop it!" "It's the communists!" "The communists." "He infiltrated them, then he betrayed them." "He betrayed everybody." "He got what he deserved." "It's hopeless." "By noon all Saigon will be convinced it was suicide." "Seal off Mr. Devries' house." "Inform the Chief of the Cabinet and Admiral Josselin." "I'm on my way." "As expected, it was ruled a suicide." "Fighting for Jean-Baptiste's memory... was like battling against France and the empire." "So I wrote to Saigon's leading newspaper." "It was a simple letter... saying your father loved life... far too much to decide to die like that." "I accompanied him to the boat, as I'd promised him." "Without you, I would have followed him." "You were five years old." "I had no news about your mother except that she was alive." "To have her pardoned, I wrote to the president... the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Colonies... and the Governor General." "None of them answered." "I didn't do anything!" "I did nothing." "It's not me." "It's my parents." " They say you're" " I'm what?" "A Red!" "A dirty communist." "Tell them it's true." "In my beloved domain, you had become the little king." "Bankers pressured me every day." "They wanted my lands." "I wanted to save everything for my daughter and you." "Once Camille was free, things would be like before." "Then, one night, Guy called." "He spoke as if there hadn't been three years of silence between us." "Ladies and gentlemen... bow deeply to the woman I love." "Pig!" "I forgive you." "I don't." "Never mind." "I'm leaving." "Don't hold back." "I won't either." "Make my last day unforgettable." "I spent half my life here, thanks to my Chinese." "Why leave?" "Dismissed, fired, discarded." "Will you have me?" "You're like the Popular Front... like the military, like everyone." "Guy Asselin isn't liked." "Where to?" "To some fragment ot the empire." "The innocent are kicked out... the guilty will go free." "Drink up, my friends." "Drink, so I'll forget my troubles." "And it you like secrets, interrogate each other." "You know all about Saigon." "I was merely the mailbox, the post oftice." "I'm relieving you of your oaths of silence." "Tonight we tell all." "Come on." "Do I have a destiny?" "Hurry back to Guy." "Men like him shouldn't be left alone." "His type is always getting hurt." "My turn." "My turn!" "Come!" " My turn !" " It's easy." "Guy knew before anyone else." "A few days later, it was official." "The Popular Front opened the jails and pardoned the prisoners." "Stay back!" "The pardoned prisoners will be transported to Saigon by truck." "They will be freed at police headquarters." "Let them through!" "My child, my darling." "How thin you've gotten." "The Red Princess!" "There she is!" "I'll carry your bag." "That's okay." "I tried everything to get you out." "I prayed." "I'd have given my life." "I was afraid you'd die." "I've kept everything." "The house, the estate, the lands." "They're yours." "I'm not going back." " I'm leaving." " What are you saying?" " Please, just think." " I've thought for five years." "It's too late, Mama." "I can't go backwards." "I have no past." "I've forgotten everything." "Otherwise, I'd have died of sorrow." "What's his name?" "Etienne." "He's a wonderful boy." "Listen." "Try." "I'll help." "My darling." "I don't want him to know what I've lived through, how I suffered." "I want him to be happy." "My darling." "Go to France!" "Take him there." "Your Indochina is no more." "It's dead." "You sold it?" "Yes." "Many piastres?" "Many." "You buy other plantation?" "No, Shen." "You know I won't." "Satait and Kim and me, we go where?" "You're staying." "It was decided with Madame Minh Tam." "Mr. Emile also stays." "And you?" "Go where?" "I left for France... for another life." "I brought only you." "Tomorrow France loses Indochina for good." "The Vietnamese came with a big delegation." "Your mother, Camille, is in that hotel... in room 212." "Do you want to see her?" "Do you?" "I don't." "You saw her?" "The lobby was very crowded." "Policemen, security officers and barriers." "I realized how ridiculous the situation was." "I imagined throwing myselt at an Indo-Chinese woman, yelling..." ""Mama!"" "So I thought a miracle ought to happen." "I hoped one of them would shout, "Etienne, my son!"" "I waited... a long time." "Nothing happened." "So I left." "You're always joking." "No." "You are my mother." "What's the matter?" "I broke my heel." ""The next day, July 21, 1954... the Geneva Conterence concluded... ending 15 years of turmoil... and initiating the division into two distinct nations... of what would hence forth be called Vietnam.""