"THE GREEN ROOM" "The history of the green room unfolds in a small city in the East of France." "It starts 10 years after the end of the 1st World War which caused millions of deaths." "Good morning lady, I come to see Mr. Mazet" " Gerard Mazet" " Come in, sir." "Follow me, please." " Gerard" " No, Julien, don't go and see her." "I prefer you keep the memory of Genevieve, of when she was alive, of when she smiled." "I want to be with you, Gerard." "No, no, I don't want that!" "Stop that!" "Get out of here!" "Genevieve, Genevieve" "Mortem nostra sua morte devicit Christus." "Death is only a transitory state, my son, for the baptized." "Sin entered the world through the first man, Adam, and with sin, death." "With his death, Jesus saved us from sin, and so, saved us from death which is the daughter of sin." "His wife is not dead, my son, because she was baptized, washed of original sin." "She has not died, she's only sleeping, incorruptible." "And she'll be like that until the end of times." "Until the day she wakes up and you wake up with her to appear in front of our Father and our Judge." "In the meanwhile, pray my son." "Pray and wait." "Purify yourself, to be worthy of reuniting with her on the day of Resurrection and the Glory of the Lord." "Reunite with her on Resurrection day." "But when will that day arrive?" "When, when?" "Patience, my son." "Patience and hope." "No!" "It's not possible that she died!" "Genevieve!" "Leave me." "All of you!" " Gerard, don't do that!" " I want to die!" "Take care of him." "It's your fault, Mr. priest." "Yes, your fault." "This woman did not die because of sin, she died of pneumonia." "Your words of resignation are of no use to her husband." "Those who weep for their dead, it's not in 20 years, nor in a thousand that they hope to see them again, but right now." "All that they expect from you is that you say:" "get up and walk!" "And that the dead get up." "And if you are incapable of resurrecting Genevieve today, right now, there's nothing for you to do here." "So get out." "Out!" "I promised myself to be strong." "I wanted to resist." "And Mazet will resist... only if he doesn't have to listen to conventional consolations." "Yes, I know what you are feeling." "You'd have liked to be dead in her place, or at the same time as her, but it depends only on you that Genevieve stays alive." "How can you say that?" "How do you know?" "Your story is exactly like mine, Mazet." "My wife died 11 years ago, a few months after our marriage, on a trip to Italy." "Like you, I thought that I couldn't live." "Around me I heard only stupid words of resignation." "Like you, I wanted to die." "And how did you find the courage to continue without her?" "I decided that even if she had died for the others, for me she will always be alive." "Listen Mazet, I'll tell you something important." "For those who don't care," "Genevieve's eyes are closed." "Nut for you they will always be open." "Don't think you've lost her." "Think that now you cannot lose her any more." "Dedicate all your thoughts to her, all your activities, all your love, and you'll see that the dead belong to us, if we accept to belong to them." "Believe me, Gerard, our dead can go on living." "Are you looking for something, sir?" "Yes, I'd like to know whether in the auction of the day after tomorrow, in the belongings of the Vallance family, there are any antique jewels." "I don't know, the secretary can inform you." "Good morning, sir." "I think I understood you are looking for some object." "Yes, I'm looking for an old ring that belonged to the Vallance family." "Almost all things in here belong to the Vallance family." "Could you describe me that ring?" "It's a silver ring, shaped like an eight, with two amethysts inside of the curl." "It's not here because the jewels will be auctioned another day." "But if I see that ring I'll keep it apart for one day, so that you can identify it before the auction." " Thank you very much." " No problem at all." "I never saw you here." "You're not an auction regular?" "No." "To tell the truth, I don't like them at all." "Especially if I knew the owners of the objects on sale." "I feel like being at some kind of pillage." "For instance, this clock and these adornments, who can guarantee us that they will not be dispersed" "If I could I wouldn't be opposed to this kind of thing." "I understand, but that wouldn't resurrect the dead." " Do you really believe that?" " I don't know." "You can call it professional deformation, but I only like old objects that have belonged to somebody." "I detest new objects, that's why I'm working here." "Where can I find you if I find the ring?" "At the Globe newspaper, I work there." " The Globe still exists?" " Yes." "I thought that that paper had disappeared some time ago." "I used to glance through the collections in my uncle's attic." "OK, I think the only thing left for me is to say thank you." "Wait with that until I find your ring." "I know what you're thinking." "That you've seen this somewhere." "They're Napolitan marionettes." "They're very pretty." "Alright, thank you miss." "Good afternoon, sir." "It's him, go open the door." "Hello, Georges." "Sir, the boy has repaired the projector, but you'd better inspect it." "You are right, Mrs. Rambaud." "Come here Georges." "OK." "You've repaired it very well." "Here, take these plates." "OK Georges, turn it on." "Let's see the first plate." "You know the dragonfly, don't you?" "Put another plate." "Yes, you're right, it's the other way around." "Careful with your fingers." "Flees, big flees." "They're well drawn." "Do you like it?" "No, insects don't interest you." "Wait." "Wait." "I just bought them." "Look, they're very nice." "You'll see." "They are wounded soldiers, perhaps they are dead." "Yes, in the sand, they fell to the ground." "Put this other one." "The church was bombed." "Yes, they brought the wounded to the church to protect them." "And this one, a howitzer probably cut off his head." "Look, Georges, it's a dead soldier hanging in a tree." "He's hanging because of an explosion." "Don't you have anything else to show him than these horrors?" "They are not for his age." "You're right, Mrs. Rimbaud." "Let's have supper." "Really, I don't understand your denial." "I'm offering you a unique opportunity." "What's more, you'd work in Paris with me." "I don't like Paris, I'm a provincial." "But you wouldn't like to work for a real paper?" "A weekly, at the heart of events." "I feel flattered that you thought of me." "But I like the Globe, so that if you have to sell it, sell me with it, with the files and the furniture." "But what if nobody would buy The Globe." "Come here, I'll show you something." "Those are the issues that are returned in the mail every month." "Read it yourself." "Subscriber deceased." "Return to sender." "Subscriber deceased... deceased." "It shouldn't be for me to tell you, you are young." "All our subscribers are old." "Each of these issues represents a dead reader." "Yes, I didn't know how to explain to you before the reasons why I don't want to go to Paris." "You just gave them to me yourself." "I want to stay here, for them." " Miss." " Good afternoon." "I think we found the ring you were looking for." " Ah, great!" " I'll be with you in a minute." "OK, thanks a lot." " Miss, can I go?" " Sure, Gustav." " See you, Ms. Mandel" " Bye bye, Gustav." " Your name is Mandel?" " Yes." "Can I ask you your first name?" "Cecilia." "But it's much easier if you remember my parents." "Wasn't your father's name Julien?" "Yes, he died quite a while ago, but his name was Julien, like yours." "So, why didn't you tell me the other day that we've seen each other before." "I didn't want to bother you." "And also it's very logical that you don't remember me." "I have good memories of our meeting." "I was a teenager, shy with people." "Really, everything made me afraid." "But you talked to me as to an adult, without irony." "Now I remember that meeting." "It'll be about 11 years ago, in Rome." "There was a big storm and we sought shelter with your father and his friends in a ditch opened by archaeologists." "It was at Caesar's palace." "You see, everything's engraved." "Not at all." "It wasn't in Rome, but in Naples." "I wasn't 11 years ago, but 14." "It's true there was a storm, but that was in Pompeii." "And it wasn't my father, I was with my father's brother." " my uncle Henry." " I mixed it all up." "So many things have happened since then." "There's been a war, bad and cruel things." "But two years after our meeting," "I was convinced that I'd see again the man who had talked to me like to an adult." "And I had a profound reason for thinking that." "You're impatient to see your ring and I will give it to you." "Yes, excuse me." " Is it this one?" " Yes." "It will have to follow the due course of the auction." "It will have a starting price of 100 francs." "You can tell me how high you are willing to bid." "I thought to go until 300 francs." "Do you think that will be sufficient?" "Yes, it's very nice but I don't think they will bid much higher." "I promise nothing, but I'll look for you during the auction." "I prefer not to be at the auction, it's painful for me." "I understand." "So tell the person who represents you to make himself known before the auction." "Mrs. Rambaud will come, my housekeeper." "Very well." " Could I see the ring again?" " Of course." " Yes sir?" "I'm going to dictate some letters." "Tell me, what do they think of Davenne here?" "What did you say, sir?" "What do you want to know?" "Ah, at ease." "I'm not asking anything indiscreet." "I only asked you what the colleagues think of Davenne." "Mr. Davenne is a bit special." "He talks little and nobody sees him in town." "They think that he must have suffered a lot, with the loss of so many friends in the war, while he himself was not even wounded." "I think he was in an anti-aircraft unit, but in artillery." "Yes." "They were very close to the front." "They didn't kill many enemies, but the Germans feared them and couldn't localize them." "That's why no one of them was wounded." "Do you believe Davenne blames himself because of that?" "It's possible." "There are few men here of Davenne's generation... who still have both of their legs." "Anyway, he's a strange one!" "My impression is that he voluntarily decided to eschew all the good things of life." "Some people don't like him." "They find him distant." "I think that he never recovered... from the death of his wife." "They got engaged just before the war." "She waited 4 years for him, and then the were newly wedded, when it happened, when she died." "After that he was not the same any more." "But I think Mr. Davenne isn't a bad guy." "When I say he fails in all that he embarks on," "I'm unjust, because he's a virtuoso in the obituary columns." "When I think that in the past year he wrote 31 articles about dead persons, without ever using the same expression twice." "I'm looking at you!" "You still here?" "Go on, go." "We start at 10 francs. 10, 20, 30... 40, 50, 60 on the left." "70, 80 on the back, 90 on the left." "We are at 90." "90 once, twice, 90 thrice." "Awarded for 90 francs to the lady on the left." "OK, now we go on to the jewels." "We're auctioning this ring, mounted with two amethysts." "The mount is silver, and the stones are amethysts." "We start at 100 francs." "110 bid by the lady in the black tulle at the back on the left." "120, 130, 130 on the left." "Nobody bids higher?" "140, 150, 160... 180, 185, 190, a bid of 200 at the back on the right." "210, nobody more?" "220." "230, once, twice, thrice." "Awarded for 230 francs to the lady with the tulle." "Thank you, thank you very much." "Listen, Mrs. Rambaud, I'm not in, for nobody." "Yes?" "Ah, Mr. Davenne is not in, he's on a trip." "I found your ring, Julie." "I wanted to give it to you today, without waiting for your birthday." "I've not forgotten you, Julie." "I don't forget you, in spite of the years." "On the contrary, I think about you more and more." "This night that's starting, we'll pass it together." "Alright, it's a bother but we cannot wait longer." "OK, I'll tell your friend Davenne that you came to see him." "No, don't tell him, I'd like it to be a surprise." "Understand it, he helped me so much when my first wife died." "I thought he'd like it if I present him Yvonne." " Ah, it's you!" " Yes, I'm Yvonne Mazet, we married last month in Paris." "My compliments to you both." "I went to spend some time in the house of my cousin, to have a change of air." "We met at the station, and on arriving at your house I got the wrong floor." "I rang the door and it was Yvonne who opened it." "I was very lucky." "No, it's me, Gerard, who was lucky." "You know, this horrible war has killed so many men, that it condemned many women to stay single." "I feel very happy that we met." " Goodbye, sir." " Goodbye." "You can see the happiness in your face." "I was a pleasure to see you." "And, of course I'll keep the secret." "His wife died a few months ago and he already replaced her." "Genevieve Mazet was blond like wheat, the new Mrs. Mazet is brown like ebony." "I imagine that for him it was just a change of hair color." "And he even had the impudence to come and present her to me, thinking that I'd like it." "Why keep that men from loving?" "Why stop him to rebuild his life?" "You think people cannot love two times?" " I don't know." " You really don't know?" "I can only tell you that when his wife died, the true one, not the impostress," "Mazet got in a state of absolute despair." "If you'd have seen his face, distorted by crying, he even tried suicide in front of me." "I staid with him, talked to him, tried to help him." "And that wonderful woman who dedicated her life to him, he replaced her as if she was a servant." "I cannot agree with your indignation." "Why would the 2nd Mrs. Mazet erase the memory of the dead one?" "Who tells you that this marriage isn't just another way of remembering?" "Almost all my friends died in the war." "You think other friends have replaced them?" "How could the disappeared hope to remain, if it were not in the memory of those who live?" "A short while ago I went back to St. Germain, where I spent 2 years of the war." "The combats were so violent there, that the soil is full of shells, and the earth itself has become uncultivable." "So that in this cruel world without pity" "I want to have the right not to forget." "Even if I have to be the only one who doesn't forget." "I cannot find words as easily as you." "But I firmly believe that it's necessary to forget." "Excuse me, I've been stupid." "It's my fault, I've spoken brutally to you." " It's true, you're too brutal." " Probably because of my solitude." "It's very rare I have the opportunity to talk with somebody in private, like we are doing right now." "So I imagine that I've simply lost the habit of listening." "I told you before that I had a reason for remembering you." "You didn't ask me to tell you, can I tell you now?" "I'm listening to you." "I thought we were alike... because we have some important things in common." "For years, when people talked about you to me, they said you were the man whose wife appeared to him at the moment of her death, even though being thousands of miles apart." "That's right, that's what happened to me." "But at times I'm sorry that I've talked about it." "I should have kept it a secret." "I understand." "At that time it was almost a fable." "I think the others have forgotten it, but I remember it often, because later the same thing happened to me with my father... almost the same." "Well, it's very long ago." "No, I'd like you to tell it to me." "Wait, I'll stop the car." "I'm listening to you." "My mother had died 5 years before, and my father had sent me to a boarding school." "I only saw him at holidays." "One day, 9 years ago, the 17th of March, on a school visit to the Louvre museum," "I stayed alone in front of a painting in a small exposition room." "There were only two persons present." "A guard, and a visitor, whom I thought at first was a tourist." "I only noticed that he wore no hat and that he sat on a sofa." "At the very moment that I looked at him again," "I recognized my father." "He looked at me, he smiled at me and he held out his arms to me." "So I ran towards him, very happy opening my arms too." "But he disappeared." "That same evening I received a telegram announcing his death." "It had happened at the very time he appeared to me in the museum." "You know, somehow that vision made my sorrow lighter." "And the image of him I've kept is of that apparition." "The story they told me about you and the death of your wife made a big impression on me." "And later, always when thinking about the death of my father, my thoughts led me to you." "Yes, we've had the same experience." "That's why we love the dead, we don't want them to be forgotten." "We can't accept that they're betrayed, we are similar." "No, we are not similar." "True, I love the dead, I respect them, but I love the living just as well." "Listen, somebody dies, a child comes into the world, new friends can replace those who disappeared." "It's the natural flow of life." "A man adores his wife and suffers the misfortune of losing her." "Well, I think it's normal that he loves again." "It's natural." "No, if you want to talk about Mazet you will not convince me." "I think Mazet's conduct has been unspeakable." "I'm sorry, I was wrong." "I thought we had the same ideas." "I thought so too." "We don't have the same way of loving the dead." "You love the dead against the living." "I can go home now." "I prefer to say goodbye here." "Don't accompany me." "As you wish." "One moment, hang on." "Mr. Bishop?" "Hello?" "When will it take place." "I have work for you." "Massigny has died." "What!" "Has he died?" "Yes, in an accident." "In a most stupid way." "He stopped on the highway so that his companion could get out... and on opening the door, a truck knocked him over." "So Massigny is dead." "Yes, they brought his body to town." "The burial will be the day after tomorrow." "The hotels are full." "Many people arrived from Paris." "Politicians, reporters, and not only men..." "Massigny liked women." "Monique will give you the documentation about him." "I don't need documentation to write about him." "I just finished the article on Massigny... but I didn't have the courage to read it again." "Mr. Davenne... the Massigny file." "And what do you want me to do with it?" "Mr. Bishop wants you to pick a photo for the article." "This is Massigny on an official trip to Russia." "A yes, that was in '23." "Here, at the tomb of the unknown soldier." "Massigny at the moment of the Tunis crisis." "I didn't know this photo." "And this is the famous photo of the missing minister." "And here, just a portrait." "This one's already been published." "And this other one doesn't look good." "Listen, I don't want to choose myself." "You do it." " OK, good afternoon Monique." " Good afternoon sir." "Davenne, wait!" "But, what has got into you?" "You're not expecting that we publish this?" "What's wrong with it?" "Is it too short, or what?" "Did you realize in what way you talk about him?" "It looks like you'd want him to die a second time." "Give me the article." "Ask somebody else to write it." "But..." "I thought you two were very close." "I don't understand." "That's why I suggest that the article be written by someone who didn't know Massigny." "He was my best friend, and since the day he stopped being that, nobody has replaced him." "He taught me a very difficult lesson." "When you accept that you belong to society, you have to protect yourself from profound disgust." "The truth is that you hated him." "No, hate is no part of my way of looking at life." "But true, when I think of him, I think of the man who has done me more damage than anybody else." "Through him, I saw that for some life is a ferocious competition in which everything is permitted." "That's why I got out of the race, and thanks to Massigny" "I became a spectator of life." "You are right, he was my friend, and the only thing I feel today, on learning of his death, is an immense relief." "Which advantages would Massigny have obtained of a triumphal entrance in the City Council of the City of Paris?" "We ask ourselves." "Instead of an almost humiliating failure he shed light on the urgent necessity not to improve universal suffrage but to abolish it." "During 2 months, the incomparable polemist that was Paul Massigny, confined to newspaper columns, methodically took his distance." "And then, speaking of the proposal for a new law on renewing banking privileges that risked putting almost all of the national wealth in the hands of the Rothchilds," "Paul Massigny threw himself at Minister Bridoux with such ferocity that the authorities cannot stay indifferent." "Accused in court he is condemned to 3 months imprisonment but he breathes freely because a breach has been opened." "So, the all pervading injustice has marked him." "And this time in a vital part, in the soul." "Nevertheless, Massigny carries out his managerial duties, once this fire has been extinguished." "The number of subscribers triples in a few weeks." "His team of co-workers closes ranks with him." "During the years, Massigny is up against grand rivals." "Some of whom are honoring us today with their presence, others have died." "But nobody had such significance, with such force for the renewal of social thinking." "Because nobody has been insulted so patiently, for so long a time." "They will ask themselves:" "why rekindle the fire of hate again." "But whoever believes to see hate here only shows his heart is mixed up." "De profound cry emitted by the work of Massigny, which will resonate forever, is that of a free man." "Quick, close the windows!" "Go and get water!" "I have not been able to protect you, Julie." "I have to think of something to have you closer to me." " Good day, sir." "I don't know if you remember me." "I came 2 weeks ago." "I'm coming to see if my order is ready." "Yes, yes, it's ready." "I hope you'll feel satisfied." "No, that's not it at all." "I'm very disappointed." "But it's exactly as on the photo you gave me." "No, that's not possible, that's not her." "I don't want to take this thing." "But sir, impossible, with al the work I put into it!" " Here, I prefer to pay you." " No way." " Take the money, sir." " I cannot accept it." " Take this money." " No way." "Take this money and destroy this right now, in front of me." "I cannot do it." "Destroy this thing immediately." "There is no hope for me any more, Julie." "I had the impression of losing you again." "I beg you, Julie, don't abandon me." "Sir, before granting you an audience," "I have to know more about you and your project." "Your letter is not very explicit." "Moreover, why exactly this chapel?" "It has been very damaged by the war... and we are not planning to open it for service again." "Our diocese has a too few priests, and those are called to more urgent duties." "Tell me, what do you want to do with it?" "I want to take responsibility for that chapel." "To take its restoration and maintenance upon myself." "I've chosen it precisely because it's been abandoned by the faithful." "By dedicating it to my dead I will not remove its original goal." "What do you mean with 'your dead'?" "I think of all the persons who counted in my life, and who are not here any more." "For a long time I thought that the memory was sufficient." "Now I know that I have to do something more for them." "This chapel can help me." "Are you planning to found some kind of sect?" "Not at all." "I only believe that the moment has come to offer the dead testimony of the love to which they are entitled." "Do you have links with freemasonry?" "Certainly not." "Do you have a spiritual leader who can be responsible for you?" "Well..." "I don't." "You'll have to have confidence in me." " There's no choice." " Are you a catholic?" "For a long time I've asked myself whether I had faith." "But now I'm sure and proud of not having the faith that many would wish for." "What does that mean?" "What shocks me is the miserable way in which we forget the dead." "I want to repair that injustice." "They don't have celebrations, no honor, no shelter, no security." "How this wish to rescue from oblivion came about," "I couldn't tell you, but I've invented them a ritual." "And because you dispose of some money, you'd like to realize that cult." "That's it." "I've thought of candles." "Each dead would have his own." "And together they'd form a forest of lighted flames, day and night for their memory." "A forest of flames?" "I don't know what to tell you." "The church doesn't appreciate excesses at all." "Hello, you didn't want to see me anymore?" "I thought it was you who didn't want to see me." "Sure, but the last time your goodbye was like an order to silence." "You haven't felt tempted to break that order?" "No, I've been raised to be obedient." "Me too, I know obedience." "I didn't want to avoid you, on the contrary." "Since our last meeting something has happened that made me come closer to your ideas." "Our dead, our poor dead, they ask so little, and they obtain even less." "I often find myself right here." "I think I don't like cemeteries, they're cold prisons where they lock up the dead, to get rid of them under the frozen soil." "No, I don't think so." "They're at home, below the ground." "Do you know that the Chinese opposed the construction of the railroad for a long time?" "They couldn't bear that the soil of the dead would be touched." "I think that, if so many people honored them, it's because the feared them." "But we, we love them." "True?" "Yes, you're right, we love them." "Listen, I have a big project." "It's still early to talk about it, but you'll be the first to know about it." "But please be careful." "You worry me with you initiatives." "It's a letter from the bishop." "I'm very happy." "We're going to repair the chapel." "There will be works, scaffoldings." "I'll take you with me." "There will be many painters." "We're going to work together." "Ah yes, very well." "Thank you, Georges." "She's pretty, isn't she?" "Yes, Julie was very pretty." "I understood that Julie'd be with us always... as long as I'd live amidst everything that belonged to her." "But I'm going to make more for her." "A final refuge where she'll shine in all her splendor." "An altar of light where she will be the central flame." "Julie, eternally young, loyal, courageous, magnificent Julie." "Alright Georges, go." "If you think I'm an old fool, you're right." "Bring it to the car." "Thank you, Georges." "Thank you, madam." "Bye bye, see you this evening." "You see, I told you you'd be the first to know." "The moment has come." "Come with me and excuse me if I don't tell you anything more." " Do you trust me?" " Of course I trust you." "Anyway, I find it very mysterious." "I think you're going to ask me to put a veil over my eyes." "No, I won't." "Listen, I'm not ready yet." "I want you to wait for me here." "If you don't mind, I'll come looking for you." "A little while more, please." "Now we can enter." "My dead now have a place that is irrevocably theirs." "And this old chapel will no longer be a place of death, not a place of rest, but a place of life." "As long as we're alive, you and I, these flames will continue to shine and breathe to the rhythm of the human heart." "None of them should be put out." "But all these photos..." "Did you know all these persons?" "Yes, they are my friends who disappeared." "You are young, but you'll see that at a certain moment you know more dead people than living." "This man for example, who was he?" "His name was Simon Jardine, he was from Ireland." "During the 30 years he lived in our region, the police and the justice dept." "didn't have much to do." "His reputation of integrity was such that all who had disagreements preferred his arbitrage to settle their conflicts." "And this couple?" "They married in 1911." "For 3 years they were always together, every day." "And when the mobilized him, she wanted to jump out of the window." "But the neighbors stopped her." "Later he deserted, because he couldn't bear being without her." "They managed to reach Holland... where they died a few years ago." "With an interval of a few days, like Siamese twins." "Look at this man, with his beautiful face." "All his life he suffered from timidity." "I'd like to tell you about him, but it's difficult." "You'd have to hear the tone of his voice, which was extraordinary." "This one is American." "He liked Europe so much, that he ended up opting for English nationality." "I knew him only a little, but because of him," "I learned of the importance of respect for our dead." "And this little boy?" "When I was still an adolescent," "I saw him die, on a summer holiday." "He died of septicemia." "This woman also died very young." "But in the way that all would like to die:" "sleeping in her bed." "She went out like the flame of one of these candles." "I see that her family has written:" "remember her in your prayers." "Although this woman was the irreverence incarnate." "I remember her way of halting an animated discussion." "She exclaimed: if God would exist," "I'd be the first to know about it." "And this soldier?" "Yes, it's a German soldier." "I'm one of his murderers, because I was a gunner in the battery that got his plane down." "He seems to sleep." "That's correct." "It's the only photo we found of him." "I have to say that, looking at this photo, it's difficult to consider him an enemy." "Ant that musician?" "Did you know him?" "Yes, I had almost forgotten him." "But one day, hearing a piece on the radio that he had composed," "I realized that his music, full of quality and light, was the right one to accompany the memory of all my dead." "So they are all here." "All those you knew." "All those who meant something to you." "Yes, they're all here." "And now I'd like to ask you something." " Can I?" " Yes." "Cecilia, do you accept to become, with me, the guardian of this temple?" "To share its rights and duties?" "Do you accept to care for them with me, for all of them?" "Don't answer me right away, think it over if you want." "But let me tell you that I've waited for this moment for a long time." "For a very long time." "I wish that my dead be yours." "And in turn, that yours be mine too." "Don't think that this set is finished." "There's place for all of your dead." "Their flames will simply add themselves to these." "Tell me what you wish." " What I wish?" " Yes." "Do you want to know?" "I wish that all these flames mingle to form a mountain of light, one big luminosity." "Do you mean that in your life there's only place for one celebration?" "Yes, one celebration." "I want to make sure that I understood you." "In a way that all your dead are only one?" "One only, yes." "But, Georges!" "What did you do with the plates?" "What did you do?" "Go to bed without supper." " What did you do to him?" " I've sent him to bed." "Look, he broke my plates." "You, come here!" "Cecilia, do you want to help me?" "The important thing is to find that boy." "Does Georges have family or friends around here?" "No, just Mrs. Rambaud, my housekeeper, who takes care of him." "Listen, on the one hand there are the hospitals, on the other the police." "Let's divide the task." " You go to the hospital." " Yes, that's it." "They didn't put him here, he'll be in the other." "Wait here, miss." "Where can that little brat be?" "Ah, here he is." "Let's go, out." "What are you doing under there?" "Don't be afraid." "I will bring you home." "Drink, my little one." "Sorry to hear about your money trouble." "But I can't help thinking that those conferences are a good thing." "They are occasions for people to know your works." "True, until now I lacked ambition, probably because I was alone." "But now there's that chapel to maintain, so that..." "When will you leave?" "The day after tomorrow." "But don't worry." "Since I have the chapel, my dead defend me." "I have the impression that they protect me." "I'm sure you understand me." "Yes, I feel almost the same as you." "But for you, that chapel reconciles you with your future." "and for me, with my past." "Little by little I'm accepting the idea that I'm caring for it with you." "It feels like getting out of an illness." "To go towards the cure." "Don't know if I told you before, but without knowing, you've helped me a lot." "And you're going to help me even more." "While I'm away, you'll be the temple's guardian." "Yes, the guardian." "Here's the key." "Besides, another thing." "Cecilia, I've chosen you as the one who will complete the whole." "Complete the whole?" "Yes, that will happen when the last candle will be lighted, and I want you to be the one who will light it." "But which one?" "Mine, Cecilia, when the moment comes." "Have a good trip." "Tell me, have you thought about, that if one day" "I have to light a candle for you, then, who will light a candle for me?" " Hello." " Hello, come in." " Did you come back yesterday?" " Yes." "No, this morning." "I traveled all night, I arrived this morning." "Anne, go on with that part, I'll be right back." "Could you wait for a moment?" "The lesson is almost over." "It's the first time I visit you house." "I wonder whether I shouldn't take some piano lessons." "Piano lessons?" "Yes, if I would be your pupil I'd have some rights on you." "You want to have rights on me?" "I'll ask you something." "What's the color of my eyes?" "Wait... no..." "I admit that..." "You see?" "What's up?" "Are you going?" "I shouldn't have come here." "On breaching that door I've ruined everything." "Listen miss, give me 2215 please." "Hello Albert, it's me, Julien Davenne." "How can you call me at this hour?" "What's happening to you?" "Excuse me, it's about Massigny," "I need to know something about him." "I know he was married several times, but where did he live these last 10 years?" "What were his relationships?" "I want to know the name of the person who could best inform me about him, and what's more" "I need to know who was his last lover." "Listen, I don't know what happened between Massigny and you, and I don't want to know it." "Speaking frankly, you're starting to bother everybody." "Within a month we stop working together." "Allow me a piece of advice, forget your hate of Massigny, it's really below your dignity." "Even though you might think I have no dignity, I came." "I'm here to know." "I need to know." "One day you told me that all your dead were one." "Now I know everything." "I know that this unique dead was Paul Massigny." "Yes, it's Paul Massigny." "Did you know him?" "Yes, he was my friend in adolescence and during my whole youth." "But he betrayed me." "He destroyed the faith I had in life." "He taught me suspicion." "Me too, at times I thought I hated him." "But when he died I realized that I could never forget him." "He was very good in seducing, dominating, subjugating." "Even today, Massigny manages to trouble my life... he separates us." "Now I know there was a bond between you," "I want to know more and I'm ashamed of this curiosity." "And why did you never talk to me about him?" "While he lived, I had no right to talk about him." "Anyway, I had no right at all." "Our history did not belong to me." "When he died, remember, it was the time I stopped seeing you." "It made no sense any more to talk about him." "Our history was finished." "About the cemetery, where we met by chance," "Did you never ask yourself which tomb I was visiting?" "Yes, but at the moment I had the feeling of opening a letter that was not addressed to me." "Well, now we have one more thing in common." "You and I have suffered by him." "It's true that Paul led me almost to despair." "But I've forgiven him." "I've also forgiven him." "Ah, that's good." "I shouldn't have doubted you." "This place itself is the proof that hate has no place in you." "No, there's no place here for hate." "Look at these flames, look how the shine, how they are alive." "I could call each one by its name," "I recognize each candle." "Where is Paul's candle?" "Pardon me?" "Where is the candle of Paul Massigny?" "Why do we need a candle for Paul Massigny?" "As if he's present for you in this splendor." "You just told me that you had forgiven him." "Is he not one of your dead?" "No, he is one of the dead of this world." "And now I know that he is yours, but he is not one of mine." "Those who were mine in life, are mine in death." "But he was your friend in life, even if one day he cease to be so." "Those we have loved should..." "Those are the ones who can do us the most damage." "It's not true!" "You have not forgiven him!" "Goodbye." "Where are you going?" "Won't I see you ever again?" "Never like before." "And never here." "Come back!" "Where is Massigny's place?" "I can't!" "I cannot, why don't you understand?" "I cannot consider him equal to the rest." "Even in relation to them, I can't." "So, goodbye." "The enchantment is broken." " Good morning doctor?" " Hello Mrs. Rambaud." " How did he pass the night?" " Not very well." "He didn't sleep much." "I heard him walking in all directions." "No, Doctor, he's not there." "He is upstairs, in his room." "He has locked himself in the burned room." "Alright, I'll go and see him." "Who's there, what's happening?" "It's me Davenne, I come to see you, as we agreed." "You'd better go home." "I've asked nothing of no one." "I don't need a doctor." "No one is ill in this house." "One cannot treat someone who has lost the desire to live." "Mrs. Rambaud, I have nothing to do here." "A young woman wants to talk with you." "She has no appointment, but it's about Mr. Davenne." "Ah, Davenne!" "How is he?" "Not very well." "I met Mrs. Rambaud, his housekeeper, he is in despair." "Let that young lady in." "Mr. Bishop expects you." "Come in here." "No, he went on a trip to Scandinavia 2 months ago." "But now he should be here." "Monique, for how long haven't we seen Davenne?" "Almost a week, sir." "We've had to delay his article for one issue." "Yes, he was a bit strange after his return." "Do you know him well?" "You are very charming, he should have talked to me about you." "But really, he never talks about his personal life." "Yes, he's very secretive." "And anyway, you surely know him better than I do." "I met him in my adolescence, and then we lost sight of each other." "And we met again last year, accidentally." "To tell the truth, he had changed a lot recently." "I should've been more inquisitive." "We have avoided each other, and now I regret not to have urged him to explain himself." "At times it's difficult to be open between colleagues." "But... you are troubled." "You can tell me everything." "You like him a lot?" "I've seen him several times this year." "And I didn't think he'd mean so much in my life." "I don't know." "And in his life, what place do you have in it?" "How to know that!" "He seems to like seeing me, talking with me." "But I've noticed that if I fail an appointment, he wouldn't try to find me or give me a sign of life." "We'd surely pass 10 years without seeing each other." "With him, you never know what to expect." "You don't have to be a wizard to guess." "I believe that you love that man." "Excuse me if I insist." "Does Davenne know your feelings for him?" "Does he know you love him?" "You think that would make a difference?" "Davenne is a man like any man." "He needs to love and be loved." "If he makes believe that he's used to solitude, he's lying to himself." "Nobody really likes solitude." "Make your feelings known to him." "Act, don't let a misunderstanding stand between you two." "What happens?" "You bring me food again?" "I told you I'm not hungry." "It's Ms. Cecilia on the telephone." "I don't want to talk to her." "I don't want to talk to anyone, I don't need anything." "Myself is enough to me." "Even though you refuse to talk to me, you'll accept to read my letter." "I have to write you things that I never dared to tell you, because you are unpredictable, and at times your reactions frighten me." "And because I myself have been slow to face these things." "Like you, I know it's not easy to live with the living." "It's easier with the dead." "They are locked within the transparent walls of our imagination." "What you didn't understand, and what I've decided to tell you, is that I love you." "But I know that to be loved by you" "I have to be dead." "Cecilia..." "I received your letter." "Forget that letter." " Cecilia..." " Don't say anything." "Let me talk." "This afternoon, by sheer luck, the feeling that separated us has left me." "Something has changed in me." "To come back here, right away, that was the important thing." "From now on we'll come for the same reason." " We are alike." " Yes." "I'm not here to ask for anything." "I am here for them." "They are here for you." "This night, they are more present than ever." "They say there is a place for Paul Massigny." "Forget about Massigny!" "They say there is an vacant spot." "They say that the one whole isn't complete yet." "Don't talk about that vacant spot, forget about it." "Julien!" "One is missing, just one." "Nothing is missing!" "Only one, one more candle." "Then the whole will be complete." "Julien!" "Cecilia, what has happened between us," "I know what has happened." "Nothing has happened, nothing." "Julien!" "Julien Davenne."