All language subtitles for Moroueng25000

You said, “/ love you.”
I said, "Wait."

I was about fo say, “Take me.”
You said, “Go away.”

Jeanne, do you remember

when Frangois Truffaut
first spoke fo you

about filming Jules and Jim?

1 couldn't tell you the exact dafe,

but we were infroduced
by Louis Malle

in the corridors
of the old Palais du Festival.

He got in touch with me
right after Cannes.

He hadn't yet made
The 400 Blows?

That was a charming house.

I wonder if if wasn't

near Pére-Lachaise
where we filmed.

Maybe it's gone now.

It was while Jules rummaged gently
through the clothes for a slave costume

that Jim's friendship
for Jules was born.

It grew aft the ball
as Jules looked on,

his eyes full of gentleness
and good humor.

The next day saw their first real
conversation. Then they met every day.

Each taught the other his language
and culture till the early hours.

They shared their poems
and translated them fogether.

They also shared
a relative indifference towards money.

They chatted easily. Neither had ever
had such an attentive listener.

Jules had no girls in Paris,
and he wanted one.

Jim had several.

He infroduced Jules fo a musician.

Things started out well.
They were in love for about a week.

Then a free and easy girl came along
who stayed up all night in cafés.

Next jt was a prelty blonde widow.
The three went out fogether.

She confused Jules,
whom she found nice but clumsy.

She brought him a quiet friend —
foo quiet for Jim.

Finally, against Jim's advice,
Jules took up with professionals

but found no satisfaction there.

Truffaut sent pictures of you
fo Henri-Pierre Roché.

Yes. To get his approval.

The reaction was positive.

And he must've had in mind —
Ah, Marie.

Marie Dubois.

He must've had Jules and Jim
in mind already,

but he didn't tell me right away.

Well I talked a lot.

We mel once a week

in a café or a restaurant

on a certain streef.

It was where I had shot

Louis Malle's
Elevator to the Gallows.

Just off the Champs-Elysées.

I did a lot of talking,
I fold stories,

I sang songs
because he just loved

Charles Trenef like I did.

Later he'd write me letters

in which he'd respond...

fo things /'d said af lunch.

I did a walk-on in The 400 Blows.

It was during The 400 Blows
that he fold me about Jules and Jim

and gave me the book.

Madeleine Morgenstern
sent me the copy

Frangois had used

while working on the script.

- You'll sleep here and I'll sleep there.
- That's right.

Got any cigarettes?
- Of course.

You didn't follow the work
on the script?

No, that was a time in my life

when I placed myself passively
in the hands —

1 just Jove
the steam locomotive scene.

♪ still impresses people foday.

But everything fo do with if —

It was a really joyous time.

If I stayed tomorrow,
we'd be as good as married.

Isn't that against our rules?
- What logic!

Meeting Frangois...

the special atmosphere
that prevailed —

In any case, special for me,

since I was interested in film
and was only foo glad,

after 10 years in films,

fo break out of the routine

and the hierarchy,
which has come back, of course.

The celebrities, the siars,
the pyramid.

There's something special
in the fone, even the image.

1'd rather watch than talk
for a moment.

Nothing is played out
through dialogue.

There's a kind of —

of simplicity.

What I'm saying isn't infellectual,

but there's a distancing
in their manner.

They are what they are.

They're not acting the lines.

You see what I mean?

And the fluidity of Coutard's
camera movements —

it all goes fogether.

It's really filmed like a song,

a well-crafted song.

Let her go, Jules.

Lose one, find ten more.

The theme is harmony.

Yes, harmony. It's a musical film.

Even when we were
in preproduction.

The gaiety in choosing costumes,

scouting the locations
we'd be shoofing in,

the hairdos.

There was no elaborale idea
of reconstructing a period.

We didn't cram our heads full of defails.
There was no greaf anxiety over that.

We seemed fo be skirting things,

but we were going
right fo the essential.

You see?

The film is in that gesture.

You see?

It was inspired by a drawing,
by what Picasso did.

This film fed on everything.

Albert?

This is Jim, a French friend.

There's Serge.

Danielle.

Serge Rezvani and his wife.

Yes. Rezvani and his wife.

See that youth?

It's not an adolescent youth.

It's a youth that's adulf,
deep and yef carefree.

This one's more exotic.

She looks like an Incan statue.

What happened fo Roché's diaries,

the ones Frangois had?

1 brought you this.
You know this book?

Roché's nofebooks.

With a preface by Frangois.
You can have this one.

It's a superb text.

You know...

lots and lots of secrelaries
typed these

and got depressed

because they found it very macho.

And foo blunt, maybe.

His relations with women.

Love, women and sexuality.

But these secretaries might have had
problems in their love life,

so that aggravated things,

because Roché's levity
could seem like cynicism.

In The Man Who Loved Women,

there's a secrefary who refuses
fo type the protagonist's fext.

They both had
the same white suif made.

It's superb how you first appear

as a statue.

They walked rapidly around it
in silence.

They didn't speak of it till the next day.
Had they ever mel such a smile?

Never.

And if they ever met jt?
They'd follow it.

See how the stock shofs are used?
Just incredible.

Truffaut didn't trouble himself
with reconstructions.

It's not a problem.
- No, it's not.

It explains the film's lasting quality.

What's magnificent...

is that young people everywhere
still see it.

It's being walched right now.

1 haven't seen if myself

in years and years.

And the format is magnificent, foo.

- The wide-screen black and white.
- Magnificent.

“Jacques and Julien were inseparable.

Julien's last novel
had been a success.”

And all the young people —

Two days ago, I was al Ladurée's
fo buy macaroons,

like Marguerite Duras,
who loved them,

and all of a sudden,
three young people

rushed up and started kissing me.

They were Argentines
who had just arrived

and had been fo a screening
of Jules and Jim.

And the emotions they felt...

were joyous even though

the ending is tragic.

And what happens in the film

is both lighthearted and somber.

It's a film that has traveled well.

One of the Truffaut films
that's traveled best.

Both in terms of time and space.

Her face bore the nobility
of a province she personified as a child

in a religious celebration.

It started like a dream.

As the organizer of this gathering,

I propose we abolish forever
monsieur, madame and mademoiselle

by drinking my favorite
Nussberger wine in brotherhood.

Instead of linking arms
in the usual way,

the feet of all those partaking
will touch under the table.

And thus they did. In high spirits,
Jules moved his feel away.

Jim's feet stayed a moment
near Catherine's,

who gently moved hers away first.

A shy, happy smile
played on Jules' lips

and fold the others
he held them in his heart.

Truffaut says you played

a pivotal role
in getting the film made.

Of course. So much so thal —

1d earned some money,

and the film
had ran out of money,

so / bailed out the production.

Also, at that time, I owned

a secondhand Rolls-Royce.

Friends suggested I buy it.

My son had had a serious accident

during filming
of Moderato Cantabile,

in a small Dauphine Gordini.

People said I needed
a large car for the child.

I bought this massive car
in a garage.

It came in handy.
We fitted it with —

What do you call it? —
a roof rack —

and we transported set elements.

1 really enjoyed helping out

on ceriain sels,
settings where I lived.

In fact, I've always had
a penchant for selecting objects —

And costumes.

- Sure, buf —
- More than that.

Yes. The things we hung
on the wall,

not fo reflect me,

but my character's personality.

This is the disguise scene.

Naturally it brings fo mind

Sylvia Scarlett and other films,

where women dress up as men.

And everyone is handsome.

And there's that shared dandyism,

insouciance more than impertinence.

Yes. But insouciance is impertinent.

Thank you, sir.

Catherine was proud
of her successful disguise.

The men were moved,

as if by a symbol
they didn't understand.

- Either it's raining or I'm dreaming.
- Could be both.

If it's raining,
let's go to the seashore.

We leave tomorrow.

This track looks excellent.
I propose a race.

There was never any sense

of ponderousness.
There can be a huge difference

between the film you imagine

when you start making it

and the film you finally make.

Suddenly the production
drags down the lightness.

And there's the Jow budget, foo.

Even af our most numerous,
actors included,

there were only 21 or 22 of us,

which was the day
we had the sound man.

So that created

a certain lightness
in moving about.

It's a New Wave film in thal sense.

Yes, but it also resembles

the economics
of certain great American films

in black and white
that some directors shot

in two weeks or 17 days.

I don't remember

there being any multiple fakes,
for instance.

There was a real rapidity
in the shooting,

because everyone knew —

We were all making the same film.

It's not so usual.

I'm almost ready.
I just have to put on my dress.

Never put a hat on a bed.
- Are we taking the bike?

This is a good scene.

Packing the suifcase.

And the bag, too?

- What are you doing?
- Burning these lies.

Give me a match.

It's very mysterious.

Oh, God!

Don't move.

You know the entire film was dubbed.

It's incredible.

1 just loved that period.

We did that in the old studios
on the Rue Forest

Just behind the old Gaumont Palace.

It's a little-known fact

that Truffaut's first films
were entirely dubbed.

The 400 Blows,
Shoot the Piano Player.

It made me fond of dubbing.

Often, when a film's finished,
the actors balk:

‘But I'll never find the fone I had!”

But sometimes you go even further.

Can you help me?

So in fact truth in acting

has little fo do with creating.

Acting is not lying.

We're taking that too.

What is it?

Sulfuric acid,
for the eyes of men who tell lies.

That bottle will break
and burn all your things.

Besides, you can buy
sulfuric acid anywhere.

- Really?
- Yes.

But it wouldn't be the same bottle.

I swore I'd only use this bottle.

There's a shift from euphoria

fo something harsher.

Because inner realities loom up
from time fo time

without warning.

And the music is just right.

The musical shading is nice.

They searched up and down the coast
before finding the house of their dreams.

Where was this?

It was a house in the hinterlands
of the Var.

It allowed us fo discover —

Me, af least.

Later, I bought a house
at La Garde-Freinef.

But this was closer fo Sainte-Maxime.

Not above La Garde-Freinel.

Hurry up. We're going to the beach.

Come, Jim.

We're off in search
of the last signs of civilization.

A piece of tire.

- Look.
- A bottle.

It's as much about
a three-way romance as friendship.

- / was about fo say that.
- Really?

1 was about fo say that.

Look at the simplicity
of their relationship.

That explains why nowadays

Young viewers only retain
an image of happiness.

Who hasn't dreamt of not having

fo make choices?

It's frue — you can love two people

at the same fime,

for reasons that are different.

or similar, or complementary,

or parallel.

One may be the mirror image
of the other, his reflection.

It's like an ideal image

of romantic life,

minus the cruelty brought about

by the desire fo possess,

which leads fo jealousy.

- The other's not a rival.
- There's no rivalry.

What matters is that joie de vivre.

And without ambiguity.

Nowadays, people would see homosexual
connofations between the men.

They'd imagine sensual perversion

in a three-way romance.

But it's two couples.

When the film came out,
did people sneer,

or were they shocked

by this three-way harmony?

I don't have any memory of that.

1 must have the ability fo erase

any unpleasant memories.

Because jt was so enchanting.

The shoot was exhausting,
like all shoots.

You had fo get up early.

You had fo be really receptive

yet at the same fime concentrated.

And since if was a small group,
we were closer.

And I had such affection,

such respect, even admiration,

for Frangois that I couldn't help

but be aware
of what was on his mind.

This scene was shot near St. Tropez.

I'm sure it's all been developed since.

Truffaut, in his preface
fo Roché's nofebooks,

tips his hat fo you,
saying he offen had doubts

and that you were there
fo give things a boost,

give the film a boost.

Almost like the character itself

Because of what I've just said —

this absolute faith
in Frangois' cinematic genius.

We were perfectly in sync.

Perfectly.

And I knew we were making something

special and unique.

But without saying, “Oh, boy!

We're gonna have a runaway hit!”

There was a real joie de vivre.

Nor a masterpiece.

No. If was fine, harmonious.

Truffaut was afraid
of betraying Roché,

who had died two years earlier.

He had a high opinion of Roché.

And since I didn't share
this elevated opinion —

I'd read the novel,

but for me the novel belonged
fo Frangois, and the idea was his.

What I wanfed was —

It's vital that everyone
be making the same film.

That's not so obvious.

That doesn't mean
that the technicians,

who are wrongfully sometimes
called “the hired help” —

Sometimes you can round up
the best talent

but without the same
sense of purpose.

Whereas here
there was an unspoken infimacy.

As a little girl I learned:
“Our Father who art in heaven.”

I thought it said
“who arfs in heaven.”

I imagined my father with an easel
painting outside the pearly gates.

I believe I just said something funny.

In any case, amusing.
You might at least smile.

Will anyone present scratch my back?

Heaven scratches those
who scratch themselves.

What?

Heaven scratches those —

See that slap? It's nothing, buf —

It's nothing, it's not mean, but —

Some freeze frames,
barely perceptible,

but they're nof just gratuitous.

When you look at someone,

sometimes you do a freeze-frame.

Expressions you save.

And about that slap?

- /t Jooks harmless —
- But it's a small rupture.

Which has echoes later.

It's a small gesture of cruelty
between Catherine and Jules.

I miss Paris.
Let's go back, please.

1 wonder what happened fo the house.

Here's a side of Roché coming out.

The art collector.

This is for Catherine.

This is for both of you.

Nice Picasso.

- What is it?
- A little hand to scratch your back.

Very practical.

You see that slap left ifs mark.

I've got three tickets
for the theater tonight.

That's what this film means

for me,
who experienced it intimately.

But films don't always leave
this impression.

It's a moment fixed in time.

It's a time of life fixed in time.

But you can feel life's infensity.

Lofts of films come and go,

films you walch with pleasure,
and yet —

It's very moving.

All the same, I like that girl.

She wants to be free.
She invents her own life every moment.

Jim doesn't look pleased.

Frankly, no. It's a confused
and self-indulgent play.

Another writer who revels in vice
to preach virtue.

Ah, yes, the scene on the embankment.

I had a stand-in waiting

fo jump info the Seine in my place.

She was so nervous she asked
for rum fo work up her nerve.

There was none left for afterward.

When if was time fo jump,
she was so drunk

that I did the leap myself

There were some guys —
Wait, we'll come fo it.

The most important factor
in any couple is the woman's fidelity.

The husband's is secondary.

Who was it who wrote,

“Woman is natural,
therefore abominable”?

Baudelaire, but he was
describing a certain world.

Not at all.

He spoke of women in general.

What he says about a young girl
is magnificent:

“Horror, monster, assassin of the arts,
little fool, little slut.”

Amazing macho tirade!

Wait, I'm not finished.
This is marvelous:

“I'm always astonished they allow
women to enter churches.

What could they have to say to God?”

- You're both fools.
- I didn't say anything.

And I don't necessarily agree
with what Jules says at 2:00 in the morning.

- Then protest.
- I am protesting.

So that's you.

And the hat had fo floal.

There were some guys yelling,

“Go on, jump!”

Because I hesitated.

He imagined himself swimming with her
and holding his breath fo frighten Jules.

Catherine, why?

I was in bed for two days
due fo the dirty water.

But we did a single fake.

There were several cameras?

Yes, fwo.

Jules was pale, silent, less self-assured
and more handsome than ever.

Catherine wore her same smile,

like a modest young general
after his first brilliant campaign.

The voice-over works well.

Is that Michel Subor's voice?

Frangois could have done it himself

I think it's better this way.

It increased the distancing effect.

That was the problem: fo make if
from an old man's viewpoint.

Roché was over 70
when he wrole it.

Truffaut was concerned
about maintaining that distance

when he wasn't even yef 30.

- You're joking.
- I never joke.

I have no sense of humor,
I assure you.

Jean-Louis Richard.

I know people who do.
My wife's friends, coworkers.

But personally,
I have no sense of humor.

With his usual optimism,
Jim had arrived /afe.

He was upset with himself,
afraid he had missed her.

Jim thought, “A girl like that
might well have left at 7:01.

A woman like that could have
rushed across the room,

never noticing me
behind my newspaper, and left.”

He kept repeating fo himself,
‘A woman like that.”

But just what was she like?

For the first time, he began
fo really think about Catherine.

I hear Catherine's son —
the real Catherine —

is quife a character.

Lofts of people
have fold me about him.

He was in the diplomatic service.

I think he lives in Paris.

I was always a bit fearful
about meeting him.

But I hear he's very charming

and has quite an original
personality.

He's Jules's son, so fo speak.

Not Jim's.

Did I wake you?

Catherine and I are going
to my country to get married.

Bravo, Jules!

Please tell her I'm sorry I was late.

I waited until ten to 8:00.

She's more optimistic than you
where time's concerned.

She was at the hairdresser's

and arrived at 8:00
fo dine with you.

You see, the crossed wires.

Hello, Jim? I'm very happy.

Jules is going to teach me
French boxing.

With an Austrian accent.

Me? I've lost my accent.
My pronunciation is perfect.

Let me show you.

Isn't the cinema magnificent!

This fixing of time...

nullifies everything, even death.

War broke out a few days later.

Jules and Jim were called up
by their respective armies

and lost touch for a Jong time.

1 suppose that in the novel

the Great War takes more space.

It feels like Truffaut
wants it fo be a hiatus.

The images are superb.

The archival foofage is superb.

It's not the choice —

His focus isn't history here.

How can you include the Great War?

That would be a four-hour film.

What matters is the sfory.

The two friends.

The images encapsulalte
the Great War.

It depicts very well the hideousness.

The difference
between war and peace.

And that war was like no other.

The war dragged on and on,
and men seftled info it.

Gradually a normal life emerged,
marked by the different seasons,

with its down time, routines,
pauses, and even distractions.

Even though we're now
used fo this

from all the TV programs,
some of which are quite good,

we're used fo seeing

stock shofs of the past.

But here they're part of a film,

part of a story

where we expect
fo find the characters.

It's just right.

It's juxtaposed against
the fictional element.

But I wonder how far —

It's like I was saying:

Fiction is as valid as reality,
only better.

It's the dream life of movie people,
not angels.

The Jove of letter writing, foo.

You know, when you're caught up —

When your life's caught up

in the workings

of filmmaking, theater, music —

and the film reminds me of this —

you live a double, triple,

quadruple life, which is different
from other people.

That's why I don't like

separating the nofion of life

and work when talking
about a career.

That notion

seems dated and a bit alien fo me.

You're consumed.

Look af that.

It makes you think of Apollinaire.

His poems from the front.

See how Jf nourishes us?

It makes you think
of poetry and painting.

We saw the statue.

And the mass graves, foo.

Of course.

It doesn't help us escape reality,

but it helps us understand
every aspect of it.

And your sensitivity grows
with the passing of time.

Look. It's magnificent.

Jules' country had lost the war.
Jim's had won.

Hugo wrofe some superb things
on the War of 1870.

In the Chamber of Deputies,
he spoke about

there being neither victory
nor defeat.

Jim wrote Jules, “Should I marry
and have children foo?”

Jules replied,

“Come and judge for yourself.”

Catherine added
a few words of invitation.

Jim left. If was such an important event
that he took his time gefting there.

Superb, the arrival in the Vosges.

It was the most dramatic phase
in the shooting.

There was a sort of weariness.

Frangois was probably going through

a moment of doubt.

We used the Rolls-Royce a lof.

We went looking
for pieces fo decorafe

the chalet we lived in.

1 brought in Florence Malraux,

who'd been working af L'Express.

One night, Malraux called
fo say Florence's half brothers

had been killed.

Little Sabine Haudepin —
she's so cute.

We had a helicopter that day.

It had an accident later.

So the mood was —
- So Florence left.

But she came back.

We fook her in my car

fo find a chaplain
whom Malraux knew well

from Resistance days.

He came along in the car as well

for the funeral services.

We were in a hotel
where De Gaulle once slept.

1 heard Florence typing.

I only broke the news fo her
the next morning.

- She was the script girl?
- Yes.

The film's fone changes here.
You hear it in the music.

- You haven't changed, Jim.
- Nor have you, Jules.

So no one has changed.

All of a sudden, there was —

Jules was anxious, and Jim was foo.
It infected me.

So we sfopped.

That's the flexibility
of a low-budget film.

We stopped.

We didn't shoot for two days.

Time enough fo recoup.

That melancholy is in the film.
It's part of it.

That light quality.

That's why I pointed out the slap,

the little shadings.

Time's going by.

The introduction of Sabine, foo.

- She's born during the war.
- Of course.

An angel is passing by.

Of course. It's 1:20.

So?

Angels always pass by
at 20 past the hour.

- Really?
- So I've heard.

I didn't know that.

Neither did I.

Everyone knows
the angel of silence passes —

At 20 past and 20 before
the hour as well.

I believe it.

So you won the war, you lousel

I'd rather have won all this.

You must be hungry. Let's eat.

You can detect
what's unspoken in their looks.

The crossed wires.

Jim there, Jules here,

and Sabine next to me.

1 did the cooking for a while.

The house looks large,

but if was really tiny.

I have to think of them all week,
write them Friday night,

and send them off via airmail.

And you?

I received a commission
for a book on dragonflies.

And Oskar Werner?
1 find him superb.

Superb.

He was in an Ophuls film.

Lola Montés? That's where —

That's where Frangois saw him.

Surprisingly,
they had a falling-out later on.

No, it's not so surprising.

You know,
there are many sides fo a person.

Oskar wasn't at ease with himself.

When you fake fo drink...

it's not easy.

It's a sickness of the soul.

Perhaps there was
a sense of mutual disappointment.

There was an underlying tension.

When I talk
about harmony and happiness,

it wasn't something corny or rosy.

It was something very alive,

very keen.

Maybe it was because
everything had gone so well that —

It's like when you enjoy a place

and say, “I'll come back again.”

But I never go back. Never.

And there the confext had changed.

It was another film, another story.

- And in another language.
- Fahrenheit 451.

Don't forget that Frangois
didn't speak any English then.

They disappointed each other.

And Werner wasn't his first choice
for Fahrenheit.

- I forget who he wanted.
- Terence Stamp.

It would've gone belter.

There might've been
the usual acfor-directfor confiicts,

but not in the light
of past experience.

But he's fine here.

He's wonderful.

But that means nothing.

You can be miserable on a film...

and still give a lovely performance.

What's amazing is that this triangle
is not about fusing info one.

Each is an individual.

Fach is a pole apart.

No one is lost in the other.

That's what gives
this relationship ifs strength.

They're individuals,
three individuals.

Usually Jove is depicted —

and it's an amazing lie —

as a desire fo merge.

- Jo disappear.
- Info the other.

So when it's nof pure Jove,

it's engulfed by sensuality.

“The flesh is sad, alas,
and I've read all the books!”

That's frue freedom.

Jules and Jim resumed
their long-interrupted conversation.

They talked about the war.
Jules avoided talking about his family.

Catherine was both
kind and stern with Jules,

but Jim sensed something
wasn't going well.

A moment of grace,
then suddenly, a shadow.

Exactly, shadows.

To bed, sleepyhead.
The bedbugs are hungry.

Once upon a time...

there was a nice little bedbug.

Good night, Sabine.

Good night, Jim.
See you in the morning.

You can see it's love.

Love, if not desire,

is casting the shadow.

Marriage and motherhood suit her.

She's less the grasshopper now
and more the ant.

Don't be deceived.

True, she brings
order and harmony to this house.

But if things go too smoothly,
discontent sets in.

She lashes out at everything
with her gestures and expressions.

I've always thought as much.
A little Napoleon.

She claims the world is rich

and that one can cheat a little
now and then.

See?

She begs God in advance for forgiveness,
certain she'll obtain it.

I'm afraid she may leave us.

It's very unusual
for the character of a woman...

fo be...

described like that.

She's no longer altogether my wife, Jim.

She's had lovers —
three that I know of.

It's rebellion.

That's what's so particular.

I'm not the man she needs,

and she's not the kind of woman
to put up with that.

There's still a misunderstanding,

since the man says,
“I'm not the man she needs.”

There's still the notion,

now that they're married,

that one man is enough
for one woman,

and the opposite, as well.

Catherine's encouraged him
and given him hope.

It's beautiful that
a man can be that lucid,

saying he isn't enough for her.

I can't remember a single film

that says something like that.

With such finesse.

Yes, and with real feeling.

Not with reseniment,
but with feeling.

Accepting if as a given.

Look at the lovely lighting.

Isn't black and white beautiful?

Listen to that mole cricket's song.

It's a kind of mole.

1 Jove these framing effects.

So Catherine was there, the radiant
queen of the house, ready fo fly off.

Jim wasn't surprised.

Why is if, now that we have
so many technical means,

that we don't use irises?

It's as if people are afraid fo do
whal's already been done.

I recently saw one used in a film
by Arnaud Desplechin, Esther Kahn,

who's somewhat inspired by Truffaut.

He uses silent film devices,

from the early days of cinema.

Diaphragm effects.

The glasses.

I still have that sweafer.

A Jot of the clothes

belonged fo me.

Keep in mind words can't have
the same meaning across languages

because they're not
of the same gender.

Unlike in French,

“war,” “death” and “moon”
are masculine in German,

while “sun” and “love” are feminine.

You can sense
there's not much space.

Yes, but there's enough.

Believe me,
it was smaller than if looks.

In France too, skirts became shorter
the longer the war went on.

It caused many a shouting match
for married soldiers on leave.

The men felt they were
played for fools.

But the reason was that
fabric was scarce.

Yes, just as women cut their hair short
for safety around factory machinery.

Frangois always had this need

fo introduce information.

- Not at all.
- What?

France has the greatest variety
of wines in Europe. In the world, even.

Look at the Bordeaux:

Chateau Lafite, Chateau Margaux,
Chéateau-Yquem...

I did research on that.

And even better ones too, like —
wait a minute.

Clos-Vougeot, and the Burgundies:
Romane, Chambertin...

And the Beaujolais: Pouilly-Fuissé,
Pouilly-Loché, Moulin a Vent...

All eyes were fixed on the mortar shell
as it rolled down the steps.

Three steps, two steps —
Hit the ground!

Catch me.

The grays and blacks —

Yes. There's arrogance,

and yet it's not unbearable.
Just enough.

This may be the Truffaut film
where nature is most —

Where he accepts if most.

He's nof a nature-lover.

No, but in Two English Girls —

And he loves —

There has fo be nature for the rapport
among the three fo be —

Yes, it went

with the characters.

- Okay, but tell you what?
- Doesn't matter. Just talk away.

Jim began, “There were once
two young men...” whom he didn't name.

He fold of their friendship in Paris
before meeting a certain girl,

the impact she made on them,
and all that ensued.

Even the line, “Not this one, Jim.”

There he couldn't avoid
saying his own name.

He described the trio's outings,
their trip fo the seashore.

Catherine saw that Jim remembered
everything about her very clearly.

She argued a few points on principle
and added other delails.

He described the missed
rendezvous in the café,

and the three of them
seen through his eyes.

He spoke of Jules' hidden qualities

and how he'd sensed
Jules could never keep Catherine.

- You'd have told me all that in the café?
- Yes.

Go on.

There's nothing more to say.

There was the war,

my joy at finding Jules again,
you coming to the station,

the happy days
I've spent with you here,

what I've seen, what I've learned,
what I've suspected,

this cloud on the horizon —
I mean Albert.

- Are you for Jules and against me?
- No more than he is himself.

I'll tell the whole story now
the way I've experienced it.

It was Jules' generosity,
innocence and vulnerability

that dazzled me and won me over.

He was such a contrast to other men.

By bringing him happiness,
I hoped to cure him of his insecurities,

but I realized
they were part of him.

They're moving away from paradise.

I mean, it's paradise lost.

There's also her hatred of lying.

It's wrong fo lie.

It's nice fo walfch a film

and not think about style and form.

Of course one's sensitive fo it,

but I think...

it's nice that a film provokes...

the simple desire fo falk about life,

our experiences here and now

in the 21st century.

He wrote me ardent love letters,

wonderful letters.

From afar, my love for him grew.
I made him a new halo.

The real break between us
occurred during his first leave.

I felt as if I was
in the arms of a stranger.

Truffaut liked the idea
of correspondence.

People had strong
relationships by leffers.

It's a sort of lie.

- A lie, yes.
- A very strong one.

He'd be disappointed
at people writing less now.

The fax makes you write,
but it's different now.

But it's nice anyway.

He didn't like the phone either.

I don't like fo speak foo Jong
on the phone.

Cell phones are handy.

I can't believe people
spend hours on them.

Portable, dispensable —
it's all about speed.

Don't feel sorry for him.

The distractions I provide
are still enough for him.

Then there's Albert.

He told me of that statue you three loved
that I apparently resemble.

I flirted with him.

The black and white is beautiful.

And see how the dialogue —

Because there's lofs of dialogue...

and the way it's filmed —

It's splendid.
- Incredible.

Because that happens.

When you can talk all night —

It's almost dawn.

It's part of the seduction process.

When you want fo fell
the other everything.

And a whole night's gone by —

Perhaps she was seducing him,
though Jim was far from sure of it.

It was impossible fo tell.

Catherine revealed her goals
only when she'd achieved them.

That's a fine line:

“Catherine revealed her goals
only when she'd achieved them.”

- This was the sound man's day.
- What do you mean?

We had no sound engineer
during the shoofing.

When I saw Rezvani arrive
with his guitar,

I thought —
- That meant —

It meant we'd be recording the song.

It was the only day
we had a sound engineer.

- So you sacrificed your mustache too?
- Like everyone else.

But I don't like it.
Now I feel naked.

I'm gonna grow it back.

Albert was wounded in the war.

In the trenches.

I'm all right now,
but when I woke up

and saw the doctors probing inside
my skull, I thought of Oscar Wilde.

“O Lord, spare me the physical pain.

I can cope with the spiritual pain.”

What's appalling about war

is that it deprives man
of his own individual battle.

Yes, but I think he can wage his battle
outside the field of war.

I'm thinking of a gunner
I met in the hospital.

Returning from leave,
he met a girl on a train.

They talked from Nice to Marseilles.

Stepping down onto the platform,
she gave him her address.

He wrote her frantically from
the trenches every day for two years

on bits of wrapping paper,
by candlelight.

As bombs rained down,
his letters became ever more intimate.

At first it was “Dear Miss”
and “Yours truly.”

By the third letter he called her
“My little lamb” and asked for her picture.

Then it was “My adorable lamb.”
Then “I kiss your hand.”

Then “I kiss your forehead.”

Later he described
the picture she'd sent

and wrote of her breasts, which
he thought he glimpsed under her robe.

Soon he was addressing her intimately.
“I love you terribly.”

One day he wrote to her mother,
asking for the daughter's hand.

He became her fiancé
without ever having seen her again.

I think it's a reference.

Maybe it's a reference fo Apollinaire.

It is Apoliinaire.

When she replied rather coldly,

he was enraged and begged her
not to flirt with him,

for he could die at any time,
and he was right.

You see, Jules, to understand
this extraordinary seduction by mail,

you have to have known
the violence of trench warfare,

that collective madness
where death is present every moment.

So here's a man who took part
in the Great War

yet managed to wage his own
individual battle at the same time

and win a woman's heart
through long-distance persuasion.

Like you, he had a head wound
when he arrived at the hospital,

but he wasn't as lucky as you.

That's so typical of Truffaut's films.

The idea of a wild passion —

“Your breasts are
the only bombs I love.”

I'll show you some pictures of him.

Flip through them quickly
and he seems to be moving.

Beautiful story, Jim.

Jules wrote me beautiful letters
from the war too.

Hello, Albert.
Did you finish my song?

Come up and let's work on it.

The rocking of this chair
calls us to the pleasures of the flesh.

- What about the song?
- We've just about got it.

We do, don't we? Shall we?

It's too good for them,
but one can't choose one's audience.

The song wasn't planned.

It wasn't planned in the film?

Serge was very close

fo my son's father,
Jean-Louis Richard.

We'd known
each other since we were young.

There were songs
that cropped up like that,

without being professional,

inspired by things
that happened fo us,

by stories we'd fell,
sometimes by a newspaper ifem.

I sang a lot with Frangois.

This song came back often.

The song had been written

when Jean-Louis Richard
and I broke up.

It was the whirlwind of life.

Even apart,
we'd always meet again.

Gradually, it became essential
fo the film.

When I'm acting, I'm happy,
so / sing.

So there was this song,

there was “Angora Rose,”
and songs like that.

Had you ever sung professionally ?

Or just for friends?

1d sung

as an actress
af the Comédie Frangaise

in interludes, Moliére plays...

in The Marriage of Figaro.

That's a director's inspiration,

fo suddenly pick up
on something in the arr,

and it fits in so nicely.

Sometimes you get ideas,
but later you cut them.

You don't hear it like a song.

It has a dramatic effect
on the foursome's relationship.

- Were there several lakes?
- / don't remember —

No, only one...

since I made a mistake
but Frangois kept it.

Catherine meant different things fo each
and couldn't please them all, but foo bad.

Jim could only admire Catherine
unreservedly on her own.

In the company of others,
she changed in his eyes.

The flow of movement —

The film wasn't in opposition fo
the written word but in celebration of it.

It did wonders
for an unknown novel.

You were very much in love, Jim.
I can feel that.

Why didn't you marry her?
- It just didn't happen.

- What's she like?
- Sensible and patient.

She says she'll wait for me forever.
Her name is Gilberte.

You still love her,
and she loves you?

Don't cause suffering, Jim.

I need adventure and risk.

And... now there's something new too.

It was a blue scarf —

What I was wearing.

- Blue.
- / remember.

The color.

You mustn't forget him.
You must warn him.

Translation, Catherine?

“Hearts yearning for each other
O God, O God, the pain they cause”

Not bad.

Though the “O God, O God”
was your addition. Good night.

Give my regards to the others
if you see them.

Would you lend me
Goethe's Elective Affinities tonight?

- That's Goethe.
- Of course.

Too bad.

The quote.

Do you think that's the idea,

the contradiction in both life
and the film,

between time that is —

It's painful because
something won't last.

An instant is powerful,
but it can't last.

And Jove is caught
between the two.

There's a moment when —

1 get the feeling that...

Jules feels that.

I think Catherine is full

of desire and curiosity.

- Is that answer good enough?
- Of course.

Because it's cruel.

Living free is cruel.

It demands more —

that you be more available.

But it's cruel for others.

Hence the quote.

Same thing here.
Truffaut didn't like love scenes.

No, and he was right.

So he used shadows.

He was right.

Delerue's music helps a lof.

And the gestures,
pushing her hair back.

What bothered Frangois most

was Henri Serre's height.

- He was fall.
- He sure was.

He always had trouble
with tall people.

Except women.

But very tall men —

He couldn't imagine Jim
lying in a bed.

That's terrific.

A sex scene
would be unbearable

in this sort of film.

You'd made a film
with Louis Malle earlier.

It made a lot of noise.

Yes, The Lovers.
But that was —

It came af the end
of a very prudish period.

It was all suggested.

Maybe that made if more striking.

I've asked Jim
to move into the house.

He'll take the small room.

Be careful, Jim.

Be careful for her sake and your own.

In romance there's always
something hovering.

It comes up in Mississippi Mermaid,
in The Last Metro.

Vultures hovering over love.

There's always a threal.

It's dangerous.

Enriching yet destructive.

You have fo experience it.

You have fo see it fo believe it.

From here on it's a mess,

but there's nothing to do about that.

What's on the other side?

What's wonderful, foo,
is that your character

isn't an activist.

She lives only for herself,

not for other women.

She's independent.

But that's the best way
fo live for other women.

To be a role model.

The moment a woman needs
fo take refuge in a group,

it can only be a rejection
of independence.

Activism is a way of escaping

personal responsibility.

The “we” takes priority
over the “I.”

That doesn't get anyone anywhere.

Maybe on occasion, buf —

That's a nice image.

Many Americans fold me the film
did a lof for them.

- Really?
- For women.

Coming from France —

And for men. Many young men
still talk fo me about it.

So some of them
see things differently.

I think US filmmakers were able

fo deal more freely with emotions.

The village was the fable.
They fook turns as the idiot.

Sabine especially
set them roaring with laughter.

It's incredible.

Just when things
verge on disappointment,

drama, bitterness,

everyday life takes over
with ifs share...

of little moments,

and passion is lived
on a parallel frack.

You mustn't be a burden fo others.

Catherine had said,
“One only truly loves for a moment,”

but for her, that moment
came back again and again.

Life was one long holiday.

Jules and Jim had never
handled such large dominoes.

Time passed.

Happiness isn't easy fo tell of
and wears out without anyone noticing.

One Sunday,
Catherine decided fo seduce Jules.

While Jim read downstairs,
she fook Jules info her room.

That's good.

The rape is amazing.

Of a man!

Yet it's a game.

Though Jim told himself he had
no right fo be jealous, he was anyway.

Catherine noficed this
and never repeated the experiment.

One day, the four walked
around a lake

hidden in the mist
of a lush, humid valley.

He really was romantic.

Catherine had a brief headache.
Jim had worse, from fatigue.

He thought, “If we had children,

they'd be fall and thin
and have headaches foo.”

On the shore of the lake
they played with pebbles.

She made him throw them endlessly.

She and Jules learned
fo make them skip.

A far cry from the Riviera.

It's pure romanticism.

The mist, the lake.

Yel there's something dark
hovering over them.

Another helicopter shot?

- Jt was all shof the same day.
- Very beautiful.

See how the wind from the rofors
stirs up the bushes?

It suddenly adds drama fo the action,

thanks fo the rofors.

That's a real departure.

Not only for the train —

And the fact that it goes
from right fo left —

Writing goes left fo right.

We arrive from left fo right

and leave from right fo left.

The fact that we move downwards

turns it info a fall
or a breaking-off.

Henri Serre at times seems
very French as an actor,

almost traditionally French.

But he has an Anglo-Saxon side,

a refined side.

He reminds me of Paul-Jean Toulet.

whom I admire immensely.

I Jove his poetry.

He looked like him.

He traveled a lof.
One of those djletfanfes —

Dandies,
people who lived on curiosity.

You could picture him
in a London club.

Roché was like that, they say.

A biography of Roché
came out recently.

I'l send it fo you.
-I'll read it.

Marcel Duchamp was his best friend.

- Is Jules in Paris?
- No, he didn't come.

Too bad.

...I head home to break up
my cousin's marriage and marry him.

- Hello, Jim. How's your buddy?
- Just fine.

- Still with the same girl?
- Yes.

Must be doing well.

...a respectable man. I pursued him,
but he wasn't interested.

The husband I abandoned
finally divorced me.

The undertaker finally marries me,
convinced at last.

It's a perfect marriage,
but no children.

The only man I could never cheat on —
doesn't leave me the time or the energy.

Those people were no dummies.

- Their attitude fo arf —
- All of them.

Even the supporting characters.

Good-bye, Thérése.

- Hello there.
- Hello, Jim. How's Jules?

Just fine.

That's more the atmosphere
of 1920s Montparnasse.

She never talks.

She's not an idiot.
Just empty.

There's nothing in there.

She's just a thing.
- A pretty thing.

Yes, a beautiful object.

It's just sex. Unadulterated sex.

Say good-bye to the gentleman.
- Good-bye.

The painters, the artists

of the 1920s.

Catherine spent the winter
al home before the fireplace.

She was Jim's fiancée,
entrusted fo Jules.

Every day she asked Jules,

“Do you think Jim loves me?”

Listen to me, Gilberte.

If Catherine decides
she wants something,

and she thinks no one will be hurt —
though she could be wrong, of course —

she does it for her own pleasure
and to learn from the experience.

She hopes this way
to attain wisdom one day.

The other side is fidelity.

Being faithful, but what —

You can see for yourself.

There's an affempt fo overthrow

something established.

It's sad.

There's something heartrending
about it.

This desire for coupling —

I don't mean only in the sexual sense.

Being a couple...

brings with it pain

and imprisonment.

It's a choice that involves a Joss.

I find it unbearable.

I don't know why, but I do.

It must be overcome, but how?

Do you think Jim loves me?

He goes back, fo be welcomed by —

Exactly.

Why didn't Catherine
come to meet me?

She wasn't happy with your letters.

You spoke too much of your work,
your farewells.

The way it's fold is wonderful.

Even absent,
she's present all the more.

- But she's waiting for us?
- Yes, I think so. Of course.

It's wonderful, having had the chance

fo make such a film at such a time.

Really?
In the early ‘60s.

I don't think...

many young actresses nowadays

are given such a wonderful gift.

It's more than
the pleasure of acting.

It's a wonderful personal enrichment.

When you've done films,
one after the other,

like Elevator to the Gallows,

Jules and Jim, The Lovers,

it's just incredible.

To draw close...

fo characters, inspirations —

Because being an actress
in such a confext,

or the ones I mentioned before,

is fo be in tune
with the fantasies of a man.

What woman
never dream! of that?

And being in all these
different seftings —

Catherine can't achieve that,
but an actress can.

And you think it's because
in the early 1960s

young filmmakers had hope?

Not only that.
I think the mindset.

society, the world have changed.

What's no longer central
in foday's world

or is less talked about

is feelings about love.

We're about fo see
the advent of a third sex.

But here, the only subject
is heterosexuality.

It's a period piece, sure,

and homosexuality
remained in the closef.

But now if must be taken info account.
I said earlier:

We can't imagine there being

any sort of ambiguity
between Jules and Jim.

I'm not questioning
directors' talent —

we won't begin fo discuss that —

but it was a major concern:

how to live, how to love.

Hello. What's the matter?

You just arrived.

There, now you're mine and I'm yours.
All is well.

But in your letters, you spoke so much
of your affairs. Well, I have my own.

You spoke of bidding farewell
to your loves.

I decided to bid farewell to mine too.

It's important.

It's still as important,

but the importance is overlooked.

It's a kind of neglect.

There's been a change.

And that's what's crazy, fabulous,

scary and thrilling all at once.

The film, aside from ifs beauty...

and integrity,

awakens in us a sort of —

1 have enough distance fo say:
a sort of nostalgia

for the way we saw life
back then.

That's why 1 think films
are so important.

The films made foday,

the best ones, even lesser ones,

say something

about what's at the center
of our concerns.

THE PROMISED LAND
ABRUPTLY RECEDED

When they were ready for a child,
Catherine did not become pregnant.

They saw a specialist
who told them fo be patient,

that these things fook months
with many couples.

Loyalty is a very powerful theme.

Loyalty, not lying, integrity.

It affects everything, even money.

There's no duplicity.

Morals aren't discarded,
they're reinvented,

and they remain loyal fo them.

It's a nightmare
when the evening comes.

I think of the child we'll never have.
I feel I'm taking some test.

I can't stand it anymore.
- Our love is all that counts.

Such concerns are so strong
that they block out

curiosity for the outside world.

If I find out too late I still love you,
that's the risk I take.

Go back to Gilberte,
since she writes you every day.

- You're unfair.
- No doubt I am.

But I'm heartless.

That's why I don't love you,
and why I'll never love anyone.

Besides, I'm 32 and you're 29.

When you're 40 and I'm 43,
you'll want a girl of 25,

and I'll be left alone like a fool.

Maybe you're right.
I'll leave tomorrow.

Let's separate for three months.

Are you hurt?

Then I'll stop being hurt.

We mustn't ever both suffer at once.

When you stop suffering, I'll start.

Am I disturbing you?

They're ferocious.

It's like roulette.

I can't take it anymore.

It reminds me

of Duras' work as well. Funny, no?

I can't stand him any longer.
I'm going mad.

There's the dramatization of things
that might seem...

excessive.

An excess of life.

At each instant
they want fo live fully.

To go for absolutes —

Yet jt's nof neurotic,
not at all muddled.

I can't help it
if we couldn't have a child.

They want everything
fo succeed all af once:

themselves,

maternity, love, friendship.

Growing old.

- Want me to talk to him?
- No, please don't.

No one smokes in films anymore.

Except grass. Too bad.

We've decided to separate
for three months.

What do you think?

He's wonderful.

He's moving.

I know you really despise me.

I will never despise you.

I'll always love you,

whatever you do,
whatever happens.

This scene was practically
all improvised.

I love you too.

There was just one fake.

We were really happy together,
weren't we?

We still are.

At least, I am.

Really?

Yes, we'll stay together always...

like an old couple,

with Sabine and our grandchildren.

While talking,
we missed the superb opening lines.

Which were?

You said, “/ love you.”
I said, "Wait."

I was about fo say, “Take me.”
You said, “Go away.”

Then you stay here.

I'll sleep downstairs.

My little Catherine.

You often make me think

of a Chinese play I saw
before the war.

In close-up.
Never be afraid of faces.

We both had the same thought.

Faces.

Only Bergman did that.

But with more emphasis.

I think Truffaut admired him.

1 took him fo see his first Bergman films.

There was a small cinema
on Rue Caumartin

that showed films —

It showed Bergman films

in sublitled prints.

The first one we saw was Monika.

Those were things
I shared with Frangois.

Henry James.

You had him read James?

That led fo The Green Room.

And champagne.

Jim left the house the next morning.

Catherine wanted fo take him
fo the station once more.

A mist had settled
over the meadow in the night.

The rest of the hive sensed confusedly
that Jim had lost favor with ifs queen.

It was thus natural he should leave.

The house is already out of sight.

The autumn railway schedule
had just taken effect.

There was no frain until the next day.

One always feels guilty
in a hotel room.

I may not be very moral, but I have
no taste for secrecy. But you do.

Don't deny it.
I wouldn't believe you.

Jim thought of the children
they might have had.

He imagined a houseful
of handsome children.

He also knew that if they had none,

Catherine would take up
her adventures again.

They didn't speak, but they made Jove
once more in that cold, sad hotel room,

not knowing why —
perhaps fo bring their story fo a close.

It was like a burial,
or as if they were already dead.

It's crazy because
this scene could've been —

He avoids obscenity

by having her do

something very beautiful and ordinary,
something a woman does every day.

It avoids banality.

Or at least repelition.

The next day she fook him fo his train,
but they didn't wave good-bye.

They parted on the verge of fears,
though nothing forced them fo.

See? Right fo left.

He goes off.

We're so used fo our writing conventions
that when he goes against if —

Here's your inhaler.
There was a letter too.

I think I'm pregnant.
Come. Catherine.

Gilberte, please give me
some writing paper.

Catherine, I'm very ill,
in no shape fo gef out of bed.

Besides, I've no desire fo come see you,
most likely pregnant by another.

Our last pitiful good-bye
can't have succeeded

where our greatest Jove failed.

“...where our greatest love failed.”

You're right. I don't believe
a word about this illness.

I'll write him immediately
and say you wish to see him.

Dear Imaginary Invalid,
come as soon as you can.

Catherine awaits a letter.

Write in large letters,
for her eyes are tired.

Suddenly if becomes a war.

A war of leffers.

With the abandoned husband
as accomplice.

My doubfs are quite justified

by our past, Albert and all the rest.

But it's not shocking.

Because the character isn't shocked.

- It's daring.
- Since the husband's not shocked.

Some critics,
now that I think of it,

were shocked by the audacity.

There were some bad reviews.

I think it was banned
in some countries.

Wasn't it banned —

In Canada, probably.

I love you, Jim.

So many unbelievable things
we can't understand

turn out to be true.

I'm finally going to have a child.

He did this again
in Two English Girls.

The same infensity.

Your love is now alive within me.

You must believe me.

This paper is your skin.
This ink is my blood.

I'm pressing hard so the ink enters in.
Answer me quickly.

Darling, I believe you,
and I believe in you. I'm coming fo you.

1 know whatever bit of good
1 find within me comes from you.

They had promised
never fo call each other,

fearing fo hear each other's voice
when they couldn't fouch.

The mail fook three days.
Their letters crossed.

“My doubts are quite justified
by our past, Albert and all the rest.”

111 think no more of you
so you will stop thinking of me.

You disgust me now,
which is wrong,

1 hope I won't anger you,

but it's as if
all the drama around love

is tougher for men fo deal with
than for women.

They're rather fearful.

Like the scene on the Seine,
1 might say.

The image of a woman
is always threatening,

always scary.

- Frightening.
- More forthright.

But a bit sorceress-like, frightening.

1d forgotten
their desire for a child.

It will come fo play a role later,

because there's something sterile
about their relationship.

It can't be.

I can't believe it!

You gave up your chalet for good?

Yes, we prefer to live in France now.

We've rented
an old mill on the Seine.

The Moulin d'Andé.

Please tell me about Catherine.

They also play dominoes
in Two English Girls.

It's a period game.

One that requires some thought.

It seems childish and simple.
- And peaceful.

It's not just because
it's a game from that time.

It's the pieces,
and the sounds they make.

They're nice objects.

Picasso again.

Does Catherine know
you've come to see me?

Yes. She invites you
for a ride in her car.

I hope you'll accept,
and perhaps your wife —

She won't accept, but I will.

I've got to be going.

No, Jules! You can't wear a hat
like that, at least not in France.

Take mine.
- Very well.

That's the Moulin d'Andé?

Truffaut often filmed there.

Some of The Soft Skin.

A lovely spot.

She's in very good spirits this morning.

Please don't upset her.
- Me?

It's wonderful here.

That's Catherine's car.

Come.

Jim's here.

Catherine was smiling,
but she had a look of infrigue about her.

She wrapped her white pajamas
in a parcel just so.

Jim wondered why
but then forgot about it,

and they left for a drive.

I'm so hungry.
Shall we eat here?

- Time's passed.
- You can feel it.

There's a more serious fone.

More sadness.

More hats.

Glasses.

- You have a date in town perhaps?
- Perhaps.

The pajamas. Serge.

The festive atmosphere is gone.

It's more organized, more planned.

A premedifated adultery...

without enthusiasm.

Give me my little package.
Good night.

Well-played second act,
including the bit with the white pajamas.

I wasn't expecting it.

I'm surprised she didn't give
that role to a new leading man.

It's childish.

But why? He was perfect for tonight.
Leave her the car.

Catherine's motto is: At least one party
in a couple must be faithful.

The other party.

Always a little moral:
a way of summing people up.

In today's scripts,

no one would dare
comment after the fact

on an event that has occurred,
fo define it.

But here there are statements
defining how one should live.

But that's something Frangois

remembered perhaps

from an interview with Howard Hawks,

who said everything
should be said three times in a film

so that it strikes the viewer.

Right. Once doesn't work.

Twice isn't quite enough.

What an awful night.
I don't know what I was doing there.

That kind of life was dead for me.

It was a desert to die in.

You mentioned Duras.

What reminds you of her?
Her writings?

The characters.

I offen teased her,

saying she had a gift for fragedy

and melodrama,
which made her laugh.

But her main concern

was love between men and women.

She had the taste
and disposition for it.

She couldn't imagine
meeting someone

without there being
some sort of resonance,

some potential
for a hint of passion.

That's how you explore the universe.

I feel that lightning curiosity too.

Perhaps everyone does.

I control it for your sake,
but I'm not sure you do for mine.

I agree with you that in love

a couple is not ideal.

You only have to look around.

You wanted to invent something better

by rejecting hypocrisy and resignation.

You wanted to invent love.

But pioneers must be
humble and unselfish.

We must face the truth.

We failed.
We made a mess of everything.

You tried to change me to suit you.

I tried to spread joy,
but I've created only pain.

My promise to Gilberte
that we'd grow old together

means nothing
because I can put it off forever.

It's like a counterfeit bill.

I no longer hope to marry you.

You must know:
I'm going to marry Gilberte.

She and I can still have children.

That's a beautiful story.

But what about me?

Here she looks
most like the statue.

What about the children I wanted?

You didn't want them.

Yes, I did.

They would have been beautiful.

I wonder if the cinema
wasn't invented

fo manufacture regrefs.

There you sense theyll —

This is the only time
I'm not as fond of the music.

It doesn't go
with the spirit of the film.

Yes, because if illustrates
this sequence.

Catherine befrays
her character a bit here.

Catherine betrays Catherine.

What Jim fold her
is a bit disappointing.

He resigns himself fo marriage.

The revolver —
1d forgotten about that.

SEVERAL MONTHS LATER

Here it's much later.

The auto-da-fé, the books.

Terrible images.

It's the Studio des Ursulines
Just as it is now,

with those columns.

Inventing love and the couple —

it's the basis of Truffaut's cinema.

The couple is...

not the best solution.

And yet it's the one

that we must fry fo accept.

“Can't live with you or without you.”

I read a magazine
that spoke of Truffaut's levity,

but Truffaut wasn't that way.

He's always been misunderstood.

Something's always hovering.

He deals with serious maffers,
but with a light fouch.

His fouch is deft, but not superficial.

Now they're burning books.

See how handsome they look.

That's a greal shot,
with the three glasses.

For Catherine,
you were easy to get

and hard to keep.

Your love waned and soared

with hers.

I never knew those highs and lows.

Mr. Jim, I have something to tell you.

Will you come with me?

Jules, watch us carefully.

- It's Catherine who decides.
- Frightening.

She always decides.

This ending is frightening.

It's not in the book.

It was Truffaut's
and Gruault's choice, I guess.

It's terrifying.

Jules would no longer dread,
as he had from the beginning,

that Catherine would cheat on him
or, quite simply, die,

since it had happened now.

The narration here is fantastic.

Jim's coffin was even larger than life,

dwarfing Catherine's at its side.

They left nothing of themselves,
but Jules had his daughter.

Had Catherine loved conflict
for conflict's sake? No.

But she'd bewildered Jules with it
fo the point of nausea.

A sense of relief flooded over him.

Relief!

Jules' and Jim's friendship
had no equivalent in love.

They delighted fogether
in the smallest things.

They accepted their differences
with tenderness.

From the start, everyone called them
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

Here's Frangois' concern for precision.

Technical precision.

When Hitchcock saw the film,
he was very intrigued

by the incineration
and asked if that was really done.

Did the Catholics accept that?

The detail struck Hifchcock.

The economy of style is very much
like in a Hifchcock movie.

It's amazing.

It doesn't fake away
from the sacred nature of it.

It's beautiful.

And people forget.

They only speak of the beauty
of their friendship and love.

You've always felt that people

only remember the euphoria,
not the love unto death.

The ashes were placed in urns
and sealed in separate compartments.

Left to himself,
Jules would have mingled them.

Catherine had always wanted hers
scattered fo the winds from a hillfop,

but that wasn't allowed.

It's magnificent.

Thank you for the chance
fo watch it again.

It's nice fo see a film
during the day.