All language subtitles for S00E02 - Maigret at Bay (Play of the Month, February 1969)

Papa? What?

The mosquitoes.

They're back.

Which one?

The young one.

The singer. Come inside.

She's dying.

That won't? I can't think of how Mary.

She's still there and it doesn't look
like she's budging. Do I hang on? Yes,

wait for a little bit.

Is the patron coming?

Not today. He's gone to the doctor.

I'm ready for you.

Shoes!

A symptom of claustrophobia.

What? That little habit of looking out
of the window.

Just the top.

This insomnia, is it with you all the
time or just now and then?

Well, now and then.

Digestion?

So -so.

Too many petit -femblants.

Cognac, anise.

And madame's good cooking. Sit down.

Oh, by the way, I still have to remind
you.

Dinner on Saturday.

Duck with orange.

Oh, an occasion.

My birthday. Which?

50th. So now everything is clear. The
winter gazing, the insomnia.

What do you mean?

You are facing the climatic.

You make me sound like a woman.

Ah, with a man that is spiritual.

The half century, the grand turning
point.

The effect can be just as great.

When did they retire you?

55. Oh, so young.

I envy you.

Five years, eh?

Then it'll be the cottage at Mearn or
Mawson, the garden, the fishing line.

Every time I pass one of the anglers on
the quays, I'll see myself five years'

time. You must learn to get used to it.

You permit?

Yeah. I give it, though.

Another jaw robbery.

Mm -hmm.

Oh.

What?

Well, they've given you a nose like an
old regime.

Dinner's nearly ready.

You've plenty of time for your drink,
though.

Oh, did you remember to call Armand?

The pardon's about Saturday night, your
birthday party.

No, I saw him.

You went to see him?

It was nothing. Just a routine check.

Refer him to the police surgeon.

What did he say?

Oh, perfect.

Excellent.

Having a change of life.

Did you tell him you haven't been
sleeping well lately?

He gave me some pills.

What you need's a holiday, a real one.

Oh,

you're awake.

How are you?

I couldn't sleep.

I'll be all right now.

You're talking to yourself.

You going to keep that light on?

I've been thinking.

It'd be nice to go off for the weekend
somewhere.

What about the party?

Next weekend.

I thought we could go to Mayong. It's so
nice up there.

All right, Moon.

More sun.

More, more sun?

I thought while we were there, we
could...

Have a look round, you know.

Call in on one or two of the agents.

Well, there's some lovely cottages there
down by the river. Perfect for fishing.

You and Pardon, both preparing me for
the grass.

I was only thinking that if we're going
to buy, we ought to buy now.

I'll never double the price in five
years' time. It's only said, June.

We can use it for the weekend.

Madam, I am 50, not 80.

If you want any further proof...

Oh, June.

Oh.

Hello?

Is it Commissioner McGray?

McGray here?

Who's that?

Oh, God, please.

You must help me. I don't know what to
do. I don't know where to go. I've got

money. They gave me something. I've been
drunk.

Some girl. She sounds drunk.

What's your name?

Wait

a

minute now.

Just tell it to me slowly. Where are you
from?

La Rochelle,

right. Start from there and tell me what
happened.

She met me at the station, but Marco
wasn't there.

Huh? Who is this Marco?

art gallery on the other side of the
street.

Look through the window.

Yes.

Who's that fellow?

Well, stay there. Someone will be with
you in ten minutes.

Wait there.

It's after midnight.

Send one of the inspectors.

It's only ten minutes away.

I'll put her in a hotel and come back.

No, I've got a small one.

Yeah.

Now, wait a minute. Don't worry.

Would you like some more coffee?

No.

Nicole Galby.

You?

I won't leave Nicole.

I had tea.

Why did you think of telephoning me?

Well, because I'd heard about you.

You sure you wouldn't like some more
coffee?

No.

When did you get to Paris?

It was thick.

And you had no idea where your friends
took you? No.

This man Marco, what was he like?

He was... He was dark and... He wore a
brown suit.

Was he short? Tall?

He wasn't tall.

You're feeling sick, aren't you?

Where are your parents, Nicole?

There's only Papa and... He's a
magistrate.

In La Rochelle?

They'll be looking for you.

We'd better talk to him.

Oh, no, please.

I can't talk to him like this.

They gave you a lot to drink, didn't
they?

Oh, I think they put something in.

But that would be nothing.

He thinks I'm in my arms, you know.

And I want to sit and lie down. Come.

Can you walk?

Come on, then.

It's not far.

You all right?

Young lady needs a room for the night.

16, second floor. Okay,

16.

Come on then.

Sit down.

Now, which is it that we... Go to sleep
or throw up first?

I think you'll sleep.

Go on, sign back.

Thank you, madame. You've been most
helpful.

You'll just sign your statement.

Adieu, mes enfants.

Adieu, Patron.

Patron d 'Auguste.

As you saw with the car drive -off,
doesn't even know the make or the

The other reports are on your desk.
They're all the same.

Who's covering Aline Palmare today?

Jean Vier.

Patron de direct... Now, come on. Get me
the hotel this time, will you? Yes,

Patron. Patron de direct, this meeting
has started.

Hello?

Madame,

I'd like to speak to Mademoiselle Nicole
Calvé, room 16.

Mademoiselle... Ah, yes, the 16.

She left this morning, monsieur, at 7 o
'clock.

She had no money.

She said Commissaire Mécré would pay.

I see.

All right, madame. I'll be round later
in the day to settle the bill.

Yes.

See if there's a magistrate named Calvé
at La Rochelle.

Shall I get him for you?

No, just see if he exists.

I'm beginning to doubt it.

My apologies, director.

asked to speak to the minister in
person.

Yes, it is important.

I'm going to find it here.

Long? Yes, Friar.

This is a matter on which I must see you
at once.

Hello, Joseph.

So, thank you, sir.

The preface.

Thank you, Joseph.

Patron, there's no... I've been swept in
by the new broom. What the traffic?

I am convoked.

Very full.

September the... Today.

Now. Perhaps he won't forgive you a
medal, patron.

What happened about that magistrate,
Calvet, La Rochelle?

Oh, you're right. He doesn't exist.

Commissaire.

You've been in the police service a long
time, Monsieur Macrae.

Since I was 22, Monsieur le Prefet. So
long.

And your duties have taken you widely.

The metro, stations, the big stores,
vice, gambling.

And now you're a divisional commissaire.

Yes. Within five years of retirement.

And three days.

In 28 years, you must have seen many
changes in methods, procedures.

The criminals haven't changed.

And you, like them, prefer to keep to
the old ways as well.

They work.

The use of informers, the what one might
call highly personal approach that you

have evolved, in which you have gained a
certain celebrity.

I have here a statement made by
Mademoiselle Nicole Prieur of 7

Champs -Élysées at 9 o 'clock this
morning.

Prieur?

Her uncle with whom she lives is Jean
-Baptiste Prieur, president of the State

Board of Appeal.

He was present at the deposition.

It is quite short.

I will ask you to read it in my
presence.

It would be possible at this moment for
me to accept your resignation.

Your pension will remain unaltered.

You would merely enjoy it five years
earlier than you had anticipated.

May I read the document, monsieur?

before the witness is undersigned.

At 7 o 'clock yesterday evening, I was
at the apartment of my friend, Martin

Bouet, in the Boulevard Saint -Germain.

Martin is a fellow student at the
Sorbonne studying history of art.

I bought some new records and we were
playing them.

At about 11 .30, I left to go home.

The evening was very fine and warm.

I was going down the rue Guénégou when I
remembered that I'd left the records

behind at Martin's.

She knew I wanted them to play next day,
and I was afraid she might phone home

to tell me I'd left them and wake my
uncle, who always goes to bed early.

I thought this was the bar she desired.

I thought I'd call her from there.

I knew she'd still be out.

I don't know how long we talked for.

You know how it is. Once you get
started, you go on from one thing to

Anyway, I've finished.

And I went to have my coffee, which was
pretty cold by now and wholly bitter.

And then I saw a man looking at me
through the glass.

I don't know why, but I had the feeling
he'd been looking at me for minutes.

I stared back, because I felt somehow I
recognised him.

And he must have taken that as a signal,
because...

Recognise me?

I'm not sure.

Make way.

In person.

Take this. That's me.

And all the papers.

Layer of criminals.

Something for the young lady.

You were taller than I thought.

Not the fat of his pictures.

And I don't think that was the first
drink he'd had that evening.

You know, a lot of people have funny
ideas about my job.

You too, I wouldn't mind betting.

Well, we always hear about the wonderful
confessions you get from people.

Oh, that comes at the end.

First, you have to catch them.

I'll take tonight.

I'm out looking for a criminal.

Really tough specimen.

I expect to put the handcuffs on him in
one of these bars around here.

Hey, you're in a hurry to get back.

Huh? Daddy waiting up and all that?

My uncle trusts me whatever time I come
in.

Well, then, why not stay around?

See the fun.

The great migraine action?

Be in all the papers.

Well, why not?

Why not?

Let's pay it back.

I don't know which bar he took me to
first.

I keep to remember going down the road I
go up and then down another street.

His name, I can't remember.

He bought me a drink. It was whiskey.

I didn't really want it, but my mouth
would dry after that coffee.

I don't see him yet. My little Marco.

Dirty.

See that type?

He's called Jojo Le Plastiqueur.

Just about.

14 years for double homicide.

Shouldn't have got five years.

That one got ten.

Go on.

Finish up. I've got a lot of calls to
make tonight.

I think I'd better go home.

Another half an hour, and then...

I thought I only

had one drink, but my glass must have
been filled several times without my

notion.

You're an old Sandy school chick.

No, no.

I'm going to be sick.

I suppose at the last moment, he got
scared.

you require of me, monsieur?

I repeat my offer.

To resign?

The answer is no.

Then you will give me your statement in
reply to Mademoiselle Prière's

deposition by three this afternoon.

All I require is an exact account of
your movements between nine o 'clock

night and one this morning.

And then?

Then you will have nothing further to
do.

You can simply occupy yourself with your
normal duties.

There will be an investigation.

You will be given a decision within 48
hours.

Who will make the investigation?

That is no concern of yours.

That must not leave this office.

But it must if I'm to make my statement.

The young lady's gone into a lot of
detail.

Very well.

But it will be seen by no eyes but your
own.

and returned under field with your
statement.

And, Commissar, you will divulge nothing
of this to any of your staff or seek to

carry out any investigation of your own.
That is a strict order.

Who from? The uncle of Nicole Prieur?

From the Minister for the Interior.

You remember me?

Last night, after midnight, there was a
girl.

People come in all the time.

Not last night.

Just the two of us. I don't know. I
don't remember.

She used the telephone.

She made two calls.

You must know, because you made me pay
for two calls. I told you, I don't know

anything. You don't know. I don't know
anything.

They've been at you already, huh? Who?

The bill has been paid, monsieur.

Oh, by?

It has been paid.

Where's the man who was on duty last
night?

He is the night porter.

He is at home.

Where is he, sir? I want to see him.

I do not know, monsieur.

Did he tell you to say that?

Good day, madam.

Where's LaFoyant?

He's got the fuel. It's still turned
off.

Get my wife and bring a notebook in
here.

Yes.

Hello?

Oh, it's me.

I won't be home for lunch today.

Oh.

I'll get on with my curtain, then.

Has something happened?

Yes.

What about tonight?

Tonight, no.

Something nice.

Shall I get some fish for a change?

Yes, yes.

Right.

Do you want to see me, Pat? Yeah.

Sit down, Ike.

Read that.

No,

give me five minutes. Take it away.

No, take this down.

Statement. Anjou la madame aigre.

Et cetera, et cetera.

Date it.

Fill that in later. Yes, patron.

Now then.

At nine o 'clock on the evening of
August the 2nd, 1968, I was watching

television with my wife.

With my wife.

At this point, the girl, whom I now
assumed to be Nicole Prieu, lay back on

bed and appeared to fall asleep.

I immediately left her and went home,
which took me approximately ten minutes,

and went straight to bed.

The time was 1 .30.

Wherever Mademoiselle Prieu's account
conflicts with the above, it is a lie.

No, cut out that last bit.

I have the honor to be, etc., etc.

Two coffees, accolade, and your best
typing.

Yes, patron.

Who is she?

Nicole Prieur, niece of Jean -Baptiste
Prieur, president of the State Board of

Appeal, leading jurist. I've looked him
up.

Big wheel in the Fifth Republic. Like
that with the Minister of the Interior.

And no doubt with Monsieur le Prefet.

With whom I just had a pleasant quarter
of an hour. You mean they believe all

this? I take it you don't.

Is that bit where you say, I am the
police?

I could follow the rest.

Thanks.

Look, she telephoned me last night,
about midnight.

Some story about running away from home,
lost in the big city.

Some man tried to seduce her, got her
drunk, took her money.

Went to the bar, found her there.

Too ill to...

Speak much, or seem so.

Put her in a hotel and left her there,
that's all.

Why did you go yourself, patron?

Why not whistle up a local man? Because
I had insomnia.

And because once in a while your habits,
your whole way of being become a trap.

Oh, yes, they believe it.

Why should she lie?

Why make up that farrago?

I thought I'd stop believing in a pure
will to evil.

Your wife, she must have heard the phone
call. Exactly, my wife.

She talks here about phoning her friend,
Martine Bouet. That could be checked.

That would mean she must have made two
phone calls. Yes, two phone calls.

One to me, one to her friend.

First thing I went for.

If I could prove that, I could crack a
story.

But the man, the theory, runs the bar,
won't talk.

The specials got at him before I did.

Zombies.

Been to the hotel, too.

All that deposition.

You'd have your scalp for even knowing
it exists.

I'm sorry, Lepointe.

I had to talk to someone. You can forget
it.

The director, he said anything?

I know them. They haven't even told him.

We've got to find out more about that
girl.

All we know so far is she's a de
Sorbonne, she's the niece of Jean... I

forget it.

Yes, patron.

Photo. I must have a photo.

To Luc.

Get me a passport record.

Rich girl, she must have been abroad.

DeLuke, your old friend La Pointe.
Hello.

How's the Maserati?

Fabulous. Had a rally last Sunday.
Phantom blown back in four hours.

It's crazy about cars.

And back, fantastic.

Listen, Louis, I want you to do me a
favor.

I want a photo.

Nicole Baptiste Prieur, niece of Jean
Baptiste Prieur, who's the... President

the Board of Appeals. Exactly, that's
the man.

Address, 7 Rampointe des Champs
-Elysées.

a whole minute. You're slipping.

I'll be there.

He's having a look.

What's the betting?

It's bound to be there.

Zombies have had an hour's start.

They'll never have thought of this one.

Those boys work by the book. Half of
them can't read.

Are you there?

Yes, Louis.

You've broken your record.

I'm afraid it's been removed for
authentication.

When? 10 .30 this morning.

That's a bit of bad luck.

No, no, no, it doesn't matter. It's not
important. Thanks, anyway.

Well?

Removed for authentic patient.

10 .30 this morning.

Well, I was still with the prefect.

Oh, they're good. They're very good.

We've got to have a photo.

Barnack and his little camera.

No, I'm not dragging that poor old devil
into this. Patron, he's three months

off retirement. His pension's assured.

He doesn't give that for the new broom.

Accolon, find Inspector Barnard to get
him up here, will you? Right.

This girl's just a pawn, love one.

She never thought all this up by
herself.

Not unless she's a criminal genius.

So? There's someone behind her.

Maybe someone who's got it in for you.

Who wants me out of the way?

That's it, patron.

That's your motive.

Whose hair have you been getting into
lately?

Everybody's. Some of these students mix
in pretty weird company.

Drugs, sex.

She could be blackmailed. This is not
the work of some petty crook.

There's a brain here and a will.

Whose?

Ray, I'm not interrupting.

Murder it! Don't get up on it.

Make Ray, I've been convoked to the
preface office.

Another of his press conferences.

Of course, it's the...

Public outcry against the jewel robbery.

If crime could be solved by press
conferences, Paris would be another

Before the fall.

You still think you're on to a good lead
with your... What's his name?

Manuel Palmari.

He may be the man behind them, director,
or not.

Either way, he knows who it is, I'm
certain.

He's got his ear to every villainy in
Paris.

Informers. Well, we have to use them.

What about pulling this Palmari in?

Two years ago, he was shot up.

Rival gang with machine guns.

Left crippled for life.

He knew who it was, but he never spoke.

Let me do this my way, Director.

He's beginning to trust me. One of these
days, he'll pass me the right kind of

hint.

Very well, Macrae.

They haven't told him.

He's told me something, though.

When did I last see Balmari?

The day before yesterday, Tuesday.

Before that?

Monday, I took you there.

Before that?

Saturday. You've been sitting on his
neck for three weeks.

It could fit. He's got the brain.

If he is the type behind the jewel
robberies, he'd have the motive.

12 .30.

We might find a lien there, too.

On the chair.

You wanted to see me.

Good luck, Benna.

You again.

One of these days, Monsieur Magret,
you'll finish by upsetting me.

Now, come into my room.

Can't stand this one Aline's idea.

Salon. What does an old cripple like me
want with a salon?

All right, Monsieur Magret.

What is it today, then?

Look, I'm a free citizen. I pay my
taxes. I've got a clean record.

I used to run an honest bar.

Yes, honest.

till they peppered my backside.

Now I live like a mouse in a hole. I
have to be washed and dressed like a

Just a harmless old cripple. So what
happened?

My telephone's tapped.

No, don't deny it. I wasn't born
yesterday.

And I have to put up with your pipe
every day, turning me slowly into a

eel. If you'd only tell me what it is
you're after.

Just a talk, Manuel.

I like talking to you.

You have an interesting mind. All right,
Monsieur Magret. For me, I don't care.

Do what you like.

But Aline, that's something else.

Has anyone bothered her?

Ah, Monsieur Magret, you're smarter than
me.

If I were that, you'd have been inside
ages ago.

The old story.

Aline, yesterday it was a young fellow
with a felt hat like a singer.

The day before, a dark one with a
moustache.

Today?

She can't go out for a loaf of bread
without one of your mosquitoes for

Now, you and me, Monsieur MacGray, we've
always got on well together.

I've nothing personal against you. Where
is Aline?

Shopping. When does she go out?

At ten.

Three hours, not back yet? Well, first
she had to go to the dentist.

Oh. How long's she had toothache?

Two, three days.

What's his name, this dentist?

Name I don't know. Look, he's across the
road. You can see his plate.

If it wasn't for the curtain, you could
see his chair.

Let's go after that. Ask your boys. They
know.

Who is Desiree? What?

On the bar. Never heard of him.

Or Nicole?

Nicole? Nicole what?

There's a Nicole on every street corner.

This one's at the Sorbonne.

Oh, what's that?

University.

I'm supposed to know a college girl.

Papa?

Oh, poor Papa Romney.

Are you hungry?

What is going on down there?

Why doesn't he bring his pyjamas and a
toothbrush and we'll put up a vest for

him? Good afternoon, Aline.

Aline. Do you hear what he calls me?
Aline, not Madame Palmari. Aline. Oh, be

nice to Monsieur Magret, Cherie. You
know he's my friend.

Hmm. Look at him.

His hands will need bags in a minute.

With a pair of knickers and a bra.

That'll give him a thrill.

Hello? Is Commissar Magret there?

Yes, he's here.

To you, Monsieur Magret.

What did I tell you? He'd moved in on
her.

OK. Jean -Pierre here. Yes, Jean
-Pierre.

Patron, is she back?

Yes, she is. She pulled a switch on me
in the metro.

What station?

The Madela. Double back. I'm sorry,
patron.

Where did she go before you lost her?
Which stores?

Magazine de Louvre and... Trois
Quartiers. Yes.

Did she speak to anyone? Make any phone
calls? No.

All right. And Jean -Pierre?

Shave off that moustache. You're getting
noticeable.

I hope it's the young one tomorrow,
Papa. He's got nice eyes.

Arlene, how often have I told you not to
make fun of the police?

Remember, they're our friends.

I'm still waiting for an answer, Manuel.

Waiting, Monsieur Magret?

About Nicole.

Oh, yes, yes.

Arlene, do you know any college girls
called Nicole?

Me? Nicole Proyeur.

She lives on the rond -pointe des Champs
-Élysées, and her uncle is a very

important person.

Do we know any important persons, Papa?

Except, of course, Monsieur Magret.

Monsieur Magret, why don't you tell us
what this is all about?

Someone in this town is trying to rub me
off the scene.

Rub you out? I can think of a few.

Forced my resignation.

They threw a girl at me. And you fell
for it? No. I would in my day.

Papa. The effect is the same. The story
is the same.

An enemy taking revenge?

I thought of that, but it doesn't fit.

Now, I think it's someone who feels that
I've been sitting on him for too long.

He wants to get out from under.

Maybe he's afraid I'm going to put the
finger on him for something big.

He'd have to be someone pretty smart,
who knows me well, with a twisted sort

humour.

Does that remind you of anyone, Manuel?

I can't think who it could be.

Oh, I swear, by the life of Aline.

I'll be back.

Hello?

But if I told them that I'd heard you
talk to the girl... Would you tell a lie

to save me?

But it isn't a lie. No, but would you?

Yes, of course I would.

There you are. They know that.

So does the party who thought up this
little piece.

What kind of a creature can she be?

I was thinking of Nicole.

Oh, Nicole. I can't bear to say the
names of a human being. She's a monster.

She's human.

I think she's in love.

Lying for love?

She wouldn't be the first.

Oh, Shoop.

You're going to fight, aren't you?

Of course I am.

But you'd better know what we're up
against.

This is no 18 -year -old perjurer that I
could break like that.

This is the apparatus.

A parallel police.

Every country has two police forces. The
ones you see, the ones you don't.

These are the ones you don't.

How can you fight them if you don't see
them?

Why do you think I have this aubergine?

Come

in,

love.

They're, like, good, I think.

Crane, you've got the right girl. Come
in.

Oh, madame. Let me see him.

Mr. Owen, that's her.

All right, you've made your glimpse of
the enemy.

Now go on with your curtain.

Well done, Bernack.

Who do we know at the Sorbonne?

Oscar. In fact, it's her husband's
cousin.

Professor Sorbonne? Professor?

Not exactly. He's a porter on the main
gate.

Couldn't be better.

We'll know when he comes off work, yeah?

Oscar! Victor!

How are you, Oscar? As you see, I get no
smaller, and you, it must be ten years.

Time flies.

Oscar, I want you to meet the patron,
Commissaire Maigret, my cousin, Oscar

Couton. At your service, Monsieur le
Commissaire.

Sit down, sit down. What are you
drinking?

Cognac? Cognac. Monsieur, another cognac
and two bamboo.

It is always a pleasure to meet the
famous.

And after being famous, I took you for
bigger.

Well, excuse the expression.

That seems to be the general impression.

So you were interested in the children.

Well, I shall call the students my
children. I have 5 ,000 of them. Only

Nicole Prieur.

Prieur. Prieur.

I know them all.

Oh, yes, I knew I was right. She's one
of them. The Equal Gang.

Ah.

Your help.

Thomas Hill.

Oscar. Victor.

Sante. Hmm.

Yes, um...

Three -year with a history of art
history of art with a friend Bonnie a

said the 12 gang Yes, we call them that
because they live around the 12

district. Oh some 20 or more. Oh rich
mad They come in for all these Jaguars

fuck in the place is reserved for the
professor It's fortunate. Most of the

professor's can't afford cars. Are they
always the same? Oh, they change you

understand a quarrel one goes off
another comes in I'd like to go to a

We talked about it in the newspapers,
but you will appreciate I don't go to

places. In Monmouth somewhere, there's a
restaurant on the ground floor and

below a club that you have to be a
member in. The Hundred Keys.

How do you know? I read the papers.

It's where every member gets a golden
key.

I'll be back.

Won't he be better?

What do they say to fish?

I've never seen a fish at home.

The soul, I think.

Yes, after the beast, the soul.

Petit pois, la reine?

Bon crevillon.

Just salad, thank you. Good idea, just
salad.

Very expensive.

For wine, monsieur?

No wine, thank you.

Have you a good vin d 'alzheimer?

Yes, monsieur, may I recommend the
Gewurztrauminer, the 61, an excellent

for outside.

Oh, and what is that stairway there with
the key over it?

That, monsieur, that's the club, the
Hundred Keys. It's under the restaurant.

Ah, not very busy.

Ah, it doesn't warm up till later,
monsieur.

About 11, then the young ones come
roaring up in their cars and the dancing

starts and the noise.

Dancing, eh? Like to dance?

It is for members only, monsieur.

Oh. How do I become a member?

If Monsieur is interested, I will send
the secretary.

Sure, if you don't want to become a
member.

Ah, the bisque.

Is it as good as mine?

Nothing is as good as yours.

Monsieur Magret?

Monsieur Philippe Landry.

How do you do, Monsieur?

Monsieur Landry, my wife.

Monsieur. Honored madame. We've had
acquaintance before.

He wants to try to buy my memoirs for a
magazine, Paris Sensation.

Bring up a chair.

He was only 18 at the time.

Now you're the secretary of that place.

Secretary, master of ceremonies,
referee.

Do I hear that you want to become a
member?

Isn't there an age limit?

There was some idea of that at one time,
but they found it would have left out

some very charming people.

Are there really just 100?

Actually, only 89 at the moment.

Are you seriously interested?

Seriously?

Well, the entrance fee is 1 ,000 francs.
Oh, but the drinks are cheap, barely

cost price. You, um, have to be
sponsored by two members.

Do you know any?

Well, now, if I could run my eye down
the register of members, I dare say I'd

see a few I knew.

Down below, I'll get it.

As you see, the, um, names are in
alphabetical order with, um, the stone

Mm -hmm.

Abouchard.

Micondarceau.

Barillard. Barillard Chemicals.

Patel.

Probost.

Prier.

Isn't that the name of someone in the
government?

Her uncle.

That book will be called The Who's Who
of the Young Fatter.

Hmm.

Nicole Prieur.

Seven.

Sponsored by Martin Bouet.

Eighteen. Student.

Sixty -five. Boulevard Saint -Germain.

And by François Mellon.

Thirty -eight.

Stomatologist.

Eleven. Rue Gabriel.

Stomatologist? An odd word.

A superior sort of dentist.

Thank you, Mr. Landry.

You've been more than helpful.

I can hope to welcome you as a member.

All things are possible.

I think some of your guests are
arriving.

Yes, by the time I went downstairs.

Apropos, how is Manuel?

The actor?

Manuel Palmari.

Should I know him?

Best not.

Thank you again, Mr. Ludwig. Monsieur?

Madame? Monsieur?

You wanted to see me, monsieur?

Did you find out what you wanted?

Isn't that what he called? A superior
kind of dentist.

Did you make an appointment?

No.

I'm not sure that Dr. Milan can see you.

The plate outside says ten till twelve.

It's only five past ten. Were you
recommended by anybody?

Madame Aline Palmari.

I can't guarantee that Dr. Milan can see
you, but I'll make out a card.

Your name?

Mekai.

June Mekai.

Your profession?

Clerk.

Your age?

Fifty, tomorrow.

And your address?

31 Bouvard, Wickshaven, Lenoir.

Which tooth is giving you pain?

My wisdom, I think.

I don't know. It came on the night.

Will you wait here, please?

Dr. Miller, I'll see you in a few
minutes.

Mr. McGray, will you follow me?

This pain came on suddenly?

Yes, it came on in the night.

Have you had it before?

No, no. My teeth are good, I think. A
little clean.

Rest your head back no more.

A little more.

Does that hurt?

Uh -huh.

How's that?

Not very pleasant.

But no sharp pain?

No. Rinse your mouth.

Your teeth are perfectly healthy.

If you had any pain, it could be
sinusitis.

Is there anything I can do about it?

It's a matter for your doctor.

Do I pay you?

Do you have a social security card?

The fee is 20 francs.

Your local office will refund 80%.

Mr. McRae, this way, please.

Oh, I mean, she took the way out.

Carol, will you show Mr.

McRae out?

You wanted to see me, director?

Ah, Macrae, sit down.

You weren't at the report this morning.

No, I had to go to the dentist.

There's been another jewel robbery.

This morning, just after nine, a jewel
is in the Rue Saint -Honoré.

You've been to the scene.

No. But you've had the report.

No.

This visit to the dentist, was it your
usual one?

Is that significant, monsieur?

Macrae, I'm trying to put myself in your
place.

Believe me, my own is painful enough at
this moment.

Yesterday you were sent for by the
prefect.

I don't know why he wanted you or what
he wanted to talk about.

But before you left his office, he
ordered you strictly to stay away from

matter.

Not to speak of it to anyone, staff,
colleagues.

That is correct.

It is.

Leaving his office, you went to a bar in
the Rue de Chacayo, then to the Hôtel

de Seine. These visits... Were they in
connection with the jewel theft?

No.

But with the matter regarding which the
Prefect had warned you?

Yes.

Returning to your office, you instructed
Inspector Barnard to take certain

photographs of a person you've been
forbidden to concern yourself with.

That is so.

Later, you detached Inspector Le Pen
from his duties and with him interviewed

concierge from the Sorbonne.

About the same person?

Yes.

That night you took your wife to a
restaurant.

Frequented by that person.

And your visit to the dentist.

You want my resignation, monsieur?

McRae, don't make things more difficult
for me.

You've been here 15 years to my five.
You know my admiration for you.

You know the outcry there's been about
this jewel robbery. The impudence.

with which these gangs have committed
their outrages.

Yet you detach your staff from their
duties and put them on investigations

you've been expressly forbidden to
follow.

I have to find a solution.

I think the best thing is you've been
working hard, exhausting yourself.

A few days sick leave would... It would
only be for a few days until you...

What are you doing?

Thank you director.

Your leave would start at once.

Who's Santa Maria job do you mind the
jewelers another leafy job through the

ceiling don't be a dad said you'd be
coming I've showed Nicole's photo in

Manuel's old bar in Walmart.

No luck.

What about the dentist?

Well, maybe some connection He knows
Aline Palmari and Nicole for you

Maybe one of many old things

Last night I felt some of the threads
coming into my hands, but today I... I'm

going to drop the whole thing up on it
and warn my nut.

It's an order.

It'll be my last.

He's sent on leave.

The police department, in its tender
mercy, thinks that I need a rest.

He'll concern himself with the jewel
theft.

And nothing else.

But, patron, you'll be back?

This machine makes such a noise.

What's happened?

Your idea about a trip to Moon.

Mightn't be a bad thing if we took a
look round.

You've resigned.

I've been sent on leave.

They didn't believe you?

They tried to tie my hands.

I disobeyed orders.

And so...

That 48 hours, you've still got time.
You've got a day.

I never knew how much I depended on her.

Appointment, accolade, the whole
machine.

How often in the past have I ordered a
telephone line to be tapped?

Never much like doing it.

In the future, when you're telephoning
your Aunt Melanie, if you hear two

clicks, watch your language.

Start getting the duck ready for
tomorrow.

I don't feel much like a celebration.

I've got new candlesticks for the dining
room.

And these new curtains.

I wanted the flat to look nice.

Bit thin for a bedroom, isn't it?

You can't see through from outside.

That they should behave like this after
all you've done for them.

All I can say is they've no right.

Jules.

Jules.

Oh, Jules.

I've been nice to you, Monsieur Magret.

I've flipped you a tip or two when it
could have cut me my throat.

But enough's enough. I warned you. Leave
Aline out of this.

Manuel.

I still believe that you're the man
behind these jewel thieves.

Oh, you know who is.

But I swear to you that what I want now
is nothing to do with that.

Ask him what it is, Papa.

Well, Aline, when you went to see Melon,
what happened?

Not in the surgery, but before that, in
the waiting room. I want you to remember

every detail.

She filled in a form, mademoiselle Mott.

Your assistant?

How do you know her name?

Carola told me, the servant.

Does Carola live in the house?

Yes.

But not Mademoiselle Mott.

Well, she's got a place somewhere. I see
her come in in the mornings.

Well, go on. What questions did she ask
you?

She asked me my name and how I knew of
Dr. Merlin, and I said I lived opposite,

and then she filled in the rest of the
form, and that was the... No.

When she stood up, she sort of looked me
up and down and said, is there nothing

else wrong with you?

As if I needed a clean bill of health to
go to the dentist.

Well, leave.

I think you and I share the same habit.

What? We both spend a lot of time
looking out of windows.

I've had something to say about that.

When a woman starts looking out of the
window, it means something, eh?

There's nobody out there that comes up
to your elbow, Barbara.

Did you ever see her go in there?

Is this the girl that threw at you?

Yes.

Any others?

Yes.

But she didn't go about her teeth.

I don't know.

Because it was ten o 'clock at night I
saw her going in.

That's the way she walks.

Did any other women go in at night?

Sometimes.

Well, I'm not a concierge. I don't spy
on people.

Does the light go on in the surgery?

Yes.

But he closes the shutters.

What are you thinking of?

There are better places than a dentist's
chair for a bit of a... You know what.

Eileen.

Have you ever had an abortion?

Of course.

Eileen, is this why you... Oh, no.

No. No, I swear to you. No.

So that's what he is.

Manuel, may I use your telephone?

Hello?

Hello. Armand?

Jules. Hold on a minute.

If that's Sergeant Julien on the monitor
panel, leave that pimple alone.

Armand? No, it was nothing. Just someone
on the line.

I'm sure you must have some professional
colleague who has acquaintance with a

stomatologist called Dr. François
Mellon.

Yes, yes, I have.

This case, it concerns the commission of
a crime?

Probably the strangest in my career.

Curious. But not unexpected.

What is it you want to know?

Anything you can tell me about François
Mellon.

He was my student.

Later, my assistant gifted remarkably,
because you realize he

came from the poorest of the poor, from
a small village near the Somme. His

father, a drunkard, he was the eldest of
the sons, and then there was a sister

two or three years older.

He had been my assistant for two years
before I even discovered that

much. Closed in on himself as it were.

Tortured. The students respected him for
his ability, but he had no friends.

And as far as we knew, no relations to
women.

The other students called him, or rather
nicknamed him, Little Virgin.

He was normal.

In the sense you mean, I'm sure, yes, he
was attracted by women. I could see

that. When a girl student came into the
class, his eyes were on her all the

time, and he became disturbed and
confused.

I often tried to get a bit more out of
him. I thought if I knew more about him,

I could help him to overcome this
disability, this block.

It was like pushing against the wall.
Then one night...

We had been working late together.

I forced him to come home with me. I
gave him dinner, I gave him a little

He normally never touched it, but this
time... And finally he began to talk.

It seems he was not more than ten when
the first German soldiers came to his

village. Two motorcyclists, the first
German soldiers he had seen in his...

life.

He was playing with his sister. They
asked the way to the next village, had a

word with each other, laughed and
beckoned to the girl. You've seen his

That's when one of the soldiers slammed
with a rifle butt his hand.

They pulled the girl down, raped her,
and laughed.

that the boy who had not moved.

After an experience like that, would he
be capable of real love?

In the spiritual sense, I think not.

It would mean horror, degradation,
death.

And in the physical sense?

Perhaps that too would be destroyed.

But the need, hmm? The need would still
be there. Yes, as I said.

In every hour, I expect he was normal.

So how did he express it?

Oh, friend, pardon his better psychology
than I. In some cases, it will be

sublimated in work or in some ideal of
service.

In others, it will become perverted.

In this case?

Perversion.

Do you know his assistant, Mademoiselle
Mott? Oh, yes, I provided her for him.

A devout woman, very religious.

Do you know where she lives?

I suppose where she always lived, I
think. We were discussing Francois

before you arrived, Jules.

There's something very interesting which
I think you ought to know about him. As

a student, he would never go for the
direct, simple solution.

He had a better mind in his class, but
he would often fail a problem by

delighting complexity for its own sake.

Well, if the problem were not a
classroom exercise, but...

Something that could mean his personal
destruction.

How would he respond then? Simple or
complex way?

Complex. Very complex.

Au revoir.

Au

revoir.

And then, about two weeks ago, he seemed
to change.

He told me I must be careful about the
women patients.

Did he tell you why?

No, but I guessed.

And then I saw you.

And I was sure.

He was terrified.

Till yesterday I didn't know of his
existence.

But you were watching him.

Every day from the balcony opposite.

It's a habit of mine looking out of
windows.

He thought I was watching him.

All I could see was a window with a
white curtain. Nothing beyond.

Can't see through from outside.

My interest was with the Palmares.

Nothing to do with talking alone.

The servant, Carola. Does she know what
he really does?

What? She lives in the house. She has an
attic at the top. The rest of the rooms

are empty.

Is she his mistress?

He has none.

He's alone.

He goes to the club, under keys?

Only to kill the silence.

And sometimes to... To find clients?

Yes. And Nicole Prieur?

I'm sure at first she came for the same
reason as all the others. Is she his

mistress? I've told you, he has none.

She's an hysteric who threw herself at
his head.

I've tried to talk to him to get him to
stop.

He doesn't do it for the money.

He's sorry for these women, and he's
skillful.

He's not like these creatures in Back
Street who are...

If he had to go to prison, he won't be
able to bear it.

You love him?

I pray for him.

Is he a Christian?

No, he has no religion.

In that case, abortion for him would not
be a great sin.

There's something else.

There's no mademoiselle.

What else is there that you pray for?

A man with a terrible history?

Incapable of real love?

But with the means, if he chose to take
his will, a case is on record.

A doctor in America with an attractive
patient. He anesthetized her first and

then.

But she died under the anesthetic.

When did you first guess?

One night a woman came into the surgery.

I showed her in.

I was surprised when she didn't come
back into the waiting room, but there is

doorway to the back, and when I asked
him, he said he'd shown her out that

In that case, Carola would have seen her
go out, did she? I can't tell you

anymore. Then let me help you.

Does he employ a gardener?

No. He looks after the garden himself?

Yes. And that night, did you ask Carola
if... No, she told me.

She saw him in the garden.

When was this?

About two years ago.

Ouch.

You said nothing to anyone.

He's alone. He thinks he's ugly.

Do you want to help him?

How can I?

Pick up your telephone.

Call his number.

Tell him that you must speak to him
about something urgent.

He must come here.

He won't go to the guillotine. He won't
even go to a prison. No, no!

Don't you know what this man is?

Don't you know?

He'll be alone.

Like the woman in the garden, she's
alone, isn't she?

Or are there others?

You can go now. He won't be seen.

What's the matter?

He's gone. It doesn't count anymore.

Love me. Love me. No, Nicole.

No.

Yes? Doctor, this is Mott.

Yes? No, not on the telephone.

I must see you here.

Please, you must come at once.

Very well.

You had a car?

Yes.

Take him along.

You have been waiting for me a long
time.

But I haven't, Francois.

I haven't.

How long have they been there?

Hard to say about this one. At least two
years.

That, not so long.

And the third?

Quite recent. Not more than a month.

That's what I expected.

They're still digging?

Yes, of course.

There are only three.

Oh. You sure?

Sure.

Of course, I haven't determined the
cause of death.

They died of heart failure.

Under anaesthetic.

But why all this?

Big old head of only big