All language subtitles for L oeuvre Au Noir

Henri-Maximilien and Zenon have chosen
different paths to explore the world.

One has chosen the path of military
glory, the other the path of truth.

Thirty years later, Zenon Ligre, wanted
for his dissident writings, returns home...

...under a false name, to Flanders, now occupied by
the Spaniards, and devastated by wars of religion...

...and by the Inquisition.

You still want to become a
captain, and to fight in Italy?

In 10 years, I'll be as
famous as Caesar or Alexander.

Or you'll be dead!

Benedictus, Zenon, pray
for me at Compostella.

Farewell, cousin captain.

Farewell, cousin pilgrim.
May God preserve you.

Your papers?

Jean-Louis de Berlaimont,
Prior of Cordeliers at Bruges.

- All in order.
- What's going on?

We're looking for a couple of peasants
who took off into the woods with their son.

But don't worry, it won't take long.

The father and the son are to hang,
the woman will be buried alive.

A woman with her skirt flapping
in the wind, that's indecent.

Isn't that so, Monsieur le Prior?
Especially for the children.

Is this gentleman travelling with you?

Sebastien Theus, Strasbourg. Very well.

- Are you travelling to Bruges, Monsieur?
- Yes. Is it much further?

No, you should be there by evening.

You, stay there!

- Let him be, he's a doctor.
- Very well.

Where is my son?

Yes, yes... yes, yes...

Give me a little of that oil.

Well? Can I interrogate her?

Not a chance, she's too far gone.

Well, come on, don't just stand there
like dummies! Don't you have arms?

Get going, search the wood!
Hurry! Track them down!

The Lord be praised that that
poor creature no longer suffers.

She could have held out
for a few more hours.

But for what purpose?

To relieve the body of its suffering,
only to deliver it to the executioner.

We live in stupid, cruel
times, Monsieur Theus.

Bruges, Monsieur Prior.

You have returned to
Bruges, Monsieur Prior?

And who is this gentlemen?

His name is Monsieur Theus, a doctor
of medicine. His luggage is with mine.

Very well. Go on.

Here are your books.
There's no danger now.

I don't know how to thank you.

Sure you won't get lost?

Thank you, Monsieur Prior,
they explained it all in detail.

I hope you will find time to visit
the convent, Monsieur Theus...

...we can always use good doctors.

- Goodbye Monsieur Prior, and thank you again.
- May the good Lord protect you and watch over you.

- Hey! -
Hey! - Hey!

Monsieur Myers is expecting me, I think.

Welcome.

- Zénon!
- Ah, no! No!

Don't use that name, now
I'm called Sebastien Theus.

That other, Zenon, is sought in
France, from Paris to Lyons...

...as the author of certain
ideas, of certain writings...

...which have moreover been been
burned by the Spanish authorities.

Well, now my name is Sebastian Theus.

Attention, your surgeon barber...

...has need of a good doctor, Zenon.

- No, no...
- I mean, dear Sebastian!

- Catherine?
- Thank you.

This evening we're going to feast. - Yes!
And we'll deny ourselves nothing. - Nothing!

Catherine...

Tell me, in Padua, or at
Montpellier, where you practiced...

...has anyone discovered
a cure for gout?

To tell the truth, it's
becoming so insupportable...

...that I can't even visit my patients.

No-one really knows exactly why
those swellings come about...

Beer is not so good
for them, as for wine...

But after an attack you can
take as much as you like...

...provided it's good
wine, and not too old.

Always the companion of the fire, Zenon.

Sebastian.

Did you find the secret you were
looking for, in Spain? - No.

Not long after my arrival in Lyon...

...Don Blas de Vela was asassinated
in the abbey by his own followers.

Because his old head was full of
imaginings which could have led to heresy.

Poor Don Blas de Vela. I could
neither follow him, nor defend him.

He left this earth in my absence.

I began to go through his
correspondence concerning metals.

Fire imbues matter with its own heat.

From the ashy dawn to the sunfire
of the gold, is but one step.

You'll be burned yourself if you talk
like that, my dear Jean. You must be tipsy.

There's a time to talk,
and a time to be silent.

And a time to sleep.

Is everything all right? Not too hot?

ZENON LIGRE "Treatise
on the Physical World"

ZENON LIGRE "Prediction
of Things to Come"

One can easily lose oneself
in the alleys and by-ways.

Split a red cabbage in two,
and you have a map of Bruges.

No, only old people remain here now.

The young people all left,
before the Spaniards arrived...

...gone to join the rebels in Zeland.

Yes, the new faith
has its attractions...

...especially when there are military
detachments marching in the streets.

How old were you when your mother
placed you with Canon Campanus...

...so as to instruct you in Latin?

Do you remember my mother clearly?

She was so beautiful, and
so fragile, your mother.

She had such a beautiful name: Hilzonde.

Mother?

What are you doing there?

- You haven't left?
- No, not yet. In a little while.

You're alone?
- Yes.

And my father?

Zenon. Stop staring at that.

How is your sister? Your sister?

Marta... -Good.

I saw her once in Cologne.

She is a grand lady now.

Tell her that I think about her?

I learned only much later that my
mother had died at the stake in Munster.

And that she had had a daughter
with Simon Adriansen... Martha...

...who had escaped the massacre...

...and whom I never would have seen...

...if I hadn't been stationed in
Cologne during the Great Plague.

My half sister, Martha.

Martha!

- I can do nothing for your sister.
- She's not my sister.

My name is Martha Adriansen. I am...

I'm her cousin.
- Adriansen?

I beg you, don't let me
go without a good purpose.

No, don't be afraid.

I see that you have married Philibert.

She's delirious.

Breathe. Breathe deeply.

You must give her one
of these every half hour.

I know of an Adriansen. Simon Adriansen.

His wife was called Hilzonde.

He was my father, he died at
Munster when it was occupied.

MARTHA!

Stay close to your cousin, until the end. The
plague will claim no more victims. Have no fear.

After Benedicte died, they removed
her name from the marriage certificate.

They replaced it with Martha's name.

They say that Martha is a miser,
and that Philibert is a big baby...

They live in Brussels in a fine house...

...close to the seat of power.

I imagine that your
paths have never crossed?

Don't forget that I'm Sebastian
Theus, a native of Strasbourg.

And besides, who would think of searching
for Zenon inside such a labyrinth.

No names between us, Sebastian.

Don't move! Don't move, I said!

A broken leg, kicked by a horse.
I'll look for what what I need.

- No, leave it, I'll go.
- You're mad! They'll recognize you.

The horse lost a shoe, and my
cousin brought it to my father.

My father's the blacksmith.
Suddenly the horse kicked him.

Don't you know there's a curfew?

Monsieur Theus is a surgeon.
My father broke his hand.

The gentleman is a doctor.

He knocked his fingers with
a hammer. In Lane Street.

- A man broke his hand
- Don't they know it's forbidden?

It's forbidden, don't you know that?

- Don't they know what time it is?
- Didn't you hear the hour strike?

- Go! go!
- Well, go!

Hold, hold hard! Harder!

And you say that was done by a horse?

Hold the torch in your mouth. You too.

Hold still! Hold him down!
Don't shout! Don't shout!

Han! I don't want to cut you,
but if you scream, I will!

Bring the light!

Light!

You're a fool! You had to
amputate, and now everyone knows.

I didn't want to do it.

Tomorrow the fever, the day after,
gangrene, then delirium and so on.

I cleaned him up properly.

The fracture is perfectly
set and properly splinted.

With some cartwheel
spokes, no doubt? Idiot!

Please, Jean, that's
enough, I want to sleep.

No... no.

Go on, brothers, it's all right.

You see Monsieur Theus, I followed
your advice and returned to my cell.

- And do you feel less tired today?
- No, I followed the procession on foot.

The whole way. And I'm out of breath.

Your friend Myers told me yesterday...

...that you have only a few patients.

Yes, that's so.

But it's not my intention
to stay here in Bruges.

Stay here a bit longer, there
are many poor people here...

...and on market days many
peasants come in search of a cure.

I thought that you might be able
to help us at the dispensary.

Your voice is a bit
husky. That will help.

Very good, Cyprien! Place
them a little higher... Boo.

Even higher.

Well, go on, go on.

- What is this game you're playing?
- If you touch me, I touch higher.

It's just like at mass.

How do you mean, at mass?

The evil spirits know
that at my baptism...

...my godmother poisoned
the holy water...

...because the cure held
his breviary upside down.

- What are you talking about, Cyprien?
- Sir, one never knows!

An hour in the morning,
and again in the evening...

...bring all the patients in here.

And an hour before that, light
a fire to heat the stones.

How many faggots and bundles of wood
will be required for the fire, Doctor?

I don't know how much wood is needed
to sweat out smallpox, Mr Economist.

If I've understood you right,
you have agreed to stay?

- Yes, at least for 3 weeks.
- And your books?

Your "Predictions of Things to
Come" is still banned in Paris.

Have you forgotten that
they sent Dolet to the stake?

As regards my library in the
rue Jacob, there is no problem.

You must be careful, Sebastian.

The police are infinitely patient,
and they never close an open file.

Who saw that other Sebastien
first, in Strasbourg and in Paris?

What is this, an interrogation?

What do you want to know? Where
they tried to arrest me last?

How do I know? I have before me
a vision of the Pont-Saint-Esprit

I risked my life and
my medical reputation...

...for an adulterous woman
who wanted an abortion!

I buried the fetus
under an olive tree...

...and paid the maids
to wash the sheets.

When they came to arrest me
I had already left for Italy.

And now I see Innsbruck,
where... by chance...

...I ran across my
cousin, Henri-Maximilien.

I hadn't seen him since
our ecape from Granoche.

Still hawking your theories
until they finish by burning you.

A subterfuge... of war, Captain.

I have reached the first
stage [L'Oeuvre au Noir].

And rumour has it that
you have transmuted gold.

Henri-Maximilien...

I have studied metallurgy...

...observed the stars,
dissected corpses...

But... I haven't made gold.
And I don't cure anybody.

Again! More Swiss-German wine.

- Joseph, are you there?
- Yes, sir.

Everything's nicer in
Italy. The women, the wine...

You eat better in Flanders.

But what am I doing in Innsbruck?

In a drowned city with a mad cousin.

A cousin who seeks the truth.

No, Maximilian. You and
I are very fortunate.

Because... you and I
have dreamed our dreams.

Because our truths and our lies...

...are not what you think.

Because, in addition to the
stake, there are other fires.

Behind the glory,
there are other glories.

And we are going to die a little
less ignorant than we were born.

For you, perhaps. I believe I'll die...

...just as stupid as when I was born.

You already smell a rat.

I write little romantic
verses, I read Petronius.

I only take minor risks...

...war wounds, smallpox, creditors.

I would like to have lived in
Plutarch's golden time, or in Ovid's.

No, no. These are but mirages, cousin.

Joseph!

Joseph!

We should leave immediately!

And a little later, we left
the city, and we parted.

Dear, dear, Henri-Maximilien.

From that day on, I never saw him again.

He died in Siena, during the siege.

Wouldn't it be wise for you
to burn your manuscripts?

These are just medical commentaries...

...which could be of
service to other doctors.

Why must one always burn?

If I was you, I would burn everything.

Zénon! Henri-Maximilien!

Zénon! Henri-Maximilien!

Can you come, he's broken his ribs.

He talked during a bout of fever.

It wasn't a horse, that was a lie.

It appears that he fired his
arquebus at a Spanish officer.

...who had come to suppress
a revolt at Dranoutre

The soldiers and the officer
had set fire to the barn...

...and Han jumped from the roof,
that's how he got the fracture

Did you know that? Did you?

Yes, our security depends
on the silence of the people.

If you pull the least thread,
the whole ball unwinds.

It's true, I've lost a little
weight, it's because I eat less.

Everything disgusts me, even
the meat which you prescribed.

I feel as though I am
digesting a mortal agony.

What difference is there between the
slaughtered beast and a human corpse?

I can only agree. But as a doctor I
must help you overcome this weakness.

I'm saving my strength. I
always go to bed after lunch.

- Go, then.
- One hour's rest.

Sebastian, didn't you say that
the humble folk that you treat...

...are in sympathy with the
so-called Reform movement?

But... you know well that whoever
holds such compromising opinions...

...should guard well his silence.

But nevertheless, the majority
are in fact good catholics.

- If only out of habit.
- From habit?

I perceive in this nothing more than
the eternal confusion of huuman affairs.

The Spaniards persecute the Reformists,
and send them to the stake...

...the reformed evangelicals slaughter
the superstitious Anabaptists...

...and the state of Liege enriches itself
by furnishing weapons to all parties.

What one hears less and less...

...is the voice of the
tortured, Monsieur Prior.

I must pray, as is required...

...for the prosperity of His
Majesty and of the Governate.

But the authority can
no longer be delegated.

One discerns in the lineaments
of those grotesque faces...

...those signs which serve to conceal
the hidden depths of our crimes.

Have you looked closely at
the faces of our ministers?

One can always pray for the
enlightenment of those who govern us.

More than that, I need
to enlighten myself.

My advice is that you drink
hot wine morning and evening.

For your sore throat.

The gentleman is dead.

Dead. An attack.

What have you done?

I did what I had to.

I did it for him.

He was old, he was ill.
See, I've cured him.

I did it for you. Now
it all belongs to you.

I helped him die.

You are the master of this house,
master of the fire, my master!

I did it... I did it alone.

Don't send me away! No, no!

- Out! Out!
- No! I'm staying put!

Out! Move!

Monsieur Sebastian Theus hereby declares that he
donates herewith to the Saint Comes Hospice...

...the earthly goods which Jean Myers bequeathed
to him in his last will and testament...

...including his personal effects, his
books, and his professional instruments.

As a result of the admirable generosity...
- Very admirable!

...very admirable generosity
of Monsieur Sebastian Theus...

...the above-mentioned dwelling will
become an annex of the hospice of St Comes.

...in which Catherine will
remain in her capacity of servant.

The money will go towards the repair
of the damage caused by the bad weather.

Monsieur Theus, we very much
appreciate your generosity.

Good.

And your prudence.

- What is it?
- She can't turn her head.

Call Cyprien.

Give her a gentle massage.

Listen, listen... away with
the evil, banish the illness.

Cure the misery of the poor,
who suffers from neck pain.

Away with the evil, away with the evil,
cure the neck pain of the poor sufferer.

What is this?

Hold the gauze in place.

Rub this in every evening...

...and then come back here.

Yes... yes.

- Ssh...
- Zénon.

Make two copies and then
go immediately to the prior.

Sir, the old woman left this for you.

Salted butter.

I dance and am danced!

I sing and am sung!
- I sing and am sung!

I call and am called!
- I call and am called!

I watch and am watched!
- I watch and am watched!

It's delicious, try a bit.

Watch out for the cream!
It always happens to me.

Look, there in the garden! It's him!

I eat and am eaten!
- I eat and am eaten!

I sing and am sung!
- I sing and am sung!

He says that you want want him
- Do you understand what he means?

- Isn't that funny?
- He's always joking.

Now it's time to go.

I dance and I love!
- I dance and I love!

He says that he wants to love me!

Anyone could be looking, it's dangerous.

Once more! Wait, please.

Where will we meet?

Call and am called, think and am
thought, dream and am dreamed...

...want and am wanted, love and
am loved, call and am called...

...think and am thought,
dream and am dreamed...

I know that at night certain
monks jump over the wall.

They don't have to, because Brother
Florian has found a secret passage...

...through which the Angels come and go.

There are Quirin, François,
Matthieu, brother Florian...

...Pierre de Hamaere, who loves the
Angels, but he hardly ever comes.

Hardly ever? And how can you be
sure that I won't denounce you?

Monsieur doesn't want to injure me?

The Beauty and the little black
girl don't always come either.

Through the underground ways the
blessed sisters bring their nourishment.

They feel no jealousy or shame
for their bodies' rapture.

But it is Cyprien whom she loves!

And you, how do you call the Beauty?
- Eva.

Eva.

Eva! Eva!

How will you support the flames
of the stake over all your body?

God relieves the pain of
the Angels in the fire.

Doctor, sir, do you have a moment?
- Yes.

I have to talk about the expenses
of the dispensary, the baths...

...our new purchases,
the costs are multiplying.

The sick, they also, are multiplying.

You may have noticed a worsening
situation since our prior became ill.

Are you referring to
the clinic and its staff?

No, absolutely not, Monsieur Theus.

...but our prior's ill-health means that he
cannot supervise as closely as he did before.

Therefore I must ask you to prepare
a register of all the patients...

...especially those in transit.

Name, address, origin, date
of arrival, destination.

- Is this a joke?
- Does it look like I'm joking, Monsieur Theus?

The point is that, in high
places, our convent...

...is suspected of being a refuge
for all kinds of dissidents...

...and even heretics.

"In high places"?

A procurator, a certain Pierre le
Cocq, has been talking to our Bishop.

This Le Cocq is ambitious.
That's what worries me.

Could we not at least
close our infirmary?

Will you at least think about
the register, Monsieur Theus?

- Shall we talk again tomorow
- Very well.

I entrust this to you.

I wanted to comfort
Count Egmont's widow.

They say that his suffering
is carrying her to the grave.

Egmont asked to be beheaded first...

...so as not to witness
the death of his friend.

They say he went to the
gallows in a purple robe...

...with a black cape
embroidered with gold.

They say that the people cried
so loudly in their grief...

...that even the Spanish
soldiers had tears in their eyes.

What they didn't say was that
a poor man with an obscure name

...who was for years in Egmont's
employ, an ordinary man...

...was arrested just a few
hours after his muster...

...and was beaten with iron bars to
the point that, three hours later...

...he was still groaning.

Why are you upsetting yourself over
the death of this unfortunate person?

Don't talk like that... pain
and sorrow are limitless.

Even now, while we are talking...

...torture and murder
proceed apace all around us.

I can't go on, my friend... Sebastian...

The prior is going through
his dark night of the soul.

Nearly 1600 years have gone
by since the birth of Christ...

...and one would think that he is
still hanging there on the cross.

It almost seems that the
purpose of the Redemption...

...was to prepare the world
for what it has now become.

If one amongst us sought execution...

...martyrdom...

...instead of the one being burned
at the stake, out of charity...

That has become a bright light for
me. The disease has opened the way.

And if they came to arrest us,
then surely His Kingdom will come.

And if God, in his weakness,
has need of our aid?

If God were only a little
flame in our hands...

...who depended on us not
to let him flicker out?

Perhaps it's we who are the more
far-sighted, to whom He turns for help.

That child that you
treated, what was his name.

Han.

That old women that you helped
die, near the burning barn...

...that was his mother, wasn't it?

Do you know why he has
escaped prosecution?

He was healed, and I did not wish
to see my work consumed by fire.

Here's the money. Take what you need.

Doctor, the messengers to whom
you entrust your letters...

...are being regularly
searched at the city gates.

They open the letters.

I don't know how to
ask... Please excuse me.

Of course, nothing dangerous.

Evil entities...

...in particular...

...those of the flesh...

...devour, little by little,
the surrounding structure.

He has utmost difficulty in swallowing.

He has no voice.

Yes, sir, our prior is a good soul.

Zenon?

Yes?

Josse thinks you should leave.
- Leave.

- To go where?
- You must leave, sir.

No

I must be with the
prior when he departs.

They're already spreading the straw
in the street beneath his window.

The sacrifice...

...the oblation we talked about...

There's to be no sacrifice. It
matters little whether I live or die.

I want the Prior to live!

Leave, Zenon, after my death.

Jesus said to the Pharisees:
I am the good shepherd

The hired hand who cares
not for the flock...

...sees the wolf coming,
abandons the sheep, and runs away.

The wolf seizes them
and scatters the flock...

...because the hireling
will not protect them.

Monsieur Economist...

I hope you will put a quick end
to this folly of your friends

- Who do you mean?
- I mean: brother Florian...

...who has gained access
to the old galleries!

- I mean Francois de Bure!
- And Cyprien, I suppose?

Yes, Cyprien and all
the others! And you!

You are certainly not unaware of the
games that your little Angels play...

...which are leading them
directly to the stake.

I know nothing about all that.

- Because the end...
- Justifies the means.

- What do you want?
- Josse told me that I could cross here.

Josse. So you're the
one bound for England?

Well, if you want to go there
you'll have to pay the price.

- Josse told me 16 ducats.
- Yes, when there are other people.

But you still go out tomorrow at dawn, don't you?
- Only for fishing.

- On the other hand, if you have 50 ducats...
- No, I only have 30.

Let's make it 45. You can eat with
us on the "Dove". Give me your parcel.

No, these are delicate instruments.
I prefer to keep them with me.

- I'm a surgeon.
- A surgeon who carries a firearm.

A prudent man.

- Are you going on the boat?
- It's very expensive.

Well, you have to discuss the price.

If you like them, I can
sell you some: 10 soldi each.

I need the money for the boat.

Here take it all.

Above all, stay
together, don't separate.

Witch! Witch! Dirty bitch!

It's a sad story.

The girl strangled her
own baby, born premature.

The black servant went crazy...

...wandering in the streets, and
she finished by telling everything.

Then they arrested Idelette,
and Idelette confessed.

You can imagine how Cyprien
reacted: he was beside himself.

Do you know where Cyprien is?

Nobody knows where he is. Personally,
I think he's been arrested.

Shall I prepare your meal, sir?

Doctor, sir. They're asking for you.
- Yes.

Sir, you are under arrest.

You are the doctor
called Sebastian Theus?

No, my name is Zenon Ligre.
- Ligre?

Would you kindly confirm that you are...

My name is Zenon Ligre.

Monsieur is of the
Ligre family, I believe.

My wife will see to your
food. She makes a good soup.

Yes.

If you want we can play at dice.

You can be assured that you
will be kept well-informed.

You see, it's my job to clean
the archive. To keep it dust-free

And I listen.

Monsieur should know
that the arrested monks...

...have confessed, under
torture... to everything.

Yes.

I'm very tired, I would like to sleep.

Certainly sir, knock if you need
anything. Good night sir, and sleep well.

I have learned that this Cyprien...

...has attested that between you and
him there existed an illegal liason.

You see, monsieur, I know everything.

Monsieur Ligre.

I am the procuror charged with
the expedition of your case.

My name is Pierre le Cocq.

But what's wrong with the heating
in here, why isn't it working?

I can't breathe! Would you
like to smoke, Monsieur Ligre?

Fix it! Immediately!
Permit me to sit down.

Bring blankets and furs, if you please.

First of all, let me assure you...

...that we have succeeded in discounting
any question of your association...

...with the beatific sect of the Angels.

...because the accusations
of the monk Cyprien...

...have been contradicted
by his six accomplices.

You needn't write this down, if you please.
There is no need for notes at this stage.

We haven't reached that stage.

First of all, I'd like us to be quite
relaxed about what we say to each other.

We'll come to the
official matters later.

Wait outside, and close the door!

Monsieur Ligre, I believe you
received your doctorate in canon law...

...from the University of Louvain.

And?

The chancellor, who is
a remarkable prelate...

...has decided to conduct this inquiry
with an exceptional even-handedness...

...and Canon Campanus...

...has assigned two theologians
from your own university...

...to be admitted as witnesses.

I consider that to be a very
equitable decision, don't you think?

Yes, yes.

And now, tell us...

...how you are reduced
to living like this?

The crime committed by Miss
Idelette has been clearly proven...

...and the death penalty was the only
possibility, but she made a good and pious exit.

They should really have burnt her
for the crime of infanticide...

...but because she was of noble birth, it was
decided that decapitation was more appropriate.

Have you heard anything
about the trial of the Angels?

No, I know nothing.
- It's continuing, you see.

But it's certain that some
among them will go to the stake.

Can one do anything?

If certain conditions are met, they
will not arrive at the stake alive.

- How much?
- Three ducats per head.

Very well. When you hear
of the outcome, let me know.

You will be the first
to know, I swear it.

Sir! They have have been strangled
before the fire touched them

...I mean Cyprien and one of the
novices, but there was a disturbance

...and so for Francois and the other novices there wasn't time
- Ah!

Han cried out for two quarter hours.

They were secured with longer chains,
so that their agonies lasted longer.

- No!
- The executioner has returned the money, sir.

- No! - The
money! - No!

Your economist, Pierre de Hamaere...

You're aware, no doubt, that
yesterday he died by his own hand...

...by poison, the most serious crime.

Ah, that hardly concerns
me, Monsieur le Procurer.

Certainly, Monsieur Ligre, certainly.

Your half-sister, Martha Ligre?

Would you perhaps like to
see her again, talk to her?

Or to meet other members of your family?

The Bishop has made
a very generous offer.

They could perhaps help you.

Only if it was their
suggestion... which I doubt.

Why?

The day of your return to Bruges
with the prior of Cordeliers...

...you were recognized
at the border by a monk.

Remember? A woman was burnt, and
they were looking for two heretics.

What possible reason was there for
you to conceal your true identity?

Well... why don't you ask him?

He was found guilty of complicity with
heresy, and was burned at the stake last month.

Ah well, in that case...

Zénon Ligre,..

...during the last two years which you spent
under the protection of the King of Sweden...

...that so-called reformist,

...have you lived in accordance
with the Catholic faith?

Yes.
- You have not abjured the faith?

I have never abjured, neither the
Christian religion, nor the Catholic faith.

Do you deny that your two letters
sent to the Swedish court...

...which we intercepted...

...conveyed important information about
our Catholic province to the enemy?

Don't you think that if I had wanted
to transmit such information...

...I would have established myself
in a more important city than Bruges

If your natal city is so... negligible...

...why did you hide your true identity
under the false name of Sebastian Theus?

I returned to Bruges at the age of
58, and I was tired... of travelling

I sought an obscure and modest
life, as a doctor at the hospice.

However, for a man with
many talents, like you...

...this secret existence permitted
you to meet with dissidents...

...and to nurse heretics.

But the hospice needed me...

...as did the prior of Cordeliers
who died nobly in my arms!

If you are accusing me of
having turned the hospice...

...into a meeting-place for dissidents,
then I deny that with all my force!

Rest assured, we have already eliminated
the hospice as a source of disloyal acts.

The memory of the late
prior Berlaimont...

...remains for us in a
pure and unsullied state.

Far be it from us to tarnish
the memory of this holy man...

However...

...his extraordinary infatuation with
the accused is incomprehensible...

...without the evil as detailed in the
eighth charge against the accused...

...diabolic invention,
sacrilege, the practise of magic!

Is not everything magical...

...concerning the relations between
man, and the secrets of the universe.

But to go from this to demean the greatness
of soul of the prior of Cordeliers...

...and the exchange of views
between two free spirits...

Ah! Free spirits!
- Ad rem non pertinet!

What is the name of your father?
- Alberico de' Numi.

Was he a subject of the king?

He was a Florentine, but he considered himself to
be a most faithful servant of the King of Spain.

Exactly.

Did he not belong to a bastard
branch of the Ligre family?

...who dedicated themselves
to social rebellion?

No! - Towards rebellion
and heresy? - No!

Ad rem non pertinet! All that has been
common knowledge for more than 20 years!

Not crimes of impiety
under an assumed name!

Non pertinet! The facts
have been known for 20 years.

Ah! Those glory days ot Dranoutre!

Do you remember how happy
we were at Dranoutre?

Why did you ever leave home?

Do you remember those days
and nights at Dranoutre?

We ran wild in the company
of Henri-Maximilian...

...we disappeared for days on end.

We were like young
dogs let off the leash.

How happy we were... at Dranoutre.

Monsieur Ligre?

Monsieur Ligre? Monsieur Ligre?
- Yes?

Do you admit the existence
of the vegetable soul?

...or of the animal soul?

Rather, the immortality of an Entity...

...which is the unique
foundation of all there is.

You have advanced the hypothesis of
a certain corporeality of the soul.

Saint Bonaventure, in his teaching,
has already suggested something similar.

But without drawing the
necessary consequence.

Do you deny that consequence?
- Yes.

Optime!

Do you admit to having poisoned
the surgeon-barber Jean Myers?

No, false! False!

False! False!

I saw him standing there with the
bottle! It was him who did it! Him!

With the bottle! This bottle!
It was him! I did nothing!

- Calm yourself! Enough!
- I didn't poison him! I helped him!

- Be calm!
- It was him who wanted to kill the master!

I helped, but it was him who
did it! The goat! The goat!

He came in to me like a a nail!

I helped, but it was him who
made me! Mercy! Have mercy!

Do you admit to having carnal
knowledge of the woman Catherine?

Yes.

The common folk in Bruges...

...are less concerned about events
in the Brussels high court...

...than they are preoccupied with
the case of this fellow Ligre.

Besides, the common folk at Bruges
want to see this rascal burnt.

It's a dangerous to snatch a bone from a
hungry dog after he has caught wind of it.

We've lost six weeks over
this bundle of fripperies.

The Most Reverend Bishop has
used his authority wisely.

But do you not think that the Reverend
gentleman is exhibiting too many scruples...

...to be able to properly
fulfill his role as a judge?

Dear Philibert and Martha, your
brother defends himself well...

...and refutes the accusations
one after the other.

If the Bishop feels
inclined to show mercy...

It is also evident that the procurer
seeks an exemplary punishment.

This same procurer Le Cocq...

...sems to have contracted
heavy debts with you.

I wonder whether an intervention
from the Ligre Bank...

...might bring about a
more moderate attitude.

Forgive me, dear cousin, for having
written you this personal letter.

Is it really necessary
for you to nibble?

I need the good advice of
my wife for other things.

You have already read this
letter from our uncle, the Canon?

What a sorry story.

Anything to do with justice is a sorry story. If it
wasn't so in the beginning then it ends up that way.

Campanus is perhaps of the opinion
that two public executions...

...in a single family, a mother
and now a brother, are too many.

Everybody knows that my mother died at
Munster as a victim of the troubles there.

Let us rather talk of the son, the
son of your irreproachable mother.

It is cetainly true that the procurer Le Cocq
has a noteworthy sum outstanding on our books.

We might see our way through to
writing off one or two of his debts...

...but money doesn't
always solve everything.

Le Cocq perhaps has his own
reasons to push things to the limit.

And you... you seem very concerned
with all this. - I don't know this Zenon.

I have nothing against your brother. In fact
I would quite like him here to cure my gout.

But what gave him the idea to get
himself thrown into Bruges prison...

...and, moreover, under a false name?

What does he have to hide?

Silence is sometimes a heavy burden.

So it's "yes"? Very well.

We shall help this
Zenon remove the hook.

But note well, that if
Pierre le Cocq consents...

...then I become obliged to him,
instead of the other way round.

- It's "no".
- So much the better.

Bring me the escritoire so
that I can write to Uncle...

...recommending that
he say his holy prayers.

- Without mentioning...?
- Without mentioning this Zenon.

Your uncle knows how to read between the
lines, he will understand the omission.

After all, the important thing is that the
postman doesn't walk away with empty hands...

I'm sure that among our provisions...

...there will be
something good for Lent.

Compote of eels, for example.

It is among us, it is in us...

...that God prepares
the fall into heresy.

Now, there are 10 signs:
unnatural practices,

...of rebellion, of complicity.

And these 10 signs
together lead to certainty!

You have written that the
world is a living creature...

...inside of which we live...

...like worms in the belly.

You have written that the magic
of nature is the only sacrament...

...is the only mystery.

And God? What of our Saviour?

And the certainties provided by the
Virgin Mary, and the Catholic church?

You have written that all
power derives from Knowledge...

...and all knowledge, from experience.

You deny, therefore, the authority of
the Church, and of the Holy Scripture.

You, apostate, have denied God!

You, doctor, are yourself the sickness
which has infected our society.

Parasite, rebel, you no
longer belong in human society.

You are but a cancer cell which
contaminates the healthy tissue.

In the same way will a mad
swine infect the whole pigsty.

It needs only one rotten individual
for the entire house to crumble.

One rotten house for
the city to sicken...

...one rotten city for
the country to be lost.

There's only one remedy.

...to cut out the abnormal tissue
from normally-functioning society.

...to extirpate the sin in
order to cure the malady.

Repress it! Expel it! Burn it!

Sir, I finally managed to
talk to the Executioner...

These are tarot cards.
They are very ancient.

They go with me everywhere.

But you can also play for
fun. Now you keep them.

And...

Thank you for everything.

Monsignor the bishop has observed
that you were judged equitably.

It is unfortunate that the crime of atheism
remains so clearly evident in your writings.

Some facts harmed you greatly:
your treatment of heretics...

...your practice of abortion
against the innocent new-born...

And even the deposition of that
unfortunate servant of Myers.

The Ligre family were not able to moderate
the ardour of procurator Le Cocq...

...but my Lord does not despair.

He made the observation that your
theories, when properly formulated...

...could actually serve as
a new defense of the Church.

It would suffice that...

God Himself is the sole
judge of the hypocrisy...

...that your recantation
will contain tomorrow.

Zenon, you have the whole
night in which to reflect.

Concerning corporal
suffering, I can promise you...

We live in a time of stupidity
and cruelty, Monsieur Canon.