Original subtitles

Start walking.

A bit more.

Ok, there is good.

Turn a little. Like that.

Behind me, that's the living room you came from.

The stairs are just there on the left.

To your right, you have the kitchen window.

On the table here,

you have the knife.

See the tape mark?

To your right?

The shadow of the beast will appear there.

At one point, you look that way and see it.

Push your hair back a bit.

There, like that.

And take a couple of steps towards me.

That's it.

Ok?

Yes, I'm ready.

We'll begin.

So, any time

you want.

THE BEAST

Thank you.

Pauline...

Have you seen my husband?

He was in the other salon just now.

Have you seen Georges?

He was in the other salon five minutes ago.

Tell me why, at parties,

we seek the people with whom we live

and whom we see every day?

Enjoying yourself?

Very much.

I've lost my husband.

Lucky you. Make the most of it.

I'm doing that.

Too much so.

I think I saw him go to the studio.

The studio?

- You haven't met Anton? - No.

Anton...

Gabrielle...

We lent him a room to work in.

He's showing things tonight.

Take a look. It's powerful, and dark as this age is bright.

A strange contrast.

In that case.

I'll leave you.

- Is it this way? - Yes.

After the last room, on the right.

I can accompany you.

Thank you, but I'll manage.

Don't you want a drink first?

I have one.

And a glove hiding something.

I surrender.

I hope you'll like it.

I'm sure I will.

Thank you.

What do you think?

It's violent.

Psychiatric.

Rather beautiful, I think.

He could paint you.

Never.

I value my soul.

You remember, don't you?

What?

That we've met before.

Really?

In Rome.

Years ago.

Three years ago.

A dinner party.

Held after a performance of Madame Butterfly.

You were with your uncle and aunt.

You wore a dark green dress, with a chignon.

It was in Naples,

not in Rome.

It was six years ago.

I was with my mother and brother.

You actually don't remember me at all.

Maybe I'm a little vague about the details.

However, I remember you clearly.

Really?

Yes.

And why?

Because you told me something I've never forgotten.

Since then, it often reminds me of you.

Something you said on the way back.

Have you forgotten?

Were we speaking French?

I think we mixed tongues.

Perhaps I'm not wise to try to remind you...

You are, go on.

Sorry to interrupt your conversation...

I couldn't resist. You're Gabrielle Monnier, aren't you?

Indeed I am.

I simply wished to confess my admiration.

You're a wonderful musician.

A pianist of a rare sensitivity...

Thank you.

I'm touched.

Since I dare to speak to you,

let me say I'd like to dress you one day.

Dress me?

I'm Paul Poiret.

In that case, I gladly accept.

I'm very flattered.

Not as much as I am.

I won't bother you further.

Gabrielle?

You beauty. How are you?

Very well.

Have you seen the paintings in the studio?

Yes.

Is Georges here?

In a salon, probably.

All right.

I'll go and say hello then.

Enjoy your visit.

I'm very touched.

All right, darling?

Where were you?

Looking for you.

Here I am.

Are you all right?

Yes.

If you had to list your skills,

your training and your personal project, what would you say?

I don't know.

I'm quick-thinking, intuitive...

I've never really had training because...

I moved to the USA when I was nine.

Why?

I don't remember. I was little.

My parents said the atmosphere was unbearable.

They were afraid.

And when we arrived in the USA,

the civil war broke out.

So we left again.

Yes, to Chengdu. For nine years.

You didn't attend school there.

No.

But I learnt a lot on my own.

I learn easily.

And your personal project?

Work.

If possible...

somewhere I'd feel useful.

Useful?

Yes, useful.

Other than the work I'm doing now.

Excuse me.

Do you work here?

No. I'm sorry.

You're like me then.

I don't know what you're like.

A little bit lost.

In the building or in life?

In the building for starters.

I don't know where my interview is.

I just had mine.

There, on the right.

Did it go well?

We'll see.

I have to get to work.

Good luck.

Thank you.

Minus 4012.

Give me a good reason to help you find other work.

I'm intelligent.

I can do a lot.

You know, intelligence isn't rare these days.

The intelligence you refer to lacks humanity.

The intelligence I refer to saved humanity.

I mean humanity in its human aspect.

A human presence.

Al has become responsible and fair.

And so human. It's a huge progress.

It's hard to see it as progress with 67% unemployment

and 20% mechanical work.

They call us the useless people.

Do you realize the contempt in that?

I just want work worthy of my skills.

Do you hear your anger?

Your affects preclude certain tasks.

For now, you can only do a job where affects cannot impact the result.

Like your current job.

I must choose between work and affects?

In some cases.

Notably for work requiring responsibility and thought,

which is visibly what interests you.

Today there are no biased decisions made by someone annoyed or depressed.

Observe the calm.

Yes. I'm not sure it's a good thing.

Do you want to relive the events of 2025?

Those tragedies?

No, of course not.

Don't be paranoid or, worse, sentimental.

It's all recent, hence your wariness,

but the worker will adapt as always.

We already suggested exploring your past lives

to clean your DNA,

and you refused.

I'm just...

scared of the consequences.

In what way?

I'm scared of...

of no longer feeling things.

That's a rumour.

Of course you can feel things.

You simply feel them more serenely.

Stop being so scared, sweetie.

You can still fuck.

And I fuck more than you, you know.

It's a bit different, but it's not less good.

Just different.

And science proved it works

You can trust science.

Science didn't prove a thing.

And no one knows how Al works.

In any case, I'm positive

it can't be objective.

It can, we're just discovering what Buddhism always knew.

You review what has damaged you for centuries

and get rid of it.

Yeah?

You remember when you wake?

Yes.

Believe me, it works.

In any case, I don't want to become a Buddhist

or a robot.

I haven't become a robot.

My emotions simply don't make me suffer now.

You have nothing to lose.

I do.

I could lose...

What?

What could you lose?

Perhaps

never knowing a powerful feeling.

Great novels are a fantasy, sweetie.

I don't regret it a second.

Fall.

Let go.

And you deserve a more interesting job

than checking data plate temperatures.

So, if they offer it, maybe that means you're worth it.

Like me.

By purifying your DNA,

you clean away old traumas inherited over centuries

that infect your subconscious.

It's like hormone regulation, but on a higher level.

Understand?

I think so.

As I said, we can help you.

We can help you get rid of your affects.

All of them?

All of them?

I just have the very deep-seated feeling

something terrible will occur.

A sort of disaster.

And that I'll have to face it,

be there.

Even if it terrifies me.

See, that's what affects are.

That fear, for instance.

Nothing bad can happen now, don't worry.

Disasters lie in the past.

What must I do to readapt?

Close your eyes, then open them.

That's all.

Do it.

What?

Close your eyes.

Now open them.

It'll be like that. Nothing more.

Don't move.

You'll have a jab in your ear.

You won't feel any pain.

I'm a bit scared.

It will all go well.

Just close your eyes, that's all.

Nothing more

Close your eyes.

Close your eyes.

Have I aged?

No.

I must have a little.

How old were you?

Is that an elegant way of asking my age now?

Not at all.

Forgive me.

It's none of my business, but... The dolls...

Were they your idea?

As I was a little girl once?

No.

Only music interests me.

So how did your husband end up making dolls?

A bit by chance.

He was studying law.

One morning, he woke up and said to me,

"I've had a dream.

I'm going to make dolls.

I saw them."

There.

And so...

you married him.

And so now we have a factory.

Indeed.

For now, I don't have any but...

I want some.

And I'll have some.

I don't doubt it.

What about you?

I find Paris more stimulating than London.

You're not answering my question.

Me?

Let's say I'm a true loner.

I'm hungry.

I want crêpes.

We'd like crêpes.

With jam.

Jam and some pains au chocolat.

Very good.

I'd like to hear you play.

I'm not ready.

What are you working on?

Schönberg.

I'm suffering.

Is it that difficult?

For me, it is.

It's very inventive, but it's hard to find the emotion in it.

What were you playing?

A piece by Schönberg.

You manage it well.

I don't know.

I don't feel I understand it all.

Do you have to understand it all?

I suppose not.

It's nice without electricity.

I'd never seen the room like this.

It's beautiful.

We should go away.

It's ages since we were alone.

You don't want to?

Doesn't it scare you?

What?

Being alone with me.

I like feeling scared.

I feel alive.

Gabrielle...

I have something to say.

Shall I close the shutters, sir?

No, I'll do it, thank you. Good night.

I need to work.

It's all right.

It's gone.

I'm here.

It was just a pigeon.

It came in and left.

I love you.

Me too.

All right, then.

Please don't ask me if Paris will drown,

because I'm sick of answering that question.

That's not why I'm here.

Good.

I've never done this before.

How does it go exactly?

It goes rather well, generally.

I ask questions and you answer?

You know I do hypnosis?

I didn't.

How much is it?

It's paid for.

Why exactly are you here?

It's hard to explain.

felt an anxiety.

A premonition.

For years now, a premonition

that something will happen

but which doesn't happen.

I wanted to know...

A love affair?

No.

You seem very sure.

Yes.

I married a man I love and who loves me.

Tell me about him.

He helped me a lot when I was younger.

When this anxiety stifled me.

Indeed, he still worries about me,

even if the fear has faded.

We get on very well.

It's something else.

Don't influence me.

I just wanted to know...

Is there a risk?

Of course.

There has to be a risk.

But a risk is beautiful. It's powerful.

It's alive.

Close your eyes.

Close your eyes.

And listen to me.

There is a natural disaster,

but not the one everyone talks about.

There is a beast.

A beast ready to pounce.

There's a pigeon too,

but it isn't the beast.

The pigeon

is a representation of the Holy Spirit.

It's a messenger.

It's a good sign.

Unless it enters your home.

Then,

it means someone is going to die.

Maybe you.

Maybe someone close.

There's a man...

but he can only make love in his dreams.

There's a difficult choice to make.

A feeling that it can't be done

without the possibility of destroying everything.

Like a pain inside

that devours you and burns you gently.

But the most destructive

is this non-choice.

On a table,

a knife that you take.

A man in the next room.

A catastrophe.

But not the one you're thinking of.

Your hesitation brings about the catastrophe.

You shouldn't...

You must leave.

It's far too dangerous.

He can only make love in his dreams.

At three,

you may slowly open your eyes.

One...

Two...

Three.

I was at the factory earlier.

Amazingly, the power is unaffected.

These walls here are very damp,

but there's no seepage.

However, this wall

has a crack in it.

Water could flow in here.

And if the water keeps rising?

It should be all right.

But when it recedes, the damaged wall must be mended.

Unless it enters your home.

A man in the next room.

After, I'd like to recover this floor,

overlooking the street.

I think, with minimum work...

With minimum work, we could open a shop

to sell what we make.

My love,

I know you strove to accompany me

on a journey all of my own,

towards a trust, towards a possibility,

when I could do nothing,

I was so paralysed.

These years have been my happiest.

But I feel an inner pain slowly devouring and burning me.

That of feeling part of me drift away from us,

the difficulty of holding it back and reuniting with you,

the intuition of the huge loss that I cannot imagine,

and my resistance to this estrangement.

I tried to go on, these months you saw as pale.

I tried to be there, to believe in us.

But we couldn't escape

this panic, this sickness.

Everything returned us to it,

day and night.

The most unbearable thing

was seeing us unhappy,

after all our mutual love and support

from the first day, and all these years.

I also feel I'm walking in an unreal world.

I could never say you're no longer part of my life

for, in every particle of me,

my substance is everything we were together.

Saying goodbye is too hard for me.

I hope you'll forgive that weakness

for these words hurt so much.

Hello.

I'm the doll Kelly.

I'm part of the protocol.

I'm here to check all goes well

and accompany you.

I'm like...

a nanny.

Shit...

May I be less formal with you?

Come on.

I'll take you back.

I won't ask you to tell me what you want to keep to yourself.

It's strange experiencing all this.

I just want to know how you feel.

I feel fine.

You don't look it. What's wrong?

Nothing.

Tell me.

I just don't want to be like you.

What do you mean?

Like you.

You can't even die.

Sorry, forgive me, that wasn't what I meant.

It's just that you bore me.

I have many options, you know. Make the most of me.

I can... tell stories.

I can do puns too.

Want to play something?

Not really, no.

Want to make love with me?

You're kind of scary, you know.

What do you want to do then?

Dance.

Here?

You look cool.

Thank you.

Want a cigarette?

No, thank you.

You can smoke here.

The music's from 1972. I love it!

Why 1972?

No idea, but it's insane!

What is this place?

It has no name.

Here, you can do stuff you can't do elsewhere.

It's like a free zone.

What do you want to do?

I want to piss.

The purification centre.

Yes.

What are you doing here?

I'm with a friend.

Did you decide to try it?

I didn't go.

Why not?

I don't know.

An intuition.

I don't like them calling it purification.

I don't feel impure.

Me too, I'm having doubts.

Yesterday, I was sure, and now the opposite.

I think I'm fed up of my anxiety attacks.

Anxiety inspires.

Maybe.

Fulfilment lies in the lack of passion.

Do you know Madame Butterfly,

the opera?

Not really.

Look at my hand.

Take it please.

You have beautiful hands.

What will you do?

Maybe we can wait a few days.

Maybe, yes.

I'd never seen people dance like that.

Me neither.

That's why I often come here.

I'll come back then.

Who were you talking to?

I left my husband for that man once.

You were right to.

I don't know.

Do you still have that feeling something terrible will happen?

No, not really anymore.

I don't think so.

Not really anymore?

No, it's gone.

I'll show you an image.

Tell me what it calls to mind.

What is it?

You can open your eyes. The image has gone.

It's a difficult test, but it shows where you are.

Something is still resisting.

It happens sometimes.

Do another session in two days.

Don't worry.

How long did it last?

Apparently, 10 minutes.

And you remember it all clearly?

Yes, it's worrying.

Yet it's hard knowing just how real things are.

Believe me, it's real.

It's scary.

I may not go back.

What do you really fear? Ask yourself frankly.

I'm torn between the desire

of continuing in the past

and the fear of spoiling the present.

Continuing in the past will allow you not to spoil the present.

Besides, losing the one you love is so horrible

even in love and happy, you fear the future loss,

so why experience it?

You're better off ridding yourself of the pain.

Probably.

I don't want to end up here anyhow.

I'll turn into a closet.

You deserve better, yes.

Tell me, Sophie...

Do you think we'll meet one day?

I don't know.

But I love you, sweetie.

Me too.

Would you like tea, ma'am?

No, thank you, Bertrand.

Am I late?

Not at all.

Let's go, Bertrand.

Hello, sir. Follow me.

We're changing manufacturing.

We're moving from porcelain dolls

to a new celluloid doll.

You'll see both here.

We make around 30 dolls a day,

7,000 a year.

Two employees work here and three more from home.

For celluloid,

we use a new moulding method.

We pour in paste, remove the mould

and get a plate like this.

Fascinating.

Once all limbs are removed from the plates,

we sand them to make them soft.

We call it trimming.

It's true the skin is very soft.

It smells of vanilla.

But we still make the classic porcelain doll.

The change will take a few years. This way now.

No, don't smoke, please.

Celluloid is highly inflammable.

Forgive me.

It's a problem,

but we're able to make more realistic dolls.

Here, we give them colour.

Then we finish the dolls' heads.

Here, we have assembly.

The bodies are papier-mâché

and we assemble the limbs to complete the doll.

On the other side,

we have the dolls' clinic.

The clinic?

We mend broken dolls.

Thank you, Bertrand.

Shall I show you the display room?

I'd like that.

What scares you so much?

You can tell me now.

I don't know.

It's hard to express a feeling in words.

You can trust me.

Try.

I've spent my life thinking only of horrible things

that I cannot relate.

Because they're too horrible?

Yes.

All right?

No!

I don't want to.

I don't want to.

I'll come back.

Saying goodbye is too hard for me.

I hope you'll excuse that weakness

because all these words hurt so much.

We're not alike and it's beautiful because we get on so well.

You need to feel absolute love.

I need to pursue a form of sweet reverie,

while telling myself our bond will never be severed for good

and that something will be renewed one day,

otherwise I fall.

Here, it's 2 PM.

It's hell, you can't do anything at 2, you can't even sleep.

What time is it there?

5 AM.

Shit, you're so lucky.

What are you doing?

I don't really know.

Looking for work, I guess.

No, tonight.

Nothing special. I'm LA's only model not fucking on Saturday night.

I feel like I'm 150.

You're a model now?

I'm not sure what I am.

Nor what I'm doing here.

What's that music?

I'll go now, sweetie.

Are you ok?

Yes, I'm ok.

I love you.

Me too.

Kelly?

Kelly is absent today. She's undergoing tests.

Is it serious?

Nothing is serious. Don't worry.

Sweetie, having tough moments is normal.

I'm confused.

The TV was on, and that song was playing.

I began crying on hearing it.

No idea why I cried so much.

It shows how necessary this process is.

Where are you?

At home. My cat's sick.

Sorry to hear that.

Is it serious?

He has a high temperature and trouble breathing.

But I'll cure him.

You love your cat.

My last session is tomorrow.

They say it's not working and to try again.

Where are you?

Good evening.

Looking for someone?

Yes, someone called Louis.

He often comes here.

He often came here.

Know where I can find him?

That's not the kind of thing you say, even here.

Please.

It's important.

I'll have a vodka, please.

Thank you.

May I sit with you?

Why?

I don't know. To talk.

I don't want to be alone.

Who is this bitch?

No idea.

Girl, this is a private thing. Get lost.

Yeah, if you sit with us, you have to own it.

And you don't seem to own it.

Get lost, bitch.

Besides,

we fucked it all up.

We had it all.

But we fucked it up.

Nothing can happen to us now.

The catastrophe is behind us.

We're bored shitless.

I'm ready.

Fuck...

Pain in the ass.

Shit...

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Gabrielle Monnier - Actress

It's funny.

This image should not make you break down.

Even if it shows your own death.

Your downfall, the end.

Sorry.

I'm the one who's sorry.

It's not working on you.

Not at all.

Our failure rate is 0.7% and I'm afraid you're part of it.

I'm truly sorry.

Are you sad?

No.

On the contrary.

It's alright then.

I dreamt of you last night.

My first dream ever.

You were in that club we went to,

but, this time, the atmosphere had changed.

No one was there, just you and a man.

You were dancing, pressed together.

And then...

There was a song.

About a love living on through the years.

An evergreen love.

What happened after that?

No idea.

I only remember you.

So happy.

So sexy.

I want you.

You're a doll, Kelly.

I have a favour to ask.

It's not allowed, but help me get in touch with someone.

Please.

Would it make you happy?

Yes.

Louis, it's Gabrielle.

We said we'd wait a few days and we were wise to.

Whenever we were with one another, we were helpless.

We were lost because we were moved,

without knowing why.

Now, I know why.

We must meet up.

As soon as possible.

Try to join me tonight at the club where we last met.

Tonight, if you can.

I'll wait for you.

I beg you, come.

I...

See you tonight.

What is stronger?

Your fear? Or your love for me?

Because you think I love you?

Show me your hand again.

He's back.

Where?

Around here.

Do you want one?

It's odd.

There's no one here today.

Yes, it's odd.

But it's not a bad thing.

I agree.

After we last met, I listened to all of Madame Butterfly.

It really is magnificent.

I'm happy to see you.

Me too.

You had something to tell me...

Yes.

But... it's hard to say.

I don't know where to begin.

So start at the end.

Will you dance with me?

We were right to wait.

We've listened to this song so much together.

But when?

When it first came out.

I saw all the images again during purification.

What have you done?

I obtained a post at the Justice Ministry.

I just started.

It's fascinating.

You should apply.

It would be good to be together.

We'd see each other often.

I love you.

Me too.

I'm glad to see you.

No!

In memory of Gaspard

Credits