Original subtitles

EPISODE 1

FROM LILI TO THOMAS

13 APRIL 1970

Tell me, Mr Eteocles!

That, I think, is the army scout,

and there is the king himself, son of Oedipus.

Yes, we'll do that, that's great.

- That's what we'll do. - Do what?

- The entrance! - Eteocles, the messenger?

- Yes. - OK. Chop-chop.

Breath, the flute...

Ready?

OK, let's do it.

That, I think, is the army scout, and there is the king...

Oedipus.

Not like that!

You've got to do it, it was your idea too,

the way you did it just now, when you were messing about.

What you did then was fantastic.

Something like that. Anyway, it was fantastic.

- You really think so? - Yes!

Yes, do it again.

Marie, repeat your cue.

You want me to shout?

The shout...

Say your cue normally, but say it well.

- Stop knitting. - With the shout?

Of course, everything you do. We'll see what it's like.

OK, let's start.

That, I think, is the army scout, and...

You're dangerous, mate.

Say Sorry then!

- Come here, I need pampering. - No, listen to me.

You've got to do the thing you did just now when you were messing around.

- You got into it, almost by chance. - Look, I start from over there.

Think about it! There's fifteen metres to cover.

Try to control yourself.

Control yourself and you'll see.

- Stop it. - OK, let's go.

You'd better say your words instead of...

We can't make out your style.

Right, let's go, off you g0!

I can do it now.

Control yourselves, stop properly.

Go ahead, get rid of this thread!

But they'll run into each other again.

You think a string will stop them?

Let' s gm!

That, I think, is the army scout,

and there is the king himself, son of Oedipus...

Strong, serious, slow!

- Faster! - Valliant king...

- Decrescendo! - ...of the Cadmeans, I have come...

Loud!

...from there, and I bring you certain news,

for I have seen these things with my own eyes:

Seven spirited captains killed a bull on the black shield...

- Slow down! - ...and dipping their hands in the blood...

...of the victim.

You need to find an arrival position

and work on your voice at the same time.

In other words, Quentin must...

- What is your arrival position? - Wait, we did it in two stages. Go on then.

You need to be higher, see?

That way you come down very slowly while you're speaking your lines.

You need to be more precise.

You need to be higher.

Nose to nose.

But I'm not as tall as him.

What about me?

Stay as you are, you're wonderful.

Then you slowly, slowly bend down...

- On the text. - On the text.

- Speed up. - And without being influenced

by the fact that you're speeding up with the words, OK?

But I've got my hand on his shoulder.

Yes, but that doesn't change anything.

Eteocles...

- Faster. - ...valiant king of the Cadmeans...

- Slow down. - ...l bring you certain news.

- Faster. - I bring you certain news,

for I have seen these things with my own eyes:

- Higher. - Seven spirited captains...

- Fast, fast. - ...killed a bull...

- Faster. - ...dipping their hands in the blood...

I forgot my lines.

That's it, otherwise there's no power in it!

- That's it, exactly! - It's fast, it's fast!

Don't interrupt him.

What about me? What do I do?

We're working on it right now.

It's not loud enough, it's normal.

- But no... - Careful!

Be careful when you get loud suddenly, don't change the note.

You're serious, piano,

you mustn't change the note just because I say 'loud'!

I can't think about everything at once! Let's take a break.

All right.

Where are you going, Lili?

More intense, like that!

- You're going too fast, Quentin. - I'm flying! I'm flying! Elaine, my Elaine!

Max is going to pick me up at the theatre tonight.

I left them a message.

We need to work fast, we're invited to Julien's later.

- Ah, to Julien's! - I'll go too, because...

- I have to go and see Max first. - Wait then.

We'll start again in a minute,

but Marie will be the messenger.

- The messenger? - Show her the...

- I'm not doing the same thing? - No. Show here the position.

Like this.

We said face to face.

Obviously, you're shorter.

- Almost nose to nose we said. - Not too close, Arsenal...

- Otherwise I can't see you. - You're too rigid.

No, sink down.

Sink down. Sink down!

- That doesn't look very good! - Sink down!

My God!

That's crazy.

She's Greek.

She speaks now!

I prefer Lili, on tiptoes.

It certainly looks more Greek.

But it's not what I want.

- Like this? - That's it!

Quentin, the text.

Stay down.

That's quite something. Listen!

- Are we sure she's not Greek? - Speed up.

Yes, that's good!

Perhaps you should get a bit carried away.

With your hair flying out like that...

- She's serious. - Marie! Marie.

You have to understand... all right.

We could make the background noise.

I'M DEAF AND DUMB.

I GIVE YOU A 'MESSAGE FROM DESTINY'.

COST: 1 FRANC. THANK YOU!

Don't think...

Don't think...

Don't think that...

Don't think that I am silent...

...out of pride...

...or stubbornness.

Don't think that...

Don't think that I am silent...

Don't think...

...that I am silent...

Don't think... don't think... don't think... don't think...

...that I am silent... that I am silent...

Don't think that I am silent...

Don't think that I am silent...

Don't think that I am silent out of pride or stubbornness!

Fire... fire... fire...

Fire... it's hot!

All right?

You're going to drown. I'm crying a little too, but...

Do you want to say something?

I think it's over there. I don't know.

Right, let's start.

- Are you lot coming? - Yes, yes, here we are.

Would you like a cigarette?

- With or without a filter? - I'd like one without a filter.

Who'd like to say something?

How was it for you?

I found it very hard

to get into it, for a long time.

Me too, I found it hard.

I felt we started much too soon.

I don't mean the mirror.

I was surprised at how quickly we started too.

- Yes. - That didn't bother me.

I found that starting with the mirror was really good,

because we got back in touch with each other.

The breathing... the murmuring gave us some preparation.

And then I moved easily from one phase to the next.

- The mirror was a good thing. - What did you start with?

In the beginning, I found it hard

to know which part of my body was disabled.

Then it started with the breathing...

I felt I needed to cough, really.

So I said to myself, that's it, that could be an illness,

someone who coughs like that for their whole life...

Then I started to cough.

And then, wait... I haven't finished.

I'd lost an arm and I was walking on my knees...

- And you coughed. - And I coughed.

What about you?

Well, in the beginning I had no idea at all.

It started with a kind of wriggling.

Me too, I felt we were like that, wriggling around on the ground.

And then suddenly I had this movement in my arm,

and then it was over. I kept it.

I kept it, a kind of convulsive movement, yes, like that.

And suddenly... I don't know... yes, like that.

And then the voice came at the same time,

a sort of yell that went with it. And it continued.

It spread to my whole body and then it was just in my arm.

That's right, at one point you were kind of groaning rhythmically,

in a way that cut across mine, so we started to fight.

What about you, Rose?

I felt relaxed after the mirror...

And I felt it all started horribly fast, I wasn't ready at all.

And then someone bit my foot...

I felt horribly aggressed and...

So, then that foot was cut off.

I had my leg down to the ankle, but no foot.

Because my foot had been bitten, I closed my eyes,

I stayed blind and of course a bit...

...simple.

Stupid.

And during the improvisation,

Bergamotte restored my sight

by breathing on my eyes.

I was a rather silly child as well and...

So it was you who bit me?

I bit quite a few people.

I had two bad feet, two bad legs.

I couldn't catch up with the others.

I couldn't move.

I couldn't get any food, so suddenly I was hungry.

I fell on anything I could find, on...

I started devouring someone.

It was Bergamotte.

She tasted good...

Then you threw me...

I pinched the pan of soup off you and started gulping down soup...

And I was hungry, hungry, hungry...

And then I just ate anything I could find.

What about you?

I had a lot of trouble getting started because...

Someone next to me started much sooner.

- That was probably me. - I don't know.

And I wasn't ready.

But I think it was you.

And that fact that you kicked off really loud, really violently,

kind of forced me into it.

So, then I closed one eye and then I was one-eyed.

I had no vocal cords.

To start with, because I didn't keep it up later

because I stood up during the construction,

my legs were paralysed.

- And I was walking on my knees. - Like me.

And they weren't cut off, they were dragging behind,

and I couldn't use them, there was no way I could stand up.

That's stage fright. Your legs and feet get all...

What about you?

That was mainly it for the sick person.

For me, very quickly I had a child with no hands,

just little stumps,

and I was desperately trying to catch something.

I was trying, rowing, scratching.

It was impossible.

I did all that with my stumps,

without hands, they hadn't grown.

What else?

I was fascinated by what you can do with objects,

finding a hat that made a noise,

and it became the only thing I could talk to anyone about.

And it was you that bit me, wasn't it?

I think so. I bit a white ankle at one point, very soft...

Aggression?

Yes. Well, someone wanted to take your ball away.

I really liked your thing.

And for me it wasn't a ball, it was a belly.

It was my soup dish.

What bothered me afterwards, was moving on into the story of the play.

Every time we come up against that,

we always find it's an artificial departure...

Because first we needed to go into more or less inarticulate words,

and it really is very, very difficult to get there.

Yes, because we're not in a "verbal" state.

You feel like inventing words

and every time you think, "I've got to say lines"

there's a kind of - for me anyway -

recall to a kind of reality where I say to myself, "What's this?"

We didn't say the words would come from Prometheus, from the mannequin,

and we'd try to get them out.

Yes, that's theatre.

For me, anyway,

it's because of what we've got in our heads somewhere

that at some point you have to say something.

It's really hard to forget it,

but everything you've got in your head,

particularly this monument that's waiting for us around a corner somewhere -

before that, everything obscure that we try out with improvisation

will be smoothed out.

It's always words that we find difficult.

To me any invented speech is real

and as soon as we're back to the play it becomes a duty.

Besides I can only do it if...

I surround it with words that have fuck all to do with...

Or I announced the word "hope" to you

without giving it any meaning, for example.

And gradually it came, but I said the word

as if it didn't belong to me,

as though it had come from an external voice,

as though I was repeating it meaninglessly.

And gradually I was trying to give it meaning

by saying it to the others.

And then I realised that you were all simply saying

letters of the alphabet.

I was trying to educate a bit, to understand the alphabet and numbers,

but then when it came to saying the thing I couldn't do it.

Even when we start with a word, with the alphabet,

you can't move immediately to the play.

Even if we learn to speak through improvisation,

to say a word, two words or even ten,

that doesn't mean you can speak the lines of Prometheus.

Yes, I know, it becomes a problem.

No, it's such a long way away, what we're doing

if we could, really, we could invent exercises around it...

Invent the possibility of getting

out of the exercise.

Shouldn't we try to make our own play,

something that would work, we should try...

It should be really spontaneous, it should come out of a need.

That's very French.

Personally I can't stand Aeschylus' thing anymore.

I think if it was said

in the same context as today,

it would come out just as artificial.

Yes, but we don't need to create a definitive text.

We should decide to improvise certain themes, words,

but it has to be spoken.

We'll record the words we make up and see if it works.

And we'll try and keep anything I think is good.

Write it down and then say it again to see if, coming from us,

if when we say our own words it means something,

or if it's... like Aeschylus.

We need a system.

It's a contemporary issue.

- We can do it tomorrow. - OK, let's put everything up.

Are we stopping then?

We need to think about it.

- Put them in the... - Put them in the basket.

Hats over there.

- Arrange them like we did yesterday. - Hats over there.

- This too? - No, this here and that there.

- Here's the feathers. - Hold on, this goes over there.

We'll take care of the floor tomorrow.

Do you want something?

- Do you want something? - Pardon?

Do you want something?

Don't look at me like that!

I'm not what you think!

It's true, my mother was a white woman.

From Havana.

She often used to say, "Never sell yourself, my girl."

I haven't.

I do drawings.

- So? - But it's not my mother I'm looking for.

It's my brother.

Do you know him?

He's a bit... a bit like you.

That's why I'm looking at you, that's why I'm drawing you.

- Funny, don't you think? - I'm an only child. Single.

That's odd.

Show me your hands.

- It's not true, you've got a wedding ring. - So?

I don't believe you.

I hadn't seen your eyes.

Are you interested in my eyes for your drawing?

I don't believe you. You're not really drawing!

What do you really do?

What are you really interested in?

You don't believe me?

I nearly went to art school.

But I didn't, because I was looking for my brother.

Don't think I'm bad at drawing.

Not bad, but it's not real drawing.

It's somewhere between you and my brother.

Anyway, why are you asking these questions?

What are you thinking?

You don't look well.

You look like an ostrich that hides its head.

That's not true! Don't call me an ostrich!

Anyway, I don't like ostriches. They run away from danger.

I'm the opposite.

I don't know what you're getting at.

What are you really after?

Money!

No, that's not true, I want cigarettes, I've run out.

Look, there's my lighter.

Here...

Go and buy some. You can give me the change.

You're not looking at me!

I can see you.

The first shout isn't working.

Right, the shout has to be longer and you have to wait to do the note.

You do the note before.

That's it, you're doing it well, but you're not all together.

Even longer with the shout.

Doesn't it follow?

You don't understand?

When you do that it's...

The way it goes up there, I can't get it.

Do it for me!

Do it for me!

When it goes up, it shouldn't be sung so much.

When it goes down, what you just did...?

It isn't just the way it's written, because I'm conducting you.

Shall we start from the shout or from the note?

From the shout.

Make it scrape.

It has to sound terrible.

- The shout was good? - No, it mustn't be tuneful.

- We're singing too much? - It has to sound horrible.

Something like that.

You sing every time.

- OK, what do we want to do? - The shout.

You need to shout more.

For longer.

That was good then!

- Did it sound horrible? - No, it wasn't long enough.

It should be a bit more hoarse.

And when you go up it must scrape.

You do it, Marie.

You're singing again!

It needs to be tighter.

- We need to do more work on the voices. - It wasn't bad this time.

Lilt's daily telephone call.

Do you think she's got a boyfriend?

Were there a lot of people yesterday?

It wasn't bad, almost full.

Elaine, look, I've got a surprise for you.

I thought of you, Elaine. I need some mending for Max...

- Now? - He's got big feet, Max.

Look. I'll do it for you, Quentin.

That's nice of you, but I'd rather Elaine did it. OK?

Have you got an egg?

- I've got lots of stuff. - I have this.

I have... Wait, I have lots of things for you.

I have these needles.

- Here. - What's that?

Wool, cotton...

Is that for mending?

Use the yellow.

One, two, three... excuse me, girls.

Go on, Quentin.

He)', my music!

He likes to make things difficult. Why don't you go round?

Crazy, that's what's so amazing, walking normally like that...

- How many have you got? - Six.

What for?

Tell me, that Mr Filrstenberg -

do you often see him when you go to the bookshop?

- Filrstenberg? - Yes.

- You know him? - Wait...

Is he the one with the thirteen volumes of Wagner's prose works...

Have you seen his face?

A fat little man with glasses, isn't he?

Small and fat?

I always looked only at the books.

Lili, my ch�rie!

- What are we doing now? - Trembling heart?

Yes, that's it.

My text.

- Dad! - Trembling heart!

Which page is it?

So Th�o, haven't you finished yet?

- Th�o! - Arsenal!

Hey, it's time to work.

To work.

- Which page? - 89.

- Page 88. - No, 87.

- Nicolas! - Page 87, are you sure?

Arsenal!

The trembling chorus.

The trembling chorus.

Let's start without him.

- Page 90. - No, 87.

No, 72.