TROUBLE AT NIGHT
I'd like an aspirin and a quart of Vichy.
I have a headache because I lied.
Now I'll pay.
You're late, and you're mistaken about the cafe.
No, I was early there, and when I got here I was just barely late.
I can't bear him, in any way.
It's physical.
It's cold!
- Solange, the car! - And my actor?
What have you done with my actor?
This is him.
He's handsome, no?
In my film, he's sublime.
Yes,
he's okay, your actor,
but he's not that great.
- You liked him a lot. - Somewhat, but not that much.
Yes, he's very handsome.
I was fed up with him, I wanted him to leave a month and then come back.
That one, he'll stay in my life.
He doesn't even kiss you well.
Maybe, but I like kissing him.
While I...
But you're my husband.
You see that guy, we almost have the same tastes.
My wife left me two years ago, with him.
Apparently when he unknown at the time, which means there's no point.
- It was lousy of you to make a film with him. - Look who we have here.
This young man hasn't done badly at all in films.
It's working out for him.
Exactly, I have a project we'll have to work on together.
You know, she also made a film.
And it's incredibly perverted, with sex, fucking every which way.
I didn't see it, but it sounds completely disgusting.
Why are you looking at me like that?
Think of all the times I never looked at you at all.
She's an intellectual. It's women like that, now, that will get under our skin.
While we wait, we're happy enough just to fuck.
- It's not a given. - You hear what she says?
I kiss whoever I feel like.
Alright, I'm tired of this, I'm going to bed.
You can stay,
and do whatever you feel like.
Ugh...
Yeah...
Why not?
- I made him leave. - But he made me stay.
Alright.
It's like that.
The only thing that excites me about him is ambition.
- Madame Bovary! - No! Stendhal!
Because he's hateful, because he's penetrating.
And he doesn't do it on purpose.
I'm terrified of people who know what they're doing.
It's not the only thing that's interesting.
- Interesting, yes, but not exciting. - Let's go.
Anyway, you interest me, but you don't excite me.
- Let's go, don't be old-fashioned. - I'm not old-fashioned.
- I sleep with everyone. - Then let's go to my place.
- No, I don't have time. - Don't be so pious.
No! It's because I don't have time.
Because, you understand, I can't love you for your looks.
So, if I sleep with you for your intelligence, I need to have time.
Because just once like that, that would be stupid, that would be insane.
Because there aren't many people so intelligent.
I don't have time to dedicate to you.
That's why I only love stupid men.
If you were stupid, I'd sleep with you.
- I live over there. - No, it's too cold.
I can't sleep in a new bed for two hours without catching cold.
Maybe if you still had a big silk dressing gown,
and I could get home directly from your place over there, that would work.
Then it's no?
- That doesn't work for me. - Alright, good day!
I like that guy. But he's too harsh.
He wants too badly to be smarter than me.
That's lacking in finesse.
And I'm in love with Jim.
I'm in a very good mood.
Good evening.
When I sleep too much, I can't get to sleep.
No, but you understand Jim's problem.
I love him, I really want to live with him, but...
You know, dear, I think he loves you as well.
He told me he'd rather sleep with guys.
That's it, he's getting impossible to please.
Hello.
- What's up? - I'm fine, see you soon.
I'm going directly to bed from the editing room.
I had three dates last night. I'm exhausted.
I don't know what you think, but the guys, it's completely unbearable.
First, if one is faithful, they don't kiss you,
and if one is unfaithful they kiss you all the time.
I dunno, I don't have that kind of problem.
Me too.
And Jim, he exhausts me.
He comes back every day at 8:00am.
This is no life.
What's good about the cinema is that we do private projections.
Evidently, Emanuel and Jim were late.
I vaguely knew a publicist sitting behind me.
Hello!
What's up?
Bruno Martin.
I think that if Jim and Emanuel had taken the trouble to sit next to me,
everything would have changed.
What'd you think of the film? Not bad, eh?
Yeah, not as bad as I'd expected.
But when you have a handsome actor, it's not worth the trouble to make him ugly.
- That's why it doesn't work. - Stop! She's crazy!
What are we doing? It's cold here. Are you coming to my place?
Yeah.
This will be boring.
- You want to call it off? - No, I never stand people up.
- Do you love cinema? - No, I hate the films of others.
Bruel said you're the best young director of our era.
No, he finds that disgusting.
He literally told me that you were the best young director of our era.
- And you, what does he think of you? - He doesn't talk about me.
I'll talk to him about you.
Don't make anything of it, it doesn't matter what I say.
I can't keep myself from talking.
And besides, that's how I find out what I think.
When I always talk about someone,
that's who I love.
I don't like silences, they're distressing.
So...
tell me about your life.
I can't.
But come on, that's what interests me, exactly.
Who people were before.
For example, you're a director.
What interests me is your childhood, where and how you were raised.
I can't, I really can't.
Alright. Alright.
Do you have brothers, sisters?
Yes, that I can say.
- Then? - Brothers.
Have you always lived in Paris?
Of course.
That's all I wanted to know.
If I don't leave right now, I'll never leave.
- Stay if you want. - No, I prefer to leave now than tomorrow morning.
I hate sleeping with guys, it ruins everything.
And I also love waking up in my own place.
So do you prefer the other guy? Him?
- Can you bear to sleep with him? - It's not the same thing at all.
You're a husband.
You must be a husband with all women.
It's a vice.
I don't know how I manage to live with Emanuel.
He's horrible, he's everything I hate.
Come on, you'll go back to him in time.
In any case, if you think he's back,
I'll see him tomorrow morning, when I get up.
And again, with a little luck.
Goodbye.
Do you have money for a taxi?
Of course, I always have money for a taxi.
I'll ask for plenty of money from you when I'm ruined. See you.
No, this isn't love!
I leave when you arrive.
What is life?
This is it.
This is life.
Here, you can take a look at it.
25 cigarettes, he's still not awake.
I'm sick of it!
First, I'll come back to my place.
Besides, I have things to do, my daughter is coming back.
- Then are we going? - Yeah.
- Are you done with the phone? - You're crazy, I'm never finished.
When I'm finished I'll start again.
The same! It's like I'm making them believe I think about them.
Besides, I think much more of them when I think of many others,
what they think about when they think of me.
Because I don't pity myself, you know.
- Is that so true? - Of course.
Because when I love, it's completely.
It's for life, it's forever.
Even when I don't love, I end up loving.
May I?
I'm looking with one eye and listening with one ear.
I need to call a guy.
Why did you call me?
I got your number from Dorothée.
What do you want to do?
I dunno.
You need to know.
Yeah, I know.
It's a stupid idea to walk barefoot.
Not at all. I'll follow you to the end of the world.
No, I have nothing to say.
It's because my feet are hurting in my shoes.
- Did you get married? - Never.
Liar! You'll have to lie to me to the end, I don't want to know anything.
- I'm for ignorance. - That's just fine.
And Catherine?
I'll never live with someone who prevents me from doing what I want.
Then you won't stop me from doing what I want?
- Of course not. - Yes.
What I want is to obey.
In any case, Jim wants to live with me...
all the time.
- It's bizarre, eh? - It won't work.
Maybe...
But he's extraordinary.
He's the opposite of petty.
He wants to give me lots of money. If he had some, anyway...
But most of all, he's kind.
And I'm not kind?
This is the first time I've given money to a woman.
Really? It's my dream.
- What do I put down? - My name.
No, the sum?
I don't know, make it so it wouldn't seem ridiculous,
if I showed it around.
You see?
Mr. and Mrs. Bruel.
A million.
A married woman isn't a whore, she's an idiot.
- You're annoying me. - An idiot in an idiotic position.
It annoys me to be with you.
The guys I love the most, I also hate.
He thought he was at his place, I thought I was at my place.
I'm bored!
Why aren't you leaving?
I'm bored.
Alright, leave, Jim will come then.
I'd like to be alone with him.
You only have to pretend I'm not here.
It's always the same, you're disgusting.
You're the disgusting one. You only have to go elsewhere.
You can be such an idiot!
I'm staying here with him just because after, I'm leaving with someone else.
- Who? - I don't want you to see him.
You'll think he's ugly.
Is he ugly?
I dunno. Yeah, I think so.
I'm sick, sick, sick.
You didn't need to come.
Yes I did.
Alright. I like that better, I can't bear someone afraid of suffering.
What do you want?
I want you to get sick.
Alright, are you happy?
I'm delighted.
I was bored because you stopped kissing me.
- Where are we going? - Over there.
Nobody wants to take me to a love hotel.
I don't know why, the guys don't want it.
They don't want to think I'd hang out in Pigalle.
One day I came with Dorothée.
She took a girl and went up.
- And I waited for her. - And you?
Me? I'll never set foot in a hotel.
- Never, you get it? - Of course I get it.
But if you think it's practical...
- Aren't you sick of walking? - Yeah, I'm really fed up with it.
- Then why do you do it? - Because it pleases me.
It's 4:00am, I'm sick of this.
I don't know what to do.
Why don't you take advantage of what's right in front of you...
- to say: "I want to stop myself." - I want to stop myself.
But look, I'll take the responsibility of not meeting your husband.
Otherwise I won't see you anymore.
Who is that?
Who do you want it to be? It's my husband.
He's pleasant.
So what? You don't risk seeing him again, I put the keys in the lock.
Hold on, see, he's leaving
And if it was Jim?
There's no risk. He doesn't come back before 8:00.
He sleeps...
with you?
No.
Who are you sleeping with?
It's as if I slept all alone.
- Surely not. - Yes! Exactly, yes.
Surely not.
Yes, if I tell you it's true, then it's true.
Anyway...
it's you who I want to sleep with.
Is that what it's all about?
Mostly I don't really want to sleep,
I want to do something else.
In any case, we'll probably end up screwing.
- Did I think that would never happen? - Yeah, yeah. Us screwing.
Alright. In five minutes.
He's in the cafe on the corner, he wants to come in.
Alright, I'm leaving.
- Five minutes. - No.
- Five minutes. - No, I'm not staying a second longer.
See you tomorrow.
Do you know he talked to me about you?
Like that, all of a sudden, and he told me some really weird things.
- What's that? - Quite a nice little speech.
He suddenly became crazy, he told me I had to meet you.
It's like he only gave me advice to sleep with you.
That's great, who is he?
I don't know him...
I was in his office.
I'm shocked.
A barrage of words... Bruel.
Bruel?
I'll call him.
It's funny you know each other, it's a strange coincidence.
It's still very strange to talk and act like I didn't know him.
I love operating the lovers of my women by remote control.
- I have a knack for it, no? - Yeah, sure.
Eventually he needs to break down.
For the moment he's a prudish schoolboy.
Those are the best.
There's a charming young man passing by.
- Where are you? - On the sidewalk.
I pay to have you, but I took your check.
I'm delighted.
That's it, since I'm maintaining you, we shouldn't see each other more.
No, we'll see each other.
But I'm maintaining you. I maintain my love for you!
Then are you in love with me?
No, I'm in love with Jim. I love you, though.
I'm in love with Jim, but I want him to leave.
Mostly he makes me unhappy.
I'm starting to find him stupid.
And I really want Bruno, I think about that.
I think he's hot.
The poor guy, he's holed up in bed, he's sick.
- So much the better if he's sick. - Anyway, I need to call him.
- I should see him again. - I'll go to your place...
No, he has to stay sick for three days.
That way, Jim will be able to go back to New York,
and it'll be like nothing happened to him.
Hello, yes?
I'm at Solange's place, I'm coming.
Ah, you want her to come too?
Not with me.
At 11:00.
11:10, because I'm watching the film on TV.
Alright.
Okay then, bye. It's time to leave as soon as you get here.
I'm scared.
- Could you close the door? - I will.
It wasn't very nice meeting Dorothée.
I didn't arrive early, I arrived when I said I would.
She shouldn't have been there.
Who opened the door?
Why, are you wearing pyjamas?
Leave.
No...
all things considered, I'm very happy.
Yes, delighted. Delighted that you're ill.
- Because that keeps you in bed. - And then?
That pleases me. Yes, it thrills me.
In any case, we can't fuck today.
Whatever, it still thrills me.
What's up with you?
When I look at you, I want to kiss you.
Bad idea, I have a fever of 39.
Then I'll do nothing.
Would you like to sleep with me?
Surely not. Never.
Maybe.
Because I think Catherine is going to leave for fifteen days.
Alright, then I'll come for fifteen days.
But I'll have to leave early again because of my daughter.
What are we doing?
Nothing.
In any case Catherine will come back, we won't be able to do anything here.
Alright, then we'll do nothing.
I don't give a shit about any of it anyway.
Bruno! Bruno!
I'm with Solange.
I'm coming back in an hour. An hour, is that alright?
Yes.
I never want that to start again.
You haven't had enough?
I never remember the first time.
I don't remember.
I find that it has no interest.
Funny guy.
I'm in pain all over! I can't move anymore.
I'll hurt myself in the street.
Poor girl, you never hurt yourself.
Yes...
all the time.
That's not true.
Yes, because when I want a guy I want him all the time.
Even when I shouldn't want him.
I find... that it needs to be like that,
otherwise it's disgusting.
You're crazy.
Goodbye.
All things considered, you'll still hurt yourself, it's certain!
And here's how I fell in love with Bruno,
but a crazy sort of love.
I found him handsome, dark, mysterious.
I would have done anything for him.
Hurry up, I have plans for midnight!
If he sees you, he'll never want to set foot here again.
- He's not sacred. - Yes, he's sacred.
Just like that? We might need sheets.
You want me to go find you some? We'd need matches, too.
Hurry, get going right away, I'm sure he's coming,
come on, go, are you doing this on purpose?
- Alright, but I'll pass him by, I'll look at him... - No!
I passed by your husband, I'm sure it was him.
There's no electricity.
So, this is our little place.
You don't have any fire?
There, lighting and heating are taken care of.
It's absolutely perfect.
It's extremely strange,
he looks at me for a very long time, hours...
And we speak to and look at each other as if we'd never known each other.
- Sounds hot. - Yes...
I know...
this is exactly what I wanted.
And every time we try hard to excite each other.
And then?
And after I wriggle around,
I writhe, I grumble,
and then I raise my hand, like that.
- And then? - I raise my hand.
What is this?
Nothing.
If it's nothing I'm leaving.
No, you're not leaving.
Then explain?
What?
Yes, what!
What?
- Say it. - I don't want to.
- Because? - It's like that.
No, he'll never leave.
It's because it's cold.
No, never, it's like that in any case,
and he never gets undressed.
How does he do it?
Like that.
- Does he scratch you? - No.
He scratches me because he wants something,
then it works... but you don't want anything,
so you're incapable of scratching me in a way I like.
- Because of that you like it? - Yeah, go figure!
Hold on!
Fortunately it dries up quickly.
Do you have a date with him?
Yes, I sleep more, an hour more, two hours,
then when he calls me, I always pretend I was just woken up.
I'll see him.
- And why do you meet so late? - I don't know.
That must come from me.
At first I didn't want to sleep with him, I didn't want to touch him!
And then, I dunno, that's it, it's a game.
It's because there's an imaginary person, before there is life.
And Bruel? Do you always sleep with him?
Yes, but I lose track of why... he bores me.
I know that one day I'd be completely needy.
It's not that it gets worse, it's too bizarre.
I think that guys don't understand me.
For example, I lost my apartment,
evidently it couldn't last, it couldn't last.
In the long term, it would have become sordid, but it was practical.
I just walked the whole way and climbed up six floors.
He came from the side.
What are you doing there?
I want you to sleep in the room,
- I want you to wait for me. - But I'm scared.
I want you to sleep in the room, you hear me?
- The next time. - You always say that.
- Do you know the story of the little Spartan? - No.
There's a little Spartan who, one day, steals a fox,
a beautiful little fox,
unfortunately he's taken just the moment he captures the fox,
he sets off again quickly, without being seen, and hides the fox under his shirt.
He's taken off to some kind of trial,
and he's hit with lots of questions, but he doesn't want to reply.
During that time, the little fox under his shirt...
devours his heart and intestines.
He preferred to let himself be eaten...
than acknowledge that he had stolen the little fox.
You see, it's a beautiful story.
Shut up.
I don't give a shit, I don't realize when I scream,
it's when I scream that I don't realize that it's good.
- Why? - I don't know...
yes, I know.
It doesn't matter, it's locked.
I find that extremely unpleasant.
Get lost, you understand? Get lost!
I'm sure there's a hole in the wall...
Hold on, look.
- No, there isn't a hole. - Yes, I feel it.
In any case it's no longer a question of me setting my feet here again.
They left.
Look at the hole.
I'll speak to them, tomorrow they'll embarrass us again.
My poor girl, atrocious things always happen to you.
- Look. - They stopped, they're down there, in the name of God!
I'm not setting my feet here again.
- This time you just failed to be lynched. - You think so?
- What are we doing? - We're staying here.
I don't want you to leave.
What is this thing here?
I don't know.
It's a dress.
It's not normal at all.
No but...
I can wear it if I don't leave my place.
You are at your place.
Yeah.
He finds that sexy, he told me.
He thinks you don't manage badly.
- What, the stairs? - Yes.
I'm dying of fear, I'm dying of cold, I can't help myself.
- Do you want some wine? - Yes, lots of wine.
Is it you who did the decorating here?
You're really a lot to deal with as a friend.
- Why? - You're a hassle.
It's because this is like your place.
It's my husband's new wife.
She made him exactly the same apartment.
Bizarre...
What's that?
Just for before you leave.
Bizarre.
Then, do you always find so many things to talk about?
- Yes. - What do you tell him?
Everything, when I talk to her.
I understand even more than I choose to say.
You're really a poor girl.
I don't know why, when you're not there I always want to talk about you.
You don't know why?
- No. - Tell me.
It's because you're in love with me.
In any case, feelings are always reciprocal.
Yes, I also claim that.
Then, what did you do, how were you?
Your story doesn't seem clear to me, I want all the little details.
- We had dinner. - Just the two of you?
Yes.
And she took me by the hand,
that really surprised me.
That doesn't surprise me, next?
- I won't tell you. - All the little details.
She bit me...
Then that's all.
You think she would have wanted to sleep with me?
No, she can't do anything, she always makes a getaway.
What she wants is temptation.
- Is it because she's in love with you? - I don't want to know.
I know.
Alright...
Are you leaving now?
No.
Then go home!
- No. - Go home.
I have no desire.
And what do you desire?
I don't know.
It's there inside.
If you sleep with him you don't even risk anything.
Yes...
Yes.
Yes because I don't want to.
There.
Can you go home now?
Not again.
And now, can you go home?
Maybe.
- Are you alright? - Yeah.
Alright, then tell me, "Farewell, my love."
- Alright. - Tell me.
I'd say it but I can't say it.
Then are you in love with me?
Why?
In any case feelings are always reciprocal,
but then again, always.
But that's going very, very far.
Yes, it's like that,
we play with reciprocal inhibition, that excites me.
I feel like I'll discover something about myself.
- But then, this is great love! - No, it's passion.
You're both the same.
Alright, now I'm leaving you, I have something cooking.
No, I'm waiting, I have something to tell you.
That won't do, she still has something to tell me.
- Who is it? - A certain old friend of mine.
Interesting?
Alright, but just a minute, then I need to get out of here.
Alright, here.
It's a kind of declaration of love, but not at all normal.
You know, he says that feelings are reciprocal, then...
then I want to do something stupid.
No, I need this, you know what I'm gonna do
Maybe I won't do it...
but I can't resist because it's too funny.
Basically it's very cool, it's a literary inspiration.
Your mother always pretended I wasn't there, it's still really annoying.
But this isn't annoying, I'm not doing it deliberately,
it's because you're part of my husband's staff, I don't see him.
Hello.
- A charming look. - Yes, it's bizarre.
It's how I'm reproaching him.
When you lose feelings for guys, you make yourself ugly for them.
Besides, it's very comfortable.
Alright, now be quiet.
Telephoned telegrams?
Hevrart: H like Hubert, E like Emile,
V like Valentine, R like Raoul, - ART.
Hevrart. Telephone number?
337-67-50.
Address?
The address is Bruno Martin's...
10 Seine St, Paris, 6th district.
"I, signed Solange."
I I. You'll see, you'll get it,
it's because I'm sending three telegrams to the same person.
On the second one, I will put "love."
And on the third, "you," of course.
You see, it's a love telegram.
Deconstructed, that's what's cool.
Alright, it's "I, signed Solange."
Yes, that's it, and the second?
Should I repeat everything, the names, all that?
No, put exactly the same thing,
but for the text, instead of "I," you put "love," L like lion.
L-O-V-E, "love, signed Solange."
Yes, and now the third: it's all the same,
and the text, it's "you, signed Solange."
This is the dumbest thing you could do.
Huh?
You regret it. You're ashamed.
No, I don't regret it.
It's pretty, three little scraps of blue paper on the carpet forming a puzzle,
and that don't mean anything, or, I guess, mean what they say,
- but cut up. - Grotesque.
I don't give a shit.
In any case, it doesn't have the effect you wanted.
- It could have several effects. - Well, it had the worst.
And then? The worst is sometimes better than what came before.
Before what?
Before the flood.
I laugh but I understand perfectly, which, in my case, is important.
The worst of the effects, I discovered there, the next day.
It wasn't bad.
Not bad or not good, since in any case we can only get attached afterwards,
since Bruno was disappointed, I started transforming for Jim.
In any case the important thing is not the people you please,
it is what pleases them.
That's what's really important, when you're depressed.
The nice thing was that I always knew I was lucid,
I always knew there were a lot of guys who could please me,
so I'd give him my phone number.
See you later.
337-67-50.
- Don't get pissed off, don't leave now. - Yes, I have a date...
- I have a date. - Is it sacred?
It's sacred as far as you're concerned.
Anyway, this has to fall apart.
And then it didn't fall apart.
It resumed exactly like the telegram in three parts.
How to say it...
we repeated ourselves.
We went through it, tirelessly, this series of moments you fall in love...
and where, at the same time, you don't exist for the other person.
- Then you're in love with me. - What...
In any case, feelings are always reciprocal.
Ah yes, I claim that too.
But then, always.
I also claimed it, I know it.
But nobody wants to believe me,
they'd say, there I am, she's disgusting.
Then you're in love all the time.
Never never never never.
That's not an answer.
Yes...
Because I swear it to you...
Make note, sometimes I pretend.
And with me, do you pretend?
No, I pretend the opposite.
Because there are guys who are always falling in love.
But they're crazy in love.
You understand how they do it?
Me, surely not,
and I haven't caught you pretending.
Bah, no.
Cool, I'm not the type to ask questions.
- How are you? - Alright, your husband opened the door for me.
Alright.
You should never use that, it's too good,
after women get used to it, they don't want us anymore.
But you should be happy anyway: I fool Bruno.
I find he began taking a little too much space, that guy.
Then, have we made a decision?
With a musician.
As always... how is he, that guy?
I dunno, he amuses me.
- Did you like that? - Yes, I liked it.
In any case I always like it.
No, I have to force myself,
and what are you doing?
Let's continue, it's best.
Alright, I'm leaving you a key on the landing on the bottom of the shack.
You don't think you could give it to me?
No, never.
Good day.
Where are you coming from?
For once you're not two hours late.
- What's that type of reflection? - A witticism.
Move!
Why?
So I can put the keys on the landing without you seeing them.
- Who is it for? - It's for my husband.
And besides, it's better that I put them there later.
What does he do, your husband?
I don't know, exactly.
You should hold him back,
to keep him from coming here when I'm around.
I forbade him, but I can't stop him.
Indeed, you're a poor girl.
- Surely not. - A poor girl.
There, does that do anything for you?
What did he do to you?
I don't know!
He completely tortures me, he intoxicates me.
Anyway, it's me I'm looking for, I'm sure of that.
Something in me that's very strong and comes to me.
When he treats you badly, like that.
I'll tell you, it's better than nothing, alright.
You're almost like when I had to leave you, it's too much!
But I don't give a shit!
This is what I love, madness.
Tell me why you're screaming, tell me.
I don't know.
When I scream, it's as if I fainted,
like I stopped being conscious.
It's me who counts.
There's something in me that escapes me,
and I feel that I'll seize it.
The only thing that is interesting,
it's the pleasure of women,
even when they are stupid.
I find that fascinating, it's very, very beautiful.
Ah really?
Exactly,
while the pleasure of men has no interest.
I hate enjoyment, it's pathetic.
I also find that coitus is an end in itself.
It deserves to be observed.
- With her I'm useful. - She makes you useful?
She wants to be useful herself.
She's not like you.
She's always engaged in passion, total passion.
And then, will she crack?
She cracks, she breaks down completely.
You'd do him well to forbid him to set his feet here when I come,
to forbid him, I hate that.
I hate that too.
Alright, he left.
Would you be able to stroll around the house like that?
Sure.
It's alright.
Where am I going?
In your room, you want to go in your room.
It's horrible, your room,
you can't do any worse.
You don't need to exaggerate, it's even uglier with you.
What are you saying?
No need to exaggerate.
Stay where you are.
What do you want? Do you want to come see me?
Yes.
- How are you? Are you happy? - Yes.
- Is this what you want? - Yes.
- Will you cry? - No.
None of that, understand,
I detest that.
And I know it all too well.
I said I didn't want any of your husband.
What do you want me to do?
There's no risk, if you're embarrassed the whole time,
it's because you're leaving him.
- Catherine... - She also comes back before 5:00.
In any case, it's not a question of me, it's a question of you.
So you'll no longer have the right to call me,
- and I won't call you anymore. - When is that?
In two or three days.
- In a month. When you'll feel better. - No.
- Why not? - I don't want to.
This is really extraordinary,
how do you do this?
I don't know.
You're sick,
I never saw it,
it's all of a sudden, like that, it's extreme brutality.
Yes, because if you leave,
I huddle, I pull out my hair,
I want to pull out the skin from my face.
You need to rest,
I'll come see you in a couple days.
- No. - Yes, sleep well.
I never want to see you again.
- Never. - Never.
Well done.
I'm not disturbing you?
No, you're helping out.
What is that?
Some writings.
"This isn't to explain to you, but to tell you,
"it is a word letter of words, since it is found inexplicably,
"I don't end up having any.
- "On the other hand, I speak to you the whole time..." - I'll read it to you.
Alright, what are we doing?
For the time being you'll do everything you want.
"This isn't to convince you, it's not to explain to you,
"it's to tell you.
"This is a letter of words,
"since it is found inexplicably, I don't end up having any.
"On the other hand, I speak to you the whole time in my head,
"and really, I don't know how you respond to me,
"and I'm safe that there's not really any reason for me to be so unhappy.
"and in contrast to what you believe, I am.
"This is why, when I don't call you,
"I decide to because the life of the last few weeks was too horrible.
"This is not, in contrast to what you must imagine,
"an approximate decision, or some kind of trap.
"I don't strictly have any desire to love you in that way,
"or anyone.
"I would necessarily be the strongest one,
"because, precisely, of the hysterical crying,
"because I am capable of every excess,
"including misleading love letters,
"including everything.
"I have no desire to love you,
"or to take you into my life.
"I love you completely, that is all,
"it's exquisitely fragile and completely transparent,
"like a bubble enclosing very precisely the time of your visits,
"and that has no blunders.
"You understand, this is something completely secret,
"some are the words I can tell you,
"the precise details I can give of our meetings.
"No one can imagine the reasons."
- We going here? - Evidently.
"Or what actually happens,
"which perhaps owes to the fact that I'm scheming,
"and that for once, I did not flee."
- We'd like a room, please. - For two.
Yes, for half an hour.
With a bathroom, on the 5th floor.
Give us the best.
- Pay in advance. - How much?
30 francs.
Follow me.
"You are the face of my own breath,
"how you want me to tell you to be a lover,
"or even to hurt me.
"My lovers are impersonal, and without possible measure.
"How you want me to tell you something,
"pertaining to the unworthiness of my gestures, that would surprise me.
"Paralysis, perhaps, and still more.
"I only want something beyond limits.
"Something that distresses me completely,
"and that I don't even know myself.
"To articulate, desire, desire, desire, is what I have.
"Where is the flaw?
"The tomb you push me into to punish me for so many sins,
"as if I'd led you to dispose of my body,
"as if that was that.
"I don't have any body,
"and you don't have any either, as if you have no life.
"These two conditions are necessary to me loving you totally.
"I want you every day, only without the banal.
"You are a visitor, don't forget it.
"It resembles the sharp angle of your hair and of your collar.
"Of meetings in doorways, neither forgotten, nor expected.
"In any case you are not somebody one hopes for,
"you are someone who arrives, on a single word thrown out,
"and who only I, it seems, takes at his word.
"I wait for you.
"Every minute, my skin flares up like a piece of burning parchment,
"I have the strange sensation of no longer being in my body.
"That makes me crazy, later,
"when nothing more is possible except mistrust and tears.
"Evidently, it is not easy to be pure, in passion.
"What do you believe?
"For dignity, must one strangle strange feelings by the neck?
"With contempt, one can do anything,
"that's what terrifies me."
- I want to leave. - And if I stopped you?
- No. - You know that I could hurt you?
- And after? - You know that I could kill you?
No!
- And what a pity then. - Pity for whom?
For my daughter.
Nothing.
No, I need it. It's mine.
To know that I'm capable of having profound feelings.
I need it.
In any case no one will read it.
"Evidently, the position of the pure is not easy,
"in passion.
"What do you believe? For dignity,
"must one strangle strange feelings by the neck?
"With contempt, one can do anything that's what terrifies me."
Then? Are you terrified?
Yes.
Now, are you happy?
I think so.
And it could all start over again, exactly the same.
A worse start, to be sure,
since evidently the outcome would be the same.
In any case,
this is a true love letter.
Do you want me to tell you?
It will last longer.
And tonight, are you seeing him?
Yes, that is to say if I wait for him,
he won't come, and if I don't wait for him,
he'll say that he came, he'll make a big scene,
and I'll be talked into thinking I ruined something.
But I know it can last longer.
It tears me apart, because I have no one.
- No one. - And, for example, what will you do?
Waiting for him, waiting for him, I'm always waiting for him.
It tears me apart.
You only have to refuse.
No, because that will ruin everything.
It's funny.
I always tell them, but they don't want to believe me.
In that way he'll be like the others, exactly the same.
Petty, bourgeois, there you go.
- What time is it? - 1:00.
I have to leave,
I have a date at 1:00.
Notice that he won't come before 3:00 or 4:00.
I don't give a shit, I'll call him.
I knew he was there, I was sure.
I came up with a strategy.
I decided to sleep an hour or two, leaving the telephone alone.
That way, I made him certain that it was me.
Then I hung up to make him believe
that his stoicism had overcome me.
The start of a revolt on my part would have
created procrastination on his part.
10 minutes, indeed, 15.
Then, I immediately make another call.
According to my calculations,
this call would seem to come from a different person,
who would have had to undergo the pity of a long wait.
And if Bruno also lets it ring, as I supposed,
he would respond to me.
What? What do you want, why are you calling me?
I want to see you.
- Is that all? - Yes, that's all.
I decided that I wouldn't see you.
No, to see you. To see you, to see you, and to see you, that's all.
- And what do you want? - To see you.
- What do you want? - To see you.
- That won't change anything. - Yes it will.
Then what does that change?
Nothing,
but it should have changed.
Why?
Tell me something.
I'm leaving.
No, you won't leave.
I came here to be nice.
No, you came here because you had a date.
- That's enough, I'm leaving now! - No.
And if I punch you in the face?
What do you think that can do to me?
I don't give a shit.
Get out!
Crying is usually a matter of 24 hours.