1
Hello!
A guy's out by the fig tree.
- Who?
- I don't know.
Still there?
Must be an inspector.
Nobody knows him.
Ya better tell your dad.
Dd, go tell Grampa.
No, tell Uncle Jules first.
Take some grapes!
There's a guy by the fig tree.
- So?
- Dad doesn't know him.
I'll bet he's an inspector.
Anna, go warn Grampa.
Grampa, got anything in the yard?
A stranger's hanging around.
They must've seen me
at Faugat this morning.
Me, I didn't see them.
I fish wherever I want!
- What's it all about?
- I dunno.
I don't know if it's this shack.
But you made me wait
in this heat for an hour!
This must be it.
Where are you going,
barging in like this?
Do you know who I am?
I don't care! I don't know you!
Board of Health!
Put that away and bug off!
You shouldve shown it sooner!
You know I've the right to search.
Shouldve shown your ID
and a warrant first.
- I have one.
- It's too goddamn late!
I found you breaking in here like thieves!
Maybe you wanted to steal something!
I'm gonna kick your asses out of here!
Now he says we're thieves?
What's your name?
I won't tell you!
What's this tyranny?
This is my place.
- Mrs. Soldino?
- Yes.
- Board of Health. May we come in?
- Of course.
- What do you want to see?
- Nothing...
Your husband went fishing
this morning?
Well, when he got up this morning...
he had a pain in his hand
and when he wanted...
Wanted what?
When he wanted...
Don't you see she's senile?
She's my mother-in-law.
You're upsetting everybody!
Come on, get lost!
We're quietly eating
and they show up like gangsters!
We'll see about this at the station.
OK! And I'll file a complaint
for illegal entry.
- No one will believe you.
- They will!
I'll give you as much hell
as you gave us!
Hassling us for what?
They don't even know!
- You'll pay dearly for this!
- I doubt it.
- Come on, Jules...
- Coming!
As soon as they leave us alone.
Looking in shacks!
To find what?
You make me laugh!
You'll see!
I fooled 'em.
I went through the hole and...
got the basket from the shack.
It's under the bed.
I'm coming!
They came to hassle your dad?
Jules took care of 'em.
Believe me!
The mistral's blowing again.
I heard you were here.
How are you, Louis?
Are you here for a while?
Yes.
How long?
A little while.
So long!
I meant some time ago,
not yesterday.
You're sure somebody!
When I was 20, I could jump in the water
and jump out dry!
Listen to him! What a guy!
I'll go check.
He already met
the Paris train yesterday.
- Who's he expecting?
- His wife.
- Doesn't he know when?
- He says he doesn't.
- How are you, beautiful?
- How'd you know when I was coming?
- I came every morning.
- For the past 5 days?
You're sweet.
He didn't seem like a skirt-chaser
but he sure found a pretty girl.
In Paris there are lots like her.
Did they recognize you?
They forgot me a bit after 12 years,
but once they saw me...
Do you recognize me?
I know you by heart.
My face hasn't changed, has it?
See? This is La Pointe Courte.
You've talked about it so often.
There's the house I was born in.
- That one?
- Yes.
There's the boatyard.
I've wanted to come back
for a long time.
Why didn't you come back sooner
without me?
With or without you...
It was the same to you.
I didn't say that...
but what I've found here is mine only.
Besides, you never wanted to come.
You always said
there was nothing to see.
It's true. Look!
I like to see things.
I don't.
You mean I forced you
to go on our trips.
I was happy to be with you.
I'm glad you're here.
But this isn't about us.
Life's a pleasure here.
You think so?
I don't.
Let's talk about it at once!
I came to tell you
we should separate.
That's what you figured out,
after 5 days alone?
I've been thinking about it
for a long time.
So that was it.
We were to go on a trip,
we didn't go...
you were always delayed.
The vacation time went by...
and since I've no imagination...
I came here...
thinking you'd come a day or 2 later.
You arrive 5 days later...
and in this state!
You're tired.
You need rest...
and some sunshine.
It's very serious.
We must talk. That's why I came.
I'm sure it's very serious.
Where are you taking me?
To a house. A shack...
You can see it over there.
I'll say "Hello, Laurent!
This is my wife...
who's come for a rest...
and to get to know the area."
Your "homecoming" number is amusing.
Luckily I'm not from here.
We'd look like we were hired
by the tourist office!
Laurent!
Can we cross over?
- Swimming.
- By boat?
- Use the bridge!
- It's too far!
- Rowing is too hard!
- It's not that hot!
- I'm fixing the bike!
- Try a little harder!
OK, I'm coming!
Laurent, this is my wife.
Hello, ma'am.
Couldn't you use the bridge?
It wasn't there before.
I always used to cross this way.
Don't get used to bothering me
when I'm working.
I got the bike, some customers
and the hot sun.
The bike always needs work.
I'm busy! I got work to do!
You'll like this, Maxine. His wife!
She's from the north. Paris!
You'll be able to say bad things about us!
If they're just married,
they'll have time.
It's been 4 years.
I didn't know!
You don't look tired.
We're from good stock.
It's Maxine who's wrong.
Shut up!
Very nice!
It's brand new! Clean!
What a treat!
And there's water...
I mean, water when there's water.
It was connected this year at Issanca.
Then they cut it off.
I hope we'll have water next year.
See you later, folks.
How marvelous!
What a lovely room!
We'll go for walks.
What's the difference?
Is something wrong?
Do you know why?
I'm a bit scared...
for us.
We'll go slowly.
We'll be careful.
Never enough!
My delicate one!
My trampler!
Come on...
Let's have lunch.
Soldino, I came by earlier
and you weren't here.
I was having a nap.
Talk louder! I can't hear!
You're deaf? Since when?
I went deaf after the flu last winter!
At the movies I kept asking my wife...
"What's he saying?"
I could tell the lips moved
but that's all!
- Is your son here?
- Which one?
Louis!
He's in his shack.
Louis, tomorrow,
they're coming to get samples.
- At last!
- Who?
The advisory board.
He'll come with us in the boat
to see if the water's from the bottom.
You told 'em why?
They can't say no.
I didn't say a thing.
We'll take it to Bziers
to the Michel Laboratory.
We'll say it's for the Mauguio Lagoon...
to find out if it's the water
that rots our nets so fast.
The Board of Health can't stop us?
No, if we pay for the analysis...
we can take it anywhere we want.
You stir things up but...
we never get anything!
You don't stir up a thing
and it does no good!
The small lagoon should be allowed.
The shellfish are there.
The water's clean.
It's worth it!
We can still haul in the shellfish.
But we don't like working
like we were poisoning people.
You have your nets...
but we only get shellfish!
I'm going.
This morning we gave them a hard time!
Tonight we'll be OK.
Unless they call the coast patrol!
I'll send my girl to the bridge.
To keep an eye out.
What about the work?
What did she say?
She said "You can ask Papa
for my hand..."
"before you leave for the army..."
"but be careful! He's mean!"
I said "Do you want me to ask him?"
She said "I'm so tired!"
Tired of you?
I don't know if she's tired
of me or of him.
Ask and you'll find out.
I'm going to work.
Who's keeping watch?
Joseph's girl is over there.
What'll we do about these cats?
They're everywhere!
- What?
- That one's big again.
Like the Carmacci!
Again? Aren't 7 kids enough for her?
- She's always ready.
- Whose is it?
I don't know. Whoever wanted her!
It doesn't bother her.
If I was like her,
always ready to reproduce...
I'd sit at home with a sign...
on my belly: "Do Not Touch."
She doesn't mind.
Stay there!
It's the coastal patrol.
A man at the train station saw them.
What a life!
Hurry up!
This new motorboat!
A real thunderbolt!
Where were you fishing?
- Between Roucadou and Bouzigues.
- It's not sorted yet?
I didn't have time.
It's too far away.
Sorry, but that's not allowed.
You know it's not!
They're from over there! They're good!
You know it's forbidden
to sort them on shore.
Why?
It's not allowed!
You shouldn't have done it!
I'll have to report you.
Give me your name, age and address.
Scotto, Raphael...
20, registered by the navy...
La Pointe-Courte.
Why didn't he hurry?
He's asleep.
- He couldve hidden.
- He's asleep, I tell you!
He's in love.
It's paid off big for him!
Who's the girl?
- Anna.
- He'll have a ball with her dad!
Done!
Ready to go!
The label...
Think a 6-franc Health label
is for nothing?
They know what we do with 'em.
If our shellfish were really bad...
there'd be plenty of corpses by now.
There's something else.
Why they bother us, poor guys...
with "healthy" and "unhealthy"...
All that hassle!
- Shall we begin?
- You in a hurry?
Yes.
You don't love me any more?
You want to leave me?
So what's it all about?
If you want to go on living in peace,
I can leave.
You only talk about happiness.
Yeah.
Being happy at all costs
has got us where we are.
Being happy without thinking!
Say what you're thinking.
Do we really love each other...
or do we live together out of habit?
What? The first one
who's had enough should leave...
if their heart says so.
The heart never tells us that.
The heart never gets enough.
It's the mind that rebels...
or the body.
When I met you,
there were no questions.
I went toward you.
One day I saw in the eyes of others
what we call "our love".
I saw it frolic about
while others coaxed it.
I saw it grow
while others envied it.
I began to look at it...
me too...
to watch it,
to look after it...
to weave crowns for it
and keep it under glass.
Too late!
It's stuffed. It's as dry
as an old orange blossom.
Our love.
That's all you say.
You look at it, under glass.
Do you love me or our love?
Look at me! Not at it!
I'm looking at you...
but not with the same eyes as before.
You looked at me with closed eyes then.
I saw no one but you.
Now you're comparing?
No, I'm not...
but I can see the others.
I imagine myself
living elsewhere, differently.
Would you like that?
I don't know
but I don't like these thoughts.
It's no big deal.
No, but it seems monstrous.
I never had such thoughts before.
And you?
I've always seen the others.
But I don't want to live
any other way than with you.
We chose one another.
Chose? As if we choose
what happens by accident.
We were chosen, elected, crowned!
If it's against nature,
nature gets its revenge.
And it is. It's separating us.
It's separating us?
You can't say we're in love
like at the beginning.
That's normal.
Normal!
Like growing old, seeing people
die in a war or at the hospital!
You think that's normal?
The two of us are madly in love.
We want nothing else.
We work. Time passes.
It rains or not.
We get a new cat, a new home...
new friends. We don't care.
But we change.
We're no longer madly in love.
Our love's like an old beau.
Never mind "our love."
I've loved you for just as long
and I'm not unhappy.
When I began to love you...
"with the wind in my sails"
as you used to say... I thought...
I'll make her happy.
I watched you live, talk,
laugh and make noise.
I knew I'd like your noise
above all others.
The more I'd know you,
the more I'd love you.
We're not in love like the first day.
So what?
I didn't choose love at any price.
I chose you...
to love you a lot,
then perhaps a bit less...
but to be with you.
- Tell me I don't know how to love.
- No, you love more than I do.
You devour, with closed eyes.
You have ideas. I don't.
I don't have any ideas.
I love differently.
You can't tell me
our love hasn't aged.
And one could cry about it all day.
You can't remain bitter all your life...
because we've aged together
during 4 years?
What else can we do?
We've tried everything.
You cheated on me.
I tried to cheat on you.
What was the point?
Since then, I love you even more.
I realize what we have together.
Bravo!
I realize what we no longer have...
and how heavy an affair is.
- If you were lighter...
- I'd be the happiest of women!
Instead, you're the most unhappy.
I'm fed up!
I'm kindness itself.
Except for work, I think
only of your happiness.
I'm patient and caring
and you're unhappy.
And why? For nothing!
Instead of a haven for each other...
it's a constant revolt.
You'd rather give me up
and see me leave...
anything rather than give up
your quiet little life.
Well, I'll let you work and...
live in peace
but I won't sit in a corner!
I'll live without you too!
Why wait?
We work better alone,
don't feel the time slip by.
Perfect! Honesty at last!
Keep talking, sweetheart!
I want to hear my fate.
I'm not judging you,
just saying what I think.
Don't you do the same?
Yes. And I judge us.
Guilty!
I judge you.
You're either blind or a coward.
You didn't dare break our little habits?
Break them!
You'll be at ease again.
Me, I've decided to live alone.
Don't be heroic!
Keep your room.
The apartment's big enough.
I'll find my spot there
when I get back.
That's how you react.
Calmly.
You'd let me leave.
Yes, if you don't want to stay.
If we separate,
nothing else will interest me.
You had ambitions for "our love."
It's your pride talking,
not your grief.
But I do have grief.
So do I.
Not as much as I do.
There's so little difference.
I said not to yell!
Daniel has a fever.
These kids get on my nerves!
- He threw up?
- Yes.
- Several times?
- Since yesterday.
Why didn't you call me sooner?
Because he's never been sick.
I didn't know!
Little Daniel!
What misfortune!
Have you seen Raphael?
Call him. The train's at 7:00.
- Come on, Raphael!
- Me?
Why do you want him?
We've come to take him to jail.
They want you in Montpellier today.
For how long?
5 days. It'll soon be over.
So you say!
Let's go, if you want
to stop at your place.
Poor kid! Try not to let
my husband see you!
Poor Anna!
He knows, but seeing me
between you two...
he'll give his daughter hell.
We'll let you cross...
the neighborhood alone.
Go change and...
meet us at the 7:00 train...
in the last car.
- You'll be responsible?
- Yes, I've known him for years.
It really hurts me.
This isn't our concern.
Go on and don't get us in trouble!
Dad, I've got a problem.
I took 62 lbs. Of cockles
to the fishmonger...
and he gave me credit for 56 lbs.
If he made you lose 6 lbs...
he's stealing your weariness.
Those fishmongers!
Makes me puke!
Go back out.
Bziers sent me a report
on the samples.
It says there's bacteria.
Impossible!
I'll show you the report.
They're in cahoots with Montpellier.
You can still prepare a petition.
6:00!
I have to pick up Rosette at 6:45.
I don't have time
to get into the work but...
20 francs is 20 francs,
a half-hour's a half-hour!
Better to go there than to jail!
- I'll teach you!
- I did nothing wrong!
- You're too young to date!
- Mama got married at 19!
What's wrong?
He got slapped
because Daniel is dead.
Come with me!
I'll buy you some licorice.
Once she's a legal adult,
she can marry who she wants!
Jules, you can do as you wish.
You're the father.
But I gave you my daughter
when she was 19!
Mme Repeto had to help!
Mme Repeto!
She forgets everything...
but she remembers that.
You got her, didn't you?
Is this a family meeting?
About Anna again?
Do as you wish.
She's your daughter.
But she's mine too.
I don't want her
to go through what I did.
Sorry, Papa, but you were tough.
You tried to hang on to us forever.
Now it's up to her.
I don't say she'll get married.
She's 16.
But if it's serious,
let her date!
Then they may get married.
They're old enough to begin.
We're already shit out
half our crap.
And if the bastard
wants to take advantage of her?
He's no bastard. He's too dumb.
He let himself get caught!
Now he worries about you in jail.
You'll spoil his stay!
As long as Anna's under my roof...
no one'll take advantage of her!
Here you're as happy
as if the world were yours.
With a woman I'd find
standing next to me.
What an encounter!
Don't talk about an encounter!
The time when we didn't know
one another is long gone.
I know your tastes,
quirks and manners.
Your habits have become my own.
There are no more surprises.
I could live in your stead.
Yes, having my quirks and manners...
but that's not living.
Knowledge is something else.
You'd never come here...
and yet this is half of my life.
You've no need to think of me.
Think of nothing. Look around!
As if you'd been here for years...
like a shepherd guarding...
the secrets of the landscape
better than his animals.
And this one!
- Is he watching the fish?
- He's waiting for them.
He's looking after them.
Go ahead!
Take it easy!
Did you spot some mullet?
Yes, some mullet.
We're gonna make 'em jump!
In Paris it seemed normal
to have you as a partner.
Here, I can feel the strangeness
of our connection.
I wonder why I'm here in this spot
where you chose to be born.
Chose?
I came here to leave you but...
there are better things to do.
I came to make noise
and silence has won out.
What rest!
It's our first vacation.
True. The other years we traveled...
always to places unknown to both of us.
Here, you've already had dreams.
Perhaps with others? With whom?
You know all about my youth.
Don't walk backwards, my little crab.
Were you happy?
Let's not discuss that.
I gave you everything
to be shared, not torn apart.
I've nibbled enough on your memories.
You wretched thing!
Look!
For travel, my only ambition is...
to see something like this
from time to time.
Ambition? Do you know that word?
I spent my childhood
in these boatyards.
A shipbuilder builds boats.
He repairs them. That's all.
My dad never thought of expanding.
He died young...
but he'd have aged the same way,
calmly working.
In Paris, so many people want to succeed
and make a place for themselves.
I was born there and...
saw lots of excitement around me.
For a long time I thought
it was useful.
You taught me to keep still.
I love this ship!
It's our home's attic.
It must have rats!
If you've learned to keep still,
don't get so excited!
You'll fall. Be careful!
Here you don't like being tired.
You'll hate it too.
Here, when they say
"He's very tired," it means...
"He's about to die."
Everything wouldve been easier for us...
if I'd been born next door to you.
Too much!
I wouldn't have loved you...
if you were like me.
The resemblance
must come little by little.
On the red boat...
Scotto Raphael
from the "Sporting Lance"!
- Are you OK?
- Fine!
- Having fun?
- Yes.
You haven't said a word.
I'm happy.
I said: "Alexandre,
if you don't want to joust, stay home!"
On the blue boat, Soldino Albert
from the "Sporting Lance"!
On the red boat...
Calcazani Auguste
from the "Golden Shield!"
Be quiet!
I am! I am!
Albert Soldino has qualified
for a return match!
And now a word from the band!
Sir! An ice cream!
Warning to the jouster Sbastien!
Get in on the blue boat!
Each Sunday in summer is like this...
... minus the tribune and the officials.
Is there a crowd every Sunday?
Yes, from 2 till 7.
Can you watch for that long?
- It's always the same, isn't it?
- Maybe.
But if you knew
the jousters as I do...
their passes and little tricks!
Even if you don't understand the game...
it's a sight I've always known...
and it enchants me.
Albert, are you afraid of the water?
Want a flag like your jousting uncle?
They gave La Pointe a fine tournament!
Yes, but like always...
they put La Pointe over there
and the tribune in the shade.
You know the officials
don't like to come here.
After what they pulled on us...
they feel uneasy
for refusing our petition.
I told you they'll never give in.
Samples, analyses...
It's not worth it.
We'll never get the small lagoon.
If we keep trying, maybe...
They want us to leave!
They want us at the big lagoon
and if we won't move...
So we'll keep after 'em!
Each year we'll take samples
till one of the officials says...
"Why keep giving them a hard time?"
"Let 'em fish!
There's so little bacteria!"
- There's no Health guy like that!
- Who knows?
Admit that it's cheerful here.
No longer sorry you came?
I didn't know...
But I often told you all about it!
You listened to me like I was
telling stories, not my story!
It was "our love,"
not me that you loved.
Now I'll love you...
native of La Pointe-Courte,
son of a boat carpenter...
fan of jousting and the sun!
You won't blame me
or ask me for anything...
without thinking of all this.
You'll love me very thoughtfully.
Why not? Do you love me madly?
I don't think so.
Here's Raphael!
- How are you, my boy?
- Fine.
Nice day. You'll be at the dance tonight?
What about it, Anna?
Thank you.
Now you talk to him
and let him dance with Anna!
You're a good man.
He jousted well.
He'll be a real man!
Each time he came,
I tried to nail him first!
There was nothing to be done!
On the next pass, he came back.
I tried again!
Bang! He unhooked me!
Weren't you in jail?
He escaped!
I asked for a leave.
I proved I was on the jousting list
and here I am!
You're lucky!
I'm going back tomorrow
to do 2 more days.
- They'll leave tonight.
- They're odd.
Some vacation!
Always trotting around like dogs!
They talk too much to be happy.
Is something wrong?
Lie down a bit.
Maybe you were too hot
this afternoon.
At least I had some ice cream.
Your ice cream!
I won't forget it.
You know...
I thought you'd gone...
like you said the first day.
You thought that?
- I'd never go like that.
- How do I know?
- You know me completely.
- Yes.
But your mind changes all the time.
I'm always a day or 2 behind.
I'll keep you up to date.
Made your decision?
Nothing's decided...
but I've faced the facts.
The bonds between us
are stronger than we are.
We've lost the youth of our love.
The emotion, discovery, desire...
the passion.
And I can't get over it.
But adult love based on knowledge
is a passion...
less external, not so fragile...
rather like maternal love
that nothing can truly hurt.
Are you sure all of this is about me?
Yes, you!
Now I know how I love you...
and no one will ever free me.
Free you? I never tied you down.
True. And we may not always
live together.
If you love me as you say...
I'll never let you go again.
Together or apart,
nothing will ever undo us.
You love me calmly,
the way you live calmly.
Yet you're trapped
just as I am.
I don't feel trapped.
You will.
You think you stole my soul.
Yes, and you stole mine.
If you wish, but what does that change?
Nothing.
But...
it's good to know
what we've traded our youth for.
Do you think it's worth the exchange?
I don't know.
Is it canal water on the ceiling?
Yes, because the moon's in the canal.
Gentlemen, a little silence, please!
And now for something different!
M. De Ruby is going to sing us a song!
M. De Ruby!
I'll sing "I Love Only You."
I love only you
Since my lips have met
The fever of your kiss
I love only you
And my heart rises...
My voice despite me
Implores you night and day
Because I fear
You won't be back
But when I see you
It all sings with me
I love only you
Only you!
This is long! I'd better step in!
Well?
Have you finished eating?
The dance is starting! Are you coming?
We've got time!
They threw the fine in the sea.
Quiet! Quiet!
I'm proud to give Albert Soldino
the Grand Jousting Trophy!
Let's hear it for Albert!
Look at him, Papa,
after all his complaining...
he still has fun
like a youngster!
Parties don't change a thing,
but they make us feel good.
Time for bed, kids!
You were right to be so calm
the day I arrived.
In a few days, you'll start again.
You'll do your "This can't go on!"
Number for me again.
Maybe.
But now I know it's pointless.
You feel resigned?
Resigned, reassured...
delighted.
The secrets we're bringing home!
A couple's secrets
bring them closer.
But no one knows
if the secrets are happy or sad.
Come on, kids!
Auntie, I lost my hanky!
- Louisette!
- Coming!
When you bring back the basket,
don't forget the towel!
Mine has a loop in the corner.
Cast off!
Uncle Noel, don't drown
all the kittens in the canal!
Save me one!
The little black and white one
with the white belly!
The kid annoys me with his kitten!
Isn't Pomponette enough for you?
We'll have to look after his kitten!
Don't drown it!
Bye, sonny!
Goodbye, Noel!
Goodbye, Noel!
Remember the towel!
Be careful of your feet!
He's no trouble, ma'am! Never mind!
I'm thirsty!
Some coffee, ma'am?
For him, sir?
I don't think so!
If his mom doesn't touch it
he doesn't need any.
When do we get to Paris?
Tomorrow morning.