THÉRÈSE DESQUEYROUX (1962) [Eng subs]

Your father's here.
Case dismissed!
Tomorrow I'll have the official notice.
- There won't be any suprises? - No, don't worry, it's over.
After my son-in-law's testimony, it was all settled.
Settled - well... you know, Larroque, the victim's testimony...
There was no victim.
I meant, victim of his own imprudence, madam.
You should have your say in the Sunday paper...
No. There's nothing to respond to.
It's perfectly clear the case was slapped together.
Thank God we control the editor of the Conservator.
That story about the girls...
Silence, concealment, that's what's best.
I'll do whatever I have to, I'll meet their price,
but for the family's sake, we have to cover all that up.
It's time.
You've caused this family enough harm.
Free. What more could I wish for?
What will Bernard's first words be, he whose testimony saved me?
What confession do I start with?
How do they get by, all those who know their crime?
I never wanted to commit the one I'm charged with.
I've never known where I would be led...
by this deranged power inside of me... and outside of me.
Do I have to go back as far as my teenage years?
Anne...
I'd need to tell Bernard about her first.
To see things from the very beginning.
But where do our actions really begin?
Argelouse is at the end of the earth.
Beyond Argelouse, until the ocean, there's nothing except
80km of swamps, lagoons, and thin pines.
The Landes.
Bernard Desqueyroux had inherited the house next to ours from his father.
As soon as the holidays started, I spent my long days here,
in the care of an old deaf woman. Aunt Clara.
I hated that game Anne indulged in, innocent and happy.
But I stayed, unsatiated by her presence.
Was I ever so happy, or so honest?
I was pure, pure as an angel. But an angel full of passion.
To be as pure as Anne, brought up in the convent,
I didn't need all those ribbons, all those refrains.
Her purity was still largely down to ignorance.
The ladies of the Sacré-Coeur placed 1000 veils
between reality and their daughters.
Are you coming tomorrow?
Oh, no. Not everyday.
I'd end up getting ill.
Well there's no obligation, just do what your heart says.
Will you put this back in its place?
- Do you want the birds? - No, keep them.
Well go on then!
- Is it empty? - Of course.
It's a shame you don't want to hunt. It's such fun.
Therese! Don't go far, we're about to dish up!
Bernard, Bernard.
How can I let you into this confused world of mine?
You who belong to the blind, implacably simple race.
You can't say Therese is pretty, but it doesn't seem to matter.
Her charm always comes through.
The richest girl in Landes doesn't need to be pretty.
Unfortunately she always has a cigarette in her mouth.
But she has a very upright nature. Honest as gold.
It won't take long to bring her back to sound ideas.
It's not exactly a marriage made in heaven.
Her father. Larroque has his flaws, but he's well-connected.
The thing that worries me most about Therese is her intelligence.
I'm worried that with her, your Bernard might...
Take Anne, for example, she's so much more delicate.
But you're her father, not Bernard's... you're prejudiced!
I don't see the difference between my own two children.
Anyway, Bernard will soon finish his studies in Paris.
Don't forget, a husband must be more educated than his wife.
That's what my poor husband used to say.
Your poor husband... that's me now.
Not that poor. You know what you spent on the horses this winter?
Sometimes I wonder if I was wrong to remarry.
Bernard doesn't write often... to Therese I mean.
It's sentimental, isn't it.
He'll wait a bit longer, but you know Therese.
She wants him so badly.
I wanted to marry him, yes.
Maybe firstly to have the joy of becoming Anne's sister-in-law.
There was Anne.
But really, why be ashamed?
Bernard's 2000 hectares didn't leave me cold.
Doubtless his domination of such a forest seduced me.
Maybe I was also obeying a deeper hidden feeling,
and sought in marriage not domination, or possession, but refuge.
Careful with your cigarette Therese.
It could catch fire, and there's barely any water in the Landes.
Is it true that ferns contain prussic acid?
Hydrocyanic acid, yes, apparently so. But in minuscule quantities.
Not enough to poison yourself?
Do you want to die?
Still a few bad ideas in there...
So destroy them, Bernard.
I never felt closer to peace... or what I thought peace was.
It was just half-sleep, the drowsiness before waking.
That stifling wedding day.
It was that morning I first felt lost.
Where are you off to?
Paris!
The wedding night. It was horrible.
Well no. Not that horrible.
When we look at a landscape at night we imagine what it was like by day.
That was how I discovered love.
I played dead.
Well!
Do you know what mother's writing about? Anne.
She's infatuated with that Azevedo boy.
You know, that sickly chap. It sounds serious.
You've got three letters from her, we'll soon find out.
I want to read them in order.
And I won't show you them.
Oh, you make everything complicated.
Let's hope the Deguilhems don't know.
Their young lad might get cold feet.
She said she'd hold out until she's 18.
You need to make Anne see some sense.
My parents are counting on you.
You're a big influence on her.
It's true.
It's time we went home.
I'll send a telegram, and book two seats on the Southern Express.
Are you doing this on purpose?
What are you waiting for to read those letters?
For you to be gone!
When I met him I couldn't believe it was him.
He was running with the dog, and shouting.
I'm sure he's not prone to illness - just being careful.
You wouldn't recognise him.
I fetch him his jacket when it gets cold.
You remember the hunting lookout?
You picked out the spots where I was to feel such joy.
Darling, forgive me, I'm talking about happiness as if you'd never known it.
She's known such joy.
And what about me?
It's all sorted, we leave tomorrow.
For our final lunch, cost be damned, I'm taking you up the Eiffel tower!
What's wrong? Not eating?
It would be a shame to leave any behind, at this price.
I was thinking about little Anne.
Funny, I'd all but forgotten about it...
since you've taken the matter into hand.
I was wondering why your parents are against the marriage.
The Azevedos are worth more than the Deguilhems.
You know they're Jewish, mother knew the old Azevedo man.
He refused to baptise his children.
The more I think about it, the less I understand.
Even from your point of view.
Because you know, there's no-one in Bordeaux older...
than those Jewish Portuguese families.
The Azevedos were already way ahead when our miserable shepherd ancestors...
were shivering with fever on the edge of their swamps.
Therese, don't argue just for the fun of it...
All Jews think highly of themselves.
They're a family of ill-breeding and disease.
And what did your grandfather die of? And Aunt Clara. Have you seen her?
You're going too far Therese.
You shouldn't joke about our families.
Our families don't care about what they don't see, or know.
They're experts at covering things up, hiding their dirty secrets.
Without the servants we'd never know anything. Luckily we have them.
I'm not answering.
When you get going, it's best to let you finish.
But at home, it won't be put up with.
No more jokes about the family history.
Therese, don't make that face. If you could see yourself.
I was laughing. How silly you are, my darling.
To think of what strangers see... what shame!.
And that's how they'll judge us.
I admired that this prudish man was the same one
whose patient nocturnal inventions I had to suffer.
That foolish girl, thinking happiness existed.
She needed to know, like me, that it doesn't.
Even if we had nothing else in common, we should at least have that: solitude.
And certainly not love. Not love, for Anne. Not love.
Would Bernard follow up to this point?
When I reached this parade I'm in now, I'd have to recall for him
those first few weeks spent at Saint-Clair... in my new family.
Do please make an effort!
And you Therese, eat up! In your state you need to eat.
Pay no attention to her. I'd like to coddle her but she won't have it.
In her state, the nausea... it's understandable.
I remember when I was pregnant with you, I had to sniff a rubber ball.
It was the only way to settle my stomach!
What's the matter with them?
That's it: Anne's got to leave for Biarritz, to stay with my sister.
As for that Azevedo, Therese will know how to talk some sense into him.
Therese, where are you?
Here, on the bench.
Hold me, Therese.
Are you unhappy, my dear?
No, not tonight.
I know that one way or another, I'll be with him.
What's important is that he knows it too.
And you're going to tell him.
I've decided on this trip. When I get back I'll be with Jean.
He told me, "You're the only thing I live for".
Another time, "Our love is the only thing I care about right now".
Right now...
What is it, do you think he was only talking about that moment?
No need to ask if she was unhappy.
I could hear her suffering in the shadows.
Why would I have pity?
It must be so sweet to love... to be loved.
Are you crying Therese?
Is it because of me?
You love me, don't you.
I felt it under my head.
He's been moving for a few days.
The baby?
He's alive already.
At Argelouse, after Anne left, I had to deal with Azevedo.
Bernard was beginning to feel the first symptoms of an obsession
so common among his stock.
His fear of death.
What's the matter? Are you ok?
You can't imagine what I'm going through.
Can you feel that?
Those irregular heartbeats.
Why don't you go to Bordeaux for a checkup?
It's not that serious.
Doctor Pedemay said it's my nerves.
Well if the doctor said it's nothing.
He didn't say it was nothing. He said it was my nerves.
Have you thought about the Azevedo boy?
Your heart...
Don't talk about my heart! You only have to mention it and I can feel it again.
That proves it's my nerves.
Do you think it's that too?
Maybe. Your father died of heart disease. And at your age...
Clearly the Desqueyroux's hearts are their weak point.
What are you talking about? My grandfather lived to be 90.
You're a funny one, Bernard, with your fear of death.
Don't you ever feel helpless, like me?
Don't you think that a life like ours already feels a lot like death?
The things you come out with.
You think your smart alec answers are clever?
You just systematically take the opposite position to everything...
Well it's not me you need to argue with.
Better save that energy for your meeting with Azevedo.
You know he's leaving Vilmeja in mid-October.
In mid-October, after a very bad night,
Bernard went straight to Bordeaux to be examined.
The first wood pigeons were passing overhead.
I'd decided to go up to that abandoned hunting lookout,
contrary to my usual movements in hunting season,
and I hadn't taken the precaution of avoiding the woods,
where you had to stop, and whistle.
If a long whistle comes in reply, you have to take cover.
A flock of birds swooped into the oaks.
It's nice to finally meet you madam.
I've heard so much about you.
I've heard about you too. Much too much.
From Anne of course. Your sister-in-law?
Yes, sir. Anne.
Do you know you've brought trouble into a reputable family?
Do you think such a marriage would ever be allowed?
So you think I want to marry her? That I aspire to such an honour?
Get married, me? At my age?
Don't even think about it.
Well, she has thought about it. She does think about it.
She's unhappy, because of you.
She's unhappy?
Perfect.
I know of your reputation, madam. I know what they say about you.
You're not like the people round here.
Before she embarks on such a dismal voyage in some old Argelouse house,
I've given Anne some illusions.
To save her from losing hope.
I ought to have been furious with Jean Azevedo's pretensions,
but an awakening mind, that seemed so new to me.
To think that I'd be able to take care of a little girl in Paris.
Paris?
Yes. I go to the national administrative school...
and I'm doing a degree in Philosophy at the Sorbonne.
The bird's in the hand.
May I accompany you home? Only if you don't mind.
No, on the contrary.
I get bored out here. Counting the days until Paris.
But I feel I can talk to you.
Who else round here could I talk to about, say, Chekhov?
I've been re-reading his plays. Do you like Chekhov?
Yes of course. The Seagull. Especially The Cherry Orchard.
I think I prefer The Three Sisters to The Cherry Orchard.
I think it goes deeper into description; evoking the things that we both know.
Maybe you better than I, madam.
This land. The heat.
The inescapable, unbearable suffocation of the province.
I'm leaving Ekaterinburg...
...I'm finally going to Moscow.
I mean that I'm leaving Argelouse.
- Here we are. - Already.
It was kind of you to go out of your way.
Not at all, I can get back to Vilmeja across that field.
And Anne? We haven't talked about Anne.
We've forgotton about her, the little thing.
Well, we can't choose where the conversation leads us.
If you like we can see each other again and talk about Anne then.
When could it be? The sooner the better.
We should decide something for Anne, draw up a plan.
Wednesday, same time, same place?
Come on.
Jean Azevedo was the first man I'd met, to whom intellect meant something.
How quickly that walk had passed.
Get to Saint-Clair as soon as the pharmacy opens.
Don't worry sir. I've other prescriptions to fill.
There you are at last.
I'm fine, Therese.
A man like me, I hardly look anaemic, do I?
I've been prescribed some drops to take. Fowler's solution, it's arsenic.
You know who I met by chance, up at the abandoned hunting outpost?
The Azevedo boy.
Did you talk?
We talked, yes, a lot even.
And was he difficult about it?
No. Jean Azevedo has never even thought about marrying her.
Never even thought about it? Jean Azevedo?
Ho! Hey, listen Aunt Clara:
The Azevedo boy doesn't want to marry Anne. Isn't that lucky?
Lucky, yes! I always thought there was nothing wrong with you.
An Azevedo not wanting to marry Anne de la Trave? You're mad.
He knows he hasn't a chance. Why take the risk when you're sure to lose?
You're still naïve, my dear.
Children, dinner's served.
Did I see Jean Azevedo many more times?
I only remember meeting to write that letter to Anne together.
The naïve boy had come up with some words to let her down gently,
but I could see, without telling him, all the cruelty within it.
Good.
A good deed done. Shall we walk?
You said the other day one should always be oneself...
but... we can only be what we make of ourselves.
That's what I learnt in Philosophy.
Pindar's words, adopted by Nietzsche, and quoted by Dubos:
"become who you are".
And what if you're condemned to lie until death?
A few resist... and they give rise to the dramas that families keep quiet.
Like they say round here, you have to make silence.
Yes, sometimes I've asked myself about that great-uncle, or grandparent,
whose photographs have been removed from the family album.
And I've never gotten any answers apart from: he's disappeared.
They made him disappear.
Therese, we've had a passage of birds!
Therese, come and see, I've brought you some - see how nice they are.
The day got off to a very bad start.
I even said to Balion that it was too late in the season,
there'd be no more big passages. But at around 11 o'clock...
Being oneself.
Bernard would never understand how I felt that one night
in the dining room at Argelouse, after Jean Azevedo left.
For my health!
Therese, don't have a coffee. It's not good for the baby.
In the eyes of the family, only the fruit I bore mattered.
No doubt if the worst happened, he'd sacrifice me for that child.
I was losing my sense of being an individual.
Good night sir, madam. Sleep well!
Thank you, Balionte.
How can I wipe that October night from my memory?
Where is he?
How did you get here?
I know how to take the train on my own.
Well yes, I escaped from Biarritz.
Where's Jean?
Paris, you know that. I think he wrote to you.
That letter...
I don't believe you.
He was supposed to stay here until All Saints' Day.
You're lying, like you always have.
That's not fair. I did everything-
You betrayed me to save me. You fit right in with this family.
Since you got married you're just like the others.
Where are you going?
His house at Vilmeja.
I told you he's been gone a week!
I don't believe you!
I'll leave tomorrow for Paris.
I'll find him in Paris.
Unbelievable!
Is that what I thought I heard?
What are you doing here in the middle of the night?
Why are you back from Biarritz?
I'll explain. She's tired, she needs to rest.
That's a bit much to take!
Mademoiselle runs away, and I, her brother, can't have an explanation?
Answer me! Do you hear?
Get up. What's the meaning of this?
Fine. Don't answer, don't get up.
I'll make you speak.
You've got until tomorrow.
Do I make myself clear?
Until the end of December, I had to live in that darkness.
Then I was taken back to town, to the Saint-Clair house.
As much as I suffered in that time,
it was the day after giving birth that I could no longer tolerate life.
There were no signs on the outside, no scenes between Bernard and me.
That was the tragedy. We had no reason to break up.
With such differences there's usually a battleground on which to fight.
But I never ran into Bernard. Much less my parents-in-law.
Therese! Walk in the shade, the sun's bad for you!
Their words didn't reach me.
Since the baby arrived, Anne's come to life.
She even made up with Therese so she can spend more time with the baby.
But there's nothing left of their old friendship.
She's so sweet, our little Marie.
Come and see grandma.
What a darling, she's smiling.
When she's with me she's always smiling.
She knows me better than her mother.
She prefers me so much I'm a little embarrassed.
Anne was wrong to feel embarrassed.
At that moment in life, I was detached from my daughter
just like everything else.
Get out of this world...
...but how? And where to go?
What happened that year?
I only remember loathing my husband even more than usual on Corpus Christi.
Folk hid away, to avoid having to take off their hats or to kneel.
Bernard was the just about only man to walk behind the box.
He was doing his duty.
Weeks passed without a drop of rain.
Bernard lived in terror of a bushfire.
Here's the moment I come face to face with the act I committed.
What can I tell Bernard?
Nothing to do but remind him, step by step, how it came to pass.
It was the day of the big fire at Mano.
What news?
It's still far from Saint-Clair, but... a lot of land's going to burn.
And the Mayor's not here.
Sir, the alarm bell. Is it serious?
I'd better go and take a look myself.
It's near Mano.
- Where's the wind from? - North-East.
That's what I thought. There's no danger.
You smoke too much, it's toxic.
You were right not to worry, the fire's over at Mano.
No danger for my pines.
Did I take my drops?
I didn't plan to keep my mouth shut.
But that night, when Doctor Pedemay asked me about the day's incidents,
I said nothing about what I'd seen at the lunch table.
It wouldn't have been hard to draw the doctor's attention
to Bernard's arsenic drops.
But I remained mute.
The act at lunch, which I never knew I had in me,
started to creep out from inside me,
shapeless still, but beginning to dawn on my conscience.
- How's Bernard this morning? - He's much better.
It was just a small illness.
I didn't feel at all like I was prey to a horrible tempation.
I just had to satisfy a slightly dangerous curiosity.
The first day, before Bernard came in,
I put some drops of Fowler's solution into his drink.
I remember saying to myself: just this once, to be sure.
I'd know if it was that that had made him ill.
Just once, and it would be over.
What followed, Bernard knows as well as I do.
That sudden reprisal of his illness.
- Goodbye Doctor. - Goodbye madam.
That hopeless Doctor Pedemay doesn't have a clue what's wrong with Bernard.
We need to bring a better doctor from Bordeaux.
Poor dear... he's so scared of dying.
Having a specialist in to consult might finish him off.
Therese...
Bernard, who hoped to be better in time for the wood pigeon hunts,
had travelled back to Argelouse.
I was alone, moving through the darkest part of a tunnel.
I needed to get out of that darkness, to reach fresh air.
At the start of December, a new crisis, more violent than the last, struck.
A medical specialist was called from Bordeaux.
You say he woke up and couldn't move his legs?
Shivering, yes sir.
A racing pulse, and a low temperature.
Would you like to wash your hands, Professor?
If you don't mind, I'd like to discuss with Doctor Pedemay.
Oh. Of course. This way Professor...
Worrying. Very worrying.
- A horrible story. - How did you realise?
Darquey - he's my chemist - two days ago he showed me two forged prescriptions.
On the first, someone other than me had added Fowler's solution.
I'd prescribed it for Mr Desqueyroux when he'd had palpitations.
And the other prescription?
That's the one which made me suspicious.
It was for large doses of chloroform, digitalis, and aconite grains.
You could poison a whole house.
Despite the high regard I have for the family, I felt it my duty to complain.
A mistake like that would have such consequences...
We need to move him urgently. An ambulance will come in the morning.
A few days after Bernard left, I was summoned before the judge.
Now that I'm about to meet Bernard,
my story, so carefully reconstructed, collapses.
That's all there is to this prepared confession.
Nothing to say in my defence.
Just approaching this man, reduced to nothing any hope I had...
of explaining myself... of confessing.
Bernard won't even make the slightest possible gesture.
What if he were to open his arms, no questions asked?
The case was dismissed.
It was predestined.
Bernard.
Let me go, Bernard.
What? You dare to have an opinion?
You just have to listen. Take my orders.
What do you want from me?
I'm not going to be influenced by personal considerations.
I'm keeping my mouth shut.
The family is all that matters.
For the family's pride, I agreed to deceive my country's justice system.
God help me.
No doubt he will.
It's not about strength of character.
You will obey, or else.
Or else what? You spoke up in my defence, you can't go back on it.
You'd be convicted for perjury.
We can always find new facts. That right remains, thank God.
What matters for the family is that the world thinks we are together.
And that I don't appear to be questioning your innocence.
Also, I want to hold myself in as best I can.
Are you afraid of me, Bernard?
Afraid? No. Appalled.
We'll do it quickly, and it will be over for good.
I don't want your sick aunt living here.
From tomorrow, all your meals will be served by Balionte, in your room.
You're forbidden from all the other rooms.
On Sunday we'll go to mass together.
You must be seen on my arm.
And Marie?
Marie leaves tomorrow, to my mother's.
In a week I'll take her to Beaulieu.
You didn't think you were going to keep her?
She needs protecting.
If I was dead she'd inherit the estate when she's 21.
So you think it's because of the pines that I-
Of course. Because of the pines. What else?
The rest is unimportant. I'm not interested.
You're nothing.
The only thing that exists, is the name you've taken.
In a few months, when the world is convinced of our good relationship,
and Anne has married Deguilhem's son...
The Deguilhems are having second thoughts now, you know.
Only then can I return to Saint-Clair.
You'll stay here. We'll say you're... depressed, or something.
Mad, for example?
No. That would be unfair on Marie.
But we can find plenty of plausible reasons.
That's all.
You think you can hold me by force?
Know this: the only way you'll get out of here is with your wrists bound.
I still have my father.
Your father? The two of us are in complete agreement.
He has his career, the ideas he represents.
He just wants to cover up this scandal.
If the court made a rushed job of your case, it's thanks to him.
At least appreciate what he's done for you.
Argelouse... until death.
This proof that Bernard thinks he has.
In this house where we never came, how could he have found the poison I hid?
Mademoiselle Clara is dead!
Dead on her bed, fully clothed!
She's not even pretending to cry.
Who can say it wasn't her again, doing her dirty deed?
At Aunt Clara's funeral, I held my place.
Next Sunday I was seen in church at Bernard's side.
Surrounded on all sides, before me there was only the choir.
That empty space between two children
where a robed man stands, whispering, his arms apart.
The poor thing can't be cheered up.
She doesn't want to see anyone and the doctor said not to argue with her.
Bernard's being very supportive, but poor Therese's morale is down.
Goodbye Mr Bernard. Have a good trip!
After sorting out that drama, like any other matter of business,
Bernard left on his travels.
Me, in the Desqueyroux house, I was cloistered, condemned to solitude.
Where are the books and records I've been expecting from Bordeaux?
Mr Bernard cancelled them, said it was not necessary.
The only thing you'll be receiving is your supply of cigarettes.
Isn't that generous enough?
She doesn't get out of bed, she doesn't eat.
But she empties those wine bottles, I tell you!
If I keep on giving it to her, she'll keep on drinking it.
She's even got cigarette burns on the sheets.
She'll end up burning this place down!
That damn woman!
Have you ever seen such a life?
I don't refuse to sweep her room, or make her bed.
But that lazy cow up there won't even get up!
Mr Bernard's coming home in one week.
She'll have to get up!
And don't burn those ones!
Bernard wrote to say he was coming back, that he was pleased to hear
from Balion's reports that everything was fine at Argelouse.
Aren't you happy Anne got engaged to the Deguilhem boy in Beaulieu?
If madam could only pull herself together a bit,
it wouldn't take long to get back on your feet!
Make an effort madam, please?
Sir is coming back in 4 days.
They'll all be there. The Deguilhem boy and everyone.
I'll make you a nice chicken meal!
I'm not hungry.
Sir is here, Anne, her mother. Anne and the young man...
Mustn't scare the boy.
Don't expect me to kiss her. You can't ask that of your mother.
You should check on Therese, maybe she's feeling worse.
I can hear her coming down.
It's very simple, the bad weather meant I couldn't go out.
I lost my appetite, I was hardly eating.
Better to get thin than fat.
Watch her. Don't let her in the kitchen or dining room alone.
She scares me. Her state scares me.
Go back inside.
We'll send the car back tomorrow.
Unbelievable! Have you seen her?
Sir, I assure you we took good care of her.
We treated her like a lady.
What do you think she is?
Just you wait!
They can just wait for their long service medals.
Drink this.
Spanish wine, it's a real pick-me-up.
I think you'll eat better in the dining room, than your bedroom.
I'll have a place set like before.
- Isn't that a lot? - I said every 3 days.
Some women weigh themselves even more often, and not even for health reasons.
Health. Think of that above all.
Your health.
And no more smoking. You can have 2 cigarettes after each meal.
Go for walks, often.
We'll come to some sort of arrangement, the two of us.
I'd like you to wait until Anne is married.
After that you'll be free.
Free?
Free. No divorce, no official separation, why complicate matters?
We'll say it's for health reasons - you only feel well when travelling.
Each year I'll pay off your expenses, of course.
Of course.
You can move to Paris.
Will I go to Paris?
Yes, why not?
When I'm in Paris, I'll live in a hotel.
Or a little apartment. More proper.
I was no longer afraid of Argelouse.
It felt like the pines were parting, giving me a sign to set sail.
Scared you'll set the pavement on fire?
Therese.
I wanted to ask you...
I want to know. Was it because you hated me?
Did I repulse you?
Don't you know I was after your pines?
Yes. I wanted your pines for myself.
I don't believe that... if I ever did.
Why did you do it?
You can tell me now.
Maybe I just wanted to see a single flash of worry,
or curiosity, or trouble in your eyes.
Everything I've seen in the last second.
You're spirited to the very end I see.
Seriously, why?
A man like you, Bernard, always knows the reasons for his actions, yes?
Of course, certainly... I suppose.
I would have loved for you to see the whole picture.
There must have been a day you decided to do it.
The day of the big fire at Mano.
It was in the kitchen. You were eating standing up.
You were talking with your head turned towards the two men raising the alarm,
forgetting to count the drops falling into your glass.
And it came to you, just like that? Via the Holy Spirit?
Listen Bernard, I'm not trying to persuade you of my innocence.
With such lucidity and tenacity I followed my intentions.
I gave in to a terrible duty. Yes, it was like my duty.
These are just words. Tell me what you truly wanted. I dare you.
I didn't want to play a role. Go through the motions. Read my lines.
Constantly in denial of a Therese who...
Why does everything I'm telling you feel so false?
Now, Bernard, I feel that the Therese who liked to count her pines herself...
the Therese who was proud to marry a Desqueyroux,
and to hold her place in a good family of the Landes...
that Therese is just as real as the other. Just as alive.
There was no reason to sacrifice her for the other.
What other?
I'll need to come back sometime for my possessions, and for Marie.
What possessions? I own all the assets.
We can't go back on what was agreed. Isn't that right?
You'll have your place at all official events where we must be seen together.
In a family like ours there's plenty of weddings and funerals.
For starters, I'll be surprised if Uncle Martin lasts until autumn.
That'll be an occasion - but it seems like you've already had enough.
12:20... just time to stop by the hotel.
If Bernard had said to me, "I forgive you; come with me"...
I would have got up and followed.
But...
I want to tell you one last time that I'm sorry, Bernard.
Let's drop the subject.
It would be better for you if I were dead.
Don't worry about me.
Every Desqueyroux generation has had its 'old boy'.
My only regret is that we had a girl, because the name will die out.
Don't get up.
Remember, I've already paid for you.
Free. What more could I wish for?
It's not this town, built of stone, that I cherish,
it's this living, struggling forest,
hollowed out by passions fiercer than any tempest.
The moaning of the pines at Argelouse only moved me so...
because they sounded so human.