The past encourages me,
the present galvanizes me.
I have little fear of the future.
Saint-Lazare Prison
Forgetting my barber?
Later, citizen, wait your turn.
- What is the weather like?
- Cool, but the sun is out.
It's the end. Will you pray with us, sir?
Sorry, but I'm not superstitious.
Don't speak to him!
He has a handsome face.
To have fucked so little...
You respect nothing.
I respect life.
But death rules here.
No, look around you.
Life is everywhere.
Even in the prison lice.
Citizen Sade!
I am not a noble.
You have a fief in Provence.
I have some land.
Take this down, citizen.
All my ancestors exercised
the honest occupation of farmer.
Your children emigrated.
When I last saw them,
they were 6 and 4 years old.
But if they have emigrated,
I abhor them and abandon them
to public anathema.
As you can see, I don't believe it.
I spent 15 years in prisons,
the victim of royal despotism.
On what grounds?
The reign of the arbitrary
blindly struck out at all lovers of liberty.
But I know how precious your time is.
You've read my letter of 18 Ventse?
I was vice-president of the Pike Section.
I represented it at the Convention.
I penned a eulogy to Marat...
You speak and write a good deal.
You're a man of letters, you say.
You know this book?
"The libertine's frenzy only increased...
"He opened a closet
containing several whips,
"withdrew one with a steel tip,
"which made me tremble..."
No.
The printer was judged.
He was guillotined.
Did you know?
It's a defense of crime,
the most bestial debauchery, and atheism.
Who is the guiltier,
the printer or the author?
Rumor has it that you are the author.
Come now, citizen,
I appeal to your good sense.
Is the same person likely to extol
virtue among its great men
and vice in a novel?
No one can be divided in such a way
without going mad.
Take him away.
- It's not much!
- And "fraternity"?
Get in.
I fear, sir, we must share the same carriage,
and the same fate, perhaps.
Do you know our destination?
You don't know?
To Citizen Coignard's, at Picpus.
A house where we won't have a key?
A sort of clinic.
What afflictions do they treat?
Diseases that are part of the current climate.
You know...
There is company in which one is gladly ill.
It's the times that are sick, sir. Not us.
Viscount de Lancris.
That's how I was once addressed.
My wife,
and my daughter, Emilie.
Sade.
We'll report the coachman is drunk.
Picpus Convent
- Avoid that man.
- Why?
I'll tell you later.
Citizen Coignard, who runs Picpus.
He's in charge of your detention.
The court report on the prisoners.
I'll be back in ten days.
Citizens, this is my wife.
Viscount de Lancris?
Your agent is here.
My lord...
I took the liberty of levying
your boarding costs. Was I right to?
We'll show you to your rooms.
They're spacious
and look out on the grounds.
Lancris, my friend!
I feared the worst, but you're here!
At what price!
I expected you without realizing it.
Hello, Emilie.
Poor child. This is her youth.
The Duchess de Villars Brancas is here!
The guillotine didn't kill off the species.
You'd exterminate it?
How you said that!
I've saved many a head in the Pike Section!
- You took part?
- Why not?
History in the making is beautiful.
Come, Emilie!
I'm not to speak to you.
I'll speak for two.
- Sade.
- I know.
- Your warm welcome touches me...
- You're a special case.
Meals are served in the common room.
Dinners are allowed in your rooms,
but you'd have to pay the caterer.
It's high.
I counted 72 steps.
You're down at the end.
Citizen Coignard.
You must let me speak to you.
I told your husband, board isn't free.
Give us a little more time.
We can take smaller rooms.
I know you're sensitive to suffering.
Rules are rules.
Making an exception
would be failing my charge.
Pretty lady. Her tears seem genuine.
She played tragedy in the provinces.
I can imagine her cries.
You're not moved by all this pain?
I don't claim feudal rights.
- You should.
- Don't joke with that.
Your room.
A nun's cell.
This was a convent once.
They lived here like bats in the belfry.
Would you rather return to Saint Lazare?
Tell me why I'm here.
I needn't answer you.
The Republic granted you special favors.
The Republic can hear
of your partial treatment.
Beware, citizen.
Favors can easily be withdrawn.
This is a prison, after all.
Insolence won't be tolerated.
Are they lemon trees?
- Yes.
- I had some back home in Provence.
Prune them twice yearly.
A necessary mutilation.
Put it down here, please.
The bedding is acceptable.
Sheets... yes, they're here.
Emilie, take the next room.
We'll be fine here.
It's a trap closing in on us.
There's even a spinet.
Emilie, what are you doing?
Paris, Gravilliers Street
Finish your food.
I'm not hungry, I'm sleepy.
Good evening, child.
Shall I put him to bed?
Don't bring him next time.
I can't leave him with anyone.
Your marquis isn't his father?
No. I told you, I only met him 3 years ago.
He reached Picpus safely?
Don't worry, the beast is at rest.
Thank you.
I promised you.
You're brutal.
Forgive me.
He's nearly twice your age.
Is it out of habit or pity?
He was good to us.
He had a chambermaid at home
and in his bed.
His reputation follows him like the pox.
He's calmed down since.
They say he writes.
What does he write?
I've never read his work.
Novels, plays...
What wasted talents!
Enough about him, then!
Undo your bodice.
I didn't listen to the other deputies.
You know why?
Guess.
Because I knew you were here,
waiting for me.
Did you study well?
- Yes, Father.
- You wouldn't say you didn't.
They changed Arithmetic.
Those outdated notions had to go.
It's hard to understand.
The trials and errors of new learning.
Let's see this top.
Observe this physical phenomenon.
You have to spin it to keep it on its tip.
You try. Spin it.
That's it. Keep it up.
My Holbach!
I also brought you paper and quills.
Are they sharpened?
These are fine.
and it's the 4th of the month.
Will I be here 4 days or 4 years?
Always your figures!
Numbers, not figures.
I drew up a list of what I need.
Vanilla cream, nougat, candied fruit,
brandy from Mayence, the finest...
Veal cutlets,
thick alpaca sheets... These are coarse.
Where'll I find all that?
You'll manage.
Can you believe I'm happy here?
A select society, charming women.
Of course, they cold-shoulder me,
but I'll set them on their ass.
Will you come see me every day?
I won't be allowed to.
You're all undone.
It's scandalous to arouse poor folks.
Is this how you visit deputies like Fournier?
Is he more jealous than I?
No. A delicate subject.
The child...
Mademoiselle de Lancris!
Would you look after a child?
He'll behave. He's be right down.
Go on, son.
There's a girl outside pretty enough
to pose for a pastoral scene.
If such paintings still existed.
- What's your name?
- Charles.
Come.
Good evening.
May I join you?
Good evening, Viscount.
Your wife stayed in?
Yes, she's feeling poorly.
We're neighbors again.
Thank you for looking after the boy.
I did it for him.
Let us say, for love of humankind.
Hello, citizen.
So you're both gardener and servant.
What's your name?
Augustin.
Citizens, before we begin our meal,
I must acquaint you
with two major developments
of which the Convention
has just informed me.
"In the north,
the valiant Armies of the Republic
"have broken the Austro-Prussian lines
"and scattered the intruders
as far as Flanders.
"And, vigilantly pursuing the enemy within,
"Citizen Robespierre
has declared war on atheism.
"He has had the Convention adopt
"a decree declaring the existence
of the Supreme Being
"and the immortality of the soul.
"A great fete on the Champs de Mars
will be held in its worship."
And now, let us taste this good soup
made with our garden herbs.
Yes, but it needs salt.
The Supreme Being, what is it exactly?
What is it made of?
Is it solid? Gaseous?
Someone must ask Robespierre.
Enlighten me, Madame.
I'm sure I saw you on the stage.
Perhaps.
As Mlle Saint-Prix,
I played Sabine in Horace,
Voltaire's Zaire in Lyon...
It was in Zaire.
Did you ever see her?
If I did, I would remember.
Madame has a presence one doesn't forget.
I'm an author myself.
Do you know my play, Oxtiern?
It's the story of a wicked lord in Sweden.
It was staged at the Thtre Molire,
but it fell victim to a cabal.
You have a lot of enemies.
True. But no matter.
If others think strangely,
let them stay in the dark.
Let's not be victims.
Would you change your displeasing traits?
Never.
I am what I am. I won't be changed.
What could the Republic reprove
in a woman who has served
the great dramatists?
My husband was a financier,
so he was accused of embezzling.
That paper currency affair.
He did things a bit...
tactlessly.
He lost everything.
He won't even come to dinner.
For the sake of economy.
We're all in the same boat.
The costs here are beyond comprehension.
Accept my caterer's services.
Look at that mummy
cajoling that young man.
It's Mr. De Maussane's godson.
Your naivet is refreshing.
You don't think that?
Nature goes where it will.
But he's so old and ugly.
A potential protector is rarely an Adonis.
Finette!
- Kindly remove this abortion.
- You dislike dogs?
Only big hounds that lick you.
Or bite you.
Are there any books around here?
I didn't see any.
You should read. You're intelligent.
I'm not illiterate.
You must have pretty handwriting. If I may...
Would you help me file my papers
and do some copying?
At Saint Lazare, I caught an allergy
that tires my eyes.
You ask for many favors.
I'm sorry, I can't help you.
Are you feeling better, Mother?
A little.
Come pray with me, Emilie.
Where is your father?
Talking downstairs.
Love your father, Emilie.
He may seem inattentive or frivolous,
but it is to him,
to his tenderness and fortune,
that we owe this reprieve.
But expect nothing of life.
It's me.
If it's you, then come in.
This isn't an ogre's den.
I know.
Though among all the things
you've heard about me...
Well, it's all true.
But not as they mean it.
Is this your writing?
Yes. But I've been working for 3 hours.
And your allergy?
I treated it with compresses
and boiled water.
Is this about your life?
Sit down, Emilie.
Let me look at you.
Shall I talk with my back turned?
Like this?
Anyway, you're too pretty.
I prefer a woman's flaws.
What can I tell you?
Yes, I was a libertine.
Yes,
everything one can imagine, I have done.
But I'm not a murderer.
I've never distinguished
between the mind and the body.
Between this...
and this.
Mind and body cannot exist
without each other.
My philosophy is boring you.
Care for a fruit jelly?
Tell me more.
All my misfortunes begin there.
I took the byroads when they wanted
me to follow the highway.
The rest is all tavern gossip,
brothel jealousies.
And the fury of my mother-in-law,
a parvenu in collusion
with the police of the Old Regime.
Mothers are not my kind.
Mine considers you a demon.
Yes...
These woman share
a certain instinct with animals.
Who was that woman with the child?
What?
Madame Quesnet.
She's quite beautiful.
I think so, too.
Madame Quesnet is the most honest,
the most sensitive of women.
In fact, I call her Sensitive.
So she consoles you.
For what? Regrets aren't part of nature.
Part of yours, perhaps.
But isn't your thinking rigid?
It looks like a facade.
You don't have a bad little mind.
But we'll never agree on this point.
Help me to understand you.
This may tell me more.
No, it won't.
Why not?
- It's not for you.
- Am I too stupid?
No, too young.
And read at random, it will mean nothing.
You asked me to copy passages.
There are things we say, things we do,
and things we write.
But it all goes together,
the mind and the body.
It's beyond you.
Is it so boring?
Is that why your plays aren't acted
and books not published?
What insolence!
Read, then.
Go on, read!
Addio, bellezza.
Are you asleep?
You're really asleep?
You'll stay here and live with me.
I'll hold you captive and send
your marquis to the guillotine.
What's gotten into you?
This situation has to end.
You're known as a loose woman,
living by your wits.
I want to marry you and adopt your son.
I'm not asking you to.
If Robespierre knew, he'd despise me.
Do you understand?
Walking in the Tuileries, I hear,
"It's Robespierre's friend."
I won't marry you.
I arraign people who haven't done
a quarter of what I do for you.
Love is not made for times like ours.
In what magical age did love exist?
The age of kings and marquises?
Must I be old and corrupt to please you?
Rotten to the core?
A writer of filth?
My life is tied to his.
You admit it! You love a pander.
You shouldn't complain.
Is that what it takes to put you in the mood?
I'll never forgive you.
I know it all now. I read his loathsome book.
What did you read? He didn't write it!
Stop lying to me!
Everyone knows it's him.
You lie to protect him.
Is that what you want?
To be tied to the bed?
He never beat me.
Never!
You did well to come out.
The air is good for you.
- This way.
- No, the walk tired me.
- Shall I?
- No, stay.
Your mother wasn't to go out.
But she did.
Should I go up to see her?
It's for you to decide.
True. I'll go up, then.
Would you like a flower?
Your turn, chevalier. Don't doze.
Have a seat, Madame.
Where is Mr. De Lancris?
Yes, hush!
When will you finish?
Whenever I finish.
You have money to lose?
Money, money, money.
What do they all see
in that southern prattler?
Who is the lady in black?
Duchess de Villars Brancas.
Still in mourning for Louis XVI.
You're smiling?
Poor Louis. He paid for his wife's sins.
Never marry, except on stage.
But I needn't tell you that.
What a dull game.
We can't even ruin ourselves.
We have outdoor games.
Leapfrog and blind man's buff.
We can do better than that.
The stage is your domain.
I'm an author.
Let's put on a play. I have plenty.
They'll never allow it.
Why not? Coignard must appreciate the arts.
Perhaps a comedy of manners. The Seducer.
The Thtre Italien booked it.
We've a coquette, a male lead.
We need an ingnue.
They're being taken away!
Come quickly!
It's the lawyer Fayet.
- Who's next?
- It's the scaffold for us all.
Don't watch.
Don't go away.
You look troubled. Be yourself, my lord.
What you read is not this violence here.
Murder dictated by law revolts me.
It's an expression of abstract principles.
Once, in the Pike Section,
they tried to make me vote
for an abomination.
I left my seat.
You had powers of life and death?
The Montreuils,
my hated in-laws, were on a purge list.
One word from me and...
I said nothing.
There's my revenge.
You believe in that?
It's because...
I see in the Revolution
the underdog's revenge.
To each his chance.
Except when villains gut my chateau.
But the wheel will turn again.
The State must be mobile, like its citizens.
Let's step out.
The gate is barely guarded.
We could bribe the sentry,
or drug him.
Or even kill him.
Where would we go?
The world is vast,
but no one ever thinks of fleeing.
I long cherished the word "liberty."
And now?
I may believe in it.
But for me or for others? I can't say.
But I...
I talk to you like a philosopher,
forgetting your age and your sex.
Can you explain why?
Unhappiness has made you this way.
Ah, women and their sentimentality!
"Paul said to her:
'The rocks are covered in green.
'The birds sing at the sight of you.
All is gay,
'only you are sad.'
"And he tried to kiss her,
"but Virginie turned her face away.
"Paul failed to understand
these strange, new whims.
"Misfortunes seldom come alone."
Shall I continue?
"Misfortunes seldom come alone."
Come, we're alone.
Emilie, are you asleep?
"Each nation has its laws, culture, virtues,
"which its neighbor dares to abuse.
"We condemn your manner,
admonish your customs
"and you heap on ours
nothing but opprobrium."
You'll make progress.
- Help him.
- Not easy.
He's utterly devoted to you.
Sew, sew! We also need turbans.
We'll run out of cloth!
Cut up your old dresses.
Actor and painter... What diverse talents!
You were tempting me.
Your buttocks are as soft as lilacs.
What am I doing here?
I've cast you in a towering role.
The Grand Eunuch.
The Grand Eunuch.
His ugliness makes him
cruel and calculating,
but he wields great political influence.
Paying a visit?
The young captive would have suited you.
I couldn't.
If I dared to force you,
it would reflect my reputation.
Look at the chevalier.
His every gesture is graceful.
Don't you find him charming?
He doesn't do anything for me.
True, he couldn't do you any harm.
No one here appeals to you?
Apart from me,
I'm an old galleon about to sink.
But it's spring, everything's rising.
Don't wilt away like a nun.
You prefer Augustin's vigor. Like a horse's!
Citizen!
What did I say? Nothing but niceties.
I was worried, waiting since Tuesday.
- Hello, son.
- Hello, Father.
I brought what you wanted...
See that?
They're having a lark.
I see.
I wish you would act, too.
I've more familiar with the wings.
What's that?
Nothing.
Charles opened a window in my face.
Not your little Jacobin?
I'll crush him.
I don't see how.
Citizen Quesnet... Citizen Lancris.
Taking part in the festivities?
I'm watching.
She watches and judges.
What is all this?
Turning Picpus upside down!
This is a retreat, a rest home.
Not a side show.
- You said we could...
- I changed my mind.
It's a mere divertissement.
I can give you the text.
No Old Regime nonsense.
It's against my civic duty.
You were glad to discover pleasures
social injustice had forbidden you.
What?
We all consider you an enlightened man.
Spare me your tricks.
No plays on my property!
Slower, he can't keep up.
You'll meet Robespierre.
You'll see what my life is like.
You'll be moved.
Your friends shed a lot of blood.
We must cut deep to draw out evil.
Think of all we've done in a few months.
Here we'll have 100 little girls,
and as many boys and old men.
All singing odes. Care to hear one?
Later.
A huge Phrygian bonnet
will cover the chateau dome.
The amphitheater is being built.
You descend the steps
with a bouquet of cornflowers,
ears of corn and poppies.
Every Convention deputy should have one.
A dummy will represent Atheism.
You take the torch, set it aflame.
The Statue of Wisdom appears from below.
Then onward to the Champs de Mars.
You walk 10 feet ahead of the deputies.
Why alone? We walk together.
But you preside the Convention.
Hello, Etienne.
Maximilien...
This is my companion, Citizen Quesnet.
Citizen...
Your son?
Yes, citizen.
Your Fournier is a good republican.
He's not afraid to perform his duty.
Will you attend
the Fete of the Supreme Being?
She'll attend.
It will be a fete like no other.
A fatal blow to atheism.
Don't cry victory yet.
Atheism is a vice of the mind.
Born of the aristocracy,
it still distills its poison.
You will only carry a bouquet of flowers,
an offering to the Nation.
God wouldn't save the King.
Why save us, then?
Silence! You'll bring us bad luck.
Such talk before our child!
But the guillotine is at our windows!
I know.
They say the Parisians complain
of the smell.
Get up. You cultivate imaginary ills.
But I let you do as you please.
Enjoy it while you can.
What is this law of 22 Prairial?
They say it eliminates lawyers.
Who sees to the defense?
It's a law to punish conspirators only.
Tell us more!
The innocent are safe.
- Are we safe?
- We pay you for that!
And the Fete of the Supreme Being?
It was a farce!
With Robespierre as high priest.
Being master isn't enough.
He wants to play God, too.
I hear the Statue of Wisdom
was black with soot!
I was in your room.
My room?
Excuse the way I'm dressed.
It's this bestial heat.
What are you doing?
Trying to sort things.
Coignard authorizes our play
so long as its silent.
Gagged once again.
But we'll come up
with some tableaux vivants.
See the props?
You really won't join us?
Don't you realize our plight?
Yes, I do.
Whether heads fall here
or on Revolution Square,
the horror is just as horrible.
What is it?
Nothing.
I wanted to see you,
talk to you.
I'm not against talking.
You don't talk, you evade things.
You're angry.
What?
What is it? I don't provide
enough consolation?
I'm not ashamed of my fear.
And what can be stronger than fear? Think...
It rises from deep within us
and no one can take it away.
You're on fire.
Do you find me pretty?
Is it protection you want?
Do as I say and you'll stop being afraid.
Walk.
Go on.
Don't be stiff.
Turn.
Arch your back.
Close your eyes.
Open your mouth.
Wider, I want to see deep inside.
Touch me here.
What's wrong, child?
Think I'm fit to be scrapped?
Your problem is that you're a virgin here...
and here.
You're not as clever
as the young ladies in my novels.
Yes, I write with my member in hand.
Goodbye, Lancris.
Don't take it badly.
My brutality was a form of tact.
You'll thank me for having spared you.
Or else ask Augustin to give you a child.
The guillotine spares pregnant women.
Speak to her first.
Women grow randy through the ear.
Yes?
I won't read your books, but I might play.
Get on with it.
- Look terrifying, Lancris.
- I'll try.
Higher.
- My part is so dark.
- Very dark!
Don't spare the makeup.
I want you with oriental eyes.
Enjoying yourself at least?
You see?
Let us act childish, act mad, act foolish.
When life threatens to slip away,
seize it while you can.
On stage!
Deep in the harem...
where man ventures not for fear of death,
Angelica discovered
the dark joys of captivity.
Is any prison more voluptuous?
Oblivious of duty,
to satisfy a passion censured here,
but not in the Orient,
the Grand Eunuch smuggled
young Astolphe in
under the heavy veils of these houris
who fill Mahomet's paradise.
But,
during that time,
the favorite, consumed by jealousy,
sharpens a dagger.
The shrew will strike,
tear out Angelica's heart
before the Grand Turk's wild-eyed gaze.
Faced with this monstrous spectacle,
the libertine cannot conceal an emotion
that is only too natural.
Read.
On orders of Citizen Avril, Public Works.
The ditch must be 25 feet long,
Sink posts at each end.
I'll report this to Public Safety.
Why here? You want my ruin, citizen?
No one will use my park now.
Does it serve the Nation?
Or people of leisure?
You read the requisition order.
It's in the national interest.
The tumbrels will come in
where the diggers are.
What are you doing?
- Who are you?
- The gardener.
Then grab a shovel.
What an outfit!
Will I be compensated?
Are you joking?
Who are they?
My patients.
Go back to your rooms.
Your patients are mad to dress like that.
And you allow this masquerade?
So, Charles, always in your atlas?
He can't keep his nose out of it.
Time for bed.
- It's still light out.
- Continue tomorrow.
Today's the longest day of the year.
Be good.
Sleep well, child.
Until tomorrow.
It's hot. Change your shirt.
This one's clean.
We can put his bed upstairs.
He'll be better there.
You're tired.
I hardly slept all week.
I go back tonight.
Sedition seeps
through the very floorboards.
We must eradicate it.
Listen, I can't protect him any longer.
Why not?
Robespierre spoke of Sade.
He abominates his kind.
We're stalking the libertines.
I must go see him.
Picpus has been requisitioned.
No more visits.
Not even newspapers.
Get me a pass.
To tell him what?
No, I can't.
From now on, I heed my convictions.
Aren't you happy with me?
And there. Don't deny it.
You'll forget him soon enough.
I can't. He's like family.
Family?
A woman comes with her past.
She can't just discard it.
A family demands love and respect.
It's sacred. Don't debase the word.
He's as alone as the devil.
- What I'm asking is...
- I know what.
It fills me with shame. Understand?
Shame of what? Saving a life?
That's not betraying anything.
That man is the enemy.
Because I lived with him?
No, he's no longer a rival.
He is what must no longer exist.
If I save him,
will you swear never to see him?
You hesitated. It's a start.
Let me go to Picpus.
And what do we do?
Send him home to his ruins,
put him out to pasture?
So he can rape farm girls
and write his filth, while we all croak?
Strip them!
The shoes and garments here!
They're for the hospital poor.
Don't look, child. It's horrible.
I want to see.
They're wedging the bodies with the heads.
The stench!
The stench is unbearable.
He's not coming tonight?
I wouldn't be surprised if he did.
Without him, what would become of us?
- I'm opening the window.
- But the stench...
It's stifling in here!
The smell of herbs is worse!
Are you counting? The dead?
A superstition of mine, my fetish.
I juxtapose figures I hear during the day.
I add or subtract them.
They become signs I alone understand.
To read the future?
In a way.
The future's easy to predict.
It can be reckoned in days, in hours.
Nothing is ever played out.
They roam about the building,
on every floor, in the halls.
They wander like souls in purgatory.
Isn't it strange?
Here we're free, but prisoners.
As if dead before dying.
This is still life, Emilie.
How can I experience it all in so little time?
And even if the worst happens?
We return to the matter we came from.
Without fear, without hope.
We will be dead,
but the world will continue.
That's nature.
Men today,
worms tomorrow, flies the day after.
Isn't that still existence?
A far more comforting eternity
than the lies of Christ.
But we're not matter.
It's inhuman!
What we feel, what we try to grasp,
those we live with, you, me...
Their gestures, their voices,
the words that soothe us, hurt us...
Look at me.
If I die now, I'll never have existed.
Did I hear a knock?
Come with me. Right now.
Follow me. Don't argue.
- Another ditch?
- The first was full.
- How many?
- At least 500.
This is a special favor.
Don't reveal it, or you're done for.
Don't leave here. I'll come for you.
You stopped coming.
They wouldn't let me.
Even before, you stopped.
How are you?
I lost a tooth. It hurts.
It may be an abscess.
You must get out. That's why I'm here.
How?
I don't know.
I'll find a way for you to escape.
To go where?
We'll see.
Listen, you're in danger, personally.
I wrote the Committee again.
To tell them what?
That you're not noble?
That you didn't write Justine?
It's no use now.
You have to escape.
I'm a good republican.
You have some bizarre ideas.
I have a toothache.
There are a hundred ways to vanish.
Basically,
you want to be rid of me.
You're unfair.
Escape, first.
It's awful here.
Yes,
the earthly paradise is a mass grave now.
The pendulum swings...
And here we are taking the air.
He know you're here?
You live with him now?
You can say yes, since it's true.
Perhaps you're better off.
You're a tribune's companion.
How fine.
How fine but how hazardous.
Yes, I live with him.
He's honest. He'll help us.
A fine soul!
Honest atop a pyramid of corpses!
He's not brutal, the times are.
"Citizen Fournier has the floor."
How you defend him!
Has he improved any?
How does he do it?
From the front, behind, both?
Be quiet.
Some men are born to be virgins.
I've also made a few conquests
in your absence.
The young lady I saw?
She's delicious.
And no fool.
A vivacious nature.
Poor thing...
Her womb is aching for it.
I'm beyond forcing asses and cunts.
I'm getting old.
So am I.
What did you bring me?
What I could find. It's not easy.
Pt, fruit.
I dislike this brand.
What about Charles?
Does he still speak of me?
He wrote you this note.
I'll read it in my room.
But I won't leave.
You will.
Trust me. I'll get you out.
I'm curious to see what happens here.
My only wish, if I die,
is that you look after my work.
It's hidden in the fireplace in my room.
It's all there now.
You'll find it easily.
You'll do it, won't you?
How long did we live together?
I haven't much time for you.
Attending the next session?
Your master isn't giving any names.
Why not?
Are his enemies so numerous?
He'll name them in time.
Traitor!
Thirsty?
- I've had no time.
- Have some orangeade. It's hot.
I have to tell you...
I saw...
Sade's name on the accused list,
signed by Fouquier-Tinville.
He appears in 2 days.
He's 11th.
Have his name removed.
I haven't the power.
Fournier!
Are you ready?
You shall leave your father and mother.
It's from the Bible.
What is it?
Nothing, go to sleep.
Chevalier...
Good evening.
I'm bored.
There was only one tumbrel today.
May I come with you?
Not tonight.
I'm taking the air with Mlle de Lancris.
They filled the ditches with lime.
Imagine the fermentation.
I don't even smell anything now.
We grow used to everything.
Even awaiting our own death.
Are you absolutely sure?
Lead the way.
Hello, Augustin.
I had this midnight snack prepared
by raiding Citizen Coignard's pantry.
The last supper.
Some wine?
It's a Chanturgues.
Fine wine, just slightly heady.
You already drank.
Just one glass.
Even if you'd emptied it, never have regrets.
Never.
Drink, Emilie.
- It's strong.
- Let it run down your throat.
Look at your princess, Augustin.
Her first night appearing before you.
We'll eat later.
Liven up.
You stand there like nativity figures.
Loosen up.
It's so hot.
You, too, Emilie.
Am I rushing you?
If you tremble, we stop.
Earn this favor or be gone.
I won't leave you.
Come closer.
Slowly.
Closer.
Slowly.
One step,
two steps.
You are two bodies...
No...
Two roles.
The captive and the janissary.
He's stolen into the harem.
She's been waiting, terrified.
Terrified and impatient.
But damn all that!
You're here, Augustin, Emilie,
the barn, the convent.
Do you want to, Mademoiselle?
Yes.
She says she does.
Even if she doesn't, take her.
Stick out your hand.
Touch her.
Stop! What are you doing?
Did I say to continue?
Here, whip me.
I said whip me.
You whip horses.
Do as I say.
Do as I say!
Do it.
Stop, Marquis.
It's all so far.
You're hard.
Good.
You'll bugger me.
When?
In another life.
What luck, Emilie.
What a stiff cock this bugger has!
It must hold a lot of fuck.
Say the word.
"Fuck."
Fuck.
Good.
Doesn't all this frighten you?
Yes,
but I'm here.
Bid yourself goodbye.
It's easier when you forget.
You're no longer alone in your room.
You've been abducted.
Sade!
Not me.
But I'll be right here.
Come here. She's yours.
On your knees.
Take her ankles.
Spread them.
Stop trembling.
Augustin is no monster.
Look in his eyes.
Oh, Lord!
I forgot how young the world is.
Go down.
Use your mouth.
Ah, fuck! Your tongue...
My friend...
I envy your discovery.
Wait.
Go on.
Come here.
Louis-Franois Lejeune, ex-police officer.
Monfort the Elder, ex-noble.
Pierre-Louis de Montcrif, ex-noble.
Elisabeth de Beckett de Saint-Maur.
Mother, I don't want to go!
Donatien-Aldonze-Franois Sade.
He's gone!
He left months ago.
Sade, absent.
What time is it?
You still have time.
"Have time..."
You didn't sleep at all.
Surprised?
- When this is over, we'll go...
- Go where?
Nowhere.
Sade won't be arrested today.
I reported him at Saint Lazare.
The prisons are chaotic.
By the time they open a new file...
You did that?
Yes.
It's what you wanted.
You're not sure now.
I'm off.
It's the day of reckoning.
Wait!
Seize Robespierre!
Maximilien!
Death to Robespierre!
Your house is emptying.
- The tyrant's dead.
- And your clientele?
There are bastards and unwed mothers.
Bring back bills of exchange.
It's the only way to revive the economy.
You think so?
How long will I rot here?
You see my impatience.
Santero!
Excuse me.
Louise!
I thought you dead.
Me, too.
- When do you leave?
- In a few days.
I live at 12, rue Payenne.
Pay us a call.
You're a good fixer.
The chevalier snubs me now.
It's feigned.
A charming tactic of his.
- I said I'm fine here.
- Get up!
Not before royalty is reinstated.
A mass, citizen?
They called in a priest to bless the graves.
- You tried to stop them, I suppose.
- Why?
I respect their sorrow.
Well...
Here we are, the three of us.
Charles, why are you crying?
Fournier is dead.
Put the trunk next to the coachman.
What I admire about you is your courage.
Someone for you.
Go on.
I find their relief cowardly.
Is it really over?
Is the Terror over?
So it seems.
Give a sigh of relief...
and never deny yourself pleasure.
So we must live?
For you, it's easy.
You reclaimed your youth.
I know, but I don't feel it.
Are you leaving now?
We'll never meet again?
So you say.
Our paths diverge.
You know about my path?
And how will I know it?
You'll marry.
Is that your lesson?
Don't you only swear by whips,
blood and straw?
- When did I say that?
- You say so, you do so.
Only in excess can one find liberty.
I'm with Mr. De Sade!
If you marry,
love your husband if need be.
Have few children.
Or none. They deform your body
and later become your enemies.
You're lingering with me.
Your tooth still hurt?
I'll be all alone.
Was all that for nothing?
No. Follow your instinct.
Nature.
I'm repeating myself?
Then we mustn't meet again.
But I believe in that inner voice.
We met in exceptional circumstances,
we grew close.
Let's remain on those heights.
Thank you for easing our friend's detention.
He enlightened mine.
Take care of the Marquis.
Being unique, he's an endangered species.
I told you Mlle de Lancris was witty.
I had the remark ready.
Farewell.
Done by (c) dCd / June 2005