A French village S07 E05 The Duty of Memory.
So, because of you...
...I dropped Tom for nothing. Not for nothing.
He had a partner with whom I get along very well.
Is Jérôme aware?
Jérôme...
Since you came with us, something's gone wrong with Jérôme.
It's over for you, Gus.
What Gustave said yesterday's been bothering me.
...but I wasn't sure.
I don't understand how a guy like you could have double-crossed me.
Too bad.
I loved you.
Me too.
You're going to enter painlessly into the country of love.
We could leave together for Marseille.
I don't really like the sun, actually.
I'm a guy from the Jura.
After what I've just done...
...I can't leave you behind, Gustave.
Good.
THE DUTY OF MEMORY
Well, that's too bad.
Hi, Jérôme.
I've been chasing you for a long time.
Is he your guardian angel? No.
He's just a fucking cop.
How did you find us?
I was in the neighbourhood...
...and then, you're pretty noisy.
What do you propose?
You put your gun down, and I take you.
You're not serious!
You're alone. Which means you're here for the kid.
If you arrest me, I'll sing to everyone.
...it was him who cooled the Yank.
So if you let me go...
...I'll get lost.
For good.
I've known cops who'd have dropped me in your situation.
But you're not up for that, are you?
So...
In the end, I think I prefer to go with you.
Shut it, Gustave. No. No, it's you who can shut it!
Go on, get out.
In 6 hours, I'll put out a warrant for the murder of your bumboy. Get going.
Bye, Gustave.
It's stupid. I would've taught you life. The real thing.
The gun you dropped the American with, where is it?
Here.
You're at the crossroads, Gustave.
Either you learn to listen and truly keep your mouth closed...
...do exactly what I tell you, and things will go well.
Or you don't learn...
...and they won't.
They won't go at all.
Garbage!
Quiet Please!
A little silence please.
Need I remind you that Monsieur Marchetti is condemned to death.
Serves him right! Traitor.
I can clear the room.
Proceed, Monsieur Marchetti.
I was saying that...
...concerning the arrests of the Jews, or...
...the fight against terrorists,
...I always obeyed Sous-Préfet Servier's orders.
It seems that you have no remorse.
I obeyed the orders of my chief...
...who in turn obeyed the Maréchal's orders.
Who was duly appointed to his post...
...by the Representatives of the French people.
That's false!
Not all the Representatives of the French people were at...
...at the July '40 Congress in Vichy, which appointed the Maréchal.
A very large number of Deputies and Senators were missing.
Such as the Communists.
The Communists!
The Communists were absent because they were allied with the Boches.
That's something that shouldn't be forgotten.
Please!
Silence.
Anyway, The Maréchal was indeed chosen...
...by the National Representatives, by a very large majority...
...so, accusing Servier today...
...is accusing France.
The true France was in London, Monsieur Marchetti! !
In London in '40, Monsieur, there was absolutely no one.
...other than three Breton sailors...
...and a retired General...
...totally unknown.
Please!
In '40, '41...
...the population was behind us...
...people had absolutely no time for political questions...
...what they wanted was... food...
They wanted... the return of the prisoners...
They wanted to find a little dignity after the defeat.
And they got none of that.
Listen, if we were to judge politicians based on their results...
...they'd all be in prison today.
The French State failed. That's clear.
But the question that must be asked today is whether it was legitimate...
...because you reproach Servier and myself for having served it.
So, yes! It was legitimate...
...whatever de Gaulle says today.
Good.
Tell us about your relationship with Monsieur Larcher.
They were not very good.
Unlike me, Docteur Larcher didn't believe in the National Revolution.
So, he was a bad Collaborator?
You could say that.
In '42, during the arrests of foreign Jews...
...he gave us the most difficulties.
Can you clarify that?
He was hostile to these arrests, which had, however...
...been decided at the highest levels of the State.
He wanted to take the municipal police away from me...
...which I needed to do the job. But luckily...
...the firmness of Monsieur Servier allowed me...
...to carry out my mission.
"To carry out my mission."
Do you know that the 28 Jews you arrested that day...
...all died at Auschwitz, a little time after arriving there?
An official isn't there...
...to ask if the State apparatus is right.
He's there to make it work.
I...
...I hung a Résistante...
...I'm going to be shot for that, but...
Servier, for his part, didn't kill anyone.
He simply made the State operate.
Exactly as you're making it work today.
Marchetti came across well. Didn't you think so?
I don't know.
I'd say he hasn't asked himself any questions.
Have you asked yourself any?
Marchetti is right. An official is there to make the state work.
But we're no longer part of the action.
Don't you imagine, that I often think about the Jewish children at the school...
...I don't believe at all that I'm responsible for their deaths...
...but I still think about it.
There was that little girl...
...with braided hair...
... Hélène Crémieux...
I remember her very well.
Hélène...
...well it's of her that I think most often...
...and I don't know why. There was nothing special about her.
Memory is curious, isn't it?
Yes.
Hello. I've an appointment with Madame. But Madame already has an appointment.
You're Monsieur? Schwartz.
Raymond Schwartz.
Look, I'll see what I can do, Monsieur.
What are you doing here?
I told you you'd get back together with Jeanine.
Don't talk nonsense.
With her, I'm just doing the worst thing in the world.
Politics.
Raymond...
...the worst thing in the world is the only thing that still excites you.
You're cold.
You'd have reproached me for it, right to the end.
Marie, take me away.
I'm ready for you.
I thought we said 11 o'clock.
Monsieur Schwartz.
Nice to meet you. Likewise.
Madame de Cantillon told me you're interested in the German market.
A bit like everybody else.
But you're not everybody, Monsieur Schwartz
You're recommended by the fine flower of Villeneuve.
And soon to be Mayor, right?
The voters will decide that.
Right. Anyway...
We'll do some business.
Madame de Cantillon.
Monsieur Schwartz.
Colonel.
It's been a pleasure, as usual. Likewise.
I'll be in touch.
Scotch? No thanks.
Are you not drinking?
No no. It's a bit too early for me, Jeanine.
I don't have your training
I've had Lanzac on the phone. He's very enthusiastic.
For him, you're the perfect candidate.
Maybe we can show him this?
It doesn't matter.
But we ought to know who's the loony sending these letters.
Do you think there'll be a crowd for the Maquis Four?
The whole of non-Communist Villeneuve.
I've been thinking about what I'll say. Excellent! So?
Well I...I'll talk about...
...my passage from Collaboration to Résistance...
...well, like that, but simpler words... No, no, no, Raymond...
...you mustn't talk about Collaboration...
...at any cost.
Well you just told me the photo was no problem.
Collaboration is a good fairy...
...that will get you elected, with the Résistance good fairy.
But, you must never speak of the Collaboration fairy.
People know about it. That's what counts.
To talk about it, is to re-awaken the matter.
For the Collabos...
...are the wicked.
I can still say what I want, right?
Above all, you must have confidence in those who know...
...this "basket of crabs" as you call it.
Here. I've prepared you a speech outline.
Read it.
Change what you want, put it in your own words.
And why should I trust you?
Because I want you to be Mayor, Raymond.
I want it even more than you do.
And in politics...
...it's the strength of wanting that dominates the world.
Thank you, Docteur.
Messieurs et Mesdames. Goodbye, Docteur.
So...you've started to plan my funeral?
Not at all!
We're talking about the Résistance funeral.
Well, that's good news. Don't exaggerate, eh.
What did the doctor say? That I was going to live 100 years.
Seriously?
I've two things to ask of you.
Go ahead.
Can you continue...
...the farm work...
...until the Little One finds a buyer.
Mamé...
Mamé what?
But you asked me to tell you what the doctor said...
...well I'm giving you an answer.
Hey! Don't be sad.
We've all got to go one day, Genevieve.
So?
Well, as to the farm, that's agreed.
I don't really have a career plan...
Thank you.
And what's the other thing?
Are you clever with your hands?
I manage.
I'd like it to be you who makes my coffin.
There are planks, nails in the tool shed There's everything you need.
Make a coffin? I've never done that.
Well, it's not complicated.
I made my father's coffin... and my brother's, eh.
And it would make me happy...
...to rest between 4 boards...
...put together by a man like you...
...the last one I knew on earth.
You're listening at the keyhole!
No.
You're lying too.
You know what we do to the liars so they don't lie again?
You're hurting me. There! We hurt them.
Ah, that's good. You're resisting.
I don't know why you're so difficult.
What use is it, to listen at your father's door?
He can no longer speak.
There's nothing more to hear.
Sometimes Papa talks to me.
He talks to you.
Yes.
You're still lying.
No, I swear I'm not.
Well, go on, Hortense. Let him speak, since he speaks to you.
Go ahead, talk to him.
Make him talk.
I can't hear.
Make him talk.
Go ahead.
Sit down.
Finally, you've...
...you've fixed something.
Yes, yes.
I have to go back to the nick, to sort things out.
Have you a minute for some grown-up talk?
Léonore, go to your room. But...
Obey your mother, Eléanore.
You've landed us in some nice shit.
We're trying to get everyone out of it...
...but for that you have to obey without discussion. Go.
He's right. Do what he says.
Is he going to stay with us! I don't know.
Anyway, you'll at least have time to say goodbye.
Come on! Go.
Eat.
I'm just about to give the murder file to de Kervern.
We'll see how it goes.
And then we'll see.
Forgive me.
I've read the Gospels.
I spent almost all night doing it.
What did you think of it, my daughter?
It did me some good.
"It did you some good"... but I talked to you about thinking.
You talk to me about feelings.
Feelings are important too, Father.
Certainly, But more often than not they deceive us.
Feelings are the animal in man.
What sets us apart from the animals, is thought.
But what dictate our actions, are often feelings.
Alas! This is how we commit our greatest faults.
And pleasure is a trap. Never forget that.
But if God didn't want us to have pleasure...
...why did he make us experience it during the act of love?
He told us to procreate, but...
...he could have made having children...
...happen - let's say - like..
...drinking a glass of water.
Temptation is necessary, otherwise...
...how can we build a morality?
One becomes a human being, exactly by resisting temptation.
Have you known temptation, Father?
I'm a human being.
And have you always resisted?
I...
We're moving away from the subject, which is you, not me.
If you told me how you've resisted temptation...
...I'd know better how to do it myself.
My daughter, I...
...I've trouble following you.
What temptation are you talking about now?
I daren't tell you.
You have come here... to dare, it seems to me.
Sometimes in the evening, in my bed...
...just after my prayers...
...I sleep alone.
We've slept apart...
...for a long while.
I think of Kurt...
...the father of my daughter...
...and...
...I have bad thoughts.
But still?
I feel something like a warmth...
...a heat in my lower abdomen. My daughter...
...I'm not sure I can help you here.
How can I put it? No, no, no!
I am ashamed, Father but I... I, I...nothing at all!
I... I can't continue to listen to you.
You're going...
...you're not opening your heart to God.
Re-read... re-read the Gospels.
Madame Larcher?
Madame Larcher!
Answer me, damn it! Madame Larcher.
But it's not him, I tell you! Well, look more closely.
But I saw him from two metres! It's not him!
At two metres, but only for two seconds.
He was younger.
He had lighter eyes and hair.
Ah, were you in bed with him, too, or what?
You're joking, he's a queer.
Did you know the murderer?
I've seen him once, at the school.
The dossier, please.
But he's not the murderer. The murderer was with a girl.
And this one is a queer, I'm telling you.
Thank you.
I'd like the Gustave Larcher dossier too
There.
Come on!
Re-read your deposition and sign it.
I'm warning you, I'll listen to you again, and it's in your interest to remember better.
And the bottom line?
The Yanks want certainties.
It's Aristide, for sure. The only witness says the opposite.
But, Henri, his fingerprints were on the gun.
Monsieur le Préfet, if you please.
Monsieur le Préfet.
His fingerprints were on the gun. We know they traded together.
And according to one witness, they had an argument the night before.
Who is this witness?
An informer who wants to remain anonymous.
And Aristide...
...got himself shot this morning. Is that so?
Surely by Jérôme, his lover, who's been on the run, ever since.
I'll tell you something, Alain...
...there are so many holes in your dossier...
...that I could catch cold just by reading it.
I can't do that to the Yankees.
Fine. Fine.
I'm going to dig. I'm going listen to her again, for sure. Count on me.
By the way...
...I see that you had little Gustave Larcher...
...in custody here, four days ago. Yes.
Why did you release him?
I was told he was trying extortion.
Monsieur le Préfet...
...you know that I'm living with Suzanne Richard...
...ex-companion of Marcel Larcher, his father...
She asked me to do her a favour. It's done, anyway.
Yeah, it's done.
Keep me informed. I need something concrete for the Yankees.
They won't let go.
Rita, did you win the lottery?
How are you?
Why didn't you answer my letter?
I only got it yesterday.
I was in Palestine and then... in short, I only got it yesterday.
So you finally went to Palestine, Yes.
A land without people, for a people without land.
It's not a land without a people.
It's very beautiful.
We're doing well there.
Yes, obviously.
Ezekiel is the only survivor of his family.
The others remained in Warsaw.
They disappeared... in the ghetto.
...or in a camp.
One of his uncles was very rich...
...really very rich.
Then you're rich.
Incredible, though...
...life.
David is going to be rich?
Yes.
Why are you in France?
Ezekiel wants, well wanted...
...find the bodies of his son and first wife.
To bury them.
In Palestine.
The deaths were none of my fault, you know.
I never said they were.
I saved Ezekiel's life, too. And his daughter's.
Are you hoping for a medal?
Between a medal and the firing squad there's a margin.
As far as I'm concerned you should get neither.
Seriously.
Jean...
...what do you want from me?
Is David with you in Villeneuve?
We can't take the risk that the witness stumbles on Gustave or Eléonore.
It would land both of us in clink.
In addition, I've been up de Kervern's nose since last year.
It must be Edmond.
We just needed him.
Well, are you alone? There's been a change.
Inspecteur. Comrade.
The people at the Fédé have decided that...
...your presence, at the ceremony for Marcel...
...was, let's say, not desirable.
But that's disgusting.
She was his companion for three years!
I warned you.
And you know what to do to solve the problem.
I know that kid over there. Who is he?
Marcel's son. Really!
I didn't know you remained in contact with him.
More or less.
Well, now you've said what you had to say, go away.
Hold on.
I was a friend of your father. Remember?
A very close friend.
Well I've never seen you.
He could come to the ceremony.
Without me?
Well, you're not his mother as far as I know.
And afterwards...
...we're organizing a Training School for young people...
...supervised by the UJRF.
A week in Moissay woods...
...sport...
...exhibitions, readings...
...political debates.
And your daughter could come too.
There's no question.
No, but wait, wait...
Where would they sleep? In tents for eight...
...boys and girls separated of course.
One week in the forest.
In a healthy, studious atmosphere.
I think that's OK.
Are you serious?
Gustave?
What do you say?
OK.
I find you... rather accommodating, for a cop.
I spoke...
...of what you told me, to my Director of Conscience.
And what did he say, Father?
What you spoke to me of, is a sin...
...a grave sin.
You should not indulge in...
...that... which you spoke of.
Are you aware that it's vain?
That it's wrong...
Yes, Father. Good.
Therefore, if you do it from now on...
...it would be a very serious sin, because committed in full consciousness.
You could no longer take Communion.
You must ask God for forgiveness...
...do penance...
...and lengthen your prayer time.
And of course...
...you must absolutely channel your lascivious inclinations...
...as part of your relationship with the man...
...that you have married before God, your husband.
The other man...
...whose...
...memory is clearly the face of the Devil...
...must be absolutely and definitely chased out of your mind.
At this price...
...and at this price alone...
...you will receive absolution.
I understand, Father.
Come back only to tell me...
...that you have chased his image from your mind.
Do you think this will last forever?
Like this?
I don't know.
I don't believe so.
Why?
What we're living is timeless.
Out of this world...
...this is our great secret, behind closed doors...
One is always alone.
Sometimes,I wonder if you really exist.
What?
Look and see if I don't really exist!
Stop, you're hurting me.
Stop!
We're going to make too much noise.
My superior will hear us.
We don't care about Monsieur Vierzon.
I like him.
He's a good man.
You never know what he thinks.
Why wouldn't it last forever?
I don't know.
Look around you...
People get married and then get tired of each other.
They get bored.
We'll never get bored.
And then it always means nothing.
...for in the end, we die.
Are you sure that love can survive death?
Are you going already? Yes.
I want to be alone for a while, before everyone gets there.
See you soon.
A last farewell. Goodbye, David.
Who are you?
Come on, go with your Maman.
Go on.
Go with Judith, and Maman will come later.
And we'll read a story.
Go ahead, my treasure.
Go to the hotel, Judith. Take him please. Yes, Madame.
Give me your hand.
Thank you, truly.
It's nothing.
Well, it's not nothing...
I believe it's good...
...for him.
What are you going to tell him?
Little Red Riding Hood.
No, I mean what are you going to tell him about me?
I don't know.
That his father was mistaken.
We all make mistakes.
Good... Listen...
Here...
I wrote my story...
...from my childhood...
...the Police, the RG, and all that, the war...
...it's for David.
When he gets to 15 or 20... Will you have him read it, please?
I don't want him to have an image...
I don't want him to have the same image there'll be in the newspapers...
...in the history books.
He'll have that, inevitably.
Yes, but I mean I don't want him to have only that image.
I promise you.
What's happened? Nothing.
Jean?
What has happened?
My appeal for a pardon has been rejected.
I'll surely be shot, on Monday or Tuesday.
I'm sorry.
Is there anything I can do?
Yes... Yes...
...one last thing, yes.
Tell me.
I...
I don't want to die by a firing squad, I...
I...
I want to die clean.
At my own time.
Go... Go to this address...
...a guy will give you a bottle for me.
Get this bottle and bring it to me. I beg you.
Rita, you may not remember, but you loved me.
You did love me, you know.
Because you were lying to me.
But all loves begin with a lie.
You loved me, David is from me. I saved your life.
I ask you to save my death.
Please.
Are you preparing anything good?
Chestnut puree with small pieces of Comté cheese.
It's going to be a treat.
Come on! Immediate departure. At the trot.
And take only the necessities. Every minute counts.
Ah, there's Antoine up there.
I think he wants us to go.
Who wants to go first? Me! Me!
Stop. Stop.
No-one would believe you're sentinels.
You're guarding the ramparts...
...to protect a town from destruction.
You're besieged.
You're soldiers. It's not easy, huh?
We need real lances...
...we need real ramparts. No! We don't need real ramparts.
Representing the real, is never like reality.
Eh?
Representing the real...
...isn't reality.
Look, just now, you were at odds with Fernand...
...about the chestnut purée, remember? Well yeah!
Well, how would you describe that?
Well...
...with Fernand, we....
...we were arguing about the chestnut puree.
And what time was it?
Where were you?
How were you dressed?
What was the tone of your voice?
What relationship do you have with Fernand?
What's the composition off the chestnut purée?
What's the role of chestnuts in the maquis? etc... etc...
And you'll never agree in detail about all that.
Things happen.
That's the real thing.
And then... pffft... it's over.
No-one there experienced the same thing...
...and won't recount it the same way.
Traces of what happened exist...
...but they're partial or distorted.
Impossible...
to re-transcribe the entire reality to someone who wasn't there.
It's hopeless. No!
No.
Faced with this impossibility...
...the bad turn to journalism...
...the good write history.
And the geniuses...
...theatre.
We take the real...
...and we make something of it.
A story.
And we leave reality in obscure mediocrity.
Come on, we'll do it again.
And with spirit!
Oh, Genevieve!
Hey Genevieve!
We need some help. We're having a party at the barracks...
...since we're moving to Germany tomorrow.
And we need wine, bread...
...flour, chicken...
I don't have much, you know.
My grandmother's sick...
Naah? I'm so sorry.
But surely you can find a little. No?
And if you want, You can come party with us after...
Oh, yes, come to the party.
Oh Genevieve. Sweet Genevieve.
The days may come. The days may go.
As I said to you, my grandmother's sick...
...I can't leave her alone.
Oh, maybe we'll pass by to see you after the party.
I go to bed early, you know.
Maybe I'll see you later Genevieve.
Daniel Larcher...
...is a calculator. Cold and perverse...
...who couldn't find anyone else...
...except a depraved wife...
...a Nazi war criminal...
...and a Collaborator Policeman, sentenced to death,...
...to try to defend him.
When you pronounce your verdict...
...don't forget that this man Collaborated...
...in everything that was monstrous, in Villeneuve, while he was Mayor.
And he's done a lot.
Monsieur Larcher is a good man.
Generous...
...and humanistic...
...courageous...
...and I will add, a quality even more rare...
...sincere.
I didn't intend to, but I go back to Monsieur le Procureur's words...
...don't forget...
...don't forget. Yes...
...that by his indomitable energy, Daniel Larcher...
...lightened the burden of the Villeneuvois...
...while continuing to be the considerate and generous good doctor...
...that he's always been.
Don't forget that this man has stolen a child...
...and killed its father.
Don't forget that he wants to make us believe...
...that the Résistance never existed...
...and that all of France Collaborated.
Don't forget that he was anti-Semitic...
...and he was jealous of all his Jewish colleagues.
Don't forget that he experienced torture...
...by the Gestapo.
And prison.
Don't forget that he sheltered...
...then loved...
...a young Jewish woman.
...alas, no doubt, disappeared in deportation.
If Larcher is a false kind person...
...his acolyte Servier...
...is a real villain.
It's Servier...
...who sends to their death...
...ten Communists...
...settling his accounts, with a savagery...
...which raises suspicion...
...of a veritable fascination...
...for Nazism.
It's Servier, again...
...who presides over this absolute horror...
...which was July 25th '42.
The separation of parents and Jewish children, at the school...
...where he manipulated them...
...lied to them...
...housed them like beasts.
And then shipped them...
...to the antechamber...
...of the death camps.
The case of Monsieur Servier is even more striking.
He's presented to us as a perverse monster...
...who takes pleasure in so-called crimes.
He's presented to us...
...as anti-Semitic...
If that was the case, would I have defended him? Me...
...who lost ten members of my family in the 'Night and Fog'?
For Servier...
...the zealous official...
...who separated Jewish children from their parents...
...who had ten Communists shot...
...who carried out without blinking, all the low tasks...
...of Vichy and Berlin...
...I ask...
...capital punishment.
His only just punishment.
For Daniel Larcher, traitor...
...to his country, to his honour...
...and the laws of humanity...
...I ask...
...National Indignity...
...ten years of hard labour...
...and an absolute prohibition of practicing medicine.
Roger. It's him.
Comrades!
We have a surprise guest.
Gustave Larcher, Marcel's son.
It's to be tomorrow.
Courage!
Ah, there he is.
Good day. Good day.
I'm sorry about the delay.
No problem, we'll get started now. Yes.
How are you? Messieurs the musicians.
You will not have Alsace and Lorraine,
And in spite of you we remain French,
You have been able to Germanise the plain,
But you will never have our heart!
No!
The Boches did not have Alsace and Lorraine.
Freedom...
...the dignity of France...
...its independence and finally its victory...
...were won by exceptional men.
Général de Gaulle, first of all...
...whom I had the honour of joining in London from November '40...
...when we were only a few dozen.
And those...
...who in liaison with Général de Gaulle...
...remained in France, to lead the combat of the shadows...
...the Résistance, and then the Maquis.
Many of these exceptional men fell, weapon in hand...
We are here...
...to celebrate the memory of four of them...
...who sacrificed themselves heroically, so that the...
...the maquis of Villeneuve should live.
Ah, damn it!
We're honoured to have among us one of these four heroes...
Thierry Grand.
I ask you give him the applause he deserves.
Are you OK?
Henri, tell your story.
I'm now going to give way to Henri de Kervern...
...Résistant in Villeneuve from March '41...
...Free French since '43...
...and today Préfet.
Over to you, Henri.
Don't worry, I'll be brief, Long speeches bore me.
I'm not referring to you, Lanzac.
We fought to be free...
...and today, damn it...
...it's good!
We're here.
We got through it.
We won.
We're taking advantage of it.
But...
...but we all think of those who are no longer here.
To evoke the memory off the Maquis Four....
...to tell us who they were...
...how and why they sacrificed themselves...
...I give the floor to the true hero of Villeneuve...
...to the author of the November 11th parade, which...
...resonated throughout France, and around the world...
...to the leader of the Maquis which bore...
...and will always bear, his name...
...Antoine.
How...
...and why...
...did they sacrifice themselves...
...the Maquis Four?
Why...
...and how...
...did they sacrifice themselves?
Subtitles by Rod Clarke Wwhitby, Ontario. December 2016