Bel Ami Page #4

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They think you're too impulsive.

Too greedy, they say.

Not used to having money.

They think that you'll give them away.

They think I'm too greedy.

They don't know you as I do.

Over the past few weeks

they've bought the entire Moroccan loan.

They've bought every copper mine

in Morocco. Every last one.

They stand to make 70 million apiece.

Seventy million.

He's spending it already.

He's going to buy

the Palais Saint-Honor.

Seventy million

and I've shamed myself for a pittance.

Aren't you proud of me?

Don't you love me?

Haven't I done well

finding this out, my darling?

I've bought shares for you, too.

And they'll make you at least 70,000.

I don't want your pennies!

They're not worth the price

I paid for them!

You disgust me!

But I love you.

I don't want your love.

I've never loved you.

Your smell, it turns my stomach.

Because you smell of him.

Your filthy husband!

I used to laugh, every time I'd had you,

to think I'd sent you back to him

with my sweat on your skin.

When all the while, it was me!

I was the one getting f***ed!

Me!

- Get out of my house.

- Just listen to them, Georges.

Get out! Get out of my house!

Listen to them, Georges.

Just listen to what they have to say.

lam going to ruin you.

Don't be a child.

Consider your best interests.

There's still money to be made.

You think I've robbed you.

You're not my responsibility.

The opportunity was there for anyone

who had eyes to see it.

You!

You were an embarrassment to Charles.

A failed soldier, barely literate.

He said you'd never amount to much.

Seems he was right.

Pity you didn't marry more wisely.

You'll be missed.

You knew.

Don't be absurd, Georges.

How could I know?

I'm a woman.

I'm not invited to the card game. Hmm?

Who was it today, hmm?

Clotilde?

Or Virginie?

Or both?

And yesterday?

You stupid, stupid man.

You complete and perfect man.

I poured my talent into you.

My intelligence.

My vision into you.

I had no conception of the depths

of your emptiness.

Nothing.

There is nothing there.

Nothing but rage.

Like a dumb animal.

That's what you are. An animal.

I thought I could teach you.

But what I should have done

was train you.

Aah! Ah!

Get out of it!

Excuse me.

I always liked your audacity.

I don't need to hide my face.

I'm not the criminal.

- You're not gonna throw me out.

- No.

Stay. Drink my champagne.

Dance with my wife.

Yours, I see, is already spoken for.

Georges. Georges?

I've been such a fool.

Why do you come back to me?

I don't know.

Perhaps because you never expect me to.

I am sorry I hurt you.

It is worth saying.

I've never seen

such a host of buck-toothed cretins.

Everyone a noble bankrupt.

All here for Suzanne

and her thirty million francs.

Open this door or we will force it!

- Who is it?

- Police.

Madame Madeleine Duroy de Cantel?

Wife of

Monsieur Georges Duroy de Cantel?

Yes.

Madame Duroy de Cantel,

I have found you here in a place

that is not your home

with Monsieur Francois Laroche.

Do you admit

that this man is your lover?

I admit it.

Madame, I have no choice

but to charge you with adultery.

Is there anything that you wish to say?

- No.

- Let's leave her in peace.

We have no further business here.

What should I do'? Should I go?

No, stay.

Finish, if you like.

Well, you'll hear from my lawyer

in a few days.

Goodbye, Georges.

Goodbye.

I couldn't get away.

They were shouting and screaming,

on and on.

Maman wouldn't stop crying and wailing,

she was like a madwoman.

I wish I could see their faces

when they find me gone.

Papa will turn blue!

Oh!

Whoa!

We'll need two rooms.

Good night, Suzanne.

But...

I need a good-night kiss.

You should get some sleep.

But...

Get some sleep.

Papa.

Maman.

- He will not marry her.

- I should have seen it coming.

He will not marry her!

I will not suffer it!

He will marry her.

He must marry her.

And you will accept it, Virginie.

This is as much your doing

as it is mine.

My doing!

Your infatuation for him

infected my daughter!

He will marry her

and I will be glad of it.

What more can a father wish for

than to see his daughter

with a man he can respect?

She's only a child.

- Do you love her?

- No.

She's of no interest to me.

Poor little Suzanne.

Suzanne's her father.

Just in perfect miniature.

- You've ruined her.

- I haven't. I'm going to marry her.

Did you sleep with her?

No.

You didn't sleep with her?

I didn't touch her. I didn't need to.

It was enough for people to think I had.

I don't know you at all.

You do.

Oh, do I?

You planned it.

You planned it.

You ruined Laroche.

You humiliated Madeleine.

You humiliated her.

All so you could take Suzanne.

Suzanne chose me

because I was the only one

- she wasn't allowed to have.

- And me?

Did you ever think

how this would hurt me?

It has nothing to do with you.

Then why am I in pain?

I don't know.

You didn't even tell me yourself.

I had to hear it from my husband.

You think I'll forgive you anything.

I will not be stopped, Clotilde.

I will marry her.

You're just one of them, after all.

Just another selfish, brutal man.

Just another thief.

It's not enough to be loved, is it?

No, you must be a king.

No.

It's not enough to be loved.

Even by you.

I loved you when you had nothing.

I don't understand

why you must be so proud.

I don't understand.

That's because you've never been poor.

Trying to scrape out some

miserable scrap of an existence.

I can't live like that.

Like my father.

Working to the bone,

and then down on his knees every week,

praying to God that

the next life will be better.

Well, there is no next life.

The esh, it rots in the earth.

It rots.

I have seen a man die.

And I am going to live.

It's so clear to me.

I thought you would understand.

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