Indochine Page #2

- Perfect.

- You always say that.

Do all French girls

have light skin like you?

The difference between people

isn't skin color...

it's this.

It's this. The taste...

the fruit.

A child who only crunches apples...

can't be like me.

I'm an Asian.

A mango.

- When will Tanh return?

- Not until next year.

Paris still fascinates him?

He asks whether I love him.

Well?

What's it like to love someone?

When it happens, you'll know.

I wanted to protect Camille.

She knew nothing about my life,

the men I'd met...

or those I'd loved.

I had had casual affairs...

the kind that leave no trace.

Jean-Baptiste met me at the house

where I grew up, near Saigon.

My father never wanted to sell it.

It contained his whole life

and all my childhood memories.

While waiting for you, I thought...

"He won't be here at 4:00.

He'll be a little late."

So I thought I'd quickly tidy up...

close the house and leave.

As if nothing had happened.

Our first meeting...

our rendezvous here, all erased.

Jean-Baptiste--

There's still time to keep

our story from beginning.

I should have fled.

But nothing existed but him.

I know he loved me too.

Prepare him the opium.

Good day, sir.

Eliane's not here.

Yes, I know.

Thursday she's at the bank.

She'd brought no one here

in years.

I'm going to tell you a story.

I'm not interested.

Oh, no, you don't!

You're in my house!

Now listen!

Father was so afraid of losing me.

He was capable of anything then.

OId Tchung told me one day...

that Father had offered

Jean-Baptiste money.

How much?

How much is your daughter worth?

Go ahead. Humiliate me, pay me!

Name a price.

Give me a figure!

100,000 piastres? 200,000?

I saw how the steward, the coolies, the

bankers were all at her beck and call!

So it'll cost you!

500,000.

If I leave her to you,

500,000.

Say it! I want to hear it!

Yes. 500,000.

No, sir.

Such things don't have a price.

You have your life ahead of you.

She and I don't. Leave her!

Jean-Baptiste?

Mister officer gone.

When will he be back?

Me not know.

"Flee, jealousy, tortures--

Wherever you are,

your soul will embrace mine."

Now, lovely archangel,

it's your turn.

Stop it.

I'm trying my luck.

An apparition!

You, here?

I've looked everywhere for you.

Talk to me, Jean-Baptiste, talk.

There will always be hours,

days and weeks to myself.

All to myself.

Understand?

The same goes for you.

We're two people.

I need you.

You're part of my life now.

I need your voice...

your tenderness, your hands--

Protect me.

You must protect me.

Stop it.

This pleading woman isn't you.

I want the world,

not a little corner like a tomb.

I want to discover the world.

Are you upset, madame?

No. Why?

Because you're crying.

Go away.

Go away. You're crazy!

Forgive me.

Jean-Baptiste!

Stop!

Stop!

Get out.

Satait, please leave.

Life continues as before.

The sound of footsteps

on dead leaves...

sap oozing from

the wounded trees...

and above all, what I loved most

and others didn't--

the smell of rubber.

I didn't believe it.

I'm so used to Guy's jokes.

- You arrived when?

- Two days ago.

You'll be staying?

Tanh was expelled from France.

What? What did you say?

He's been expelled. Positively.

But why?

She knows about Yen-Bay?

It's her country.

She's entitled to know.

Three months ago,

Indo-Chinese troops...

massacred their French officers.

So we executed the assassins.

End of story.

Not at all! In Paris, supporters

of the assassins demonstrated.

The demonstrators were jailed.

End of story.

Not at all.

It triggered solidarity movements.

They marched up the Elysee!

And Tanh was among them.

So they kicked him out.

And now?

Now it is over, Camille.

I was bad. I was punished.

On the boat coming back...

I thought about

our childhood here.

Soon this land

will be ours again.

I know my son.

Youthful follies,

bad influences in Paris--

- I know how to straighten him out.

- Money?

He'll be an oil and soap merchant,

like me.

He'll be very rich.

Richer than the French engineers.

I was against

his studying in France.

But you and your friend Guy

kept insisting.

Young people like Tanh

are this country's future.

An Indo-Chinese elite

should be created.

We are the elite,

because we are rich.

Tanh is an intellectual.

Business wouldn't interest him.

He should stop dreaming.

- What's wrong?

- I've cried a lot.

My buffalo died

and my boy is sick.

The boy took the remedy?

Yes, but he's hungry

and I need money.

You'd gamble with money.

Send me your wife.

I'll give her the sack of rice

and the medicine.

You will get nothing.

Some champagne?

No thanks, Aunt.

Camille's mother was my cousin.

We always wished for

a marriage between our children.

When you adopted Camille...

that was my only condition.

The ties must not be broken.

Now she's my daughter

and I want her to be happy.

Two boys--

They'll give us two boys.

We'll be happy in our old age.

The older one

will marry a rich girl...

and our children

will care for us.

And when our time comes,

we'll die contentedly...

surrounded by our children

and grandchildren.

I hadn't seen Jean-Baptiste again,

but I hadn't forgotten him.

What did people know

about our story?

Certainly not my distress.

I hid my feelings so well.

And then we lived in peace,

under an illusion.

The thunderbolt shattered

the "Day of Tranquility."

My father and I were the only Europeans

invited by the mandarins.

They killed the mandarin!

It's the communists!

They'll kill us all!

Run!

Madame Devries, Mr. Emile!

Come quickly!

The fire was no accident!

All the rubber has burned up.

When can the work start again?

The vats need cleaning.

- Maybe tomorrow.

- Why not now?

- They're afraid they'll get shot.

- By whom?

Boom! Danger! No work.

Don't go! I think I heard shots.

You think? Yes? No?

Make up your mind!

There is no danger!

Back to work!

Raymond, start the generator.

Too dangerous.

Wait for the police.

Kim! The generator!

The Devries are alive.

There's no danger!

Get going!

Hurry up!

I won't go to school Monday.

When I'm not with you,

I imagine awful things.

That they burn the house, and...

kill you and Grandpa.

You mustn't be afraid.

If we're afraid, they've won.

Guy said,

"Be prepared for cruelty."

The crank!

Firing you for a minor illness--

that's inhuman.

After years of serving her.

That's just not human.

You can say what you want,

she's got nerve.

She enjoys humiliating people.

- I considered her a friend.

- Shut up.

I'll say this--

she'll get what she deserves.

A lack of love is never good.

That's the worst illness.

Keep on feeling superior.

The truth is

nobody here likes you.

Even the trees wouldn't grow

if they had a choice!

I pity you.

Your future looks bleak!

Everyone will leave you.

Without love, there's a smell.

It keeps you from breathing.

Good-bye, madame.

Your looks are deceiving.

Sure, you're beautiful.

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