Sade Page #2

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.

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