The Salamander
- R
- Year:
- 1981
- 103 min
- 44 Views
A color film in monochrome.
Hello? Paris?
Louis Roy, like your
King Louis, backwards.
Exactly.
Louis?
It's Pierre.
I'm fine, thanks.
Brazil?
and otherwise ghastly.
You'll have them in a month.
Three articles, like we agreed.
What bullshit!
take me on at the moment.
Didn't they promise, more or less?
Not definitely.
They've got financial problems.
And I will too, soon.
Won't they pay for the Brazil
articles?
Yes, but not much.
I'll have to freelance.
Take up Bernard's offer
for that television job.
Oh, right.
I can't write a script for Bernard
and my Brazil articles.
Write it with someone else.
With whom?
I don't know.
Your hairy writer friend, Paul.
Not a bad idea.
Paul?
Paul! A call for you.
Who is it?
Richard Nixon. Or Leonid Brezhnev.
I don't know which. One or the other.
That's fine. Thanks, Paul.
See you soon.
I might not come to work
on Monday morning.
Or Monday afternoon.
Maybe not for the whole month.
We're fed up with your
comings and goings.
That's our arrangement,
I'm not at your beck and call.
He works when he feels like it.
Great! Isn't it?
Elsewhere, I work harder for nothing.
That's your business.
Exactly, that's my business.
You got on our nerves
with your mucking about.
Pack it up!
Paul lived in a secluded spot,
but not for love of nature.
He appreciated tranquility,
but it was a small house,
and the rent was only
100 francs a month,
and he appreciated that even more.
We find ourselves in the
country's western frontier,
two steps from the border,
and Switzerland seems to be left
behind.
We turn our backs on her.
On the other side of this
no-man's land lies France.
knows what the next year,
or month, will have in store.
Despite appearances,
Paul was not a plasterer,
or a singer,
but a writer.
This was October 25th.
Come in!
Come in!
You've brought a suitcase?
Are you gonna take the job?
- Have you decided?
- No.
But I live 10 miles away, and it's
cold.
I've brought my things, in case I
stay.
Good thinking!
Well?
You know Bernard, the guy from TV?
- No.
- Nevermind.
He's a friend. I'm doing a job for
him because I need the cash.
I've got to write a story, a script,
based on a year old news item.
He wants to film it, and
he'll pay in advance.
But since I have to write
my Brazil articles,
I'd like for you to help me with it.
OK?
- It depends.
- Depends on what?
Lots of things.
Has your scribbling ever brought
in 2,000 francs in a month?
Not counting the poems your wife
writes!
Listen. We'll make 4,000 francs.
We can do the job in one
month, they've allowed three.
What more do you want?
I'd like to know the subject,
and how we tackle it.
I don't work to order.
- Tell me about the event.
- Very simple.
A man whose niece lived with him
claimed she shot him with his Army
rifle.
The bullet hit him in the shoulder.
She denied everything.
She claims the old man hurt
himself cleaning his rifle.
There were no witnesses, they
both maintained their statements,
and the case was dropped.
That's all.
Strange.
There's a press clipping about it, up
there.
Bernard would like a sort
of sociological study.
The girl's name is Rosemonde.
Rosemonde? I'd forgotten that.
Doesn't sound bad, Rosemonde.
So?
Hold on.
Are you staying?
- Interested?
- Yes, I am.
How will we work?
Together is more complicated.
We'll make it however you like.
Have you got a calendar
with Saints' Days?
- Saints?
- Yes, saints.
Maybe in my diary...
Yeah, here they are...
- What are you looking for?
- Hold on.
Here. I found it.
April 30th, St. Rosemonde. As
I thought, it's a calendar name.
So what?
- That explains it.
- Explains what?
That the girl wanted to kill her
uncle.
Our names are in the calendar,
but we don't kill uncles.
Let me explain.
It happened like this:
Rosemonde comes from a big family.
In big families, when the usual
names have been exhausted
on the first-born brats,
the parents run out of ideas,
and start using calendar names.
Thus:
a big family......a swarm of noisy little brats.
A big family means a country family.
They couldn't afford the
housing racket in town.
So they live in the country,
but not any old stretch of country,
Catholic country, still a little
backward.
Contraception unknown, calendar
saints, and all that.
The father's a blockhead,
education leaves a lot to be desired.
And why does Rosemonde live in town?
That's easy:
the father can't makeends meet.
He'll never make a go of things.
Salvation:
a brother in town,comfortably off,
room to spare, easily put upon.
So he's landed with the girl,
and there's one less at home to feed.
What does Rosemonde do in town?
She does miserable jobs, unskilled
jobs.
She starts to run wild.
Uncle tries to straighten her out.
They quarrel.
One day he's cleaning his army rifle,
and inevitably, Rosemonde being who
she is,
a shot's fired.
Not a bad story.
I'll stay. What's your opinion?
Not bad. There's just one little
problem.
Which is?
What about the facts?
I've been stating the facts for five
minutes,
apart from some minor details.
I feel I've earned my living, today.
Good. But it may all be a dream.
Why use your imagination
when the story actually happened?
The girl and the uncle exist.
They live here somewhere.
I'm interested in facts, in reality.
We must start by coming to grips with
that.
You can elaborate later.
First we make inquiries.
I'm not a cop.
- Like a journalist!
- I'm not a journalist!
You work as a plasterer so that
you can write what you like.
Good. Let's not get ahead of
ourselves.
I'll make some coffee.
When you get the sausage, make sure
to tie it well.
So we've agreed?
The water's ready.
We'll go about it based on your idea.
You'll write the girl's story as you
see it.
I'll visit people with my tape
recorder.
and collect as much information as I
can,
so that you can build your story
around it.
Later on we'll go over it all
together.
Sound good?
Yeah. Don't forget, I don't want
Bring back all you can get on the
others.
Warm woolen underpants for winter!
A pad of special paper!
- And where's the cash?
- In the Bank.
- Sugar?
- Two lumps.
Whenever you like.
First, Pierre had to find Rosemonde.
Despite some difficulties
due to Rosemonde's personality,
Pierre conducted his inquiries with
gusto.
She didn't stay more than a month.
You should've seen her room.
An unholy mess!
We've had all sorts here,
but she took the cake!
I always say, whenever
someone can't be on time
--She was often 15 minutes late--
something's not right.
- Where does she work now?
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"The Salamander" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_salamander_17369>.
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