Total Eclipse Page #3

It's important.

Just say it.

You know I'm very fond of you.

- Do you love me?

- What?

- Do you love me?

- Yes.

Then put your hands

on the table.

What?

Put your hand on the table.

Palm upwards.

The only unbearable thing

is that nothing is unbearable.

On...

On...

We have to leave.

I don't know.

Yes. It's time.

The happiest days

of my life was last year...

when I ran away from home.

Didn't know where I was going.

I just carried on.

I've never seen

such long and colored days...

and I could never

get far enough.

I've never seen the sea.

I wanted to walk to Africa...

and cross the desert.

I wanted the sun.

I wanted the sun.

I want the sun.

Do you understand me?

I want the sun!

Where do you want to go?

I don't know.

I don't care. Just away.

I can't leave Mathilde

right now.

She's not very well.

Then don't.

What?

Don't leave her.

Wait!

To life.

Come on!

Do you remember happier times?

Why did you leave us?

I had a tip-off I was going

to arrested for my work...

in the propaganda press

during the Commune.

But that was over a year ago.

Well...

the police may be slow...

but they're methodical.

I couldn't bear to go to jail.

I think it's best to stay out

of the country for a few months.

With Rimbaud?

Well...

I suppose he's wanted

by the police as well.

No.

Why do you prefer him to me?

I don't.

Don't have to get dressed

right away, do you?

I told Mummy

I'd meet her for breakfast.

- What's she doing here?

- She came with me.

That's another thing.

I certainly can't stand living

with your parents anymore.

It's not safe anywhere else.

What do you mean?

You know what I mean.

Listen...

I had this idea.

I thought of this idea.

I thought we might emigrate.

Emigrate? Where to?

New Caledonia.

A lot of your friends

from the Commune are there.

You'd be able to write.

It would be like it was when

we were first married and...

What?

Nothing.

No. Go on.

I was only going to say

that you could stop...

If you wanted...

It would be easier for you

if you wanted to stop drinking.

You're frightened of me,

aren't you?

Don't think

that I like getting drunk.

I mean,

I do like getting drunk.

I don't like being drunk.

Anyway...

when I hit you...

I feel so terrible

all I can think of...

is to get drunk again

and forget about it.

Can you see us

living in a grass hut?

Why not?

Let's go, for Christ's sake.

Let's go before it's too late.

We can go whenever you like.

Not now!

Why not?

Help me with this.

No.

Help me with this.

Stop!

Why are you doing this to us?

Don't worry.

You can have him

back quite soon...

and only slightly damaged.

He's coming back now.

What are you doing here?

What's this?

"My poor Mathilde...

"Don't be upset. Don't cry.

"This is a bad dream.

"One day, I'll wake up.

Love, Paul."

Nice, was it?

Scene of conjugal bliss?

I'm going back

to Paris with her.

Right.

- Wait! Let me explain.

- Why should I?

It's not what you think.

It's something else.

She suggested we emigrate

to New Caledonia.

It would be a change.

A quiet life.

I could stop drinking.

It's a good idea.

No.

Don't you care about

my happiness?

No, and neither should you.

You don't understand

how much I love her.

This morning,

she was lying there naked.

She looked so beautiful,

so young and so...

What's so funny?

Was she really

lying there naked?

Yes.

My estimation for her

goes up a long way.

Why?

For realizing what was needed

and providing it.

What does it matter?

You love her, right?

Go back to her.

All change!

Border patrol!

Please have your passports

ready for inspection.

Border patrol!

Please have your passports

ready for inspection.

Thank you.

I'm just going

to find a newspaper.

Don't be long.

Look there.

See white?

See?

It's England.

"I became a fabulous opera.

"I saw that all creatures

are condemned to happiness."

What's this?

Are you going back to rhyme?

"I have researched

the magic shapes...

"of the happiness

no one escapes."

That's wonderful.

I've often wondered

why you chose to write to me.

You're so far up ahead...

I can never understand

the signs you're making.

You make me feel

I'm from another century.

"I've researched

magic shapes...

of the happiness

no one escapes."

It's wonderful.

I chose you

for a very good reason.

You see...

I've always known what to say...

but you... you know how to say.

I thought

I could learn from you...

and I have.

What's your greatest fear?

I wouldn't like

to mislay my balls.

What's your greatest fear?

That other people

will see me as I see them.

Getting quite short

of money, you know.

So you keep saying.

Perhaps it's time we took a job.

I have no intention

of taking a job.

My work is going far too well.

I can't afford to waste time

earning money.

I... I had a letter

this morning...

from Mathilde's lawyer.

And?

She's applied for

legal separation on grounds...

that you and I are indulging

in immoral relations.

And?

- Like a hat, sir?

- Possibly.

There you are. Take a look.

He wants to know

if we're prepared...

to submit

to a medical examination.

What?

How can they make such

outrageous accusations?

I'm going to write and say

as far as I'm concerned...

all of them

can look up our asses.

What are you, insane?

They can give her a divorce

on desertion alone.

If it's desertion and sodomy,

they can throw us both in jail.

I'm not going to jail.

I don't know.

Would it be so bad?

Latavia...

I can hear the wind

rustling in the palm trees.

What's the matter?

It's so difficult.

Who would have imagined

it would be so difficult?

I wrote to the lawyer today.

I explained it's her father

who's in the wrong.

How many times have I asked

for my things from that house...

and he takes no notice

whatsoever?

You're in the wrong.

All right.

All right. I'm in the wrong.

I'm in the wrong, if you say so.

That's established, isn't it?

So...

I don't know.

What... What is it?

You seem different.

Yes.

It's the writing.

The writing has changed me.

On.

On.

On.

I suppose you think

I've been just lying here...

all these weeks

in a state of paralyzed sloth.

Well, not necessarily.

Well, I have.

But bubbling

beneath the surface...

and rising slowly through

the layers of indifference...

has come a new system...

harden up, reject romanticism...

abandon rhetoric...

Get it right.

And finally

I've seen where my attempt...

to conquer the world has led me.

Where has it led you?

Here.

My search for universal

experience has led me here...

to live an idle,

pointless life of poverty...

as the minion

of a bald, ugly...

aging, drunken lyric poet...

who clings to me because

his wife won't take him back.

How can you bring yourself

to say a thing like that?

It's easy. It's the truth.

You're here living like this

because you have to...

drink and sex and a kind

of complacent melancholy...

and enough money to soak

yourself oblivious every night.

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