Around the Sun

Oh... sorry...

Pardon

- Bonjour. - Bonjour

- Maggie? - Bernard?

Je m'excuse...

Are you... all right?

Yes. Just give me a second.

Is it my fault?

I'm sorry?

I missed you...

The other entrance.

The other entrance? Oh, of course.

No, no, totally my fault.

Did you get spun around?

I... no, not spun... I found the place all right.

It was just... a bit of a...

a bit of a communication problem...

...internally, I mean.

Well, so you're English.

- And so are you! - And so I am.

They sent me especially.

Might have had something to do with my schoolboy French,

when I called.

So will it just be the two of us?

We do have a team. I'm a bit junior.

- Just the guy they send out for a first look. - Right.

So, here we are.

Listen, are you sure it's all right to take the whole afternoon for this?

Absolutely. It's really the only way to see it all.

And we're fine to walk, rather than drive?

I am if you are.

Absolutely.

Brilliant. You can just leave the car here.

Now, I must warn you, it's pretty run down.

Well, I guess that makes it all the more... cinematic.

Sorry.

That might be a problem.

- Sounds like there's an airport nearby? - Oh. Just a small one, In Rouen.

I'll check the schedules.

Right. So any rivers, streams, flowing water on the property?

No. But there's a lake, and two small ponds.

And which way is west?

- Over there. - Oh.

- So, sunset over there? - Yup, almost every day.

Yes.

Great. Best during autumn, so good timing there.

Well, I can definitely see why Monet painted the cathedral a million times.

Never the same light twice!

That could make things tricky actually.

I'd love to take a few photos if...

Please, go ahead.

For some reason my phone doesn't send pictures over here, so...

Oh, it's just something with the settings. I had it happen to me. I can...

Right, it works.

- Now please delete that immediately. - Oh, I don't know!

I think I'll just stick with this.

Whatever works.

Maybe you could give me the lowdown?

OK, the basics. Roughly twenty acres altogether.

Large forest to the south of us, farmland to the north.

the main building was put up on the original foundation of a feudal castle,

which had been destroyed during the Wars of Religion, probably around 1592.

Lots of modifications and additions since then.

The heritage is the thing, really.

Best known for one famous literary guest,

Fontenelle, who wrote his landmark

"Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds",

while staying here at the end of the 17th Century.

Of course Fontenelle isn't a household name now,

but he's very influential.

He helped popularize the Copernican model of the universe.

That in fact the sun doesn't orbit the Earth...

It's the other way round. Yes.

He was probably thinking:

Come on, people... this paradigm isn't going to shift itself!

Presumably the book was based on actual events:

A young philosopher... basically meaning a scientist,

stays at a country château,

hosted by a bright young aristocratic woman.

Every evening for five nights,

the two of them go for a walk in gardens just like these

and have very descriptive and often quite flirty

conversations on how the cosmos works.

Fascinating.

No, really it is.

Well, it was a radical idea, and it took a while

to catch on. Because the pre-Copernican model,

with all these stars miraculously

flying round the Earth in only a day's time, and a bunch of

planets that didn't quite move quite like the rest of them,

and the odd comet coming inexplicably out of nowhere...

well, it a bit of a mess. Or, anyway,

the explanation got so self-contradictory

because people kept adding unnecessary complications

just to try and rationalize it.

Sounds like a bad relationship.

Tell me about it.

You don't actually have to tell me about it. I was just saying...

agreeing with you.

Right.

I'm sorry if I go on too much about this stuff.

It's just so funny:

I don't think I'd ever even heard

of Fontenelle before taking this job,

and getting to know this property.

But his stuff clicked with things

I suppose I'd always been interested in.

Makes you wonder.

Right.

I mean, what if this very important book

that was written here was really boring,

of no interest whatsoever?

What if! We'd probably still think

we were the centre of the universe.

Last occupied quite a few years ago by descendants

of the owners from its halcyon days, who couldn't afford to keep the place up anymore.

Official policy is that I'm not supposed to admit this, but it's quite a sad story.

Anyway, the plan was to convert it all into a spa and golf course.

But that would've meant doing away with some important historical features.

What with property law here being about as fusty and arcane as the

outdated model of the universe, well, permission for that was denied.

- Red tape... - Oh, yes.

So it's been on the market again,

but really in a sort of limbo.

Maintenance obviously neglected, apart

from emergency work to stop some of the buildings collapsing.

Water's running, but the heating's bust.

A cleaner and a gardener come every couple of weeks.

Given the planning issues, how do you think

the locals would react to a film production happening here?

Just... gut feeling?

It's an unusual situation.

Temporary occupancy. Hard to tell.

I see.

Not entirely encouraging.

Maybe not entirely, but...

Well, what can you tell me about your film?

Not much, I'm afraid.

The director is a bit of an eccentric.

Brilliant. But cryptic.

He said if I find the right place, he'll fit the story to it.

Calls it "living off the land".

He's a romantic, I suppose.

One thing I can tell you is that in this case we only need one location.

Or, one that serves as many.

So that's an advantage,

or maybe a disadvantage.

I was instructed to take my time and

hold out for a cosmic epiphany, whatever that means.

Wow.

I swear I'm not being coy. I really don't know.

- It's actually a bit nerve-wracking. - I can imagine.

Before we go in, can I ask you something else?

Yeah.

Is it just me or does this feel really familiar?

Bonjour . Maggie?

Hi.

- It's my fault. - I'm sorry?

I must have told you to go to the other entrance.

Ah.

I hope you didn't get too spun around.

It's all right.

Well, you're English.

- And so are you! - And so I am.

What are the odds?

So. Here we are.

Will it just be the two of us?

- I hope that's all right. - Yes. I... only hate to take up your whole afternoon.

It's really the only way to see it all.

And we're fine to walk, rather than drive?

I am if you are.

Absolutely.

Great. Well, why don't I just leave the car here, and, uh, we'll go.

Now, I must warn you, it's pretty run down.

Excellent. Nothing but potential.

- Er, Excuse me a sec. - Of course.

Everything all right?

Ah, I see. Would you say it's more of an ennui or a malaise ?

It's sort of a je ne sais quoi .

Ah. But not quite a joie de vivre , in any case.

Non . Not quite. Not yet.

Sounds like there's an airport nearby?

In Rouen.

Great. That could be really convenient.

- And mobile phone coverage is strong, I see. - Not everywhere. There are definitely some dead zones.

We can certainly help with that. In any case we'd need to dig up quite a bit to lay our cables.

And we'd need to do a lot in terms of security.

Maybe more than you'd expect.

Oh.

Our CEO is really paranoid. He's had several threats made against his life.

These two facts may be related.

Would you mind if I take a few photos?

By all means.

Great. You can give me the lowdown as we go.

What's fascinating to me is that Fontenelle is obviously wrong on some pretty basic stuff,

and yet exactly right, and way ahead of his time, on many others.

Life on the moon? Uh, sorry.

Although even he said:

don't give more than half your mind to ideas like this,

and leave the other half open so that contrary ideas can still fit in.