The Thorn in the Heart (L'Épine dans le cœur)

Good Lord! It really is terrible.

They're good at beating us at swimming.

Thank you, my boy.

Let's drink to Suzette.

Yeah! To Aunty!

To Suzette.

- Cheers. - To Suzette.

He has no red wine.

What a drag!

What's that, then?

I see red.

Yes, you're a big red pumpkin.

There's enough sauerkraut and couscous for 2 days.

Yeah, wait a minute.

We once ate couscous

all together in the barn.

It was sweltering.

The next day, we were eating out. Jules was there.

We ate couscous up on the plateau.

No, sauerkraut!

It was blistering hot.

Yes, I saw the photos. I remember that.

Vegetarian sauerkraut!

No, the sauerkraut's another story. That one's not bad, either.

- Go on, tell us. - No, no.

There was a couple with a second home called

Roland and Suzanne.

They didn't have a phone, so they'd come to use our phone.

We'd chat, etc.

In the autumn, they invited us over for a meal.

So, they start... Since we like...

They'd brought some cooked meats from the Cevennes.

They gave us some to show us it hadn't gone bad on the way.

So, we ate it, but Jean-Guy loved oysters.

So, they'd prepared oysters for him.

Normal people had 6,

but he had 2 dozen.

No, a dozen. I'm exaggerating slightly.

After the oysters, as Jean-Guy loved fish,

there was sole a la creme. Very good.

I can't remember what came after the sole.

Then, there was a roast, vegetables, salad...

Then, a kugelhopf at the end of a meal like that!

Well, my husband had eaten

everything, he'd gone back for more,

he'd had plenty to drink, then came the kugelhopf!

- He ate what? - Kugelhopf.

He ate a piece with cream on top.

It's a dessert that's really filling.

It's really stodgy.

So, to thank the hostess, he said to her...

He vomited on the table?

No!

- He farted at the table? - No.

I can fart if you like.

- I want to, too. - Me too.

- Who? - Let's vote.

So, to say thank you, he said...

I didn't get it.

We're on tenterhooks!

I bet it's not even funny. Suzette, stop crying.

We may not even find it funny.

He thanks the hostess...

He says, "Well, it was very good.

But I could've eaten sauerkraut"!

- Could've eaten what? - Sauerkraut.

We go back to Villemagne, have a quiet winter and spring.

And the following autumn,

they invite us back. We put on our hats,

our best clothes and off we go.

So, we had a big meal like the year before.

And before the kugelhopf...

she says, "Jean-Guy, I haven't forgotten the sauerkraut!"

So, what was Jean-Guy to do?

She says, "You know, I cooked it in goose fat."

Oh, dear!

Then, we go in the car to stay with friends.

Well, of course Jean-Guy had indigestion.

He walked up and down all night in the corridor,

the living room, the kitchen,

Iooking for sodium bicarbonate.

Well, this friend is very tidy.

Everything is carefully put away in the closet.

He made such a mess, looking for it.

Let's take a break.

Guillaume can't stay up there like that.

The Thorn in the Heart

I know that with my parents, l...

I was very unpleasant to them.

They didn't like me marrying Jean-Guy.

But then, they accepted Jean-Guy, they accepted our child.

They helped us when we were in a mess.

When your grandma died, things weren't great.

I wasn't aware of it.

Life was good, we were young.

Everything was perfect, just fine.

But my mother saw that the situation was difficult

and that I couldn't cope on my own

with a husband, a brother-in-law and a kid.

So, when she learned that there were

vacancies in teaching in the Gard area,

that they were hiring teachers, she did all she could

to get me a job.

So, she sent me a letter with papers for me to sign.

I realized I'd be better off leaving.

I ended up in Les Salles where we're going later on.

I arrived in November.

You climb the hillside which is made of schist rocks.

In winter, the chestnut trees are

dark gray, anthracite gray.

The branches are violet.

It was utterly sinister.

"Mrs. Gondry was appointed to Les Salles.

"On November 10, she carried out her first replacement.

"The place is rather uncomfortable, especially for a teacher

"with a young child.

"ln addition to the limited size of the one room,

"the school pump has broken down."

It was the water pump.

There was no mains drainage...

"Mrs. Gondry has to get water from the river."

Just imagine if they had to

do that now!

"I'll talk to the mayor about this."

- Did it help? - No.

Just think, once they'd taken their baccalaureat,

the young teachers were thrown into the hardest classes,

with children of different ages, in remote places

where they had no cars.

Well, this was the kitchen door.

That was the classroom door.

Here...

is the playground.

Oh, dear.

Hydrangeas are the only thing that thrive in this soil.

That was the outhouse.

The road was above here.

At night, trucks would come down the hill.

They shook and rattled.

I kept expecting one to skid on black ice and end up

in the schoolhouse.

Guillaume, is someone up there or...?

No, it's a satellite dish, I think.

Oh, yes, I can see it from this angle.

I wondered whether I should go say hello.

I think there's no need.

It's handwritten. It's not me.

No, but...

I typed.

I had an electric typewriter.

Very modern back then...

This is my first inspection report.

I think it's my writing, because

the inspector sent this and...

- You did a copy by hand. - Yes, I think that's it.

Then, we sent back the original.

8.5 out of 20. He wasn't very generous, was he?

Yes, 8.5.

Some gave low grades, others...

"The attendance register for March is blank."

Well?

"The attendance summary is not up to date."

That's no good!

That's not the Gondry I knew!

- I never typed that about you. - There's more.

"The library has no catalogue or loans book."

My word! "lt is kept reasonably clean."

So, the broom worked!

"lnstructions have been given to Mme. Gondry

"concerning lesson preparation. It is hard for a beginner

"to grasp their importance

"before the real obstacles of the job

"become apparent. However, it is evident

"that the mere pages of a journal

"are not appropriate to guide a personal effort

"of notes and research."

They didn't spare you, did they?

- There... - Let's do it again.

Gravel comes loose every time.

- Does it hurt to get tattooed? - No.

- Really? - We had to keep busy in the army.

"Had to keep busy"! My word!

Why a pansy? Because it's a symbol of thought?

It's a thought for my mom.

- I see. - "To Mom."

- I can't read it. - "To Mom."

What did she say about it?

She yelled at me!

Gerard and my son used to sing in patois

"The Teacher Bores Us Shitless."

Imagine that!

And your mother said, "Be careful. The teacher understands you."

Sure, you're from Villemagne.

You didn't know.

What was it like, having your mother for a teacher?

Let's hear it.

- No fun. - No?

No, no fun at all.

Why not?

I had her from morning till evening.