Le Bal du comte d'Orgel

Mister Albert, an autograph, please!

- Very pleased! - Hello. Is everything well?

- Very well, thank you. - Do you know Paul Roban?

- I have not had that honor. - Good evening.

Very glad to see you, monsieur.

Excuse me, I will go to the count.

- Well? - Mister Count, it is perfect!

You have nothing more to learn. - Thank you, Charles!

Ah, wonderful, wonderful! You are a real Fratellini!

I will lead you to the arena. The public will not guess!

Ah, you see, Maë, how capable I am!

I never doubted.

And you, Mr. Future ambassador, do you not have a single compliment?

I have no words!

Excellent! A great diplomatic career awaits you.

And now let us allow our friends to prepare.

Oh, I had just begun to enjoy it!

But since the crowd must also be entertained...

THE BALL OF COUNT ORGEL

from the novel by RAYMOND RADIGUET.

Ah, Marie, very good, continue like that.

- Oh, excuse me. - Come here, my little chick.

Here we will prepare your beauty.

- Here. - Thank you.

Come on, my children!

Let us hurry, it is already beginning.

Goodbye, my dear, and thank you once again!

- Well then, I will go to my seat. - No, sit with us!

But I am with my friend, François de Serious.

- Then all right, see you. - Excuse me. See you.

Here Count d'Orgele has made himself up as a clown in the Fratellini box.

If you could see it! Simply fantastic!

And his wife! Have you seen Maë d'Orgele?

They are so wonderful!

He offered me to sit with them, there, opposite.

- Thank you for coming to keep me company. - How foolish you are!

I present to you the famous Fratellini!

I am glad to see you! It is marvelous!

All right, all right!

And here is our Albert!

Now you will see the champion! What a figure!

How athletic! Right, left, right, left...

He is simply amazing!

Hey, hey, Mister Albert! Hey, champion!

Listen, François, I do not understand you!

With your surname

and do not all doors open before you?

You make no effort at all! How can one be so careless?

It is a crime!

But no! Come on, open your mouth!

- Wider! Ah! - Ah!

Hey, be careful, I do not have an umbrella.

Well, open your mouth. Oh-oh-oh...

What are you doing!

Now we will travel all over the world.

Tell me, how is "yes" said in Italian!

Si! Si! Si!

Oh, very good!

All right, all right...

And tell me, how is "yes"... said in German!

Ja!

I heard that Madame d'Orgele is a native of the islands.

That is why she has such a funny name.

Maë! Charming, is it not?

- Maë... - Dream on, old man!

Maë is simply a medieval form of the name Matilda.

Is that so? Do you know the d'Orgeles?

No-no, simply... I think I met them a couple of times.

At the "Comédie Française", I think.

They performed splendidly. Bravo!

Excuse me, I promised to go to them.

- Then see you. - See you.

Ah, here is young Guillaume! Hello, Guillaume!

What a memory you have, Mister Count! You saw him only once!

I remember names only of certain persons:

children, madmen and kings.

Come on, trainer!

Madame Countess, did you like the boxing act?

Yes, it was very funny.

It seems François de Serious does not know us as well as we know him!

I did not know that you knew me, monsieur.

We know you better than you think. Is that not so, Maë?

Yes, of course!

I often asked your friend Paul Roban to arrange something,

but I suspect he did not pass anything on to you.

Paul loves his friends, but hides them in different drawers.

Did you hear, Maë? And in which drawer are you locked?

I suppose in the secret one?

Perhaps he is simply modest?

No-no, I know that modesty. It is simply envy!

But we will take revenge on him.

- Are you the driver of Mister d'Orgele? - Yes, monsieur.

Excellent, thank you.

Let us play a trick on little Roban.

Diplomats and businessmen I like to fool the most.

François! Will you allow me to call you François?

So, we are old friends, let the good fellow think so.

Come on, Maë, take his arm.

- Are you sure that it is funny? - But it is a farce!

Ah, well, if it's a farce...

Attention, I see him! The main thing is to behave naturally!

Ah, so you are here? We were waiting for you in the box.

No, you said...

I thought we were supposed to meet here?

Are you acquainted with François de Sérieuse?

- Very pleased. - I am glad.

- Let's go dancing at the "Robinson"! - I can't dance! And I promised...

François always promises God knows what to God knows whom.

Come on, let's go have fun.

Come on, we will return early.

- In that case, I agree. - So, let's go!

- Thank you, Léon. - We won't all fit, I'll sit in front.

- You will freeze! - No.

I hope to catch pneumonia so that François will die of remorse.

- To the "Robinson". - To the "Robinson".

Well then, shall we go have fun?

My mother and I live in Champigny since my father died.

- Champigny? But that's outside the city! - Yes.

My mother doesn't want to see anyone. And she is only 40 years old. Silly, right?

- Completely silly! - Have I bored you with my stories?

No, not at all. You will see, the "Robinson" is a completely crazy place.

Rather, the people who go there.

Yes. It is a huge castle that the former croupier Gérard rented in 1917.

Bad Frenchmen went there secretly to drink and dance.

And we continue.

"Like fish from great depth, where the night is blind".

Don't worry, it's from Cocteau.

Maë?

Maë, come back to us!

Only Gérard understood that our interest in the night is a consequence of the war.

Death is still so close.

For 4 years we slept standing and stayed awake in sleep.

At last we can live without sleeping.

How can one sleep here?

- Léon, what is happening? - We are stuck, Mr. Count.

There a car broke down.

Oh là là, like that you will never manage!

Armless one!

Why, it's Hortense, Princess d'Austerlitz! Do you know her, François?

- Of course. - She has a flat tire!

We cannot leave her alone. Let's fly to her aid!

We cannot spend the whole night here!

And he even worked in an ambulance! - Why don't you crawl under the car yourself?

In such an outfit?

Crawl in yourself, if you are so clever!

- Me? - Yes, you.

- You think I can't? - Well then, go on, crawl in!

Come on, let me through.

Hortense! Hortense!

Hortense! Hortense! Hortense!

Hortense!

Only you were missing! What a celebration!

What an attraction! Everyone shouts: "Hortense! Hortense!" It is a triumph!

Count d'Orgel. My young American friend Hester Wayne.

- Do you know Paul Roban? - God, little Roban!

Charming! Perhaps a bit too thin.

Imagine, your father wanted to marry me!

But his family refused him because of my surname, can you imagine?

Austerlitz! My great-grandfather was a blacksmith!

- Everything is ready. We can change the wheel. - Thank you!

A thousand thanks, lad. And this is a souvenir from Hortense.

Thank you, Hortense!

You know, I am not afraid. I got used to being alone during the war.

It's true. Paul often told me about Anna's brilliant conduct.

He doesn't like to talk about it. He thinks he acted like everyone else.

Yes, but Paul said that he always did more,

pretending that he did less.

I am pleased that Paul told you that.

Good evening, friends, good evening!

Good evening! See you!

See you! We are driving after you, dear Hortense!

She is incredible!

Let's go, Léon.

Ah, Mirza! Class! That's Mirza's car!

Hortense, I beg you, stop making noise!

- Mirza! - Hortense!

My dear little prince, I am coming!

- We will dance all night! - Certainly!

Then with you!

Hello! Are you François de Sérieuse or not?

My aunt spoke about you often.

I am Hester Wayne, an American.

Well, Paul, shall we go dance?

Excuse me, but I am a very poor dancer.

And for the first time in my life I regret it.

Thank you! Then perhaps you will drink something with me? Would you like to?

- All right. - Let's sit down.

François, shall we dance tango?

Impossible, you know that!

- Who is that? - Mirza.

The most Parisian of Persian princes.

Persian? Oh God! And why does he have a dog's name?

Mirza is not a name, it is a title. We call him that, it's simpler.

- And the girl? - Amina? His niece.

She is 15 years old and already a widow.

Shall we dance the Charleston? Will you allow it, François?

Thank you, my friend!

Hey, and for me red wine!

Anne is preparing her most dangerous mixture for us!

- What a horror! - Who will try my delicious Alaska?