Promise at Dawn (La Promesse de l'aube)

PROMISE AT DAWN

Romain?

Romain?

Romain, what's wrong?

I'm dying.

Take me to Mexico City.

Mexico City... I don't want to die here!

Romain, you can't be serious.

It's at least a five-hour drive.

I don't care. Call a taxi.

I'll die in Mexico City.

I won't croak here.

That's my final word.

Just find a solution, Lesley.

You're my wife after all.

Promise at Dawn

What are you writing?

A testament.

A testament of what?

A book...

A book about my mother.

Please turn the music down.

At age 44, I loved France with all my heart.

For nothing else remained of my mother...

Vilna Poland, 1924

No one should ever be allowed to love anyone this much.

Not even your mother.

Did I frighten you?

I knew you'd come this way.

How was school?

So-so.

What?

They don't understand you.

Here.

One day, you'll own a car.

And you'll be a French ambassador.

Give me a kiss.

Hurry on home. Aniela is waiting for you.

My mother and I were living in Vilna, Poland.

She earned a living making ladies' hats in our home.

It was biting cold and the snow was slowly rising

up along the grim city walls.

Romain...

A kiss?

- How was school? - Fine.

Come into the kitchen, I made hot chocolate.

Some nice hot chocolate.

Is this coat coming off?

Tell me, is it coming off?

Blow on it, it's hot.

Okay.

Police!

Madam Kacew isn't here.

- I don't know where she is. - When's she back?

She comes and goes. She sells door-to-door.

What's going on?

- What are you doing in my home? - Nina Kacew?

In person!

Your papers.

I'll get them.

- You're from Russia? - Moscow.

- And you've been here for... - Three months.

What's this?

Ladies' hats. I sell them.

Search!

Search everything.

The neighbors said you have smuggled goods.

What are you doing? Not that!

Careful!

- What are you looking for? - Out of my way!

You come into my home

without permission or warning?

There's a complaint for stolen goods.

Our papers are in order!

Who lodged a complaint?

- The machines are yours? - We brought them with us.

We have the invoices.

Filthy bastards!

You think you can force me to leave?

Go on!

Search!

Everything!

Carry on! We're too rich!

We have too much!

Where's the louse who called the police behind my back?

Where're you hiding?

Come out!

Come out!

Look me in the face!

What do you want?

You don't know who we are!

Or whom you have the honor of speaking to!

Look at him!

This is my son.

He will be a French ambassador!

A writer!

Knight of the Legion of Honor!

A general!

He'll have his suits made...

in London!

No event ever affected me more than that laughter.

It was one of the most painful moments in my life.

Yet I owe everything I am to it.

My mother taught me that a man cannot be ridiculed.

They don't know who they're dealing with.

We won't let them treat us like that.

They don't realize.

My mother had a taste for revenge.

She was strongly determined to destroy her enemies.

The plan she concocted was remarkably daring in a small town like Vilna.

She could have easily sent us back on the road with our bundles.

A Day with Paul Poiret

Come quick! Hurry up!

Nina Kacew?

An actress in her youth,

my mother knew a talentless French actor-singer,

Alex Gubernatis, who was living down-and-out in Warsaw.

Delighted, Nina.

My money!

Get lost!

No, Nina!

It's beautiful.

Yes.

- I forgot my lines. - What do you mean?

We haven't even started yet!

"Silence, Ladies, silence."

Silence, Ladies, silence.

Use your hands.

Silence, Ladies, silence.

More ceremonious! Use your hands.

Silence! Move over.

Silence, Ladies, silence!

Silence, Ladies, silence!

Why, "Silence, Ladies"?

Because the salon will be packed.

Packed with the wealthiest women of Vilna

who will rush here to meet Paul Poiret in person!

And then one day she announced that Mr. Paul Poiret,

come specially from Paris,

would inaugurate "Maison Nouvelle, Grand Salon"

on Tuesday, February 6th at 4:00 pm.

Welcome.

The room is full. They all came!

I won't go out there without a drink.

Would Paul Poiret stink of vodka?

I need a pick-me-up. Just one swig.

I'll put on Eau de Cologne. They won't smell it.

Here.

Thanks.

Ladies...

I wish to thank you for coming today

to welcome the greatest Parisian couturier of all,

Mr. Paul Poiret!

Silence, Ladies, silence!

I'm very happy

to be here with you today,

to inaugurate the Grand Salon

of a lady who, thanks to her talent, taste and know-how,

has earned the title of exclusive representative

of Paul Poiret in Vilna.

A warm round of applause for my ambassadress and friend,

Nina Kacew.

As she curtsied,

I know now what she saw.

She saw the real Paul Poiret

asking for silence to praise her artistic inspiration.

Nina has such fabulous taste.

She said that Polish women alone know how to wear fur

with grace and sophistication.

Mediterranean women have no idea!

Tell us about Paris!

You know Man Ray, Mistinguette, Maurice Chevalier...

Clothilde from the Moulin Rouge adores my hats.

She says they would dress a naked woman.

Today's fashion hides a woman's curves. But look!

- This mustn't be hidden! - My dear sir!

Silence, Ladies, silence!

Silence.

Bump in the rump, I met a fine gal

Bump in the rump, I met a fine gal

Bare-rumped she slept, bumpety bump

Bare-rumped, bumpety bump

Bump in the rump, on my way back from Nantes...

And now,

to thank Paul for his visit,

we shall listen to a song that he will surely recognize.

Romain!

"Maison Nouvelle, Grand Salon de Haute Couture de Paris"

was launched with pizzazz.

That very same day, Gubernatis returned to Warsaw.

Within only months, we dressed the richest women in town.

Money poured into our coffers.

My mother openly entertained the hope of me being a virtuoso violinist.

I was determined to satisfy her every desire.

I loved her too much to realize

that her dreams were naive and excessive.

Your turn. Show us what you can do.

You will not give up!

I won't let you.

You told him I was gifted!