A Brutal Game (Un jeu brutal)

A BRUTAL GAME

A film by Jean-Claude Brisseau

"Listen! I took the case of children only to make my case clearer."

"Of the other tears of humanity,

with which the earth is soaked from its crust to its centre

I will say nothing. I have narrowed my subject on purpose."

Dostoyevsky The Brothers Karamazov

- Is Mr Tessier there? - Yes, straight ahead.

Mr Tessier?

Are you really leaving us?

We'll miss you. A great scientist such as you.

Goodbye.

YOUR MOTHER'S HAD A HEART ATTACK. HOPELESS CONDITION

SHE WANTS TO SEE YOU BEFORE SHE DIES. CONSTANCE

Hello, Constance.

What was Marchant doing here?

I won't be spied on right under my own mother's roof!

I thought he was your friend.

He was my boss at the Pasteur Institute for Biological Research.

He was never my friend.

You know of his affection for your mother.

When he heard how ill she was, he insisted on examining her himself.

How is she?

It's strange. She lay there as if she'd been dead for several days.

And when she opened her eyes, she seemed ecstatic.

She just said, "How beautiful it is."

"I tell you, it's so very beautiful to open your eyes right where you are."

Leave us alone, Jeanne.

- How are you, my dear? - How are you?

I've discovered that life and death

are both just particular situations.

I wanted to see you before I depart.

Why did you quit your job at Pasteur and give up all that responsibility?

I was living in a universe where everyone was spying on me.

The ministry expects you to continue your research.

My decision is irrevocable.

I deplore Marchant's attempting to involve you.

We'll see what happens.

God be with you.

Are you in pain?

No. I'm going to the other side...

...and I'll go happily and serenely.

Please look after your daughter. Take care of Isabelle.

But I have a very important task.

Please, she's never had anyone. She needs you.

Return to Saulieres, your place of birth. Recuperate.

Try to raise your daughter

and get in touch with your roots.

I beg you.

I'll send Lucien to fetch her from the convent school.

I'll move to Saulieres with her.

Be patient.

That poor thing was abandoned when her mother left you.

Actually, she never had a father either.

Won't you attend the funeral service?

What for?

Look at her.

She's nothing more than an object.

A thing, like a stone.

So what is all this nonsense good for?

How are you, Miss Isabelle?

You'll be better off in Saulieres than at the convent school.

FABULOUS FRENCH VICTORY OVER CANCER

DISCOVERY OF ETERNAL YOUTH AT THE PASTEUR INSTITUTE

12-YEAR-OLD GIRL MURDERED

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, sir.

We didn't know when you would be arriving.

It's your father. He's come to live with you from now on.

Oh, my father.

Hello, Isabelle. What are you thinking about?

I'm looking at the people.

Where should I place a bomb to kill as many as possible?

First I'd blow up the market when it's the most crowded.

Bodies torn apart, women and children screaming.

Sewers blown apart, mud, and corpses spreading blood everywhere.

Then my second bomb explodes... Carnage.

It is true that my team and I at the institute seem to have unravelled

the mystery behind indestructible cancer cells...

... and have succeeded in utilising certain modified cells

to considerably slow down...

Everyone would fear the third bomb.

Everyone would flee, leaving the others crying out.

All those dirty humans...

You have to indulge her.

She was born like that and she'll die like that.

And she has always lived in solitude.

We're all alone.

You have to cope with it.

There has been a lot of discussion

about the resignation of your colleague, Mr Christian Tessier.

What was his part in your success?

Mr Tessier is certainly

one of today's most brilliant researchers,

but he made the error

of staying alone, of isolating himself from the rest of his team.

Why are you doing that?

Because it's fun. It amuses me.

I hate these insects. Why did you save that beast?

You think it's fun to make those poor things suffer?

All they ever do is annoy me. At least when I kill them it's amusing.

Do that again, and I'll give you a good thrashing.

That's it, just try it. Come on, take me back home, lazy old sod.

- Little devil. - It's your fault! You made me this way.

I never asked you for anything!

Leave me alone!

Lucien!

Go get her wheelchair down by the river. And her crutches.

- Die! You make me sick! - You'll wash yourself!

You'll wash yourself.

And then tidy your room, all by yourself!

If you don't do what I say, you'll have to stay here!

You make me puke, you bastard!

Leave that for a minute and sit down.

This will be her daily schedule.

You'll wake her every day at six o'clock.

- I can't deal with her on my own. - I'll be there at the start.

- She'll cooperate or get the whip. - But you're...

I have to put my foot down! At the moment she's just an animal.

She needs discipline, or else the devil will get a hold of her.

- Do you wash and dress her every day? - It's too hard for her...

She has to start doing it on her own.

First give her 45 minutes, then half an hour.

- But that's impossible... - Breakfast at 7 am, lunch at noon,

dinner at 7 pm and bedtime at 9pm.

You'll feed her dairy products, raw vegetables, soups,

rice and wholemeal bread.

You'll see to it that her room is always tidy.

But you'll never help her clean it.

She'll work with a teacher who'll come live with us.

What's her scholastic level?

They thought she was intelligent at the school.

- Can she read? - When she wants to.

You'll stick closely to her schedule.

Copy it and post it everywhere she goes.

- She'll destroy the copies. - Most likely.

After a good thrashing, or going hungry for a few days, she'll understand.

She's unhappy enough the way she is,

disabled for the rest of her life.

The sands of time are always running out.

Disaster may always be around the corner.

You have to be just as harsh and cruel as the forces of evil to vanquish them.

Time to get up, Miss.

Get up!

You've got half an hour to get washed, clean up and to get downstairs!

If you're not ready on time,

you'll get a beating and no food for 24 hours.

Good, that's enough. Let's wash you up.

Lucien sleeps in the sheepfold?

Now put your fingers on your legs and sit up straight.

Straighten your spine so you can breathe better through your lungs.

That's hard...

Just sit like me. You have to learn how to control your breathing.

- It won't make any difference. - Yes, it will.

If you do this exercise regularly, you'll feel much better.

Your face will be friendlier, softer... Alright, start over.

Inhale for four seconds.

Hold it in for two.

Exhale for four and then start over again.

Come on, apply yourself a bit.

Sit up straight.

Inhale for four seconds.

- What's your name? - Annie. I already told you.

I meant your surname. - Lorraine. Like the Lorraine.

I'd like to get to know you, what you used to do...

I was a school teacher. I taught kids with learning difficulties.

- Where did you live? - In lvry, a suburb of Paris.

Now concentrate on the exercise. Inhale for four seconds.

- Why did you come here? - I answered an ad in the paper.

Didn't you like your job?

Now please focus on the breathing exercise.

I have the right to get to know you!

- Now sit down on the chair. - I'd prefer to stay in my wheelchair.

You have to learn to move like everyone else.

You're just doing this to annoy me.

Now draw what I do.

That's good.

Why can't I manage to do that? Why don't my legs work?

Inside your vertebrae is the spinal cord, you see?

It sends messages from the brain to the body.

At the base, a piece is missing. That's why your legs are paralysed.

Will I always be this way?

Yes. But I'll teach you to move all by yourself.

What difference will it make?

I should have never been born!

Stop fidgeting and close your eyes.

Try to relax your body as much as possible.

Let your arm fall down on its own.

No, watch me.

Look at my arm, I relax it.

When I let it go, it falls all by itself.

Keep the rest of your body completely still, don't react to anything.

Let it fall. No, let it fall by itself.

OK, we're going to try something else.

Rest your hands alongside your body. That's right. Close your eyes.

Listen to all the sounds around you and describe them to me.

I'd rather do French lessons. This is stupid.

Now close your eyes and concentrate.

- And? - And what?

Everything is quiet except you.