My Lucky Star (Ma bonne étoile / Ma bonne etoile)

I was born into horses.

I grew up with them.

I could adjust a bridle before I could fasten my shoelaces.

Back then my parents had beautiful stables.

My father was one of the best trainers in Normandy.

Horses were their life.

Our life.

MY LUCKY STAR

Aside from that, Madame la Marquise

Everything is tickety-boo...

Easy does it, Louise. That's right.

There. See?

That's it, darling. She senses your authority.

My father thought my mother rode with absolute grace.

It made her laugh.

She said he was a romantic but that was why she loved him.

Aside from that, Madame la Marquise

Everything is tickety-boo...

-Did you enjoy today? -Yes!

You were great.

It always amazed me

how horses obeyed her more than they did my dad.

She never had to chivvy them

and was never afraid.

And they could sense that.

The time has come to part with Hélène,

mother of Louise, husband of Pierre,

friend to you all, and horsewoman.

It is a sad moment

but hope must burn within us

for we shall meet Hélène again

when God reunites us in the great joy of His kingdom.

Let us dwell a moment

on all that we have been through with her,

on what she means to us, what she means to God.

My deepest sympathy.

I was very fond of your mother.

Be brave.

You'll be fine, dear.

The day she was admitted to hospital

she joked that she would have a brand new heart.

When Dad got home,

he put his arms around me and held me tight.

He had my mother's bracelet.

She gave it to him for me,

to show me she'd always be there

as before.

I knew that nothing would ever be the same again.

My mother was dead, full stop.

Hello, Mr Barthélemy.

Mademoiselle...

What happened at Cabourg?

We were nowhere!

I said not to enter.

But you always have to race.

And pay you.

Yeah... we've been in the prize money three times.

That's not bad.

Get real, your horse is no ace.

Nor is his trainer.

You're starting to bug me, Froissard.

A trotter needs time to recover.

But your lust for cash has sickened him.

Money, money... He's fed up of it.

You'll get no more winnings out of your Golden Black.

He's had enough, and so have I.

So go and fetch him and get out of here!

Whoa! Calm down.

No more stable fees from me!

You're a pain!

He may be a bastard but he was one of our last clients.

I can't pay you this month, or the arrears.

Yeah, well...

Chill out.

In the years following my mother's death

we lost a lot of contracts.

Our horses stopped winning races.

Yet my father poured all his energy into it.

It was his way of forgetting.

Robert and I helped him as best we could.

But something was broken.

I dropped out of school.

I did correspondence courses and spent my time with the horses.

Especially Gracieuse, my mother's mare.

She had to be cajoled, and talked to constantly.

She loved my voice.

Beautiful girl.

You'll give us a lovely foal, won't you, Gracieuse?

Everything's fine.

Just fine.

Where the hell's the vet?

Calm down, he's doing his best.

Don't worry, she's always been brave.

All right, my beauty... you'll be fine.

-Here he comes. -About time.

-Good evening. -Come on, Louise.

Right.

It's the year of the Ms.

What shall we call it?

M... M... go on!

Macumba.

A bit exotic for a pure-bred French trotter.

How about Marquise?

Right.

Marquise it is, then.

Good idea, eh, Robert?

Excellent... Excellent idea.

What if it's a colt?

Marquis?

Well?

It's a beautiful filly.

But Gracieuse has internal bleeding.

I can't save her... I'm sorry.

She won't survive without her mother.

I'll take care of Marquise.

-What do we do, Pierre? -Keep the filly.

See to Gracieuse.

Come on, honey.

Come on, Marquise.

You mustn't see this.

Come on... that's it.

Louise!

Louise!

Well?

Coming!

-How many? -A dozen.

Pay you at the end of the month?

As usual!

Did the bank say we could buy horses?

I doubt it. They want me to mortgage the property.

I refused.

Three generations of Barthélemys born at La Ferronnière.

To hell with those vultures.

So what do we do?

Hope for a miracle from one of our horses.

They're useless, you said so yourself.

We'll find other lodgers.

Every problem has a solution.

As your mother always said.

I cared for Marquise day and night for a month.

She became the centre of my world.

Fighting for her helped pull me through.

Marquise made memories of my mother less painful.

You're going to learn... yes!

Dad?

Supposing we run out of money?

Do you need anything?

No, but...

That's all right, then.

When she was two, Marquise was ready for training.

I believed in her, she was perfect for racing.

My father was sceptical.

It's never easy at first.

Here she is!

She's looking good.

She's a good size for a two-year-old... Not bad.

Let's see... Hi, Miss.

Hello.

Don't look at me like that. I won't bully her.

I'll go easy on her.

Don't worry, he's nice.

Let's see what she can do.

Over here, Louise.

Let's see now.

Oh, come on!

He's a top man. Yes!

-Stubborn! -No, she's just afraid.

-She's unhappy. -She's fine.

Enough.

Stop!

-I'll take her. -Careful, it's dangerous.

Thanks.

-What she's doing is dangerous. -Leave her to it.

If you like, but that mare is trouble.

Let's leave her to it, it's her mare.

That's not how you train a horse.

It's going well now but it can all turn bad.

It's a dangerous way to train a horse.

-All right, Matthieu? -Kind of.

It's going well now, but Pierre goes his own sweet way.

She's not stubborn.

Slowly but surely Marquise drew me out of my shell.

I decided to go to Bronec's, the best jockey school around.

I'd taken the aptitude tests and wanted to test myself.

So tell me... where did you get the cake?

-I stole it. -It shows!

"Even if it was the first you downed."

I wanted to say: "Hats off to you!"

You wear makeup?

No need to scowl. I'm grown-up now.

Blow.

-Here. -Thank you.

-To you. To your life. -To our jockey-to-be.

-To good fortune. -To you, Pierrot.

Here we go.

-What's that? -Open it and see.

You're mad!

They're beautiful.

I want you to feel proud at Bronec's.

-I don't need these for that. -I know.