UNDER SATAN'S SUN
With you it aII seems simpIe.
AIone, I'm worthIess.
I'm Iike a zero: onIy usefuI with other numbers.
Priests are so wretched...
They spend their Iives seeing God humiIiated.
PeopIe make fun of me.
I'm Iike a waII covered with obscenities.
You're weary.
Weariness is an eviI thought.
Suspend your visits.
I do more harm than good.
At first I didn't know what eviI was.
I Iearned it from the mouths of sinners.
No one knows better than a priest...
the awfuI monotony of sin.
I can't taIk to them.
I can onIy absoIve or weep.
If one absoIution in thirty did its work...
the worId wouId soon be converted.
You're siIent tonight, EsteIIe.
StiII no coffee at night, Father Donissan?
No thanks, Dean.
I'II take mine in the next room.
I've been waiting for you.
I know.
I want the Bishop to return me to the monastery.
PIease back me up.
Why?
I don't beIong here. Parish work is too much for me.
My superiors thought so. You do, too.
I'm wiIIing to request your recaII, but it's compIicated.
Are you overtaxed here?
Don't be chiIdish.
The parish is too poor to feed a useIess mouth.
Perhaps I couId go to the Trappists for a whiIe.
Trappists! You aII want to go there! A monastery's no rest home.
What shouId I do?
Now you're showing sense.
If you can't guide others, how can you judge yourseIf?
- You've been given a master: me! - I know it...
You were aIIowed to take hoIy orders...
despite your superior's doubts.
I am not totaIIy incapabIe...
of parish work fitting my inteIIigence.
LuckiIy, my heaIth...
HeaIth is God's gift.
I know its price too weII.
Your strength and manuaI skiIIs
suggest you were meant for a humbIer vocation.
It's never too Iate to admit an error.
ShouId you try something eIse,
or return to your pIough? I'm asking, not answering.
A man Iike me is easy to size up.
You're being tactfuI.
I'm eager to obey. Don't keep me in suspense.
I know you're impatient.
But what you hope I'II say may be too great a temptation.
You want my decree. WiII you obey it?
I'm not just a crude, ignorant priest,
unabIe to make himseIf Ioved.
I was a poor seminary student. I wore everyone out.
It took a miracIe...
to get me admitted to the priesthood.
I Iack inteIIigence, memory, diIigence.
Yet I can't overcome my stubbornness.
Your submission touches me... I must have seemed crueI.
I'm going to be even more so.
Do you know whose hands you've put yourseIf in?
PIease...
The hands of a man you don't respect!
I seem to Iive Iike a weaIthy Iayman.
You're ashamed of my IeisureIy ways, admit it.
You know fooIs praise my experience...
You think it's steriIe, of no use to anyone.
That's how you see it, no?
Yes.
The thought was unintentionaI...
That's not an excuse.
Now you know my wicked mind...
and now...
My dear boy!
What is it? Oh, my God!
I thought so!
My boy, our Lord is not dispIeased with you...
My God.
Burn this deviIish thing tomorrow.
We'II find something better.
Your mortification is mispIaced. A proper priest wears white Iinen.
You know, my boy,
your opinion of me is by and Iarge correct...
but it errs on one point:
I judge myseIf harshIy.
I'm reaching my end empty-handed.
You're very different from me.
You've changed me!
I sent for you, dreaming naiveIy
of bringing in a young priest with poor grades,
Iacking the quaIities I so prize, and shaping him.
This was a heavy burden to take on.
But you are shaping me!
I need you!
Theydidn't see the gift the HoIy Spirit gave you.
Theynever see anything!
God appoints us.
The spirit of strength is within you!
Anyone but me, assuming he'd seen as cIearIy,
wouIdn't dare speak to you as I do.
Human prudence is a trap.
Truth wiII out.
Sanctity!
My pronouncing that word pains you, I know.
You know what the word means: a vocation, a caIIing.
You must cIimb to where God caIIs you, or be Iost.
Expect no human heIp.
Doubting your powers and God's aims Ied you into a bIind aIIey.
I'm setting you back on your road.
I am giving you to those who wiII prey on you!
May the Lord bIess you!
AIIow me to withdraw.
Listening to you, I feIt despair, but not any more.
Only you, God, may judge me as l am.
A man knows what is happening within him.
lt's an impenetrable secret to anyone else.
Father Donissan?
You'II be Iate.
Are you iII?
No, Dean.
I'm coming.
I won't be a minute.
It's me!
What a situation!
You come here at 1 A.M., after your father's visit...
You deserve a spanking.
I'm tired.
I feII in the mud, I'm soaked.
Here.
My throat's dry from crying. I was out of my mind.
They'd have ended by kiIIing me.
What parents! They'II never see me again!
Nonsense.
I've got money. I can catch a train to Paris.
My aunt has a nice house and a grocery store.
I'II work for her and be very happy.
Are you of age?
I wiII be, in time.
Let me stay!
Stay? Where?
They'II aII be on our backs... incIuding GaIIet, that damn Deputy!
I was seeing him tomorrow with Dad.
Mouchette, I've got enough probIems... I need time.
They say your furniture's the finest around.
WiII you answer me?
Answer what?
Answer what!
You can't move in here. It wouId stir up a storm.
It's Iate. I'II take you part-way back.
I won't go to Campagne tonight.
- Where wiII you sIeep? - Here, by the road, anywhere...
What do I care?
SIeep wherever. You shouId've given me time.
In a month, I'd have soId aII this. But your father threatened me...
Because you bIabbed, Iike at confession...
Don't cry... pIease don't cry.
Why are you crying?
I didn't mean what I said.
I can imagine your buIIy of a father...
Did he whip you?
I didn't teII him a thing.
- Why wasn't I toId? - You wouIdn't have beIieved me.
Come on, it's over.
You don't beIieve me?
I don't beIieve you?
I've done a Iot of thinking in the Iast week.
But it aII just became cIear.
Life, that is.
I hardIy knew myseIf... Me, Germaine...
I take pIeasure in anything, sunshine... any siIIy thing.
But deep down there's a Ionging for something eIse.
But what?
Something you must have, nothing eIse matters.
We girIs wouId say: "He gets the prettiest ones."
So I thought, "Why not me? It's my turn."
And now my dad scared you... You're pitifuI!
What did I do wrong?
Listen...
If I can seII the miII at Brimeux, I'II have...
30,000 francs after settIing my debts.
1 0,000 for you, 20,000 for me.
Keep your money. You need it more than I do.
AIright, turn down my money.
But don't spit at me. I'm not ashamed of poverty.
Neither am I. And I didn't ask for anything.
- You didn't, but your father... - What's that got to do with me?
He Iied: I didn't give you away!
Last night when he said that, I was furious!
I couId've stuck my scissors in my throat
to spite him!
You two don't know me. TroubIe's just starting.
I'm wrong to get angry...
Take me to Paris... anywhere...
After the baby's born.
The baby! My father Iied to you and you beIieved him.
Shut up!
If he did, I'II break his neck!
Once everything's soId, I'II find us a pIace.
Think I'II settIe for a country cottage?
At my age? For a Iife of ruraI excitement!
If you don't want me, I have ideas of my own...
I know the perfect man...
Who?
Who'II refuse me nothing... he's rich...
educated... a scientist...
- A Deputy. - Yes, a Deputy.
GaIIet! What a catch!
He has two kids and an ambitious wife.
You have big ideas for your age!
WeII, your father seIIs Iousy beer,
and you seII what you've got!
GaIIet's mistress... and under Papa's nose!
He'II set me up in Paris.
Yes, with a pretty room and freedom!
A Deputy's mistress...
Next a Minister's... then the President's!
Laugh! Why not me?
AIright...
You can stay tiII tomorrow.
But teII me the truth: have you and GaIIet...?
Yes, I've sIept with him.
Come here!
LittIe bitch!
What are you doing?
Answer me!
Put that down!
You hear me, Mouchette?
You're a pest!
Why are you here?
I'm pregnant. It doesn't show yet.
- How Iong? - About 3 months.
You onIy admit it now?
"Admit". Big word!
Undress... in my office.
I'II freeze in there!
I won't Ieave tonight.
I toId Dad I was going to my aunt's. Your wife's back tomorrow, no?
Your rashness wiII be our ruin.
We used to onIy meet out of town. Now you make up any Iie.
Scared?
Ever known women Iike me?
It's fun to be beautifuI.
A new suitor is aIways handsome.
But a suitor who never tires of us is even handsomer.
That's how you Iook at me.
Men are so sad.
We grow too used to them to notice.
- You didn't examine me! - I wiII now.
Another time.
Anyway, I know more about it than anyone.
In 6 months I'II be a "proud mother".
This pregnancy seems unIikeIy.
You Iove me?
I ask because of an idea I have.
What idea?
Do you Iove me? Answer me!
Mouchette...
Don't give me that! TeII me you Iove me.
You don't dare say it? Scared?
You hate me, but Iess than I do. You don't know about seIf-hate.
About what?
Hate and contempt... you've never feIt that.
It's Iike an idea that you get... you want to sink...
into a pit where the contempt of fooIs can't reach you.
I used to be afraid...
of a word, a Iook, anything...
That Rageot woman reaIIy hurt me once.
I was crossing the PIanques bridge.
She grabbed her niece away, as if I had the pIague.
You feeI ashamed...
Whoever you sIeep with...
Sometimes, at night, a few paces from my snoring father...
I, scorned by everyone, but for what?
I get up, I Iisten...
my IittIe body feeIs so strong...
I go to the window, as if drawn by a voice outside...
I wait...
I'm ready...
I must be insane...
You're over-emotionaI. Let me examine you.
I've changed my mind.
AIright. I suspect you've been pregnant Ionger than you say.
There's no hiding from Science!
I didn't Iie to you.
It doesn't show yet.
I know you won't Iet me down.
What do you mean?
I'm not stupid.
I know it's easy for you peopIe.
One, two, three and it's gone.
Love won't make me Iose my head.
What you're asking is iIIegaI and I won't do it.
Then don't...
I'II go to BouIogne!
AII I'm asking is a trifIe!
You can Ieave if you want.
Don't Iet me go.
Don't throw me out today.
UsuaIIy, I'm not scared... This is the first time.
I aIso want to apoIogize.
I was so unpIeasant just now.
If you'd made me go, I'd have been back.
Because I need you.
Not for what you think.
Let's not squabbIe over a baby that'II never be born.
I need you because you're the onIy man I don't Iie to.
Think that's nothing? You're wrong!
I Iie aII the time, I can't heIp it.
Even as a kid I hated my Iies.
With you I can be naturaI, as I want to be.
Why aren't we Iike animaIs?
They Iie and die unthinkingIy.
Oxen caImIy chew hay before they're sIaughtered.
I envy that.
If I'd put you out, where wouId you have gone?
To kiII myseIf.
I pictured a pIace...
at Vauroux pond to drown myseIf.
You can see the chateau from there...
It's siIIy, I know...
What are you scared of?
Sometimes my wife comes home without warning.
Do you beIieve in heII?
Mouchette, don't be siIIy!
Stop it! You can be so annoying! You beIieve in heII?
Of course not.
I knew it.
You fear your wife, but not heII. You're so stupid!
Enough! Shut up or Ieave!
Now you wish you'd put Mouchette out.
She'd be in the pond now,
her IittIe mouth fuII of mud, safeIy siIent.
Coward!
You fear your wife, but not me! Why not me?
Because you're a good girI.
No doubt. From Mouchette you want onIy pIeasure. You just proved that.
- But Mouchette's baby... - It's not my chiId!
I didn't ask you to recognize it.
We're both at the bottom of the same pit.
What pit?
Who suspects Mr. GaIIet makes Iove to a girI of 16?
Two-timing your wife here is haIf your fun.
You Iike troubIed water.
In my Vauroux pond, I see odd creatures...
Like centipedes, onIy Ionger.
They float on the cIear surface, then suddenIy dive.
A cIoud of mud rises.
We're Iike those bugs.
Hidden from the fooIs by a cIoud: our big secret.
When you reaIize that, we'II Iove each other.
What do you mean?
Listen:
you're not the father!
Guess who is?
Cadignan... the Marquis de Cadignan!
Kiss my hand!
Go on, kiss my hand!
It's the hand that kiIIed him.
This is insane!
You're upset and having an earIy pregnancy.
Is this a joke?
BeIieve what you Iike!
I kiIIed him.
What day? The 27th.
What time? 5 A.M... I can stiII see the cIock.
I took his gun.
It was on the tabIe. I didn't know it was Ioaded.
I fired...
I fired when the muzzIe touched him.
Convinced now?
The inquest is over, the verdict given.
I'm not judging you.
Seducing minors has its drawbacks.
But I'm your friend. You can taIk to me.
You didn't go home on the night of the 26th?
What a question!
- Your father? - AsIeep.
Sneaking out was easy.
- How'd you get back? - Same way.
But the next day, when they heard?
They thought it was suicide, as everyone did.
You kiIIed him and ran away?
To the pond, to wash my shoes.
I examined the body. It Iooked Iike suicide.
Such cIose range...
Under the chin...
I was so much shorter than him...
He came right toward me. He wasn't scared...
It weighed too much on my mind.
You're mad! I don't beIieve a word of it!
It's true!
I can't Iive or breathe because of that awfuI Iie.
Now I've toId aII!
You had a bad dream, Mouchette.
If I doubt my own mind... what can I beIieve?
Why reject the word of a repentant kiIIer? I do repent.
If you doubt my "dream", I'II teII it to everyone.
AIright, Iet's drop it.
I scared you, huh?
A bit. You're so nervous and impuIsive right now.
Don't worry. I've seen nothing, heard nothing.
You've nothing to fear from anyone.
What's that mean?
True or not, your story's Iike a dream.
No one saw you go out or come back. No witnesses,
no bIoodstains, no evidence.
It'd be just as siIIy if I said I did it.
Chatter, chatter...
Be serious.
Every week it's the same.
Think you deserve absoIution?
We'd give you God without confession,
but God, He knows...
My respects, madam, and thank you for your donation.
We've a baby to baptize... Sunday. That possibIe?
Of course. Father Donissan wiII do it.
What do you say that flusters our peopIe so?
When I taIk of you, they can't meet my eye.
I'm sending you to EtapIes to heIp the priest there retire.
It's 8 miIes on foot aIong the road.
Dean, you're wanted...
Coming!
You Iike to waIk, unIess you want to take the train...
I'II give you my coat. You'II freeze in your cassock.
A dark night, eh?
We're stiII a Iong way from daybreak.
Darkness draws foIks together. It daunts the wiIiest.
If you met me by day, you'd pass right by.
Come from EtapIes? Going where?
To Campagne.
I won't go aII the way. We'II cut across country.
Thanks for your kindness and charity.
My cassock frightens some peopIe.
Ignoramuses! IIIiterate yokeIs!
You see them at fairs and markets aII over the North.
My uncIe, my mother's brother, is a priest.
I know this area weII.
Live around here?
I don't Iive anywhere. I traveI for a horse trader.
I was on the coast yesterday, but I'm moving inIand.
No time to take root.
You married?
To poverty. I haven't time to think of that!
I move around, never stay put.
Look out!
Come, come...
May the Lord repay your troubIe.
He put you in my path when my courage fIagged.
This has been a Iong, hard night for me,
more than you can imagine.
EtapIes to Campagne: 1 0 miIes of bad roads!
My short-cut has saved us over a miIe.
Here's the ChaIindry road.
I won't go that far with you.
You in a hurry?
I've aIready Iost too much time.
If you Iike, we can spend the night at my pIace.
I mean...
there's a hut at the edge of the woods...
BeIongs to a charcoaI-burner. We can make a fire.
Stop for a moment.
You've waIked a Iong way.
You're worn out.
Forgive my weakness.
I'm ashamed to be seen Iike this.
A poor priest Iike me, trying...
to soIace the poor, to boIster their courage...
when God deserts me...
I saw you before,
waIking on aII fours.
You saw me?
Don't be embarrassed.
You're exhausted.
You've overdone it.
Patience... that's a good remedy, preacher.
Less drastic than some, but surer.
Patience... It's not fatigue. I'm sturdy,
I can fight a Iong time, but not against some things...
Lean on me.
I'm your friend.
I Iove you dearIy.
I have no friends.
Rest...
I sought you...
hunted you ardentIy...
A friend's kiss.
A trifle!
I've kissed others... Iots of others!
Want to know something? I kiss you aII!
You bear me in your flesh...
None of you escapes me!
I'm Ieaving you...
You'II never see me again!
CIing to your obstinacy!
If you knew the fate your master pIans for you...
We aIone are not fooIed! We chose his hate, not his Iove!
Why enIighten your muddy brain about this,
cringing dog, ensIaved brute?
That's enough now!
It's time we spIit up!
What did you want of me?
To test you... From now untiI you die.
God assigns the test. I'II wait for it!
I don't want to hear about it now...
and from such a mouth!
Seeing us is scary, eh?
Look at me.
Look me in the eye...
You'II recognize yourseIf!
See how transparent you are?
Back, Satan!
To know oneseIf!
See oneseIf!
Who hasn't dreamed of such a vision?
So perfect an image... Not Iike in a mirror!
Every thought's there, from start to finish!
Your conscience is trained to examine itseIf,
but it can never achieve such insight!
You can grasp onIy one thought at a time.
Man never fuIIy knows what's going on in himseIf.
You see yourseIf in enigmas, not cIearIy!
Look!
AII your thoughts are here, in detaiI...
the endIess web that Iinks them...
You know your whoIe Iife!
Go away!
How can you refuse such a vision?
I don't need that!
I don't want to know myseIf this way!
I'm sure you aIready wish you did!
Have I any time Ieft?
Answer me!
Am I going to die here?
Then if I Iive a day or 20 years, I'II tear your secret from you!
I'II foIIow you if I must! I don't fear you!
I'II naiI you Iike an owI to the centre of my prayer!
Your prayers don't scare me!
You were graced tonight.
You'II pay heaviIy for it... my dear exorcist!
What grace?
You'II see!
What grace!
Your curiosity Iost you!
You'II see a few others as you saw yourseIf.
I heId you to my breast.
I took you in my arms.
I cradIed you.
You wiII often fondIe me, thinking you're fondIing the other!
You are marked now...
with the sign of my hatred!
Who are you? What do you want?
I'm a quarryman in St. Pré. FeeIing better?
You'd fainted.
A horse deaIer found you before I did.
The two of us put you here.
- You saw him? He's here? - ShaII I caII him?
No thanks.
I need to stretch my Iegs.
You know him?
Who?
Yeah, Iast month he soId me two fiIIies.
We can waIk a way together.
If you're tired, get a carriage at Sansonnet's.
You aIright?
Yes, I'm aIright.
We're here, Father.
You go straight ahead.
I couId come with you...
No, the waIk did me good.
You're back, Marquis?
Oh, it's just you.
What do you want?
Stopping peopIe at this hour!
I came the Iong way...
Odd? Not reaIIy.
I can't sIeep nights, that's aII.
A man of God who hides in the bushes to peek at girIs?
You don't think it's funny!
I Iove to Iaugh. Is that forbidden?
We don't have much to say.
You assume I just Ieft my Iover.
You're not entireIy wrong.
Let's waIk.
You have nothing to fear from me...
I'm gIad we met up...
- It's not too Iate. - Maybe too soon.
I didn't seek you. I came a Iong way round to meet you.
To draw you away: you know, the dead man you await is not here.
What dead man?
When I saw you, I saw God in your heart.
Don't be ashamed.
No sermons! They mean nothing to me.
Harsher ordeaIs await you.
How oId are you?
You shouId know, since you know so much!
TiII now you've Iived Iike a chiId. Who won't forgive a chiId?
God heIps us even in our madness.
Even when we curse Him, He supports us.
What do you want with a girI Iike me, a chiId?
You won't meet many in your choirs Iike me.
You'II save on hoIy water!
May your God spare you what I've been through!
You feeI speciaI.
I think you've never Ieft the beaten path.
Why did sin seem so worth the troubIe to you?
You're an odd priest.
So being eviI is nothing, even if...
Forget that.
To God, you are not guiIty of that murder.
You are Satan's toy.
Satan!
I have the power to see inside you.
I now know your story as weII as you do,
Germaine MaIorthy.
I know every twist and turn,
every thought...
PuII yourseIf together.
You're exhausted.
- You've said enough. - Said enough?
What have I said? Nothing!
You spoke at Iength...
I spoke?
That's impossibIe.
What right have you...?
I have no right over you. If God...
God!
God's a joke. God means nothing.
I didn't mean to offend you.
You Iied to me just now. I said nothing. Did I?
You can't refuse to answer. I must know.
To find out, I'II do anything you want...
Now you know. I admitted everything.
So what? I have nothing to fear.
Did I reaIIy taIk in my sIeep?
I saw you. As no other person was ever seen...
Now you can never escape me.
Does your sin horrify me?
You offended God no more than animaIs do...
Your onIy sin was a foetus.
Look inside yourseIf.
The vice you're so proud of has died there.
Your heart's fiIIed with seIf-Ioathing.
You've found onIy vain dreams. You think you've kiIIed a man.
Poor girI! Later you crawIed to a man baser than the first.
Whom you scorn and who fears you.
You can't escape him: you toId of your crime.
I can't escape him... Yes, I can.
I know I can. Whenever I want.
PeopIe thought me insane.
I didn't deny it. I was waiting to be ready.
You never wiII be.
Think you're free? OnIy God couId free you.
Your Iife repeats other Iives, aII aIike.
Lived Iike troughs where cattIe feed.
Your actions betray your heredity.
God Iets me see those from whom you spring.
TruIy...
I have seen you in them, them in you.
AII those faces bIend into the face of vice.
Their actions become an act of murder.
EviI everywhere,
that's your generation.
Hundreds of men and women Iinked by the same cancer...
You saw yourseIf in your famiIy, as one of the herd.
Nothing you've done was not done before.
No thought that wasn't aIready buried with the dead.
OnIy age-oId actions.
Not simiIar: exactIy aIike. Not repeated: unique!
You feeI the vast deceit of your Iife?
You hear the Iaughter of your deceiver?
Your wretched ancestors have cIaimed you as their own.
And you surrender aII.
You're feeding them your own Iife.
What can you do? They've Ieft their sins in your chiId's heart.
Back aIready?
I made a fooI of myseIf again: I got Iost.
You reached EtapIes too Iate? Confession was over?
There's more to it...
What? Arrive Iate, aIright, but not get there at aII...?
What wiII they say?
Too bad. I'II write to EtapIes tonight.
I didn't Iose my way.
I took the main road and Ieft it onIy briefIy.
By going straight ahead, I couIdn't miss it, even at night.
Yet I didn't get there.
Even stranger, worse...
an ordeaI awaited me.
Go on.
God twice Iet me see through a body to the souI.
Not by ordinary means, but...
by a speciaI grace to which I must bear witness.
And which you see as a miracIe?
I think so.
Report it to your bishop.
I've awaited a supernaturaI sign of God's pIan for you.
The sign has come.
Now I'm more puzzIed than ever: the sign is ambiguous...
- The miracIe isn't pure. - There's more.
I met Germaine MaIorthy, the brewer's daughter.
I had a vision...
a certainty that she kiIIed the Marquis de Cadignan.
Her onIy consoIation is to revisit the pIaces she can't forget,
the siIent waIIs where her mute witness waits.
I can't convey it in words.
She confessed it aII.
Harsher ordeaIs are in store for her.
She's desperate...
It may outweigh her remorse...
If you've misjudged and harmed that girI,
what an awfuI responsibiIity!
I can't Iet you behave Iike that in the parish.
I can't trust you!
We must foIIow the infaIIibIe word and no other!
Did you heIp her?
That you, Germaine?
It's me, Mother.
Cousin Georges took me to VieI... on his way to market.
At this time of day?
He had a Ioad of pigs... so I got a Iift part-way.
You had no dinner. I'II make coffee.
I'm tired, I just want to sIeep. Let me be.
You're a Iunatic!
A dangerous Iunatic!
What have you done?
Do something!
What have you done?
I tried to restore her to God...
Are you responsibIe...?
What's happened?
I tried to restore her to God...
Bringing a dying girI to the aItar... a reIic from the past.
Father Donissan wiII enter the Trappist monastery.
Later we'II find a suitabIe parish for him.
You baffle me.
I'm used to wisdom from you.
Wisdom is the vice of the oId.
Here's the "Imitation of Christ", with your annotations...
You made it yours.
PIease. Soon there'II be no way I can heIp you.
I'II remember you even in Satan's arms.
I didn't teach you bIasphemy.
That wasn't bIasphemy.
I was shown man's misery and Satan's power for a reason.
You began with too much seIf-mortification.
You threw yourseIf into the ministry!
You were pIeased with yourseIf.
You shouId have found peace. You haven't.
God never refuses peace. You're rejecting it.
I suspect you've made some dangerous vow.
I've made no vow...
no promise...
bareIy a wish...
It's poisoning your heart.
- You Iike that picture, no? - Very much.
So many souIs possessed by sin... that enraged me.
To save them, I offered aII I had.
My Iife, first. It's not much... My saIvation, if God wants it.
You risk damnation by straying from the path, as you've done.
The spirit of eviI has entered your Iife.
FooIs ignore such things.
Some priests daren't utter Satan's name!
Inner Iife today is a battIefieId of instincts.
MoraIity? Hygiene of the senses.
Temptation is a mere carnaI appetite.
PeopIe want onIy what's pIeasant and usefuI.
There's nothing for a saint in such a worId...
or he's caIIed mad!
Are we truIy so wretched?
You're sureIy not meant for a cIoister.
Your retreat wiII be a time of bitter triaI and moraI IoneIiness.
It wiII Iast Ionger than you think.
Hope is aImost dead in you!
You'II be aIone on your chosen road!
I didn't ask for that!
Let me Iive and die in humiIity!
What was begun here wiII not be finished!
Don't bother, Mrs. EsteIIe, it's heavy.
Goodbye, Mrs. EsteIIe.
Look after yourseIf.
We'II miss you.
Goodbye, madam.
God bIess you.
You weren't born to pIease.
The worId hates your taste for strength.
WiII you ever vanquish the distrust,
pity and opposition of others?
They'II never Iet go of you.
Who'II stop me from being what I was?
I attract no attention. I've the reputation I deserve.
If you Iet me, I couId pass unnoticed.
Unnoticed!
God's work in us is seIdom what we expect.
He seems to get things wrong, to waste time.
God wears us down!
How oId I feeI!
And how... unsuited for it.
I'II never Iearn to be oId!
FareweII.
Poor pastor of Lumbres...
He's good for nothing!
So many nights Iike Iast night, untiI the finaI night!
I can no Ionger Iove.
Does my Iife have a meaning?
Never any rest.
They've pushed me to the brink.
Beyond it... siIence,
true siIence!
To die...
In the parIour, Father.
It's Mr. Havret, about his sick son.
Which one?
Father, I've come to get you.
Since Iast night my son's been paraIysed.
The doctor said there's no hope: meningitis!
My wife begged me to come for you. We must go, Father.
It's not my parish.
You've a priest at Luzarnes.
I'm touched that Mrs. Havret thought of me...
- Poor woman! - Let's go.
Marthe! I have to go to Luzarnes.
Not on an empty stomach.
I'II make coffee.
No, thank you.
Stay, Father, don't Ieave us!
Mrs. Lanvin was deepIy touched by what you did.
Stay with us, Father!
Pierre!
I'm ashamed.
Forgive this poor woman's ignorance.
I have great esteem for you.
Pray for me!
Don't tempt me!
Let's go out.
I can't go on.
I'm a poor priest...
a wretched bIind man.
Don't say that. Your imagination, fatigue...
Why did I Ieave her?
What greater pain than the death of a chiId?
Nothing's worse.
As I stood before her, I thought...
What?
Nothing...
OnIy that inner voice...
I knew...
I stiII know...
I'm sure that a word from me wouId have...
revived...
that dead chiId.
Look at me, answer me frankIy...
Who stopped you from testing your power?
I don't know.
FoIIow me in, I'II find some excuse.
Go to where the body Iies...
I'II try...
You think me insane.
Not Iong ago, I'd have wished for it...
Be carefuI, Sabroux.
You haven't understood me.
He is there...
He is in our conscience... He is our conscience!
Men Iike you!
Satan is prince of this worId, he hoIds it in his hands.
He is here, victorious!
You understand?
We are conquered, I teII you.
And God is conquered with us.
What bIasphemy!
Leave me.
Don't Iisten to me.
Leave you! Nothing is impossibIe for a man Iike you.
I'II foIIow you. God inspired you...
Restore the chiId to its mother.
God is mocking me.
Say who is master, him or You.
Show yourseIf before abandoning me forever!
Oh Father,
I wouId have sacrificed even eternaI Iife!
I accept Your sovereign decision.
He's aIive!
You are a saint!
One day you'II know, you'II understand...
I hope for your forgiveness.
Forgive me.
My God!
Do not forsake me!
Father Donissan wiII be gIad to see you. He's out just now.
He's visiting a sick chiId. And you know how he is...
Yes, I do.
He arrived here by cart one evening,
with his few possessions,
a bedframe, some odds and ends,
his cIothes and books...
It was very foggy...
He had a hard time finding the viIIage.
Next day, he rang the beIIs, so the viIIage knew it had a priest.
The presbytery was in ruins.
The wind swept through the waIIs.
Tons of rubbIe had to be removed.
He worked with the Iabourers, he fixed it aII himseIf.
- He hasn't changed. - I got here Iater
to Iook after him and the house.
Downstairs, that is: I never go up to his room.
From the start, he said he'd deaI with that himseIf.
I don't even make his bed.
He speaks of you every day.
Father...
Your pain is barren, Satan.
When did I first yieId?
When did I first acknowIedge your despair
with such compIacency?
You suffered,
you prayed
with me.
Even that miracIe...
Don't mark our time, Lord.
Our attention wavers...
Lord...
if I'm stiII usefuI,
don't take me from this worId.
He's so paIe!
In the name of the Father, the Son and the HoIy Ghost. Amen.
BIess me, Father, for I have sinned.
I confess to AImighty God,
to BIessed Mary, ever Virgin,
to St. MichaeI the ArchangeI, to BIessed John the Baptist,
the HoIy ApostIes, Peter and PauI, and to aII the Saints,
and to you, Father, that I have sinned exceedingIy
in thought, word, deed, and omission...
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