Head Against the Wall (1959) Movie Script
This film tells the story of a man...
...whose state of mind oscillates...
...between reason and insanity.
Modern psychiatry could save him...
...but he is subjected to a system...
...that we condemn nowadays...
...for its basis on prejudice and fear.
The strange world
you are about to enter...
...will give you an idea of how
much work still needs to be done...
...to transform the way
the mentally ill are treated.
HEAD AGAINST THE WALL
Based on the novel by Herv Bazin
You nearly ran him over.
Are you practising for a race?
Are you conducting an inquiry?
On you?
That would hardly be very interesting.
Why? Because I do motocross?
Because you're Francois Grane.
Would you like my autograph?
How much do you charge?
You're not one of the gang.
I've never seen you before.
Well, I've often seen you.
Your photograph. anyway.
You're 25 years old,
son of the lawyer, Mr Grane.
You claim to love no one
but you're bored stiff.
You owe Mr Maurice 200,000 francs.
Mr Maurice doesn't joke
about gambling debts...
...especially when the debtor
has pinched his wife from him.
Did Gilbert send you?
He can't get you any more money.
I know who you are now.
You're Gilbert's meddling sister,
Stphanie.
I might have known
you'd get involved.
Not before time.
He'll get a job.
He might get married,
become a father.
I'm asking you
not to see him any more.
I'll think about it. Tomorrow.
Tonight I need the money too much.
Do you want a lift back to Paris?
Yes.
Hold tight.
A swallow.
Strange bird.
I phoned you three times last week.
My phone's been cut off.
Shall I introduce you?
No, I'll wait here.
Still racing, biker boy?
Yes, I'm after 200,000 francs,
and it's urgent.
Have you got it?
Can you help?
Really!
Hey. watch
you don't break the needle!
100,000, then. I'll pay you back.
Are you all alone in the world, son?
I have my father, I suppose.
I couldn't find anyone.
I don't have any money.
I've brought Simone.
I could only get 20,000.
Your sister's here.
Gilbert.
Gilbert scares me
with all this money talk.
What's all this
about you needing money?
It's over now. My husband's onto it.
I can't do any more for you.
You can ask your new friends.
You'll be fine. I adore you.
In my house?
Here in this house?
Butois versus Bergeron.
Official legal documents
you're not meant to take home.
And you knew that.
Why have you done this to me?
No. don't say anything.
You only take after me in name.
You get your violence, cruelty
and dishonesty from your mother.
You're insane, like her.
Yes, I've nicked
some money from you, too.
I don't need to tell you why.
Don't move.
You wouldn't kill your son.
You'd never get away with it.
You're a thief and an arsonist,
not my son.
The police? But there's no such thing
as theft among families.
As a lawyer, you should know that.
In any society, wild beasts
have to be rendered harmless.
Is this a hospital?
Yes, son.
Which hospital?
Come back to bed.
I'm not in prison, am I?7
Why would you be in prison. son?
Mr Grane, isn't it?
I've been expecting you.
The doctor told me about you.
Comte Elzar de Chambrelle,
the writer.
Despite meeting under
such unfortunate circumstances...
...I'm delighted to have
a quality table companion at last.
Lay an extra place, Adrien.
This way.
Please, sit down.
A word about our friends for starters.
Starting from the left,
and please be discreet.
At the head of the table
is Colonel Donnadieu.
Given shock treatment in 1918,
relapsed in 1930 and 1945.
19307
Morocco.
Next to him is a rare specimen
who pretends to be blind.
He's only blind so he can see clearer.
That sad young man with the bundle
is Heurtevent.
He wanted to join the navy
but they declared him unfit for purpose.
He's never recovered.
Have some jam.
As the Colonel says,
you only die once.
Shut up, Comte Elzar.
Everyone has to die.
And we won the war...
...the First Foreign Cavalry Regiment
The knives we get here
aren't like knives elsewhere.
I don't have to learn Spanish.
I don't have to learn...
They're mostly harmless.
That's enough, now.
Really. Here you go.
Good day, Doctor.
Colonel Donnadieu,
First Foreign Cavalry Regiment.
Many people coming in?
A van-load.
Where will you put them all?
On the top floor.
Grane, the little arsonist.
How's he doing?
He had a bad night.
He's restless, thinks he's in prison.
He's a bit confused. sir.
Go and fetch him.
Very well.
He must've put up quite a fight.
He was brought here asleep.
He's calm now.
He doesn't seem like a lunatic to me.
I don't want to hear
that word used here.
The word "lunatic is offensive.
It doesn't mean anything.
As far as psychiatrists are concerned,
there are no lunatics, only patients.
I didn't mean...
Interns like you, my dear fellow...
...end up as society psychiatrists.
Asylums have two tasks.
To cure the insane...
...and to protect society.
The second is more important
since it affects everyone.
The insane need to be kept
under lock and key.
That's what 30 years as
a qualified psychiatrist has taught me.
Who signed the confinement papers?
The family doctor.
Perfect. Everything's in order.
So you're Mr Grane.
Francois Grane.
How old are you?
25.
What illnesses did you have as a child?
Measles?
Scarlet fever?
Mumps?
What about as an adult?
Nothing at all?
What's your profession?
No job at 257
What do you do?
I'm looking for work.
What sort of work?
I have friends.
What sort of friends?
Do you meet often? Where?
Young people my age.
Yes, we meet often.
At gatherings?
Parties, as you would say?
Or perhaps elsewhere.
A probable imbalance.
You never told me
what sort of job you were looking for.
What qualifications do you have?
The first part of my baccalaurat.
I wanted to be a painter
so I went to art school.
Did you qualify?
I didn't stay. I wasn't interested
in methodical learning.
In short, instability.
What next?
What did you do next?
I left home.
I wanted to try to cope on my own.
A runaway.
And how did you cope?
Badly.
What about women?
Do you have a fiance? No?
A lover?
I have no plans on that score but
there's no shortage of girls in my life.
And yet none of them
has stayed with you.
Were none of them suitable?
What would you know?
What are you trying to prove?
My father sectioned me
because he hates me.
Calm down, please.
You haven't said anything
about your mother.
She's dead.
How did she die?
She drowned.
Yes, it was an accident.
I shouldn't be in this lunatic asylum.
It's a psychiatric hospital.
Headstrong personality,
behavioural difficulties.
Keep an eye on that.
You've been sectioned because
you need rest and peace and quiet.
You live a dissolute life.
You're still very young.
It's pleasant here in the countryside.
All that fresh air,
miles from everywhere.
Miles from Paris.
Stop it! I'm ordering you to stop!
On guard!
Where did you get that?
He stole it.
Drop it! Drop it!
Hello. new boy.
There's nothing wrong with you.
No.
It's a cushy number. If you leave...
Is that the countryside behind there?
Go and see.
Are the walls still there?
An asylum in the middle of the fields.
Yes.
A living death.
You talk as if people never get out.
People get out,
but then they come back.
Have you been here long?
Four years.
Do you ever think of escaping?
All the time.
I'm going to escape.
For a start,
it's best not to say anything.
All these unfortunates,
afflicted like this.
What about you, Doctor?
How do you deal
with all this distress?
The same way you do, Father...
...when you treat mortal sinners.
Only in your case, hell comes later.
Mr Grane?
It's this way.
It's you.
Who told you?
Word's going round.
Word's going round
that I'm crazy, you mean?
Have you come to check?
We want to help you.
Maybe a lawyer...
A lawyer?
What for?
I'll be accused of being a thief,
a murderer or a forger.
Al right?
I'm already accused
of being unhinged.
Lunatics can't be absolved
because they don't get punished.
They're simply eliminated.
And locked up.
The worst thing must be
the lack of privacy.
No. it's the contagiousness.
No one has been to see me.
You're the only one.
If you hadn't been
so lonely and unhappy...
...I would never have come.
Don't come back.
It's too depressing.
I don't think it will take much.
For what?
For me to become a good boy?
No. A happier one.
Visiting time is over,
ladies and gentlemen.
Walk slowly.
Did you come by car?
Yes, with a friend.
If I get past the gate,
start the car right away.
Can I rely on you?
Yes.
Going for a stroll?
Look what happens
as soon as our backs are turned.
I need to be able to trust you.
No one escapes this place.
Unfortunately for you,
we are well organised.
Every failed attempt to escape
makes things worse for you.
Don't be a fool.
I know it's impossible to escape.
But you can't blame me for trying.
What I did was stupid
and I know I need to be punished...
...but not with a life sentence.
Look, I'm a doctor, not a policeman.
Don't you see?
What's the injection for?
It's just a barbiturate.
We're going to get on, you and I.
You say you acted foolishly.
Let's be more specific.
You burnt documents
that didn't belong to you.
A pointless act of destruction.
Why did you do that?
That "why" is what differentiates
a doctor from a judge.
If you can answer that question,
you're free to go.
If you cannot...
...you leave me no option
but to draw my own conclusions.
I said relax.
So go on, tell me.
Let yourself go.
I wanted to hurt him. destroying
what was dearest to his heart.
Are you talking about your father?
Don't you love him?
loved my mother.
What's that got to do with it?
When she died...
...I couldn't go on living with him.
And she drowned you say.
That's what my father said.
He told some people
she'd fallen in the pond.
He told others,
including me and I was there...
...that she'd jumped.
And you were there? How come?
We'd been for a walk...
...my mother and I.
He came towards us.
He kept on insulting her, because...
Because?
I don't know.
At times she'd cry out
when he squeezed her arm.
She wept when he talked to her.
What then?
Well?
That day...
...they took me back to the house.
They handed me over to a servant.
I ran up to my room.
I watched out of the window.
She went back to the pond.
He waved his arms around.
She lowered her head.
And?
That's all.
Later my father told me
she'd killed herself.
But he also told me she was alone.
And that's not true.
Can't you remember
anything more specific...
...so that I can start
drawing conclusions?
I was eight years old, Doctor.
Calm down now.
Promise me you will.
Only sick people dream of escaping.
I don't try to escape, do 17
A prime example of father hatred.
Keep an eye on him.
Do you want to swap duties?
I want to get out of here.
I do, too,
but I want to get better first.
What do you mean by "get better"?
Wake up in my own room,
get dressed in my own clothes...
...talk to people.
Walk straight ahead
without being afraid of falling over.
You think a doctor can cure you?
Dr Emery is different.
Patients lead normal lives with him.
They don't wear a uniform.
There are no cells or straitjackets.
No watchful eyes
or locks everywhere.
I'd like to see that.
It's true.
And away from here...
...there are asylums
at the seaside with boats.
I'd get better there.
First I need Dr Emery
to take me on.
Won't he take you on now?
He's full up.
Can I go and watch the game?
I'll take the washing in.
Do you like sport?
I used to do motocross.
Now I pace the walls
of this vile place.
Do you know Dr Emery?
Apparently he takes an interest
in his patients.
Unlike Dr Varmont.
That's a bit harsh.
It's not entirely his fault.
Do you have friends?
Does anyone visit you?
A girl.
She comes every week.
Your fiance?
No.
I met her too late.
The day before I came here.
Good day, Dr Emery.
Good day.
I saw the aviary.
What colour is it going to be?
Blue.
Blue.
Is there still no room for me?
Still no room.
Goodbye, Doctor.
Goodbye, Doctor.
Why are they in a ring?
It looks like a game...
...but it's a method.
It's to teach them to live together.
Together?
Each person turns
because they're all turning.
Watch. They're going to let go.
Go on.
They're not moving any more.
Once the chain is broken...
...they're all alone.
Lost.
Go on.
This is the bar.
There's music, bright colours.
Our objective remains unchanged.
It's first and foremost to give patients
a renewed zest for life.
Doctor, what's your opinion
of the new methods?
There can be no doubt
that the asylum is free...
...if I can call it that.
Which is an interesting subject.
Or rather an interesting sales pitch.
But I don't think any publicity...
...can solve the problems of insanity.
You'd be better off asking Dr Emery.
He's got a lot to say on the issue.
Try probing the matter with him.
Considering the financial difficulties...
...it's reasonable
to talk about conclusive results.
We come up against lots of bad will...
...and deep-rooted prejudice,
but we're on the right track.
What's over there, Doctor?
Those are models
made by our patients...
...at varying stages of their treatment.
They start with balls.
Always balls. The earth.
Then come the animals
and these strange creatures...
...half man, half beast:
a centaur, a sphinx, a sort of faun.
If they model humans,
are they cured?
No. The final stage seems to be
represented by symbols of life.
A child in its cradle...
. fruit in a basket, flowers in a vase.
Straight trees
in the middle of gardens.
Tell me about yourself.
I've told you everything already.
All I know is that you live alone.
I've been living alone for a long time.
Do you like your work?
The first days were harder.
But more interesting, too.
Are you bored with it now?
I never get bored.
I do, when you're not here.
It's not just the asylum.
I was always bored before, too.
Tell me, will you wait for me?
You can leave whenever you like.
I telephoned your father.
He's the only one who can help you.
You don't know him.
If I let him,
he'd be here watching me suffer.
Like he did with my mother.
I don't want to see him.
What are you thinking?
Talk to me.
I'm looking at the walls
so I don't forget them.
Why?
Aren't you coming back any more?
You refuse to understand.
You're all talk.
You do nothing to change your life.
I don't believe in anything.
He who believes in nothing
has everything he needs.
If you believed in nothing,
you'd never have destroyed those files.
You should see your father again now.
There's no harm in lying to him.
No one's ever spoken to me
like that before.
Then you've never been loved.
Grane,
you're to come and see the doctor.
Come in.
There was no need
to use that girl as a go-between.
I've been waiting for you to call me
since you came here.
I needed time to think.
Will you forgive me
for the wrong I did to you that night?
Is that the best you can do. Francois?
I've put up with much worse than that.
Will you get me out of here?
The doctor is hopeful, very hopeful.
I'm sure you'll get better.
We can all have
momentary aberrations.
You steal from your father...
...disgrace him...
...beat him.
You call beating your father
a momentary aberration?
I don't recall having any that serious.
I'm sorry for everything I've done.
I won't be any more trouble to you.
Get me out of here.
I love this girl. She loves me, too.
She came to see you.
Another love affair.
Poor Francois.
These conquests
haven't exactly got you very far.
I remember the evening I introduced you
to the secrets of my profession.
You wouldn't listen.
You stood up abruptly.
A girl was waiting for you somewhere.
I remember that, too.
You were acting for the defence
in the crown court.
Thanks to your skill,
the accused lost his life.
But that same evening,
equally passionately...
...you set out the case
that would have saved him.
Society is essentially a game, son.
And you have to know how to play it.
I was trying to teach you that...
...but you wouldn't let me.
You never understood me.
That's true.
I never dared understand.
As rebellious as ever.
The asylum hasn't changed you,
in spite of my best efforts.
You'd test the patience of a saint.
Do you think, in spite of everything,
he might be able to come out soon?
That's entirely up to him.
You realise that, don't you?
No. son.
That's the road to freedom.
I had thought, hoped,
that he would have improved.
I'm afraid not.
Forgive me for asking you this...
...but what happened
the day your wife died?
Has Francois talked to you about it?
A little.
I had to ask him about his childhood.
What did he tell you about it?
Not much.
He was very young. wasn't he?
My wife drowned.
I know.
It's an unfortunate legacy. isn't it?
There would have been an inquest.
Questioning. an autopsy.
No suicide case
ever escapes slander.
Even honest people
are subjected to it.
You know how it is, Doctor.
Of course.
The case has been closed now.
Excellent.
I'm pleased for you.
Forgive me for having
reawoken the painful memory.
It's in my nature to be curious.
And it's in my profession.
If you say so.
Goodbye.
Shall we wait until tomorrow?
No.
Are you sure?
What about the key to the ward?
His key opens all the wards.
What about the gate?
No, only the wards.
Let's go.
I've got the keys.
Dr Varmont!
Dr Varmont! Dr Varmont!
You lot go left.
We did it.
Take care of him.
Which one is he?
The epileptic one.
The lunatic.
He's getting away.
Of course it's easier to punish him
than cure him, Varmont...
...but punishing him won't cure him.
What are you talking about?
That escape, for instance.
What escape? Grane's, you mean.
Don't worry; order has been restored.
Once he'd been shot at like a rabbit.
It only scratched him.
Anyway, I'm not responsible
for the panic that grips people...
...whenever any of the patients escape.
It's a panic I understand,
however lamentable.
For 30 years now
I've lived alongside lunatics.
Believe you me...
...even if a few are curable...
...they're all dangerous.
Why don't we try an experiment?
Entrust this young man to me.
At least then he wouldn't
be disrupting your wards any more.
Entrust Grane to you? No.
Not him.
Why not?
As you well know,
there are some patients...
...whose illness can be diagnosed...
...since it is spectacular
rather than deep-rooted.
And then there are others...
...whose dementia is harder to define.
Grane, for example?
I think so.
I sense you're starting to fear...
...that I will cure him too easily.
I fear you're interested in him
because you don't think he's ill.
I don't choose my patients.
I take those I'm given, like you.
I'm suspicious of the way
you see this as your calling.
I have no time
for your holier-than-thou approach.
I have a specific responsibility...
...to protect society
with the means at my disposal.
That's what the police are there for.
Many of the 120,000 patients
sectioned in France could be cured...
...if they got a tenth
of the treatment TB patients get.
Come now, Dr Emery...
...in all honesty,
between you and me...
...do you think
your treatment can cure them?
Perhaps not,
but it won't lead to new cases.
Let's at least try
to deliver them from fear.
Every day patients
we've discharged too soon...
...rape or kill or commit arson.
And every day
some of them die in asylums.
If I had to take a risk...
...I'd prefer to discharge them
half cured...
...than kill them
without discharging them.
You're filling the world with criminals.
Worse than that,
you're a criminal yourself by proxy.
That's what sets us apart.
You cut out the middleman.
One day a client will ransack
your rooms and strangle your kids.
Don't count on me to bail you out.
No. they're in my care
and I'll treat them however I see fit.
All right, my little babies?
Dr Emery will never take me on.
The other guy
holds on to everyone in his care.
If he didn't, they'd all leave him.
You can't stop anyone
who wants to leave from leaving.
There are some boats
sailing on the sea.
Slowly.
With men at the helm.
And there are others...
...with no one at the helm.
Those go much faster.
Driven by the wind.
Are you out of your cell?
I'm coming out tomorrow?
I haven't given up on escaping.
I thought he'd gone to mass, boss.
Where did the rope come from?
You left a rope lying around?
Bunch of morons.
They're patients, not boy scouts.
Poor Heurtevent.
He was a good guy.
He was the nicest patient we had.
He never committed a violent act...
...never uttered a rebellious word.
I'm to blame.
Go on, say it. It's my fault.
I'm a bully.
My methods are too strict.
Last year out of 300 patients
I only had three suicides.
That's hardly disgraceful.
I didn't invent the methods I apply.
Well, I invented mine.
Goddamn it!
What a disaster.
It's the last straw.
I should never have
given them so much freedom.
Have you got it?
The walls are lower,
the building juts out.
What about clothes?
They'll be at the foot of the wall.
Hide in the woods until nightfall.
They'll come after you.
Remember last time?
Don't worry about that.
Are you sure you won't come?
Yes.
This is a cushy number.
If I leave, they'll bump me off.
Give me the address.
Here.
They'll give you a first-rate job
if you say I sent you.
Thanks. Dodger.
The bastard!
Mr Tony?
Through there on the left.
White. Triple the stakes.
That's for Mr Tony.
Call Mr Tony. One moment.
No more bets.
Go ahead, banker.
Green. Triple the stakes.
How's the dodger?
In no hurry to get out, eh?
Mind you, if he ever got out...
Anyway, I can give you a job.
You can rake in the chips,
like that young man.
You don't seem too pleased.
I had hoped for better.
You're a bit full of yourself
for an asylum escapee.
Remember those guys from Russia?
You can start tomorrow.
Take it or leave it.
I'll take it.
Have you got digs?
I'll stay with a friend.
That's not very wise.
They'll soon catch you.
If you change your mind. come to me.
I won't let you down.
Thank you.
Goodbye.
It's you.
Have you been discharged?
Can I come in?
Have you had dinner?
No.
Sit down, then.
When did you get out?
Today.
And you came straight to me?
Your place is tiny.
It's adequate for me on my own.
What will you do now?
I'm going to work in a billiard hall.
A casino.
That's no job for you.
It's just for a few weeks.
Then I'll see.
I might leave...
...go abroad.
You talk as if you wanted to run away,
but you're not an escapee.
Is Mr Grane there?
Who?
Franois Grane.
He's not here.
Have you heard from him?
We'll be back.
Goodbye, Miss.
Did you run away from the asylum?
I'm not going back.
I have a life to live.
You only get one.
I'm not spending it behind walls.
Calm down, they've gone.
But they'll be back.
And I won't be here.
When you're locked up all alone,
you daydream to keep your spirits up.
But dreaming is a lie.
I'm not a dream.
We can do anything you like,
and we'll do it together.
An escapee has no future.
He's always running
from the light and people.
He can't call anywhere home.
Sooner or later, he gets caught.
You'll never escape them
on your own.
What will you do
when we have nothing?
You'd soon grow to hate me
if I let you follow me.
I don't mind putting up
with the hardship and fear...
...but I don't want
to inflict them on you.
Our fates were sealed
when we first met.
I'll always be with you,
wherever you go.
Goodbye, my love.
No! No!
No! Let me go! Let me go!
No!
No! No!
Francois!
I
I
...whose state of mind oscillates...
...between reason and insanity.
Modern psychiatry could save him...
...but he is subjected to a system...
...that we condemn nowadays...
...for its basis on prejudice and fear.
The strange world
you are about to enter...
...will give you an idea of how
much work still needs to be done...
...to transform the way
the mentally ill are treated.
HEAD AGAINST THE WALL
Based on the novel by Herv Bazin
You nearly ran him over.
Are you practising for a race?
Are you conducting an inquiry?
On you?
That would hardly be very interesting.
Why? Because I do motocross?
Because you're Francois Grane.
Would you like my autograph?
How much do you charge?
You're not one of the gang.
I've never seen you before.
Well, I've often seen you.
Your photograph. anyway.
You're 25 years old,
son of the lawyer, Mr Grane.
You claim to love no one
but you're bored stiff.
You owe Mr Maurice 200,000 francs.
Mr Maurice doesn't joke
about gambling debts...
...especially when the debtor
has pinched his wife from him.
Did Gilbert send you?
He can't get you any more money.
I know who you are now.
You're Gilbert's meddling sister,
Stphanie.
I might have known
you'd get involved.
Not before time.
He'll get a job.
He might get married,
become a father.
I'm asking you
not to see him any more.
I'll think about it. Tomorrow.
Tonight I need the money too much.
Do you want a lift back to Paris?
Yes.
Hold tight.
A swallow.
Strange bird.
I phoned you three times last week.
My phone's been cut off.
Shall I introduce you?
No, I'll wait here.
Still racing, biker boy?
Yes, I'm after 200,000 francs,
and it's urgent.
Have you got it?
Can you help?
Really!
Hey. watch
you don't break the needle!
100,000, then. I'll pay you back.
Are you all alone in the world, son?
I have my father, I suppose.
I couldn't find anyone.
I don't have any money.
I've brought Simone.
I could only get 20,000.
Your sister's here.
Gilbert.
Gilbert scares me
with all this money talk.
What's all this
about you needing money?
It's over now. My husband's onto it.
I can't do any more for you.
You can ask your new friends.
You'll be fine. I adore you.
In my house?
Here in this house?
Butois versus Bergeron.
Official legal documents
you're not meant to take home.
And you knew that.
Why have you done this to me?
No. don't say anything.
You only take after me in name.
You get your violence, cruelty
and dishonesty from your mother.
You're insane, like her.
Yes, I've nicked
some money from you, too.
I don't need to tell you why.
Don't move.
You wouldn't kill your son.
You'd never get away with it.
You're a thief and an arsonist,
not my son.
The police? But there's no such thing
as theft among families.
As a lawyer, you should know that.
In any society, wild beasts
have to be rendered harmless.
Is this a hospital?
Yes, son.
Which hospital?
Come back to bed.
I'm not in prison, am I?7
Why would you be in prison. son?
Mr Grane, isn't it?
I've been expecting you.
The doctor told me about you.
Comte Elzar de Chambrelle,
the writer.
Despite meeting under
such unfortunate circumstances...
...I'm delighted to have
a quality table companion at last.
Lay an extra place, Adrien.
This way.
Please, sit down.
A word about our friends for starters.
Starting from the left,
and please be discreet.
At the head of the table
is Colonel Donnadieu.
Given shock treatment in 1918,
relapsed in 1930 and 1945.
19307
Morocco.
Next to him is a rare specimen
who pretends to be blind.
He's only blind so he can see clearer.
That sad young man with the bundle
is Heurtevent.
He wanted to join the navy
but they declared him unfit for purpose.
He's never recovered.
Have some jam.
As the Colonel says,
you only die once.
Shut up, Comte Elzar.
Everyone has to die.
And we won the war...
...the First Foreign Cavalry Regiment
The knives we get here
aren't like knives elsewhere.
I don't have to learn Spanish.
I don't have to learn...
They're mostly harmless.
That's enough, now.
Really. Here you go.
Good day, Doctor.
Colonel Donnadieu,
First Foreign Cavalry Regiment.
Many people coming in?
A van-load.
Where will you put them all?
On the top floor.
Grane, the little arsonist.
How's he doing?
He had a bad night.
He's restless, thinks he's in prison.
He's a bit confused. sir.
Go and fetch him.
Very well.
He must've put up quite a fight.
He was brought here asleep.
He's calm now.
He doesn't seem like a lunatic to me.
I don't want to hear
that word used here.
The word "lunatic is offensive.
It doesn't mean anything.
As far as psychiatrists are concerned,
there are no lunatics, only patients.
I didn't mean...
Interns like you, my dear fellow...
...end up as society psychiatrists.
Asylums have two tasks.
To cure the insane...
...and to protect society.
The second is more important
since it affects everyone.
The insane need to be kept
under lock and key.
That's what 30 years as
a qualified psychiatrist has taught me.
Who signed the confinement papers?
The family doctor.
Perfect. Everything's in order.
So you're Mr Grane.
Francois Grane.
How old are you?
25.
What illnesses did you have as a child?
Measles?
Scarlet fever?
Mumps?
What about as an adult?
Nothing at all?
What's your profession?
No job at 257
What do you do?
I'm looking for work.
What sort of work?
I have friends.
What sort of friends?
Do you meet often? Where?
Young people my age.
Yes, we meet often.
At gatherings?
Parties, as you would say?
Or perhaps elsewhere.
A probable imbalance.
You never told me
what sort of job you were looking for.
What qualifications do you have?
The first part of my baccalaurat.
I wanted to be a painter
so I went to art school.
Did you qualify?
I didn't stay. I wasn't interested
in methodical learning.
In short, instability.
What next?
What did you do next?
I left home.
I wanted to try to cope on my own.
A runaway.
And how did you cope?
Badly.
What about women?
Do you have a fiance? No?
A lover?
I have no plans on that score but
there's no shortage of girls in my life.
And yet none of them
has stayed with you.
Were none of them suitable?
What would you know?
What are you trying to prove?
My father sectioned me
because he hates me.
Calm down, please.
You haven't said anything
about your mother.
She's dead.
How did she die?
She drowned.
Yes, it was an accident.
I shouldn't be in this lunatic asylum.
It's a psychiatric hospital.
Headstrong personality,
behavioural difficulties.
Keep an eye on that.
You've been sectioned because
you need rest and peace and quiet.
You live a dissolute life.
You're still very young.
It's pleasant here in the countryside.
All that fresh air,
miles from everywhere.
Miles from Paris.
Stop it! I'm ordering you to stop!
On guard!
Where did you get that?
He stole it.
Drop it! Drop it!
Hello. new boy.
There's nothing wrong with you.
No.
It's a cushy number. If you leave...
Is that the countryside behind there?
Go and see.
Are the walls still there?
An asylum in the middle of the fields.
Yes.
A living death.
You talk as if people never get out.
People get out,
but then they come back.
Have you been here long?
Four years.
Do you ever think of escaping?
All the time.
I'm going to escape.
For a start,
it's best not to say anything.
All these unfortunates,
afflicted like this.
What about you, Doctor?
How do you deal
with all this distress?
The same way you do, Father...
...when you treat mortal sinners.
Only in your case, hell comes later.
Mr Grane?
It's this way.
It's you.
Who told you?
Word's going round.
Word's going round
that I'm crazy, you mean?
Have you come to check?
We want to help you.
Maybe a lawyer...
A lawyer?
What for?
I'll be accused of being a thief,
a murderer or a forger.
Al right?
I'm already accused
of being unhinged.
Lunatics can't be absolved
because they don't get punished.
They're simply eliminated.
And locked up.
The worst thing must be
the lack of privacy.
No. it's the contagiousness.
No one has been to see me.
You're the only one.
If you hadn't been
so lonely and unhappy...
...I would never have come.
Don't come back.
It's too depressing.
I don't think it will take much.
For what?
For me to become a good boy?
No. A happier one.
Visiting time is over,
ladies and gentlemen.
Walk slowly.
Did you come by car?
Yes, with a friend.
If I get past the gate,
start the car right away.
Can I rely on you?
Yes.
Going for a stroll?
Look what happens
as soon as our backs are turned.
I need to be able to trust you.
No one escapes this place.
Unfortunately for you,
we are well organised.
Every failed attempt to escape
makes things worse for you.
Don't be a fool.
I know it's impossible to escape.
But you can't blame me for trying.
What I did was stupid
and I know I need to be punished...
...but not with a life sentence.
Look, I'm a doctor, not a policeman.
Don't you see?
What's the injection for?
It's just a barbiturate.
We're going to get on, you and I.
You say you acted foolishly.
Let's be more specific.
You burnt documents
that didn't belong to you.
A pointless act of destruction.
Why did you do that?
That "why" is what differentiates
a doctor from a judge.
If you can answer that question,
you're free to go.
If you cannot...
...you leave me no option
but to draw my own conclusions.
I said relax.
So go on, tell me.
Let yourself go.
I wanted to hurt him. destroying
what was dearest to his heart.
Are you talking about your father?
Don't you love him?
loved my mother.
What's that got to do with it?
When she died...
...I couldn't go on living with him.
And she drowned you say.
That's what my father said.
He told some people
she'd fallen in the pond.
He told others,
including me and I was there...
...that she'd jumped.
And you were there? How come?
We'd been for a walk...
...my mother and I.
He came towards us.
He kept on insulting her, because...
Because?
I don't know.
At times she'd cry out
when he squeezed her arm.
She wept when he talked to her.
What then?
Well?
That day...
...they took me back to the house.
They handed me over to a servant.
I ran up to my room.
I watched out of the window.
She went back to the pond.
He waved his arms around.
She lowered her head.
And?
That's all.
Later my father told me
she'd killed herself.
But he also told me she was alone.
And that's not true.
Can't you remember
anything more specific...
...so that I can start
drawing conclusions?
I was eight years old, Doctor.
Calm down now.
Promise me you will.
Only sick people dream of escaping.
I don't try to escape, do 17
A prime example of father hatred.
Keep an eye on him.
Do you want to swap duties?
I want to get out of here.
I do, too,
but I want to get better first.
What do you mean by "get better"?
Wake up in my own room,
get dressed in my own clothes...
...talk to people.
Walk straight ahead
without being afraid of falling over.
You think a doctor can cure you?
Dr Emery is different.
Patients lead normal lives with him.
They don't wear a uniform.
There are no cells or straitjackets.
No watchful eyes
or locks everywhere.
I'd like to see that.
It's true.
And away from here...
...there are asylums
at the seaside with boats.
I'd get better there.
First I need Dr Emery
to take me on.
Won't he take you on now?
He's full up.
Can I go and watch the game?
I'll take the washing in.
Do you like sport?
I used to do motocross.
Now I pace the walls
of this vile place.
Do you know Dr Emery?
Apparently he takes an interest
in his patients.
Unlike Dr Varmont.
That's a bit harsh.
It's not entirely his fault.
Do you have friends?
Does anyone visit you?
A girl.
She comes every week.
Your fiance?
No.
I met her too late.
The day before I came here.
Good day, Dr Emery.
Good day.
I saw the aviary.
What colour is it going to be?
Blue.
Blue.
Is there still no room for me?
Still no room.
Goodbye, Doctor.
Goodbye, Doctor.
Why are they in a ring?
It looks like a game...
...but it's a method.
It's to teach them to live together.
Together?
Each person turns
because they're all turning.
Watch. They're going to let go.
Go on.
They're not moving any more.
Once the chain is broken...
...they're all alone.
Lost.
Go on.
This is the bar.
There's music, bright colours.
Our objective remains unchanged.
It's first and foremost to give patients
a renewed zest for life.
Doctor, what's your opinion
of the new methods?
There can be no doubt
that the asylum is free...
...if I can call it that.
Which is an interesting subject.
Or rather an interesting sales pitch.
But I don't think any publicity...
...can solve the problems of insanity.
You'd be better off asking Dr Emery.
He's got a lot to say on the issue.
Try probing the matter with him.
Considering the financial difficulties...
...it's reasonable
to talk about conclusive results.
We come up against lots of bad will...
...and deep-rooted prejudice,
but we're on the right track.
What's over there, Doctor?
Those are models
made by our patients...
...at varying stages of their treatment.
They start with balls.
Always balls. The earth.
Then come the animals
and these strange creatures...
...half man, half beast:
a centaur, a sphinx, a sort of faun.
If they model humans,
are they cured?
No. The final stage seems to be
represented by symbols of life.
A child in its cradle...
. fruit in a basket, flowers in a vase.
Straight trees
in the middle of gardens.
Tell me about yourself.
I've told you everything already.
All I know is that you live alone.
I've been living alone for a long time.
Do you like your work?
The first days were harder.
But more interesting, too.
Are you bored with it now?
I never get bored.
I do, when you're not here.
It's not just the asylum.
I was always bored before, too.
Tell me, will you wait for me?
You can leave whenever you like.
I telephoned your father.
He's the only one who can help you.
You don't know him.
If I let him,
he'd be here watching me suffer.
Like he did with my mother.
I don't want to see him.
What are you thinking?
Talk to me.
I'm looking at the walls
so I don't forget them.
Why?
Aren't you coming back any more?
You refuse to understand.
You're all talk.
You do nothing to change your life.
I don't believe in anything.
He who believes in nothing
has everything he needs.
If you believed in nothing,
you'd never have destroyed those files.
You should see your father again now.
There's no harm in lying to him.
No one's ever spoken to me
like that before.
Then you've never been loved.
Grane,
you're to come and see the doctor.
Come in.
There was no need
to use that girl as a go-between.
I've been waiting for you to call me
since you came here.
I needed time to think.
Will you forgive me
for the wrong I did to you that night?
Is that the best you can do. Francois?
I've put up with much worse than that.
Will you get me out of here?
The doctor is hopeful, very hopeful.
I'm sure you'll get better.
We can all have
momentary aberrations.
You steal from your father...
...disgrace him...
...beat him.
You call beating your father
a momentary aberration?
I don't recall having any that serious.
I'm sorry for everything I've done.
I won't be any more trouble to you.
Get me out of here.
I love this girl. She loves me, too.
She came to see you.
Another love affair.
Poor Francois.
These conquests
haven't exactly got you very far.
I remember the evening I introduced you
to the secrets of my profession.
You wouldn't listen.
You stood up abruptly.
A girl was waiting for you somewhere.
I remember that, too.
You were acting for the defence
in the crown court.
Thanks to your skill,
the accused lost his life.
But that same evening,
equally passionately...
...you set out the case
that would have saved him.
Society is essentially a game, son.
And you have to know how to play it.
I was trying to teach you that...
...but you wouldn't let me.
You never understood me.
That's true.
I never dared understand.
As rebellious as ever.
The asylum hasn't changed you,
in spite of my best efforts.
You'd test the patience of a saint.
Do you think, in spite of everything,
he might be able to come out soon?
That's entirely up to him.
You realise that, don't you?
No. son.
That's the road to freedom.
I had thought, hoped,
that he would have improved.
I'm afraid not.
Forgive me for asking you this...
...but what happened
the day your wife died?
Has Francois talked to you about it?
A little.
I had to ask him about his childhood.
What did he tell you about it?
Not much.
He was very young. wasn't he?
My wife drowned.
I know.
It's an unfortunate legacy. isn't it?
There would have been an inquest.
Questioning. an autopsy.
No suicide case
ever escapes slander.
Even honest people
are subjected to it.
You know how it is, Doctor.
Of course.
The case has been closed now.
Excellent.
I'm pleased for you.
Forgive me for having
reawoken the painful memory.
It's in my nature to be curious.
And it's in my profession.
If you say so.
Goodbye.
Shall we wait until tomorrow?
No.
Are you sure?
What about the key to the ward?
His key opens all the wards.
What about the gate?
No, only the wards.
Let's go.
I've got the keys.
Dr Varmont!
Dr Varmont! Dr Varmont!
You lot go left.
We did it.
Take care of him.
Which one is he?
The epileptic one.
The lunatic.
He's getting away.
Of course it's easier to punish him
than cure him, Varmont...
...but punishing him won't cure him.
What are you talking about?
That escape, for instance.
What escape? Grane's, you mean.
Don't worry; order has been restored.
Once he'd been shot at like a rabbit.
It only scratched him.
Anyway, I'm not responsible
for the panic that grips people...
...whenever any of the patients escape.
It's a panic I understand,
however lamentable.
For 30 years now
I've lived alongside lunatics.
Believe you me...
...even if a few are curable...
...they're all dangerous.
Why don't we try an experiment?
Entrust this young man to me.
At least then he wouldn't
be disrupting your wards any more.
Entrust Grane to you? No.
Not him.
Why not?
As you well know,
there are some patients...
...whose illness can be diagnosed...
...since it is spectacular
rather than deep-rooted.
And then there are others...
...whose dementia is harder to define.
Grane, for example?
I think so.
I sense you're starting to fear...
...that I will cure him too easily.
I fear you're interested in him
because you don't think he's ill.
I don't choose my patients.
I take those I'm given, like you.
I'm suspicious of the way
you see this as your calling.
I have no time
for your holier-than-thou approach.
I have a specific responsibility...
...to protect society
with the means at my disposal.
That's what the police are there for.
Many of the 120,000 patients
sectioned in France could be cured...
...if they got a tenth
of the treatment TB patients get.
Come now, Dr Emery...
...in all honesty,
between you and me...
...do you think
your treatment can cure them?
Perhaps not,
but it won't lead to new cases.
Let's at least try
to deliver them from fear.
Every day patients
we've discharged too soon...
...rape or kill or commit arson.
And every day
some of them die in asylums.
If I had to take a risk...
...I'd prefer to discharge them
half cured...
...than kill them
without discharging them.
You're filling the world with criminals.
Worse than that,
you're a criminal yourself by proxy.
That's what sets us apart.
You cut out the middleman.
One day a client will ransack
your rooms and strangle your kids.
Don't count on me to bail you out.
No. they're in my care
and I'll treat them however I see fit.
All right, my little babies?
Dr Emery will never take me on.
The other guy
holds on to everyone in his care.
If he didn't, they'd all leave him.
You can't stop anyone
who wants to leave from leaving.
There are some boats
sailing on the sea.
Slowly.
With men at the helm.
And there are others...
...with no one at the helm.
Those go much faster.
Driven by the wind.
Are you out of your cell?
I'm coming out tomorrow?
I haven't given up on escaping.
I thought he'd gone to mass, boss.
Where did the rope come from?
You left a rope lying around?
Bunch of morons.
They're patients, not boy scouts.
Poor Heurtevent.
He was a good guy.
He was the nicest patient we had.
He never committed a violent act...
...never uttered a rebellious word.
I'm to blame.
Go on, say it. It's my fault.
I'm a bully.
My methods are too strict.
Last year out of 300 patients
I only had three suicides.
That's hardly disgraceful.
I didn't invent the methods I apply.
Well, I invented mine.
Goddamn it!
What a disaster.
It's the last straw.
I should never have
given them so much freedom.
Have you got it?
The walls are lower,
the building juts out.
What about clothes?
They'll be at the foot of the wall.
Hide in the woods until nightfall.
They'll come after you.
Remember last time?
Don't worry about that.
Are you sure you won't come?
Yes.
This is a cushy number.
If I leave, they'll bump me off.
Give me the address.
Here.
They'll give you a first-rate job
if you say I sent you.
Thanks. Dodger.
The bastard!
Mr Tony?
Through there on the left.
White. Triple the stakes.
That's for Mr Tony.
Call Mr Tony. One moment.
No more bets.
Go ahead, banker.
Green. Triple the stakes.
How's the dodger?
In no hurry to get out, eh?
Mind you, if he ever got out...
Anyway, I can give you a job.
You can rake in the chips,
like that young man.
You don't seem too pleased.
I had hoped for better.
You're a bit full of yourself
for an asylum escapee.
Remember those guys from Russia?
You can start tomorrow.
Take it or leave it.
I'll take it.
Have you got digs?
I'll stay with a friend.
That's not very wise.
They'll soon catch you.
If you change your mind. come to me.
I won't let you down.
Thank you.
Goodbye.
It's you.
Have you been discharged?
Can I come in?
Have you had dinner?
No.
Sit down, then.
When did you get out?
Today.
And you came straight to me?
Your place is tiny.
It's adequate for me on my own.
What will you do now?
I'm going to work in a billiard hall.
A casino.
That's no job for you.
It's just for a few weeks.
Then I'll see.
I might leave...
...go abroad.
You talk as if you wanted to run away,
but you're not an escapee.
Is Mr Grane there?
Who?
Franois Grane.
He's not here.
Have you heard from him?
We'll be back.
Goodbye, Miss.
Did you run away from the asylum?
I'm not going back.
I have a life to live.
You only get one.
I'm not spending it behind walls.
Calm down, they've gone.
But they'll be back.
And I won't be here.
When you're locked up all alone,
you daydream to keep your spirits up.
But dreaming is a lie.
I'm not a dream.
We can do anything you like,
and we'll do it together.
An escapee has no future.
He's always running
from the light and people.
He can't call anywhere home.
Sooner or later, he gets caught.
You'll never escape them
on your own.
What will you do
when we have nothing?
You'd soon grow to hate me
if I let you follow me.
I don't mind putting up
with the hardship and fear...
...but I don't want
to inflict them on you.
Our fates were sealed
when we first met.
I'll always be with you,
wherever you go.
Goodbye, my love.
No! No!
No! Let me go! Let me go!
No!
No! No!
Francois!
I
I