- Good morning - Hi, I am Elodie Sorel
- I’m here to see my grandfather, Lucien Sorel. - OK. You know where his room is ?
Yes, I know. Thanks.
Yeah yeah, coming…
Oh...
it’s you.
I am glad to see you.
Well, come in.
It's really dark in here, should I open the curtains?
Yeah, yeah, if you want.
Let me just clean up and I'll be right there .
So…you want to drink something, a coffee maybe…?
No, nothing, thanks.
So, what's up?
I am glad to see you.
Because...
you don't come too often.
I'm fine. You?
Well, like an old man…
What're you gonna do today? Any plans?
Oh no, today’s saturday.
On Saturdays and Sundays, I don't do anything.
- 'Cause you've got a lot going on during the week? - Oh yes, I've got appointments.
First… the speech therapist.
Her office is just behind the church,
it’s easy to walk to, takes me 10 minutes.
Then what else…. Oh yeah, the physiotherapist.
He comes here.
Once a week...
...has me walk the halls... makes me sit down, stand up…
And then what else do I have?
The… ah, what's the name for that?
The workshops!
They are for all the residents.
There's the memory workshop…
And also...
the balance workshop, my balance isn’t great…
And there's this workshop I like a lot,
- the cooking workshop... - OK, so lots to do.
Anyway, I am not going to stay much longer.
Look at you,
just got there, already want to leave me?
That’s right, I’m leaving you.
Actually, I came to ask you one question,
and I am not leaving until I get an answer.
Well...
aren’t you cheeky?!
Here is the question :
why did you abuse me when I was a child?
Why did I ?
Abuse me when I was a child?
When you were a child?
Yes. When I was 10 or 11.
I abused you?
Yes.
No!
No?
No, no, no no no…
When you were 10 or 11?
Well...
you'll have to tell me what I did 'cause…
this blows my mind.
Why did you come into sexual contact with me?
What?
Lucien, stop it.
Why did you touch me when I was a child?
Can't remember.
You can't remember or you don't want to remember?
But...
No, not that I don't want to.
I can't remember anything.
Hey...
I didn't rape you did I?
What do you mean, "rape"?
Well,
what I mean...
only one thing.
Which is?
Uh...
Sexual contact isn’t "rape"?
When an old man caresses a child
and forces her to caress him as well, it's not "rape"?
Did I do that?
Yes, you did do that.
Is this normal?
No.
So why did you do it?
I can’t remember.
Did you touch other children as well?
My cousins?
Did you touch them when they were young?
Sophie ?
Marianne ?
Juliette ?
Surely not. I don't remember.
And your daughter?
Did you touch her when she was a child?
No.
Never.
Oh, "never". So, for her you remember it was "never"?
The others, you can't remember? Me, you don’t remember?
But Elodie… you...
you know that I've had a stroke, so…
there are many things I've forgotten, you know…
The last time I came to visit you,
you told me a lot of things about May '68
lots of details.
You could remember the strikes at the factory,
the demonstrations in Grenoble, all of that…
And the time before that,
you told me about your role during the resistance,
in the maquis du Vercors,
and for that also, you had an amazing amount of details,
adresses, codenames, sabotage...
But all thatwas before what I’mtalking about.
You were 60, and I was 10.
So, you can remember much older things, but not that?
So this is why you came ?
Yes, that’s why I came, yes.
To understand.
Why?
I just want to know : why?
I can’t remember.
You were frustrated?
You were missing sex with Granny right?
Or were you just a sex addict,
ready to jump on any woman…
or any little girl?
I can’t remember.
I swear I can’t.
Ok.
So, I will tell you what I can remember.
For a year,
I stayed with you every Tuesday night and Wednesday.
When Granny Simone went to bed, or was reading in her room,
you would come to see me.
You would come into this little room, where I slept, where the TV was.
And then...
you would open your dressing gown,
and you would ask me to caress you.
Your penis.
You don't remember that ?
That very same year,
we went to Montagny to ski, to the Charlet’s apartment.
You were there, and Granny, my brother who was maybe 5 at the time, and I was there.
Whose apartment?
The Charlets’.
Who are the Charlets ?
Jacques and Thérèse Charlet, your great friends they lent you the Montagny apartment, every winter...
Well, that week, same thing.
Every night, when I went to bed,
you’d come find me
and you’d lay down next to me.
You don’t remember that ?
No.
Fine.
You don’t remember.
But I feel like,
you don’t seem surprised by what I am telling you?
Oh, yes, I’m surprised.
But you still have a doubt
‘cause you do not firmly deny it.
You can always pretend you're 91 and you've forgotten things. It's easy.
But, from everything I’ve told you, nothing surprises you,
so, something must have happened.
But...
I didn’t rape you, did I ?
”You”?
What do you mean, "you"?
Who else did you rape Lucien?
How many of them did you rape, for fuck' sake?
I didn't rape anyone !!
When you caress a child,
and you force this child to caress you,
that’s not "rape"?
No…
No? What is it then ?
When you caress a child,
it might be without an ulterior motive.
Is caressing a child's breasts, or genitals,
"without an ulterior motive"?
I never did such a thing.
Yes you did !
You might not remember it, but I do, and perfectly !
And this is why I am here.
To find out why.
But you don’t have an answer
It’s easy to talk about it now
Because I should have said something sooner?
Maybe.
'cause I might have remembered.
I could have fucked up your life.
What do you think would have happened if I had told granny? Or my parents?
I think it would have made some noise in the family…
I have protected you for 32 years,
and now you're telling me I should have talked sooner ?
I’m not sure of that.
Your life would have been pretty different.
You really make me sad, now.
Don't worry, it's mutual.
Why am I making you sad?
Because there are things…
I didn't want...
to remember...
to...
to live over again... and...
...to be sorry for, mostly.
Because there are things
you didn't want to remember,
live over again,
and be sorry for, is this what you're telling me ?
Yes.
Well, I’m gonna let you
remember.
Live it over again.
And be sorry.
Goodbye Lulu.
This is the last time you’ll see me.
And if there's an afterlife,
even if I doubt you and I will be in the same place…
Don't come near me.