This your ball?
Well, come on and get it, then.
Come on, love. Come on.
Don't be frightened.
Even the kids are scared of us now.
If you don't come and get it,
I shall keep it.
Let's see if I can chuck it over
the roof. Oh, don't be a bas
Give it back to her.
We're not bloody savages.
You have to take it out
on a kid, do you?
Oh, come off it, mate.
I've got six of me own.
Eldest is seven, and I've never
raised me hand to one of them.
Look at the bloody windows,
shutters up everywhere.
All the civvies have gone into
hiding, mate.
They hate the bloody sight of us.
Waiting for the Germans to take us
off their hands.
Right. They'll be a bloody sight
more friendly to the Boche,
I'll tell you.
That's officers, all told.
bleeding officers
I've seen go in there.
What are they doing,
throwing a bloody party?
It's General Briaque what summoned
them. He's inside there.
That's his quarters.
General Briaque? Yeah, I saw him
get here last night.
Well, what are they doing?
Making plans to hand us over?
Oh, shut up.
LOUD SINGING APPROACHES
d*ed of the syph, then, have you?
Here, you're not one of our mob,
are you?
One of your stinking mob?
Don't insult me cobblers,
for Christ's sakes.
Well, where are you lot from, then?
Over there, mate.
Over there.
You've been in the thick
of it, then, eh? Yeah.
All lined up!
Ready to get stuck in when
our lousy, bleeding officers
had the shits. Pissed off they did!
Couldn't see their arses for dust.
Eh, lads?
THEY CHANT
Stop! The officers are
in there, mate!
Well, bring them here, then!
I'll sh*t on 'em! What?
Cos that's what they're doing
in there, mate!
They're sh1tting on you!
Well, come along with us, then,
why don't you? Sod 'em!
Who's coming, then?
Who's coming?!
THEY GRUMBLE JEERINGLY
They're not men.
They're a lot of yellow,
creeping bastards. Yeah.
Come on, lads. Let the bleeders rot.
THEY CHANT LOUDLY
THEY SING LOUDLY
Their officers have left them, then.
How do we know ours won't?
Eh? Desert us.
Well, of course they're
going to desert us.
What do you think they're cooking up
in there?
Oh, don't talk stupid.
Look, they had their batmen take
the petrol out of the lorries
last night and shove it
in their cars.
Eh? What?
We're rats in a trap, mate.
None of the officers got any juice.
Shut up. Listen.
ENGINE DRONES
Get down, mate! Get...!
BOMBS EXPLODE
Oh... That was close.
Well, I reckon they've had it.
Them blokes?
Must have hit them.
Open road, sitting target.
Can't have got very far, can they?
Yeah, poor bleeders.
Think I'll go and have a nose round.
Why? See what's happened.
I'll be seeing you.
Well, I'll come...
Not yet. What?
Got something to tell you.
What?
Got myself fixed up. Hmm?
Bit of skirt.
Works in the post office,
far end of the village.
Like to meet her?
What for?
Well, you're me mate, aren't you?
Yeah, course I am.
Well, I'd like you to meet her.
You never stop, do you?
Well, you've got to do something
to pass the time
now there's no fighting.
Wait till you see her.
Best pair of nellies I've ever
clapped me eyes on.
Well, she's educated, too -
geography, sums, and that.
Well, what about your wife?
Ah...
She can go and stuff herself.
Well? Done for.
All of them? Don't know,
I didn't count them.
Where were they, on the road?
Go and see for yourself.
I told the stretcher bearers.
Aren't you going to get up?
I'm fed up. What, again?
Snap out of it, why don't you?
Cigarette?
Won't be long now.
Tomorrow night? Yeah.
The...
The plane will be on the runway,
ready to take off.
All aboard by midnight,
airborne by : ,
and London by : .
What about it?
You're going to come with us?
Well?
Nothing doing.
You're not going to stay in France,
are you? I don't know.f
Look, the w*r's not over yet.
It's only cowards that pack it in.
You've got to stay where
the fighting is.
No need to tell me that.
Well, then?
Well, I'm waiting for my woman
to turn up.
When I've seen her, I shall decide.
You're not going to let a woman
stand in your way, surely to God?
I'm sorry, but that's the way it is.
So, you'll get there about : ?
Yeah.
By dawn, you'll be over
the white cliffs.
Eh?
Well, the big white cliffs.
English coast will look marvellous.
Never been up in a plane.
What time's your woman arrive?
Tonight.
I, erm, haven't said a word to mine.
I just drop her a line tonight.
By the time she gets it,
I'll be in London.
You amaze me, Boris.
You really do.
You wouldn't understand.
Oh, yeah?
SOLDIER CALLS
Yeah?
There's a girl outside asking
for you. Oh, thank you.
Your woman? No, it's my sister,
actually. It's her day for vi
Cor, you should see her.
She's got a big limousine
with a chauffeur, the lot.
Yeah, she's taking me into
Marseilles for a drink.
How about me coming with you, then?
I'm sorry.
We've got things to discuss.
Well, tell her, then, any time
she's free...
No, I'm afraid she's married.
Ha, that doesn't stop 'em...
That's my sister you're talking
about, mate.
Oh, sorry, mate. No offence.
Boris.
Get yourself sorted out.
I shall miss you.
Oh, come on, darling.
Come out of your cage, please.
I'm all right where I am,
thank you.
Don't you trust us?
A girl can't be too careful
these days.
You're frightened of us,
aren't you, eh? Why?
Think we're going to overpower you?
He's very civilised is my mate,
you know. Very educated, like you.
I'm sure he is.
Oh, go on, put a finger through.
Go on, just one little finger.
I won't hurt you.
You won't try anything?
Promise.
All right, then.
Hey, behave yourself!
Or I'll take it back.
Ah, come on, now.
Don't be spiteful.
Besides, I want you to shake
fingers with my mate, Mathieu.
I'd like to introduce you to
Mademoiselle What's-her-name?
She's a very plucky little
French girl.
She should have been evacuated,
but stood by her post
in case anyone had need of her.
How do you, mademoiselle?
He's a schoolteacher, he is.
Are you really?
That's what he is.
You know, you two are
very important people.
Do you know that Mademoiselle is
responsible for all the love letters
in the village? We don't have many
love letters here, I'm afr
If I lived here,
do you know what I'd do?
What? I'd write love letters
to all the girls in the village.[
You'd do what? Just so's they'd pass
through your lovely han
Oh... Cos you was made for love,
my darling.
You ought to be the postmistress
of love, really. Oh, bloody he
Here we are.
What's this? Read it.
"Pay the bearer , kisses."
Oh, you cheeky devil.
Fancy doing that on official paper.
I think I'll leave you
to yourselves.
Are you going, then?
I'd better get back.
I'll come with you.
No, really... No, no, I'll come.
I'll be back in five minutes. You'll
open the door again, won't you?
Oh, you're a nuisance, you are.
First you want to come in,
then you want to go out.
Why can't you make up your mind?
All right, then. I'll stay.
But don't forget it's
you that's asked me.
I didn't ask you anything.
Oh, yes, you did.
Oh, no, I didn't.
Oh, yes. Oh, no.
sh*t. Bye, mademoiselle.
Bye, monsieur.
Has anyone ever told you
how beautiful you are?
THEY GIGGLE
I'll see you in the canteen
about : .
Ivich!
Afternoon, little brother.
Little brother?
You sound like something
out of Chekov.
Either side of the fireplace sit
little babushka, little dedushka!
Dedushka, he did....
Idiot.
It's really nice to see you.
How are you?
I feel awful. Hmm.
You don't look too good.
But you're nicely decked out.
You look like something from, uh...
Crime and Punishment.
That's not funny.
Well, Ivan the Terrible, then?
Ha, ha... Ha, ha, ha.
Sorry.
Can you get out of this place?
Of course, yeah.
Good. Well, let's go.
Your, erm...your father-in-law
isn't with you, is he?
Is that likely?
Where to, Madam?
Any ideas?
Wherever you like.
Well, let's go somewhere where
there's lots of people.
The Camabiert, then.
Oh, God, no. Not the Camabiert.
Still, if you want to go there,
yes, we'll go to the Camabiert.
No, no. The Cafe de Riche
down by the harbour.
Excellent. Yeah.
Hear that? Very good, Madam.
You're not saluting officers?
What's the point?
Their women made eyes at you.
He's good looking, isn't he?
Ivich, for Christ's sake!
What are you going to have?
Is their coffee drinkable?
So-so.
The stuff that our servants make
is absolutely foul.
Ivich. Hmm?
Did your husband...?
My husband?
Well, did he manage to get out
of Paris?
I don't know and I don't care.
Actually, I hope he's dead.
Your order, sir?
Oh, yes. Two coffees.
Yes, that's all, thank you.
Thank you, sir.
How are you getting on
with your mother-in-law?
Oh, not too badly.
Living with her all the time,
I'm becoming just like her.
Not you. No, but I am.
I get up at : , dawdle over
dressing until : .
Read the papers until lunch,
when we both talk for an hour
or so about her darling son.
Lunch over,
we settle down to our knitting.
That's when she usually bares
her woman's heart to me.
Apparently, my husband was always
a delicate child.
There were complications
in the birth.
Madame's bowels, bladder and womb
haven't been the same since.
I listen patiently,
and then I go up to my room.
Well, what do you do there?
Nothing.
Then, after dinner, we listen to
the news on the wireless.
We say, "Tut, tut.
"But, after all, France is the
greatest country on God's Earth,"
"and we'll always pull through,
whatever the crisis."
And, after that,
I retire to my room.
I sit in an armchair, and
I wait till they're all asleep.
And then?
Well, then I breathe at last.
You should read books.
Well, it'd stop you
from being bored.
It's no good reading.
If I read, I can't concentrate.
I keep thinking about my
dear husband, Claude,
and how I hope we'll soon hear
that he's been k*lled.
You should never have married him.
Well, he got me pregnant, darling.
What a laugh.
The child is born dead,
so the joke's on both of us.
Muck. Huh?
Taste it.
Could be better.
It's lousy. Mademoiselle?
Lousy, your coffee. Take it away.
Oh, perhaps you'd like a nice cup
of Brazilian?
There's a w*r on.
The Germans have entered Paris.
Or didn't you know?
Oh, God, how they do go on.
I only hope they lose their damn
stupid w*r, once and for all,
and then shut up.
Why the "they"?
We're not French. But we are,
we've been naturalised.
Our parents should never
have left Russia.
If you were in Russia now, you'd
have the shock of your young life.
Russia's a great country.
I'd be proud.
Here, I spend all my time
feeling ashamed.
I detest the French, I loathe them.
Bloody cowards.
All the chaps I've been with
are good fighters.
Good fighters that run like rabbits.
Look, they decided to have this w*r,
didn't they?
Well, then, having chosen,
they should fight it to the finish.
Look, let's drop it, eh?
They're afraid of dying,
that's what's wrong with them.
Well, aren't you afraid of dying?
I'm a woman.
Don't tell me when you were
fighting, you were afraid of dying.
No, I wasn't afraid,
because I happen to believe
that was what I was there for.
But it didn't stop me from
being windy at times.
Windy? Why?
I don't know.
I suppose it was the noise.
Are you ashamed of me?
Yes.
No.
What are you going to do now?
What, after I'm demobilised?
Why...
Well?
I think I'll become a teacher.
But you haven't got a degree.
No. In a private school.
Oh, teaching small boys?
No, perhaps I'm not particularly
cut out for it.
What are you really cut out for,
brother mine?
Sometimes wonder.
We're only cut out for one thing,
the pair of us.
What's that? Being rich.
Oh, it's nonsense.
Are you good at anything else?
Well, the only real training
I've had has been m*llitary training,
and now nobody wants that any more.
Well, not here, at least.
Lola's got plenty of money,
hasn't she?
I don't want Lola's money.
You used to live off her
before the w*r.
Well, that was before the w*r.
Then we'd better, both of us,
commit su1c1de.
Oh, be your age.
We must rent a room down
in the old quarter,
and simply turn on the gas.
I've been thinking. Hmm?
Couldn't you let me join up
with you and Lola?
The three of us?
Well, yes. We could all live off
Lola's money, then, couldn't we?
You've got it all planned,
haven't you?
Boris, I cannot go on living
with my in-laws.
Why not? You're not treated badly.
No, of course I'm not,
they wrap me up in cotton wool.
And I loathe them! And I loathe
Claude, I loathe the servants...
And you loathe Lola.
Lola's different.
Those people, they're so...
..narrow, miserable and ugly.
Well, Lola, she... What?
Lola has life.
She's a personality.
She sings, she drinks.
She's beautiful.
If I have to go on living with them,
I shall k*ll myself.
Oh, no, you won't.
All right, then,
I shan't k*ll myself.
It'll be much worse than that.
If you only knew how old and
done for I feel sometimes.
I used to be pretty, didn't I?
Yes.
Very well, then.
You'll let me live with you
and Lola? Yes.
She'll agree? I suppose so.
Well, when are you seeing her?
Tonight.
Will you tell her? Yes.
Oh...
Lola and I will have to get married.
Hmm?
Well, a teacher can't live with
a woman who's not his wife.
That's what you really want,
is it, to be a teacher?
Really and truly?
That's what I want.
What else?
ENGINES HUMMING
The bastards! They're bastards.
Sh! Not so loud.
You'd never believe it. Never!
Get up. Get up, quick.
What is it?
It's our officers. Hmm?
They're sodding off.
They're leaving us!
They're what?
Jesus, help me. The bastards!
You'd never credit it.
ENGINES TURN OVER
I mean, officers don't leave
their men, do they?
It's part and parcel
of being an officer.
It's the general.
It's General Briaque.
I'll k*ll him...!
Don't be a fool.
Well, there they go, mates.
We're on our Jack Jones now.
The officers...
Who's going to give the orders?
It'll be a shambles.
Don't worry. The Germans just come
in and round us up, don't they?
Come back here, you bleeders.
You can't desert us, you can't!
Oh, sod off, then!
They've scarpered.
The whole bleeding shower.
They've never liked us, have they?
Liked us?
For all the bull and saluting.
I thought they was on our side,
they was one of us.
One of us... Jesus, you want
your head looking at?
sh*t heaps, mates.
That's how officers think of us,
always have.
Poncy bleeders. sh*t heaps.
Left to bleeding well rot.
Boris. Hmm?
Get off me.
What?
Get off me, I can't breathe.
Sorry.
I'm happy.
Are you? Hmm.
There's something on your mind.
No. No, nothing.
You can't fool me.
You want me to drag it out of you?
Old marble flesh.
Nothing's wrong, really.
How good you smell.
Are you going to talk?
Or aren't you?
All right, then.
Give me my dressing gown. Why?
Because I'm cold.
And it's pretty.
I know. You've met some young virgin
and you want to marry her.
THEY GIGGLE
Wrong again?
Darling, what are you going to do
when they discharge you?
I'm going to marry you.
Are you? Yeah.
A teacher's got to be respectable.
Are you going to be a teacher?
That's it.
I'm going to be a teacher's wife?
Precisely.
And we're going to have the
headmaster and his wife for dinner?
That's it, yeah.
I'd like Ivich to come
and live with us.
Ivich? Mm.
She can't stand me.
Perhaps not.
But that's how I'd like it to be.
Did she suggest that herself?
Yes.
She can't stick her in-laws.
It's driving her around the bend.
You wouldn't recognise her.
And it's all settled, then?
Yes.
You see, I don't like
the arrangement. Lola...
Well, you think I'd jump at the
chance of settling down with you.
Wouldn't you?
You're too sure of your charms,
young man.
Do you think that sort of life
would really suit you?
I'll do anything, as long
as I could live with you.
But you said you hated the thought
of teaching.
What else can I do?
Well, you wanted to be a writer.
When I was younger.
I've now discovered
I have nothing to say.
Don't you? No.
Look, Lola, for the past two years,
I've been all geared up
for one thing -
to fight and to die.
I didn't expect to come through
this business alive.
It's caught me on the wrong foot.
You want the w*r to go on?
Yes.
Well, in fact, it is going on.
The English will carry on fighting,
and before six months are out,
the Americans will be in it too.
But for the French, it's all over.
No. No, not all.
Some have already got away
and others are on their way.
I see.
Could you get over there?
Lola... Could you?
Yes, I could. How?
By plane. What plane?
There's a private aerodrome
near Melignon.
A m*llitary plane landed there
a fortnight ago with engine trouble.
It's being repaired.
But you wouldn't know how to fly it.
No, I've got some pals who can.
Pals? What pals?
Just three chaps I met
in the hospital.
And they've asked you to go
with them? Yes.
And? And I refused.
I don't think you refused.
I think you told them you'd break it
to the old girl gently.
You are an old crackpot, aren't you?
Am I? Yeah.
I couldn't leave you.
You'd get up all kinds of
crazy things if I did.
When will we be married, then?
Whenever you like.
But it'd better be before
the beginning of term.
September? October.
Then there's plenty of time.
When will your pals be leaving?
Tomorrow night.
As soon as that?
Well, the aircraft should
be ready by then.
So soon.
If you really want to go, I...
I won't stand in your way.
Lola, wouldn't it...
wouldn't it upset you?
Of course it would.
But I'd rather that than have you
do something I know you hated,
like teaching.
You couldn't stand the life
either, could you?
No more than you could.
I did refuse, Lola.
Really, I refused.
And I promise I'll be faithful
to you.
I won't sleep with another woman.
Christ! What's wrong?
I can't go, I just can't.
Why not?
Ivich.
I promised her she could live
with us.
If you won't stay for me, you damn
well won't stay because of her.
I'll take care of Ivich.
What, have her live with you?
Why not?
But you can't stick her.
What difference does it make?
Either get back in bed or put some
clothes on. You'll catch a cold.
What's wrong?
Nothing. Everything's grand.
Open your eyes. Look at me.
What's wrong?
You amaze me, Lola, you really do.
Do I? Mm.
I would have thought
that you'd have been...
..far more upset by my going.
I'm really rather shocked.
Shocked? Mm.
You?
What are you doing?
Carving your name?
Well, that was the idea.
This... Takes too much time.
Oh, I've never seen that lot before.
Have you?
No.
Look right shagged out,
don't they?
Church is full, you know?
blokes or more singing hymns.
Wotcha, mate.
All right? Wotcha.
Any officers around here?
Do you hear that?
No, mate, we haven't got any
officers. We're a republic, we are.
Eh? Oh...
What mob are you from? nd.
nd? Never heard of the nd.
Have you?
Where'd you hang out? Epinal.
Epinal? Well, what you doing here?
Hey, your division's not going
to plonk itself,
along with the officers and the
whole bloody shoes, is it?
Them's the division.
nd...
Never heard of the nd. Have you?
Blokes keep turning up from
God knows where, don't they?
Hey.
Let's go get that wench
from the post office.
Have a day out in the country.
What, tag along with you?
No, thanks. Oh, come on.
Look, mate, you don't need me
around when you're...
..getting your end away, do you?
Well, I won't get down to it
right away.
Got to have a bit of
talky talk first.
Hey, look at him.
God... Christ, he's in a state.
Jesus wept...
Come on, mate.
Let's give you a hand.
Not worth it, Mat. What?
He's had it.
You're right.
I've seen plenty of stiffs
in my time, I have.
That's all I've seen since
the w*r started.
All right, sir?
He's, erm...
He's a goner.
It's Gerard.
Come over here, mate.
Gerard's had his lot.
You sure he's dead?
These blokes say he is.
Poor old bugger.
Aye, he's a goner, all right.
He's bled to death.
Must have walked km
bleeding like a pig.
He didn't want to be taken prisoner.
Well, that's it.
And the Germans have got
field hospitals.
If he'd have had stayed put,
he'd be alive now.
Ah, you could talk to him till
you were blue in t'face,
he wouldn't listen.
Said he wanted to get home.
Where's his home?
Cahouet. He's got a baker's
shop there.
Cahouet?
This isn't the road to Cahouet.
That's what I bloody well
told him.
Well, we...
We'd better bury him, eh?
I suppose we better had.
We'll give you a hand. No, it's all
right.[font color=
It's our job, mate. He was one of
us, it's our job to bury him, innit?
Where are you going to put him?
Uh...over there, I think.
Was he religious? Eh?
Well, get a priest from the church.
There's loads of them there.
No, it's all right. We'll see to it.
Here, what's up with
that bloke, then?
He's dead.
Is he?
He's not one of our mob, is he?
No.
Well, that's all right, then.
GLASS BREAKING
What's going on in there?
They're pissed out of their mind.
It's the bloody Algerian khazi
in there.
Mathieu, are you coming or not?
Uh, no.
Thanks for the offer.
All right. Well, I'll see you later.
Where's he off to?
He's found himself a girl.
Has he? Mm-hm.
Lucky bugger.
Couldn't do it,
not for love nor money.
Like that, is it?
Oh, there's nothing wrong with me.
It's just that...
Well, you can't do it, can you,
really, when you're...
..feeling a bit windy.
Are you feeling windy?
Not exactly.
ROWDY SINGING WITHIN
Well, it's just that
there's been something
on me mind for a bit, you know?
Here, Mathieu. Hmm?
Do us a favour, mate, will you?
Can we sit down?
I want to talk to you.
Tell you something. Of course.
Well, it's...
It's just that there's...
Well, there's been all this talk.
What about?
Oh, it's a lot of sh*t, really.
Well, what is it?
Well, there's this corporal...
You know Corporal Cabel?
Well, he's been going around
saying that the...
..the Germans cut off your wotsits.
What a load of rubbish.
It is, isn't it?
It's too much like hard work
for the bloody Germans!
They have to have it done in
Germany, though, don't they?
The Jews?
Of course they don't.
I've heard they do.
What will they do to me, mate?
No more than they do
to anybody else.
Tear out your paybook,
throw your identity bracelet away.
Done that, mate.
Well, then, that's that.
Look at me, mate.
Don't look like a Jew, do I?
No.
Course you don't look like a Jew.
ROWDY SHOUTING
What's the matter with him?
I told you.
They've pinched the wine from the
quartermaster.
Have they?
Bloody disgusting in there!
You're a right bloody state,
aren't you, mate?
Mathieu...!
Hello, Longjin.
I'm a bloody disgrace...!
Yeah, you are.
Well, get out of there, then.
Somebody's got to help me...
Somebody's got to bloody help me!
I'd better go give him a hand.
You're a right thoughtful bugger,
aren't you, Mathieu?
You're thoughtful for others.
Oh, it's something to do.
ROWDY SINGING AND SHOUTING
HE SLURS INCOHERENTLY
Hey, you.
Mat! Come here.
Come here.
Do you want a drink? What?
Shut up a minute, will you?
You'll burst me bleeding eardrums.
Do you want a drink?
Erm, no. Thank you...
Look, drink up or piss off, right?
I've come to fetch Longin.
Fetch him? Where to?
Just get some fresh air.
Well, you can have him.
He's gone all moaning and groaning.
We don't want anybody here
who can't take his booze.
Longin, come along!
What's the hurry?
Longin, come on, then.
There we are.
Give me a minute...
pull myself around.
Take all the time you want.
Break the bleeding glass.
THEY SHOUT DRUNKENLY
Off we go. Hey, don't push me
around...
Don't push me around!
You asked me to come and fetch you.
Well, I don't much like you, mate.
I'm telling you, I'm not all
that fond... You got it?
Yes, well, that goes for both of us.
Come along. Fair do's.f
Why shouldn't I drink...?
Why shouldn't I? To peace.
Then spew it up, our kid.
Piss off, you browner.
Get it up, come on.
Look, it's easy. Look.
HE RETCHES
See? It's easy. Get your fingers...
Stand up. Stand up.
THINKING: They should disgust me,
but they don't.
I'm disgusted with myself,
that's all.
They're wretched.
They're at the end of their tether.
No-one can share their wretchedness
unless he shares their
drunkenness, too.
But, no, not me.
I make them self-conscious,
embarrassed.
They look on me as someone
who'll pass judgment.
You lousy, aloof, superior bastard.
These men can be your mates.
What's wrong with you
that they aren't?
There she blows!
Well done!
Well done. You did well there.
Grab it up, mate, and you can
have it for breakfast!
Have a drink of that...
You can start filling up again now.
Bloody bastard. You got room
for it now, ain't you?
You're disgusted, are you? Me?
Oh, leave him.
He's a poncey bleeder.
Are you disgusted, are you?
Look at him. He hates our guts.
Yeah, sh*t heaps, that's what
he thinks of us. sh*t heaps!
We're not good enough to sit on,
are we? Mate!
Look at his face...!
Got a tin?
Eh? For a drink.
He's going to have a drink.
Fish for it.
THEY LAUGH
Right.
Hey, what's this?
He's going to have a drink!
THEY CHEER