Part 1 of 2
THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN -- ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY
Directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet
© 1995 Claudie Ossard Productions, Constellation Productions S.A., Lumiere Studio Canal +, France 3 Cinema, Elias Querajeta, and Tele Munchen
English Subtitles © 1995 Sony Pictures Classics, Inc.
LUMIERE, L STUDIO CANAL+, FRANCE 3 CINEMA
presentent une production
CLAUDIE OSSARD
avec la participation du Centre National de la Cinematographie
de Cofimage 4, Cofimage 5, Studio Image
Canal+
et le soutien de la Procirep
ce film a ete soutenu par le Fonds Eurimages du Conseil de l'Europe
avec la collaboration du Club d'Investissement Media
(Programme Media de l'Union Europeene)
coproducteurs Europeens
ELIAS QUEREJETA (Espagne) et TELE MUNCHEN (Allemagne)
RON PERLMAN
DANIEL EMILFORK
JUDITH VITTET
DOMINIQUE PINON
JEAN-CLAUDE DREYFUS
GENEVIEVE BRUNET
ODILE MALLET
MIREILLE MOSSE
SERGE MERLIN
FRANCOIS HADJI LAZARO
RUFUS
TICKY HOLGADO
dans le role d'IRVIN
JEAN-LOUIS TRINTIGNANT
[Child] [Crying]
[Krank] [Screaming]
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] My poor baby.
[Clones] [Crying]
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] [Slaps the clones]
[Clones screaming]
[Uncle Irvin] Who has stolen the child's dream?
The mad genius Krank in his evil scheme.
To what vicious depths will he not descend?
Will the tale turn to tragedy
or have a happy end?
direction artistique: MARC CARO
mise en scene: JEAN PIERRE JEUNET
production: CLAUDIE OSSARD
LA CITE DES ENFANTS PERDUS
[Montruer] Step up, ladies and gentlemen!
Step right up! Come closer.
decor: JEAN RABASSE; ensembliere: ALINE BONETTO
Don't be afraid.
See the strongest man in the world.
Look at those chains, made of the same steel
costumes: JEAN PAUL GAULTIER
as that used to lift --
directeur de la photographie: DARIUS KHONDJI
[Illuminati] Yes, my friends,
the true light is invisible.
Penetrate the corridor of shadows
scenario: GILLES ADRIEN, JEAN PIERRE JEUNET, MARC CARO; dialogues: GILLES ADRIEN
and you will enter the world of the chosen ones.
Renounce the gift of sight.
I know there are skeptics among you,
afraid to share with us the dead of night.
musique: ANGELO BADALAMENTI
Be brave. Renounce your gift of sight.
Pluck out your eyes. Come and join us.
chef monteur: HERVE SCHNEID
Help us build a better world.
[Montruer] The crusher Bones is going to try once more to shatter steel
only using the power of his mighty arms.
Please, ladies and gentlemen, I want absolute silence
effets speciaux: YVES DOMENJOUD, JEAN BAPTISTE BONETTO, OLIVIER GLEYZE, JEAN-CHRISTOPHE SPADACCINI
during the demonstration.
I must beg of you, for your own safety,
not to look him in the eye,
because his power of concentration is so great
maquillage: NATHALIE TISSIER; coiffure: JOHN NOLLET
that he might provoke a cerebral hemorrhage
in the weaker ones among you.
Mr. One, ready? And now, attention!
[Denree] [Bites boy]
[Montruer] Little thief!
Stealing money from orphans. I'll teach you!
effets speciaux numeriques: PITOF
Let go of that!
images de synthese: PIERRE BUFFIN
[Peeler] What's going on? What's the matter?
The poor man's not well.
ler assistant realisateur: JEAN MARC TOSTIVINT
***
[Denree] [Burps]
Bites the apple]
[Bogdan] Don't move! Don't move or I'll waste you!
[One] Denree!
[Killer] Kill him! Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!
[Miette] Who's that?
[Tadpole] He's the strong man at the fun fair.
[Jeannot] I don't know him.
[Miette] What do you want?
[One] I have lost little brother.
[Miette] He didn't come all by himself.
[Bogdan] Well, well, kiddies, hard at work?
It looks like you're doing really well.
Thanks for waiting for us.
Melchior: Thank you. Thank you.
[Rufus] Just remember, my ears are so sharp
that I can hear you think.
[Bogdan] Go buy yourself some sweets.
[Miette] Don't overdo it.
Come on. Move your bum.
[Bouteille] Go on. Here.
Move it! Move it!
[Miette] Get the tools and let's beat it.
[Pipo] Move it!
[Miette] Those rotten Cyclops.
[Tadpole] Don't worry. We know where to find them.
[Bouteille] And him? What about him?
[Miette] You helped us out. Here. Now we're even.
[One] Hey, girl. Cyclops. You know where to find Cyclops?
[Jeannot] Will you get lost?
Beat it!
***
[Clones] Happy birthday, Uncle dear.
Our wish is most sincere.
We hope this cake of ours will bring you happiness,
good fortune and success.
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] Wait till the candles are blown out!
[Clones] In fair or foul weather we'll always be together
Happy birthday, Uncle Irvin.
[Uncle Irvin] A cake for me?
You're really too kind.
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] Are you ready, children?
Not you. You've got a cold.
One, two.
[Krank] What is all this bellowing about?
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] But, sweetheart, it's Irvin's birthday.
[Krank] Irvin's birthday?
Why, of course. How could I have forgotten?
Let us celebrate.
Let us all make merry.
Everyone, let's shout! Scream out!
[Uncle Irvin] Krank, come back. I had a thought last night.
If these children only have nightmares,
it's perhaps because the evil is in you.
Why not seek the cause of your torment
in the molecular study of your own tears?
[Krank] Who could make me cry?
[One] Well, boss
we could make you cry with laughter.
[Clone] I am a gnome, a bag of bones;
A man of means, and full of beans;
The girls in Spain, sing my refrains;
I've such a pain, that it's insane.
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] You mustn't be angry.
Your brothers are doing their best.
[Krank] My brothers?
[Uncle Irvin] May I give it a try?
[Krank] Go ahead, mollusk.
[Uncle Irvin] Once upon a time, there was an inventor so gifted
that he could create life.
Truly remarkable man.
[Krank] Ah, a fairy tale.
I can already feel tears in my eyes.
[Uncle Irvin] Since he had no wife or children,
he decided to make them in his laboratory.
He started with his wife, and fashioned her
into the most beautiful princess in the world.
Alas, a wicked genetic fairy cast a spell on the inventor
so much so that the princess was only knee-high to a grasshopper.
He then cloned six children in his own image.
Faithful, hardworking, they were so alike,
no one could tell them apart.
But fate tricked him again, giving them all sleeping sickness.
Craving someone to talk to, he grew in a fish tank
a poor, migraine-ridden brain.
And then, at last, he created his masterpiece,
more intelligent than the most intelligent man on Earth.
But, alas, the inventor made a serious mistake.
While his creation was intelligent, he, too, had a defect.
He never, ever had a dream.
You can't imagine how quickly he grew old,
because he was so unhappy.
[Clone] Boss.
There!
[Krank] Ey, ey, ey, ey, ey, ey, ey, ey!
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] An eye dropper, quick!
An eye dropper!
[Uncle Irvin] Then the poor masterpiece became so crazed
that he believed a single teardrop could save him.
And, after committing many cruel deeds,
he died a horrible death,
never knowing what it is to dream.
[Krank] Get out!
All of you, get out!
[Clone] Good-bye, Uncle. Happy birthday. See you tonight.
See you this evening.
[Krank] Silence,
you glub!
***
[La Pieuvre] What do you expect us to do with that?
I wouldn't waste a nail to hang it up.
[Jeannot] But it's pretty, isn't it?
[La Pieuvre] Don't get smart with us.
The picklock won't always be there to save your behind.
All right, get lost.
That's all?
[Miette] Afraid so.
[La Pieuvre] If you keep being sassy,
you'll be sorry.
There's no shortage of orphans, Miette.
Listen carefully, Tadpole.
You don't want to go to the hole, do you?
It's very cold there. And pitch black.
And full of spiders.
So give us all the rest. The rest.
There's a fine lad.
See? When you want to.
Now, the second shift.
***
[La Pieuvre] The neighborhood's calm, isolated. But be careful.
You never know. There's a backyard.
You'll go that way with all the stuff.
On the landing, there are three doors.
One is locked from inside.
That's the one that must be forced.
Behind is what interests us.
Here's the prize.
It's identical to the one where he hides his loot.
The problem with this safe: it takes two hours to crack it.
[Bouteille] Two hours? We're going to get caught.
[La Pieuvre] We have no choice, unless you know someone capable of carrying it.
[Siamese Twins] [Scream]
[Dog] [Barks]
[Peeler] Somebody got in.
[La Pieuvre] You big idiot! He's right here now.
Do I pay you to sleepwalk? Who is this guy?
[Peeler] Don't ask me.
[Tadpole] I know who he is.
The strong man at the fair, the one who breaks his chains.
[La Pieuvre] Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
***
[Bouteille] Nice going, Mr. One.
[One] One don't like whistles. One not thief.
[Jeannot] A thief? Who's a thief? We're not stealing, just borrowing.
[One] What he said?
[Miette] He said you can take it back. It just won't be as heavy.
[One] [Drops the safe in the water]
[Illuminati] The true light.
[One] Little brother.
[Illuminati] Renounce the gift of sight and penetrate the corridor of shadows,
the world of the blind.
[Bouteille] That guy is crazy. The Octopus will kill us.
[Miette] Tell her I'll bring him back. I won't be long.
[Illuminati] Help us build a better world,
or we shall witness a reign of terror.
[Miette] One! Where do you think you're going?
[One] Cyclops truck. Denree, little brother.
[Miette] What about the truck?
[One] Cyclops truck.
Kidnap Denree.
Kidnap little brother.
[Miette] You know something? You won't find Cyclops truck like that.
When you get there, someone will have eaten Denree.
The wolf will have eaten him.
Take a break. No use wearing out your shoes.
I know where the truck's going.
[One] Miette and One together?
[Miette] And then what?
And anyway, how old was this brother of yours?
[One] Little, little brother.
Found him
one night
on his rubbish bin, crying.
One comes close.
Discover --
[Miette] Okay, I can guess the rest.
He's just like I thought. He's too little to bother.
Let's go. We have to get out of here.
[One] Stupid!
Imbecile! Idiot!
[Woman] [Throws water on them]
Have you finished? My crystal glasses are broken!
You'll crack my chandelier!
[Miette] Are you calmer now?
[One] One look for Denree.
[Miette] See you.
Oh, come on, fat head.
***
[La Pieuvre] Where did those brats go?
[Tadpole] I don't know.
It's the big guy's fault. Miette's different since he came.
[La Pieuvre] Does he have all the jewels? That's all he's interested in?
You had big ideas? Poor little Tadpole.
You haven't fallen in love, too, like the others? Get to bed!
***
[La Pieuvre] Filthy brats. -- All the same.
We really can't count on them.
Raise crows, they'll rip out
-- Your eyes.
It's the best ones who want to go.
-- It's not the first time it's happened.
It's always the same old story.
Remember little Lucas six years ago?
-- And Marcus before.
Yes, Marcus. I'd almost forgotten him.
When we think
-- Of everything we've done for them.
And if she had an accident?
You never know.
***
[Krank] [Rings bell]
[Rings bell again]
[Clone] At that moment, the winkles suddenly break into a dance,
then cast off their shells and begin to use them as megaphones
to announce the concert.
Winkles, winkles. Shells, shells.
And then, at that moment,
all the winkles cast off their shells
and use them as megaphones to announce the concert.
[Krank] The winkles? The winkles cast off their shells?
Please continue.
Continue, and with colors as well.
[Clone] Yes, yes, yes.
Then the hammerhead shark plays xylophone with the catfish bones.
The walrus plays the Jew's harp with the ...
the sperm whale's suspenders.
The sea is blue like the sky,
and the sky is blue like the South Seas.
And I don't know if I'm swimming in the sky or ...
or flying at the bottom of the sea.
I swear it gives me the shivers.
[Krank] Shivers? Shivers all over.
And igloos? Oh, yes, tell me about the igloos.
Igloos that turn into mushrooms.
***
[Uncle Irvin] Ah, it's you, my boy. I was expecting you.
[Clone] Not so loud. Turn it down. The boss might hear you.
[Uncle Irvin] The boss? He's out of a test tube, like all of us.
Lay the boy in the sarcophagus and come here.
[Clone] But before --
Well, you promised me --
[Uncle Irvin] What's tormenting you, my son?
[Clone] Well, this story that among us there's an original clone,
different from the others.
Is that true?
[Uncle Irvin] Of course it's true. The others are nothing but cheap copies,
while the original one is unique.
[Clone] Unique?
[Uncle Irvin] Yes.
[Clone] And do you know who it is?
[Uncle Irvin] Do you really want to know? Connect yourself to the child.
[Clone] To the child?
[Uncle Irvin] Yes.
[Clone] Connect myself to the child? But I can't.
It's forbidden.
[Uncle Irvin] Exactly.
The others wouldn't dare, but you, you can do it
because you're the original.
[Clone] Me?
I'm the original?
But it's not lonely being the original?
***
[Clone] All the penguins, the centipedes, everyone applauds.
Except, even if you climb to the treetops,
it's impossible to catch the candy floss.
[Clone] And so, everybody climbs to the top of the mountain
except the giraffes who, of course, stay in one spot,
munching the clouds.
***
[Uncle Irvin] Sleep.
Sleep, my little one.
I am the sandman
and you can't resist me.
Your eyelids are so heavy.
Sleep, my little one.
***
[Clone] The snowflakes evaporate,
and then turn into hailstones.
In the farmyards
the turkeys scramble towards
the hailstones.
[Krank] The better to peck them?
[Clone] And then when the children's voices cry for help,
the chickens are merciless.
***
[Uncle Irvin] There.
Now he's going to come around very nicely.
[Clone] Who, the boss?
[Uncle Irvin] No, the child.
He's a real nightmare factory.
[Clone] What's that? A fuse blew!
[Uncle Irvin] Perfect.
[Clone] [Drops fuse]
[Screams]
[Uncle Irvin] Be careful. Someone will hear you.
[Clone] It's hard to be original.
[Uncle Irvin] Now, throw this message -- uh, bottle into the sea.
Yes. Go on!
"May someone find my plea to get it over with."
***
[Gabriel Marie] I,
Gabriel Marie,
I came into this world with open eyes,
but I saw a world
that was a world of dogs.
Litter of dogs!
And so, the creator
sent me down here to Earth
to recover the power
that men have illegally seized.
My brothers …
you who have joined me in this struggle
understand that together we must fight
human beings
from their own grounds.
The world
of appearances.
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] I thought we had agreed on half a dozen.
[Gabriel Marie] But you know it's becoming more and more difficult.
People are suspicious. They've put up posters.
In any case, this batch is as fresh as they come.
Not one of them is over five years old.
[Denree] [Bites hand]
[Gabriel Marie] Listen. Let us have maybe a couple of hours
and we'll sort this thing out.
Only the third eye
will enable you to enter
the world of appearances.
But beware
because this sordid world of temptation and perversion
is also the world of desire.
Try, Brother Angel Joseph,
to discover it
without your losing sight
of the only true light.
Be strong.
My brothers ...
our grace ...
our great superior race ...
shall reign once more
on Earth!
From that day on,
our faithful third eye
will become useless,
as the world of appearances
will be abolished.
[Dunree] [Burps]
[One] It's Denree.
[Brother Angel Joseph] I see!
I see!
I see!
What's that?
What's that?
[Gabriel Marie] That, Brother Angel Joseph,
is a female.
[Brother Angel Joseph] A female.
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] Do you have a problem?
[Brother Angel Joseph] What's that?
[Gabriel Marie] That is a condemned man.
Take them. Go on!
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] Come back when those idiots have had enough.
[Gabriel Marie] Search her!
[Brother Angel Joseph] What is it? What is it?
[Miette] [Screams]
[Gabriel Marie] Kill her!
[Melchior] She's clean.
[Gabriel Marie] Then tomorrow night at Pier 24.
***
[La Pieuvre] 100,000.
We'll never get half that.
Melchior: One more scrap of information.
A girl in a red dress,
with a big moron.
We found these on them.
[La Pieuvre] But there was much more in the --
[Sister] [Kicks her]
[La Pieuvre] What'll you do with them?
[Melchior] A midnight snack for the fishes, tonight, Pier 24.
[La Pieuvre] A midnight snack for the fishes.
[Sisters] [Laughing]
***
[Krank] Irvin?
[Uncle Irvin] Such a migraine.
[Krank] Irvin, you know all about feelings.
Won't you try to help me?
Won't you explain why all those children only have nightmares?
[Uncle Irvin] 'Cause you were their nightmare.
You can persecute all the children in the world,
but there's one thing you'll never have.
[Krank] What?
[Uncle Irvin] A soul.
[Krank] Because you believe you have one?
You don't even have a body.
He who created us made us all monsters.
[Uncle Irvin] No, Krank, you're wrong. You are the only monster here.
[Krank] Be quiet! He's the only one responsible.
For that, I say I'm innocent. I'm innocent!
Anyway,
I thank you for your help.
***
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] Hurry up! And don't break any of the baubles.
Well done. And don't cut yourself.
[Krank] Are you sure that we're doing the right thing?
[Mademoiselle Bismuth] Of course, my pet. All children love it.
Lift your elbow.
[Uncle Irvin] Why worry, Krank?
If you're sincere, you have nothing to lose.
***
[La Pieuvre] How are you, Marcello?
[Marcello] What's it to you?
[La Pieuvre] We need you, Marcello, and your creepy-crawlies.
Have you still got the knack?
[Marcello] No, please, not again.
I paid enough already.
[La Pieuvre] Nice Place -- You've got here, Marcello.
I'm glad to see it hasn't changed much.
You know, I never liked that blue cage.
You were always so kind to us, Marcello.
It's only fair -- That we look after you.
Today
A little girl in a red dress -- With a big moron.
We want him.
[Marcello] And what do I do with her?
[La Pieuvre] A midnight snack for the fishes.
***
[Marcello] Come on, my little flea.
There, there.
Easy does it.
[Bird] Midnight snack for the fishes.
***
[Krank] [Christmas for the stolen children]
[Clone] [Singing]
[Children] [Crying]
[Clones] [Acting]
[Krank] Will you shut up, you idiots?
[Slaps Clone]
[Clone] It wasn't me.
[Krank] I don't care.
[Slaps him again]
Work this out among yourselves.
[Clone] [Slaps Clone]
[Clone] [Slaps Clone]
[Clone] How dare you hit the original.
[Clone] You, the original? Have you looked in the mirror lately?
***
[One] Miette ...
One will die?
[Miette] You're born in the gutter. You end up in the port.
[One] Miette too little.
[Miette] Not as little as all that.
[Brutus] Five thousand on the kid.
[Bogdan] Ten thousand on the monster.
There are pebbles in the meat pie.
There are pebbles, bits of --
[Killer] Did you hear anything?
[Bogdan] Just them crazy birds.
[Brutus] There's something over there.
[Bogdan] I don't see anything.
[Brutus] Who is that guy there?
[Bogdan] What's all that monkey business?
[Killer] Well, Brutus.
[Brutus] I can't see anything now.
[Killer] Don't you like the music?
[Brutus] What you doing?
I can't see.
[Bogdan] I don't want to be dead.