Victor's History (2017) Movie Script
1
How do I look? Is this good?
- Do you want me to go left, or...
- Wait, wait. Hold on...
- Am I good here?
- Yeah, you're good.
Okay.
Roll!
Okay! So,
This here is an American ship.
Landed on these shores right here to
liberate France from 'ze Germans'.
My father's battalion,
or whatever it's called
actually landed 20 kilometers
east of here in Saint-Tropez,
but they didn't get a fancy little boat.
Wait a minute.
I thought it was your mother who was
American and your father was French.
Yeah.
So your French father landed in
France, by boat?
Yeah. He was from Dahomey.
Born and raised.
Dahomey, as in Benin?
Yeah. As in Benin.
So he was African.
No, he wasn't African. He was French.
Dahomey...
or Benin as it used to be called,
was France.
So my father, as a result of being
born and raised there,
was French.
Right.
But there are still Beninese people
in existence today, right?
Yeah, so?
So,
why does your French father
get to be French,
when he was born in Africa
when African French-born
people are still African?
Zuhair, you want to help or something?
- Hmm?
I don't know how else to explain this.
Okay.
I'm from India, right?
Sure.
And India was a British colony.
Right.
So that doesn't make my ancestors British!
I get the concept.
I don't need it explained to me.
I want to know...
I want to hear you explain it,
from your perspective.
Okay.
Do I look African to you?
No you don't.
Exactly!
Exactly.
Okay. Moving on.
All right!
We're going to start down here
in Saint-Raphal
We're going to knock out all the war stuff.
Lots of memorabilia to go through.
Then we'll grab the keys
from the estate lawyer
for the Paris apartment,
his work apartment.
And we'll actually follow the path
that my dad took up to Paris
to liberate it from the Germans.
There's a lot of post-war stuff,
private-sector stuff
to go through there, too.
I'm going to be completely honest, man...
I've got five minutes to sell
the studio to a film.
You know, a guy goes to war,
a guy gets money after the war,
is not really a film.
A lot of guys did that after World War 2.
Okay. I clearly haven't
done my dad justice yet,
but it is only day one,
and there's a lot more for me to show you.
I'm hearing Saint Raphal,
I'm hearing Paris.
Vic?
Tell him he's in the
Who's Who of France, as well.
Oh, yeah! I forgot.
I've got the book up here.
I'll show it to you.
My dad is in the Who's Who of France.
I mean, there is more to it that just
dude who went to war and made money.
Morning, Victor.
Shhh!
Sorry.
What are we shhh-ing about?
I saw a weird animal a few minutes ago.
I'm trying to get it to come back.
What kind of animal?
It was brown...
furry, and...
It was like... You know what?
It was like a snake mated a cat!
Oh!
A stoat.
A what?
A stoat. It's like a weasel.
Yeah! It looked like a weasel.
They go white in the winter.
It's what the kings
make their robes out of.
It's actually a bad omen
to see them in the summer.
What do you mean, it's a bad omen?
I've got to run to the bakery.
Pick up some stuff.
What do you mean, it's a bad omen?
Do you mind holding these?
Uhhh... My head.
What's up?
I have to make a quick stop
at my mom's nursing home.
You don't mind waiting in the car, do you?
Are you all right, Vic?
Yeah. I'm all right.
Must be tough, huh?
What, exactly?
- Going to the home when she's not there.
- Oh.
Yeah, I guess.
Do you miss her a lot?
It's been so long since
I've talked to her...
I was twelve when...
Yeah, I guess I miss her.
That's probably the answer
you want me to say, right?
That's what I'm supposed to feel?
Just keep following the trail
You'll get there eventually.
There's no way ahead!
There is. You have to look down.
They are actually wild boar trails.
As tall as a boar.
There you go!
You might want to put that
backpack on your chest.
So it's not high when you're ducking.
- Yeah.
- To protect your abdomen.
I told you guys I knew where I was going.
This was our favorite spot.
Wow!
This is beautiful!
Um, Zuhair.
I know this is not principle photography,
but when you're behind the camera,
you really shouldn't talk.
So, what is the significance
of this pond to your father?
This pond is a mine.
It was one of the first mines
my father ran after the war.
This is a mine?
Yup!
Actually, when it stopped producing,
he blasted into the groundwater
so it would fill up,
and that makes it a lot more safe
Infact, all of this was ours.
Everything we walked through, at one point.
He sold it off after the
mines stopped producing
and kept just a small plot
to build the house on.
So, when you say that your grandfather
was buddying up with African dictators
you really meant that
he was mining in Africa?
Yes. That was a little bit later,
when France's energy platform
involved a lot of uranium.
But why mining?
Well...
My family comes from a long line of miners
my father,
his father before that,
and his father before that.
They all made their fortunes
mining French West Africa.
But after the war, your...
But after the war he
decided to stay in France.
Why is that?
That's a sad story, actually.
There was this nationalist douchebag
that started riling up all the miners
and convincing them
that they could renegotiate ownership.
So, they gave my grandfather
an ultimatum and said,
that he could keep the land,
but he'd now be renting it out to them
and they would own everything
they pull out of the mountains.
Can you believe that shit?
Yeah, I sort of can.
You think that's fair?
Well, I guess it depends on how
your family came across the lands
that they were mining in the first place.
I don't really see how
that factors into it.
They didn't have a claim over it.
It's not like the miners
had a claim over it.
They can't just steal it.
They were African, right?
In Africa?
The miners were African?
Yes.
So, I think the arguments would be that
Your family stole the land from them
and they were taking back
what was rightfully theirs.
I don't know why you always
have to spin it like that.
- My family was well...
- I'm not spinning it.
My family was well-liked by the miners
before this guy came along.
Zuhair, you'll like this.
My grandfather instituted a program
where the Muslim miners, if they
worked for the family for ten years,
would have their Hajj
trip to Mecca paid for.
'Arbeit macht frei'
What's that supposed to mean?
It's German for 'work makes you free'.
I know what it translates to.
It's written on the gates of Auschwitz.
I get that. I live in Berlin.
I'm asking you what you mean by it.
I mean, if your grandfather
was such a nice guy,
he would have paid your workers enough
for them to afford their own trip to Mecca.
You know, Dorian?
Just because you're black doesn't mean you
get to adopt the entire African struggle.
Hold on, man. Slow down.
Just slow down.
No, but really, Dorian.
The Beninese struggle has nothing to do
with what your people went through.
Nothing.
Look. You're forgetting something
that's key, Victor.
- What's that?
- I'm half Vietnamese.
They were under French
colonization as well.
You think that was any kind of picnic?
Switch out your tampon.
Zuhair,
you're from a country
that was once under colonial rule.
You want to weigh in on this?
Zuhair?
I'm not supposed to
speak from behind the camera.
Fuck it. You know, Dorian?
You want to know something?
You can take the baguette we gave you
to make your banh mi sandwich
and you can shove it up your ass.
And you, Zuhair?
If you want to gang up with him,
Guess what?
Fuck you and your constitutional democracy
and impeccable English.
It's not fair!
I didn't even say anything, Vic.
Why do you have to do that, Dorian?
You know what?
I'm trying to figure out
if there is a film here.
All right?
You think anybody wants to watch a movie
about some kind of rich one percenter?
Oh, oh, my family is so cool.
They're so rich,
and he's a war hero.
Come on. Get out of here.
Take this big load of ego in your mouth.
Get the fuck out of here, man.
You know, I'm really surprised
that you're aligning yourself
with this narrative.
Being that you're from India, and all.
You're oversimplifying things.
I'm oversimplifying things?
Wow.
I'm oversimplifying things.
You know what?
You can be a house nigger all you want.
Just leave me out of that shit.
What's a 'house nigger'?
A house nigger, Zuhair.
In lieu of a field nigger.
A house nigger lives in the house
next to the slave master.
Gets the education.
The field nigger...
I don't have time to explain.
That's your problem.
You see everything
through an American lens.
I'm not a Slumdog Millionaire.
I come from a family of business owners.
We paid our servants to go to Hajj.
I don't even know how to use a dishwasher.
Or iron a shirt.
You sound very proud to say that.
It's not that I'm proud of it.
It's just that it's not fair
that you expect blind loyalty from me
just because I'm brown.
My reality is not your reality.
And Vic has his own reality.
Reality.
You know...
Reality?
Really? Reality?
There's only one reality, Zuhair.
Truth is the truth.
- What you're talking about is perception.
- Semantics!
You know how I see it?
I see an entire country
built off the backs of poor people
in far away lands.
I see a fortunehis fortune
dug up from the grounds of black people,
by black hands,
and passed down to him!
That's the reality.
Fair enough, Dorian.
I just don't understand
how this will help the documentary.
It helps to document because
it's fact and we're telling it!
That's how it helps.
I'm not the kind of dude
that's going to walk the line
to appease his ego.
If he wants to make this film
rewriting history
and his family's involvement
in rewriting history,
he's going to have to do that
on his own time.
- That's not what I do.
- It's his film, Dorian!
It's not his film!
I thought we understood that.
It's not his film.
It's his father,
it's his story,
but it's not his film!
It's mine!
I need this, Dorian. Please.
So, I call out to him,
and he finally busts open the door.
'What the hell is going on down there?!'
And he starts stomping down the stairs
like he's going to kick my ass.
He rounds the bend into the kitchen
and sees this pelican,
and without a moment's hesitation,
he jumps onto the kitchen table,
grabs this pelican around the neck,
and starts swinging it around
like a pillow in a pillow fight.
He slams its body down on the counter,
just snapping its neck in one,
and just grabs this bird, walks out,
like it was just another Wednesday,
opens the trash can,
throws the bird in there,
closes the lid,
and goes back up to his room.
What happened to the pelican?
The pelican? The pelican was dead.
I'm assuming the trash man
had a nice little surprise.
It was weird, because I've never seen
a pelican in the South of France before
and I haven't seen one since.
But I guess,
what I like about that story is that,
My dad was just one of those guys
that when he saw something
he just reacted.
He just seemed to always know what to do.
There was no hesitation.
He just did what had to be done.
No questions asked.
And then just moved on with his life.
I guess I wish I had more of that in me,
you know?
That's your best story of your father?
It's the only one I can think of right now.
My father walked these
exact twenty five kilometers
just over seventy years ago.
I've only ever seen black and white photos
so it's kind of a treat to see it in color.
- Wait, what?
- Did you say twenty five kilometers?
- Yeah
How many miles is that?
It'll take us about six hours
but it took him over a week!
Six fucking hours?!
Vic!
How long is...
How long?
We're not even a quarter of the way,
At the top of this hill there's an outlook.
So, tell us about the mom, Vic.
What's up with her?
The documentary is really
going to stay focused on my dad.
You don't think the wife
factors into the legacy at all?
Hey, Zuhair?
Hm?
What's Gandhi's wife's name?
Gandhi's wife's name...
See?
What's your point?
Okay. What's Malcolm X's wife's name?
Betty Shabazz.
Born Betty Dean Sanders.
Lucky guess.
You're seriously comparing
your father to Malcolm X right now?
What I'm saying is that I'm trying to paint
a picture of the man, not the husband.
Right. But you learn a lot from a man,
from his wife.
Kasturba Gandhi!
Kasturba.
Boom.
They marched this whole gorge by foot.
Unfortunately they couldn't
take any vehicles down here,
but it had the added benefit
of being guarded from air strikes,
and it was also the fastest route
to get through the mountains.
They were worried about ambushes
sitting on top of the hills
so my dad actually
volunteered to be a runner.
He'd run ahead, light and fast
in front of everyone
and scope it out and make sure
there was no one waiting for them.
If he made it back by night fall
they'd all move slowly
and hit that same stretch he ran
under the cover of darkness.
They were worried about bottlenecks
and bad things happening there,
and not being able to retreat fast enough.
So my dad actually had the brilliant idea
of outfitting every sixth man
with a self-inflating raft.
That way, if shit got heavy
they could just drop their gear,
throw the raft in the
water, six men to a raft,
and let the current carry
them back to safety.
I just wish I could have been there, man.
What the hell are you doing?
Good morning, Dorian.
Good morning.
What the hell are you doing?
I'm trying to catch a stoat on camera.
What the hell is a stoat?
You don't know what a st...
A stoat is like a weasel.
Like a little weasel.
The rapper?
What?
Nevermind.
Where are the croissants?
I ate the last one. Sorry.
We can get more!
Do you remember where the bakery is at?
Yeah.
So, tell me, Zuhair,
what made you get into filmmaking?
It's a long story.
Well, we got time, man.
I was working with my family business
for the last few years.
I was a salesman there.
Not very good at it.
What business is this?
Car dealership.
My dad has a car dealership business.
It was kind of decided for me
that this is what I have to do.
But last year, I had a stroke.
A stroke?
Yeah.
- A burst blood vessel, yes.
- Oh, shit!
It took me a long time
before I could walk and talk again.
It was a tough time.
Even more so on my Mahjabeen.
Ali was born and she had to
take care of both of us.
She sounds like a keeper though.
During rehabilitation,
it was the first time ever
that I pondered upon what
I want to do with my life.
- You know?
- Yeah, yeah.
And this is what I want to do, man.
I hear you man, I hear you.
I've got to make it, man.
My dad has given me a year,
so to speak, to make it.
Otherwise he expects me to
come back and work for him again.
Why are these so much better here?
They are good, right?
Yeah, it's just yeast and chocolate
but it's so much better!
You want some of mine?
- Go ahead.
- I wasn't going to give you any, anyway.
Oh, my God, look at these
chocolate specks in it. See that?
Oh, my God!
Bringing the chocolate 'pain'!
Is that your new nickname?
Want to know where I got it from?
Where?
Vic's mom.
Last words.
That's not funny, dude.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
She just died recently.
How are you guys like this, man?
What's with your culture?
You talk about fucking
respecting people in Africa
And here you are fucking
disrespecting a dead mother?
She was in a home for
the last fifteen years.
You don't give a flying fuck.
Her son didn't give a flying fuck.
Okay, okay. I'm sorry.
Shit, Zuhair. Damn!
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
What did you just say?
She was in a home for fifteen years?
- Yeah.
- Is that what you said?
Zuhair. She was in a
home for fifteen years?
Yeah, she was in a home.
A convalescent home?
I don't know, I didn't go inside yesterday.
You didn't go inside?
You guys went to the home
of his mother and you didn't go inside?
It's not what you think.
He got a call and
he just dropped in and he...
He looks pissed.
Oh well.
What the hell, guys? We're late!
For what?
It's nice here.
Should I roll here? The camera?
Yeah, why not. She said it's okay.
Okay, do you want me to do this in English?
That's probably a good idea.
Okay, that's not a problem.
So, basically, I have everything
here ready for you to sign,
Okay.
and then you will have your name
under all the properties.
And how much are we talking, here?
I'm not an expert but I'd say
all together with all the properties,
about two million euros.
And what about the liquid assets?
No, there's no liquid assets.
What do you mean?
There's no money.
Whatsoever.
How can there be no money?
Well, uh...
Any money that your father had
when he passed away has been spent.
Spent? By whom? My aunt?
Under the conservatorship
of the last years, probably, yes.
But you know your mother
spent it when she was a in home.
It was quite expensive for fifteen years.
But I thought the state
was covering the home.
No. The state took the last tab,
because the estate dried up.
But that's it.
Right now there's
no money whatsoever, for sure,
but you're actually owing money.
I'm owing money?
Yeah.
Back taxes debts.
Property taxes.
ISF. 'Impots sur la fortune'.
Wait, what's that?
The fortune tax. This is a French tax.
As soon as you exceed more than
a million and three hundred thousand
euros in assets,
you need to pay this every year.
But, that's ridiculous!
Well, I'm not making the rules.
Right now, you're actually owing
quite a lot of money.
So, how much?
The totaland I was calculating this
is about three hundred and
sixty seven thousand euros.
Oh, my God.
Hey, it's not a tragedy.
It's the definition of a tragedy.
You're telling me that
I've been given a gift,
but to redeem the gift I have to
come up with four hundred thousand euros?
Three hundred sixty seven thousand euros.
You're in France.
You need to pay taxes when you
get money; your 'inheritage'
- Okay.
- That's how it works.
- But you live in Germany, right?
- Yes.
And you're not planning on
getting back to France?
I was considering it.
Well, you might not consider it.
If you stay in Germany
you won't have to pay the fortune tax.
You will have to pay it for this
time, of course,
because it's back taxes
but then you won't be responsible
for the years to come.
Okay, but I still don't understand
how I'm supposed to come up with
four hundred thousand euros.
I don't have that kind of cash.
No, I imagined you wouldn't.
There's actually two options.
The first one is probably
something you will not consider,
but maybe selling everything?
Well, I might have to, right?
No, because there is a second option.
If you sell the farmhouse
you could go over all the debts.
That's the one house I'm actually
really attached to.
Really?
You might consider it, though.
It's really in bad condition.
You wouldn't be able to rent it to anyone,
it would be a dead charge,
There is about a hundred 'mille'...
a hundred thousand euros
just to renovate it.
It's not that bad.
Nobody lived there for forty years!
Everything needs to be redone,
and Bville-le-Comte? Really?
This is a village no one wants to live in.
Okay, I think there is a
confusion or something.
The farmhouse is in Saint-Raphal,
so I don't know what papers you have...
I wasn't precise enough.
There's two farmhouses!
There's one in Saint-Raphal, right here.
The second one is in Bville.
Next to Paris.
You didn't know about it.
Let me look at it.
Here.
That's it.
This is an inheritance from your cousins,
your father got a few years ago.
He was really holding on to it,
and I actually don't know why.
So this... This is mine as well?
Yeah! This is all yours.
You might want to go there.
The minute you see it,
you'll probably want to get rid of it.
That was a long drive.
Well!
It's not too shabby. Not too shabby, Vic.
I'll give you that.
Thank you.
It needs some redecorating.
Yup.
I don't know about all this
Pyrex and Seventies shit.
That clown painting can stay, though.
It must have been a million lights!
Oh, he's here!
Ali, say hi!
Hey, Mahjabeen!
Hey, hi, Victor!
How are you?
Good! Long time no see.
I'm sorry I have to cut it short.
I have to send drawings to my work tonight
and I need the laptop.
Aw, all right. No problem.
Let me say bye!
- You tell Zuhair...
- Of course.
I hope you didn't log into your account
because I don't want NSA
flagging my computer.
Chartres.
Chartres.
Down here. Feel it here.
Please don't touch my neck.
Look at it!
So, when I was twelve
my mom got in a bad car accident.
It was bad brain damage.
She was in and out of consciousness,
sort of like a semi-vegetative state.
Even on her best days
she could barely communicate
beyond basic facial expressions.
I guess he had done it,
because she had been wandering,
and gotten lost and stuff.
He felt is was the best way
to keep her safe, I guess.
Anyway, the cops blew it
way out of proportion.
They got social services involved,
and my aunt just wouldn't drop it.
She just would not drop it.
It was like a witch-hunt.
So she ended up getting some quack doctor
to make up some shit about my dad.
The doctor claimed that my dad
had been forcing himself on my mom.
The companies got wind of it,
and the board members forced him out.
It was just...
It just broke him, you know?
And he just never recovered
because six months later
he just went and dropped dead.
They said it was a question of consent
but they had been married for years!
And if they can't tell
whether my mom could consent to it,
they can't tell whether
she didn't consent to it.
But to lock her in a room!
That's kind of harsh.
Yeah, that's the position they took.
I guess you can understand why, like,
I don't want to talk about
my mom and my dad in the movie
because I don't know how to talk about
the man that I knew,
and then bring something like that up.
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah.
I get it, I guess.
It's clearing up.
It's clearing up!
Keep your eyes out for
signs that read Bville-le-Comte.
In English?
Oh, yes! This is where dreams come to die.
Locked.
It's locked?
Obviously.
You don't have the keys?
No, she didn't give me the keys.
She doesn't have keys!
'Cimetire'!
There's a cemetery this way.
Check that out.
Look, it says 'peace' on the bottom,
and then it's got a
grenade right over that.
That's kind of contradictory.
Yo!
Cintract...
Arthur Cintract?
That's your last name, non?
Yeah, that's my last name.
That's weird.
It's not exactly a common last name.
And it is a small town.
I don't understand what's going on.
I don't get it.
Ram Nam Satya Hai.
Final touch...
What the fuck, man?
Jesus!
This is kind of creepy.
Speaking of creepy, that stupid ass
clown painting was staring at me all night.
Yeah, he's got a tendency to do that.
I like this painting, though.
That shit is ugly.
Why would anyone buy that?
The artist actually killed himself a few
years ago, so I'm sure someone would...
Vic!
Yeah?
Did you know about this?
These are all five hundreds!
One, two,
three,
four, five,
seven,
nine, ten!
There's two point five million francs, man!
It's worthless.
How much is a franc?
Used to be about seventeen cents.
That's still, like,
almost half a million dollars?
No, it used to be half a million dollars
but the cut-off date to turn your
francs into euros was in 2012,
so no. It's fucking wallpaper.
Ooh, that's got to sting.
I'm so fucking mad at him.
I'm so fucking mad.
Why couldn't he just delegate?
Why did he have to be so guarded?
My God. I don't know how
I'm going to get out of this one.
Dude, you've got to look at the
bright side, man. It could be worse.
Explain to me how it could be worse.
I have three houses,
I have half a million euros in debt,
and I've got no fucking
blueprint on how to fix this.
So please tell me how the fuck it
could be worse, Dorian.
You could have no houses, instead of three.
Yeah, and there are starving
kids in Africa with AIDS.
Give me a break, Dorian.
I'm not in the mood.
Look.
Keys.
It looks like, to the house.
At least you've got that.
What's this?
Check that out.
Who is this, Vic?
What the fuck?
Who is that?
Do you know who that is?
Victor, do you know who that is?
Is that a phone number?
Looks like it.
This is getting weird, man.
Victor! Who is that!?
There's no sense in us standing here
like a bunch of idiots.
You coming?
Looks like somebody fired the gardener.
Yo, Zu!
Come get this shot.
This is field work Zuhair.
This is what we're here to do.
So exciting!
Lights work.
No gardener. Lights work.
Creepy.
What the hell is all this?
What happened here?
I don't know. Maybe an owl or something,
tearing up the carpeting to make a nest.
Maid's fired.
Dorian! Check this out.
Oh, shit.
Canned in 2002.
Expired in 2005.
Hey, Victor!
When did you say your dad died again?
Vic!
Oh, shit!
What?
It's your mom!
Dorian?
Dorian!
Do you still have the photographs?
Yeah.
You want to see that one?
No, the other one.
That one?
Oh, man.
That's the bed.
And that's the dress.
I'm getting the chills, man.
This is creepy.
This is good creepy.
We've got something.
Let's get out of here, man.
Not yet. Not yet.
Attics.
Never liked them.
Yeah, not my favorite, either.
After you, Dorian.
Fuck that noise! Youth before beauty.
I think you may have that idiom backwards.
Is it beauty before youth?
You're the investigative journalist!
Please lead the way.
Investigative journalist.
Not ghost buster.
After you, sir.
Come on, man.
Hey, Dorian!
Yo?
How's it looking?
Would you like to meet Casper?
Oh, fuck you, man.
All right. Well...
Let's lay it out, man. Let's lay it out.
What do we got?
What do we know?
She looks young.
That she does.
She was here.
That she was.
I don't know...
Do you think it's possible?
Say it, man.
I don't know.
Why would Vic not know anything about it?
Why were the photographs in the safe?
And the money.
Do you think his dad had another family?
That was my first thought.
But if so, when he died,
why didn't they come forward?
Maybe they don't know that he's dead.
It's been fifteen years, man.
Then where are they now?
Let's go find Vic.
Yo, Vic!
Vic!
Victor?
Did you find him?
No, man. Car is here though.
Yo, Victor!
Don't fuck around, man! Where you at?
Victor.
Victoria!
Vicki!
You little bitch, where you at?
Vic!
Got it?
Oh, yeah! It's the
Secret fucking Garden back here, ain't it?
Vic!
Yo, Vic!
Fuck.
You all right?
- Dorian?
- Zu! Yo.
You okay?
What's up?
- What the fuck is this?
- Oh, shit.
Is it just me,
or does that look like a grave?
Maybe it's Asterix.
What's Asterix?
Their family dog!
I don't know what you're talking about,
but that doesn't look
like a dog grave, really.
Vic!
Where did you find that?
Let's go, guys.
There's a grave here, Vic.
There's a fucking grave back here.
Yeah come check this out, man.
That's the documentary.
That's the story that needs to be told.
I want you guys to leave my family alone.
I can't do that, man.
I can't make that happen.
It's too late! It's out of our hands.
Dorian,
you understand that this is
my father's legacy, right?
Your father's legacy is a lie.
Yeah?
What about our friendship?
Is that a lie?
Zuhair, how much are you getting paid?
Jesus Christ.
I'm getting paid twelve grand.
Twelve grand?
I'm not talking about me and Zuhair,
I'm talking about you and me right now.
I couldn't even pronounce your name
up until a couple of days ago.
So don't try to blackmail
my silence with friendship.
Sad.
Pitiful, really.
If you were really my friend,
you would have contributed
to my Kickstarter.
Oh, my God, I fucking knew it.
Yeah, I know you knew it.
But you didn't.
You watched it fail.
Why?
So you could capitalize on the failure,
and get me to shoot your film.
That's your version of friendship.
Are you fucking serious?
Dorian, what world do you live in
where you get shit for free?
Who wants something for free, man?
Did I ask for anything for free?
Did you hear me ask for anything free?
You know?
I just don't want to sit
here and be disrespected
with this term 'friendship'
that you throw around so loosely,
while you're pretending like this
wasn't a business transaction.
Okay, so if this is a business transaction
let me explain the new terms to you
super fucking clearly so you get it.
You make my movie, you get paid.
You continue doing
whatever the fuck this is,
you don't.
We're past that point, man.
It's bigger than twelve grand.
Don't you get it?
It's bigger than you or me!
It's bigger than Zuhair,
and his car dealership.
Don't you get it?
This story is going to be told!
Fuck.
With you or without you!
Approval or no approval.
Point blank.
Vic, why is Dorian getting paid
twelve thousand, man?
This was a good talk. Thanks.
Vic!
Dorian, will you please explain to me
what the fuck is going on here?
You're getting screwed, Zuhair.
That's what's going on here, man.
Why the fuck are you telling me now?
Just...
hang in there, man.
Hang in there, dude.
I'm going to get us both paid.
We don't need his fucking money.
Where do you keep your SD cards?
Why?
Because I want to make sure they're safe.
They're safe with me, man.
I'll hang on to them.
You do that.
Dorian, do we have to stay here tonight?
Victor?
I think I always knew you
paying Dorian something,
but you said there was no
money for pre-production.
Even a thousand dollars
would have been nice.
This hurts, man.
Can I sleep in here?
Why?
I don't want to sleep
on the matrimonial bed.
You think I do?
No, I mean can I sleep in here with you?
That's kind of gay, oui?
You found her.
I think I did.
Where's Dorian?
- He's sleeping. I'm going to get him.
- No, no.
Please just...
Wait a second.
I'd like to talk to you about how
we are going to proceed from here.
Isn't it too late for that?
Maybe, but you owe it to me
to hear me out.
If you insist.
Let's just tackle the elephant
in the room, okay?
I need you to understand why I'm paying
Dorian for his time, and not you.
You think that's the elephant in the room?
Yes, I do, actually, because
Dorian has somehow convinced you
that I'm taking advantage of you,
but I'm not the one taking
advantage of you, Zuhair. Dorian is.
Victor, nobody is taking advantage
of anybody here!
How are you so naive? Don't you see
you're holding all the cards here!
What do you mean by that?
Like, Literally!
The SD cards are yours!
That camera is yours!
The footage is yours!
The entire story is yours!
And Dorian knows that.
If you think he's going to
cut you in for a fair deal
at the end of all of this,
you're fucking wrong man.
Look.
First night he got here, first night,
he tried to have me fire you
and bring on his cinematographer.
You're telling me now.
What's the fucking point of it, now?
Okay. Fine.
Let's just...
Let's leave...
We'll leave here,
we'll send Dorian on
the first flight back to Los Angeles,
I will pay you twenty thousand dollars
and you will make my movie, my way.
How does that sound?
It sounds like a fucking bribe.
Zuhair, some things are worth fighting for.
You can't just throw the baby
out with the bath water.
What is that supposed to mean now?
Okay, okay. Fine. How do I put this...
Take the rupee note, right?
You have Gandhi's face on it.
Are we supposed to get rid of his face,
just because he may,
or may not have had mistresses
and abandoned children, and shit like that?
Why the fuck do you keep comparing
your father to Gandhi?
Because just like Gandhi, my father
contributed to the world and to his country,
and just like Gandhi, people are now
trying to drag his legacy through the mud!
It's fucking unfair!
Gandhi did not keep anybody in a basement.
If he would have done that, his photograph
wouldn't have been on the fucking rupee note!
But that's my point.
Isn't the world better,
with fucking Gandhi in it?
The world is better with
fucking Gandhi in it,
not someone who keeps a woman
in his basement!
I can tell, you're not going
to work with me on this, are you?
You're not giving me
much to work with, man.
Dude, look. We go a long way back.
I'm sorry. Listen.
You've got to come on
this journey with us, man.
If you come on this journey,
you can position yourself favorably,
get ahead of the scandal.
We can really place
this the way we want to.
You get a say in the
movie, the project, man!
If not,
you have no control on
how this story is being told. Zilch.
How do I look? Is this good?
- Do you want me to go left, or...
- Wait, wait. Hold on...
- Am I good here?
- Yeah, you're good.
Okay.
Roll!
Okay! So,
This here is an American ship.
Landed on these shores right here to
liberate France from 'ze Germans'.
My father's battalion,
or whatever it's called
actually landed 20 kilometers
east of here in Saint-Tropez,
but they didn't get a fancy little boat.
Wait a minute.
I thought it was your mother who was
American and your father was French.
Yeah.
So your French father landed in
France, by boat?
Yeah. He was from Dahomey.
Born and raised.
Dahomey, as in Benin?
Yeah. As in Benin.
So he was African.
No, he wasn't African. He was French.
Dahomey...
or Benin as it used to be called,
was France.
So my father, as a result of being
born and raised there,
was French.
Right.
But there are still Beninese people
in existence today, right?
Yeah, so?
So,
why does your French father
get to be French,
when he was born in Africa
when African French-born
people are still African?
Zuhair, you want to help or something?
- Hmm?
I don't know how else to explain this.
Okay.
I'm from India, right?
Sure.
And India was a British colony.
Right.
So that doesn't make my ancestors British!
I get the concept.
I don't need it explained to me.
I want to know...
I want to hear you explain it,
from your perspective.
Okay.
Do I look African to you?
No you don't.
Exactly!
Exactly.
Okay. Moving on.
All right!
We're going to start down here
in Saint-Raphal
We're going to knock out all the war stuff.
Lots of memorabilia to go through.
Then we'll grab the keys
from the estate lawyer
for the Paris apartment,
his work apartment.
And we'll actually follow the path
that my dad took up to Paris
to liberate it from the Germans.
There's a lot of post-war stuff,
private-sector stuff
to go through there, too.
I'm going to be completely honest, man...
I've got five minutes to sell
the studio to a film.
You know, a guy goes to war,
a guy gets money after the war,
is not really a film.
A lot of guys did that after World War 2.
Okay. I clearly haven't
done my dad justice yet,
but it is only day one,
and there's a lot more for me to show you.
I'm hearing Saint Raphal,
I'm hearing Paris.
Vic?
Tell him he's in the
Who's Who of France, as well.
Oh, yeah! I forgot.
I've got the book up here.
I'll show it to you.
My dad is in the Who's Who of France.
I mean, there is more to it that just
dude who went to war and made money.
Morning, Victor.
Shhh!
Sorry.
What are we shhh-ing about?
I saw a weird animal a few minutes ago.
I'm trying to get it to come back.
What kind of animal?
It was brown...
furry, and...
It was like... You know what?
It was like a snake mated a cat!
Oh!
A stoat.
A what?
A stoat. It's like a weasel.
Yeah! It looked like a weasel.
They go white in the winter.
It's what the kings
make their robes out of.
It's actually a bad omen
to see them in the summer.
What do you mean, it's a bad omen?
I've got to run to the bakery.
Pick up some stuff.
What do you mean, it's a bad omen?
Do you mind holding these?
Uhhh... My head.
What's up?
I have to make a quick stop
at my mom's nursing home.
You don't mind waiting in the car, do you?
Are you all right, Vic?
Yeah. I'm all right.
Must be tough, huh?
What, exactly?
- Going to the home when she's not there.
- Oh.
Yeah, I guess.
Do you miss her a lot?
It's been so long since
I've talked to her...
I was twelve when...
Yeah, I guess I miss her.
That's probably the answer
you want me to say, right?
That's what I'm supposed to feel?
Just keep following the trail
You'll get there eventually.
There's no way ahead!
There is. You have to look down.
They are actually wild boar trails.
As tall as a boar.
There you go!
You might want to put that
backpack on your chest.
So it's not high when you're ducking.
- Yeah.
- To protect your abdomen.
I told you guys I knew where I was going.
This was our favorite spot.
Wow!
This is beautiful!
Um, Zuhair.
I know this is not principle photography,
but when you're behind the camera,
you really shouldn't talk.
So, what is the significance
of this pond to your father?
This pond is a mine.
It was one of the first mines
my father ran after the war.
This is a mine?
Yup!
Actually, when it stopped producing,
he blasted into the groundwater
so it would fill up,
and that makes it a lot more safe
Infact, all of this was ours.
Everything we walked through, at one point.
He sold it off after the
mines stopped producing
and kept just a small plot
to build the house on.
So, when you say that your grandfather
was buddying up with African dictators
you really meant that
he was mining in Africa?
Yes. That was a little bit later,
when France's energy platform
involved a lot of uranium.
But why mining?
Well...
My family comes from a long line of miners
my father,
his father before that,
and his father before that.
They all made their fortunes
mining French West Africa.
But after the war, your...
But after the war he
decided to stay in France.
Why is that?
That's a sad story, actually.
There was this nationalist douchebag
that started riling up all the miners
and convincing them
that they could renegotiate ownership.
So, they gave my grandfather
an ultimatum and said,
that he could keep the land,
but he'd now be renting it out to them
and they would own everything
they pull out of the mountains.
Can you believe that shit?
Yeah, I sort of can.
You think that's fair?
Well, I guess it depends on how
your family came across the lands
that they were mining in the first place.
I don't really see how
that factors into it.
They didn't have a claim over it.
It's not like the miners
had a claim over it.
They can't just steal it.
They were African, right?
In Africa?
The miners were African?
Yes.
So, I think the arguments would be that
Your family stole the land from them
and they were taking back
what was rightfully theirs.
I don't know why you always
have to spin it like that.
- My family was well...
- I'm not spinning it.
My family was well-liked by the miners
before this guy came along.
Zuhair, you'll like this.
My grandfather instituted a program
where the Muslim miners, if they
worked for the family for ten years,
would have their Hajj
trip to Mecca paid for.
'Arbeit macht frei'
What's that supposed to mean?
It's German for 'work makes you free'.
I know what it translates to.
It's written on the gates of Auschwitz.
I get that. I live in Berlin.
I'm asking you what you mean by it.
I mean, if your grandfather
was such a nice guy,
he would have paid your workers enough
for them to afford their own trip to Mecca.
You know, Dorian?
Just because you're black doesn't mean you
get to adopt the entire African struggle.
Hold on, man. Slow down.
Just slow down.
No, but really, Dorian.
The Beninese struggle has nothing to do
with what your people went through.
Nothing.
Look. You're forgetting something
that's key, Victor.
- What's that?
- I'm half Vietnamese.
They were under French
colonization as well.
You think that was any kind of picnic?
Switch out your tampon.
Zuhair,
you're from a country
that was once under colonial rule.
You want to weigh in on this?
Zuhair?
I'm not supposed to
speak from behind the camera.
Fuck it. You know, Dorian?
You want to know something?
You can take the baguette we gave you
to make your banh mi sandwich
and you can shove it up your ass.
And you, Zuhair?
If you want to gang up with him,
Guess what?
Fuck you and your constitutional democracy
and impeccable English.
It's not fair!
I didn't even say anything, Vic.
Why do you have to do that, Dorian?
You know what?
I'm trying to figure out
if there is a film here.
All right?
You think anybody wants to watch a movie
about some kind of rich one percenter?
Oh, oh, my family is so cool.
They're so rich,
and he's a war hero.
Come on. Get out of here.
Take this big load of ego in your mouth.
Get the fuck out of here, man.
You know, I'm really surprised
that you're aligning yourself
with this narrative.
Being that you're from India, and all.
You're oversimplifying things.
I'm oversimplifying things?
Wow.
I'm oversimplifying things.
You know what?
You can be a house nigger all you want.
Just leave me out of that shit.
What's a 'house nigger'?
A house nigger, Zuhair.
In lieu of a field nigger.
A house nigger lives in the house
next to the slave master.
Gets the education.
The field nigger...
I don't have time to explain.
That's your problem.
You see everything
through an American lens.
I'm not a Slumdog Millionaire.
I come from a family of business owners.
We paid our servants to go to Hajj.
I don't even know how to use a dishwasher.
Or iron a shirt.
You sound very proud to say that.
It's not that I'm proud of it.
It's just that it's not fair
that you expect blind loyalty from me
just because I'm brown.
My reality is not your reality.
And Vic has his own reality.
Reality.
You know...
Reality?
Really? Reality?
There's only one reality, Zuhair.
Truth is the truth.
- What you're talking about is perception.
- Semantics!
You know how I see it?
I see an entire country
built off the backs of poor people
in far away lands.
I see a fortunehis fortune
dug up from the grounds of black people,
by black hands,
and passed down to him!
That's the reality.
Fair enough, Dorian.
I just don't understand
how this will help the documentary.
It helps to document because
it's fact and we're telling it!
That's how it helps.
I'm not the kind of dude
that's going to walk the line
to appease his ego.
If he wants to make this film
rewriting history
and his family's involvement
in rewriting history,
he's going to have to do that
on his own time.
- That's not what I do.
- It's his film, Dorian!
It's not his film!
I thought we understood that.
It's not his film.
It's his father,
it's his story,
but it's not his film!
It's mine!
I need this, Dorian. Please.
So, I call out to him,
and he finally busts open the door.
'What the hell is going on down there?!'
And he starts stomping down the stairs
like he's going to kick my ass.
He rounds the bend into the kitchen
and sees this pelican,
and without a moment's hesitation,
he jumps onto the kitchen table,
grabs this pelican around the neck,
and starts swinging it around
like a pillow in a pillow fight.
He slams its body down on the counter,
just snapping its neck in one,
and just grabs this bird, walks out,
like it was just another Wednesday,
opens the trash can,
throws the bird in there,
closes the lid,
and goes back up to his room.
What happened to the pelican?
The pelican? The pelican was dead.
I'm assuming the trash man
had a nice little surprise.
It was weird, because I've never seen
a pelican in the South of France before
and I haven't seen one since.
But I guess,
what I like about that story is that,
My dad was just one of those guys
that when he saw something
he just reacted.
He just seemed to always know what to do.
There was no hesitation.
He just did what had to be done.
No questions asked.
And then just moved on with his life.
I guess I wish I had more of that in me,
you know?
That's your best story of your father?
It's the only one I can think of right now.
My father walked these
exact twenty five kilometers
just over seventy years ago.
I've only ever seen black and white photos
so it's kind of a treat to see it in color.
- Wait, what?
- Did you say twenty five kilometers?
- Yeah
How many miles is that?
It'll take us about six hours
but it took him over a week!
Six fucking hours?!
Vic!
How long is...
How long?
We're not even a quarter of the way,
At the top of this hill there's an outlook.
So, tell us about the mom, Vic.
What's up with her?
The documentary is really
going to stay focused on my dad.
You don't think the wife
factors into the legacy at all?
Hey, Zuhair?
Hm?
What's Gandhi's wife's name?
Gandhi's wife's name...
See?
What's your point?
Okay. What's Malcolm X's wife's name?
Betty Shabazz.
Born Betty Dean Sanders.
Lucky guess.
You're seriously comparing
your father to Malcolm X right now?
What I'm saying is that I'm trying to paint
a picture of the man, not the husband.
Right. But you learn a lot from a man,
from his wife.
Kasturba Gandhi!
Kasturba.
Boom.
They marched this whole gorge by foot.
Unfortunately they couldn't
take any vehicles down here,
but it had the added benefit
of being guarded from air strikes,
and it was also the fastest route
to get through the mountains.
They were worried about ambushes
sitting on top of the hills
so my dad actually
volunteered to be a runner.
He'd run ahead, light and fast
in front of everyone
and scope it out and make sure
there was no one waiting for them.
If he made it back by night fall
they'd all move slowly
and hit that same stretch he ran
under the cover of darkness.
They were worried about bottlenecks
and bad things happening there,
and not being able to retreat fast enough.
So my dad actually had the brilliant idea
of outfitting every sixth man
with a self-inflating raft.
That way, if shit got heavy
they could just drop their gear,
throw the raft in the
water, six men to a raft,
and let the current carry
them back to safety.
I just wish I could have been there, man.
What the hell are you doing?
Good morning, Dorian.
Good morning.
What the hell are you doing?
I'm trying to catch a stoat on camera.
What the hell is a stoat?
You don't know what a st...
A stoat is like a weasel.
Like a little weasel.
The rapper?
What?
Nevermind.
Where are the croissants?
I ate the last one. Sorry.
We can get more!
Do you remember where the bakery is at?
Yeah.
So, tell me, Zuhair,
what made you get into filmmaking?
It's a long story.
Well, we got time, man.
I was working with my family business
for the last few years.
I was a salesman there.
Not very good at it.
What business is this?
Car dealership.
My dad has a car dealership business.
It was kind of decided for me
that this is what I have to do.
But last year, I had a stroke.
A stroke?
Yeah.
- A burst blood vessel, yes.
- Oh, shit!
It took me a long time
before I could walk and talk again.
It was a tough time.
Even more so on my Mahjabeen.
Ali was born and she had to
take care of both of us.
She sounds like a keeper though.
During rehabilitation,
it was the first time ever
that I pondered upon what
I want to do with my life.
- You know?
- Yeah, yeah.
And this is what I want to do, man.
I hear you man, I hear you.
I've got to make it, man.
My dad has given me a year,
so to speak, to make it.
Otherwise he expects me to
come back and work for him again.
Why are these so much better here?
They are good, right?
Yeah, it's just yeast and chocolate
but it's so much better!
You want some of mine?
- Go ahead.
- I wasn't going to give you any, anyway.
Oh, my God, look at these
chocolate specks in it. See that?
Oh, my God!
Bringing the chocolate 'pain'!
Is that your new nickname?
Want to know where I got it from?
Where?
Vic's mom.
Last words.
That's not funny, dude.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
She just died recently.
How are you guys like this, man?
What's with your culture?
You talk about fucking
respecting people in Africa
And here you are fucking
disrespecting a dead mother?
She was in a home for
the last fifteen years.
You don't give a flying fuck.
Her son didn't give a flying fuck.
Okay, okay. I'm sorry.
Shit, Zuhair. Damn!
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
What did you just say?
She was in a home for fifteen years?
- Yeah.
- Is that what you said?
Zuhair. She was in a
home for fifteen years?
Yeah, she was in a home.
A convalescent home?
I don't know, I didn't go inside yesterday.
You didn't go inside?
You guys went to the home
of his mother and you didn't go inside?
It's not what you think.
He got a call and
he just dropped in and he...
He looks pissed.
Oh well.
What the hell, guys? We're late!
For what?
It's nice here.
Should I roll here? The camera?
Yeah, why not. She said it's okay.
Okay, do you want me to do this in English?
That's probably a good idea.
Okay, that's not a problem.
So, basically, I have everything
here ready for you to sign,
Okay.
and then you will have your name
under all the properties.
And how much are we talking, here?
I'm not an expert but I'd say
all together with all the properties,
about two million euros.
And what about the liquid assets?
No, there's no liquid assets.
What do you mean?
There's no money.
Whatsoever.
How can there be no money?
Well, uh...
Any money that your father had
when he passed away has been spent.
Spent? By whom? My aunt?
Under the conservatorship
of the last years, probably, yes.
But you know your mother
spent it when she was a in home.
It was quite expensive for fifteen years.
But I thought the state
was covering the home.
No. The state took the last tab,
because the estate dried up.
But that's it.
Right now there's
no money whatsoever, for sure,
but you're actually owing money.
I'm owing money?
Yeah.
Back taxes debts.
Property taxes.
ISF. 'Impots sur la fortune'.
Wait, what's that?
The fortune tax. This is a French tax.
As soon as you exceed more than
a million and three hundred thousand
euros in assets,
you need to pay this every year.
But, that's ridiculous!
Well, I'm not making the rules.
Right now, you're actually owing
quite a lot of money.
So, how much?
The totaland I was calculating this
is about three hundred and
sixty seven thousand euros.
Oh, my God.
Hey, it's not a tragedy.
It's the definition of a tragedy.
You're telling me that
I've been given a gift,
but to redeem the gift I have to
come up with four hundred thousand euros?
Three hundred sixty seven thousand euros.
You're in France.
You need to pay taxes when you
get money; your 'inheritage'
- Okay.
- That's how it works.
- But you live in Germany, right?
- Yes.
And you're not planning on
getting back to France?
I was considering it.
Well, you might not consider it.
If you stay in Germany
you won't have to pay the fortune tax.
You will have to pay it for this
time, of course,
because it's back taxes
but then you won't be responsible
for the years to come.
Okay, but I still don't understand
how I'm supposed to come up with
four hundred thousand euros.
I don't have that kind of cash.
No, I imagined you wouldn't.
There's actually two options.
The first one is probably
something you will not consider,
but maybe selling everything?
Well, I might have to, right?
No, because there is a second option.
If you sell the farmhouse
you could go over all the debts.
That's the one house I'm actually
really attached to.
Really?
You might consider it, though.
It's really in bad condition.
You wouldn't be able to rent it to anyone,
it would be a dead charge,
There is about a hundred 'mille'...
a hundred thousand euros
just to renovate it.
It's not that bad.
Nobody lived there for forty years!
Everything needs to be redone,
and Bville-le-Comte? Really?
This is a village no one wants to live in.
Okay, I think there is a
confusion or something.
The farmhouse is in Saint-Raphal,
so I don't know what papers you have...
I wasn't precise enough.
There's two farmhouses!
There's one in Saint-Raphal, right here.
The second one is in Bville.
Next to Paris.
You didn't know about it.
Let me look at it.
Here.
That's it.
This is an inheritance from your cousins,
your father got a few years ago.
He was really holding on to it,
and I actually don't know why.
So this... This is mine as well?
Yeah! This is all yours.
You might want to go there.
The minute you see it,
you'll probably want to get rid of it.
That was a long drive.
Well!
It's not too shabby. Not too shabby, Vic.
I'll give you that.
Thank you.
It needs some redecorating.
Yup.
I don't know about all this
Pyrex and Seventies shit.
That clown painting can stay, though.
It must have been a million lights!
Oh, he's here!
Ali, say hi!
Hey, Mahjabeen!
Hey, hi, Victor!
How are you?
Good! Long time no see.
I'm sorry I have to cut it short.
I have to send drawings to my work tonight
and I need the laptop.
Aw, all right. No problem.
Let me say bye!
- You tell Zuhair...
- Of course.
I hope you didn't log into your account
because I don't want NSA
flagging my computer.
Chartres.
Chartres.
Down here. Feel it here.
Please don't touch my neck.
Look at it!
So, when I was twelve
my mom got in a bad car accident.
It was bad brain damage.
She was in and out of consciousness,
sort of like a semi-vegetative state.
Even on her best days
she could barely communicate
beyond basic facial expressions.
I guess he had done it,
because she had been wandering,
and gotten lost and stuff.
He felt is was the best way
to keep her safe, I guess.
Anyway, the cops blew it
way out of proportion.
They got social services involved,
and my aunt just wouldn't drop it.
She just would not drop it.
It was like a witch-hunt.
So she ended up getting some quack doctor
to make up some shit about my dad.
The doctor claimed that my dad
had been forcing himself on my mom.
The companies got wind of it,
and the board members forced him out.
It was just...
It just broke him, you know?
And he just never recovered
because six months later
he just went and dropped dead.
They said it was a question of consent
but they had been married for years!
And if they can't tell
whether my mom could consent to it,
they can't tell whether
she didn't consent to it.
But to lock her in a room!
That's kind of harsh.
Yeah, that's the position they took.
I guess you can understand why, like,
I don't want to talk about
my mom and my dad in the movie
because I don't know how to talk about
the man that I knew,
and then bring something like that up.
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah.
I get it, I guess.
It's clearing up.
It's clearing up!
Keep your eyes out for
signs that read Bville-le-Comte.
In English?
Oh, yes! This is where dreams come to die.
Locked.
It's locked?
Obviously.
You don't have the keys?
No, she didn't give me the keys.
She doesn't have keys!
'Cimetire'!
There's a cemetery this way.
Check that out.
Look, it says 'peace' on the bottom,
and then it's got a
grenade right over that.
That's kind of contradictory.
Yo!
Cintract...
Arthur Cintract?
That's your last name, non?
Yeah, that's my last name.
That's weird.
It's not exactly a common last name.
And it is a small town.
I don't understand what's going on.
I don't get it.
Ram Nam Satya Hai.
Final touch...
What the fuck, man?
Jesus!
This is kind of creepy.
Speaking of creepy, that stupid ass
clown painting was staring at me all night.
Yeah, he's got a tendency to do that.
I like this painting, though.
That shit is ugly.
Why would anyone buy that?
The artist actually killed himself a few
years ago, so I'm sure someone would...
Vic!
Yeah?
Did you know about this?
These are all five hundreds!
One, two,
three,
four, five,
seven,
nine, ten!
There's two point five million francs, man!
It's worthless.
How much is a franc?
Used to be about seventeen cents.
That's still, like,
almost half a million dollars?
No, it used to be half a million dollars
but the cut-off date to turn your
francs into euros was in 2012,
so no. It's fucking wallpaper.
Ooh, that's got to sting.
I'm so fucking mad at him.
I'm so fucking mad.
Why couldn't he just delegate?
Why did he have to be so guarded?
My God. I don't know how
I'm going to get out of this one.
Dude, you've got to look at the
bright side, man. It could be worse.
Explain to me how it could be worse.
I have three houses,
I have half a million euros in debt,
and I've got no fucking
blueprint on how to fix this.
So please tell me how the fuck it
could be worse, Dorian.
You could have no houses, instead of three.
Yeah, and there are starving
kids in Africa with AIDS.
Give me a break, Dorian.
I'm not in the mood.
Look.
Keys.
It looks like, to the house.
At least you've got that.
What's this?
Check that out.
Who is this, Vic?
What the fuck?
Who is that?
Do you know who that is?
Victor, do you know who that is?
Is that a phone number?
Looks like it.
This is getting weird, man.
Victor! Who is that!?
There's no sense in us standing here
like a bunch of idiots.
You coming?
Looks like somebody fired the gardener.
Yo, Zu!
Come get this shot.
This is field work Zuhair.
This is what we're here to do.
So exciting!
Lights work.
No gardener. Lights work.
Creepy.
What the hell is all this?
What happened here?
I don't know. Maybe an owl or something,
tearing up the carpeting to make a nest.
Maid's fired.
Dorian! Check this out.
Oh, shit.
Canned in 2002.
Expired in 2005.
Hey, Victor!
When did you say your dad died again?
Vic!
Oh, shit!
What?
It's your mom!
Dorian?
Dorian!
Do you still have the photographs?
Yeah.
You want to see that one?
No, the other one.
That one?
Oh, man.
That's the bed.
And that's the dress.
I'm getting the chills, man.
This is creepy.
This is good creepy.
We've got something.
Let's get out of here, man.
Not yet. Not yet.
Attics.
Never liked them.
Yeah, not my favorite, either.
After you, Dorian.
Fuck that noise! Youth before beauty.
I think you may have that idiom backwards.
Is it beauty before youth?
You're the investigative journalist!
Please lead the way.
Investigative journalist.
Not ghost buster.
After you, sir.
Come on, man.
Hey, Dorian!
Yo?
How's it looking?
Would you like to meet Casper?
Oh, fuck you, man.
All right. Well...
Let's lay it out, man. Let's lay it out.
What do we got?
What do we know?
She looks young.
That she does.
She was here.
That she was.
I don't know...
Do you think it's possible?
Say it, man.
I don't know.
Why would Vic not know anything about it?
Why were the photographs in the safe?
And the money.
Do you think his dad had another family?
That was my first thought.
But if so, when he died,
why didn't they come forward?
Maybe they don't know that he's dead.
It's been fifteen years, man.
Then where are they now?
Let's go find Vic.
Yo, Vic!
Vic!
Victor?
Did you find him?
No, man. Car is here though.
Yo, Victor!
Don't fuck around, man! Where you at?
Victor.
Victoria!
Vicki!
You little bitch, where you at?
Vic!
Got it?
Oh, yeah! It's the
Secret fucking Garden back here, ain't it?
Vic!
Yo, Vic!
Fuck.
You all right?
- Dorian?
- Zu! Yo.
You okay?
What's up?
- What the fuck is this?
- Oh, shit.
Is it just me,
or does that look like a grave?
Maybe it's Asterix.
What's Asterix?
Their family dog!
I don't know what you're talking about,
but that doesn't look
like a dog grave, really.
Vic!
Where did you find that?
Let's go, guys.
There's a grave here, Vic.
There's a fucking grave back here.
Yeah come check this out, man.
That's the documentary.
That's the story that needs to be told.
I want you guys to leave my family alone.
I can't do that, man.
I can't make that happen.
It's too late! It's out of our hands.
Dorian,
you understand that this is
my father's legacy, right?
Your father's legacy is a lie.
Yeah?
What about our friendship?
Is that a lie?
Zuhair, how much are you getting paid?
Jesus Christ.
I'm getting paid twelve grand.
Twelve grand?
I'm not talking about me and Zuhair,
I'm talking about you and me right now.
I couldn't even pronounce your name
up until a couple of days ago.
So don't try to blackmail
my silence with friendship.
Sad.
Pitiful, really.
If you were really my friend,
you would have contributed
to my Kickstarter.
Oh, my God, I fucking knew it.
Yeah, I know you knew it.
But you didn't.
You watched it fail.
Why?
So you could capitalize on the failure,
and get me to shoot your film.
That's your version of friendship.
Are you fucking serious?
Dorian, what world do you live in
where you get shit for free?
Who wants something for free, man?
Did I ask for anything for free?
Did you hear me ask for anything free?
You know?
I just don't want to sit
here and be disrespected
with this term 'friendship'
that you throw around so loosely,
while you're pretending like this
wasn't a business transaction.
Okay, so if this is a business transaction
let me explain the new terms to you
super fucking clearly so you get it.
You make my movie, you get paid.
You continue doing
whatever the fuck this is,
you don't.
We're past that point, man.
It's bigger than twelve grand.
Don't you get it?
It's bigger than you or me!
It's bigger than Zuhair,
and his car dealership.
Don't you get it?
This story is going to be told!
Fuck.
With you or without you!
Approval or no approval.
Point blank.
Vic, why is Dorian getting paid
twelve thousand, man?
This was a good talk. Thanks.
Vic!
Dorian, will you please explain to me
what the fuck is going on here?
You're getting screwed, Zuhair.
That's what's going on here, man.
Why the fuck are you telling me now?
Just...
hang in there, man.
Hang in there, dude.
I'm going to get us both paid.
We don't need his fucking money.
Where do you keep your SD cards?
Why?
Because I want to make sure they're safe.
They're safe with me, man.
I'll hang on to them.
You do that.
Dorian, do we have to stay here tonight?
Victor?
I think I always knew you
paying Dorian something,
but you said there was no
money for pre-production.
Even a thousand dollars
would have been nice.
This hurts, man.
Can I sleep in here?
Why?
I don't want to sleep
on the matrimonial bed.
You think I do?
No, I mean can I sleep in here with you?
That's kind of gay, oui?
You found her.
I think I did.
Where's Dorian?
- He's sleeping. I'm going to get him.
- No, no.
Please just...
Wait a second.
I'd like to talk to you about how
we are going to proceed from here.
Isn't it too late for that?
Maybe, but you owe it to me
to hear me out.
If you insist.
Let's just tackle the elephant
in the room, okay?
I need you to understand why I'm paying
Dorian for his time, and not you.
You think that's the elephant in the room?
Yes, I do, actually, because
Dorian has somehow convinced you
that I'm taking advantage of you,
but I'm not the one taking
advantage of you, Zuhair. Dorian is.
Victor, nobody is taking advantage
of anybody here!
How are you so naive? Don't you see
you're holding all the cards here!
What do you mean by that?
Like, Literally!
The SD cards are yours!
That camera is yours!
The footage is yours!
The entire story is yours!
And Dorian knows that.
If you think he's going to
cut you in for a fair deal
at the end of all of this,
you're fucking wrong man.
Look.
First night he got here, first night,
he tried to have me fire you
and bring on his cinematographer.
You're telling me now.
What's the fucking point of it, now?
Okay. Fine.
Let's just...
Let's leave...
We'll leave here,
we'll send Dorian on
the first flight back to Los Angeles,
I will pay you twenty thousand dollars
and you will make my movie, my way.
How does that sound?
It sounds like a fucking bribe.
Zuhair, some things are worth fighting for.
You can't just throw the baby
out with the bath water.
What is that supposed to mean now?
Okay, okay. Fine. How do I put this...
Take the rupee note, right?
You have Gandhi's face on it.
Are we supposed to get rid of his face,
just because he may,
or may not have had mistresses
and abandoned children, and shit like that?
Why the fuck do you keep comparing
your father to Gandhi?
Because just like Gandhi, my father
contributed to the world and to his country,
and just like Gandhi, people are now
trying to drag his legacy through the mud!
It's fucking unfair!
Gandhi did not keep anybody in a basement.
If he would have done that, his photograph
wouldn't have been on the fucking rupee note!
But that's my point.
Isn't the world better,
with fucking Gandhi in it?
The world is better with
fucking Gandhi in it,
not someone who keeps a woman
in his basement!
I can tell, you're not going
to work with me on this, are you?
You're not giving me
much to work with, man.
Dude, look. We go a long way back.
I'm sorry. Listen.
You've got to come on
this journey with us, man.
If you come on this journey,
you can position yourself favorably,
get ahead of the scandal.
We can really place
this the way we want to.
You get a say in the
movie, the project, man!
If not,
you have no control on
how this story is being told. Zilch.