BŒLDIEU: May I ask you something? Why do you make an exception for me by inviting me to your quarters?
RAUFFENSTEIN in close-up: Why? Because your name is Bœldieu, career officer in the French army, and my name is Rauffenstein, career officer in the imperial German army.
BŒLDIEU in close-up: But ... all my friends are officers too.
RAUFFENSTEIN disdainfully: You call Maréchal and Rosenthal ... officers?
BŒLDIEU: They are very good soldiers.
RAUFFENSTEIN with contempt: Yes! ... [Modern warfare, the nation in arms!] ... The charming legacy of the French Revolution.
BŒLDIEU smiling: I am afraid we can do nothing to turn back the clock.
RAUFFENSTEIN rises and puts out his cigarette by the window.
RAUFFENSTEIN: I do not know who is going to win this war, but I know one thing: the end of it, whatever it may be, will be the end of the Rauffensteins and the Bœldieus.
BŒLDIEU: But perhaps there is no more need for us.
RAUFFENSTEIN: And don't you find that is a pity?
BŒLDIEU: Perhaps!
RAUFFENSTEIN seems thoughtful as he looks at the window which opens on a sheer drop of one hundred and thirty feet. The pot of geraniums stands on the inner ledge, next to a small watering can.
BŒLDIEU: I do admire the way you look after your geranium.
RAUFFENSTEIN turning back to him: Do not think that I have turned into a botanist, but it's the only flower in the castle... He sits by BŒLDIEU ... Ivy and nettles are the only plants growing here.
-- Charles Spaak and Jean Renoir Grand Illusion
Translated by Marianne Alexandre and Andrew Sinclair
