{257}{291}In a hushed voice {338}{387}in a gentle, soft voice, {417}{462}saying great things {469}{535}important, surprising, profound, {540}{568}just things, {598}{651}in a gentle, soft voice {689}{730}the threat of thunder, {737}{820}the presence of absolutes|in a robin's voice, {834}{896}in the fine detail of a flute {913}{988}and the delicacy of pure sound. {1056}{1149}The whole sun evoked in a half smile. {1174}{1211}O hushed voice {1305}{1358}and a sort of murmur {1370}{1423}in infinitely pure French. {1493}{1607}He who heard not the words|would have thought they were nothing. {1612}{1693}They were nothing|for the reassured ear. {1887}{1956}But this contrast and this music, {1981}{2044}this voice barely rippling the air, {2058}{2121}this whispering strength, {2135}{2175}these perspectives, {2180}{2213}these discoveries, {2218}{2252}these abysses, {2262}{2325}and these maneuvers, hinted at, {2342}{2377}this smile {2394}{2439}dismissing the universe. {2534}{2630}Also, the sound of silk,|lonely and discreet, {2635}{2692}of a fire which burns {2697}{2746}creating the room around it {2857}{2905}and which speaks to itself, {2912}{2953}or to me, {2968}{3008}almost for itself. {7106}{7184}Spirit is true|only when it manifests itself. {7200}{7270}The root of "manifest"|is the word "hand". {7348}{7402}Love is the epitome of spirit. {7416}{7462}Loving others is an act. {7469}{7558}A hand reaching out,|not a draped sentiment, {7563}{7660}an ideal on the way to Jericho|passing by a bandits' victim. {7721}{7744}Police. {7749}{7791}Propaganda. State. {7805}{7835}This is the hand, {7840}{7949}the name of the tyrant God|created by man's proud reason. {8017}{8057}When speech breaks down, {8067}{8180}when it is no longer a gift|which commits something of itself, {8188}{8238}human friendship breaks down. {8292}{8349}This is the worry of the people. {8354}{8409}It is not material at first. {8418}{8478}It is a worry of heart and spirit, {8483}{8535}born of the death of friendship. {8642}{8702}I do not believe in mysterious voices {8707}{8751}but in the call of facts. {8767}{8831}Let us consider the time,|the places we live, {8836}{8926}our precise situations|and their resulting call. {8931}{8978}After that, let us judge. {9004}{9034}The Europe of today. {9055}{9121}In this Europe,|two kinds of nations. {9136}{9176}Those considered old {9187}{9249}and those considered rejuvenated. {9254}{9310}Those with possibilities {9315}{9397}but not knowing what to do|with their freedom, {9424}{9498}and those which have|undergone revolution {9503}{9551}and have freedom of opinion, {9557}{9659}that is, the right to complain,|but without deep-felt passion, {9664}{9759}where misery is at the door|and all one can do is wait. {9812}{9836}Misery. {9841}{9934}Last argument.|Last basis of modern community. {9948}{10043}The backdrop of all our dramas,|thoughts and action, {10048}{10090}and even our utopias. {10125}{10210}The essential is not|what a dictator thinks. {10224}{10272}It is not material necessity. {10279}{10320}It is a higher truth. {10335}{10386}At the level of man {10396}{10470}and, I might add,|within man's reach. {10501}{10587}It is time that thought becomes|what it truly is: {10612}{10652}Dangerous for the thinker {10663}{10712}and able to transform reality. {10735}{10814}"Where I create|is where I am true": Rilke. {10835}{10897}Some think, others act. {10926}{10960}But man's true condition {10965}{11009}is to think with his hands. {11093}{11140}I will not denigrate our tools {11158}{11208}but I'd like them usable. {11264}{11354}If it is true that|the danger is not in our tools {11369}{11427}but in the weakness of our hands. {11439}{11559}A thought which abandons itself|to the rhythm of its own mechanisms {11564}{11616}proletarianizes itself. {11656}{11734}Such a thought no longer lives|of its own creation. {11852}{11904}Man is formed by others. {11919}{11957}I recite this. {11981}{12016}Who are these others? {12042}{12076}We know now. {12095}{12189}They are the laws|born of the abandonment of thought. {12221}{12257}Who is responsible? {12274}{12377}Not the parties. Not the classes.|Not the governments. {12399}{12463}It is men, one by one. {12534}{12618}In anger I am torn|by insurmountable irony. {12623}{12664}Otherwise I would not shout. {12728}{12807}But silence is not given to man|through effort. {12834}{12951}Silence and pitiful intelligence|are the work of forgiveness. {13024}{13134}"It is your business, not mine,|to rule over absence," {13155}{13187}said a poet. {13267}{13312}True violence|is the work of the spirit. {13349}{13409}Every creative act|contains a real threat {13414}{13455}for the person who dares it. {13492}{13574}This is how art moves|the viewer or reader. {13597}{13669}If thought refuses to do violence, {13678}{13731}it exposes itself in vain {13736}{13821}to all the brutalities|which its absence released. {13897}{13981}We sometimes hope|that thinking in France {13986}{14033}becomes punishable by prison. {14052}{14119}Free thinkers|would be taken seriously again. {14145}{14203}The place of all creative thinking {14208}{14240}is the person. {14262}{14361}The world's agitation|is no more than a question {14366}{14439}which is put to me|and which takes form {14444}{14499}only when it forces me to act. {14622}{14701}Partisans of "we"|have mistaken the person. {14709}{14829}The world's contradictions figure|in the equation of all existence. {14845}{14912}X is a person,|a creative element, {14924}{14969}an incalculable liberty. {14996}{15025}Man, {15038}{15134}as man, is a creator, {15171}{15213}but a created creator. {15302}{15369}It is in hope that we are saved. {15375}{15421}But this hope is true {15452}{15501}because time destroys the act, {15512}{15564}but the act is the judge of time. {16177}{16233}When the acrobat falls prey {16238}{16293}to his own precarious balance, {16340}{16378}we make a wish. {16417}{16464}This wish is two-fold {16496}{16517}and empty. {16564}{16605}We hope he falls {16654}{16698}and we hope he holds on. {16736}{16824}This wish is necessary.|We can't help forming it {16829}{16915}in all its contradiction,|in all sincerity. {16976}{17023}It naively paints our soul {17028}{17059}at that moment. {17125}{17178}It feels that the man will fall, {17207}{17236}must fall, {17241}{17274}is going to fall. {17354}{17412}It confirms his fall and refrains {17417}{17490}from any emotion,|desiring what it foresees. {17529}{17576}For it, he has already fallen. {17609}{17730}It doesn't believe its eyes.|It wouldn't watch him on the rope, {17735}{17804}wouldn't push him down|at every moment {17846}{17889}if he hadn't already fallen. {17932}{17977}It sees him holding on {17982}{18072}and admits there are reasons|for his holding on, {18077}{18160}invoking these reasons,|begging them to last. {18203}{18258}The existence of everything {18287}{18317}and of ourselves... {18326}{18433}We forget why Joan Fontaine|leans over the cliff. {18601}{18668}Why was Joel McCrea|in Holland? {18707}{18801}What confession|did Montgomery Clift keep secret? {18842}{18901}Why did Janet Leigh|stop at the Motel? {18935}{19012}Why does Theresa Wright|still love Uncle Charlie? {19056}{19137}What isn't Henry Fonda|entirely guilty of? {19170}{19241}Why did the American government {19246}{19290}hire Ingrid Bergman? {19656}{19717}But we remember a handbag. {19733}{19776}But we remember {19781}{19820}a bus in the desert. {19827}{19867}But we remember {19872}{19924}a glass of milk, a windmill, {19936}{19960}a hairbrush. {19975}{20037}But we remember a row of bottles, {20052}{20089}a pair of glasses, {20101}{20139}a musical score, {20154}{20189}a key chain. {20216}{20316}Because with them and through them,|Alfred Hitchcock {20321}{20416}succeeded where Alexander, Caesar,|Hitler and Napoleon failed: {20752}{20806}In taking control of the universe. {21321}{21362}Maybe 10,000 people {21367}{21415}haven't forgot C?zanne's apple, {21423}{21534}<i>but a billion remember the lighter|in Strangers on a Train.</i> {21581}{21638}Hitchcock, the only accursed poet {21643}{21682}to meet with success. {21709}{21798}Our century's greatest|creator of forms. {21833}{21949}Forms tell us|what is at the bottom of things. {22006}{22036}What is art, {22041}{22111}if not the way forms become style? {22128}{22169}What is style... {22977}{23037}What is style, if not man? {23108}{23165}So it is a bra-less blonde {23170}{23236}tailed by a detective|scared of heights {23262}{23364}who proves that it's all cinema,|that is, {23386}{23430}child's play. {23998}{24035}In the beginning {24062}{24127}it felt very little {24155}{24215}and thought it knew everything. {24230}{24250}Later, {24351}{24447}filled solely with doubt, pain, {24471}{24537}dread before the mystery of life, {24552}{24598}it all began floating. {24620}{24679}And now that it feels everything {24684}{24736}it believes it knows nothing. {24870}{24890}And yet {24946}{24989}from insouciance {25008}{25043}to worry, {25122}{25200}from the loving recording|of beginnings {25221}{25319}to the hesitant but essential form|of the end, {25368}{25441}the same central force governs {25446}{25470}cinema. {25492}{25529}We follow it from within, {25555}{25607}from form to form {25626}{25695}with the prowling shadow and beam, {25716}{25785}illuminating one thing,|hiding another. {25817}{25872}Making a shoulder appear, {25881}{25911}a face, {25934}{25966}a raised finger, {25998}{26032}an open window, {26042}{26071}a forehead, {26092}{26121}a child {26126}{26155}in a nursery. {26355}{26424}That which plunges into light {26456}{26553}is the echo|of what t...
Merlin-Ka