Chronicle of a Summer (1961)

Jacques: Self

Quotes 

• Jacques, Friend of Morin : Alas, ideals can't always be realized. We either accept of reject life as it's been given to us.

  Edgar Morin, Himself : You have to adjust?

  Jacques, Friend of Morin : Precisely. I admire and envy anyone who can fully adjust. I'm split internally, intimately. I give up on part of myself.

  Edgar Morin, Himself : And what happens to the rest?

  Jacques, Friend of Morin : Well, I keep it intact. Or rather, I preserve it.

  Edgar Morin, Himself : What part of you is that?

  Jacques, Friend of Morin : The real me.

• Jacques, Friend of Morin : I think that the tragedy of our times is that you're less and less able to choose your work. You don't get into anything, you fall into it. You must have, if not a degree, a job, a regular employment to get an ID card, a work permit. What's a man today? An identity card, a bundle of forms! That's what a man is today. Everybody can't be an artist or a craftsman. You're a drudge. You have to fight boredom all day long, you don't care about your work, it doesn't mean a thing to you. But of course you have to do it, to endure, until 6:00pm.

  Edgar Morin, Himself : And after 6:00pm?

  Jacques, Friend of Morin : After 6:00, you try to become yourself again. You work until 6:00, and then you're another man.

  Edgar Morin, Himself : What does that man do?

  Jacques, Friend of Morin : He's vibrant, he's alive! Maybe he's still a prisoner, maybe the other one has handcuffed him. But I think we should get less involved with so-called regular work, and always more with life on the fringe.

• Edgar Morin, Himself : Is there anything you believe in?

  Jacques, Friend of Morin : I believe in life. In the possibility of fulfillment. In spite of everything and because of everything.