0: 10:00:45.00 10:00:48.05
He was very shy, he was candid,

1: 10:00:48.17 10:00:50.20
he had no style
when it came to clothes,

2: 10:00:50.24 10:00:52.17
his style came elsewhere.

3: 10:00:53.05 10:00:54.19
And he'd tell stories,

4: 10:00:55.04 10:00:58.20
he was very funny, he'd recite
Mallarmé with a Swiss accent,

5: 10:00:59.02 10:01:00.10
he'd perform card tricks,

6: 10:01:00.14 10:01:03.05
which was sometimes
his way of hiding himself

7: 10:01:03.11 10:01:05.21
from people
he didn't know very well.

8: 10:01:06.00 10:01:08.10
He'd sing songs. He sang in chorus.

9: 10:01:08.18 10:01:12.13
He didn't do anything like anyone
else, he's nothing like other people,

10: 10:01:12.17 10:01:17.10
he was a knight of the Holy Grail
who lived among us at that time.

11: 10:01:17.20 10:01:21.07
There was no one like him,
he couldn't do anything,

12: 10:01:21.11 10:01:27.06
he couldn't even dress, speak
and smoke like other people.

13: 10:01:27.12 10:01:31.21
He was a man
who was a bit distracted.

14: 10:01:32.00 10:01:34.04
I should say, he often had incidents.

15: 10:01:34.08 10:01:36.17
There'd be a fire on board,
or the oxygen would cut out

16: 10:01:36.21 10:01:40.11
or the engine would stop running,
there was anti-aircraft defence.

17: 10:01:40.24 10:01:42.09
He'd seen his fair share.

18: 10:01:45.11 10:01:47.15
Hello Madam, hello Madam Savais.

19: 10:01:48.00 10:01:49.14
Hello, sir.

20: 10:01:49.18 10:01:53.16
Is it true Mrs Savais that Saint
Exupéry built machines to fly in?

21: 10:01:54.01 10:01:55.11
Yes, that's correct.

22: 10:01:55.15 10:01:58.05
He'd go looking for sheets
in the laundry room,

23: 10:01:58.17 10:02:01.17
he'd tear them up into smaller pieces

24: 10:02:01.21 10:02:05.08
and stick them to bits of wood
or whatever he could find

25: 10:02:05.21 10:02:09.02
and he'd go to the ledge
opposite the château.

26: 10:02:09.10 10:02:12.19
Then he'd lift his arms
to try and jump,

27: 10:02:13.01 10:02:15.04
but he didn't always succeed!

28: 10:02:46.11 10:02:49.22
My first memory is Antoine
following me into the park

29: 10:02:50.01 10:02:51.19
with a little green chair.

30: 10:02:52.06 10:02:55.20
And every time I'd stop,
Antoine would sit on his little chair

31: 10:02:55.24 10:02:59.06
and wait until I walked. We'd do that
all the way round the park.

32: 10:03:01.08 10:03:03.13
He was overly lively,

33: 10:03:03.22 10:03:05.02
sensitive,

34: 10:03:05.10 10:03:06.21
quite unbearable,

35: 10:03:07.18 10:03:10.06
but extremely sensitive,
all the same.

36: 10:03:10.15 10:03:12.16
Oh, a charming young child.

37: 10:03:14.04 10:03:15.09
Charming.

38: 10:03:15.18 10:03:19.03
With curly blond hair,
which sat like a halo...

39: 10:03:20.01 10:03:23.04
...around his head.
We'd call him the Sun King.

40: 10:03:23.21 10:03:27.11
But he was very good, he had a very
kind heart. He was very decent too.

41: 10:03:28.00 10:03:31.14
He was incapable of any wickedness.
But he did what he wanted.

42: 10:03:31.18 10:03:36.12
My teachers actually noted
that Saint-Ex

43: 10:03:37.06 10:03:39.21
was neither a particularly
well-behaved child,

44: 10:03:40.00 10:03:43.19
nor a troublemaker, nor a dunce,

45: 10:03:44.08 10:03:45.19
nor a brilliant student.

46: 10:04:19.06 10:04:21.01
They also invented

47: 10:04:21.20 10:04:26.10
a bike with a sail.

48: 10:04:26.19 10:04:32.01
He asked the governess,
Miss Marguerite, who we called 'Moisi'

49: 10:04:32.10 10:04:36.18
and hoisted this old sheet
up a broom handle

50: 10:04:37.08 10:04:40.10
attached the broomstick to the bike

51: 10:04:40.18 10:04:43.00
and wheeled himself
to the top of a slope

52: 10:04:43.04 10:04:45.18
and my siblings and I watched him.

53: 10:04:47.14 10:04:51.05
And off Antoine went.

54: 10:04:51.15 10:04:55.09
It seemed as though
the bike took off into the air.

55: 10:04:55.13 10:04:59.05
That was his first flying experiment.

56: 10:05:21.06 10:05:24.23
He came back into the dining room,
we'd been round the table for ages

57: 10:05:25.06 10:05:29.09
and suddenly he burst out shouting:
"I've just flown!"

58: 10:05:29.13 10:05:31.15
So everyone was stunned,

59: 10:05:32.05 10:05:35.09
and our grandmother was
at the head of the table

60: 10:05:35.13 10:05:39.09
and she was very strict and you always
had to be punctual at mealtimes,

61: 10:05:39.13 10:05:41.04
so she was already very cross.

62: 10:05:41.08 10:05:46.05
And she started shouting "this child
will kill us and he'll kill himself."

63: 10:05:46.21 10:05:50.16
Did he have permission
to get in a plane?

64: 10:05:50.20 10:05:54.11
I don't believe so. He had permission
to wander the grounds

65: 10:05:54.18 10:05:58.21
but our mother had definitely never
given him permission to fly.

66: 10:07:23.12 10:07:25.20
On October 1926,

67: 10:07:26.03 10:07:29.16
Saint-Exupéry visited
my office in Montaudran

68: 10:07:30.01 10:07:34.02
where, as you know, the Latécoère
airlines were operated from.

69: 10:07:35.03 10:07:40.02
And he stood before me
like the good student that he was.

70: 10:07:40.20 10:07:44.10
But I must say that his flying record

71: 10:07:44.20 10:07:47.10
and references
weren't the best I'd seen.

72: 10:07:47.16 10:07:49.12
I mean, pilot references.

73: 10:08:26.03 10:08:30.01
We were starting to use
the Casablanca-Dakar route,

74: 10:08:30.22 10:08:34.16
which we had
lots of problems sorting out.

75: 10:08:34.20 10:08:39.09
Principally technical issues,
followed by political issues

76: 10:08:39.17 10:08:42.03
because flying over Rio del Oro

77: 10:08:42.14 10:08:45.21
and having many power failures

78: 10:08:46.01 10:08:49.19
meant coming into contact
with the desert nomads

79: 10:08:49.23 10:08:55.22
who as you know, at the time,
were cruel and plunderers.

80: 10:09:04.06 10:09:07.22
This is why,
in order to provide a human solution

81: 10:09:08.11 10:09:10.20
to our problem with the Moors people,

82: 10:09:11.02 10:09:14.23
I decided to send
Saint-Exupéry to Cape Juby.

83: 10:10:05.23 10:10:09.07
- What kind of man was Saint-Exupéry?
- Ah, he was a very brave man,

84: 10:10:09.11 10:10:14.05
in a good way, he was a man
who knew things like...

85: 10:10:14.14 10:10:17.00
...like a marabout.

86: 10:10:17.04 10:10:19.08
But he had a lot of courage.

87: 10:10:41.07 10:10:43.04
How long did you stay with The Moors?

88: 10:10:43.08 10:10:46.03
Oh, we were with the Moors
for eight months.

89: 10:10:47.00 10:10:49.19
Sharpening the grindstone
and scoffing couscous.

90: 10:10:49.23 10:10:53.18
That's all he had us doing.
The worst were the women.

91: 10:10:55.02 10:10:59.01
- Was it Saint-Ex who came to get you?
- Saint-Ex and a Moorish interpreter.

92: 10:10:59.17 10:11:02.12
He came to get us over there,
he was the ambassador!

93: 10:11:04.06 10:11:08.24
I knew him from 1925-27
until 1928 in Cape Juby,

94: 10:11:09.13 10:11:12.11
And he really wrote a lot.

95: 10:11:12.21 10:11:16.10
He was forgetful, and the post
would be sent off last minute.

96: 10:11:16.14 10:11:20.04
He'd spend the whole night
typing very hurriedly.

97: 10:11:20.10 10:11:24.23
He did all that to send it
to Mr Daurat in Toulouse.

98: 10:11:25.09 10:11:28.15
Otherwise, he'd spend
his time with the Moors,

99: 10:11:29.13 10:11:32.09
and he'd drink tea
with them left, right and centre.

100: 10:11:32.13 10:11:33.13
Or...

101: 10:11:34.04 10:11:36.10
sometimes he'd take
his massive raincoat,

102: 10:11:36.14 10:11:40.16
with a pad of paper,
and he'd walk off into the dunes.

103: 10:11:41.08 10:11:45.17
He'd come back at 3 or 4 o'clock
and we'd have already eaten.

104: 10:11:46.04 10:11:48.17
"What's there to eat,"
he'd say. "It's too late!".

105: 10:11:48.21 10:11:54.18
At that time, what he wanted was
boiled rice and bread and dripping.

106: 10:11:54.22 10:11:56.16
He ate that, that's what he liked!

107: 10:14:56.22 10:15:00.06
#I can still picture the first night#
#flight in Argentina in my head.#

108: 10:15:01.15 10:15:04.22
#It was a dark night, where the only#
#sparkles, like stars, were the rare,#

109: 10:15:05.01 10:15:07.04
#dispersed lights across the plains.#

110: 10:15:09.02 10:15:10.21
#We have to try to reach them#

111: 10:15:11.08 10:15:14.12
#and communicate using#
#some of these lights,#

112: 10:15:14.16 10:15:17.01
#which burn here and there#
#in the countryside.#

113: 10:15:28.07 10:15:30.08
I met him in Buenos Aires.

114: 10:15:30.16 10:15:34.20
He wrote me a huge letter
about a flight he'd taken at night.

115: 10:15:35.05 10:15:38.20
And he said:

116: 10:15:40.12 10:15:43.12
"Dear lady, if you'll oblige,
I'd like to be your fiancé"

117: 10:15:43.16 10:15:46.06
and there were 80 pages
about a flight at night.

118: 10:15:46.17 10:15:47.21
So I said to him:

119: 10:15:48.00 10:15:53.00
"Sir, your letter is like a book.

120: 10:15:53.04 10:15:55.21
It's a night flight.
Why don't you write one?"

121: 10:15:56.04 10:15:58.05
So he said:
"If you push me, I'll write it.

122: 10:15:58.10 10:15:59.22
But I'm a bad author,

123: 10:16:00.01 10:16:03.06
I've already written
a small book called Southern Mail

124: 10:16:03.10 10:16:06.14
and I've only sold three of them.
To my parents."

125: 10:16:39.23 10:16:43.20
I think he had
great respect for literature,

126: 10:16:44.05 10:16:46.20
like all people
who aren't of that profession.

127: 10:16:47.01 10:16:49.13
But the big difference

128: 10:16:49.17 10:16:53.08
was that he started having
something to say when he wrote.

129: 10:16:53.15 10:16:58.16
Whereas many writers,
I'd even say almost all writers,

130: 10:16:58.20 10:17:01.02
write about what other people do,

131: 10:17:01.10 10:17:03.19
or what they imagine they could do,

132: 10:17:04.03 10:17:06.17
or what the characters they invent do.

133: 10:17:06.22 10:17:10.06
But he was doing something
before he started writing.

134: 10:17:10.10 10:17:16.02
If you like, in relative terms,
he was in a situation like Caesar's

135: 10:17:16.06 10:17:19.24
who became a writer and wrote
commentaries on the Gallic Wars

136: 10:17:20.03 10:17:22.24
after having commanded
the Roman armies.

137: 10:17:50.10 10:17:54.14
We believe that Saint-Exupéry was
always an exceptional man,

138: 10:17:54.18 10:17:57.23
but we also believe
that he was always happy, celebrated,

139: 10:17:58.02 10:18:00.10
you know, surrounded and supported.

140: 10:18:00.14 10:18:04.11
That he's someone
who entered into legend.

141: 10:18:04.15 10:18:07.14
But it's a complete falsehood!
That's why we love him.

142: 10:18:07.18 10:18:10.19
We love him because he was unhappy,
because he was like us,

143: 10:18:10.23 10:18:15.14
because he suffered from hostility
and a lack of understanding.

144: 10:18:15.18 10:18:17.19
Listen to this letter to Guillaumet:

145: 10:18:17.23 10:18:21.13
"It seems you've arrived.
My heart is thumping a little.

146: 10:18:21.17 10:18:25.20
If only you knew of the horrid
life I've been leading since you left

147: 10:18:25.24 10:18:29.08
and the immense disgust for life
that I've started feeling.

148: 10:18:29.19 10:18:32.00
Just because I wrote this silly book,

149: 10:18:32.13 10:18:35.15
I've been condemned to misery
and hostility from my peers.

150: 10:18:35.19 10:18:38.21
Mermoz will tell you what reputation
people who I hadn't seen

151: 10:18:39.00 10:18:43.07
and that I loved, have given me.
They'll tell you how pretentious I am

152: 10:18:43.21 10:18:46.00
Just ask any Toulouse to Dakar pilots.

153: 10:18:46.04 10:18:48.24
Until Etienne,
who I hadn't seen since America

154: 10:18:49.09 10:18:52.03
and who,
despite not having seen me again,

155: 10:18:52.07 10:18:54.00
has said that I'm a poser."

156: 10:21:23.21 10:21:27.16
Some people say to me: "but you do
realise you've married a famous name."

157: 10:21:27.20 10:21:32.15
I married an aviator
and he became a huge author.

158: 10:21:33.20 10:21:34.24
WIND, SAND AND STARS

159: 10:21:36.06 10:21:40.09
#Henri Guillaumet, my comrade,#
#I dedicate this book to you.#

160: 10:21:58.03 10:22:00.14
#I let go of the commands#
#that were clamping me#

161: 10:22:00.18 10:22:02.17
#to stop me being thrown#
#out of the plane.#

162: 10:22:02.21 10:22:04.09
#The shaking was so violent#

163: 10:22:04.13 10:22:07.10
#that my seat straps#
#were hurting my shoulders.#

164: 10:22:07.14 10:22:12.18
#After two hours, I landed upside down.#
#I got free but the storm blew me down.#

165: 10:22:12.23 10:22:15.13
#I got back up on my feet#
#and it blew me down again.#

166: 10:22:15.17 10:22:19.07
#I had to slide under the wreckage#
#and dig a shelter in the snow.#

167: 10:22:19.11 10:22:23.02
#I wrapped myself in postal sacks#
#and for 48 hours, I waited.#

168: 10:23:46.24 10:23:50.01
He wasn't a bad pilot,
but he wasn't a great pilot.

169: 10:23:50.16 10:23:54.23
Saint-Exupéry was a genius,

170: 10:23:55.19 10:24:00.10
you could explain everything to him,
he'd repeat it all, note it all down,

171: 10:24:00.14 10:24:02.21
like an attentive school child,

172: 10:24:03.00 10:24:04.21
and he did everything very well.

173: 10:24:05.00 10:24:08.00
But when he was flying,
he forgot everything: he was great.

174: 10:24:08.04 10:24:10.19
He'd forget, he'd think
about all kinds of things,

175: 10:24:12.11 10:24:13.22
even the cosmos.

176: 10:24:14.01 10:24:18.11
He'd forget everything
and then he'd slow down,

177: 10:24:18.15 10:24:23.01
adjust the flaps, fix the propellers,
check the engine temperatures,

178: 10:24:23.05 10:24:25.06
he knew how to,
but sometimes he forgot.

179: 10:25:09.12 10:25:12.21
#That day, we travelled 60 to 70km,#

180: 10:25:13.00 10:25:15.05
#including our way back to the plane.#

181: 10:25:15.09 10:25:18.14
#So I then changed tactics#
#and left Provost with the plane.#

182: 10:25:18.18 10:25:20.19
#His job was to prepare and light fires#

183: 10:25:20.23 10:25:23.23
#to mark out the wreckage#
#in case of aerial search parties.#

184: 10:25:24.02 10:25:27.03
#So I left alone and without water#
#to carry on exploring.#

185: 10:25:27.17 10:25:31.10
#That day, I walked#
#for 8 to 9 hours at a quick pace.#

186: 10:25:32.17 10:25:35.17
#I remembered Guillaumet#
#who'd kept himself safe in the Andes#

187: 10:25:35.21 10:25:37.24
#and it was his example#
#that I followed.#

188: 10:25:47.01 10:25:50.03
We listened for news
from the press and radio, etc.

189: 10:25:51.14 10:25:55.00
We listened for news
but we were very worried.

190: 10:25:55.11 10:25:58.12
Because we'd had no news from him...

191: 10:25:59.19 10:26:03.06
and his friends were very worried.

192: 10:26:03.19 10:26:09.06
And would come to us for news thinking
that we'd have more recent updates.

193: 10:26:10.16 10:26:15.15
All the newspapers had
five or six columns with the headline:

194: 10:26:16.17 10:26:19.17
"Saint-Ex Missing."
"What happened to Saint-Ex," etc.

195: 10:26:19.21 10:26:23.00
As the hours went by,
we were losing hope

196: 10:26:23.04 10:26:26.12
and really started
to get almost hopeless.

197: 10:26:27.01 10:26:29.13
We'd just gone to bed...

198: 10:26:30.18 10:26:34.07
at around 1am when the phone rang.

199: 10:26:34.11 10:26:37.04
I thought to myself:
That's it, they've found him!

200: 10:26:38.06 10:26:40.08
Eclair-Journal
LONGTREK INTERRUPTED

201: 10:26:40.12 10:26:42.10
Saint-Ex and Provost, alive and well.

202: 10:26:42.21 10:26:46.16
#The aviators Saint-Exupéry and Provost#
#were found alive and well.#

203: 10:26:46.21 10:26:50.00
#They'd miraculously escaped death#
#and had made it to Cairo.#

204: 10:26:50.04 10:26:53.09
#Saint-Ex was resting in the gardens#
#of the Continental hotel#

205: 10:26:53.13 10:26:56.01
#in the company#
#of His Excellency, Mr Levitas.#
206: 10:28:18.19 10:28:24.11
After his accident in Guatemala, he
promised me he wouldn't fly any more.

207: 10:28:25.07 10:28:29.16
And even after he'd recovered
from what was a horrible accident

208: 10:28:29.20 10:28:31.05
he still continued flying.

209: 10:28:59.19 10:29:02.01
I was in Spain for the Canard Enchaîné Newspaper

210: 10:29:02.19 10:29:04.05
and Saint-Exupéry...

211: 10:29:05.17 10:29:09.03
...was writing a report
for the Intransigeant and Paris Soir.

212: 10:29:09.07 10:29:11.14
THEY GUN MEN DOWN HERE
LIKE WE CHOP DOWN TREES

213: 10:29:18.19 10:29:21.21
A civil war is not so much a war,
but a disease.

214: 10:29:36.07 10:29:39.22
INTERNATIONAL REPORT by our special
correspondent Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

215: 10:29:40.01 10:29:41.21
War on the Carabanchel front

216: 10:29:42.00 10:29:44.01
"Sergeant, why are you
willing to die?"

217: 10:29:44.10 10:29:47.21
Let's not forget what
he wrote at that point.

218: 10:29:48.00 10:29:50.18
This is what he wrote
in France Soir at one point:

219: 10:29:50.22 10:29:54.02
"I really don't care..."
You see, forgive me.

220: 10:29:54.08 10:29:58.06
"...about the rules of the game of war
or the law of retaliation.

221: 10:29:58.10 10:29:59.16
Who started it?

222: 10:30:00.00 10:30:01.24
There's always an answer to an answer

223: 10:30:02.03 10:30:04.23
and the first death remains
hidden in the mists of time.

224: 10:30:05.02 10:30:07.07
I distrust this logic
now more than ever.

225: 10:30:07.11 10:30:10.08
I saw a small girl stripped
of her sparkly dress.

226: 10:30:10.12 10:30:13.04
How can I believe
in the virtue of retaliation?

227: 10:30:13.13 10:30:17.07
As for the benefits of such
a bombardment, I can't understand it.

228: 10:30:17.11 10:30:20.03
I've seen disembowelled housekeepers,
disfigured children,

229: 10:30:20.07 10:30:24.16
I saw this old market trader walking
along wiping away the debris..."

230: 10:30:24.20 10:30:27.18
Well, I'll skip that.
"I saw a doorman," etc.

231: 10:30:27.22 10:30:31.08
"Moral lesson? But a bombardment
turns back on its own aim.

232: 10:30:31.18 10:30:34.18
With each canon shot fired, something
grows back stronger in Madrid."

233: 10:30:35.03 10:30:38.08
Saint-Ex was not a man who sided
with the Left or the Right.

234: 10:30:38.12 10:30:39.14
He was a moralist!

235: 10:30:40.00 10:30:43.13
But a special kind of moralist.

236: 10:30:44.07 10:30:45.18
He wasn't a moralist...

237: 10:30:46.01 10:30:49.11
...who gave others lessons
that he himself did not follow.

238: 10:30:50.13 10:30:55.03
#In the Kremlin square, several groups#
#are participating in a procession.#

239: 10:31:23.20 10:31:27.01
#It was the ANT-20.#
#Nicknamed Maxime Gorki.#

240: 10:31:27.05 10:31:30.21
#A 58-tonne 8-engine machine#
#built by engineer Topolev.#

241: 10:31:32.00 10:31:33.17
#Designed for luxury flights,#

242: 10:31:34.07 10:31:36.10
#it is operated by a 11-person crew.#

243: 10:31:36.19 10:31:39.23
#One of its last passengers#
#would fly in it on 18th May 1935:#

244: 10:31:40.02 10:31:41.13
#Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.#

245: 10:31:41.17 10:31:44.21
#The next day, the huge machine,#
#hit mid-air by a fighter jet,#

246: 10:31:45.00 10:31:46.06
#crashed to the ground.#

247: 10:33:10.17 10:33:14.19
#The aviation meeting was presided over#
#by Mr Pierre Cot, Air Minister.#

248: 10:33:14.23 10:33:18.12
#Marise Bastier and Saint-Exupéry#
#attended this display.#

249: 10:33:25.09 10:33:27.06
We sometimes walked around London.

250: 10:33:27.12 10:33:30.08
In honesty, we'd grow
rather bored in the evenings.

251: 10:33:30.12 10:33:32.21
One day we were walking
around Piccadilly,

252: 10:33:33.00 10:33:36.16
it was midnight
or 1 or 2 in the morning.

253: 10:33:36.20 10:33:39.10
We didn't know where to go,

254: 10:33:40.09 10:33:42.22
and I said to Saint Ex:
"How about we go to a club?"

255: 10:33:43.01 10:33:44.05
We went into a club,

256: 10:33:44.09 10:33:48.00
a very exclusive club because if you
paid a pound you got straight in.

257: 10:33:48.04 10:33:49.17
We went in: Montauban!

258: 10:33:50.10 10:33:52.13
A Montauban room.

259: 10:33:53.09 10:33:56.20
Seats, a bench,

260: 10:33:56.24 10:33:59.21
and working the floor
were 4 miserable waitresses

261: 10:34:00.00 10:34:03.15
and a few no-hopers dancing
to the sound of a sorry-looking band.

262: 10:34:03.19 10:34:06.01
We sadly sat drinking our whiskies

263: 10:34:06.20 10:34:09.02
when suddenly a waitress saw Saint-Ex.

264: 10:34:09.13 10:34:10.17
"Antonio!"

265: 10:34:11.06 10:34:12.21
They recognised each other.

266: 10:34:13.00 10:34:15.20
She was a waitress
who'd known him back

267: 10:34:16.02 10:34:18.14
when Aéropostale
was first established.

268: 10:34:19.02 10:34:21.07
In Buenos Aires or Mexico,
I'm not sure.

269: 10:34:21.15 10:34:24.16
And there they were talking,
recalling memories,

270: 10:34:24.20 10:34:29.04
and the girls said "what about him?"
and Saint-Exupéry'd say "He's dead."

271: 10:34:29.08 10:34:32.20
"And what about...?"
"He had an accident and lost an arm."

272: 10:34:32.24 10:34:35.16
"And what about...?"
It was a list of ghosts.

273: 10:34:35.20 10:34:37.07
But there were a few survivors!

274: 10:34:37.11 10:34:41.07
He loved life but he'd spent
so long up in the clouds,

275: 10:34:41.11 10:34:45.04
when he came back down to Earth,
he loved eating and laughing.

276: 10:34:45.08 10:34:48.15
He kept a set of cards in his pocket.

277: 10:34:49.02 10:34:50.22
And when you'd go to talk to him,

278: 10:34:51.01 10:34:53.17
straight away he'd say:
"why are you a thief?

279: 10:34:54.00 10:34:56.20
You've taken my ace of diamonds,
it's in your bag."

280: 10:34:56.24 10:34:58.14
And you'd find it in your bag.

281: 10:34:58.23 10:35:02.09
To the extent that,
he didn't like talking about himself.

282: 10:35:03.00 10:35:06.03
But he'd play 40 tricks on you,
each better than the last,

283: 10:35:06.07 10:35:07.22
until you were hypnotised!

284: 10:35:08.15 10:35:12.03
Renoir would you like to give us
a description of Saint-Exupéry?

285: 10:35:12.14 10:35:13.14
Well...

286: 10:35:13.20 10:35:15.03
#He was a child,#

287: 10:35:15.07 10:35:20.03
#with a child's face,#
#a child's eyes, a child's behaviour,#

288: 10:35:20.12 10:35:25.06
#an undeniable love#
#for flowers, trees and women.#

289: 10:35:25.22 10:35:27.19
#And then a few other stranger loves.#

290: 10:35:28.01 10:35:31.13
#For example, his love#
#for frozen olive oil.#

291: 10:35:32.00 10:35:36.17
#We tried perfecting#
#our method of freezing olive oil.#

292: 10:35:36.21 10:35:39.22
#We got some lovely results.#

293: 10:35:43.04 10:35:47.05
#I'm going to dazzle you a little, I'm#
#going to show you my beautiful voice.#

294: 10:35:47.10 10:35:49.03
#And this is for your enjoyment.#

295: 10:35:50.15 10:35:55.14
#"This man here, who was my father,#
#never knew my name."#

296: 10:35:55.18 10:35:58.03
#Oh I'm messing it up,#
#I'm shouting too much.#

297: 10:35:58.07 10:35:59.12
#No, I'll try another.#

298: 10:36:00.08 10:36:06.05
#"One day I'll find#
#my sweetheart, oh my buoys.#

299: 10:36:06.17 10:36:10.15
#Oh la, oh la la, la."#

300: 10:36:47.11 10:36:50.16
When we learned of this move,
the whole unit was a bit worried

301: 10:36:50.20 10:36:53.00
because we wondered
what Saint-Exupéry,

302: 10:36:53.04 10:36:54.22
who we knew as a poet,

303: 10:36:56.04 10:36:57.24
was doing in a combat unit.

304: 10:36:59.08 10:37:02.14
When he arrived
on the 2nd of December, we offered him...

305: 10:37:03.15 10:37:07.01
...other accommodation,
but he preferred this one, in a farm,

306: 10:37:07.05 10:37:10.02
where he was calm
and could work in peace.

307: 10:37:10.06 10:37:13.24
He worked late into the night. So he
was really in his comfort zone here.

308: 10:37:14.03 10:37:17.02
When he got here,
we were already partially at-ease

309: 10:37:17.06 10:37:19.22
because we had
much fewer missions to carry out.

310: 10:37:20.02 10:37:24.09
We'd often see him,
early in the morning, at breakfast,

311: 10:37:25.02 10:37:27.18
he'd have spent the night
scribbling on paper.

312: 10:37:28.12 10:37:30.19
He showed us his invention projects.

313: 10:37:31.10 10:37:33.18
Can you tell us
why he was inventing things?

314: 10:37:34.01 10:37:38.06
He was always inventing things to try
and resolve problems faced by pilots.

315: 10:37:38.13 10:37:41.19
In all of his inventions,
there was an issue to resolve.

316: 10:37:41.23 10:37:45.17
When I say inventions, I don't mean
Jules Vernes-type abstract ideas.

317: 10:37:45.21 10:37:49.01
When people say Vernes invented
the submarine, they weren't far off.

318: 10:37:49.05 10:37:52.13
He invented, he created,
but in great detail, by which I mean,

319: 10:37:52.17 10:37:55.11
he thought about the mechanisms
and the device itself.

320: 10:37:55.15 10:37:58.20
For example, he invented
an electric actimeter

321: 10:37:58.24 10:38:00.15
that measures the distance

322: 10:38:00.20 10:38:03.17
between a plane and the ground
to make it easier to land.

323: 10:38:05.08 10:38:07.03
He invented...

324: 10:38:07.20 10:38:11.06
...other devices
that facilitated navigation.

325: 10:38:11.13 10:38:15.03
He made devices that improved
mechanical techniques.

326: 10:38:15.17 10:38:18.01
He also made inventions...

327: 10:38:18.14 10:38:21.23
...that considerably improved
navigation techniques.

328: 10:38:22.05 10:38:24.01
Always aviation-related issues.

329: 10:38:38.14 10:38:41.06
WAR PILOT

330: 10:38:54.22 10:38:57.13
It was a mission at 1,500m altitude,

331: 10:38:57.22 10:39:01.21
I was looking down,
watching what was happening below.

332: 10:39:02.24 10:39:05.10
And Saint-Exupéry
was more free-spirited

333: 10:39:05.14 10:39:07.22
and was steering
the plane along a course.

334: 10:39:08.01 10:39:10.22
From time to time, he'd ask me:
"Is that still right?

335: 10:39:11.01 10:39:12.04
Shall we keep going?"

336: 10:39:12.09 10:39:15.04
And I'd say: "Keep going.
If it works, keep going."

337: 10:39:15.23 10:39:19.18
There was even a moment where
the plane became destabilised.

338: 10:39:20.02 10:39:23.21
A huge bit of shrapnel
must have hit the side of the plane.

339: 10:39:24.00 10:39:27.01
The plane almost flipped,
I thought we were going down.

340: 10:39:27.05 10:39:28.23
But it re-stabilised itself

341: 10:39:29.02 10:39:32.08
and we walked away
without too much damage being done.

342: 10:41:18.00 10:41:19.14
#It was an American ship,#

343: 10:41:19.18 10:41:23.24
#which was designed#
#for tourists who weren't in a hurry,#

344: 10:41:24.03 10:41:25.06
#like a cruise ship.#

345: 10:41:25.13 10:41:28.20
#But it was fit#
#to bursting with migrants,#

346: 10:41:28.24 10:41:32.10
#they were all over the deck,#
#below the masts, in the hold.#

347: 10:41:32.17 10:41:35.18
#It really was#
#the image of immigration.#

348: 10:41:35.24 10:41:40.17
#There were lots of Israelites#
#fleeing Europe#

349: 10:41:41.08 10:41:43.02
#who would meet on the deck#

350: 10:41:43.07 10:41:46.17
#and play the accordion#
#while singing laments in German.#

351: 10:42:06.20 10:42:08.04
#New York was waiting for it.#

352: 10:42:08.08 10:42:11.24
#The fronts of books shops#
#were displaying all his books#

353: 10:42:12.03 10:42:13.18
#and all his previous titles.#

354: 10:42:13.22 10:42:16.17
#There were# Welcome# signs everywhere.#

355: 10:42:16.23 10:42:19.24
And there were French flags
in the windows in his honour.

356: 10:45:31.20 10:45:35.09
The story is he is
the Little Prince himself.

357: 10:45:35.13 10:45:36.18
It's his anima.

358: 10:45:37.04 10:45:40.06
And the Little Prince is
his soul asking him:

359: 10:45:40.10 10:45:42.03
Why did you abandon your rose?

360: 10:45:42.07 10:45:44.14
Your only rose.
Well, your only flower.

361: 10:45:44.18 10:45:49.15
It had petals like no other flower,
and it was the most humble.

362: 10:45:49.24 10:45:52.14
"But it's so beautiful,"
said the Little Prince.

363: 10:45:52.18 10:45:54.15
It perfumes and embalms.

364: 10:45:54.19 10:45:57.09
"But you shouldn't listen
to flowers," he said.

365: 10:45:57.13 10:46:00.05
"You should
just smell them and love them."

366: 10:46:00.17 10:46:05.01
But the Little Prince left
anyway when the wild birds left.

367: 10:46:05.11 10:46:07.07
That means he'd continue to fly.

368: 10:46:45.10 10:46:48.14
When Saint-Exupéry was ready
to resume war missions,

369: 10:46:48.18 10:46:51.22
he was really happy,
like a school child in the holidays.

370: 10:46:52.14 10:46:56.05
That's exactly the way
I'd describe his sense of joy.

371: 10:46:56.12 10:46:58.18
I must admit,
he had a lot of difficulty

372: 10:46:58.22 10:47:02.07
getting admitted as a pilot in 1943.

373: 10:47:02.15 10:47:07.02
In fact,
despite his former war exploits,

374: 10:47:07.08 10:47:10.13
and despite his worldwide fame
as an aviator and author,

375: 10:47:11.01 10:47:13.03
he was over 40 years old.

376: 10:47:13.18 10:47:18.02
At the time, the Americans thought
25 was quite old to be a pilot.

377: 10:47:18.16 10:47:21.18
Saint-Exupéry left
for his first mission in France,

378: 10:47:21.22 10:47:24.01
and I must say he was very happy.

379: 10:47:25.17 10:47:27.14
Unfortunately, during a landing,

380: 10:47:28.01 10:47:31.13
Saint-Exupéry made a very slight error

381: 10:47:31.23 10:47:37.06
and his air plane overshot the landing
and hit an olive tree

382: 10:47:37.15 10:47:40.11
at the end
of the Gammarth airstrip near Tunis.

383: 10:47:41.00 10:47:44.06
The Americans jumped
on this opportunity, this incident,

384: 10:47:44.22 10:47:48.22
to withdraw his permission to fly.

385: 10:47:50.14 10:47:54.02
Saint-Exupéry was
very taken aback by this ban.

386: 10:48:13.07 10:48:17.00
And it was
in our pilot villa in Bastia

387: 10:48:17.09 10:48:19.02
that I went to find him one night

388: 10:48:20.08 10:48:22.00
to tell him what I thought...

389: 10:48:26.08 10:48:27.16
...of his pilot career.

390: 10:48:27.21 10:48:31.10
I explained to him
that maybe he was a bit old.

391: 10:48:31.22 10:48:37.07
Flying planes like his at high
altitude wasn't the best role for him.

392: 10:48:38.08 10:48:40.19
We'd soon be landing in France

393: 10:48:41.04 10:48:42.19
and he needed to save himself

394: 10:48:42.23 10:48:48.15
because he had more important missions
to carry out once back in France.

395: 10:48:51.09 10:48:55.03
Saint-Ex was very touched
and I think he was...

396: 10:48:56.01 10:48:58.23
expecting me to say
something of the sort.

397: 10:48:59.23 10:49:02.04
He immediately replied, very moved,

398: 10:49:03.18 10:49:07.05
that he was sure
he'd die one way or another

399: 10:49:07.09 10:49:10.04
and that he couldn't bear for it to be
any other way than in a war mission.

400: 10:49:10.08 10:49:14.10
He'd received flying bans before
but he couldn't survive another.

401: 10:49:15.12 10:49:17.17
And he had a big favour to ask me:

402: 10:49:18.06 10:49:20.14
to accept to take charge
of his written work,

403: 10:49:20.18 10:49:24.09
which he gave me
very precise instructions for.

404: 10:49:24.23 10:49:27.16
The person I should hand his work to.

405: 10:49:28.01 10:49:31.05
And all the instructions
regarding the publication

406: 10:49:31.09 10:49:33.05
of what he called his life's work.

407: 10:49:33.09 10:49:35.23
In other words, his book
The Wisdom of the Sands.

408: 10:49:59.12 10:50:03.04
When I got back late that night
with my friend Pierre Stiegler,

409: 10:50:04.05 10:50:07.18
I noticed, with surprise,
that Saint-Exupéry wasn't in his room.

410: 10:50:07.22 10:50:11.06
I was deeply confused

411: 10:50:11.13 10:50:15.04
because I didn't know if he'd finished
getting ready for his mission.

412: 10:50:15.20 10:50:19.02
And I didn't know
if he'd be coming home to sleep.

413: 10:50:19.12 10:50:21.24
We didn't know what time he came home.

414: 10:50:22.03 10:50:26.03
We don't know who he spent
the night with, we'll never know.

415: 10:50:26.07 10:50:29.01
Unfortunately, on the 31st of July,

416: 10:50:29.07 10:50:32.17
Saint-Exupéry took off again
for a war mission.

417: 10:50:33.17 10:50:36.16
It was the first time,
for me it's a deep regret,

418: 10:50:36.20 10:50:39.09
that I didn't help him gear up.

419: 10:50:39.21 10:50:42.10
The first time that I didn't
help him into his cabin.

420: 10:50:42.14 10:50:45.08
It was the first time
I didn't start up the engine,

421: 10:50:45.12 10:50:47.13
that I didn't check over his cockpit.

422: 10:50:47.17 10:50:51.00
It was the first time I didn't
instruct him to open the flaps,

423: 10:50:51.04 10:50:53.06
and I wasn't with him
before a war mission.

424: 10:51:28.23 10:51:29.23
I have here...

425: 10:51:30.18 10:51:32.13
...the four last lines

426: 10:51:32.23 10:51:34.08
...of the last letter...

427: 10:51:34.22 10:51:38.08
...Saint-Exupéry wrote
to his friend Pierre Dalloz.

428: 10:51:38.21 10:51:42.10
Dear, dear Dalloz,
how I rue these four lines.

429: 10:51:43.13 10:51:47.04
would have loved to know what you
think about these present times,

430: 10:51:47.13 10:51:48.20
I personally despair.

431: 10:51:49.24 10:51:53.22
I've experienced power failures
and fainting through lack of oxygen,

432: 10:51:54.01 10:51:57.22
being chased by fighter pilots
and in-flight fires.

433: 10:51:58.18 10:52:00.02
I've seen my fair share.

434: 10:52:00.13 10:52:04.05
If I get brought down,
I will regret absolutely nothing.

435: 10:52:04.24 10:52:07.10
The termite mound
of the future horrifies me

436: 10:52:08.00 10:52:10.09
and I hate their robot-like virtues.

437: 10:52:10.19 10:52:12.13
I was born to be a gardener.

438: 10:52:12.23 10:52:14.10
Take care, Saint Ex.

439: 10:52:53.04 10:52:57.24
I SHALL LOOK AS IF I WERE DEAD
AND THAT WILL NOT BE TRUE