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Howls for Sade

by Guy Debord

(film soundtrack)

Voice 1:Howls for Sade, a film byGuy-Ernest Debord.

Voice 2:Howls for Sade is dedicatedto Gil J Wolman.

Voice 3: Article 115. If a person hasceased to appear at his place ofresidence and nothing has beenheard concerning him for four years,interested parties may petition the

civil court to officially recognize theabsence of said person.

Voice 1: Love is valid only in aprerevolutionary period.

Voice 2: Those girls dont all loveyou, you liar! Arts begin, grow, anddisappear because dissatisfiedpeople break through the world ofofficial expressions and go beyond itsfestivals of poverty.

Voice 4: Tell me, did you sleep withFranoise?

Voice 1: What a springtime! Cribsheet for the history of film: 1902:ATrip to the Moon. 1920: The Cabinetof Doctor Caligari. 1924: Entracte.1926: Potemkin. 1928:An AndalusianDog. 1931: City Lights. Birth of Guy-Ernest Debord. 1951: Treatise onSlime and Eternity. 1952: TheAnticoncept. Howls for Sade.

Voice 5: Just as the projection wasabout to begin, Guy-Ernest Debordwas supposed to step onto the stageand make a few introductoryremarks. Had he done so, he wouldsimply have said: There is no film.Cinema is dead. No more films arepossible. If you wish, we can move onto a discussion.

Voice 3: Article 516. Property is

either real or personal.

Voice 2: In order never to be aloneagain.

Voice 1: She is ugliness and beauty like everything we love today.

Voice 2: The arts of the future canbe nothing less than disruptions ofsituations.

Voice 3: In the cafs of Saint-Germain-des-Prs!

Voice 1: You know, I like you a lot.

Voice 3: A sizable commando ofsome thirty lettrists, all wearing thefilthy uniform that is their only really

original trademark, showed up atCannes determined to provoke ascandal that would draw attention tothemselves.

Voice 1: Happiness is a new idea inEurope.

Voice 5: I know people only by theiractions. In other respects they areindistinguishable from each other. Inthe final analysis, we are

differentiated only by our works.

Voice 1: And their revolts becameconformisms.

Voice 3: Article 488. The age ofadulthood is 21 years; a person ofthat age is capable of all acts of civillife.

Voice 4: She constantly reappearedin his memory, in a flash like sodium

fireworks on contact with water.

Voice 1: He was well aware thatnothing of his exploits would remainin a town that revolves with theEarth, as the Earth revolves within agalaxy that is only an insignificantpart of a tiny island endlesslyreceding from us.

Voice 2: Totally dark, eyes closed tothe enormity of the disaster.

Voice 1: A science of situationsneeds to be created, which will

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incorporate elements frompsychology, statistics, urbanism, andethics. These elements must befocused on a totally new goal: theconscious creation of situations.

Voice 1: Lines from a 1950newspaper: Popular Young RadioActress Throws Herself Into the Isre.Grenoble. Twelve-and-a-half-year-oldMadeleine Reineri, who under thestage name Pirouette starred in theAlpes-Grenoble radio program HappyThursdays, threw herself into theIsre River Friday afternoon afterhaving placed her schoolbag on thebank.

Voice 2:Little sister, were not apretty sight. The river and the misery

continue. We are powerless.

Voice 4: But no one talks aboutSade in this film.

Voice 1: The cold of interstellarspace, thousands of degrees belowfreezing point or the absolute zero ofFahrenheit, Centigrade or Raumur:the incipient intimations of proximatedawn. The rapid passage of Jacques

Vach through the wartime sky, hisoverwhelming sense of urgency, thecatastrophic haste that led him todestroy himself; the whipcrackingspirit of Arthur Cravan, who vanishedin the Gulf of Mexico around thatsame time . . .

Voice 3: Article 1793. When anarchitect or contractor contracts witha landowner to construct a buildingin accordance with an agreed plan

and for a specified payment, hecannot demand any increase in thatpayment on any grounds, whetherbecause of an increase in the workforce or materials or because of anychanges or additions made to theplan, unless such changes, additionsor increases have been authorized inwriting and the new payment hasbeen agreed to by the landowner.

Voice 2: The perfection of suicidelies in its ambiguity.

Voice 2: What is a one and onlylove?

Voice 3: I will answer only in thepresence of my attorney.

Voice 1: Order reigns but does notgovern.

Voice 2: The first marvel is to comebefore her without knowing how totalk to her. The imprisoned handsmove no faster than race horsesfilmed in slow motion as they touchher mouth and breasts; in allinnocence the ropes become waterand we roll together toward dawn.

Voice 4: I dont think well ever seeeach other again.

Voice 2: The lights of the winterstreets will end near a kiss.

Voice 4: Paris was real fun becauseof the transportation strike.

Voice 2: Jack the Ripper was nevercaught.

Voice 4: Telephones, theyre funny.

Voice 2: What a love-challenge, asMadame de Sgur said.

Voice 4: Ill tell you some real scarystories from my part of the country,but they have to be told at night.

Voice 2: My dear Ivich, unfortunatelythere are fewer Chinatowns than youthink. You are fifteen years old. One

of these days people will stopwearing such gaudy colors.

Voice 4: I already knew you.

Voice 2: Continental drift carries youfarther away each day. The virginforest is less virgin than you.

Voice 4: Guy, one more minute anditll be tomorrow.

Voice 2:Gun Crazy. You remember.Thats how it was. No one was good

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enough for us. Nevertheless . . . Thehailstones on the banners of glass.We wont forget this cursed planet.

Voice 2: Theyll be famous someday,youll see! I will never accept the

scandalous and scarcely credible factthat there is such a thing as a policeforce. Several cathedrals have beenerected in memory of Serge Berna.Love is valid only in aprerevolutionary period. I made thisfilm while there was still time to talkabout it. Jean-Isidore, in order to getout of that ephemeral crowd. OnPlace Gabriel-Pomerand when wevegrown old. In the future all these littlejokers will be studied in the highschools and colleges.

Voice 2: There are still many peoplewho arent moved to laugh or toscream by the word morality.

Voice 3: Article 489. An adult who isusually in a state of imbecility ordementia or who has frequent fits ofrage must be kept in protectivecustody even if he has intervals oflucidity.

Voice 2: So close, so gently, I losemyself in the hollow archipelagos oflanguage. I bear down on you, youreas open as a cry, its so easy. A hotstream. A sea of oil. A forest fire.

Voice 1: That sounds like themovies.

Voice 3: The Paris police areequipped with 30,000 billy clubs.

Voice 2: Poetic worlds close in onthemselves and are forgotten. In acorner of the night sailors are makingwar; ships in bottles are for you wholoved them. You lie back in the sandas in the more loving hands that therain and wind and thunder slip underyour dress every evening. Life iswonderful in Cannes in the summer.Rape, which is forbidden, becomesbanal in our memories. When wewere on the Shenandoah. Yes. Ofcourse.

Voice 1: And the silting up of thosefaces, which once bore flashes ofdesire like ink splattered on a wall,which were like shooting stars. Gin,rum, brandy down the hatch likethe Grand Armada. So much for the

funeral oration. But all those peoplewere so commonplace.

Voice 1: We had a narrow escape.

Voice 2: The most beautiful is still tocome. Death would be a steaktartare; wet hair on the scaldingbeach of our silence.

Voice 1: But hes a Jew!

Voice 2: We were ready to blow upall the bridges, but the bridges let usdown.

Voice 1: Twelve-and-a-half-year-oldMadeleine Reineri, who under thestage name Pirouette starred in theAlpes-Grenoble radio program HappyThursdays, threw herself into theIsre River.

Voice 2: Mademoiselle Reineri of the

Europe Quarter, you still have yourwonderstruck face and that body, thebest of promised lands. Like neonlights, the dialogues repeat theirdefinitive truths.

Voice 1: I love you.

Voice 4: It must be terrible to die.

Voice 1: See you later.

Voice 4:You drink far too much.

Voice 1: What are childhood loves?

Voice 4: I dont understand you.

Voice 1: I knew it. And there was atime when I regretted it very much.

Voice 4: Would you like an orange?

Voice 1: The beautiful breakups of

volcanic islands.

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Voice 4: In the past.

Voice 1: I have nothing more to sayto you.

Voice 2: Once again, after all theuntimely answers and the aging ofyouth, night falls from on high.

Voice 2: Like lost children we liveour unfinished adventures.

New translation by Ken Knabb of thesoundtrack of Guy Debords first film,Hurlements en faveur de Sade(1952).

The complete scripts of all ofDebords films, with illustrations,detailed descriptions of the images,and extensive annotations, areincluded in Debords CompleteCinematic Works (AK Press, 2003).For further information, see GuyDebords Films.

Translation copyright 2003 by KenKnabb. (This copyright will not beenforced against personal or

noncommercial use.)

http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord.films/index.htmhttp://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord.films/index.htmhttp://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord.films/index.htmhttp://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord.films/index.htm