FAQ

It was a flying ointment, a mix of herbs and hallucinogens that "wise women" and "witches" applied to their skin and absorbed through their pores in order to "fly." Typical ingredients included belladonna, henbane bell, jimson weed, black henbane, mandrake, hemlock, and wolfsbane. It was rubbed on the skin and absorbed into the blood through the pores; the armpits are rich in pores and are a good place to absorb drugs like this. They contained chemicals like atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine, which can cause psychoactive effects (they can also be highly poisonous).

By the end of the 18th century the tu / vous use had been fairly standardized. They use the intimate "tu" only twice in the film. First time it's when Marianne and Heloise are laying in bed together (their last night). Marianne says: "Ne dors pas... ne dors pas, ne dors pas" (Don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep). Second time, and perhaps the most gut-wrenching scene in the film is where they say goodbye, Marianne is rushing down the stairs, and Heloise says: "Retourne-toi!" (turn around). This was also parallel to Orpheus and Eurydice.

I would add that the "vous" , at this time period, was absolutely the norm with people who where not from your social rank. It would have never occured to a person "of the people" to say "tu" to another one from the "Bourgoisie" and even less to someone from the "noblesse", which is Héloise's class. It would have been considered a terrible lack of respect. (sorry again for my english)

"Fugere non possum": it means "I cannot flee/escape".

Brittany, the northwest corner of the Kingdom of France, in the late 18th century, prior to the French Revolution.

Théâtre Montansier in Versailles

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