The Life of Emile Zola

Writer Émile Zola tells his wife Alexandrine, "Don’t worry, dear." (0:05)

Émile tells a homeless man, "A woman just jumped into the river." (0:08)

Prostitute Nana tells Émile, referring to a child, "She died." (0:13)

Émile tells Alexandrine, "While we’re playing piquet, a starving mother and child jump into the River Seine." (0:30)

Capt. Alfred Dreyfus tells his wife Lucie, "Always worried." (0:36)

Laying a revolver on a desk, an officer tells Alfred, "I’ve been authorized to offer you the usual alternative." (0:41)

Lucie tells Commandant Dort, "Why, you must be mad." (0:42)

Major Henry tells another officer, "Don’t worry." (0:53)

Émile tells the others, referring to the prosecution of Alfred, "He’s not easily worried: crime. He is easily worried: also a crime." (1:03)

An advocate asks witness Esterhazy, "Didn’t he try to have a perfectly sane secret service agent certified as insane...?" (1:21)

Émile addresses his jury: "All my friends have told me that it was insane for a single person to oppose the immense machinery of the law, the glory of the army and the power of the state." (1:29)

Émile: "Cannibals." (1:35)

Émile tells his friend, "You’re out of your mind." (1:35)

An official tells Major Henry, "The secret agent who was your accomplice confessed everything before he killed himself." (1:39)

Soldier, referring to Henry: "Suicide." (1:41)

A man reads to Émile from The Times, "Colonel Henry confesses Dreyfus forgery, then kills himself." (1:41)

Memorial service for Émile Zola (1:52)

References in David Holzman's Diary, The Majestic