Herewith an adaptation for contemporary American audiences of the tenth of the twelve scenes that make up the brilliant first act of Marcel Aymé’s “La tête des autres” (Other People’s Heads). My hope is that not only this scene, but my adaptation of the whole first act may stimulate greater interest, outside France, in this play and in Aymé’s work in general. Although the play concerns French legal issues and corruption in the late 1940s, it is certainly relevant to legal issues and corruption in the United States in the year 2025. (Anyone interested in reading—or performing!—this adaptation in its entirety, all twelve scenes, is urged to contact me at eaton0824 at gmail.) 

In the scenes prior to this tenth one, we meet, among others: Valorin, a not-inelegant young jazz musician who has just been condemned to death for murdering an old woman; the prosecutor (or procureur) Canard; and Sirène, Canard’s beautiful and sexy mistress and the wife of his best friend, a fellow prosecutor. We have learned that on the evening when Valorin was supposedly robbing and murdering the old woman, he was in fact having sex with Sirène in a cheap hotel room, she having picked him up on a Paris boulevard. But as she had not come forward to so inform the court, Valorin had no alibi and was condemned, and this also in part because Canard proved better at prosecuting than Valorin’s attorney was at defending.

With all due apology to Montaigbakhtinian’s francophone and hispanophone readers, the present text is being presented only in English. Aymé’s original French text is readily available in France, and as the present text is adapted for American audiences and with a few phrases and references specific to the United States, it would not make sense to translate it back into French or into Spanish.

The photograph above right is of Marcel Aymé and the one just below is from a performance of the play by la Comédie Française, Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, 2013. And please note as well that in adapting the play I changed some of the names and proposed that the actors speak English with French accents, be they good ones or bad. (See, too, the Notes regarding copyright and other matters.)

Marcel Aymé was, among other things, an opponent of the death penalty, and was thus inspired to write “La tête des autres.” The abolition of this penalty in France (in 1981) was spearheaded politically by Robert Badinter, then serving as the socialiste ministre de la Justice. He later commented on the passing of the anti-death-penalty law:

Le Sénat, ce jour-là, a assumé la fonction qui, à mon sens, doit être celle de tout Parlement dans une démocratie : être le phare qui éclaire les voies de l’avenir, et non le miroir qui reflète les passions de l’opinion publique.

On that day, the Senate took on a task which, in my opinion, should be that of any parliament in a democracy: to be the lighthouse that illuminates the way ahead, and not the mirror which reflects the passions of public opinion.

Would that the US Congress might soon proved so inspired!

Scene X (minus the last few lines)

Valorin: Excuse me. Now that I’ve had time to freshen up I hope you find me more presentable. That little bedroom is really quite charming. I’m sure it’s going to suit me very well.

Valorin comes down the steps. Sirène grabs the pistol from the table and fires at Valorin, but to no effect.

Valorin: Before coming in the house, I I took the trouble of removing the bullets. I’m not a fan of mortality. I imagine you two often feel the same, but of course, first priority: saving your reputations. Nothing’s as precious as our reputations. And my continued existence clearly puts yours at some risk.

Canard: Monsieur Valorin, I want you to know that I categorically condemn Madame Lespine’s action.

Valorin: Indeed, I noticed that when that lovely woman grabbed the gun, you made a slight movement, almost as if in opposition. You did not go so far as to reach and try to stop her from firing the gun, but your gesture was touching. Almost coming to the rescue of an innocent man whose life was in danger… That’s not, I suppose, normal for a prosecutor. (To Sirène) Are you following along? Your most regular lover disapproved of your intention to blow my head off. (To Canard) But what would you have done if I had collapsed bleeding in front of you with a bullet through my neck? Would your categorical condemnation have risen to the heights of denouncing the murderer, or would it have been more, let’s say, a disagreement in principle?

Canard: It seems to me that we find ourselves faced with an actual situation that’s sticky enough as is. There’s no need to wander into hypotheticals.

Valorin: You will agree, though, that as regards this one, it did not take a great deal of imagination on my part.

Laughing, he looks Sirène’s way.

Sirène: I sincerely apologize. It was… Une minute d’affolement – I panicked. But already now I am regretting my lack of self-control.

Valorin: And should we say you regret it all the more since the gun wasn’t loaded?

Sirène: Oh, it’s all very well for you to make fun of me. I’m in the wrong for being a woman, and the world’s not going to forgive a woman for panicking or for ending up in such a predicament. And of course men will be the first to laugh at my fall from grace, the first to scorn me. We poor women, we’ve every right to envy the other sex. You, for example, to exonerate yourselves, you can claim you spent the evening in a cheap hotel with a woman and no one will even think of laughing at you or of getting on their high horses. But everyone’s ready to point a finger at a woman. Everyone’s going to be talking about what a bitch or slut this woman is.

Valorin: Oh, you know, that’s what people would have said in my grandmother’s day. Now we’re more ecumenical. And even rather fond of catching men with their pants down.

Sirène: OK, well maybe in les états bleus – in some better-off parts of the world – a few courts are finally waking up, a few women are no longer being accused of seducing their attackers. But I assure you that the judicial officials I know are fast asleep.

Valorin: I’m sure you have a point there, but where are we going with all this talk?

Sirène: I just want to give you an idea of what a catastrophe it’s going to be for me, and for my husband too, if your and my little fling becomes public knowledge. It’s occurring to me that we might offer a slightly amended version which could save your skin without condemning mine. For example, I might, for a price, be able to find a woman with no reputation worth defending, and she might be willing to testify that she’d spent the evening of June 1^st with you. I’m sure for a fee we could arrange something like that.

Canard: You may be on to something there.

Sirène: Don’t you think?

Valorin: Less-spine woman, I don’t want to arrange anything. First of all, you should know that I’m not getting all that worked up about the scandal that’s about to engulf you. However, I’m a forgiving man and, even while regretting this fact, I can see that a woman’s social standing is more important to her than another man’s life, and even if he happened to be her lover one evening. But you, Sirène, your choice was simple. Being the mistress of Procureur Canard, all you had to do to save me was to whisper the truth to him. Pillow talk. (To Canard) What would have done if you’d known the truth?

Canard: Of course I would have taken the necessary steps to have the accusation withdrawn.

Valorin, to Sirène: Did you hear that? Without the least risk of scandal, you could have allowed an innocent trumpet player not to be sentenced to death. You didn’t want to do that.

Sirène: Do you think it’s so easy to confess to a lover that you cheated on him? I’m afraid I couldn’t do that. Though, of course, I would have liked to save your life.

Valorin: Another little “white” lie. A little while ago, when you came here, you were so wildly pleased with my death sentence.

Sirène: Oh, I’m guilty, even guiltier than you think. I’m a monster, I like sex, and I hate myself, but, oh, I can become quite another kind of woman if only someone will help me. If only… I could be so good. Can’t there be some forgiveness for a woman like me?

Valorin: That’s none of my business. Maybe mindfulness, or hormones, getting born again?

Sirène: Don’t make fun – take pity, I’m begging you… Think of those delicious hours we spent together. (She tries to take his arm. He shrinks back.)

Notes regarding Aymé’s copyright, my intentions and Robert Badinter

Marcel Aymé having died in 1967, his works would still be protected by copyright. However, I have nonetheless, prepared this English adaptation of the first act of “La tête des autres.” After some searching, I was informed that the publisher Grasset has the rights to Aymé’s theatrical works, and I have reached out to them, but without response. I thank la Société des Amis de Marcel Aymé and Hélène Montjean, directrice littéraire de la Société des Hôtels Littéraires, for their help in this regard.

Decades ago, I believe, at least one person prepared an English translation of the entire “La tête des autres” and came up with the excellent English title “Other People’s Heads.” I do not believe this translation was ever published. Staff of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts have informed me that the library has three texts (one translation or three?) bearing this English title. Living as I do in Paris, I have not had an opportunity to look at these texts.

The first act comprises about 40 percent of the original, five-act play. The other acts are not without interest, but the first act is the masterful one, and I believe it can stand on its own.

Robert Badinter’s remains were interred in the Panthéon in Paris on 9 October 2025, the anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty.

— Adaptation by William Eaton. Among Eaton’s other works: And Now, I Think, We Can Say, a philosophical dialogue rooted in Ludwig Wittgenstein’s writings and biography.