24 quotes
Critique of Morality in Filmmaking
Madame Lajoie
What is this - filmmaking? You call that a business? You've no morals. Everybody sleeps with everyone! What is it but a dirty lie. You call that normal? Filthy cinema - you're a plague on the world! You smell of filth! You'll pay for your sins! I despise you!
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Life's Value Exceeds Cinema's Importance
Alphonse
I'm sure Ferrand is wrong. Life is more important than films.
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Tension Over Limited Rehearsal Time
Ferrand
We do the kitchen scene tomorrow.
Julie
Can I have my lines?
Ferrand
After dinner tonight.
Julie
That's not much time!
Ferrand
It's not written yet. Read it once and put it under your pillow. In the morning, you'll know it by heart!
Julie
Optimist, huh?
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The Shift from Fires to Moving Images
Ferrand
People used to stare at fires. Now they watch TV. We need to see moving images, especially after dinner.
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The Complexity of Love and Despair
Alphonse
You see, I've made a terrible discovery. You can be desperately in love with someone you despise, whose every gesture, word and thought you detest!
Julie
What right have you to say that? Say you made a mistake but never be ashamed of having loved. By despising Liliane, you're merely degrading yourself.
Alphonse
Maybe you're right. Anyway, my love affairs have always ended badly. I thought women were magic.
Julie
Of course they're not magic. Or men are too. Everyone's magic, and no one is.
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Rehearsal Tensions Among Film Crew Members
Ferrand
Quiet! A full rehearsal. Let's go, Séverine.
Séverine
I don't understand you Alexander! You're -
Alexandre
Peculiar
Séverine
Oh, yes.
Ferrand
It's all right! Take it from the top, right away. Let's go, Séverine.
Séverine
I don't understand you Alexander! You've been peculiar, lately. Walking out on dinner last night! That was an insult to Julie." Damn! I said Julie instead of Pamela.
Ferrand
Not to worry.
Séverine
I've got an idea! I'll use numbers, the way I do for Fellini! Instead of "I don't understand you Alexander..." I'll say, 22, 83, 16, 72, 5, 3, 18, 9, 14, 7, 9. 17, 10, 10, 4, 18, 69...
Ferrand
Impossible, Séverine. In France, we have to say the lines.
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Language Confusion and Understanding
Ferrand
I speak English well, but don't understand it!
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Reflections on Death in Film
Alexandre
In 80 movies I've died 24 times - electrocuted twice, hanged twice. I've been knifed, committed suicide, died in accidents, but never a natural death. Anyway, I don't think death is natural.
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Understanding Day for Night Filmmaking Technique
Ferrand
Tell him the car crash we're shooting tomorrow will be in American night.
Julie
What is American night?
Ferrand
A night scene shot in daylight with a special filter.
Julie
Ah, day for night.
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The Nature of a Film Director
Ferrand
What is a film director? A man who's asked questions about everything. Sometimes he knows the answers.
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The Universal Power of Love
Alexandre
Movie people may be more obvious about it, but love makes the world go round!
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Family Dynamics in Greek Tragedies
Bertrand
That's not nice or friendly. Aren't we one big family?
Alexandre
So were the people in Greek tragedies!
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Creative Collaboration in Film Development
Joelle
Back to work! You dictate, I'll type. We promised it to Julie tonight.
Ferrand
Okay, back to the kitchen. No more guilt or sense of shame. They decide to run away like thieves in the night.
Joelle
Pamela" could actually say that! We must show that she's completely lucid. She loved the son, now she loves the father. That must come across.
Ferrand
Yes. Julie explained it very well. Here's her interview in the morning paper: "The girl realizes the boy she married is only a pale reflection to his father." She understood the script! Why? Because her mother was an actress. She knows Hollywood, where many kids try to live up to famous parents. Fairbanks, Barrymore and others.
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The Illusion of Life in Filmmaking
Alphonse
I need money to go to a whorehouse.
[after being dumped by his girlfriend]
Ferrand
Come on Alphonse. Go back to your room, re-read the script, learn your lines, then try to sleep. Tomorrow we work. That's what matters. Don't be a fool. You're a very good actor. No one's private life runs smoothly. That only happens in the movies. No traffic jams, no dead periods. Movies go along like trains in the night. And people like you and me are only happy in our work. I'm counting on you.
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A Conversation About Family and Career
Alexandre
How's your mother?
Julie
Very good. I told her we were working together. She sends her love.
Alexandre
Marvelous woman! Everyone in Hollywood loved her. Too bad she quit when she did.
Julie
But she's still very busy.
Alexandre
She hated the way we shoot movies - in bits and pieces! I remember escorting her to the premiere of her first big Hollywood movie. A fantastic evening! When the film ended, she sat there, then turned to me and said: "I did all that? All I remember is the waiting.
Julie
It's so true!
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Fear of Commitment and Multiple Roles
Julie
He loves you and wants to marry you.
Liliane
He mentioned marriage; I didn't! Just the word gives me the creeps. Anyway, he needs a wife, a mistress, a nanny, a nurse, a sister. I can't play all those roles!
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The Journey of Filmmaking Explained
Ferrand
Making a film is like a stagecoach ride in the old west. When you start, you are hoping for a pleasant trip. By the halfway point, you just hope to survive.
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Unfulfilled Dreams in the Spotlight
Séverine
The actor had always dreamed of playing Hamlet. At last, he staged it and played the role! But he was so bad, he was booed every night. One night he was fed up, he stopped in the middle of "To be or not to be", turning to the audience, he said: "I didn't write the shit.
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Prioritizing Film Over Romantic Relationships
Julie
Liliane ran off with the stuntman.
Joelle
Does Alphonse know?
Julie
I had to tell him.
Joelle
With the stuntman? I'd drop a guy for a film. I'd never drop a film for a guy!
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The Elusiveness of Life and Relationships
Séverine
What a funny life we lead! We meet, we work together, we love each other and then, as soon as we grasp something - it's gone.
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The Reality of Relationships and Perception
Alphonse
Let me ask you, are women magic?
Lajoie
No, they're not. Neither are men. If a woman says she's known outstanding men, it means she's slept around.
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The Complications of Relationships in Film
Ferrand
She's always around!
Joelle
She's Lajoie's wife.
Ferrand
She thinks she's a crew member?
Joelle
No, she thinks women are after him! She makes his life hell. He's too weak to dump her. We call them "The Sorrow and the Pity"!
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The Vulnerability of Actors and Performers
Alexandre
Actors are so vulnerable!
Dr. Michael Nelson
Of course they are. Everyone is afraid of being judged. But actors are always being judged. In your work, and in your life!
Alexandre
Yes. We wonder what people think of us, if they love us. It must be the same for all performers. As a child, when Mozart was asked to play, he'd reply: "Gladly, but first say you love me.
Dr. Michael Nelson
And in your job, you're always kissing.
Alexandre
As you say, yes, we do a lot of kissing. The handshake was invented to show you're unarmed, friendly. We went one better: we show our love.
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The Enchantment of Women and Skirts
Alphonse
Bernard, are women magic?
Bernard
Not women, their legs! That's why they wear skirts.
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