Pauline at the Beach (1983)

Arielle Dombasle: Marion

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Quotes 

• Marion : I want to make him really, really, really fall in love. If I suffer, he'll suffer, too.

  Pauline : Why make him suffer, if you love him?

  Marion : Because in love, everything must be shared. Pleasure as well as suffering.

• Henri : I think you must live alone, right?

  Marion : Yes, but, in my case, it's just a matter of waiting.

  Henri : Waiting for what?

  Marion : Just for that completely unpredictable thing called love. Yes, I haven't met the love of my life yet. I want to meet him. I let myself be misled by a man who convinced me that he loved me and that I loved him. I believed him. But it wasn't love, it was fidelity. Fidelity was important to me. It still is. It's not even love unless you believe it will last forever. But you have the right to make mistakes.

• Marion : Freedom isn't what interests me. I don't think like you. Yes, what bothered me wasn't being attached, but being attached to a man I didn't burn for. I've never burned with love, except in a dream as any girl would for an actor, a prince, an athlete, a brief glance at a stranger. But that's not love. I've probably sparked flames in people, but not in people I like, so I've never noticed. Maybe some men have even killed themselves over me. I hope not, but if they did, I haven't known about it. Listen, as strange as it may seem, one thing has never happened to me: igniting a love in myself and someone else instantly and reciprocally. But, I'm not giving up. One day the sparks will fly. And suddenly I'll be a blazing inferno!

• Marion : She shouldn't be picking up idiots on the beach.

• Marion : We're lucky there's no phone here. I feel I could spend hours and hours here without budging.

  Pauline : Don't you want to go to the beach?

  Marion : Yes, for a swim. But it's not such a great place to stay. For reading or working it's better here.

  Pauline : I like the beach better.

  Marion : You'll be disappointed.

  Pauline : No, I feel like going to the beach.

• Marion : So your work doesn't keep you tied to one place?

  Henri : Well, obviously I have some long stays, but right now I don't have a permanent home. I'm like a nomad. free to go where I want, when I want, with no explanations to anyone.

  Marion : But you don't live there alone?

  Henri : Yes, I do. For several years I've only had affairs, with no strings attached. My daughter's mother is a woman who needs to be identified with her home; whereas, I have no home, except this one, which really isn't one. I have no furniture and I don't like a woman to force me to treat her like furniture.

  Marion : Well, that's good!

  Henri : Yes, she was like that. I'd have liked her to be as free as I am, as light and transportable. No baggage, both physical or mental.

  Marion : But, she had her daughter.

  Henri : Well, yes, so did I.

• Marion : I won't mistake something for love that's *not* love.

• Marion : Love burns. I want to burn up with love.

• Pauline : You used to say, "Love only exists when it's requited." You want it to be requited right away, at the very second you meet. I'm not interested in the superficial things in people. I only pay attention to deeper qualities.

  Marion : But you sense them beneath the surface. It's love when, beneath the surface you get the depth of that person from a single glance.

• Marion : I really don't feel like talking about love right now!

  Pierre : That's *all* you've been talking about all evening!

• Marion : I am so ashamed! It's the first time that it's happened so fast.

  Henri : Not at all. It's just fine. You were the one who said that you wanted to catch fire instantly!

  Marion : If it were reciprocated.

  Henri : It is.

  Marion : Unfortunately, I doubt that. I'm only your "conquest of the day."

  Henri : Look, Marion, you keep going on in terms of belonging and possessing. I just don't see things the same way at all.

• Marion : It's just all so complicated.

  Henri : No, it's very simple. Learn to live in the present. It will make you a lot stronger.

  Marion : No, I'm weak, weak.

• Marion : My freedom means being interested in whomever I want.

• Pierre : I can accept that you don't love me, but, it's hard to see you interested in a guy who doesn't care about you.

  Marion : He *does* care about me.

  Pierre : But he said so himself! He picks up girls all the time. You're nothing special to him.

  Marion : Listen, Pierre. The more you put him down, the more interesting he becomes to me.

• Pierre : This is just some friendly advice. Watch out for him.

  Marion : Maybe he's dangerous, but danger's always been fascinating to me.

• Marion : Go after Pauline.

  Pierre : What?

  Marion : No, no, I'm really serious.

  Pierre : But, she's just a kid.

  Marion : Yes, but you're teaching her windsurfing. Why not love?

  Pierre : I really hope you're kidding. First of all, I wouldn't have a chance. She's only interested in boys her own age.

  Marion : Yes, but at that age, they're all stupid and rough. I tell you, you could do her a world of good.

• Marion : Do you know what's going on right now at your house?

  Henri : Pauline and her friend are dancing.

  Marion : Yes, a funny kind of dancing - in bed!

  Henri : No way! What did you say to them?

  Marion : I was so stunned, I couldn't say a word.

• Marion : Hey, are you coming with us tomorrow to Mont St. Michel?

  Henri : To Mont St. Michel? Tomorrow? You've got to be kidding.

  Marion : Pauline wants to see it. She's never been and she's got to tell her parents something when she gets home.

  Henri : Yes. Something besides her love affairs.

• Pierre : That guy literally repulses me.

  Marion : Well, he attracts me!

  Pierre : I hate him. You know what he reminds me of? A snake.

  Marion : I'm more like a snake. I've always been told I have serpentine curves.

• Pierre : So, has he nailed you?

  Marion : What a nasty word.

  Pierre : It's not the word, it's the doing.

• Marion : It's only love that lets people fulfill each other.

  Pierre : Love? Sleeping with a guy you'll never see again? You call that love?

• Marion : I'm not crazy. My insanity was living with a man who followed me step by step like a dog. And you, you look like a sweet little dog, too!

• Pierre : Your job, your work. It's in Paris, not in the South Pacific. You're a flower that can only bloom on its home ground.

  Marion : Listen, Pierre. Next you'll be accusing me of betraying France!

• Marion : I think you could have found someone better to become more experienced with. Know who I mean?

  Pauline : No.

  Marion : Pierre.

  Pauline : But he's old!

  Marion : He's young and good-looking.

  Pauline : I know there are girls my age who like adults, but I don't.