Love in the Afternoon (1972)
Bernard Verley: Frédéric
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Quotes
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Frédéric : [voice over] That's why I love the city. People come into view, then vanish. You don't see them grow old. What makes the streets of Paris so fascinating is the constant yet fleeting presence of women whom I'm almost certain never to see again. It's enough that they're there, indifferent, conscious of their charm, happy to test its affect on me, as I test mine on them, by tacit agreement, without even the subtlest smile or glance. I feel their seductive power without giving in to it. This doesn't estrange me from Hélène. Far from it. I tell myself these passing beauties are simply an extension of my wife's beauty. They enrich her beauty and receive some of hers in return. She's the guarantee of the world's beauty and vice versa. When I embrace Hélène, I embrace all women.
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Frédéric : [voice over] I love the city. The suburbs and provinces depress me. Despite the crush and the noise, I never tire of plunging into the crowd. I love the crowd as I love the sea. Not to be engulfed or lost in it, but to sail on it like a solitary pirate, content to be carried by the current, yet strike out on my own the moment it breaks or dissipates. Like the sea, a crowd is invigorating to my wandering mind. Almost all my ideas come to me in the street.
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Frédéric : Is it possible to love two women at once? Is it normal?
Chloé : Depends on what you call love. If you mean passion, no. But that doesn't last. If you mean sleeping with several girls and even caring for them, there's nothing more common. Everybody does it. Polygamy's very natural.
Frédéric : Polygamy? That's barbarian. It turns women into slaves.
Chloé : Not if women do it as well. If you were normal, you'd sleep with anyone you wanted, and so would your wife. I know I'm right and someday I'll convince you. You'll cheat on your wife one day. Not necessarily with me. Another girl will reap the benefits of my hard work.
Frédéric : In a polygamous society, I'd be polygamous. No problem. But in the society we live in, I won't base my life on lies. I hide too much from my wife as it is.
Chloé : What makes you think she doesn't?
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Frédéric : [voice over] Why, among all the possible beauties, was it her beauty that struck me? I'm no longer sure of the answer.
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Frédéric : [voice over] Now, when I see a woman, I'm no longer able to classify her as easily among the chosen or the outcasts. I'm not only less sure of my taste, but I can't recall on what criteria I based my judgment. What was the "something" that a woman had to have to attract me and that I could detect at first glance? Since my marriage, I find all women attractive. In their most mundane tasks, I accord them that mystery I once denied almost all of them. I'm curious about their lives, even if they teach me nothing new. What if I'd met this young woman three years ago? Would she have caught my eye? Would I have fallen in love with her, wanted to have a child with her?
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Frédéric : [voice over] If there's one thing I'm incapable of now, it's trying to seduce a girl. I'd have no idea what to say and no reason to speak to her anyway. I want nothing from her. I have no proposition to make. Yet I feel marriage is hemming me in, cutting me off, and I want to escape.
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Frédéric : [voice over] I also feel my life passing by as other lives unfold along paths parallel to mine and it frustrates me not to be a part of them, not to have stopped these women for a moment in their hurried rush to some unknown job or unknown pleasure. And I dream. I dream that actually I possess them all.
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Frédéric : Some girls blossom only at night and wilt in the daylight.
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Mme. M. : Your wife is terrific too. She's great. You're really lucky. Don't go cheating on her now.
Frédéric : Don't worry. I don't intend to.
Mme. M. : I wouldn't bet on it. Not the way you look at girls.
Frédéric : What girls?
Mme. M. : All the girls. In bars, in the street, you're secretaries. I've seen the little smiles.
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[first lines]
Frédéric : Mommy's coming.
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Frédéric : I like seeing the streets full of people. That's the charm of Paris. Nothing's worse than afternoons in the suburbs. I can't tell you how depressed I get.
The Colleague : Really? You dread afternoons too? Even in Paris, I don't feel quite right until 4:00.
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Chloé : Knowing I have to work at night ruins the whole day for me. I hate afternoons.
Frédéric : You're free in the afternoon? How lucky.
Chloé : Stop rubbing it in. I thought you were nicer.
Frédéric : I just meant I'm occasionally free in the afternoon too. We could have a drink.
Chloé : Trying to make up for the things you said?
Frédéric : No, I mean it. It would be a pleasure.
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Frédéric : Milena had me in a blindfold. I was her slave. But now I trust Hélène and she trusts me. We allow each other to look around. I needn't account for every thought, word or deed. And she needn't either.
Mme. M. : I think you're keeping your exits open. Not for right now, but even the prettiest woman gets boring.
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Chloé : I really wonder how you can spend your days in an office. When I walk into an office, everything seems unreal. Everyone running around. For what? Nothing.
Frédéric : My secretaries are very efficient.
Chloé : I know. But it's all meaningless. Things would go on just fine without offices. They create nothing but verbiage and paperwork.
Frédéric : What's so creative about serving drinks?
Chloé : I give people pleasure.
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Frédéric : You do me good too. Your real worries deliver me from my imaginary ones.
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Frédéric : I'm surprised I find so much to say to you, whereas before we talked so little. I've never talked so much to anyone. I've never been so candid, so at ease. With most of the girls I've loved, I've played a role. I take Hélène too seriously to be serious with her. With her, I act like a kid, I make her laugh, I keep the mood light. A kind of natural modesty has developed that prevents us both from baring our innermost feelings. Perhaps it's better that way. Anyway, everyone plays some role.
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Frédéric : I think some element of mystery is essential for people who live together.
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Chloé : You make me laugh. You really do. Why this insistence on proving you love your wife? If you don't love her, or less than at first, it's not a catastrophe. It's normal. It's normal not to want to always be tied to the same person. Marriage makes less and less sense these days.
Frédéric : I don't love her because she's my wife. I love her because of who she is. I'd love her even if we weren't married.
Chloé : No. You love her - if you really do - because you're supposed to. I couldn't stand being loved like that. But then I'm an exception. I won't accept compromises.
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Chloé : Since you're so bourgeois, act the part. Stay married, but cheat on the side. It's a safety valve. It'd be good for you, in moderation. Even excellent, don't you think? And it would be easy. You're surrounded by pretty girls who'd love to be in your arms. Your secretaries, for instance.
Frédéric : Leave them out of this, will you? Besides, they don't want me and I don't want them.
Chloé : They're good enough.
Frédéric : Sure, but none of us is interested and it's fine that way. I don't like office romances. For me, love is an adventure. For my wife, too. She'd never have married a teacher. Since we're exchanging confidences, Gérard and I could have hired ugly old hags, but looks were a factor. And not only for the firm's image. I like to be surrounded by attractive people in every sense of the word. And if Fabienne and I flirt a little, it's within extremely narrow bounds. A smile, a look. It's nothing.
Chloé : But what about with other women?
Frédéric : With other women it can go a little further.
[awkwardly embraces Chloé]
Frédéric : If she could see us!
Chloé : Who? Your wife or your secretary?
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Chloé : We'll make it Wednesday evening.
Frédéric : What?
Chloé : That's right.
Frédéric : Impossible. What would I tell my wife?
Chloé : Ask her permission. You think she'd refuse?
Frédéric : I don't think she'll like it much. I haven't even told her we meet in the afternoon.
Chloé : That was a mistake. We're doing nothing wrong.
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Frédéric : [looking in a mirror] We really do make a nice couple, don't we?
Chloé : The perfect couple.
Frédéric : Chloé, would you marry me?
Chloé : You're married.
Frédéric : In real life, sure. But, in another life.
Chloé : A double life?
Frédéric : Not exactly. Don't you ever dream of living two lives at once, simultaneously, but completely and perfectly?
Chloé : Impossible.
Frédéric : It's a dream.
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Frédéric : We never see each other in the afternoon, except Sundays. Though I really don't like afternoons. I get a little anxious. And I'm afraid to be alone. And you?
Hélène : The afternoons when I don't teach, now that the nanny takes the children out, I feel empty, strange. I guess I'm just not used to it.
