Paris Belongs to Us (1961)
Giani Esposito: Gerard Lenz
Photos
Quotes
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Gerard Lenz : I think he was wrong with the knife. I'd rather slash my wrists. I did it once.
Terry Yordan : It always fails. That's why you chose it.
Gerard Lenz : It fails until it succeeds. It calls for perseverance.
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Gerard Lenz : It's a scene on a a beach. You must make us feel that when you speak. Speak against the wind, the sound of the sea, the gulls. Go ahead.
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Gerard Lenz : I think this project is crazy. The odds are that we'll have a flop.
Jean-Marc : Maybe not.
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Gerard Lenz : I think you know more than you say.
Terry Yordan : So?
Gerard Lenz : That's why I like you.
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Gerard Lenz : I know you know.
Terry Yordan : You don't know what I know.
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Anne Goupil : What if I told you you were in danger?
Gerard Lenz : In danger?
Anne Goupil : ...Because of Terry.
Gerard Lenz : It's jealousy. Hear that, Terry?
Terry Yordan : Yes.
Gerard Lenz : Doesn't it make you laugh?
Terry Yordan : No, I may be a dangerous girl.
Gerard Lenz : I always liked femme fatales.
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Gerard Lenz : Do you know 'Pericles'?
Anne Goupil : Yes.
Gerard Lenz : What do you think?
Anne Goupil : Is this a test?
Gerard Lenz : No, I'd like your opinion.
Anne Goupil : Okay. It's rather disconnected.
Gerard Lenz : Right. And?
Anne Goupil : But that doesn't matter.
Gerard Lenz : Why not?
Anne Goupil : Because it's on another level. Is that the right answer?
Gerard Lenz : A plus.
[Anne laughs]
Gerard Lenz : Everyone says I'm crazy, even Terry, but the reason I want to stage it is because it's "unplayable." But I don't care. It's shreds and patches, yet it hangs together overall. Pericles may traverse kingdoms, the heroes are dispersed, yet they can't escape. They're all reunited in Act V. I want to show that. Do you think I'm crazy?
Anne Goupil : No. Not at all.
Gerard Lenz : Thanks. But we must try to make people understand it. It shows a chaotic but not absurd world, rather like our own, flying off in all directions, but with a purpose. Only we don't know what. Am I boring you?
Anne Goupil : No. I agree. The world is less absurd than it seems.
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Gerard Lenz : Why stand like a post? Poetry is movement, moving forward. I want you to seem to be surging forward. Try again.
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Gerard Lenz : You're an actor. Don't imagine things. You've got the whole stage. Use it. Or you will have. You are addressing the audience directly. Go ahead.
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Gerard Lenz : What do you envisage?
Jean-Val - L'assistant de Gérard : Towers, ramparts, severed heads.
Gerard Lenz : Why?
Jean-Val - L'assistant de Gérard : To give the audience the illusion.
Gerard Lenz : But theater is not illusion, it's reality.
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Gerard Lenz : You're all in exile. Do you feel at home? Doesn't this corruption disgust you? The time draws nigh. I don't want to stay to the end.
Jean-Val - L'assistant de Gérard : One must always take one's bow.
Gerard Lenz : To boos? No, thanks. I'd rather slip out before the tomatoes.
Theater actor : Rotten ones.
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Gerard Lenz : And what are your thoughts?
Jean-Val - L'assistant de Gérard : The usual: comfort, good whiskey.
Theater actor : Beautiful girls.
Jean-Val - L'assistant de Gérard : Obviously. Well, what more do you want?
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Jean-Val - L'assistant de Gérard : How about your thoughts?
Gerard Lenz : I was thinking about Philip, for a change. How it felt to be exiled. It's very stupid. I feel more and more like an exile myself.
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Gerard Lenz : Do you love me?
Anne Goupil : Goethe said: "If I love you, is that your affair?"
Gerard Lenz : To hell with Goethe. Answer me.
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Anne Goupil : Why have you given up?
Gerard Lenz : I'd had enough. Once you start making concessions, you can't stop.
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Gerard Lenz : I called Terry. She's cut herself off. She won't see anyone. She talked in riddles: "I am unworthy of you, you are unworthy of me."
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Gerard Lenz : "I have no alternative but to cast myself into the sea."
Anne Goupil : Moliere, 'George Dandin', Act 3, Scene...
Gerard Lenz : Scene 15.
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Gerard Lenz : I feel I'm lost at the end of the Earth. You're the last human face on the horizon. I have this curious dizziness. Things seem to whirl about me faster and faster.