The Dreamers (2003)

Louis Garrel: Theo

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Quotes 

• Theo : Papa's full of shit.

  Matthew : I think you're lucky. Um, I wish my parents were that nice.

  Isabelle : Other people's parents are *always* nicer than our own, and yet for some reason, our own grandparents are always nicer than other people's.

• Theo : Clapton is God, Matthew.

  Matthew : I don't believe in God; but, if I did, he would be a black, left-handed guitarist. This is not Chaplin and Keaton. This is Clapton and Hendrix.

  Theo : Matthew, Clapton reinvented the electric guitar.

  Matthew : Clapton reinvented the electric guitar? Clapton plugs in a guitar, he plugs in an electric guitar and he plays it like an acoustic guitar. Hendrix plugs in an electric guitar, he plays with his teeth. There are soldiers in the Vietnam War right now. Who are they listening to? Clapton? No, they're listening to Hendrix. The guy who tells the truth.

• Theo : [reading from a book]  A revolution isn't a gala dinner. It cannot be created like a book, a drawing or a tapestry. It cannot unfold with such elegance, tranquility and delicacy. Or such sweetness, affability. Courtesy, restraint and generosity. A revolution is an uprising, a violent act by which one class overthrows another.

• Isabelle , Theo : We accept you, one of us! One of us!

• [Matthew has had unprotected sex with Isabelle] 

  Matthew : [in the tub, he sees blood] 

  Isabelle : Don't be alarmed. It's good news.

  Theo : It only happens once a month.

• Isabelle : Theo, Theo. Wake up.

  Theo : [sleepily, eyes still closed]  What is it?

  Isabelle : I want you to listen.

  Theo : Why?

  Isabelle : Because. Theo?

  Theo : Mm?

  Isabelle : I love you. You know that?

  Theo : I love you too.

  Isabelle : You love me too? That's funny. Are you listening? It's forever, right?

  Theo : What's forever?

  Isabelle : The two of us. Right?

  Theo : Yes. Why did Matthew say that?

  Isabelle : What did Matthew say?

  Theo : That we're monsters, freaks.

  Isabelle : I just want you to tell me that it's forever. It's forever.

• Theo : "A petition is a poem, a poem is a petition."

  Father : Yes.

  Theo : Those are the most famous lines you ever wrote - and now look at you.

• [last lines] 

  Matthew : Listen to me for a second, okay? This is what they do. This is not what we do.

  Matthew : [pointing to his head]  We use this.

  Matthew : We do this. We use this.

  [kisses Isabelle] 

  Matthew : We use this.

  [kisses Theo] 

  Theo : [speaking in French]  Stop it!

  Matthew : Isabelle. Come on. Isabe...

• Theo : [to Matthew]  Don't forget your toothbrush!

• Matthew : If you really believed what you were saying, you'd be out there.

  Theo : Where?

  Matthew : Out there, on the street.

  Theo : I don't know what you mean.

  Matthew : Yes, you do. There's something going on out there. Something that feels like it could be really important. Something that feels like things could change. Even I get that! But, you're not out there. You're inside, with me, drinking expensive wine, talking about film, talking about Maoism. Why?

  Theo : That's enough.

  Matthew : Tell me why? Ask yourself - why? Because I don't think you really believe it.

• Matthew : Keaton is a real filmmaker. Chaplin, all he cares about is his own performance, his own ego!

  Theo : That's bullshit.

  Matthew : That's not bullshit!

• Theo : She doesn't know how to deal with parents.

  Matthew : What do you mean?

  Theo : I mean, it's not enough to ignore them. They should all be arrested, put on trial, confess their crimes, sent to the country for self-criticism and reeducation!

• Theo : [talking about his dad]  God doesn't exist, doesn't mean *he* can take his place.

• Theo : Weren't you just a tiny bit excited?

• Theo : Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Rivette, and Renoir, Jean Rouch, Rohmer are here. Signoret, Jean Marais and God knows who else. Marcel Carne too.

• Matthew : For me, there's no comparison.

  Theo : Why? Because, Chaplin's incomparable.

  Matthew : No, because *Keaton's* incomparable.

  Theo : Keaton? You think Keaton's greater than Chaplin?

  Matthew : Absolutely, I do.

  Theo : Oh, you're not serious.

  Matthew : Of course I am.

  Theo : You're crazy.

  Matthew : Come on, Theo, in the first place, you can't deny that Keaton is funnier than Chaplin.

  Theo : Yes I can!

  Matthew : You don't think that Keaton is funnier than Chaplin?

  Theo : I don't think anyone's funnier than Chaplin.

  Matthew : Keaton is! Even when he's not doing anything, he's funny.

• Theo : No wonder you never get the point of Jerry Lewis.

  Matthew : Oh, don't even get me started on Jerry Lewis!

• Theo : Name a film or pay the forfeit.

• Matthew : You're a big movie buff, right?

  Theo : Oui.

  Matthew : Then why don't you think of Mao as a great director making a movie with a cast of millions? All those millions of Red Guards marching together into the future with the little red book in their hands. Books, not guns. Culture, not violence. Can't you see what an epic, big movie that would make?

• Theo : I've seen you around. You've been coming to all the Nicholas Ray's.

  Matthew : Yeah, I really like his movies.

  Theo : What? "They Live By Night"?

  Matthew : More like, "Johnny Guitar" and "Rebel Without A Cause".

  Theo : You know what Godard wrote about him?

  Matthew : No, what?

  Theo : Nicholas Ray *is* cinema.

• Father : My children believe that their demonstrations and sit-ins and happenings, well, they believe that these possess the capacity, not only to *provoke* society, but, also to transform it.

  Theo : What is it you're saying? If Langlois is dismissed, we shouldn't do anything? If immigrants are deported? If students are beaten up? We shouldn't do anything?

  Father : What I am saying is a little lucidity would not go amiss.

  Theo : So, everyone's wrong but you? In France? In Italy? Germany? America?