Love in the Afternoon (1972)

Zouzou: Chloé

Photos 

Quotes 

• Chloé : I almost killed myself. It was only cowardice that stopped me. If just lifting a finger could return me to the void, I'd do it. Everyone would. Why live? I didn't ask to live.

• 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?

• Mme. M. : Your occupations are more closely aligned, aren't they?

  Frédéric : Hélène knows nothing about my work.

  Chloé : He doesn't even know the title of my thesis.

  Frédéric : Though you did get me interested in English again. I'm reading about Captain Cook's exciting adventures in the original.

• Chloé : We're both screwed up. It creates a bond.

• Chloé : I've decided never to live with a man again. I'm very happy with my narrow little bed.

• 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.

• Frédéric : You love this guy you're with?

  Chloé : Serge? No, he's a friend. I don't have a place, so I sleep with him.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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?

• 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.

• Frédéric : Suddenly you don't seem so sure of yourself. You're acting like a little girl.

  Chloé : Well, I'm a woman.

• Chloé : Is she jealous?

  Frédéric : She's seen worse. We have a beautiful English nanny who walks around nude.

  Chloé : She's not afraid?

  Frédéric : She rightly believes I'm above physical urges. And she's not concerned about a girl I can't even talk to.

  Chloé : But you can talk to me.

• 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.

• Chloé : What do you think?

  Frédéric : I've never been excited by a dress. No dress is beautiful by itself. This one does justice to your figure. Anyway, it's not the dress I admire. It's you.