- Henri: Marion threw herself at me. She didn't give me time to desire her. You have to learn to let yourself be desired, or else you'll be unhappy.
- 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!
- Henri: In my life, I have loved and been loved. Now, I'm sick of it. I want to rest. No more undying passion. Marion irritates me.
- Sylvain: So then don't chase after her!
- Henri: I'm not chasing after her, she's after me! It's hard to pass up a girl like that.
- Sylvain: So you don't give a damn about her.
- Henri: No. I like her. I'm even fond of her. But I don't like making people cry. See, I'm really too nice. It gets me in some real messes.
- 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.
- Henri: This is my daughter Marie. Say, how did you manage to get all this sand in your hair?
- Marie: I was wrestling Breton-style with Gaelle.
- Henri: But you wrestle that way standing shoulder to shoulder.
- Marie: We fell down!
- Henri: What? Did she make you fall down?
- Marie: We fell down together.
- Henri: Oh, you poor thing! But that's not Breton-style, it's Greco-Roman.
- Marie: What? Grey-toe no-man?
- Henri: No, Greco-Roman.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Sylvain: You got a boyfriend?
- Pauline: Tons!
- Sylvain: Got room for maybe one more?
- Pauline: It certainly wouldn't be you.
- Sylvain: I didn't say I was applying.
- Pauline: Hands off. I don't like being touched.
- Sylvain: What about your boyfriends?
- Pauline: They wouldn't dare.
- Sylvain: So, then, they're *not* your boyfriends.
- 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!
- Louisette: I was so embarrassed that my face turned red. I didn't have a stitch on! I only had a towel. I'd left my suit downstairs to dry.
- Louisette: What are you doing tonight?
- Pierre: Tonight?
- Louisette: It's my last day here. I want to celebrate. All my friends are gone, except my fiancé. But I see him too much.
- Pierre: No, thank you. I'm busy.
- Louisette: I'm inviting you. I've got money.
- Pierre: It's nice of you, but...
- Louisette: Is it because I'm a candy vendor?
- Pierre: If she loved what suited her, what was good for her, I'd be the first to understand and accept it. But she's always looking for something so far away; whereas, I feel so close. When I saw her again, this feeling of familiarity shot out with such tremendous force. And I knew that she was mine, that she was a part of me.
- Pauline: That's just it, you're too close. She knows you like the back of her hand. There's no mystery there. You're so familiar.
- Pierre: I *want* to be familiar. I hate the unknown.
- Pierre: I want to wait for her to come to me on her own.
- Pauline: Fine. Wait, then.
- Pierre: I will wait. As long as necessary. Until - until she loves me. If she takes too long, then I won't love her anymore. It's very likely I'll stop loving her eventually. Maybe she'll love me, but it'll be too late. That will be my revenge.
- Pauline: You don't really love her. You want her to love *you*. That's not the same thing.
- Henri: It's true Marion is very pretty. She's got a great body. Perfect. Almost too perfect, like a statue. She's shaped like all women would like to be. She's a model. Maybe that's why I admire her, but I'm not that attracted to her. Actually less than to a woman with some imperfections. You see, perfection is oppressive. Imagine, geneticists end up creating an ideal woman by manipulating chromosomes like in "Brave New World," the book by Aldous Huxley. You ever read it? It's not big deal. Anyway, I just know this woman would look like Marion. And little by little, all women would end up looking like that. Can you imagine the world populated with billions of Marions?