Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson in Clair-obscur (2021)

Quotes

Clair-obscur

Irene: We're all passing for something or other, aren't we?

Hugh: Yet, lots of people pass all the time.
Irene: It's easy for a Negro to pass for White. I'm not sure it would be so simple for a White person to pass for Colored.
Hugh: Never thought of that!
Irene: No, Hugh. Why should you?

Irene: I'm beginning to believe that no one is ever completely happy, free, or safe.

Hugh: About "passing": Tell me, can you always tell the difference?
Irene: Oh, now you really are sounding ignorant.
Hugh: No, no, I mean it. Feelings of kinship or something like that?

Irene: Well, sir, you have to admit that the average Colored man is a better dancer the average White.

Clare: I think being a mother is the cruelest thing in the world.
Irene: Yes. But also the most responsible.

Irene: Things aren't always as they seem, Hugh.

Irene: You just passed the only person I ever met while disguised as a white woman.

Clare: Curious to me... a man like that going to a Negro dance.
Irene: Hundreds of white people like Hugh come to affairs in Harlem now.
Clare: Why?
Irene: Same reason you are here, to see negroes.

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