Metropolitan (1989)

Isabel Gillies: Cynthia McLean

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Quotes 

• Charlie Black : Of course there is a God. We all basically know there is.

  Cynthia McLean : I know no such thing.

  Charlie Black : Of course you do. When you think to yourself, and most of our waking life is taken up thinking to ourselves, you must have that feeling that your thoughts aren't entirely wasted, that in some sense they are being heard. Rationally, they aren't. You're entirely alone. Even the people to whom we are closest can have no real idea of what is going on in our minds. We aren't devastated by loneliness because, at a hardly conscious level, we don't accept that we're entirely alone. I think this sensation of being silently listned to with total comprehension... something you never find in real life... represents our innate belife in a supreme being, some all-comprehending intelligence.

• Cynthia McLean : Is our language so impoverished that we have to use acronyms of French phrases to make ourselves understood?

  Charlie Black : Yes.

• Charlie Black : That's interesting, because actually there's very little social snobbery in the United States. I mean, it's considered unacceptable. There's... there's almost a national taboo against it. It's looked down upon.

  Cynthia McLean : That's good, isn't it?

  Charlie Black : Well, I'm not talking about what's good or bad. I'm just making an observation of fact.

  Sally Fowler : Well, I think it IS good. I can't stand snobbery or snobbish attitudes of any kind.

• Cynthia McLean : You see the world from such lofty heights that everything below is a bit comical to you, isn't it?

  Nick Smith : Yes.

• Nick Smith : It's incredible, the eagerness of girls like you to justify the worst bastards imaginable... as being sensitive and shy. But if any guy who really was shy dared talk to you... you wouldn't give him the time of day - your eyes would glaze over.

  Cynthia McLean : You're really hung up on Rick, aren't you? He must really threaten you somehow.

  Nick Smith : You're right. I do feel threatened - that I may get a venereal disease from one of the St. Tim's girls he's been with.

  [Cynthia slaps Nick] 

  Nick Smith : Did you learn that from your lovemaking with Rick? I hear it can get really rough.

  [another slap] 

  Nick Smith : Don't do that again. For me, it isn't erotic.

• Charlie Black : Well, I don't think "preppy" is a very useful term. I mean, it might be descriptive for someone who is still in school or college; but, it's ridiculous to refer to a man in his 70s, like Averell Harriman, as a "preppy". And none of the other terms people use - WASP, P.L.U., et cetera - are of much use either. And that's why I prefer the term "U.H.B."

  Nick Smith : What?

  Charlie Black : U.H.B. It's an acronym for Urban Haute Bourgeoisie.

  Cynthia McLean : Is our language so impoverished that we have to use acronyms or French phrases to make ourselves understood?

• Cynthia McLean : It's better for her to know the truth. I don't see how knowing the truth could do anyone any harm.

  Jane Clark : It's not just the truth. It's how and when you learn it.

• Charlie Black : What it shows is that a kind of belief is innate in all of us. At some point most of us lose that after which it can only be regained by a conscious act of faith.

  Cynthia McLean : You've experienced that?

  Charlie Black : Uh, no, I haven't. I-I hope to someday.

• Cynthia McLean : Rick really threatens you somehow.

  Nick Smith : How does he threaten me?

  Cynthia McLean : Maybe by being more of a man than you are.

  Nick Smith : Oh, you stupid slut.