French Kiss (1995)

Meg Ryan: Kate

Photos 

Quotes 

• Kate : Happy, smile. Sad, frown. Use the corresponding face with the corresponding emotion. But no. You want this mysterious...

  Luc : Non. No no no. It is not me who wants it. I don't want it.

  Kate : Well what do you want?

  Luc : I want you... I want you...

  Kate : You want me...

  Luc : I want you... to... make Charlie suffer. To make him feel like even though you are right there in front of him, he can't have you.

  [he realizes then that he is talking about himself] 

• Kate : [to Luc]  You'll become one of those hunchbacked, lonely old men, sitting in the corner of a crowded cafe, mumbling to yourself, "My ass is twitching. You people make my ass twitch."

• Kate : [singing]  I hate Paris in the springtime/I hate Paris in the fall/I hate Paris in the summer when it sizzles/I hate Paris in the winter when it drizzles/I hate Paris, oh why oh why do I hate Paris?/Because my love is there... with his SLUT girlfriend.

• Luc : And I am thinking... you should not be flying anywhere.

  Kate : I shouldn't?

  Luc : In fact, I am sure of it.

  Kate : You are?

  Luc : I am thinking... I want you...

  Kate : You want me...?

  Luc : That's all. I want you.

• Luc : [about Luc's brother, Antoine]  One night, he got me very drunk. You must understand, I owed him a lot of money. But he knew what he was doing.

  Kate : What was he doing?

  Luc : I lost all of it. One hand of poker.

  [starts to laugh] 

  Kate : You lost your birthright... in one hand of poker.

  Luc : I'm an asshole, what can I tell you?

  Kate : Uh-huh. So that's why he hates you and you hate him.

  Luc : Oui... that and I slept with his wife.

• Kate : Do you believe in love? The kind that lasts forever?

  Luc : I loved my mother.

  Kate : No, everybody loves their mother. Even people who hate their mothers love their mothers. The question is, one man meant for one woman. That is the question.

  Luc : But it is not an interesting question. It is the question of a little girl who believes in fairy tales.

• Kate : So, who is this guy?

  Luc : Bob.

  Kate : Bub?

  Luc : No, no, Bob. You know, like, uh, Bob Dylan?

  Kate : Oh, Bob.

  Luc : Oui, Bahb.

• Kate : The key to French waiters: If you're nice to them, they treat you like shit. Treat them like shit, they love you.

• Kate : You know, all men are bastards.

  Luc : Well, not all. I mean, some are just trying to help.

  Kate : You know, I never thought I'd be the kind of woman to say this, but it's true. All men are bastards.

  Luc : The guy who was talking to you, he was...

  Kate : A bastard. A Eurotrash-in-Armani kind of bastard.

  Luc : He was wearing a black suit? With a yellow shirt?

  Kate : Yeah.

  [Luc groans, then pulls Kate up from the sofa] 

  Kate : You know him?

  Luc : Come on.

  Kate : Of course you know him. All you bastards know each other.

  [Luc pulls Kate toward the hotel exit] 

  Kate : [to the conierge]  Bastard!

• [an announcement is made in French] 

  Kate : What was that? That sounded important.

  Luc : The pilot said there is a crack in the engine, but not to worry, he'll take off anyway.

• Luc : Why are you chasing after him after what he's done to you?

  Kate : Because I love him! And I'm afraid that if he doesn't come back that I'll... it'll hurt so much that I'll just shrivel up and I'll never be able to love anyone ever again.

  Luc : You say that now, but... after a time, you would forget. First, you would forget his chin, and then his nose, and after a while, you would struggle to remember the exact color of his eyes, and one day you wake up and, pfft, he's gone: his voice, his smell, his face. He will have left you. And then you can begin again.

• Kate : I've spent most of my adult life trying to protect myself from exactly this situation. And you can't do it ! There's no home safe enough, there's no country nice enough, there's no relationship secure enough; you're just setting yourself up for an even bigger fall and having an incredibly boring time in the process.

• Kate : Fester, fester, fester. Rot, rot, rot.

• Kate : Did you know that there are 452 official government cheeses in this country? Don't you think that's incredible? To come up with 452 ways of classifying what is basically a bacterial process?

  Luc : You would prefer one cheese? One cheeseburger to put it on and one restaurant to eat it in?

  Kate : I'm saying I *like* the cheese. God! What side of the train did you wake up on?

• Kate : [about Charlie]  We were happy. I've never been so happy.

  Luc : When people tell me they are happy, my ass begins to twitch.

• Kate : Happy - smile. Sad - frown. Use the corresponding face for the corresponding emotion.

• Kate : Spasm! Spasm! Oh, God, here it comes... lactose intolerance!

• Luc : Now we'll practice. I'll be Charlie.

  Kate : I'll be Kate.

• Kate : A healthy person is someone who expresses what they're feeling inside. Express, not repress.

  Luc : In that case, you must be one of the healthiest people in the world.

• Kate : Of course you know him. All you bastards know each other.

• Kate : You know what, Charlie? No matter what I might seem like tonight, it's still the same old me from yesterday you'll wind up with tomorrow. The same old me, who wants the home and the family, who wants to plant some roots and see them grow.

  Charlie : You want to be a farmer?

  [beat] 

  Charlie : Sorry.

  Kate : There's just one thing I don't want anymore.

  [Charlie nods, points at himself] 

  Kate : Sorry, Charlie.

• Luc : You know, I am feeling some very strange emotions right now. Guilt, remorse, my self-esteem is rock bottom. I am trying to think, what can I possibly do to say I'm sorry?

  Kate : Shut up! You haven't spent sixty seconds with me when you weren't after something, so what is it this time? Buy, sell, or trade?

  Luc : Oui, it is so true. I used you... a lot. You helped me to get my vine and I left you with nothing. So now, I ask myself what I can possibly do to make it up to you.

  [sees the police waiting for him] 

  Luc : And so now, I am here for you.

  [runs away] 

• Luc : Kate.

  Kate : [hopefully]  Yes?

  Luc : You are not afraid to fly any more? You are thinking of your little stone cottage?

  Kate : It's on a hillside next to a beautiful vineyard. But that's not really what I'm thinking about.

  Luc : What are you thinking about?

  Kate : You.

• Luc : Meanwhile, his lover...

  Kate : Don't ever use that word again.

  Luc : This bastard woman, she's feeling something else, maybe?

  Kate : Once he saw me, myself, moi, everything would change, the spell would be broken.

• Kate : Those French. They hate us, they smoke, they have a whole relationship with dairy products I don't understand.

• Luc : [on Kate's fear of flying]  I'm curious how you got around your whole life, or do you just stay in your house with the doors locked?

  Kate : I get around as nature intended: in a car.

• Kate : No matter what I might seem like tonight, it's still the same old me from yesterday you wind up with tomorrow.

• Kate : Why weren't you the one, Charlie? The one who turned on this big shiny Kate-light that burns so bright?

• Kate : You lost your birthright in one hand of poker?

  Luc : I'm an asshole. What can I tell you?

• Luc : First, you must take some wine.

  [Kate sips from her glass] 

  Luc : Can you describe it, the taste?

  Kate : It's a nice, red wine.

  Luc : I think you can do better.

  Kate : A bold wine with a hint of sophistication and lacking in pretension.

  [beat] 

  Kate : Actually, I was just talking about myself. I...

  Luc : No, no, you are not wrong. Wine is like people. The vine takes all the influences in life all around it, it absorbs them, and it gets its personality. Here.

  [uncorks a small bottle] 

  Luc : Smell.

  Kate : Rosemary.

  [another bottle] 

  Kate : Some kind of mushroom?

  Luc : Very good.

  [pointing to other bottles] 

  Luc : Currant, cassis, mint, lavender. They are all in the ground here, and in the air. Now, taste the wine again. Close your eyes.

  Kate : [does so]  Hmm... the currant, I can taste that right away. And, uh, from the brown bottle... lavender?

  [Luc nods, smiling] 

  Kate : Incredible.

• Kate : Do you think you could urinate with someone standing behind you?

  Con-man : I think I could manage it. Are you going to be the someone?

• Charlie : I met this woman, this apparition, this goddesse.

  Kate : Goddesse?

  Charlie : It's French - for goddess.

• Kate : Let me ask you something. If you know so much about men and women, how come there was no one waiting for you at the airport?

  Luc : Oh, please! I'm finished with women.

  Kate : Oh, so you're afraid of commitment.

  Luc : I'm not afraid of anything.

  Kate : You know what your problem is? You have no staying power.

  Luc : What do you mean?

  Kate : You can't stick it out.

  Luc : [nervously]  What are you talking about?

  Kate : It's obvious.

  Luc : It is?

  Kate : You are afraid of commitment.

  Luc : [relieved]  Commitment! Oh, sorry. I thought you meant...

  Kate : What? What did you think I meant?

  Luc : Nothing.

  Kate : Oh...

  [crooks her finger] 

  Kate : *This* problem.

  Luc : It's not a problem!

• Kate : And we had plans together, okay? We had plans for a home and a family. I would remind him of that, too.

  Luc : He was obviously very attached to them.

  Kate : And if all else failed...

  Luc : You would get down on your knees and beg?

  Kate : It's possible.

  Luc : Oh ho! Now I can see it: There is the goddess, standing next to Charlie in her negligee, and you are there on your knees, begging. Poor Charlie - tough decision!

• Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon : [on Luc]  I need to ask him over a little matter of a necklace.

  Kate : [fakes a laugh]  Oh, the necklace. He didn't declare it at the airport, did he? Will he have to pay a big duty?

  [Jean-Paul looks at her impassively. Her smile fades, and she becomes serious] 

  Kate : Why don't you just arrest him?

  Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon : I'm old-fashioned. I owe him a debt greater than one of money.

• Luc : What do you think, the plane is going to crash and we are all on the ground in a thousand pieces dead? I promise you, if it happens, you won't feel a thing.

  Kate : You're French, aren't you?

• [looking at a photo of Charlie] 

  Luc : There is something in his eyes... vain. It is a word, no?

  Kate : It is a word. He has beautiful eyes.

  Luc : Oh, he knows it. You can see it in his smile... not even a smile, a smirk. It is a word?

  Kate : Shut up. Is it a word?

  Luc : Two words.

• Kate : Do you speak English?

  Concierge : Of course, Madam. This is the Georges V, not some backpacker's hovel.

• Luc : [looking at a photo of Charlie]  How did you meet?

  Kate : At a party. I'd just come to Toronto on a teaching exchange. We started talking. I had this feeling about him, same for him. It wasn't exactly a thunderclap or a lightning bolt, it was more like a...

  Luc : Light drizzle?

  Kate : [rolls her eyes]  You really, honestly never had that feeling about anybody in your whole entire life, honestly?

  Luc : If I did, I would not admit it. His chin looks a little weak, if you ask me.

  Kate : It doesn't, and I didn't, and why wouldn't you admit a feeling like that?

  Luc : Why should I? Look where it has got you.

  Kate : Maybe if you did, you wouldn't have that little problem we're not supposed to talk about.

  Luc : It's not a problem, it's just a temporary...

• Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon : I must come to Canada someday. You are a very sympathetic people.

  Kate : Well, actually, I'm not really a Canadian. In fact, I'm... currently without country.

• Kate : So you'd risk everything for this?

  Luc : Oui.

  Kate : Do anything to have it?

  Luc : Oui.

  Kate : Get down on your knees and beg?

  [pause] 

  Luc : [with feeling]  Oui.

  Kate : Then what makes you so different from me? Not much. Admit it.

  Luc : [laughs]  Okay, I admit it.

• Kate : Hi there. C'est moi.

  Concierge : [coolly]  Welcome back, Madame, to the Georges V.

  Kate : Huh... it's incredible how you do that. The words come out - "Welcome back" - but the meaning is completely different. What's the deal, is that a French thing or a concierge thing?

  Concierge : As Madame wishes.

  Kate : You did it again. Tell me something, because I just... I don't get it. Do you enjoy being that rude? Because when you do that, it just gets underneath my skin, and it makes me... completely... INSANE!

• Kate : [describing her first sexual encounter]  I didn't rush, you were right. But I didn't hide from it, either. I wanted everything to be perfect. I was 18. Jeff the Jock, my basement, Valentine's Day, "Jeopardy!" on in the background. It's a game show on TV.

  Luc : Oui, "Le Jeopardie". We have it.

  Kate : Jeff said it would last longer with the show on to distract him. Got all the answers wrong except for sports. By Double Jeopardy!, he was done; by Final Jeopardy!, he was on his way home.

• Kate : What about my suitcase, my clothes? Ask him about my vitamins.

  Luc : [in French]  Her clothes?

  Bob : [in French]  I gave them to Monique.

  Luc : [in French]  Monique?

  Kate : What? What did he say?

  Luc : He... he threw them away.

• Kate : [to Luc]  Donnez-moi un break, you can't make a vineyard out of one vine.

• Luc : You were how old when you lost it?

  Kate : It? What "it"?

  Luc : You know, *it*. Your, uh, flower.

  Kate : My flow... oh!

  [indignant] 

  Kate : My flower is none of your business!

  Luc : I ask you because some people, they rush towards that fateful moment, their bodies bursting to discover. Others, they guard it like some precious gift.

  Kate : And you, I suppose, rushed.

  Luc : Like a bull.

  Kate : Yeah, I have a picture in my mind. It's very clear.

• Kate : I don't know what they taught you in France, but rude and interesting are not the same things.

• Kate : Didn't your mother ever teach you about staring?

• Kate : I mean the kind of love between one man and one woman.

  Luc : It is not a very interesting question. It is a question of a little girl who still believes in fairy tales.

• Luc : We can help each other.

  Kate : I don't need your help.

• Kate : Do what you want, it's a free country... isn't it?

  Luc : Uh, oui.

• Kate : I had this feeling about him, same for him. It wasn't exactly a thunderclap, or a lightning-bolt, it was more like a...

  Luc : Light drizzle?

• Kate : What about you? The old bull back in business?

  Luc : Pht, ole.

• Concierge : Thank you, Madame, for that fascinating lesson in our cultural differences. I'm sure it would not betray my duty as concierge to inform you that your fiance and his "friend" are no longer our guests.

  Kate : Well, whose guests would they be now?

  [the Concierge hesitates. Kate raises her hand over the bell, and the Concierge snatches it off the desk, becoming all politeness and helpfulness] 

  Concierge : The Carleton Hotel will have that privilege when they arrive in Cannes this evening. If Madam wishes to catch the last train out of Paris, it will be departing from the station in one hour. I could arrange for a taxi very quickly, Madame.

  Kate : [sweetly]  Yes, thank you.

• [Kate has just awakened from a faint] 

  Kate : Hey... you said you'd give me ride. You said... wait a minute, where are we?

  Luc : In your hotel. Come, I take you to your room.

  Kate : I don't have a room. Someone has taken my room... someone in four-inch heels and a red dress.

• Luc : Okay, so I try to understand. He tells you he has met this women... no, no, this goddess. He breaks your heart, he...

  Kate : Hurts me. Humbles me.

  Luc : Humiliates you.

  Kate : Humiliates me!

  Luc : Okay, and then, so you come here to Paris so that he can do it again, but this time, right in your face.

• Charlie : What does he do?

  Kate : Besides what we do together? I don't think he does anything at all... huh.