Love in the Afternoon (1957)

Maurice Chevalier: Claude Chavasse

Quotes 

• Ariane Chavasse : Working on a new case?

  Claude Chavasse : A client from Brussels. His wife ran away to Paris with the chauffeur. I have to find them; the husband wants his car back.

• Claude Chavasse : This is a great honor. Come right in, Mr. Flannagan.

  Frank Flannagan : You know me?

  Claude Chavasse : Do I know you? Does an art student know Picasso?

• Ariane Chavasse : I always tell you what I'm doing, but you never tell me what you're doing.

  Claude Chavasse : Because I love you and want to protect you from the sordid stuff I must deal with.

  Ariane Chavasse : I bet when Mama was alive you told her what you were doing.

  Claude Chavasse : Your Mama was a married woman.

  Ariane Chavasse : I'm so glad!

• Monsieur X : Please, monsieur, is the news good or bad?

  Claude Chavasse : That depends. Is this your wife?

  [Hands over a photograph] 

  Monsieur X : It looks like her.

  Claude Chavasse : Then I regret to inform you that it looks bad.

  Monsieur X : Then there IS another man!

  Claude Chavasse : There is. And I regret to say that he looks good.

• Ariane Chavasse : Papa, you are a cynic!

  Claude Chavasse : I guess I am.

  Ariane Chavasse : You enjoy your work!

  Claude Chavasse : I guess I do.

  Ariane Chavasse : You'd enjoyed it even if you weren't paid for it!

  Claude Chavasse : I wouldn't go that far.

• [first lines] 

  Claude Chavasse : [voiceover]  This is the city - Paris, France. It is just like any other big city - London, New York, Tokyo - except for two little things. In Paris, people eat better. And in Paris, people make love - well, perhaps not better, but certainly more often. They do it any time, any place. On the left bank, on the right bank, and in between! They do it by day, and they do it by night. The butcher, the baker, and the friendly undertaker. They do it in motion, they do it sitting absolutely still. Poodles do it. Tourists do it. Generals do it. Once in a while even existentialists do it. There is young love, and old love. Married love, and illicit love. That is where I come in. My name is Claude Chavasse. I am what you would call a private eye.

• Claude Chavasse : Will Michel bring you home?

  Ariane Chavasse : I suppose so.

  Claude Chavasse : He's a nice boy, Michel.

  Ariane Chavasse : You keep saying that.

  Claude Chavasse : He comes from a very respectable family. Father and two uncles work for the government, mother plays the harp, grandfather was a missionary in French Equatorial Africa, and there hasn't been a scandal in the family since 1822.

  Ariane Chavasse : [taken aback]  Papa! You investigated Michel?

  Claude Chavasse : Yes, I have. I think I owe it to my only daughter.

  Ariane Chavasse : You're spoiling me.

  Claude Chavasse : If I were an Indian potentate I'd shower you with diamonds. If I were a cobbler, I'd sole your shoes, but... since I'm only a detective, all I can offer you is a detailed dossier.

  Ariane Chavasse : Papa, I love you very much.

  Claude Chavasse : I love you more.

• [last lines] 

  Claude Chavasse : [voiceover]  On Monday, August 24th of this year, the case of Frank Flannagan and Ariane Chavasse came up before the superior judge in Cannes. They are now married, serving a life sentence in New York, state of New York, USA.

• Claude Chavasse : You know in my profession it's like being a doctor. I have to be on call night and day. A doctor good can never rest - not until the patient is out of bed.

• Claude Chavasse : You do realize that this is cold-blooded murder.

  Monsieur X : I do.

  Claude Chavasse : And that you might spend years in jail?

  Monsieur X : I may.

  Claude Chavasse : Is there nothing I can say to dissuade you from this foolhardy scheme?

  Monsieur X : Nothing whatsoever.

  Claude Chavasse : In that case, Monsieur, you leave me no choice. I must insist on being paid as of right now.

  Monsieur X : Oh, how much?

  Claude Chavasse : 60,000 francs... It should really be more because with Mr. Flannagan removed, there will be a sharp drop in my business.