The Fire Within (1963)

Bernard Noël: Dubourg

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dubourg : How are you now?

  Alain Leroy : Feeling empty. With some atrocious moments.

• Dubourg : I'm older. The hopes are gone, but I have certainties now.

• Alain Leroy : Do you like Françoise Hardy? Who then?

  Faveur, Dubourg's daughter : Sylvie Vartan.

  Dubourg : Who's that?

  Alain Leroy : A teen idol. You forgot population growth, old man.

  Dubourg : Young people today are hopeless. Good-looking, elegant, well-fed. They're all alike, like California oranges.

  Alain Leroy : But you know nothing about them.

• Dubourg : The cure was rough, especially after New York.

  Alain Leroy : It has nothing to do with New York.

  Dubourg : Yes it does. It's no place for us. It's like a crazy whirlpool.

  Alain Leroy : I love New York.

  Fanny : Fascinating, but hard to live in. It's intoxicating. People disappear into the city like drug addicts.

  Alain Leroy : I felt good there. It wasn't home. I always felt like a visitor.

  Fanny : And Paris?

  Alain Leroy : Pretty much the same, but I prefer New York. People leave you alone.

• Alain Leroy : It's all over for me. I'm leaving. Don't you understand?

  Dubourg : Life still has things to offer. You must have a sense of your life. That sense can't perish. I hate things that stay locked up. A man's got to show what he's made of. Doing something well is wonderful.

  Alain Leroy : I never knew what that meant. I've only run after money, like everybody else.

• Dubourg : Funny lives we lead, clinging to women.

  Alain Leroy : You don't seem to cling to Fanny.

  Dubourg : I wallow in her warmth like a pig in a trough.

• Alain Leroy : Dubourg, what will you do tonight?

  Dubourg : Tonight, I'll write a few pages on my Egyptians, then make love to Fanny. I fall into her silence as into a well. At the bottom is a great sun that warms the earth.

• Dubourg : Let that mediocrity be enough. You'll recover some of your verve. You're spineless and weak... and lazy. Certainties frighten you. You defend the shadows, since the sun hurts your eyes.

  Alain Leroy : Are you my friend? If you are my friend, take me as I am. Not otherwise. Let me look at you. I wanted you to help me die... that's all.