Life and Nothing But (1989)

Sabine Azéma: Irène de Courtil

Photos 

Quotes 

• Alice : Will you go to Mass?

  Irène de Courtil : Why?

  Alice : Just because.

  Irène de Courtil : I don't think so, no.

  Alice : You're against it? You're against God?

  Irène de Courtil : I should be. All humans should be.

  Alice : You're right. Especially women. Only we don't dare.

• [Irene de Courtil reacts to an explosion] 

  Irène de Courtil : It's as if the war was still on.

  Major Dellaplane : You saw the war from afar. War is worse, so much worse. Acres and acres covered with rotting cadavers, no trees, fly-covered heads sticking out of waterholes... It stinks. Swarming with rats...

  Irène de Courtil : Shut up!

  Major Dellaplane : We do nothing but shut up! Who'd listen to us anyway? Who'd print it? The newspapers want only lies and official idiocy. "The war's devastating allure only appears to be destructive." I read that. Signed: General Cherfils. One million five hundred thousand deaths only appear to be dead. Bastards! Bastards!

• Irène de Courtil : Do you want me? As I really am?

  Major Dellaplane : But listen! Really! You say such things. You hardly know me.

  Irène de Courtil : I don't mean a business partnership.

• [Irène de Courtil bursts in on Major Dellaplane unannounced] 

  Major Dellaplane : Can't you knock?

  Irène de Courtil : I did. On ten doors, monsieur. Major Dellaplane Knock on eleven. Knock till somebody answers.

• [Irene de Courtil is complaining that Major Dellaplane is not doing enough to locate her missing husband] 

  Irène de Courtil : So you've decided to be an obstacle.

  Major Dellaplane : No, madame. I don't have time to explain, but no, I'm not an obstacle. Except that there are 350,000 missing soldiers--349,771, to be exact. So tell the patriarch of Shukert and De Courtil that a 350-thousandth of my "staggering incompetence" is devoted to his personal case. A 350-thousandth of my time, but that's all.

• Irène de Courtil : You dared tell her?

  Major Dellaplane : Yes.

  Irène de Courtil : Why such brutality?

  Major Dellaplane : To help her.

  Irène de Courtil : By torturing her?

  Major Dellaplane : By stunning her. You have to strike once, so hard it's like a nightmare. Later you wake up and life seems gentler.