Portrait of a Lady on Fire Quotes

  • Marianne: I didn't know you were an art critic.

    Héloïse: I didn't know you were a painter.

  • Héloïse: I've dreamt of that for years.

    Marianne: Dying?

    Héloïse: Running.

  • Héloïse: When you're observing me, who do you think I'm observing?

  • Marianne: Your mother will let you go out alone tomorrow. You'll be free.

    Héloïse: Being free is being alone?

    Marianne: You don't think so?

    Héloïse: I'll tell you tomorrow.

  • Héloïse: In solitude, I felt the liberty you spoke of. But I also felt your absence.

  • Marianne: You're saying nothing?

    Héloïse: Is that me?

    Marianne: Yes.

    Héloïse: Is that how you see me?

    Marianne: It's not only me.

    Héloïse: What do you mean, not only you?

    Marianne: There are rules, conventions, ideas.

    Héloïse: You mean there's no life? No presence?

    Marianne: Your presence is made up of fleeting moments that may lack truth.

    Héloïse: Not everything is fleeting. Some feelings are deep. The fact it isn't close to me, that I can understand. But I find it sad it isn't close to you.

    Marianne: How do you know it isn't close to me? I didn't know you were an art critic.

    Héloïse: I didn't know you were a painter.

  • Marianne: I can't make you smile. I feel I do it and then it vanishes.

    Héloïse: Anger always comes to the fore.

    Marianne: Definitely with you. I didn't mean to hurt you.

    Héloïse: You haven't hurt me.

    Marianne: I have, I can tell. When you're moved, you do this with your hand.

    Héloïse: Really?

    Marianne: Yes. And when you're embarrassed, you bite your lips. And when you're annoyed, you don't blink.

    Héloïse: You know it all.

    Marianne: Forgive me, I'd hate to be in your place.

    Héloïse: We're in the same place. Exactly the same place. Come here. Come. Step closer. Look. If you look at me, who do I look at? When you don't know what to say, you touch your forehead. When you lose control, you raise your eyebrows. And when you're troubled, you breathe through your mouth.

  • Marianne: I thought you had been scared off.

    Héloïse: You were right. I am scared. Do all lovers feel they're inventing something? I know the gestures. I imagined it all, waiting for you.

    Marianne: You dreamt of me?

    Héloïse: No. I thought of you.

  • Héloïse: This time, I like it.

    Marianne: Perhaps because I know you better.

    Héloïse: Perhaps I've changed.

    Marianne: Perhaps.

    Héloïse: You didn't destroy the last one for me. You did it for you.

    Marianne: I'd like to destroy this one too.

    Héloïse: Why?

    Marianne: Through it, I give you to another.

    Héloïse: It's terrible. Now you possess me a little, you bear me a grudge.

    Marianne: I don't.

    Héloïse: You do. You know you do. You're not on my side now. You blame me for what comes next. My marriage. You don't support me.

    Marianne: You're right.

    Héloïse: Go on. Say what burdens your heart. I believed you braver.

    Marianne: I believed you braver too.

    Héloïse: That's it then. You find me docile. Worse... You imagine I'm collusive. You imagine my pleasure.

    Marianne: It's a way of avoiding hope.

    Héloïse: Imagine me happy or unhappy if that reassures you. But do not imagine me guilty. You'd prefer me to resist.

    Marianne: Yes.

    Héloïse: Are you asking me to? Answer me.

    Marianne: No.

  • Héloïse: I feel something new.

    Marianne: What?

    Héloïse: Regret.

    Marianne: Don't regret. Remember. I'll remember when you fell asleep in the kitchen.

    Héloïse: I'll remember your dark look when I beat you at cards.

    Marianne: I'll remember the first time you laughed.

    Héloïse: You took your time being funny.

    Marianne: That's true. I wasted time.

    Héloïse: I wasted time too. I'll remember the first time I wanted to kiss you.

    Marianne: When was that?

    Héloïse: You didn't notice?

    Marianne: At the feast around the bonfire.

    Héloïse: I wanted to, yes. But that wasn't the first time.

    Marianne: Tell me.

    Héloïse: No, you tell me.

    Marianne: When you asked if I had known love. I could tell the answer was yes. And that it was now.

    Héloïse: I remember.

  • Héloïse: It's a life that has advantages. There's a library. You can sing or hear music. And equality is a pleasant feeling.

  • La Comtesse: He never saw her face.

    Marianne: Why won't she be painted?

    La Comtesse: She refuses this marriage.

  • Sophie: We were walking by the cliffs. She was behind me and vanished. I saw her broken body below.

    Marianne: Did you see her fall?

    Sophie: No. I think she jumped.

    Marianne: Why do you think that?

    Sophie: She didn't cry out.

  • La Comtesse: You've made me laugh. It's ages since that happened.

    Marianne: I didn't do anything.

    La Comtesse: You're here. It takes two to be funny.

  • Marianne: You'll hear the rest. Milan is a city of music.

    Héloïse: Then I can't wait for Milan.

    Marianne: I'm saying there will be good things.

    Héloïse: You're saying that, now and then, I'll be consoled.

  • Héloïse: What do you tell your models to amuse them?

    Marianne: Are you bored?

    Héloïse: No. I'm interested in you.

    Marianne: Your complexion is remarkable today. You're very elegant. You pose beautifully. You're pretty. That's what I tell them.

  • Héloïse: They were nearing the surface, approaching the threshold, when, fearing losing Eurydice and impatient to see her, her loving spouse turned.

    Sophie: No, he can't look at her for fear of losing her. That's no reason. He was told not to do that.

    Héloïse: He's madly in love. He can't resist.

    Marianne: I think Sophie has a point. He could resist. His reasons aren't serious. Perhaps he makes a choice.

    Sophie: What choice?

    Marianne: He chooses the memory of her. That's why he turns. He doesn't make the lover's choice, but the poet's.

    Héloïse: She spoke a last farewell that scarcely reached his ears and fell back into the abyss. Perhaps she was the one who said, Turn around.

  • Héloïse: Turn around.