The Lion in Winter (1968)

Katharine Hepburn: Eleanor of Aquitaine

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Quotes 

• John : A knife! He's got a knife!

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians! How clear we make it. Oh, my piglets, we are the origins of war: not history's forces, nor the times, nor justice, nor the lack of it, nor causes, nor religions, nor ideas, nor kinds of government, nor any other thing. We are the killers. We breed wars. We carry it like syphilis inside. Dead bodies rot in field and stream because the living ones are rotten. For the love of God, can't we love one another just a little - that's how peace begins. We have so much to love each other for. We have such possibilities, my children. We could change the world.

• Henry II : I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : I adored you. I still do.

  Henry II : Of all the lies you've told, that is the most terrible.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : I know. That's why I've saved it up until now.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Love, in a world where carpenters get resurrected, anything is possible.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : I even made poor Louis take me on Crusade. How's that for blasphemy. I dressed my maids as Amazons and rode bare-breasted halfway to Damascus. Louis had a seizure and I damn near died of windburn... but the troops were dazzled.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : And when you die, which is regrettable but necessary, what will happen to frail Alais and her pruny prince? You can't think Richard's going to wait for your grotesque to grow.

  Henry II : You wouldn't let him do a thing like that.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Let him? I'd push him through the nursery door.

  Henry II : You're not that cruel.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Don't fret. We'll wait until you're dead to do it.

  Henry II : Eleanor, what do you want?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Just what you want, a king for a son. You can make more, I can't. You think I want to disappear? One son is all I've got, and you can blot him out and call me cruel? For these ten years you've lived with everything I've lost, and loved another woman through it all, and I am cruel? I could peel you like a pear and God himself would call it justice!

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : What family doesn't have its ups and downs?

• Henry II : Well, I'm off.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : To Rome?

  Henry II : That's where they keep the Pope!

• [last lines] 

  Henry II : [yelling to Eleanor as she sails away back to her prison]  I hope we never die.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : So do I.

  Henry II : Do you think there's any chance of it?

  [Henry laughs hysterically while Eleanor graciously waves goodbye to him] 

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : [to her jewelry]  I'd hang you from the nipples, but you'd shock the children.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : What would you have me do? Give out? Give up? Give in?

  Henry II : Give me a little peace.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : A little? Why so modest? How about eternal peace? Now there's a thought.

  Henry II : If you oppose me, I'll strike you any way I can.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Henry?

  Henry II : Hmmm?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : I have a confession.

  Henry II : Yes?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : I don't much like our children!

• Henry II : How was your crossing? Did the Channel part for you?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : It went flat when I told it to. I didn't think to ask for more.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Henry was eighteen when we met, and I was Queen of France. He came down from the North to Paris with a mind like Aristotle's and a form like mortal sin. We shattered the Commandments on the spot.

• Henry II : What is this? I'm not mouldering. My paint's not peeling off. I'm good for years.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : How many years? Suppose I hold you back for one. I can. It's possible. Suppose your first son dies, ours did. It's possible. Suppose you're daughtered next, we were. That too is possible. How old is daddy then? What kind of spindly, ricket-ridden, milky, wizened, dim-eyed, gammy-handed, limpy line of things will you beget?

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : [after Henry tells Eleanor he wants their marriage annulled]  Out Eleanor... in Alais. Why?

  Henry II : A new wife, wife, will bear me sons.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : That is the single thing of which I would have thought you had enough.

• Henry II : The day those stout hearts band together is the day that pigs get wings.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : There'll be pork in the treetops come morning.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Henry.

  Henry II : Madam.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Did you ever love me?

  Henry II : No.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Good. That will make this pleasanter.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Henry's bed is Henry's province. He can people it with sheep for all I care, which on occasion he has done.

  Henry II : Rosamund's been dead for seven years...

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : ...two months and eighteen days. I never liked her much.

  Henry II : You count the days?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : I made the numbers up.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : How dear of you to let me out of jail.

  Henry II : It's only for the holidays.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : I love you.

  Richard : You love nothing. You're incomplete. The human parts of you are missing. You're as dead as you are deadly.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : [to John]  Hush dear, mother's fighting.

• Henry II : We're in the cellar and you're going back to prison and my life is wasted and we've lost each other... and you're smiling.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : It's the way I register despair. There's everything in life but hope.

  Henry II : We're both alive... and for all I know that's what hope is.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : [to her husband, Henry II]  I wonder... do you ever wonder... if I slept with your father.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Oh Henry, we mangled every thing we touch.

  Henry II : Deny us what you will, we have done that. Do you remember when we met?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Down to the hour and color of your stockings.

  Henry II : I could hardly see you for the sunlight.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : It was raining, but no matter.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : We're jungle creatures, Henry, and the dark is all around us. See them? In the corners, you can see the eyes.

• Henry II : I have an offer for you, my dear.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : A deal? A deal? I give the richest province on the continent to John for what? You tell me, mastermind, for what?

  Henry II : Your freedom.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : [softly]  Oh.

  Henry II : Once Johnny gets the Aquitaine, you're free, I'll let you out. Think. On the loose in London, winters in Provence, impromptu trips to visit Richard anywhere he's killing people. All that for a signature.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : You don't dare go!

  Henry II : Say that again at noon, you'll say it to my horse's ass! Lamb, I'll be rid of you by Easter: you can count your reign in days!

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : [gazing into a mirror]  My, what a lovely girl. How could her king have left her?

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : And that's to be the king.

  Geoffrey : And I'm to be his Chancellor. Has he told you? John will rule the country, while I run it. That is to say he gets to spend the taxes that I raise.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : How nice for you.

  Geoffrey : It's not as nice as being king.

  Henry II : We've made you Duke of Brittany, is that so little?

  Geoffrey : No one ever thinks of crown and mentions Geoff, why is that?

  Henry II : Isn't being chancellor power enough?

  Geoffrey : It's not the power I feel deprived of; it's the mention I miss. There's no affection for me here; you wouldn't think I'd want that, would you?

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : If you're broken it's because you're brittle... I've lost you, and I can't ever have you back.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : I adored you.

  Henry II : Never!

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : I still do.

• John : I thought I'd come and gloat a little.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Mother's tired. Come stick pins tomorrow morning; I'll be more responsive.

  John : It's no fun goading anyone tonight.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : You look fit. War agrees with you. I keep informed; I follow all your slaughters from a distance. Do sit down.

  Richard : Is this an audience... a good night hug with kisses... or an ambush?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Let's hope it's a reunion.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : [to Alais]  You'll make a lovely bride, I wonder if I'll cry.

• John : [rushing in]  What's wrong? What's happened?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Richard's getting married.

  John : Getting married? Now? He's getting married *now*?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : I never cease to marvel at the quickness of your mind.

• Henry II : You've got your enigmatic face on. What's your mood, I wonder?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Pure delight. I'm locked up with my sons. What mother does not dream of that?

• Henry II : Geoffrey: there's a masterpiece. He isn't flesh: he's a device. He's wheels and gears. And Johnny: was his latest treason your idea? I've caught him lying, and I've said, "he's young." I've found him cheating, and I've said, "he's just a boy." I've watched him steal and whore and whip his servants, and he's not a child - he's the man we made him.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Don't share John with me. He's your accomplishment.

  Henry II : And Richard's yours. How could you send him off to deal with Philip?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : I was tired. I was busy. They were friends.

  Henry II : Eleanor, he was the best, and from the cradle on you cradled him. I never had a chance.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Well, that's the way deals are made. We've got him if we want him. He'll sell us all, you know... but only if he thinks we think he won't.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : You're not an assassin.

  Richard : Look again.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : [to Richard]  Love me, little lamb, or leave me.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Go on!

  [Henry has a knife to John's throat and freezes. A terrified Eleanor looks on but speaks...] 

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Execute him. They're assassins aren't they? This was treason, wasn't it? You gave them life, you take it.

  [Henry lets John go and throws down the knife] 

  Henry II : Who's to say this is monstrous. I'm the king, I call it just.

  [Henry draws his sword and brandishes it over his sons] 

  Henry II : And therefore, I, Henry, by the grace of God, king of the English, Lord of Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Count Anjou, Brittany, Poitou, Anjou and Normandy, Maine, Gascony and Aquitaine. Sentence you death, done this Christmas day in Chinon in God's year, 1183.

  [Henry raises the sword above and unflinching Richard. He brings it down, flat side strikes Richard's shoulder, leaving him unharmed. Drops the sword] 

  Henry II : Surely that's not what I intended. Children, children... we're all we have. Go on, I'm done. I'm finished with you. You and I are finished.

  [Geoffrey and John run out, Richard follows slowly] 

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : You spare the rod you'll spoil those boys.

  Henry II : I couldn't do it, Eleanor.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Nobody thought you could.

• Henry II : I want a son.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Whatever for? Why, we could populate a country town with country girls who've borne your sons. How many is it? Help me count the bastards.

• Alais : Henry isn't here.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Good, we can talk behind his back.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : You'll let me out for Easter?

  Henry II : Come the Resurrection, you can strike me down again.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : [to the King]  If you're broken it's because you're fragile.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Richard, don't look sullen, dear. It makes your eyes go small and piggy and your chin look weak.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : I wonder, Henry, if I care for anything. I wonder if I'm hungry out of habit.

  Henry II : I could listen to you lie for hours. So your lust is rusty. Gorgeous!

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : I've put more horns on you than Louis ever wore!

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : I want the Aquitaine for John.

• Henry II : Whatever are you giving me?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : You're such a child. You always ask.

  Henry II : "To Henry." Heavy. It's my tombstone! Eleanor, you spoil me.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : I never could deny you anything.

  Henry II : [to Alais]  Don't go. It nettles her to see how much I need you.

  Alais : You need me, Henry, like a tailor needs a tinker's dam. Oh, I know that look. He's going to say he loves me.

  Henry II : Like my life.

  Henry II : [after Alais leaves]  I talk that way to keep her spirits up.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : You're good. You're first class, Geoff. You'd sell John out to me, or me to John, or, you can tell me, have you found some way of selling everyone to everybody?

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Where's Henry?

  Richard : Upstairs with the family whore.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : That's a mean and tawdry way to talk about your fiancee.

  John : My fiancée.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Whosever fiancée.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : My, what a greedy little trinity you are: king, king, king. Two of you must learn to live with disappointment.

  Henry II : Ah, but which two?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Let's deny them all and live forever.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Must you look so stern? I sent for you to say I want your love again, but I can't say it to a face like that.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : If I had managed sons for him instead of all those little girls, I'd still be stuck with being Queen of France, and we should not have known each other. Such, my angels, is the role of sex in history.

• Henry II : What's your count? Let's have a tally of the bedspreads you've spread out on.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Thomas Beckett's.

• Richard : Don't play a scene with me.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : I wouldn't if I could. I'm simpler than I used to be. I had, at one time, many appetites. I wanted poetry and power and the young men who create them both. I even wanted Henry, too, in those days. Now I've only one desire left: to see you king.

  Richard : The only thing you want to see is Father's vitals on a bed of lettuce. You don't care who wins as long as Henry loses. You'd do anything. You are Medea to the teeth, only this is one son you won't use for vengeance against your husband.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : I never cease to marvel at the quickness of your mind.

  John : You can't hurt me, you bag of bile.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Henry, I'm against the wall. To be a prisoner, to be bricked in when you've known the world, I'll never know how I survived. These ten years, Henry, have been unimaginable. And now, you offer me the only thing I want, if I give up the only thing I treasure.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : What happens to me now?

  Henry II : That's lively curiosity from such a dead cat. If you want to know my plans, just ask me.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Conquer China, sack the Vatican, or take the veil. I'm not among the ones who give a damn.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Your sons are part of you.

  Henry II : Like warts and goiters, and I'm having them removed.

• Richard : You want him dead? You do it.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : You unnatural animal.

  Richard : Unnatural, Mummy? You tell me, what's nature's way? If poisoned mushrooms grow and babies come with crooked backs, if goiters thrive and dogs go mad and wives kill husbands, what's unnatural?

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : You look dreadful.

  Henry II : So do you.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : I want to die.

  Henry II : You will, you know, someday. Just wait long enough, and it'll happen.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : So it will.

• Henry II : Good God, woman, face the facts.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : Which ones? We have so many.

  Henry II : Power is the only fact.

• Richard : I've no dammed-up floods of passion for you. There's no chance I'll overflow.

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : You're a dull boy, dull as plainsong: la-la-la, forever on one note. I gave the Church up out of boredom. I can do as much for you.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Henry isn't through with John. He'll keep the Vexin till the moon goes blue from cold. And as for Richard's wedding day, we'll see the second coming first.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Well, that's how deals are made. We've got him if we want him. He'll sell us all, you know; but only if he thinks we think he won't. Why did I have to have such clever children?

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : We can't win, Richard. We've lost it this time.

  Richard : You think I'm finished, do you?

  Eleanor of Aquitaine : So I do. I've suffered more defeats than you have teeth. I know one when it happens to me. Take your wormwood like a good boy. Swallow it and go to bed.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Is that menace you're conveying? Is it to be torture? Will you boil me or stretch me? Which? Or am I to be perforated?

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : I'm like the earth, old man; there isn't any way around me.

• Eleanor of Aquitaine : Have I hurt you? We did it! You were in the next room when he did it!