The Ruling Class (1972)

Coral Browne: Lady Claire Gurney

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lady Claire Gurney : How do you know you're God?

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Simple. When I pray to Him, I find I am talking to myself.

• Dr. Herder : Naturally, men aren't rats.

  Lady Claire Gurney : Only a man would say so.

• Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Join me for a constitutional before lunch, Mr. Tucker.

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : [to others] 

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Enjoy yourselves while I'm gone. Relax. Have sex.

  Lady Claire Gurney : [shocked]  My... GOD!

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : [peeping in as if he had been called back]  Yes?

• Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Surely you pray for love and understanding?

  Lady Claire Gurney : Every night...

  Lady Claire Gurney : [glancing pointedly at her husband]  ... without success.

• Lady Claire Gurney : How dare you bring that woman here!

  Sir Charles : You should be very grateful to Miss Shelley.

  Lady Claire Gurney : Grace Shelley is your mistress.

  Sir Charles : Miss Shelley is just a hard working girl.

  Lady Claire Gurney : On her back!

• Lady Claire Gurney : How did it happen? How did you come to be in this state?

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Like every prophet I saw visions, I heard voices, I ran. The voices of Saint Frances, Socrates, General Gordon, and Timothy Leary, they all told me I was God. It was Sunday, August the 5th, at 3:32.

• Lady Claire Gurney : My husband's an idiot.

  Dr. Herder : That's not my concern.

• Lady Claire Gurney : That's very clever, but ah is it true?

  Dr. Herder : Don't come to me for the truth only explanation.

• Lady Claire Gurney : Why does he keep on about love?

  Dr. Herder : Because he wants us all to love goodness. To love goodness is to love God. To love God is to love the 14th Earl of Gurney.

• Sir Charles : Where'd they go?

  Lady Claire Gurney : To bed, of course.

  Dinsdale Gurney : I must say, I wouldn't like to be in her shoes tonight.

  Tucker : It's not her shoes he'll be in, Master Dinsdale.

• Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : I can't marry a second time.

  Lady Claire Gurney : You're already married?

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : August 28, in the year of me, 1964.

• Sir Charles : Claire! I said, Ralph is back.

  Lady Claire Gurney : Thank you, Charles. I'll have a vodka and tonic.

  Dinsdale Gurney : I say, guv'nor, the guv'nor is back. Mummy, I was just telling the guv'nor that the guv'nor is back.

  Lady Claire Gurney : Charles! With ice.

  Dinsdale Gurney : I'm repeating myself, calling the guv'nor the guv'nor and Daddy the guv'nor as well.

• Lady Claire Gurney : How did you come to be in this state of grace?

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Like every prophet, I saw visions, heard voices, I ran. The voices of St. Francis, Socrates, General Gordon and Timothy O'Leary - all told me I was God.

• Lady Claire Gurney : What does it feel like to be God?

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Like a river flowing everywhere. I pick up a newspaper, and I'm everywhere - conducting a summit conference, dying of hunger in a Peruvian gutter, accepting the Nobel Prize for literature, raping a nun in Sumatra. Under this protective outer shell - I'm God-filled.

• Lady Claire Gurney : What should we call you then?

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Any of the nine billion names of God. Your Lordship will do, or J.C., Eric, Bert, Barney Entwistle. I know exactly who I am.

• Lady Claire Gurney : You heard what he said, Charles.

  Sir Charles : I did. Destroying property. All men are equal. Do you know what this means, Claire? He's not only mad, he's Bolshie!

• Dinsdale Gurney : I say, where is the guv'nor? Ah, is that tea, Tucker? Just the job.

  Lady Claire Gurney : He's in town, trying to find a way around this mess.

  Dinsdale Gurney : When's he back?

  Lady Claire Gurney : Oh, any time now, if he doesn't drop in on his mistress first.

• Lady Claire Gurney : Doctor, how are my questions revealing?

  Dr. Herder : The first one you asked me was about love.

• Lady Claire Gurney : All right, if you're God, reveal your godhead.

  [14th Earl unzips his trousers and walks towards Lady Claire] 

• Lady Claire Gurney : Dr. Herder is furious.

  Sir Charles : Furious? He's got no right to be furious. He's not family.

  Lady Claire Gurney : He could make things difficult by having Jack declared insane before he's produced an heir.

  Sir Charles : Damned Kraut. You'll have to keep your eye on him, my dear. I'm gonna have me hands full getting Grace married and pregnant.

• Lady Claire Gurney : If I press a button, you'll feel fear? Love?

  Dr. Herder : Love? No. Desire. Yes.

  Lady Claire Gurney : What, by pressing a little button?

• Grace : Look, this is my pad now, remember? If you want to keep kibitzing here, just belt up on the snide remarks or you'll find yourself horizontal.

  Lady Claire Gurney : A position you're clearly familiar with.

• Lady Claire Gurney : You haven't much time. Lady Grace isn't the type to survive the rabbit test for long.

• Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : When I r-r-r-r-relax. Overall impression of superiority and volatile - Farts! Whoredoms! Bloody network! Hold, sir. Hold, hold, hold.

  Lady Claire Gurney : How do you feel, Jack?

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Lazarus felt like I feel. Odor of dung. Liquid, straight, unstable. Back, sir. Back, back, back. Be patient. I'll learn the rules of the game.

• Dr. Herder : Yes. He's made a spectacular breakthrough. We're in the process of making a new man.

  Lady Claire Gurney : I'm always on the lookout for new men.

• Lady Claire Gurney : Before, I was only sorry for you.

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Oh, before, madam. Before, I was a mass of light. Mad, you see. Now I am sane. The world sweats into my brain, madam.

• Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : It's hard to look at people from downwind. They stink. It's terrible, but it's the real thing.

  Lady Claire Gurney : I've always wanted to find the real thing.

• Lady Claire Gurney : I'm trembling - like I used to tremble at shadows when I was a child.

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : I am no shadow. I'm flesh and blood. Touch.

  Lady Claire Gurney : Perhaps I'm not really dead, only sleeping. Wake me - with a kiss.

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Are you accosting me?

  Lady Claire Gurney : That's right, ducks. 'Ow's about it?

• Lady Claire Gurney : Are you pleased this has happened?

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : We were destined to meet.

  Lady Claire Gurney : That sounds romantic. More. Please.

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Orgasm, copulation. fornication, gangrened shoulder of sex. Tear, spill the seed, gut-slime.

• Lady Claire Gurney : Say something soft and tender.

  Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney : Calves, tender tongues, earlobes, hearts, tits, nipples. Lover. The sword of the lord is filled with blood.