- Marion Steiner: It takes two to love, as it takes two to hate. And I will keep loving you, in spite of yourself. My heart beats faster when I think of you. Nothing else matters.
- Daxiat: This may sound strange coming from me, but I think your husband, Lucas Steiner, was wrong to leave France. The new anti-Israelite theater laws apply to spectators and profiteers. But your husband, Mme. Steiner, was a gem. He was the only Israelite theater director...
- Marion Steiner: You may say 'Jewish'.
- Daxiat: Yes. He was the only one to be a leader, stage director and an artist. You see, the Germans are deeply attached to culture. They don't want talented artists to leave France.
- Nadine Marsac: You read palms?
- Bernard Granger: Oh-la-la-la-la.
- Nadine Marsac: Go ahead. What do you see?
- Bernard Granger: I see...
- Nadine Marsac: Yes?
- Bernard Granger: I see that there are two women in you.
- Nadine Marsac: That's true!
- Raymond Boursier: [Yelling at Nadine as she gets out of a Nazi jeep] Not only are you late, you showed up with the Jerries. Jean-Loup will be pissed.
- Nadine Marsac: What do you want? I was at a dubbing session. We worked late. They offered me a ride.
- Raymond Boursier: Nothing stops you, If they had offered you a part in 'Jew Süss' you'd have taken it.
- Nadine Marsac: And how! But they didn't have a role for a French girl.
- Bernard Granger: I want to get something straight. I was thrilled to play here, in a real theater, in a real play, but if I must take my pants off to prove I'm not a Jew, thanks, but no thanks. Besides, I refuse to take the part of another actor.
- Narrator: In the occupied zones, the curfew is imposed at 11:00 p.m. and for the Parisians it is terribly important not to miss the last metro.
- Bernard Granger: [Arlette kisses Raymond goodbye] Do I get a kiss too?
- Arlette Guillaume: You get a handshake.
- Bernard Granger: If you insist. Please, allow me. I'll read your palm. There are two women in you.
- Arlette Guillaume: Sorry, neither one wants to sleep with you.
- Bernard Granger: [during the stage play] You are beautiful, Helena. So beautiful it hurts to look at you.
- Marion Steiner: Yesterday, you said it was a joy.
- Bernard Granger: It is a joy, but it hurts.
- Bernard Granger: I've been here before in the audience. I saw Madame Steiner in "The Cherry Orchard" by Chekhov.
- Bernard Granger: I'm alone, so I thought we might have a drink and talk.
- Arlette Guillaume: Listen, I'm not thirsty and I have nothing to say. Let me go.
- Bernard Granger: You've got me all wrong. Do you think I do this every day? No.
- Arlette Guillaume: No, only every other day.
- Bernard Granger: Do you know what it's like to be attracted to someone? Please believe me. I haven't picked up a strange woman in four years.
- Arlette Guillaume: I should feel honored.
- Nadine Marsac: I couldn't find it at the theater bookshop.
- Jean-Loup Cottins: I'm not surprised. It's never been published.
- Nadine Marsac: I've never heard of it.
- Jean-Loup Cottins: It's a Norwegian play by a Norwegian playwright, Karen Bergen. You don't get more Norwegian than that!
- Jean-Loup Cottins: This is Arlette Guillaume, our set and costume designer. Bernard Granger. He'll play Carl. You must have seen him on stage.
- Arlette Guillaume: I don't think so. Wait. Yes, now I recall it.
- Jean-Loup Cottins: At the Grand Guignol?
- Arlette Guillaume: No, it was in something more ordinary. He played a man cruising the streets.
- Bernard Granger: You can't judge me by that part. I was improvising.
- Arlette Guillaume: Yet, I could have sworn you knew this role by heart.
- Lucas Steiner: [walking up a spiral staircase behind Marion] Do you think I let you go first to be polite? Well, you're wrong! I wanted to look at your legs.
- [Marion laughs]
- Lucas Steiner: From the cellar, I follow everything that goes on. When the lights are dimmed in the morning, I know it's rehearsal time. When they go on again, it's lunchtime. When all the lights go out at night, I tell myself, "In five minutes, Marion will be here."
- Marion Steiner: He liked the Grand Guignol. But he's very happy to be with us. He's a little like Jean Gabin in "La Bête Humaine." Very physical and yet quite gentle.
- Bernard Granger: [being tape measured for his stage costume] I can't stand to have a man touch me, Arlette. Could you take his place?
- Arlette Guillaume: And what about me? What if I can't stand touching a man?
- Marion Steiner: I'm simply exhausted.
- Lucas Steiner: So make yourself comfortable.
- Marion Steiner: No, I want to sleep at home, at the hotel. I'll go home.
- Lucas Steiner: So you're deserting the conjugal cave?
- Daxiat: I am a paradox. I adore the theater. I live for it, and yet, I'm hated by most theater people.
- Lucas Steiner: Do you remember, Marion? Remember?
- Marion Steiner: Remember what?
- Lucas Steiner: The elevator in that department store.
- Marion Steiner: Yes, I remember. I had the feeling everybody knew what we were doing. I was terrified.
- Lucas Steiner: You were only terrified?
- Marion Steiner: No, not only terrified.
- Bernard Granger: Tell me, Arlette. Would you help me rehearse my lines in my dressing room?
- Arlette Guillaume: The kind of help you're looking for is not hard to find. You should try a brothel, I think.
- Jacquôt: There are the Boches.
- Raymond Boursier: Yes.
- Jacquôt: The Heinies.
- Raymond Boursier: Yes.
- Jacquôt: The Krauts, the Jerries. I don't remember the other one.
- Raymond Boursier: You forgot the Beetles.
- Jacquôt: That's right, the Beetles.
- Martine, the thief: Ask for Yolanda at the Lafayette department store. Tell her I sent you. She can get you "Gone With The Wind" for 80 francs.
- Germaine Fabre: I would never spend that much on a book, even on the black market. But, if Marion wants it...
- Martine, the thief: Yes, she said she wanted to read it.
- Germaine Fabre: Then, I'll go get it.
- Bernard Granger: Boy! I really was on the wrong track with her.
- Jean-Loup Cottins: That's for sure. She's not for you. She's actually more like competition. You liked her that much?
- Bernard Granger: I just wanted to sleep with her. I don't know what it is. It was like craving a hot croissant.
- Raymond Boursier: I took her to a movie once and once to a restaurant. That's all. I swear. I don't know her address. I've never been to her place and she never came to mine. But since she was pretty, I don't mind that everybody thought I was sleeping with her.
- Raymond Boursier: You all right? As the boss used to say, the theater is like a bathroom and cemetery - when you got to go, you got to go.