- [last lines]
- Madame Odile Jouve: I suspect that Mathilde and Bernard won't be buried together. if I had to select an epitaph for them it would be, "Neither with you, nor without you.", but I doubt whether I'll be asked.
- Bernard: No more sex in the garden. No, no, no, no. No, no, no. It's for the best. My butt ends up on the grass and I always catch a cold. I hate that. No more!
- Arlette: That's our new neighbor?
- Bernard: Yes. He'll move in next week.
- Arlette: With his wife?
- Bernard: He might not be married.
- Arlette: I saw his ring.
- Bernard: Then we'll have two new neighbors. Which reminds me, we'll have to be careful. No more making love in the garden.
- Arlette: We just have to be quiet.
- Madame Odile Jouve: My prosthesis is quite a hit. A guy followed me for ages the other day. I crossed the street, changed directions, when he finally approached me. I couldn't get rid of him. He was a fetishist.
- Bernard: I'm not surprised. I saw a film like that. There's a woman who's afraid of being held in a man's arms. She couldn't stand it. Not at all. To please her, a guy cuts his arms off.
- Madame Odile Jouve: Both of them?
- Bernard: I guess. Or maybe one. Anyway, he did it for love.
- Bernard: Yes, I lied. Yes, I said I was at work. I don't usually lie, you know.
- Madame Odile Jouve: You were pretty convincing. I can blackmail you now! Come on. Buy my silence with a bourbon.
- Bernard: I like to take it slow. I need to get used to things. You know how it is: we invite them, then they invite us, and then...
- Madame Odile Jouve: A vicious cycle!
- Madame Odile Jouve: It was a long time ago. It'll be 20 years next year. It was during the Algerian putsch. I can tell you the truth now, 'cause I like you. I didn't fall. I threw myself out the window like a sack of linen.
- Bernard: You don't say. That takes courage.
- Madame Odile Jouve: Don't be silly. It wasn't brave, just desperate. Madly in love and desperate. He left for New Caledonia and dumped me. Like an idiot, I still hoped. Then I heard he'd gotten married. So, Geronimo!
- Bernard: What did he say when he found out?
- Madame Odile Jouve: I made sure he never did. It's much better that way.
- Bernard: Yes. That's true. Men don't like to hear things like that.
- Madame Odile Jouve: They're right. I'd say that my story was tragic, but not fatal. Like Edith Piaf, I don't regret a thing. Not one thing.
- Bernard: He's kind of laid-back, cool as a cucumber.
- Madame Odile Jouve: And her?
- Bernard: I don't know. She's kind of gloomy. One of those really complicated women, you know?
- Madame Odile Jouve: Never met one of those.
- Madame Odile Jouve: Such lovely hair! I can't resist touching it. Especially dark hair. There are too many blondes.
- Mathilde: At the club or in general?
- Madame Odile Jouve: Both. It's due to movies, TV. Especially advertising, it's a terrible influence.
- Roland: Mathilde is gorgeous. She doesn't look French, more Italian.
- Philippe: She's French, but from the south. As soon as I met her, I knew it was serious. I never set out to find my "ideal woman" or any woman at all. But when I met Mathilde, I realized she was like a promise. No. To be honest, what I really thought was: she is my last chance at happiness.
- Philippe: I love you as you are, Mathilde, but I don't understand you. I have never lied simply because it's too complicated. Now I find myself living with a liar, sleeping with a liar, making love with a liar. And I love a liar.
- Philippe: I'll ask Mrs. Jouve to find us an apartment. Perhaps in Grenoble. The woman is a godsend. Do you know what she did last month? One of her old flames who lives in New Caledonia came to see her in Grenoble. She went to Paris for three days to avoid him. She didn't want him to see how she'd aged.
- Mathilde: That's not true! You've got it all wrong. That man might've been the love of her life. Twenty years ago, she threw herself out a window because of him. He never knew what happened. He doesn't know she's crippled because of him. Mrs. Jouve is an extraordinary woman, but that man never saw it.
- Bernard: Your radio works now. I'm glad you're interested in the news, what's happening in the world.
- Mathilde: No. I only listen to songs. They tell the truth. The dumber they are, the truer they are. They aren't really dumb. What do they say? They say: "Don't leave me." "Losing you breaks my heart." "I'm like an empty house without you." "I'd follow you anywhere." Or even, "Without love, we are nothing."
- Bernard: Well, Mathilde, I have to go now.