Valmont (1989)

Annette Bening: Merteuil

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mertuil : You're the only one who can help me.

  Valmont : You want me to challenge him to a duel?

  Mertuil : [chuckles]  Viscomte, for I what I have in mind I need you very much alive.

• Madame de Volanges : Did I show you the cabinet I gave Cecile? It's an exquisite piece. Well, I told her: "You can lock all your secrets in there." Do you know what she said? "Maman, you know it will never be locked." Isn't that the sweetest thing a daughter can say to her mother?

  Mertuil : Oh! Yes, yes.

  Madame de Volanges : Well, it's locked.

  Mertuil : Oh.

  Madame de Volanges : I have a duplicate key of course.

  Mertuil : Of course.

• Valmont : I feel awful.

  Mertuil : Are you surprised? You are an awful man.

  Valmont : Do you think a man can change?

  Mertuil : Yes, for the worse.

  Valmont : I think you're as awful as I am.

  Mertuil : I am.

• Mertuil : Valmont, you disappoint me. That's what's keeping you here. Tell me, are you really falling in love?

  Valmont : Does that make you jealous?

  Mertuil : Not really.

• Mertuil : Men are always chasing after visions, my dear. They want us to be angels.

  Baroness : But in bed they want us to be demons, my dear.

  Baron : Yes, indeed, it always comes as a morning surprise when you wake up in the arms of an ordinary woman.

• Mertuil : Why do you want to be a husband, when you can be a lover?

  Danceny : Keep writing.

  Mertuil : Why don't you leave all the boredom of marriage to Gercourt, and keep the excitement of love for yourself?

• Madame de Rosemonde : Ah, my sweet girl. If I understand what these people have been saying, you have a dilemma.

  Cecile : I do?

  Madame de Rosemonde : Tell me, if it were up to you, would you rather marry that Monsieur de... eh...

  Mertuil : Gercourt.

  Madame de Rosemonde : Exactly, Gercourt. Or the other one? The one with the harp.

  Cecile : Well, I... I... I'll do whatever my Maman wants me to do.

  Valmont : But that is not what my aunt is asking you. Forget Maman. If you had the choice, who would you pick? You, yourself?

  Cecile : Oh! I... I... I guess I would marry Monsieur de Gercourt, and... keep Monsieur Danceny for a lover?

• Mertuil : [to Valmont]  You must have a lot of courage, Visconte, to come here after you sent that lunatic harp teacher to kill me.

• Mertuil : Cecile, if you allow your hand to be held too long, men will take it as an encouragement.

• Mertuil : That young lady is the daughter of my cousin, Madame de Volanges. She's about to get married and she's under my protection. So, you keep away from her.

  Valmont : How old did you say she was?

  Mertuil : Fifteen, you monster.

• Mertuil : It's really sweet to see Cecile so excited about her marriage.

  Madame de Volanges : Oh, yes, yes. She's excited, very excited. It almost has me worried.

  Mertuil : Why?

  Madame de Volanges : Well, she's been at that convent since she was *eleven*. She's so innocent. So unprepared.

  Mertuil : Well, as long as her husband doesn't mind.

  Madame de Volanges : Oh, no! On the contrary, he seems obsessed by her purity and virginity.

• Mertuil : Cecile, that man is very bad for a young lady's reputation. Your mother shouldn't even know he was in our box.

• Madame de Volanges : Oh, my dear. I'd love you to spend some time with Cecile. She could learn so much from you. I want her to enter this marriage as innocent as she is - and as wise as you are.

  Mertuil : Oh, you flatter me.

• Mertuil : You know, little Cecile, she - she reminds me so much of myself when I was 15. She's naive, innocent, - pure.

  Valmont : Yes?

  Mertuil : I want you to put an end to it. I want you to take her virginity. I want Gercourt to discover on his wedding night, that he didn't get there first. I want to make him the laughingstock of Paris.

• Cecile : Is he your lover?

  Mertuil : Cecile - one doesn't ask questions like that. Certainly not of a widow.

  Cecile : Widows don'e have lovers?

  Mertuil : No. They don't.

• Mertuil : More.

  Gercourt : More?

  Mertuil : I want more.

  Gercourt : Well, then you might have to find yourself another lover.

  Mertuil : Oh, no. I'm very happy with the one I have.

• Madame de Volanges : Do you know what I found? Letters. Love letters.

  Mertuil : From?

  Madame de Volanges : From her miserable music teacher.

  Mertuil : That little boy?

  Madame de Volanges : That little snake!

• Valmont : What do you want to wager?

  Mertuil : Anything you want.

  Valmont : You. Your body.

  Mertuil : And if you lose?

  Valmont : Anything you want.

  Mertuil : I want you to shut yourself in a monastery, anoint yourself with ashes and repent for all your sins.

  Valmont : I accept.

  Mertuil : Good night, my little monk. I'm afraid you'll be very lonely. Remember me in your prayers sometime.

• Mertuil : It seems to me, Vicomte, that you believe one thing in Paris and another in the country.

• Madame de Tourvel : Monsieur de Valmont, I know some women might be weak, but, believe me, there are women who will always be true.

  Baron : Nonsense! A true woman is a contradiction in terms.

  Valmont : Not always. I believe that some women stay true. I find them fascinating.

  Mertuil : Men usually do.

  Madame de Tourvel : I've noticed that.

• Mertuil : What a nincompoop!

• Cecile : Monsieur de Valmont wanted me to write; so, I was writing that letter.

  Mertuil : And?

  Cecile : You know.

  Mertuil : Monsieur de Valmont is quite a writer, isn't he?

• Mertuil : Better than me?

  Valmont : No one compares to you.

  Mertuil : How true.

• Valmont : I feel awful.

  Mertuil : Are you surprised? You are an awful man.

• Mertuil : We should never be enemies. We should always be friends. Good friends.

  Valmont : More than that.