Simone Signoret in “Casque D’Or” (1952)
Dialogue between Marie (Simone Signoret) and George Manda (Serge Reggiani) in “Casque d’Or” (English subtitles)
Manda is leaving the open air dance hall after dancing with Marie and having to tangle with Roland:
Marie: I wanted to say goodbye.
Manda: So long.
After Leca offers to buy Marie, she goes to the carpenter shop to see Manda. They are kissing when his fiancée interrupts:
Marie: I wanted to see you so I came by cab.
Léonie Danard: Georges. Supper’s not over.
Marie: Who’s that?
Léonie Danard: I should ask you that. Did he say he was engaged?
Marie: I couldn’t have guessed. So long.
Manda: Marie.
Marie: Cheers, buster!
Léonie Danard: You whore!
Marie: What?
Manda: (Stops her from attacking Léonie) You better go.
Marie: (slaps Manda in the face) Sorry, I got it yesterday. Now we’re even.
At the cafe L’Ange Gabriel:
Manda: Marie, I’ve come to get you.
Marie: That’s nice. Isn’t it, Julie? I think there’s someone who wants to say hello. (Pointing to Roland who is dancing)
Marie and Manda go for a walk in the countryside:
Marie: This is swell. I’m staying here. (she sits down in the grass while he whittles on a stick)
Marie: Give me your stick. (He does. She puts it down). Kiss me, Manda.
Marie and Manda hear a service going on as they walk by a church:
Marie: It’s not Sunday.
Manda: Must be a funeral.
Marie: (Peeking in the church door). Come in.
Manda: Let’s go.
Marie: It’s a wedding. Let’s watch. Do it for me.
Manda: Oh, all right.
Manda: (After they watch for a minute) Shall we go?
Marie: Manda, do you love me?
Manda: (He doesn’t respond, then after another minute) Let’s go.
Outside the church, he spots two men with bikes:
Manda: See that?
Marie: It’s Felix.
Manda: Sure enough. He’s waving to us.
Marie: He seems in a good mood. That’s funny. What’s he doing here?
Manda: We’ll find out.
After some chit chat with Marie, Felix Leca gets on his bike and starts off. Then stops and tells Manda that it’s safe for him to go back to Paris because Raymond has been arrested for Roland’s murder.
Ma Eugene bids goodnight to Manda, who is sitting on the stoop smoking. Marie comes out:
Marie: Come to bed, Manda.
Marie: (in bed, whispering) Stop thinking about it. Think about me
Manda: I always think about you.
And that, tout le monde, was the extent of the dialogue between the two lovers. When Marie woke up, Manda was gone. He went off to the police to turn himself in.
There is another movie I saw from 2003, Monsieur Ibrahim with Omar Sharif, that is kind of the reverse of Madame Rosa. He is an Arab shopkeeper who becomes a father figure to a Jewish boy named Moishe. He calls the boy Momo. same nickname as the Arab boy in Madame Rosa.
I saw that one too; I thought it was okay. You’re right, it is kind of the male version of Madame Rosa, but a lot less sad.
Hooray for Texas—the sun wil come out tomorrooooowwww… —fingers crossed. 🙂
I saw Monsieur Ibrahim in the movie theater, VJ, and I enjoyed it. Where do all of the years go, I can’t believe it came out so many years ago already.
VJ and Rhonda, have any of you seen the old movie, ‘La vie devant soi’, where she plays a retired prostitute taking care of other prostitutes’ kids? I also read the book, written by my favorite French writer, Romain Gary. Both film and book, superb.
P.S. VJ, I’m glad you’re posting—still not powerless, yay.
Hey Cece, I did see this film years ago under the title “Madame Rosa.” I would def watch it again. One part I still remember is when the Nigerian guy told Rosa he was a king and she said yes, he was a king — king of the meshuggas. She told him that meant king of the kings in Jewish. LOL!!
Lol, VJ, that Rosa was a trip. My boyfriend’s mother has the tape and years ago she told us we had to watch it. I’ve watched it again since then. Do you remember the “vegetable” conversation? That cracked me up and made me cry at the same time.
Do you mean the one where the boy didn’t want her to die, or the one where the boy told her a different version of vegetable than the doctor told him?
And speaking of the doctor, he was the same actor that played Leca in this film. I didn’t realize that Claude Dauphin was so much older than Simone Signoret. Evidently, I have seen him in a lot more films than I ever realized!
The “different version of vegetable” one—so heartbreakingly mature of him. The book is even more heart wrenching in its details.
I never saw Casque d’or; I’m not a fan of very old movies (before 70’s), with a few exceptions, like Truffaut’s, Chaplin’s…
Rhonda, if you can’t find this movie on Netflix or Amazon to stream, you may wanna try Youtube. You can find some old foreign movies in there.
Cece, I remember when Madame Rosa came out years and years ago, but I never got to see it. I didn’t realize that it had been a book first.
VJ, so happy to see that your power is still on.