Rene Quotes in If I Were King (1938)

Rene: Fine time to be writing poetry.

François Villon: What better time? If a man isn't inspired by his own death, he's beyond inspiration.

Rene: What is it about art anyway that we give it so much importance? Artists are respected by the poor because what they do is an honest way to get out of the slum using one's sheer self as the medium. The money earned, proof, pure and simple, of the value of that individual, the artist. The picture a mother's son does in jail hangs on her wall as proof that beauty is possible even in the most wretched. And this is a much different idea than fancier notion that art is a scam and a ripoff. But you can never explain to someone who uses God's gift to enslave, that you have used God's gift to be free.

[first lines]

Rene: Everybody wants to get on the Van Gogh boat. There's no trip so horrible that someone won't take it. The idea of the unrecognised genius slaving away in a garret is a deliciously foolish one. We must credit the life of Vincent Van Gogh for really sending this myth into orbit. I mean, how many pictures did he sell, one? He couldn't give them away. He has to be the most modern artist, but everybody hated him. He was so ashamed of his life that the rest of our history will be contribution to Van Gogh's neglect. No one wants to be part of a generation that ignores another like Van Gogh. In this town, one is at the mercy of the recognition factor. One's public appearance is absolute. Part of the artist's job is to get the work where I will see it. I consider myself a metaphor on the public.

Basquiat: [scrawls onto a pillar] PAY FOR SOUP BUILD A PORT SET THAT ON FIRE -SAMO

Rene: What's your name?

Basquiat: Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Rene: Oh my God, you sound famous already!

Rene: That's $2000 and he's from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, suck my pussy, you star!

[Basquiat is nailing one of his pieces to the wall]

Rene: Child, you got no respect at all... nobody taught you how to mount paintings? You know me, when it comes to a mounting, the rougher the better.

Rene: I am a public eye, a witness, a critic. When you first see a new picture. You don't want to miss the boat. You have to be very careful. You might be staring at Van Gogh's ear.

Brodie: I took you shopping all the time!

[Banging his hands against the elevator wall]

Rene: You took me where you went shopping, you jerk! You think I care what store in that shitpit dirt mall has the latest Godzilla bootlegs? Do you call eating pizza in the same dive pizzeria every night eating out? Do I give a shit when two major comic book labels are crossing over characters, selling two editions of the same book in varied-ink chromium covers? I'm a girl, damn it! I wanna do girly things! Like fix up someone's hair and get phone calls expressing romantic sentiments!

Willam Black: Brenda?

Rene: [hitting him] DICK!

Rene: That was too little too late.

Brodie: Too little? You said it was a good size!

Rene: The effort, you retard. The effort was too little too late.

[pause]

Rene: But, now that you mention it, when a girl says its a good size, that's a nice way of saying that it's small.

Brodie: Hey!

Brodie: Jesus Christ! What the hell gives with the cover boy?

Rene: None of your business, but he'll kick your ass if he knows what you just pulled.

Brodie: Are you insane? The guy looks like a date rapist! Is that my jacket?

Rene: Start the elevator.

Brodie: Not until you tell me what the situation is with you and the Sperminator out there! How long has this been going on?

Rene: Since I mustered the good sense to send you packing. He's a much more suitable companion than you any day.

Brodie: Are you nuts? The guy's pure testosterone! He's a walking hard-on just looking for a hole!

[Brodie picks up a controller and continues a paused video game]

Rene: What are you doing? You promised me breakfast.

Brodie: Breakfast, shmreakfast. Look at the score, for Christ's sake. It's only the second period and I'm up 12 to 2. Breakfasts come and go, Rene, but Hartford, "the Whale," they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime.

Brodie: You have my Punisher War Journal #6, my copy of "Fletch" and the remote control to my TV. Now, I know it's going to be hard to give this stuff up because of it's sentimental attachment...

Rene: Sentimental attachment? Look, if I have any of that crap it's because you brought it over my house and left it there.

Brodie: Okay, then let's talk about coming up with a schedule for visitation rights.

Rene: For what?

Brodie: For the mall. I figure you can take the odd days, I'll take the even days and weekends. When there's any special feature like a sidewalk sale...

Rene: [interrupting] Brodie, Brodie...

Brodie: ...or a boat show...

Rene: [interrupting] Brodie! I've always taken you with a grain of salt. On your birthday, when you told me to do a striptease to the theme of "Mighty Mouse", I said okay. On prom night at the hotel when you told me to sleep under the bed in case your mother burst in, I did it. And even during my grandmother's funeral when you told my relatives that you could see her nipples through her burial dress, I let that slide.

Rene: [Grabs Brodie by the ear] But if you think I'm gonna suffer any of your shit with a smile now that we're broken up, you're in for some serious fucking disappointment!

Brodie: I call you all time!

Rene: "Rene, my mom's asleep. Come over." You call that romantic? When was the last time you pulled out my chair, or told me I was beautiful?

Brodie: And this guy does all this in a day?

Rene: This guy already introduced me to his mother.

Brodie: Really?

Brodie: [referring to the tape of Shannon having anal sex with Trish] Did you see that shit? You call that romance?

Rene: I call that illegal.

Rene: [about why she cries in the bathroom] Do you really wanna know?

Brodie: I asked, didn't I? I'm playing the role; the concerned guy.

Rene: Imitate a cat puking.

Leo: [makes puking noises]

Rene: [holds up a flier with imitate a cat puking printed on it] It's the name of a band.

English Teacher: Last and simple question. Where is the father?

Rene: Ze fazer...

English Teacher: No. The father.

Rene: Ze fazer.

English Teacher: No, the tip of the tongue between the teeth. As if you had a lisp. Father.

Rene: Fazer.

English Teacher: No.

Rene: But I can't, sir. Not everybody has a tongue like yours.

Gilberte Doinel: Antoine! He saw me!

The Lover: Which one's he?

Gilberte Doinel: With dark hair. But he should be in school!

Rene: You'll get it!

Antoine Doinel: She won't dare tell Dad.

Rene: Bonjour, Madam!

Man in Street: Little devil!

Narrator: O felt soiled and guilty of the illicit pleasure she'd had in a stranger's arms. But her lover explained that the more he gave her, the more he wanted her. Offering her to another man was proof that he owned her.

Rene: One can only give that which one owns.

O: Once upon a time, a little girl saw a white rabbit wearing a watch. Her name was Alice. The white rabbit was very late. She wasn't surprised that he could talk. Then, she followed him. ln a deep well. She had many adventures.

Rene: What was in the well?

O: Sir Stephen.

Rene: No, you belong to us both. Say this, l belong to you both and l'll do what you desire.

René: They seem to be having fun next door.

Kate: What do you think of the guy at Darby's window?

Rene: He's wearin' a pink polo shirt. Anything else you need to know?