Youth (I) (2015)

Michael Caine: Fred Ballinger

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Quotes 

• Fred Ballinger : Children, don't know their parents ordeals. Sure, they know certain details, striking elements. And they know what they need to know to be on one side or the other. They don't know that I trembled the first time I ever saw you on stage. All the orchestra behind my back were laughing at my falling in love. And my unexpected fragility. They don't know that you sold of your mother's jewellery in order to help me with my second piece. When everyone else was turning me down calling me presumptuous inelegant musician. They don't know that you too, and you were right that you thought I was a presumptuous, inelegant musician at that time. And you cried so hard. Not because you sold you mother's jewellery but because you sold your mother. They don't know that we were together. You and I. Despite all the exhaustion, and the pain, and hardship. Melanie. They must never know that you and I despite everything liked to think of ourselves as a simple song.

• Fred Ballinger : I'm wondering what happens to your memory over time. I can't remember my family. I don't remember their faces or how they talked. Last night I was watching Lena while she was asleep. And I was thinking about all the thousands of little things that I done for her as her father. And I done them deliberately so that she would remember them. When she grows up. But in time. She won't remember a single thing.

• Queen's Emissary : Why exactly do you find the monarchy endearing?

  Fred Ballinger : Well, because it's so vulnerable. You eliminate one person. And all of a sudden. The whole world changes. Like in a marriage.

• Fred Ballinger : You were right. Music is all I understand.

• Lena Ballinger : And what does she do?

  Fred Ballinger : The most obscene job in the world.

  Lena Ballinger : She is a prostitute?

  Lena Ballinger : Worse. She is a pop star.

• Fred Ballinger : We only ever told each other the good things.

• Jimmy Tree : Tell me about Stravinsky.

  Fred Ballinger : Well, he once said intellectuals had no taste. And from that moment on, I did everything I could not to become an intellectual. And I succeeded.

• Fred Ballinger : You understand everything with your hands, don't you?

  Masseuse : We can understand all sorts of things by touching. Who knows why people are so afraid of touching?

  Fred Ballinger : Maybe it's because they think it has something to do with pleasure.

  Masseuse : That's just another good reason for touching instead of talking.

  Fred Ballinger : Don't you like to talk?

  Masseuse : I never have anything to say.

• Fred Ballinger : Levity is an irresistible temptation.

• Fred Ballinger : I don't know what the problem is. But I'm not going to try and cheer you up by lying. Or talk about things I never knew about.

• Fred Ballinger : So I've grown old without understanding how I got here.

  Doctor : Do you know what awaits you outside of here?

  Fred Ballinger : No. What?

  Doctor : Youth.

• Fred Ballinger : You know what's the difference between you and me?

  Mick Boyle : What.

  Fred Ballinger : Ultimately, I never liked life well enough.

• Mick Boyle : You made me realize that not only I do not remember my parents any more, but my childhood. For example, I do not remember a thing about it. There is only one thing I still remember.

  Fred Ballinger : What?

  Mick Boyle : The precise moment when I learned how to ride a bike. And this morning, as if by magic, I remembered the moment right after.

  Fred Ballinger : When you fell off?

  Mick Boyle : How the fuck did you know?

  Fred Ballinger : Well, that happens to everybody. You learn something, you're happy and then... you forget to brake.

• Fred Ballinger : You won't fool me. I know you can't levitate.

• [last lines] 

  Fred Ballinger : [sitting in his wife's room]  I waited till visiting hours to come and see you. They don't know, Melanie. The children don't know their parents ordeals. Sure, they know certain details, striking elements. And they know what they need to know to be on one side or the other. They don't know that I trembled the first time I ever saw you on stage. And that the orchestra behind my back was laughing at my falling in love. And my unexpected fragility. They don't know that you sold of your mother's jewellery in order to help me with my second piece, when everyone else was turning me down, calling me a presumptuous, inelegant musician. I think they don't know that you too, and you were right that you thought I was a presumptuous, inelegant musician at that time. And you cried so hard. Not because you sold you mother's jewellery, but because you sold your mother. They don't know that we were together, you and I, despite all the exhaustion, and the pain, and the hardship. Melanie, they must never know that you and I, despite everything, liked to think of ourselves as "A Simple Song."Look at me.

  [she staring blankly out the window in her dementia] 

• Lena Ballinger : Julian's an ass because... I'm really good in bed.

  Fred Ballinger : I know.

  Lena Ballinger : What do you mean you know?

  Fred Ballinger : You're my daughter. And in all modesty, I was a wonder between the sheets.

  [Lena laughs hysterically] 

  Fred Ballinger : It's true.

• Fred Ballinger : [to doctor]  My daughter says I'm apathetic. Is it... is it that obvious?

• Fred Ballinger : Did you take a piss today?

  Mick Boyle : [nods in affirmation]  Twice. Four drops. You?

  Fred Ballinger : The same. More or less.

  Mick Boyle : More? Or less?

  Fred Ballinger : Less.

• Fred Ballinger : Because levity is also a perversion.

• Queen's Emissary : Her majesty the queen would be *honored* to confer a knighthood upon you this coming June.

  Fred Ballinger : Good.

  Queen's Emissary : Her majesty the queen will be *de*-lighted to learn you have accepted.

  Fred Ballinger : Her majesty the queen has never been *de*-lighted at anything.

• Mick Boyle : What do you need band-aids for?

  Fred Ballinger : I don't. I'm doing it out of solidarity with you.

• Mick Boyle : Do you remember the other day when you told me you don't remember your parents any more?

  Fred Ballinger : No, I... I don't remember.

• Fred Ballinger : What it would've been like... to have slept with Gilda Black?

  Mick Boyle : Yeah... I wonder too.

  Fred Ballinger : Liar!

• [first lines] 

  Fred Ballinger : You can't smoke here.

  Queen's Emissary : What, even outside?

  Fred Ballinger : Not even inside.

  Queen's Emissary : Uh, well Pardon me, Mr. Ballinger. Or may I call you Maestro?

  [drops his cigarettes onto the table] 

• Mick Boyle : Melanie is so beautiful in that picture.

  Fred Ballinger : You're right... She is beautiful.

  Mick Boyle : You know, I've come to understand something, Fred. That people are either beautiful or ugly. The ones in between are merely cute.