Marie Antoinette (1938)

Norma Shearer: Marie Antoinette

Photos 

Quotes 

• Marie Antoinette : I once thought if I were queen, I'd be so happy. To be applauded and adored and obeyed. I don't want it now. I just want to be free. To be with you. To love you. I cannot wear a crown upon my heart.

• Marie Antoinette : You thought of me as something quite wonderful, didn't you? But instead you found an empty-headed, ill-mannered little fool. You see, monsieur, how sadly I am changed.

  Count Axel de Fersen : Oh no, madame! You've made pleasure a shield against lonliness and slander, but you could never change so deep a heart, so eager to be loved. Everyone, even the highest, has some dream of love in his heart and unless he achieve it he must fill that emptiness with noise, fame, excitement, pleasure.

  Marie Antoinette : Where did you learn this, monsieur?

  Count Axel de Fersen : In museums, mostly.

  Marie Antoinette : Museums?

  Count Axel de Fersen : They're very dull, most of them, and neglected, but you'll always find someone there gazing over the relics of queens who were true lovers. There isn't much to see... a ring, a glove, a fan perhaps, but we preserve them as much as we do our laws and we have much more faith in them.

  Marie Antoinette : Do you think one-hundred years hence some Swedish gentleman wandering in Paris might smile over a relic of Marie Antoinette? A miniature perhaps, or a ring? This very ring, for instance.

  [She removes a ring from her hand and shows it to him] 

  Marie Antoinette : Its centuries old. It has an inscription on it

  [She reads it aloud] 

  Marie Antoinette : "Everything leads me to thee."

  [Now she places the ring in his hand] 

  Marie Antoinette : Can you see it? Lying on a velvet cushion in its little glass case?

  Count Axel de Fersen : I don't know... you might make a present of it, perhaps, to some man who had loved you and it would be worn on his hand for as long as he lived and buried with him when he died because he loved you reverently and as was fitting from a respectable distance but with all his heart for all this life.

• Count Axel de Fersen : I must let you go. Goodbye.

  Marie Antoinette : Good night. Or, if you wish good morning. I shall never say goodbye.

• Count Axel de Fersen : When I'm gone you'll be glad that I didn't stand in the path of your destiny making you less than you were meant to be.

  Marie Antoinette : And that other kingdom? The love, the youth, the happiness we might have had... what of that?

  Count Axel de Fersen : We shall dream of it more tenderly because we didn't destroy it.

  Marie Antoinette : Shall I never see you again?

  Count Axel de Fersen : If you need me I shall come to you.

  Marie Antoinette : [Through tears]  I shall always need you.

  Count Axel de Fersen : And if I should ask you, "Was it well done?", you'll tell me, "It was well done."

  Marie Antoinette : Take me in your arms again.

  [He embraces her tenderly, she puts her head on his chest] 

  Marie Antoinette : Let me have that memory. When I loose heart to go on I shall close my eyes, feel your arms about me. I shall know that I'm in your thoughts, that your loving me...

  Count Axel de Fersen : [He hugs her more tightly]  Always, my dear... always.

  Marie Antoinette : ...giving me strength to live... goodbye, my love.

  [They share one last kiss, he breaks the embrace and goes quickly so not to prolong one another's suffering in their parting; we see her watching him as he walks away, her arms still outstretched from their final embrace] 

• Marie Antoinette : Perhaps the great loves come with tears.

• Empress Maria Theresa : Toni, France is not Austria. You must accustom yourself to new people and new ways. Count Mercy is my ambassador at Versailles. He will guide you when he can. The rest, you must trust to your husband.

  Marie Antoinette : I will! Of course I will! Is he handsome?

  Empress Maria Theresa : There's time enough for that later. You go to bed now.

  Marie Antoinette : They say Versailles is too marvelous!

  Empress Maria Theresa : [More firmly now]  I said to bed.

  Marie Antoinette : Yes, mama.

  Empress Maria Theresa : Versailles is no more marvelous than Vienna.

  Marie Antoinette : No, mama.

  Empress Maria Theresa : [Kissing her cheek]  Goodnight.

  Marie Antoinette : Oh, goodnight, mama and thank you, thank you, thank you! Mama! Oh, mama, just think of it! I shall be queen! Queen of France!

• Marie Antoinette : I think I've known you would come. You promised to, you know?

  Count Axel de Fersen : If you needed me, I said.

  Marie Antoinette : Yes, you said that.

  Count Axel de Fersen : And, I said I would ask you: "Was it well done?"

  Marie Antoinette : It was well done. My husband has needed me. I am thankful to not have failed him.

  Count Axel de Fersen : I understand.

  Marie Antoinette : I even love him. But the love I have for him takes nothing away from my friend. Of all there was between us the night you went away nothing has changed. For me, nothing has changed or ever will. Forgive me for telling you this without asking you if you had the right to hear it.

  Count Axel de Fersen : I have the right. We knew each other for only a few hours and have been parted for long years, but the memory of you has always, will always, stand in the path of any living woman. Goodnight, madame.

• King Louis XVI : We should live as becomes the heirs to the throne of France. I want life to be rich and full and beautiful. It could be if we'd only stand together.

  King Louis XVI : I tell you I can't. I can't try to be anything but what I am. Why do you plague me? The king is the king.

  Marie Antoinette : And I am a princess of the House of Hapsburg. I'm an archduchess of Austria and a daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa. I'm sorry you don't see it my way, Louis. Because I mean to be the dauphine of France. Not in the way I might have been if we'd stood together. But at least, I'll be the brightest, highest figure in this court.

• Mme. du Barry : [after Antoinette insults her in front of Louis XV and his court]  So that's it? I'm dirt, eh? Not good enough for your high and mightiness.

  Marie Antoinette : Oh, but no, madame. Royalty loves an occasional roll in the gutter. Don't they, Grandpapa?

• King Louis XVI : [Looking glum]  I don't like that fellow.

  Marie Antoinette : Philippe?

  King Louis XVI : He smiles too much.

  Marie Antoinette : [Cheerfully]  Oh, but I like people to smile!

• Duke d'Orléans : Forgive my interruption. I seldom venture to intrude. I know you prefer your solitude.

  Marie Antoinette : It's true. I don't care a great deal for balls and banquets. There's a certain futility to court life, don't you think?

  Duke d'Orléans : Hummm...? Oh, quite, quite...

  Marie Antoinette : My husband, as you know, has simple tastes and I am content with my books and music.

  Duke d'Orléans : Oh, and here I come blundering into your little oasis.

  [He gets up to leave] 

  Duke d'Orléans : Well, the least I can do is to take myself away quickly.

  Princesse de Lamballe : Oh, no! No, no, no!

  Marie Antoinette : Please don't go! Do sit down.

  Duke d'Orléans : [He sits down again]  Too kind.

  Marie Antoinette : You know perfectly well how things are! No one ever comes to see me. Except my husband, of course.

  Duke d'Orléans : Oh, of course.

  Marie Antoinette : No one dares. Why does she hate me so?

  Duke d'Orléans : Why? Perfectly simple. Because in motion you are grace itself and in repose a statue of beauty. You know, my little cousin, you should become alive... how quickly you would depose that milliner.

  Marie Antoinette : Rebel?

  Duke d'Orléans : Rebel...

  Princesse de Lamballe : [Utterly shocked by his suggestion]  Oh, my!

  Duke d'Orléans : Don't you dare?

  Marie Antoinette : No! Du Barry has every advantage! Why, she could make men or degrade them! Who would dare to offend her to be my friend? Who but you?

  Duke d'Orléans : Will you permit me to give a ball in the honor of the dauphine of France?

  Marie Antoinette : But cousin...!

  Duke d'Orléans : Paris is waiting for you... lights, music, dancing, the opera. A new world is waiting for you! Conquer Paris and you'll conquer Madame Du Barry.

• Marie Antoinette : You mustn't feel badly, I... I don't think I'll be afraid. It's quick, they say. Don't be sad. Don't be sad, my darling. We... We will never say goodbye.

• [first lines] 

  Marie Antoinette : What can Mama want at this time of night? I was nearly asleep. Is it something I've done, do you think? What did she say? Did she look cross?

  Mme. 'Feldy' de Lerchenfeld : Solemn, I thought.

  Marie Antoinette : Oh, dear, what can it be? What have I done? She can't say much to me anyway. I'm a grown woman.

• [last lines] 

  Marie Antoinette : Oh, Mama, think of it. I shall be queen. I shall be queen of France.