The Quotable "Comedians"

One of my happier duties while working on the liner notes to Film Score Monthly's release of Laurence Rosenthal's The Comedians/Hotel Paradiso was the selection of quotes for the tray insert. The challenge: to take a film, and pick out the one line of dialogue or short exchange which best captures its essence – great fun, for an English major! The Comedians features a screenplay by the great English novelist, playwright, and critic Graham Greene (who also wrote the book), and so I found myself with an abundance of interesting options. I ultimately settled on: 

"I'm a bit of a play-actor, myself. Who isn't, in this place? We all play drawing-room comedies in a blackout." 

I love the imagery here, which speaks directly to the film's title, and alludes to the darkness at the core of Papa Doc's Haiti. If I had it to do over again, that's still the quote I'd pick. But since there was so much rich dialogue to choose from, I figured I'd put some alternates up on the blog and let my readers decide if I made the right call. Here they are, in the order I wrote them down (as with FSM's final packaging, the speakers are not identified and no context is given): 

"There are days when I wonder, especially in the empty afternoons. You have a devil in you in the afternoons. When you're not with me, I wonder what the devil does."

"I don't concern myself with politics. I support the economy, when there are tourists."

"It's a horrifying world. I sometimes think that Haiti is no different from life anywhere."

"We shouldn't be ashamed of being comedians. You know, it's an honorable profession – if only we were good ones. We could perhaps give the world ... I don't know, a sense of style."
 
"You can't be jealous of the past."
"Oh, yes I can. One day, I'll be the past. There'll be a difference."

"You have a sense of humor. I'm in favor of jokes. They have a political value. A release for the cowardly and the impotent."
 
"You can't believe in such nonsense."
"Is there no nonsense you believe in?"
"No."
"You're afraid to believe in anything at all."