Enzo and Jacques have known each other for a long time. Their friendship started in their childhood days in the Mediterranean. They were not real friends in these days, but there was ... See full summary »

Johanna: What's it feel like when you dive?
Jacques: It's a feeling of slipping without falling. The hardest thing is when you're at the bottom.
Johanna: Why?
Jacques: 'Cause you have to find a good reason to come back up... and I have a hard time finding one.
[after getting 10.000 dollars]
Roberto: Enzo, what are you going to do with the money?
Enzo: Have the car painted.
Roberto: Guiseppe will do that for 25 dollars.
Enzo: Then tell him to wax it too.
Johanna: Talk to me some more
Jacques: It's hard, you know. I don't know what else to say. You're so far away.
Johanna: Tell me a story.
Jacques: A story? Do you now how it is- do you know what you're supposed to do, to meet a mermaid?
Johanna: No.
Jacques: You go down to the bottom of the sea, where the water isn't even blue anymore, where the sky is only a memory, and you float there, in the silence. And you stay there, and you decide, that you'll die for them. Only then do they start coming out. They come, and they greet you, and they judge the love you have for them. If it's sincere, if it's pure, they'll be with you, and take you away forever.
Johanna: I like that story
Jacques: I know you.
Johanna: We just met, a few minutes ago.
Jacques: In the lake.
Johanna: No in the hut.
Jacques: Then it must have been someone who looked like a lot like you.
Enzo: Don't look at Jaques as if he was a human being, he comes from another planet.
[Enzo pulls out a cigarette inside of a diving bell]
Noireuter: Smoking is absolutely forbidden.
Enzo: It isn't lit yet.
Noireuter: You shouldn't even carry cigarettes on board.
Enzo: Listen, we're not supposed to piss either, but it doesn't stop you from carrying "it" on board.
Enzo: You were right.
Jacques: About what?
Enzo: It's much better down there... It's a better place...
Jacques: no...
Enzo: Push me back in the water...
Jacques: No, I couldn't...
Enzo: Jacques... Take me back down... Please...
[after receiving $10,000]
Roberto: Enzo, really, whatcha going to do with the money?
Enzo: A rosary for mama, a dress for Angelica and you , get yourself a suit that fits. But most important.
Roberto: Yes
Enzo: Find me the Frenchman. Find me Jacques Mayol.
Enzo: Ah, I was 17! I was so in love with her, I tried to die for her. Two years later I can't even remember her name. Time, erases everything.
Enzo: A thousand commanders, and we get the Belgian from Alcoholics Anonymous!
Enzo: ...So, between Mamma, Roberto and Alfredo, we yell and scream at each other all day long. Except for Angelica, she just cries. And then finally, we all end up kissing. Can you explain that to me? Because *that's* what love is all about. It's a pain in the ass, but it keeps us together.
Jacques: I don't understand. Please explain to me.
Enzo: What do you want to know?
Jacques: Everything!
Enzo: About what?
Jacques: About everything!
Enzo: Mama mia.
[after a drunken breath holding contest]
Jacques: Who won?
Johanna: Who won what? The asshole award? Let me tell you, it was a tie!
[Enzo pulls out a whiskey flask in a diving bell]
Noireuter: Is that alcohol? That's *really* forbidden!
Enzo: Hey, do you have any more complaints? Just make a list and we'll stick it on the porthole, OK?
Johanna: You really send him under the ice? He isn't a slave or convict or anything, is he?
Dr. Laurence: My dear, science is a cruel mistress.
Johanna: How is he going to breathe?
Dr. Laurence: He isn't.
[Waiting for Enzo]
Roberto: It's not like him to be late. Of course, sometimes he doesn't show up at all.
Enzo: Dont think of Jacques as a human being, he's from another world.
Johanna: Oh yeah? And what world are you from Enzo?
Enzo: Italia!
Noireuter: [high pitched] You have enough air for fifteem minutes.
Enzo: [high pitched] What's with the voice?
Noireuter: [high pitched] It's nothing, maybe the helium is up too high.
Enzo: [high pitched] Does the voice some back?
Noireuter: [high pitched] For others, yes. For you, who knows?
[haggling with a fish vendor]
Uncle Louis: Two DOLLARS? You didn't even need to catch the fish! It died of CANCER!
Uncle Louis: [to Johana] So, where are you from, Henrietta?
Jacques: Johana! New York!
Uncle Louis: New YORK? What KIND of a name is that?
Johanna: No, I'm *from* new York
Uncle Louis: Oh Yes! The best lays are from New York!
Johanna: 6'3", 6'1", maybe 5'9" - You can't be sure, you know the flippers, they add height or they take it away, or something. Anyway short dark hair... Not punk or anything, just short. And the cutest smile. He wasn't smiling at me, I don't think - just smiling. And he thought he saw me in the lake. I mean that was a figure of speech... They're so romantic, the French.
Sally: [bored] I thought you said he was Peruvian?
Johanna: Haven't you been listening?
Sally: ...Since eight o'clock last night...! You're in love.
Johanna: Don't be a jerk. There's no such thing as love at first sight.
Supervisor: Hey! You gotta get him outta there, fast!
Roberto: Ten thousand!
Supervisor: Lira?
Roberto: Dollars!
Supervisor: Hey, wait a minute! You guys aren't gonna try to hold me up at a time like this?
Enzo: Okay, you tell me. How much would you say a man's life is worth? In my village we have a saying. (to Roberto) How does it go again?
Roberto: I don't remember.
Supervisor: W-what's that supposed to mean?
Enzo: Forget it.
Jacques: Why're you always talkin'? Y'know- you think that other people are interested in what you're talkin' about? I'M not interested, and other people aren't either! So just STOP talkin', because other people have other things to say y'know! You understand me? Stop talkin'! It's bullshit!
Enzo: She's gone?
Jacques: YES! She's gone!
Uncle Louis: Hey, have you ever seen a mermaid?
Young Jacques: No.
Uncle Louis: I have, you know. Don't you want to know where? Why don't you ask me?
Young Jacques: What?
Uncle Louis: Where I saw mermaids! Why don't you ever ask any questions? I'm always the one asking the questions. I'm now aware I ask the questions so now I'm talking to myself! Ask me something, goddamn it!
Young Jacques: Why did my mother leave?
Uncle Louis: Row.