Model Shop (1969)

Gary Lockwood: George Matthews

Photos 

8 more photos

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  George Matthews : I just wanted to tell her that I loved her. I just wanted her to know that I wanted to try to begin again. You know what I mean? That I was, I just wanted her to know that I was going to try. Yeah, it sounds stupid, doesn't it? But, I can, you know. I mean, I personally can. Always try, you know. Yeah, always try. Yeah, always try.

• George Matthews : What's more beautiful than life? Maybe, the reflections of life: a book, quartet, a film, painting, sculpture.

• Gloria : You didn't have to buy that car, you know.

  George Matthews : I liked it.

  Gloria : You don't buy a fifteen hundred dollar car just 'cause you like it and you don't have a cent and you don't even work. You get a skateboard.

• George Matthews : So, what have you guys been doing?

  David : Well, Alan's been up in Berkeley on the march. I've been here putting together the Love-In. It'll be in Griffith Park - Sunday.

• George Matthews : Are you anxious to get back to France?

  Lola aka Cecile : Yes. But, in the same time, it makes me sad. I made good friends here and I love the city.

  George Matthews : Well, that's surprising. You know, most people hate it. Well, now there's two of us that like it and that's a good enough reason to go out and have a drink, isn't it?

  Lola aka Cecile : If it make you happy.

  George Matthews : I think it might.

• Jay : Listen. What are you going to do with yourself now?

  George Matthews : Hmm, I don't know. I'm not gonna' give up architecture, I really want to create something, but I just can't seem to wait out the 15 or 20 years it takes to establish a reputation. And then, for what? To design service stations, and luxury motels? I keep going around in circles, I guess, trying to find out what the choices are, wasting a lot of time...

• George Matthews : It's crazy, but I'm afraid of death. I realised it for the first time in my life today. I don't know, I never really thought of it before. I mean, never really conceived of it as a possibility. It's not that I'm a coward, but what's more beautiful than life? Maybe the reflections of life. A book, quartet, film, painting, sculpture. I decided to become an architect because I wanted to build, construct, but what a hideous joke when you consider that man's only driving passion is to destroy. It's pointless. I wonder if it's worth the struggle.

• Lola aka Cecile : [Lola is modeling for George, whose photo session is just about over]  You have only one left. If you want me to do anything...

  George Matthews : I like what I've got.

  Lola aka Cecile : You don't seem particularly interested in photography.

  George Matthews : I'm not. I'm more interested in you. Besides, I don't think the guys who come here give a damn for the art of photography, do they?

  Lola aka Cecile : I don't judge the customers. It's not my concern.

  George Matthews : It's kind of degrading work, isn't it? Why do you do it?

  Lola aka Cecile : To make my living... But I don't like this word, "degrading." After all, I don't know what YOU do, to make your living.

  George Matthews : Me? Nothing, right now.

  Lola aka Cecile : [laughs somewhat mockingly]  Then you don't run the risk of degrading yourself by working.

  George Matthews : You're French.

  Lola aka Cecile : As you can hear.

  George Matthews : I followed you this morning.

  Lola aka Cecile : Yes, I know... Good-bye.

  George Matthews : Good-bye.

• George Matthews : I should go back to work for Hastings, right? Kill a little time before the draft, that's real groovy.

• George Matthews : What kind of part?

  Gloria : Well, it really isn't a part. It's, it's a series of commercials for a new soap - a revolutionary soap! Its a soap that makes bubbles, not foam, but bubbles!

  George Matthews : And you believe that?

  Gloria : I told you, it's revolutionary.

  George Matthews : Well, anyway, bubbles or not, you'll be sitting naked in a bathtub. I can see it now.

  Gloria : I'm not in the habit of taking baths with my clothes on.

• Gloria : I don't see what we're arguing about. Thank God, I'm still pretty enough to be seen naked in a bathtub. Who knows? Maybe somebody important will notice me.

  George Matthews : Somebody could also "notice" you playing Shakespeare.

  Gloria : Yes, I know, but so far, nobody's asked me to play Juliet!

• Tony : What's wrong, George?

  George Matthews : I just called home. My draft notice came. I have to report in San Francisco Monday morning.

  Tony : Oh, what a bummer.

  David : What are you gonna do?

  George Matthews : I don't know. I'm scared. Like it's really a death sentence or something. It's funny but its the first time I've ever really thought about it. Death, you know, it's insane.

• Lola aka Cecile : Why did you follow me this morning?

  George Matthews : Well, I wanted to know who you were.

  [offers her a cigarette; lights it for her] 

  George Matthews : If you knew I was following you, why didn't you look at me?

  Lola aka Cecile : [laughs]  You're kidding. You know very well that most of men who follow girls in the street are... sadists, or maniacs, or nuts.

  George Matthews : ...or cops.

  Lola aka Cecile : Oh, you don't look like a cop.

  George Matthews : Do I look like a nut?

  Lola aka Cecile : No, not really. But, you understand, I couldn't really tell.

  George Matthews : Well, at first when I saw you coming into this tart factory, I was surprised. I wondered what kind of a woman you were. And then I thought, what the hell does it matter, you know.

  Lola aka Cecile : If you came here to insult me, you can leave right now. I thought I told you why I was doing this work. But, you don't want to understand. Whether I get undressed here, in this room, in front of you or on the beach, what's the difference? Men look at me in the same way, don't they? In any case, that's the only job I could get without a work permit. Besides, what does it matter? I'm going back to France. I simply needed to, to earn enough money for my return ticket. In three or four days I'll have what I need. I must say, I was completely broke. That's an old story.

  George Matthews : That's too bad you're leaving. I, uh, I would have liked to have seen you again.

  Lola aka Cecile : Another time. In Paris, perhaps.

• George Matthews : I decided to become an architect because I wanted to build, to construct. But, what a hideous job when you consider that man's only driving passion is to destroy. It's pointless. I wonder if it's worth the struggle?

• [first lines] 

  Gloria : You were dreaming. Yes. You were talking in your sleep. You said: love.

  George Matthews : Oh, yeah? I said love? What else did I say?

  Gloria : Nothing else. Who were you dreaming of?

• Lola aka Cecile : [in the parking lot; both George and Lola, aka Cecile, are seated in their own cars]  Where do you want to go?

  George Matthews : I don't know. Wherever you want.

  Lola aka Cecile : I have no idea. I must tell you, I, I feel a little stupid. Well, not really, but I'm here waiting, ready to follow you, and I, I don't even know your name.

  George Matthews : [chuckles]  Very well. Uh, my name is George Matthews, and I was born in the state of California - in San Francisco to be exact - 26 years ago. And I studied architecture in Berkeley and I came to Los Angeles about a year ago to look for work. And that's it... Oh, except that Monday I go into the army as I told you, which doesn't particularly delight me. Well, let's see, what else... I have an unbearable father, and a mother who's lived under his thumb for 40 years, and a, a fat-cat older brother whose only distinction in life is that he happens to be the spitting image of my father. Well, now you know everything.

  Lola aka Cecile : My real name is Cecile. Lola is a stage name. I was born in France, near the river Loire, a few years before you - but really, very few. I lived in a port city, in Nantes, for a long time, then in Paris. I moved around a lot. I traveled everywhere with my husband before we divorced. I've got a son, almost grown. He's waiting for me in Paris.

  George Matthews : How old is he?

  Lola aka Cecile : Oh, he's almost 14. I have not seen him for 2 years. I miss him very much.

  George Matthews : Is he the reason you're going back?

  Lola aka Cecile : Yes... He's all that's really waiting for me.

• George Matthews : Hey, Cecile, I want to say something. I know it'll sound totally crazy, and I've never said it before to anyone, but, because I never really, you know, felt it before, but, I love you.

  Lola aka Cecile : You're very nice, and what you say is very moving, but you don't know me at all. You saw me in the streets, you followed me, you took pictures of me, you insulted me, and now you love me. It can't be very serious, can it?

  George Matthews : Maybe I needed you.

  Lola aka Cecile : Me, or someone else. You needed to talk.

  George Matthews : I needed to say "I love you," and that's true. But I guess that's a sentiment that you don't have room for in the kind of life that you live.

  Lola aka Cecile : Here you go insulting me again.

  George Matthews : No. Forget it. I was mistaken. Excuse me. Goodbye.

  [starts his car and leaves] 

• Lola aka Cecile : [talking about her ex-husband]  Michel gambled for the money. He... he loved money. Perhaps more than anything else in the world. I understood that later. Then, he lost everything. We didn't have a cent. So, I started to work again. I had sent my son back to France. And Michel and I settled in a hotel. A little hotel on 44 street. Oh, it was hell. We fought constantly. We decided to call it quits. Oh! Without any question, it was the greatest disappointment of my life.

  George Matthews : But you could meet someone else. Build some kind of life for yourself.

  Lola aka Cecile : But you don't believe me. Michel took everything. I am empty. I have no strength left. I don't want to love anyone... ever again. You understand?

  George Matthews : You're going to become a sad old gal.

  [they both laugh] 

• Gloria : You could go back to Hastings. Tell him, tell him you, you just got tired and needed a rest or something. He'll take you back.

  George Matthews : Yeah, but I don't want to go. I don't want to spend the rest of my life pushing pencils for some architect. And I didn't waste seven years in college to end up designing gas pipes that won't be seen. You know what I want?

  Gloria : Yes, I know what you want! You want to rebuild the Empire State Building, only higher and in polished aluminum!

  George Matthews : No. Try red copper.