Chapter 5 of 20 · 3'04"
Renault charms his way to Laszlo and Ilsa's table, then hands them over to Major Strasser. He jokes about the game he plays with Rick's bills, "They put it on the bill, I tear up the bill," but the real business is Strasser's: he tells Laszlo he is now a subject of the German Reich.
Renault Toasts Laszlo and Ilsa
At Rick's café, Captain Renault approaches Victor Laszlo and Ilsa Lund, welcomes them, and introduces himself as prefect of police. He flirts with Ilsa and explains the game he and Rick play with bills. Then Major Strasser arrives, is introduced, and tells Laszlo that he is now a subject of the German Reich.
On the surface this is polite café conversation, but every move is a display of power. Renault arrives with champagne and compliments — 'That was a gross understatement,' he says of Ilsa's beauty — softening the ground before Strasser joins them. When Strasser states flatly, 'You were a Czechoslovakian. Now you are a subject of the German Reich,' the pleasantries are over. Laszlo answers that he never accepted that status and that he is on French soil, and he calls the summons 'hardly the time or place.' Renault dresses the same demand in softer language — 'Let us say it is my request' — showing how occupation works: one man threatens while the other pretends it's a courtesy. The scene is a polite ambush.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“It's a game we play. They put it on the bill, I tear up the bill. It is very convenient.”
He calls bribery a game, which makes his corruption sound playful, even charming.
Neutral
“But what a fool I am talking to a beautiful woman about another man.”
He mocks himself to flatter her, turning a slip into charm.
Informal
“That was a gross understatement.”
By calling the compliment too weak, he flatters her more than the compliment did.
Neutral
“Let us say it is my request. That is a much more pleasant word.”
He renames an order a request and lets you watch him do it.
Formal
Up next · 06water under the bridgeThe scene: Ilsa Asks Sam to Play Their SongBecause Czechoslovakia has been taken over, so Strasser insists Laszlo's citizenship is now German whether he accepts it or not. Laszlo refuses the claim.
He wants the summoning to look voluntary and courteous rather than an arrest, even though Laszlo has little choice but to go. He admits a request is 'a much more pleasant word.'
He orders champagne and has it put on his bill; Rick tears the bill up. Renault calls it a convenient game, a running joke between the two.
After Strasser's confrontation, Laszlo says 'This time they really mean to stop me,' and Ilsa answers that she's afraid for him.
A Norwegian who approaches Laszlo and Ilsa, pretending to sell a ring but really making contact. He arranges to meet them at the bar, hinting at a secret errand.
