Chapter 15 of 30 · 3'31"
A wedding brings the strangest of toasts: Candy raises a glass to "my fiancee who was never my fiancee" and "the man who tried to kill me before he was introduced to me." Goodbyes follow, along with a promise of friendship, and then a return to duty.
Candy's Wedding Toast
❝ Monologue · 7 lines Candy's farewell threat
He blesses the match and threatens it in the same breath, so affection and menace arrive together.
❝ Monologue · 22 lines A Good Lesson From the Old Man
How to Get On in the Army
The chapter opens on a wedding: Candy toasts Edith and Theo, and the friendship is sealed with a promise. Goodbyes follow, and Theodore, in broken English, says that his friendship for Candy is 'very much.' The second half jumps back to England, where a senior officer scolds Candy for his Berlin adventure.
The two halves of the chapter pull in opposite directions. The wedding scenes are generous: Candy toasts 'my fiancee who was never my fiancee' and 'the man who tried to kill me before he was introduced to me,' turning the whole absurd history into an affectionate joke, and Theodore replies with the only English he trusts — that his friendship is 'very much.' Then the film cuts back to a senior officer telling Candy exactly how the world works: 'Don't bother your head with things you don't understand,' 'Keep your mouth shut and avoid politicians like the plague.' The contrast is the point. The older man speaks the language of a career and a system; the friends in Berlin spoke the language of feeling. Candy is caught between them, praised and scolded in the same breath, which is where the film keeps him.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“A toast. Here's to the happiness of my fiancee who was never my fiancee, and here's to the man who tried to kill me before he was introduced to me. Prost.”
It packs a false engagement, an old duel and new friendship into one toast, and still keeps its humour.
Neutral
“Keep your mouth shut and avoid politicians like the plague.”
One line of old-fashioned advice sums up survival at work: stay quiet and keep your distance.
Informal
“- I have to give you away, don't I? - Who told you?”
It turns a wedding duty into a father's claim, proud on the surface and sentimental underneath.
Neutral
“You are in the Army as a career, aren't you? Not for five minutes?”
Two tag questions frame a career as a long haul and refuse to let him treat it as a whim.
Formal
“I'd be surprised if any woman would look twice at you.”
It insults without a single rude word, letting look twice at do all the damage.
Informal
Now, listen to me, you son of a gun, you won't understand a word of what I'm going to say, but I came to Berlin to find a rat, and I found two of the grandest people I've ever met. I leave to you, you Prussian stiff-neck you, this girl in trust, and if you don't take care of her, I'll raise the whole of England against you. The Navy will steam up your stinking Stolpchensee, and I'll lead the Army down Unter den Linden, and we'll...
The trouble with you young fellows is you want to go changing everything. What's the result? You spent all your leave in a nursing home full of foreigners. You cost the Treasury a lot of money. You make the Foreign Office very cross. Yes, very cross. And what do you get for it? Your beauty's spoiled. You weren't any fashion plate before. I'd be surprised if any woman would look twice at you. - So would I. - When you were here in January, I told you very clearly it was not your concern, it was an Embassy job. Well, sir, I thought I'd take a chance. A chance? A chance?! You can't afford to take a chance with your career, my boy. You are in the Army as a career, aren't you? Not for five minutes? You were putting up a pretty good show. You go barging in on this nonsense, and you come very near to getting yourself kicked out. - You don't want to get kicked out, do you? - No, sir. Well, let me tell you one thing. Don't bother your head with things you don't understand and you won't go far wrong. Never go off at half-cock. Keep cool. Keep your mouth shut and avoid politicians like the plague. That's the way to get on in the Army.
Up next · 16wonders will never ceaseThe scene: Clive's Aunt Interrogates Him at HomeBecause by now the feud is over. Toasting the woman he never married and the man he once duelled with turns the whole misunderstanding into a joke and celebrates the friendship that came out of it.
It means to avoid someone or something completely, as if it carried disease. The officer uses it to tell Candy to stay far away from politicians if he wants a career.
Because it went wrong in every official way: it cost money, annoyed the Foreign Office, and nearly got Candy thrown out of the Army. The officer measures it by its cost, not its meaning.
That it rewards caution and silence over initiative: don't touch what you don't understand, don't make waves, and stay away from politics. It is the world Candy keeps failing to fit into.
