Chapter 6 of 16 · 2'47"
Melodie tells Boris she likes him and asks whether he could ever marry her, and he reacts as if she had gone insane: "Have you lost your mind?" He then lists his own flaws and delivers a lecture that love does not conquer all, while she answers that his bark is worse than his bite.
❝ Monologue · 4 lines Boris Refuses Melodie
❝ Monologue · 6 lines Boris Complains About Melodie
Melodie confesses that she likes Boris and asks if he could ever think of marrying her. He is appalled, tells her he has nothing to offer but a bad temper and misanthropy, and explains that love does not conquer all. She replies that he is all bark and no bite.
The chapter is Boris's philosophy delivered to the one person who will not be impressed by it. Melodie offers him something simple and real, and he answers with a catalogue of his own defects and a lecture on love, insisting that "the romantic aspirations of our youth are reduced to whatever works." It is meant to sound wise, and Melodie punctures it with one line about his bark being worse than his bite, which is both a cliché and the truth about him. The film lets the joke sit: the man who says love cannot last is the one who keeps this young woman in his apartment, feeding her and teaching her, while insisting he wants to be alone.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“What could I offer you, but a bad temper, hypochondriasis, morbid fixations, reclusive rages and misanthropy?”
He lists his flaws like a medical chart, and the pile-up is both cruel and funny.
literary
“I think you should stay here for a while, accumulate some money, and then find a place of your own, and move on with your life.”
It sounds like advice but works as a timetable for getting her out of his flat.
Neutral
“Love, despite what they tell you, does not conquer all. Nor does it even usually last.”
It dismantles the love-conquers-all myth, then twists the knife with an inversion.
literary
“In the end, the romantic aspirations of our youth are reduced to whatever works. Okay?”
He folds the film's title into a summary of love, closing the lesson with a shrug.
literary
“But if Henry Higgins ever tried to transform Melody Saint Anne Celestine, he, too, would have jumped out the window.”
A literary allusion ends in a suicide joke, and the contrast keeps it light.
literary
Let me teach you something about love. Okay? Naturally, there are exceptions to what I'm going to say, but they're the exception, not the rule. Love, despite what they tell you, does not conquer all. Nor does it even usually last. In the end, the romantic aspirations of our youth are reduced to whatever works. Okay?
Can you believe this little inchworm setting her sights on me? Yes, yes, we had some pleasant moments. Some dinners, some walks in the park. I gave her the benefit of my vast knowledge and experience. Tried to impart to her the perceptions and values of a truly original mentality. I only wish I could do a Pygmalion on her. But if Henry Higgins ever tried to transform Melody Saint Anne Celestine, he, too, would have jumped out the window.
Up next · 07play one's cards rightThe scene: Melodie Meets PerryHe is horrified and asks if she has lost her mind. He then lists his own faults and says anything between them is impossible, and that she should find a place of her own.
He says love does not conquer all and usually does not last, and that youthful romance ends up reduced to whatever works. He presents it as a hard truth rather than an opinion.
She says his bark is worse than his bite, which he points out is itself a cliché. She does not mind, and tells him to wear it if the shoe fits.
He complains that she has set her sights on him, mocks her as a little inchworm, and jokes that Henry Higgins would have jumped out the window trying to transform her.
