The Beach

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Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic, Blood Diamond), Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) and Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) star in a tale of adventure, action, drama, seduction and satire. When Richard (DiCaprio) travelled to Thailand for a vacation, he never expected it would lead him on such a perilous journey. When he meets a myserious man named Daffy (Carlyle), he receives a map showing him the location of an island. He shares the secret of the map with a French couple...and so they begin their adventure. When they reach the island, they find a small community of dwellers and a group of dope farmers. The trio then struggle to live in the community. Richard falls in love with Françoise (Ledoyen) and begins to enjoy the beach until he takes a trip for supplies with Sal. Sal overhears a group of travelers talking to Richard about a map he had given them. When they appear on an island near the beach, Sal demands that Richard spends his days watching the groups movement. When the tourists attempt to come to the beach, Richard is to take the map back, and tell the group they are not welcome. The tourists arrive and are killed by the marijuana farmers. This altercation leads to the head farmer to address the community, and demand they leave the island. Sal disagrees, and the farmer tells Sal in order to let them stay, she must shoot RIchard, whom had just been confronted on copying the map. Sal pulls the trigger, but the gun is empty; This is enough for the farmer, as he was only testing her. Everyone else leaves the island, with Sal staying behind. The parting shot of the film is Richard reading an e-mail from Françoise with a group photo of the settlement from the island attached. 

Memorable Quotes for The Beach :
Françoise: Richard, this is just the kind of pretentious bullshit that Americans always say to French girls so they can sleep with them.

Richard: No offence an' all, but, you're fucked in the head, right?

[first lines]
Richard: My name is Richard. So what else do you need to know? Stuff about my family, or where I'm from? None of that matters. Not once you cross the ocean and cut yourself loose, looking for something more beautiful, something more exciting and yes, I admit, something more dangerous. So after eighteen hours in the back of an airplane, three dumb movies, two plastic meals, six beers and absolutely no sleep, I finally touch down; in Bangkok.

Hustler: Hey! Do you need somewhere to stay?
Richard: Well, I'll be fine. I'll find my own place thanks!
Hustler: Good time boy! Girl! Fucking! No problem.
Hustler: You wanna drink snake blood?
Richard: Wait a minute, did you say snake blood?
Hustler: Oh yeah!
Richard: No thanks.
Hustler: What is wrong with snake blood?
Richard: I just don't like the idea.
Hustler: Or maybe you're scared, afraid of something new!
Richard: No, I just don't like the idea, that's all.
Hustler: Ah-ha! Just like every tourist, you are all the same, just like America!

[last lines]
Richard: And me, I still believe in paradise. But now at least I know it's not some place you can look for, 'cause it's not where you go. It's how you feel for a moment in your life when you're a part of something, and if you find that moment... it lasts forever...

Richard: Trust me, it's paradise. This is where the hungry come to feed. For mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It's probably worth it.

Etienne: One kilometer.
Françoise: Two.
Etienne: Richard?
Richard: I dunno; I'm American.
Etienne: So?
Richard: I think in miles, not kilometers.
Etienne: Okay, so how many miles do you think it is?
Richard: I dunno, but it looks like a long way away.

Richard: I had nothing left to offer but pure reflex. Pure reflex and mankind's basic drive for survival, that somehow shouts, "NO - I WILL NOT DIE TODAY!"

Richard: The only downer is, everyone's got the same idea. We all travel thousands of miles just to watch TV and check in to somewhere with all the comforts of home, and you gotta ask yourself, what is the point of that?

Richard: I just feel like everyone tries to do something different, but you always wind up doing the same damn thing.

Richard: I told myself spreading news was part of a traveller's nature, but if I was being completely honest, I was just like everybody else: shit-scared of the great unknown. Desperate to take a little piece of home with me.

Richard: When you develop an infatuation for someone you always find a reason to believe that this is exactly the person for you. It doesn't need to be a good reason. Taking photographs of the night sky, for example. Now, in the long run, that's just the kind of dumb, irritating habit that would cause you to split up. But in the haze of infatuation, it's just what you've been searching for all these years.

Sal: Now get some sleep, I may wish to have sex again before we eat breakfast.

Sal: Okay, it's like this. Bugs is my boyfriend, my partner. Okay? And you are someone I just had sex with. All right?
Richard: Oh, tha - that's fine. That's absolutely fine.
Sal: Good. Now get some sleep. I may wish to have sex again before we eat breakfast.

Richard: Oh, God!
Etienne: Putain de merde!
Etienne: Well?
Richard: Well, what?
Etienne: How do we get down?
Richard: How do we get down? How am I supposed to know? Do I have to decide everything now?
Françoise: We'll jump.
Etienne: Fuck! You wanted to be in command, Richard.
Richard: I only took command, because you lost your nerve, French boy!
Etienne: Yeah, and look where you've taken us !
[Large shot on the waterfall]


Sten: We like fishing.
Karl: Fishing, hehe.
Sten: And in the winter we like skiing.
Christo: Yeah!
Sten: Of course, in Thailand there is no skiing.

Richard: [voiceover] Our resident chef was known as Unhygienix.
Unhygienix: Let's cook!
Richard: [voiceover] On account of his obsession with soap.
Unhygienix: Fish, fish, fish!
[Scrubs hands and sniffs them]
Unhygienix: Still I smell of fish!

Françoise: What are you talking about?
Richard: Just making conversation.
Françoise: Do you have a girlfriend?
Richard: Here?
Françoise: Anywhere.
Richard: No, why?
Françoise: Just making conversation.

Daffy: Pay them in dollars and fuck their daughters.

Richard: You hope, and you dream. But you never believe that something's gonna happen for you. Not like it does in the movies. And when it actually does, you want it to feel different, more visceral, more real. I was waiting for it to hit me, but it just wouldn't happen. The police were pissed cuz he was traveling under a false passport. But they didn't ask me about the map, so - I didn't tell 'em.

Etienne: Oh fuck! Richard! Fuck!
Richard: What?
Etienne: I saw a fin!
Richard: What? Are you joking?
Etienne: No, no. A fin!
Richard: OK, a shark fin?
Etienne: I don't know! Just a fin! Over there, about a hundred meters.
Richard: Well, was it big?
Etienne: Yes.
Richard: Well, what the fuck do you expect me to do about it?
Etienne: Nothing! I just thought you should know!
Richard: Well, to be honest, Etienne, I'd rather you hadn't told me!
Etienne: I'm sorry!
Richard: Well, it's a bit fuckin' late now, isn't it?

Keaty: [Keaty interrupts Richard whilst watching Francoise and pretending to read his book] One: she's just teasin' ya.
Richard: What are you talking about?
Keaty: Two: you don't speak French. Three: he speaks French. In fact, even better than that, four: he IS French. Five: he's much better at football - sorry, sorry, SOCCER - than you. And six: you're a bit strange, Rich. Some girls like that in a man, but not usually the sort of girls you wanna be with.
Richard: Is that right?
Keaty: Come on, your last girlfriend chucked ya, there must've been a reason.
Richard: It was not my fault!
Keaty: And seven: look at - look at your thumbs, man! They're well defined!
Richard: Wh-what is that supposed to mean?
Keaty: You play a lot of video games! That is a powerful index of incompatabilty.
Richard: Why do I get the feeling like you're trying to tell me something?
Keaty: You haven't a hope mate - not a bleedin' chicken's chance in Thailand. Know what I mean?
Richard: Thank you.
Keaty: So, enjoy the beach and cut the bullshit.
Richard: [softly] Thank you very much.
Keaty: It's my pleasure.

Richard: After the funeral, we all tried to get back to normal.
Richard: But it just didn't seem right
Richard: It became clear the problem was Christo
Richard: You see, in a shark attack, or any other major tragedy, I guess the important thing is to get eaten and die, in which case there's a funeral and somebody makes a speech and everybody says what a good guy you were
Richard: Or get better, in which case everyone can forget about it. Get better or die.
Richard: It's the hanging around in between that really pisses people off.

Richard: And me? I still believe in paradise. But now at least I know it's not some place you can look for. Because it's not where you go. It's how you feel for a moment in your life when you're a part of something. And if you find that moment... It lasts forever.

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