Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)

Geneviève Bujold: Anne Boleyn

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Quotes 

• King Henry VIII : You whore!

  Anne : But Elizabeth was yours. Watch her as she grows; she's yours. She's a Tudor! Get yourself a son off of that sweet, pale girl if you can - and hope that it will live! But Elizabeth shall reign *after* you. Yes! Elizabeth - child of Anne the Whore and Henry the Blood-Stained Lecher - shall be Queen!

  King Henry VIII : You've asked for death and you shall have it.

  Anne : So be it. Only what I take to my grave, you take to yours. And think of this, Henry: Elizabeth shall be a greater Queen than any King of yours. She shall rule a greater England than you could ever have built! Yes - *my* Elizabeth shall be Queen. And my blood will have been well spent!

• Anne : For six years, this year, and this, and this, and this, I did not love him. And then I did. Then I was his. I can count the days I was his in hundreds.

  [picks up day counter] 

  Anne : . The days we bedded. Married. Were Happy. Bore Elizabeth. Hated. Lusted. Bore a dead child... which condemned me... to death. In all one thousand days. Just a thousand. strange. And of those thousand, one when we were both in love, only one, when our loves met and overlapped and were both mine and his. And when I no longer hated him, he began to hate me. Except for that one day.

• King Henry VIII : Nan, is it true?

  Anne : Have you stepped into your own trap, my lord? Any evidence you have against me, you yourself bought and paid for. Do you now begin to believe it?

  King Henry VIII : Anny, the court is still in session to decide your... verdict. I don't want to hear your guilt from them, I want to hear it from your lips.

  Anne : That I was unfaithful to you?

  King Henry VIII : Yes, just that. Were you unfaithful to me whilst I still loved you? Of course, I'll never know. Whether you say aye or no, I shall never know.

  Anne : You come here to make sure whether there was truly adultery, because that would touch your manhood or your pride. And even so, my heart and my eyes are glad of you. Fool of all women that I am, I'm glad of you here. Go, then. Keep your pride of manhood, you know about me now.

  King Henry VIII : Nan, is it true that you're glad to see me?

  Anne : Yes, it's true.

  King Henry VIII : Then, Anne, lets do all gently for old times sake. I have no wish to harm you, and your words have moved me deeply. I must be free to have a son, and the son must be free to rule England when I die.

  Anne : Why must you leave a king to follow you, Henry? Why not a queen?

  King Henry VIII : This country has never been ruled by a queen. I know it never could be. We can never have a son now, God has spoken. I must have a son elsewhere. And it's getting late. I'm not as young as I was.

  Anne : What do you want of me?

  King Henry VIII : Agree to annul the marriage and give up all rights. You shall go abroad and take Elizabeth with you. You will be well cared for. Please set me free.

  Anne : To marry Seymour and make our child a bastard? No. No. No.

  King Henry VIII : Nan... Nan, you leave me no choice!

  Anne : Once I told you any children we had would not be bastards. You promised marriage and the crown. Now you try to dance out of your promise. Well, I won't have it! We are man and wife together. King and Queen. I keep that. Take it from me as best you can.

  King Henry VIII : Then you have decided, and so have I!

  Anne : Before you go, perhaps you should hear one thing. I lied to you. I said "I love you", but I lied. I was untrue. Untrue with many.

  King Henry VIII : That is a lie.

  Anne : It is true. I was unfaithful to you with all of them. With half your court. With soldiers of your guard, with grooms, with stablehands. Look for the rest of your life at every man that ever knew me and wonder if I didn't find him a better man than you!

  King Henry VIII : You whore!

• King Henry VIII : If some young man wrote this song for you, Anne, what would you say to him?

  Anne : I would ask him if his wife liked it, Your Grace.

• Anne : [before her execution]  I have a little neck.

• King Henry VIII : I think nothing but you. Of you and me playing dog and bitch, of you and me playing horse and mare. Of you and me in every way. I want to fill you up night after night. I want to fill you up with sons.

  Anne : Bastards! They would be bastards!

• King Henry VIII : Mistress Anne, will you teach the King of England how they dance in the French court?

  Anne : There is nothing that France can teach England, Your Majesty.

  King Henry VIII : Well said. Well said.

• Anne : Won't you kiss your daughter?

  King Henry VIII : I will kiss her when she's older - and when she has a brother!

• Anne : You make love as you eat, with a great deal of noise and no subtlety!

• Anne : Doesn't do that well. Not as well as I've known it done. But it's the one arm I want - for some God-knows-what reason. You do everything badly - everything awkwardly - and I love it the way you do it.

• King Henry VIII : Where is Jane Seymour? Cromwell tells me when the dance was ended, she was sent away under guard.

  Anne : She's on her way to Northumberland. As far away as I could send her, since we don't own Scotland. She has the face of a simpering sheep. And the manners. But not the morals. I don't want her near me.

• King Henry VIII : Nan, it's a cruel thing to be near a woman day after day, to touch her when you wanted to, to have her company when you asked it, and to have no response. To burn with love as I do for you and be denied any pleasure in your cool company. It is a cruel thing, Nan, to be denied love.

  Anne Boleyn : The same cruel thing has happened to me. I've fallen in love.

  King Henry VIII : Nan!

  Anne Boleyn : But not with you.

  King Henry VIII : My God. I got it right in the face that time. Percy, is it?

  Anne Boleyn : You know. You had Wolsey send him away.

  King Henry VIII : Love with that blundering...

  Anne Boleyn : I mean to marry him.

  King Henry VIII : Never!

  Anne Boleyn : But not as my sister is married. He won't be a complacent husband, and I shall not be accessible to you.

  King Henry VIII : All wives are accessible. Any husband can be placated. Even a Percy of Northumberland.

  Anne Boleyn : Well, then you have nothing to fear, your grace. Let me marry him.

  King Henry VIII : No! No! I want you all to myself!

  [Anne turns to leave, Henry stops her] 

  King Henry VIII : Nan. Nan. If you give yourself to me this whole kingdom will turn around you. Whatever you wanted for anyone. Knighthoods, revenues, you shall dispose of them exactly as you please.

  Anne Boleyn : And be thrown out in the end? What great revenues does my sister dispose of?

  King Henry VIII : Well, Mary asked for nothing. I won't bargain with you. Ask for what you want.

  Anne Boleyn : My freedom. To marry whom I love.

  King Henry VIII : Never.

  Anne Boleyn : I've heard what your courtiers say and I've seen what you are. You're spoiled and vengeful and bloody. Your poetry is sour and your music is worse. You make love as you eat, with a good deal of noise and no subtlety.

  King Henry VIII : This is not safe.

  Anne Boleyn : Yes, I've been told it's not safe for any of us to say no to our King. That put on, kindly, hail-fellow-well-met of yours. My father's house will be pulled down, and Northumberland's too, they tell me. Well, pull them down, Your Majesty, you are what I said.

  King Henry VIII : There is no better way to make an end than to raise anger in me. I thank you for that. You made a fool of me! And I'm well out of it!

  [walks away] 

  Anne Boleyn : Your Grace! You will not harm Harry Percy?

  [Henry gets on his horse] 

  King Henry VIII : I'll try not. Vengeful and bloody as I am, I'll try not!

  [rides away] 

• Anne : I love your awkwardness. But if we love enough to marry, we must keep nothing back.

  Lord Percy : So?

  Anne : Are we to bed together? Before?

  Lord Percy : If you like.

  Anne : Kiss me.

• Anne : Are you a virgin?

  Lord Percy : I'm a man.

  Anne : I know, but are you a virgin? When we bed together, shall I be your first?

  Lord Percy : I...

  Anne : Speak out! Well, I'll say it frankly as they do in France. In England we make muddy mysteries of such things as if they were crimes. We don't come out of a rainbow at 17 and there's no use pretending we do. You may ask me whatever you like.

  Lord Percy : Are you a virgin?

• Anne : The King has asked for me?

  Cardinal Wolsey : He has.

  Anne : And sent you to me?

  Cardinal Wolsey : It is sometimes my duty to anticipate his desires.

  Anne : Even in carnal matters, My Lord Cardinal? We have had the King in the bosom of this family for some years. My sister Mary is with child by him and of no further use. I shall *not* go the way of my sister. You would be wise to anticipate my answer and spare His Majesty any annoyance. I will not be a *mistress* of the King even with the blessing of a prince of the Church!

• King Henry VIII : In time, Nan, you'll grow to love me.

  Anne : Anything is possible.

  King Henry VIII : With us everything is possible.

• Anne : I can't believe it. The pain is so great, I want to die.

  Elizabeth Boleyn : Pain goes, my child. Few of us marry where our hearts lie.

• King Henry VIII : Now walk with me, talk with me. I love your sweet voice, your company and your bold spirit. Tell me, dare I ask it? Is there anything about me that you love?

  Anne : No.

• Anne : I'm still young. I love dancing and new clothes and gifts. And power. Power is as exciting as love, I discover.

• Anne : I'll give the man that marries me a houseful of lusty sons.

• Anne : Would you rape a pregnant woman?

  King Henry VIII : Oh, Nan. God, forgive me.

  Anne : You great royal fool!

• Anne : Touch her and I'll have her sent from court.

  King Henry VIII : Who?

  Anne : That half-witted Seymour who is always so tongue-tied and blushing and adoring whenever you enter my chamber.

• Anne : Would you sacrifice the child of our love to get a silly little harlot brought back to court?

• King Henry VIII : I rob, murder and commit sacrilege - at your command.

  Anne : You do what you wish and call the deed mine. I hate you. I hate your desire and mine!

• Anne : Whilst I am here, Jane Seymour must lie elsewhere.