City of Angels (film)

1998 film directed by Brad Silberling

City of Angels is a 1998 film about an angel watching over Los Angeles who begins finding his job difficult as he falls in love with a beautiful heart surgeon. She becomes interested in him, and soon his not-quite-mortal state seems a barrier rather than a gift. A choice must be made between celestial duty and earthly love. It is a remake of Wim Wenders' 1987 German film Wings of Desire, which was set in Berlin.

Directed by Brad Silberling. Written by Dana Stevens, Wim Wenders, Peter Handke, and Richard Reitinger.
She didn't believe in angels until she fell in love with one. taglines

Maggie Rice edit

  • Something happened in that room. I got this jolt that... something bigger is out there. Something bigger than me, bigger than you. Does that sound crazy?
  • No dying yet, Mr. Messinger. Not until you give me Seth's phone number.
  • We fight for people’s lives, right? Do you ever wonder who it is we're fighting with?
  • [to Seth] When they ask me what I liked best, I'll tell them, it was you.
  • I don't understand a God who would let us meet, if there's no way we could ever be together.

Seth edit

  • Some things are true whether you believe in them or not.
  • I would rather have had... one breath of her hair... one kiss of her mouth... one touch of her hand... than eternity without it. One.

Others edit

  • Nathaniel Messinger: [to Seth] I can't see you, but I know you're there.
  • Ann: Never date a guy who knows more about your vagina than you do.
  • Susan: What good would wings be if you couldn't feel the wind on your face?

Dialogue edit

Susan: Where are we going?
Seth: Home.
Susan: Can Mommy come?
Seth: No.
Susan: She won't understand.
Seth: She will someday.

Seth: Can I ask you something?
Susan: Yes?
Seth: What did you like best?
Susan: Pajamas.

Seth: The little girl asked if she could be an angel.
Cassiel: They all want wings.
Seth: I never know what to say.
Cassiel: Tell them the truth. Angels aren't human. We were never human.
Seth: What if I just make her a little pair of wings out of paper?

Maggie: Are you a visitor? Who are you visiting?
Seth: You.

Seth: Are you in despair?
Maggie: I lost a patient.
Seth: You did everything you could?
Maggie: I was holding his heart in my hand when he died.
Seth: Then he wasn't alone.
Maggie: Yes, he was.
Seth: People died.
Maggie: Not on my table.
Seth: People died when their bodies give out.
Maggie: It's my job to keep their bodies from giving out. Or what am I doing here?
Seth: It wasn't your fault, Maggie.
Maggie: I wanted him to live.
Seth: He is living. Just not the way you think.
Maggie: I don't believe in that.
Seth: Some things are true whether you believe them or not.

Seth: Hello Maggie! It's nice to see you again.
Maggie: It's weird to see you again.
Seth: Weird is nice.

[Maggie meets Seth at the library]
Maggie: Do you come here a lot?
Seth: I live here.
Maggie: What do you do?
Seth: Read.
Maggie: No, I mean, your work.
Seth: Oh, I am a messenger
Maggie: What kind of messenger? Like a bike messenger?
Seth: No, I am a messenger of God.

Maggie: Why do you wear the same clothes all the time? Why won't you give me your phone number? Are you married?
Seth: No.
Maggie: Are you homeless?
Seth: No.
Maggie: Are you a drummer?

Seth: You're a good doctor.
Maggie: How do you know?
Seth: I have a feeling.
Maggie: Yeah, well that's pretty flimsy evidence.
Seth: Close your eyes. Just for a second... what am I doing?
Maggie: You're... touching me.
Seth: How do you know?
Maggie: Because I feel it.
Seth: You should trust that. You don't trust it enough.

Seth: Why do people cry?
Maggie: What do you mean?
Seth: I mean... what happens physically?
Maggie: Well... umm... tear ducts operate on a normal basis to lubricate and protect the eye and when you have an emotion they overreact and create tears.
Seth: Why? Why do they overreact?
Maggie: [pause] I don't know.
Seth: Maybe... maybe emotion becomes so intense your body just can't contain it. Your mind and your feelings become too powerful... and your body weeps.

Seth: Let's go.
Maggie: Where?
Seth: Anywhere.
Maggie: What'll we do?
Seth: Anything.

Nathaniel: Listen, kid: He gave these bozos the greatest gift in the universe - you think He didn't give it to us, too?
Seth: Which gift?
Nathaniel: Free will, brother. Free will.

Seth: What's that like? What's it taste like? Describe it like Hemingway.
Maggie: Well, it tastes like a pear. You don't know what a pear tastes like?
Seth: I don't know what a pear tastes like to you.
Maggie: Sweet, juicy, soft on your tongue, grainy like a sugary sand that dissolves in your mouth. How's that?
Seth: It's perfect.

Maggie: Who- What are you?
Seth: I came to take Mr. Balford... and I saw you. I couldn't take my eyes off you. How you fought for him. And you looked right at me... like I was a man.
Maggie: "To take Mr. Balford"?
Seth: I was there. We are always there in every room.
Maggie: What are you talking about?
Seth: I was there in the stairwell... when you cried for your patient. And I touched you, remember?
Maggie: Why are you doing this?
Seth: Because I'm in love with you.

Nathaniel: Seth knows no fear, no pain, no hunger, he hears music in the sunrise. But he'd give it all up, he loves you that much.
Maggie: I don't understand.
Nathaniel: He can fall, he can give up eternity and become... one of us, human.
...
Maggie: How do you know so much?
Nathaniel: Because... I did it.

Mack Truck driver: Where are you headed?
Seth: Tahoe!
Mack Truck driver: Reno.
Seth: Tahoe!
Mack Truck driver: I'm going to Reno!
Seth: I'm going to Tahoe!
Mack Truck driver: Well, hop in, we'll figure it out when we get there.

Maggie: What happened?
Seth: Free will.

Seth: Why did He do this?
Cassiel: I don't know.
Seth: Am I being punished?
Cassiel: You know better than that.

(last lines)

Cassiel: If you knew what was going to happen, would you still have done it?
Seth: I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss of her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it. Just one.

Taglines edit

  • She didn't believe in angels until she fell in love with one.
  • What if angels walked amoung us, and one of them fell in love with us?

Cast edit

External links edit

 
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