# City of Angels (film)

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.

## Maggie Rice

* 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

* 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

* 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

    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

* 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

* Nicolas Cage - Seth
* Meg Ryan - Dr. Maggie Rice
* Andre Braugher - Cassiel
* Dennis Franz - Nathaniel Messinger
* Colm Feore - Jordan Ferris
* Robin Bartlett - Anne
* Joanna Merlin - Teresa Messinger
* Sarah Dampf - Susan

## External links

* City of Angels quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* City of Angels at Rotten Tomatoes