Quotes

Spirits of the Dead

Giuseppina (segment "William Wilson"): The card-player resembles the lover. He gets tired. No staying power, my dear.

William Wilson: It is said, gentlemen, that the heart is the seat of the emotions, the passions. Indeed. But experience shows that it is the seat of our cares. Its only generosity lies in the suffering it gives. So, when we have cut the ribs, separated the diaphragm, and folded back what is commonly called the rib cage, we can deliver the patient form the source of her woes. The doctor is a benefactor. We will thus bring her relief. Along with her heart...
Young girl on the dissection table (segment "William Wilson"): No!
William Wilson: We'll remove despair and the pain of love. Gentlemen, we shall restore her her pristine purity, the peace of paradise lost.
Young girl on the dissection table (segment "William Wilson"): No!

Party Girl: It's Wilson!
William Wilson: You recognize me? I'm flattered. There were many of us the other night. It was dark and you were very busy.

Tonina: Is that Wilson?
Giuseppina (segment "William Wilson"): Be careful, Tonina. This Wilson is surely not the lover you dream of. He's made his reputation from men. He loves parades, the theater, dressing up. He needs an audience. But in private, he puts on a poor show.

University professor (segment "William Wilson"): I remind you that a doctor is also a sorcerer. We shall seek life in the depths of matter. And now I have the pleasure of dissecting before you a human body which has always been the dream of priests, poets or philosophers. To be precise, I shall open a human heart.

Father Spagna - Priest (segment "Toby Dammit"): This film will be in color. Harsh colors, rough costumes to reconcile the holy landscape with the prairie. Sort of Piero della Francesca and Fred Zinneman. An interesting formula. You'll adapt to it very well. Just let your heart speak.
Toby Dammit (segment "Toby Dammit"): Their producers promised me a Ferrari - latest model. Where is it?

Robert - Toby Dammit's Stand In: So, is London great?
Actress #1: As far as manners go, the English are lords. You wear a mini-skirt and they don't turn a hair.

Contessa Frederique de Metzengerstein (segment "Metzengerstein"): Hughes! Are the horses ready?
Hugues (segment "Metzengerstein"): Whenever you wish, Madam.
Contessa Frederique de Metzengerstein (segment "Metzengerstein"): Right away!
Hugues (segment "Metzengerstein"): Your guests are still in bed, Milady.
Contessa Frederique de Metzengerstein (segment "Metzengerstein"): I slept badly last night! Wake them! I need fresh air! I want to ride, to forget this dream I had.
Hugues (segment "Metzengerstein"): Are you sure it was a dream? Sometimes you need me to tell you what you did was real.

Father Spagna - Priest (segment "Toby Dammit"): It's the first Catholic Western. Christ's return to the bleak, desolate prairie. And is this not the secret desire of all men? A new incarnation of Christ. Our Savior appearing this time in concrete, tangible form. Christ already lives in us, but to show him in a violently mundane context - It may seem a desperate gamble. Blasphemy, almost, I agree. But I know an artist such as you, whether a believer or not, will understand that structuralist cinema can recapture sublime poetry through primal images that are spare - eloquent in their poverty - syntagmatic, as my friend Roland Barthes would say. Something between Dreyer and Pasolini with just a hint of John Ford, of course.

TV Reporter #4: Was your childhood unhappy?
Toby Dammit (segment "Toby Dammit"): No. My mother always laughed when she hit me.

Actress (segment "Toby Dammit"): Don't be afraid anymore. I'll take care of you. Always. Yes, always. I understand you. I know you. I've always known you. You won't be alone any more, because I'll be with you always. Whenever you put out your hand, you will find my hand. You are no longer shipwrecked, no longer a fugitive. No more loneliness. No more selfishness. We will share a life of serenity and devotion. The one you and I were waiting for. You had no faith, but you trusted and found me. I am the one you were waiting for. And I am here with you. Forever.

TV Reporter #1: Do you believe in God?
Toby Dammit (segment "Toby Dammit"): No.
TV Reporter #4: What about the devil?
Toby Dammit (segment "Toby Dammit"): Yes. in the devil, yes.
TV Reporter #4: How interesting! And have you seen him?
Toby Dammit (segment "Toby Dammit"): Yes, I have.
TV Reporter #4: Describe him for us. Is he a goat, a bat or a black cat?
Toby Dammit (segment "Toby Dammit"): Oh, no. I'm English, not Catholic. For me the devil is friendly and joyful. He's a little girl.

Maurizio Manetti - director (segment "Toby Dammit"): As long as it reflects the death throes and decay of our capitalists system - a Western can claim to be militant. That's what Lukcas says. We'll create historical characters sociologically contextualized. Thus, our two outlaws represent irresponsibility and anarchy. The busty girl is the illusory escape into the irrational. The prairie is beyond history and the bisons are man's struggle for subsistence.

TV Reporter #3: How did critics like your Hamlet?
Toby Dammit (segment "Toby Dammit"): Obviously the critics didn't understand a thing.

TV Reporter #4: Do you think you're neurotic?
Toby Dammit (segment "Toby Dammit"): It's my one quality.
TV Reporter #4: What is amiss in your life, Mr. Dammit?
Toby Dammit (segment "Toby Dammit"): I'm happy and it drives me to despair.
TV Reporter #4: Is it true you've done unsavory jobs?
Toby Dammit (segment "Toby Dammit"): Yes... yes... but... I've never been a TV reporter.

Italian Oscars Emcee: Come to the microphone, Miki, and share your feelings with us. Even if we expect it, it's always an unforgettable moment.
Miki - Actress: I'm overcome with emotion. All I can say is... thank you.
Italian Oscars Emcee: And you?
Actress #2: Yes. I'm overcome with emotion. All I can say is... thank you.
Actress #3: I'm overcome with emotion. All I can say is... thank you.
Italian Oscars Emcee: Bravo! Bravo!

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