Christine Buchegger credited as playing...
Katarina Egermann
- Katarina Egermann: Neither of us wants to mature. That's the reason we fight and torment each other and cry. Neither of us wants to grow up.
- Katarina Egermann: If Peter isn't well, neither am I. I want to run home and hold him and say: from now now I understand everything you say, think and feel. I want to hold him tight until he notices me, because we don't see each other although we live so close and know everything about each other.
- Katarina Egermann: I look back on our life, astounded, Think of our former reality: we were dreaming, playing or whatever the hell we did. This is the real reality. And it's unbearable. I speak, answer, think, get dressed, sleep and eat, those are daily needs, the hard surface. Underneath I'm crying. I weep for myself - because I may not be as I was. What has been may never again be, is gone forever, like a dream.
- Katarina Egermann: Can't you tell me why you're so unhappy?
- Peter Egermann: I'm neither unhappy nor happy. What a crappy word by the way.
- Katarina Egermann: I wonder if you're not more worried... than you say you are.
- Professor Mogens Jensen: Rationally speaking, the risks are pretty minimal.
- Katarina Egermann: Then let's remain rational.
- Professor Mogens Jensen: I don't know, Katarina. My damn intuition won't let go of this.
- Katarina Egermann: Is your intuition always right?
- Professor Mogens Jensen: I think so.
- Katarina Egermann: Your business friends consider it an honor... to eat that grub your awful old mother prepares. And in that rat trap to boot. It's incredible.
- Peter Egermann: Mama is a monument.
- Katarina Egermann: She's a rotten old monument... to your father's ancient imperium of oppression.
- Peter Egermann: There's no way out. If you understand what I mean.
- Katarina Egermann: No.
- Peter Egermann: No...
- Katarina Egermann: You have to give me an example.
- Peter Egermann: Surfeit.
- Katarina Egermann: Surfeit? I don't even know what that is.
- Peter Egermann: A typical component of 'surfeit'... is that you feel unbearably surfeited... when asked to elucidate the reason for that state of surfeit.
- Peter Egermann: Don't drink so much.
- Katarina Egermann: I'll drink as much as I want, my darling. I never go overboard.
- Peter Egermann: You were pretty insufferable last night.
- Katarina Egermann: Don't I know it.
- Peter Egermann: You'd had too much to drink. That's why.
- Katarina Egermann: I was like that on purpose.
- Peter Egermann: That's the way it is. On purpose.
- Katarina Egermann: I enjoy embarrassing Martin.
- Peter Egermann: You succeeded wonderfully.
- Katarina Egermann: He always tries to fondle me in secret. So I get tipsy and fondle him. Openly. That's a subtle way of getting back at someone, little Peter.
- Peter Egermann: You start talking nonsense loudly...
- Katarina Egermann: That's your opinion. Everyone else thinks I'm terribly nice.
- Katarina Egermann: It goes without saying.
- Peter Egermann: It goes without saying that it goes without saying.
- Katarina Egermann: Don't you have tennis tomorrow?
- Peter Egermann: Harry's arm hurts.
- Katarina Egermann: He smokes too much.
- Peter Egermann: His smoking's beside the point.
- Katarina Egermann: Smoking 70 cigarettes a day affects the circulation and muscle tissue.
- Katarina Egermann: Peter's a part of me. Don't you understand that? I carry him inside of me, no matter where I go. He's inside of me. I've never felt like that with anyone else. If we had kids, it'd be different. He's my child, I'm his. No, that's not true. We both don't want to be clever or mature. That's why we fight and hit each other and cry. We don't want to grow up. But we share the same blood circulation. Our nerves have grown together in some strange, uncanny way. Can you understand that? Whenever Peter's not feeling well, the same happens to me. I want to run home to Peter and hold him and say, 'Now... From now on, I'll understand everything you say or think... everything you feel.' I want to hold him fast until he finds me. Why the hell don't we see each other, although we live together... and know each other well.
- Katarina Egermann: What are you thinking?
- Peter Egermann: That you're playing that old record: It was my fault. Forgive me, darling. Then you end up smelling like a rose.
- Katarina Egermann: Over the past 10 years... I've probably had 832 orgasms with you. I faked it 513 times and later went into the bathroom to masturbate. True, I had a lousy little twitch on occasion. I'm terribly grateful that Peter Egermann taught me... how to feel like a woman.
- Tim Mandelbaum: Does it make me look older?
- Katarina Egermann: You don't want to get old?
- Tim Mandelbaum: The wrinkles aren't that bad. It's the ugliness that distresses me.
- Katarina Egermann: It's immeasurable grief. Can you understand that? I've ever... Maybe it isn't grief at all but some sort of madness. People like me have never given the soul much thought. Then the soul starts acting up, and you're helpless. You know?
- Tim Mandelbaum: I understand.
- Katarina Egermann: Perhaps a few tears are shed at first. A strange kind of crying... which then turns into a terrible howl of grief and hopelessness. Then it turns into a blind roar. A roar, a roar.
- Peter Egermann: We had capital. Call it love capital, if you will. We threw it all away needlessly. Do you know why? We accepted the rules but had no knack for the game. And then we were betrayed. Do you know what scares me the most? That I can't go to work, read my paper, eat regular meals. Not being able to sleep, being constipated, the car breaking down... getting sick, having a toothache. The slightest hitch could ruin my carefully devised security system.
- Katarina Egermann: If that were true, you wouldn't drink so much.
- Peter Egermann: I drink to have the courage to switch off my system.
- Katarina Egermann: For what purpose?
- Peter Egermann: To blow myself up.
- Katarina Egermann: And what remains?
- Peter Egermann: Mincement of sorts. Of blood and nerves.
- Katarina Egermann: And that's supposed to be better?
- Peter Egermann: At least I'd be more like the reality that encases me.
- Katarina Egermann: It happened early yesterday morning. I was in the bathroom, drying myself with a freshly washed, rough towel... that smelled good. Suddenly I had an insight, or whatever it's called. I saw all these familiar things around me and knew... that they soon wouldn't belong to me anymore. That everything would be taken away from me. None of the things around me would belong to me anymore. That feeling was gone after a minute or so, but last night it came back.
- Katarina Egermann: Full of astonishment I look back on our lives... on our former reality and think it was all a dream. It was a game. Lord knows what the hell we were doing. This is true reality, and it's unbearable. I talk, answer, think, put on my clothes... sleep and eat. It's a daily compulsion. A strange, hard surface. But under that surface, I'm crying. I'm crying for myself... because I can no longer be the way I was. What was, can never be again. It's been destroyed. It's gone... like a dream. I cry for Peter. I've never been able to put myself in other people's shoes. But suddenly I think I know what Peter is feeling and thinking. I realize that he's unprotected, frightened and lonely. So very lonely. He has turned away, won't return, no matter how much we call out to him. But the worst part of it is... the horrible part, one I can barely talk about... is that poor woman. I tell myself she was only frightened for a moment... that she didn't realize what was happening to her. That doesn't help. Doesn't help.
- Katarina Egermann: Couldn't we talk to each other?
- Peter Egermann: No.
- Katarina Egermann: Couldn't we at least give it a try?
- Peter Egermann: We've already tried 100,000 times. The next time we fight we'll use whatever we said as a weapon.