Daniel Day-Lewis: Tomas

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Tomas

Tomas: You can sleep. Sleep in my arms. Like a baby bird. Like a broom among brooms... in a broom closet. Like a tiny parrot. Like a whistle. Like a little song. A song sung by a forest... within a forest... a thousand years ago.

Tomas: I must go.
Sabina: Don't you ever spend the night at the woman's place?
Tomas: Never!
Sabina: What about when the woman's at your place?
Tomas: I tell her I have insomnia... anything. Besides, I have a very narrow bed.
Sabina: Are you afraid of women, Doctor?
Tomas: Of course.

[first lines]
First Title Card: In Prague, in 1968, there lived a young doctor named Tomas...
Tomas: Take off your clothes.
[line recurs several times during film]

Tereza: [referring to her dog] Karenin prefers Mephisto to dogs. She thinks other dogs are silly.
Tomas: [Mephisto snorts and Tomas inhales the aroma of the food] Ha-ha.
Pavel: Do you know why I love Mephisto? Because he's very bright, but, at the same time,
[gesturing for emphasis]
Pavel: he doesn't know anything! After all, he doesn't know that life is impossible here now. Nothing left here. The church is gone.
[shrugging]
Pavel: No place to drink beer now.
[he drinks his bottle of beer very quickly]
Pavel: It's good... very good.
[slurping]
Pavel: If you ever change your mind, it won't be easy to leave.

Sabina: [in her underwear, as she straddles the mirror lain on the floor] Tomas... What are you looking at?
Tomas: Your eyes.
[they kiss]

Sabina: It's not here. You must have come without your sock.
Tomas: How can I have come without it? I wouldn't wear only one sock, would I?
Sabina: You've been *very* absent-minded lately. Always in a hurry. Always looking at your watch.
[as he sighs impatiently:]
Sabina: I'll lend you one of my stockings.

Tomas: I don't think we should wait.
[Karenin whimpers]
Tomas: If we do, she'll have to go through terrible pain.
Tereza: Yeah. You should do it yourself.
Tomas: Yeah.
[stands up to go fetch the hypodermic syringe]
Tereza: [holding Karenin] Look! She's smilink! *She's smilink!*
Tomas: [sits down on bed next to them] Just hold her... and talk to her.
Tereza: [to haggard-looking Karenin] Don't be scared. Don't be scared, Karenin. You won't feel any pain there. It'll be beautiful there. You'll have cows to chase...
[the dog whimpers]
Tereza: and Mephisto will be there. Don't be scared. Don't be scared. Don't be scared.
[barely audible whisper:]
Tereza: Don't be scared...

Tomas: [in bed together; Tereza is sobbing] What's the matter? Tell me what's wrong.
[she rebuffs his advances What's wrong?]
Tereza: [tearfully] You forgot to wash your hair.
Tomas: [tired sigh] What are you talking about, Tereza?
Tereza: Your hair smells of a...
Tomas: What?
Tereza: ... of another woman's sex!
[as he sniffs his fingers]
Tereza: I thought you had come back here for me!
Tomas: I did come back here for you, Tereza.
Tereza: Then why do you keep seeing other women?
Tomas: I don't know what to say to you.
[shakes his head]
Tereza: I know, I know. You've explained it to me a thousand times. A thousand times.
[runs her fingers through her hair]
Tereza: There is love and there is sex. And sex... is entertainment, like football. I know it's light.
[shakes her head]
Tereza: I wish I could believe you, but... How can someone *make* love without *being* in love, I just don't know.