Just some of my favourite quotes from a two of my favourite movies.
"Se7en"
[To John Doe] I’ve been trying to figure something in my head, and maybe you can help me out, yeah? When a person is insane, as you clearly are, do you know that you’re insane? Maybe you’re just sitting around, reading Guns and Ammo, masturbating in your own feces. Do you just stop and go, "Wow! It is amazing how fucking crazy I really am!"? Yeah, do you guys do that?
[From one of John Doe’s journals] On the subway today, a man came up to me to start a conversation. He made small talk, a lonely man talking about the weather and other things. I tried to be pleasant and accommodating, but my head hurt from his banality. I almost didn’t notice it had happened, but I suddenly threw up all over him. He was not pleased, and I couldn’t stop laughing.
Lisa Rowe: Some advice, okay? Just don’t point you fuckin’ finger at crazy people!
- Valerie Owens: You know, I can take a lot of crazy shit from a lot of crazy people. But you? You are not crazy.
- Susanna Kaysen: Then what’s wrong with me, huh? What the fuck is going on inside? Tell me, Dr. Val, what’s your diag-nonsense?
- Valerie Owens: [hovering over Susanna] You are a lazy, self-indulgent little girl who is driving herself crazy.
- Susanna Kaysen: Is that your… professional opinion? Is that what you’ve learned in your advanced studies at night school for Negro Welfare Mothers? I mean, Melvin doesn’t have a clue, Wick is a psycho, and you… you pretend to be a doctor. You review the charts and dole out meds. But "you ain’t no doctor, Miss Valerie. You ain’t nothing but a black nursemaid."
- Valerie Owens: And you’re just throwing that away.
- [From one of John Doe’s journals] What sick ridiculous puppets we are / and what gross little stage we dance on / What fun we have dancing and fucking / Not a care in the world / Not knowing that we are nothing / We are not what was intended.
John Doe: (outraged) Innocent? Is that supposed to be funny? (his voice rising in anger) An obese man, a disgusting man who could barely stand up, a man who if you saw him on the street, you’d point him out to your friends so that they could join you in mocking him, a man, who if you saw him while you were eating, you wouldn’t be able to finish your meal
"Girl, Interrupted"
narrating] Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train was moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the ’60’s. Or maybe I was just a girl… interrupted.
[narrating] Was I ever crazy? Maybe. Or maybe life is… Crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It’s you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever. They we’re not perfect, but they were my friends and by the ’70s, most of them were out living lives. Some I’ve seen, some never again, but there isn’t a day my heart doesn’t find them.
