Persona Page #2

You're forced to react.

No one asks if it's real or unreal,

if you're true or false.

It's only in the theatre the question

carries weight. Hardly even there.

I understand you, Elisabet. I understand

you're keeping silent, you're immobile.

That you've placed this lack of will

into a fantastic system.

I understand and admire you.

I think you should maintain this role

until it's played out.

Until it's no longer interesting.

Then you can leave it.

Just as you bit by bit

leave all your other roles.

Mrs Vogler and Sister Alma moved out

to the doctor's house in late summer.

The sojourn near the sea

had a favourable effect on the actress.

The apathy that had crippled her

in hospital yields to long walks -

- fishing trips, cooking,

letter writing and other diversions.

Sister Alma enjoys her rural seclusion

and takes utmost care of her patient.

Don't you know it's bad luck

to compare hands?

Elisabet? Can I read you something

from my book?

Or am I disturbing you? It says here:

All the anxiety we bear with us,

all our thwarted dreams -

- the incomprehensible cruelty,

our fear of extinction -

- the painful insight

into our earthly condition -

- have slowly eroded our hope

of an other-wordly salvation

The howl of our faith and doubt

against the darkness and silence -

- is one of the most awful proofs

of our abandonment -

- and our terrified,

unuttered knowledge

Do you think it's like that?

I don't believe it.

Making changes...

The worst thing with me is I'm so lazy.

And then I get a bad conscience. Karl-

Henrik scolds me for lacking ambition.

He says I go around like a sleepwalker.

I think that's unfair.

I was best in my group with the exams.

But he probably means something else.

You know...

Oh, sorry. You know

what I sometimes think of?

At the hospital where I did my exam,

there's a home for old nurses.

Ones that have always been nurses,

lived for their work. Always in uniform.

They live in their small rooms. Imagine

devoting your whole life to something.

I mean, believing in something.

Accomplishing something.

Believing that one's life has a purpose.

I like things like that.

Sticking to one thing doggedly,

irrespective. I think one ought to.

Mean something to other people.

Don't you think so as well?

I know it sounds childish,

but I believe in it.

Goodness, it's raining a lot!

Oh, yes. He was married.

We had a relationship for five years.

Then he got tired, of course.

I was very much in love, that's for sure.

And he was the first.

I remember it all like a long torment.

Long periods of pain

and then short moments when...

I'm thinking of it as you've taught me

to smoke. He smoked loads.

Rate this script:4.0 / 4 votes