April Wheeler:
So now I'm crazy because I don't love you, right? Is that the point?
Frank Wheeler:
No! Wrong! You're not crazy, and you do love me. That's the point, April.
April Wheeler:
But I don't. I hate you. You were just some boy who made me laugh at a party once, and now I loathe the sight of you. In fact, if you come any closer, if you touch me or anything, I think I'll scream.
Frank Wheeler:
Frank: Oh, come on, stop this April.
[
He touches her for an instant and she screams at the top of her lungs before walking away. He chases after her]
Frank Wheeler:
Fuck you, April! Fuck you and all your hateful, goddamn -
[
He breaks a chair against a wall]
April Wheeler:
What are you going to do now? Are you going to hit me? To show me how much you love me?
Frank Wheeler:
Don't worry, I can't be bothered! You're not worth the trouble it would take to hit you! You're not worth the powder it would take to blow you up. You are an empty, empty, hollow shell of a woman. I mean, what the hell are you doing in my house if you hate me so much? Why the hell are you married to me? What the hell are you doing carrying my child? I mean, why didn't you just get rid of it when you had the chance? Because listen to me, listen to me, I got news for you - I wish to God that you had!
Frank Wheeler:
How do I know you didn't try to flush our entire fucking family down the toilet?
John Givings:
Hopeless emptiness. Now you've said it. Plenty of people are onto the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness.
John Givings:
You want to play house you got to have a job. You want to play nice house, very sweet house, you got to have a job you don't like.
April Wheeler:
Tell me the truth, Frank, remember that? We used to live by it. And you know what's so good about the truth? Everyone knows what it is however long they've lived without it. No one forgets the truth, Frank, they just get better at lying.
April Wheeler:
I wanted IN. I just wanted us to live again. For years I thought we've shared this secret that we would be wonderful in the world. I don't know exactly how, but just the possibility kept me hoping. How pathetic is that? So stupid. To put all your hopes in a promise that was never made. Frank knows what he wants, he found his place, he's just fine. Married, two kids, it should be enough. It is for him. And he's right; we were never special or destined for anything at all.
John Givings:
I'm glad I'm not gonna be that kid.
April Wheeler:
It takes backbone to lead the life you want, Frank.
April Wheeler:
You're just some guy who made me laugh at a party once.
April Wheeler:
I saw a whole other future. I can't stop seeing it.
April Wheeler:
Frank Wheeler, I think you're the most interesting person I've ever met.
April Wheeler:
Just because you've got me safe in this little trap, you think you can bully me into feeling whatever you want me to feel!
Frank Wheeler:
Well I support you, don't I? I work ten hours a day at a job I can't stand!
April Wheeler:
You don't have to!
Frank Wheeler:
But I have the backbone not to run away from my responsibilities!
April Wheeler:
I've never really been anywhere.
Frank Wheeler:
We're gonna be okay.
April Wheeler:
I hope so. I really hope so.
April Wheeler:
Won't you miss the city?
Frank Wheeler:
Nothing's permanent, right?
April Wheeler:
Right.
April Wheeler:
Look at us. We're just like everyone else. We've bought into the same, ridiculous delusion.
Frank Wheeler:
I want to feel things. Really feel them.
April Wheeler:
Who made these rules anyway?
April Wheeler:
Don't you see? That's the whole idea! You'll be able to do what you should have been aloud to do seven years ago, you'll have the time. For the first time in your life, you'll have the time to find out what it is you actually want to do. And when you figure it out, you'll have the time and the freedom, to start doing.
Frank Wheeler:
This doesn't seem very realistic.
April Wheeler:
No, Frank. This is what's unrealistic. It's unrealistic for a man with a fine mind to go on working year after year at a job he can't stand. Coming home to a place he can't stand, to a wife who's equally unable to stand the same things. And you know what the worst part of it is? Our whole existence here is based on this great premise that we're special. They we're superior to the whole thing. But we're not. We're just like everyone else! We bought into the same, ridiculous delusion. That we have to resign from life and settle down the moment we have children. And we've been punishing each other for it.
John Givings:
You a lawyer, Frank?
Frank Wheeler:
No, I'm not.
John Givings:
I could use a lawyer...
Mr. Howard Givings:
John, let's not get started again about the lawyer.
John Givings:
Pop, couldn't you just sit there and eat your wonderful egg salad, and quit horning in?
[
Returns his attention to Frank]
John Givings:
See, I've got a good many questions to ask and I'm willing to pay for the answers... Now, I don't need to be told that a man who goes after his mother with a coffee table is putting himself in a weak position, legally; that's obvious.
Mrs. Helen Givings:
John, come and have a look out this fabulous picture window.
[
She walks to the window]
John Givings:
If he hits her with it and kills her, that's a criminal case...
Mrs. Helen Givings:
Oh, look, the sun's coming out!
John Givings:
If all he does is break the coffee table and give her a certain amount of aggravation and she decides to go to court over it, that's a civil case...
Mrs. Helen Givings:
Maybe we'll see a rainbow! John, come have a look...
John Givings:
Ma, how about doing everybody a favor? How about shutting up?
Frank Wheeler:
Knowing what you've got, knowing what you need, knowing what you can do without - That's inventory control.
April Wheeler:
If being crazy means living life as if it matters, then I don't mind being completely insane.
John Givings:
The hopeless emptiness? Now, you've said it. Plenty of people are on to the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness...
Related Links
*
