May December (2023)

Natalie Portman: Elizabeth

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Quotes 

• Elizabeth : [reading Gracie's letter for Joe]  My love... after you left tonight, I thought about the kind of life we could have if things were different. If I had been born later, or you long ago. But who knows what we would have been like then. Or where. What tragedies we'd have to face along the way. What bad luck. This is not what I ever would have wanted. But I'm so... grateful that our paths led us to this road, no matter what the cost. I think about you all the time and the feeling I get when we look each other in the eyes. Do you feel that too? I know you don't have much to compare it to, but... let me assure you. It is rare. I've gone my whole life without it. And now that I've found it, I can't imagine going back and pretending. Sometimes I wish we'd never met, or that you didn't get the job in the pet shop at least, because I know that our lives will be forever changed because of this no matter how it all turns out. I know that my husband and my children... I... I know that this will affect them too. My hope is that we can keep our secrets long enough until at least we're in no danger from the law. Maybe by then I'll have enough time to end things cleanly, and to make sure that the children know that I love them. And maybe by then we'll have figured out what to say. When this first started, I didn't know what to think. I knew that we'd crossed a line, and I felt in my heart that we would cross it again. But now I think... I've lost track of where the line is. Who even draws these lines? All I know is that I love you and you love me. And you gave me so much pleasure tonight. I hope I did the same for you. I'll see you Saturday. Please burn this. you know what could happen to me if anyone ever found it. Your Gracie.

• Gracie : My brother Mark, he still lives in Richmond. He always says, "Keep your expectations low, and you'll never be disappointed." And I always forget that.

  Elizabeth : How many brothers do you have?

  Gracie : Four. Two older. Two younger. But I think you know that.

  Elizabeth : So... what were your expectations?

  Gracie : Uh, that tonight would go well. That my children would love me. And my life would be perfect.

  Elizabeth : That was a little naive.

  Gracie : I am naive. I always have been. In a way, it's been a gift.

• Gracie : I thought you were taller. You look taller on television, but we're basically the same size.

  Elizabeth : We're basically the same.

• Elizabeth : [kisses Joe]  You're so young. Believe me. You could start over.

  Joe Yoo : And do what?

  Elizabeth : Anything.

• Elizabeth : [reading Joe's card to Gracie from when they met]  "Peace is sitting on a lake in the summertime. Peace is a Coca-Cola on a hot summer day. Peace is being with you."

  Gracie : The assignment was "What is peace?"

• Elizabeth : [acting as Gracie]  Are you scared?

  Young Actor : [as Joe]  No.

  Elizabeth : [whispering]  It's okay to be scared.

  Young Actor : I'm not.

  Elizabeth : She won't bite.

  Young Actor : How do you know?

  Elizabeth : [in soft sultry voice]  She's not that kind of snake.

  Director : Beautiful. I think we got it.

  Elizabeth : Wait, can we... Can we do it again, please? Please? Just for me.

  Man 2 : Lizzie...

  Elizabeth : Please. Please. Wait, it's getting more real.

• Gracie : It's my understanding that the movie takes place between 1992 and 1994, am I wrong? So why would you need to know anything that happened after that?

  Elizabeth : Well, there are things that exist inside people that don't necessarily come to head until later, and I try and look for the seeds of those things.

• [During a Q&A for high school students, Elizabeth is asked what it's like to film sex scenes] 

  Elizabeth : Well... sometimes it's really mechanical, like a choreographed dance, you know, where the only thing you can focus on is where you're supposed to be, and when. And then sometimes there's real chemistry between two people and you start feeling like it's real. In a strange way. You'd never admit it to one another, but you're wearing practically nothing and you're rubbing up against each other...

  [whispering] 

  Elizabeth : and sweating...

  [normal speech] 

  Elizabeth : and it's for hours... and you start losing the line, of like, am I pretending that I'm experiencing pleasure, or am I... Am I pretending that I'm not experiencing pleasure? And the whole crew, they're almost always all men. You feel them watching. And you feel them, like...

  [deep breath] 

  Elizabeth : ... holding their breath.

  [whispering] 

  Elizabeth : And they try and hide it when they swallow.

  [sighs] 

  Elizabeth : [normal speech]  You give into the rhythm, you know, every time. Tension never breaks.

• Elizabeth : Why did you marry a man like Tom?

  Gracie : I was young, and he seemed perfect on paper. It was a different time. My father used to say, "You're either leaving this house in a veil, or in a box."

• Elizabeth : [asking about hebephilia]  When did it sink in?

  Morris Sperber : Has it sunk in yet?

• Kimme : Uh, how... How do you choose your roles?

  Elizabeth : Hmm. Well, when I'm lucky enough to choose my roles, I... I wanna find... a character that's... That's difficult to... to, on the surface, understand. I want... I want to take the person, and figure out why are they like this. Were they born, or were they made? And then that can run the gamut from the more notorious to the... Just anyone.

  Mary Atherton-Yoo : Why would you want to play someone who you think is a bad person?

  Elizabeth : Are you kidding? I mean, pick any great role. Medea or Hedda Gabbler, or...

  Cameron : Tony Soprano.

  [scattered chuckling] 

  Elizabeth : Precisely... Cameron. It's the complexity. It's the moral grey areas that are interesting, right?