Quotes

Dialogue

Miranda: Do you mind telling me where we are and who you are? … You've gone to a lot of trouble. All those clothes in there, all those art books. I'm your prisoner, but you want me to be a happy prisoner. Why? Since you know my father isn't a rich man, it isn't for ransom, as you say. The only other thing is sex. Freddie: It's not that at all. I shall have all the proper respect. Miranda: Then why am I here? Freddie: I want you to be my guest. Miranda: Your guest? I don't want to be your guest! Let me go! Freddie: [grabbing her, he softly declares] I love you. [shocked, she freezes, and turns to face him] Funny thing is — I told myself a dozen times — I wasn't going to tell you. I was going to let it come natural on both sides. But I touched you just then. It came out. You see at home in Reading we used to travel on the same bus together. I even sat next to you once or twice. I used to watch you all the time. And then, when you got the scholarship and went to London I thought I'd forge

Dialogue

Miranda: Oh, God! This is like a lunatic asylum. Look, people must be searching for me. All of England must be searching for me. Sooner or later, they're going to find me. Freddie: Never. Because, you see — they're looking for you, all right — but nobody's looking for me.

Dialogue

Miranda: How long are you gonna keep me here? Freddie: I don't know. It depends. Miranda: On what? On my falling in love with you? Because if that's what you want, I'm going to be here until I die!

Dialogue

Freddie: I've been collecting all my life. I'm an entomologist. I won a hobby prize for this setting. And most of these come from Central America. I correspond with a monk who sends me larvae, and then I incubate them myself. You see that? This is a leaf butterfy. Looks just like two leaves. These are my chalkhills. And... these are my Adonis blues. I bred that aberration myself. And it's better than any they've got in the Natural History Museum. These are my fritillaries. That's the silver-washed and that's the medium brown beckerwood, red admiral, swallowtail, peacock. Miranda: They're beautiful — but sad. How many butterfies have you killed? Freddie: You can see. Miranda: Think of all the living beauty you've ended. Freddie: That's silly. What difference does a few specimens make to a whole species? [She picks up a jar with a living butterfly inside] Be careful. It's very rare. Miranda: Let it go. Freddie: You're joking. [Stops her from opening the jar] Don't do that! I may never ge

Dialogue

Freddie: That's a good painting, isn't it? Miranda: Yes, it's a Picasso. Freddie: People don't look like that. Miranda: Well, of course they don't. He's not trying to draw a face as it is. He's trying to express a face as he sees it and feels it. Freddie: Him seeing it that way makes it good? Miranda: But it's not a photograph. Freddie: What's wrong with photographs? Miranda: Nothing wrong with photographs. Freddie: Photographs don't lie! Miranda: Neither does this. … It's a face from all different angles. It's a character behind the face. Freddie: It's just a joke, that's all it is! It's just a bad joke! Miranda: Because you can't grasp it right away... Freddie: Well, how do I grasp it? I'll tell you something about this. It doesn't mean anything! Not just to me. To anybody else. You just say it does because some professor somewhere told you it did! It makes you so superior — you and all your friends. I don't think one-in-a-million, decent, ordinary people would say this was any good.

Dialogue

Miranda: I've stayed the four weeks. Freddie: I just have to have you here a little longer. Miranda: Why? What more can I do? What more can you want? Freddie: You know what I want... it's what I've always wanted. You could fall in love with me if you tried. I've done everything I could to make it easy. You just won't try!