The Passion of Anna (1969)
Max von Sydow: Andreas Winkelman, Self
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Quotes
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Anna Fromm : Andreas, we should travel somewhere. We should get away from here. I know it would be good for us both.
Andreas Winkelman : When you speak of traveling, I really want to say yes.
Anna Fromm : What are you thinking?
Andreas Winkelman : That we can speak to Elis. He can lend us money. But at the same time a wall appears. I can't speak. I can't show that I'm happy. I can see your face, I know you're you, but I can't reach you. Do you understand what I mean?
Anna Fromm : I understand what you mean. I understand very well, Andreas.
Andreas Winkelman : I'm on the outside of this wall. I put myself on the outside. I fled and now I'm so far away.
Anna Fromm : I understand, Andreas. I understand how strange it seems.
Andreas Winkelman : Yes, it's strange. I want to be warm, tender and alive. I want to break free. You understand, don't you?
Anna Fromm : It's like a dream. You want to move, you know what to do, but you can't. Legs are impossible and arms heavy as lead. You want to speak, but you can't.
Andreas Winkelman : I'm terrified of being humiliated. It's constant misery. I've accepted the humiliation and let them become part of me. Do you understand what I mean?
Anna Fromm : I understand what you mean. I understand you.
Andreas Winkelman : It's terrible not being fortunate. Everybody thinks they have the right to decide over you. Their benevolent contempt. A momentary desire to trample something living.
Anna Fromm : I understand, Andreas. You don't need...
Andreas Winkelman : I'm dead, Anna. No, no, I'm not dead. No, that's wrong. Too melodramatic. I'm not dead at all. But I live without self-respect. I know it sounds silly - pretentious - since almost all people are forced to live without self-worth. Humiliated to the core, stifled and spat upon. They just live. They know nothing more. They know no alternative. Even if they did, they would never reach for it. You understand? Can you be sick from humiliation? Is it a disease we're all infected by and we have to live with? We talk so much about freedom, Anna. Isn't freedom a terrible poison for the humiliated... or is the word "freedom" only a drug the humiliated use in order to endure. I can't live with this. I've given up. Sometimes it's almost unbearable. The days drag by. I feel like I'm choking on the food I swallow, the crap I get rid of, the words I say. The light - the daylight which comes every morning and yells at me to get up. Or the sleep which always brings dreams, chasing me back and forth. Or just the darkness rattling with ghosts and memories. Has it occurred to you, Anna, that the worse off people are, the less they complain? Eventually they're silent... even though they're living creatures with nerves, eyes and hands. Massive armies of both victims and executioners. The light which rises and sinks heavily. The cold approaches. Darkness. The heat. The smell. And everyone is silent. We can never leave this place. I don't believe in escape. It's too late. Everything's too late.
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Anna Fromm : I try to busy myself with things I believe in. To live in line with some form of truth.
Andreas Winkelman : How do you know which is right?
Anna Fromm : People feel what is true and what is right. We fail, but I think we should strive for spiritual perfection.
Elis Vergerus : Do you often fail?
Anna Fromm : I have not failed in what's most important: living in a relationship with the man I was married to. Andreas. Do you know why I didn't fail? Because we lived in harmony, because we were truthful and honest. We believed in each other. If I'd treated marriage the way you treat your center, I wouldn't have had happy memories. I wouldn't have had anything to believe in.
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Andreas Winkelman : He tries to wipe out his means of expression so that, without his being aware of it, that hiding place has become a prison.
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Andreas Winkelman : Hey, Anna. I want to be free. I want my solitude back. I can't live like this. We might have made it if we truly loved each other, but we don't. So it's easier to part. Don't you think? More truthful as well. You have to live in truth, right? At least according to you. So let us be truthful for once.
[Long pause]
Andreas Winkelman : Why don't you answer? Do you remember leaving your purse at my place when we first met? You borrowed the phone, remember? Yes, you forgot your purse, and I found your husband's farewell letter. I read it. Poor Anna. You're not very successful with your men. Either something is wrong with you or your men, right? You're always speaking about truth, and about living in truth. What a terrible lie. I remember how you spoke about your marriage. Of all the happiness and love. It was all lies! Lies. It was lies, Anna. Calm down. Are you going to kill me like you did--
[Anna veers the car off the road. Andreas grabs the wheel, stops the car, and turns off the engine]
Andreas Winkelman : [Long pause] You're crazy. You're completely insane. What's wrong with you? Say something. Why did you come get me at the fire?
Anna Fromm : I came to ask for forgiveness.
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Anna Fromm : You understand that it's over now, right? Answer!
Andreas Winkelman : Until you give me a reason, I have nothing to say. You have your freedom. You can go when you want.
Anna Fromm : I think you lie, Andreas. You lied about your marriage. You lied about your divorce. I know the truth about you.
Andreas Winkelman : Really? You know the truth about me?
Anna Fromm : I know what you're like. I think you're despicable. I think you're a parasite. I dislike you terribly. It's hell living with you. And I've longed to get away all this time.
Andreas Winkelman : Poor Anna. You had it so good and were so happy before we met.
Anna Fromm : At least I had something: A happy memory of my husband and our love.
Andreas Winkelman : How about now?
Anna Fromm : I believed in truth. I lived in truth.
Andreas Winkelman : You did?
Anna Fromm : You've ruined it with your damn lies.
Andreas Winkelman : Stop it, Anna.
Anna Fromm : You can't tell me what to do.
Andreas Winkelman : Don't yell at me.
Anna Fromm : I'll scream as loudly...
Andreas Winkelman : Don't yell at me!
Anna Fromm : You can go to hell!
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Andreas Winkelman : What are you doing?
Anna Fromm : I'm praying for Johan.
Andreas Winkelman : You're only praying for your own sake.
Anna Fromm : Go away! Leave me alone! Go!
Andreas Winkelman : Nothing but theatrics, damn theatrics.
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Eva Vergerus : Elis is incredibly tired of me.
Andreas Winkelman : No, I don't think so.
Eva Vergerus : Yes, he is. I'm just a small part of his general tiredness. The world is rather indifferent to his sarcasm, but I'm not. He just wants to get even. Can I have some more
[Andreas pours her another drink]
Eva Vergerus : I just don't know what to do. Cheers then.
Andreas Winkelman : Cheers.
Eva Vergerus : [They drink] Elis is a fantastic person.
Andreas Winkelman : He really is. I like him very much.
Eva Vergerus : The worst part is that I love him. I really mean love. There's no other word for it. I just don't know what I have to do to show him my love.
