Kielletty ystävyys

The book Mary (Ann Todd) finds on Steven's (Trevor Howard's) shelf and reads from is "Patterns of Culture" by Ruth Benedict (1887-1948), a noted American anthropologist and folklorist. The book was published in 1934. It is the first book from which Mary Justin and Steven Stratton quote after dinner ("In the beginning, God gave to every people a cup of clay, and from this cup they drank their life."). The full passage from her book is: "A chief of the Digger Indians, as the Californians call them, talked to me a great deal about the ways of his people in the old days. One day, without transition, he broke in upon his descriptions of grinding mesquite and preparing corn soup. "In the beginning," he said, "God gave to every people a cup, a cup of clay, and from this cup they drank their life. They all dipped in the water", he continued, "but their cups were different. Our cup is broken now. It has passed away." Our Cup is Broken. Those things that had given significance to the life of his people, the domestic rituals of eating, the obligations of the economic system, the succession of ceremonials in the villages, possession in the bear dance, their standards of right and wrong - these were gone, and with them, the shape and meaning of their life."

When Steven barges into Howard's office, he is shown starting to close the door, followed by the sound of a door closing. However, in the subsequent shot, the door is open again.

Referenced in Phantom Thread (2017)