Betrayal (1983)
Jeremy Irons: Jerry
Photos
Quotes
-
Emma : Aren't you enjoying the party?
Jerry : You're beautiful.
[He goes to her]
Jerry : Listen. I've been watching you all night. I must tell you, I want to tell you, I have to tell you...
Emma : - Please
Jerry : You're incredible.
Emma : You're drunk.
Jerry : Nevertheless.
[He holds her]
Jerry : I was best man at your wedding. I saw you in white. I watched you glide by in white.
Emma : I wasn't in white.
Jerry : You know what should have happened? I should have had you, in your white, before the wedding. I should have blackened you, in your white wedding dress, blackened you in your bridal dress, before ushering you into your wedding, as your best man.
Emma : My husband's best man. Your best friend's best man.
Jerry : No. Your best man.
Emma : I must get back.
Jerry : You're lovely. I'm crazy about you. All these words I'm using, don't you see, they've never been said before. Can't you see? I'm crazy about you. It's a whirlwind. Have you ever been to the Sahara Desert? Listen to me. It's true. Listen. You overwhelm me. You're so lovely.
Emma : I'm not.
Jerry : You're so beautiful. Look at the way you look at me.
Emma : I'm not... looking at you.
Jerry : Look at the way you're looking at me. I can't wait for you, I'm bowled over, I'm totally knocked out, you dazzle me, you jewel, my jewel, I can't ever sleep again, no, listen, it's the truth, I won't walk, I'll be a cripple, I'll descend, I'll diminish, into total paralysis, my life is in your hands, that's what you're banishing me to, a state of catatonia, do you know the state of catatonia? do you? the state of... where the reigning prince is the prince of emptiness, the prince of absence, the prince of desolation. I love you.
Emma : My husband is at the other side of that door.
Jerry : I adore you. I'm madly in love with you. I can't believe that what anyone is at this moment saying has ever happened has ever happened. Nothing has ever happened. Nothing. This is the only thing that has ever happened. Your eyes kill me. I'm lost. You're wonderful.
Emma : No.
Jerry : Yes.
-
Jerry : I had a terrible panic when you were away. I was sorting out a contract... in my office with some lawyers. And I suddenly couldn't remember what I'd done with your letter. I couldn't remember putting it in the safe. I said I had to look for something in the safe. I opened the safe. It wasn't there. I had to go on with the damn contract. I kept seeing it... lying somewhere in the house... being picked up.
Emma : Did you find it?
Jerry : It was in the pocket of a jacket in my wardrobe at home.
Emma : God. What would you have done... if Judith had found it?
Jerry : I don't know what I would've done.
-
Jerry : I'd like a Scotch on the rocks.
Robert : Scotch? You don't usually drink Scotch at lunchtime.
Jerry : I've had a bug actually.
Robert : Oh.
Jerry : And the only thing to get rid of this bug was Scotch at lunchtime as well as at night. So, I'm still drinking Scotch at lunchtime in case it comes back.
Robert : Like an apple a day.
Jerry : Precisely.
-
Jerry : I hear you're seeing a bit of Casey.
Emma : What?
Jerry : Casey. I just... heard you were seeing a bit of him.
Emma : Where did you hear that from?
Jerry : Oh, people talking.
Emma : Christ.
Jerry : The funny thing was, the only thing I really felt was irritation. I mean, irritation that nobody gossiped about us like that in the old days. I nearly said, 'Now, look... she may be having the occasional drink with Casey, but she and I had an affair for seven years, and none of you bastards had the faintest idea it was happening.'
Emma : I wonder. I wonder if everyone knew all the time.
Jerry : Don't be silly. We were brilliant. Nobody knew.
-
Robert : They say boy babies cry more than girl babies.
Jerry : Do they?
Robert : You didn't find that to be the case?
Jerry : Uh... yes, I think we did. Did you?
Robert : Yes. What do you make of it? Why do you think that is?
Jerry : I suppose boys are more anxious.
Robert : Boy babies?
Jerry : Yes.
Robert : What the hell are they anxious about... at their age, do you think?
Jerry : Well... facing the world... I suppose. Leaving the womb, all that.
Robert : But what about girl babies? They leave the womb too.
Jerry : That's true. It's also true they don't make such a fuss about it.
Robert : That's true.
Jerry : Why do you think that is?
Robert : I have no answer.
Jerry : Do you think it might have something to do with the difference between the sexes?
Robert : Good God, you're right. That must be it.
-
Jerry : I was having tea with Casey.
Emma : Where?
Jerry : Around the corner.
Emma : I thought he lived in Hampstead or somewhere.
Robert : You're out of date.
Emma : Am I?
Jerry : He's left Susannah. He's living alone round the corner.
Emma : Oh.
Robert : Writing a novel about a man who leaves his wife and three children, and goes to live alone on the other side of London to write a novel about a man who leaves his wife and three children.
Emma : I hope it's better than the last one.
Robert : The last one? Ah, the last one. Wasn't that the one about the man who lived in a big house in Hampstead with his wife and three children, and is writing a novel... about them?
-
Robert : Emma read that novel of that chum of yours, what's his name?
Jerry : I don't know. What?
Robert : Spinks.
Jerry : Oh, Spinks. Yes. The one you didn't like.
Robert : The one I wouldn't publish.
Jerry : I remember. Did Emma like it?
Robert : She seemed to be madly in love with it.
Jerry : Good.
Robert : You like it yourself, do you?
Jerry : I do.
Robert : And it's very successful?
Jerry : It is.
Robert : Tell me, do you think that makes me a publisher of unique critical judgment or a foolish publisher?
Jerry : A foolish publisher.
-
Jerry : She has an admirer.
Emma : Really?
Jerry : Another doctor. He takes her for drinks. It's... irritating. I mean, she says that's all there is to it. He likes her, she's fond of him, et cetera, et cetera. Perhaps that's what I find irritating, but I don't know exactly what's going on.
Emma : Oh, why shouldn't she have an admirer? I have an admirer.
Jerry : Who?
Emma : Uh, you, I think.
Jerry : Ah, yes. I'm more than that.
-
Robert : I'm a very foolish publisher.
Jerry : No, you're not. What are you talking about? You're a good pub... What are you talking about?
Robert : I'm a bad publisher because I hate books. Or to be more precise, prose. Or to be even more precise, modern prose. I mean, modern novels, first novels, and second novels. All that promise and sensibility, it falls upon me to judge, to put the firm's money on, and then to push for the third novel, see it done. See the dust jacket done. See the dinner for the national literary editors done. See the signing in Hatchards done. See the lucky author cook himself to death. All in the name of literature. You know what you and Emma have in common? You love literature. I mean, you love modern prose literature. I mean, you love the new novel by the new Casey or Spinks. It gives you both a thrill.
Jerry : You must be pissed.
Robert : Really? You mean you don't think it gives Emma a thrill?
Jerry : How do I know? She's your wife.
Robert : Yes... yes. You're quite right. I shouldn't have to consult you. I shouldn't have to consult anyone.
-
Emma : It's a waste. Nobody comes here. I just can't bear to think about it actually. Just... empty. All day and night. Day after day and night after night. I mean, the crockery, and the curtains, and the bedspread, and everything. And the tablecloth I brought from Venice. It's ridiculous. It's just... an empty home.
Jerry : It's not a home. I know. I know what you wanted... but it could never actually... be a home. You have a home. I have a home. With... curtains, et cetera... and children. Two children... in two homes. There are no children here, so it's not the same... kind of home.
Emma : It was never intended to be the same kind of home. Was it? You didn't ever see it as a home, in any sense, did you?
Jerry : No, I saw it as a flat, you know?
Emma : For fucking.
Jerry : No, for loving.
Emma : Well, there's not much of that left, is there?
-
Emma : You know what I found out last night? He's betrayed me for years. He's had other women for years.
Jerry : No. Good Lord. But we betrayed him for years.
Emma : And he betrayed me for years.
Jerry : Well, I never knew that.
Emma : Nor did I.
Jerry : What a funny thing. We were such close friends, weren't we? Robert and me, even though I haven't seen him for a few months, but through all those years, all the drinks, all the lunches... we had together, I never even gleaned. I never suspected... there was anyone else... in his life but you. Never. For example, when you're with a fellow in a pub, or a restaurant, for example. From time to time, he pops out for a piss, you see. Who doesn't? But what I mean is, if he's making a crafty telephone call, you can sort of sense it, you see? You can sense the pip-pip-pips. Well, I never did that with Robert. He never made any pip-pip telephone calls in any pub I was with him in. The funny thing is... that it was me that made the pip-pip calls... to you... when I left him boozing at the bar.
