Mirror (1975)

Margarita Terekhova: Natalya, Maroussia - the Mother

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Quotes 

• Forensic doctor : You know, I fell and found strange things here - roots, bushes... Has it ever occurred to you that plants can feel, know, even comprehend? The trees, this hazelnut bush...

  Natalya : This is an alder tree.

  Forensic doctor : It doesn't matter. They don't run about. Like us who are rushing, fussing, uttering banalities. That's because we don't trust nature that is inside us. Always this suspiciousness, haste, and no time to stop and think.

• Lisa : You see, it wasn't there, was it? Everything is all right.

  Natalya : It wasn't. That would've been a horrid mistake.

  Lisa : Why are you crying then?

  Natalya : I even saw that word typeset.

  Lisa : What word?

• Aleksei : What is he doing?

  Natalya : He is a writer.

  Aleksei : Doesn't his name happen to be Dostoyevsky?

  Natalya : Yes, Dostoyevsky.

  Aleksei : He hasn't written anything worthwhile. Nobody knows him. He must be about 40, isn't he? Apparently he's got no talent?

  Natalya : You've changed so much.

  Aleksei : So, he has no talent, he doesn't write anything.

  Natalya : He does write, but they don't publish him.

• Natalya : You think I'm afraid?

  Printery Director : No, let other people be afraid. Some people should work, and others should be afraid.

• Natalya : You won't be able to live a normal life with anyone.

  Aleksei : Probably.

  Natalya : Don't feel offended. You seem to be convinced that the very fact of your existence close by, will make everybody happy. You only know how to demand.

  Aleksei : That's because I was brought up by women. If you don't want Ignat to become like that, get married as soon as possible.

  Natalya : Get married to whom?

  Aleksei : This I don't know. Or give Ignat to me.

• Lisa : All your life is just that 'Bring some water!' Just an appearance of independence. If something doesn't suit you, you pretend it doesn't exist.

  Natalya : What nonsense you're talking!

  Lisa : I'm amazed at the patience of your ex-husband. He should have run away much sooner.

  Natalya : What do you want from me?

  Lisa : Have you ever admitted you were wrong? Never! You just made up the whole situation! As long as you haven't succeeded in elevating your dear husband to this nonsensical emancipated condition of yours, then you can be sure he has been saved just in time. As for your children, you will definitely make them miserable.

  Natalya : Stop this idiocy!

• Aleksei : An angel as a flame coming from a bush appeared to Prophet Moses. He led his people out across the sea.

  Natalya : Why has nothing like that ever appeared to me?

• Natalya : Do you want me to call my husband?

  Forensic doctor : You haven't got any husband. There's no ring. Though people don't wear rings nowadays. Maybe only old people.

• Aleksei : I always said that you resemble my mother.

  Natalya : Apparently, that's the reason why we divorced.

• Natalya : What do you want from your mother? What kind of relationship? The kind of relationship you had in your childhood is impossible. You speak of some feeling of guilt, of her life being ruined because of you... Well, you can't get away from it. And what she needs is for you to become a baby again, for her to be able to carry you and protect you. Why on earth am I meddling in it? It's always like this...