Fanny and Alexander (TV Mini Series)

Sommarens händelser (1983)

Gunn Wållgren: Helena Ekdahl

Quotes 

• Helena Ekdahl : Yes, Oscar, that's how it is. One is old and a child at the same time. What became of those long years in between that seemed so important at the time? I sit here growing melancholy, thinking time was all too short.

• Helena Ekdahl : May I take your hand? I remember your hand as a child. It was small and firm and dry. And your wrist was so awfully slender. I enjoyed being a mother. I enjoyed being an actress, too, but I preferred being a mother. I liked having a big belly and I didn't give two shakes about the theater then. It's all acting anyway. Some roles are nice, others not so nice. I played a mother. I played Juliet and Margareta. Then suddenly I played a widow or a grandmother. One role follows the other. The thing is not to shrink from them. But what became of it all? Can you tell me that, my boy? You're a good boy to listen to your old mother's soliloquies. Yes, you're a good boy, Oscar. And I grieved terribly when you past away. That was a a strange role to play. My feelings came from deep in my body. Even though I could control them, they shattered reality, if you know what I mean. Reality has remained broken ever since, and, oddly enough, it feels more real that way. So I don't bother to mend it. I just don't care anymore if nothing makes sense.

• Helena Ekdahl : Your father used to say I was sentimental. He wasn't known as a particularly sensitive man. He was both angry and indignant when he died. He never thought life was cruel or beautiful. He just lived and didn't care to comment. And when I went on about life, he laughed and called me sentimental. But I was an artist. As an artist, I had a right to be emotional.

• Gustav Adolf Ekdahl : [looking at a photograph]  This woman with the low neckline was one of Papa's lady friends.

  Helena Ekdahl : You're mistaken. We were at school together. The married a Count, had 12 children and became as big as a house.

  Gustav Adolf Ekdahl : I always admired your skillful way of handling Papa's little adventures.