Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

Harriet Andersson: Karin, daughter

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Quotes 

• David : We draw a magic circle and shut out everything that doesn't agree with our secret games. Each time life breaks the circle, the games turn grey and ridiculous. Then we draw a new circle and build a new defense.

  Karin : Poor little daddy.

  David : Yes, poor little daddy, forced to live in reality.

• Karin : It's so horrible to see your own confusion and understand it.

• Fredrik : I'm an artist.

  Karin : Artist?

  Fredrik : Yes, Princess, a thoroughbred artist: a poet with no poems, a painter with no pictures, a musician with no music. I despise ready... made art, the banal result of vulgar effort. My life is my work and dedicated to my love for you.

• Karin : Funny, you always say and do the very right thing... and it's always wrong.

• Fredrik : Hey! Be careful now. Keep away from me. Stop hugging and kissing me. Stop sunbathing half naked. You disgust me. You know very well what I mean. Women are horrible. How they smell and move around, how they stick out their stomachs, how they comb their hair and talk. Makes me feel like a skinned rabbit!

  Karin : Poor boy.

  Fredrik : Thanks. I can give myself all the pity I want.

• Fredrik : [during the play]  l face the moment of ultimate perfection. l tremble with anticipation. Oblivion shall own me and death alone shall love me. l will go. Nothing can stop me.

  Karin : l am waiting.

  Fredrik : Ye devils, what am l about to do? Sacrifice my life? For what? For eternity? For the perfect work of art? For love? Have l gone mad?

  Karin : l am waiting.

  Fredrik : Who shall see my sacrifice? Death. Who shall gauge the depth of my love? A ghost. And who shall thank me? Eternity.

  Karin : l am waiting.

• Karin : l must choose between him and the others. l've made up my mind. l've sacrificed Martin.

  Fredrik : ls all this for real?

  Karin : l don't know. l'm caught in the middle, and sometimes l'm uncertain. l know l've been ill and that my illness was like a dream. But these are no dreams. They must be real. They must be real.

  Fredrik : They're not real for me, not in the least. Karin. They're not real for me.

• Martin : Do you think l speak the truth?

  Karin : l don't know.

  Martin : Don't you think l love you?

  Karin : Yes, l do.

  Martin : lsn't that enough?

  Karin : Of course it's enough.

• Karin : A god steps down from the mountain. He walks through the dark forest. There are wild beasts everywhere in the silent darkness. lt must be real. l'm not dreaming. l'm telling the truth. Now l'm in one world, now in the other. l can't stop it.

• Karin : l enter a large room. lt's bright and peaceful. People are moving back and forth. Some of them talk to me and l understand them. lt's so nice, and l feel safe. ln some of their faces there's a shining light. Everyone is waiting for him to come, but no one is anxious. They say that l can be there when it happens.

  Fredrik : Why are you crying?

  Karin : lt's nothing. Nothing to worry about. But, sometimes l have this intense yearning. l long for that moment... when the door will open, and all the faces will turn to him.

  Fredrik : Who is coming?

  Karin : No one has said for certain. But l think it's God who will reveal himself to us. That it will be him coming into the room through that door.

• Karin : l can't live in two worlds. l have to choose. l can't keep going back and forth between one and the other. lt can't go on.

  David : What?

  Karin : The hatred.

  David : What hatred?

• Karin : l was frightened. The door opened. But the god that came out was a spider. He came towards me, and l saw his face. lt was a terrible, stony face. He crawled up and tried to force himself into me but l defended myself. The whole time l saw his eyes. They were cold and calm. When he couldn't penetrate me, he continued up my chest, up onto my face and on up the wall. l have seen God.