Lilith (1964)

Warren Beatty: Vincent Bruce

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lilith Arthur : You've killed with these hands. Why?

  Vincent Bruce : That's the business of a soldier.

  Lilith Arthur : You must love your God a lot to kill for him and still go on loving him. I'd never ask that of a lover. I'd only ask his joy.

• Vincent Bruce : You see, I don't really think Lilith is unhappy. Most of the patients are. But I don't think she is. She's got some, um, uh, I don't know, she's got a kind of a...

  Dr. Lavrier : Rapture?

  Vincent Bruce : What was the word?

  Dr. Lavrier : Rapture.

  Vincent Bruce : "Rapture"? That's a very good word for it.

  Dr. Lavrier : Yes, it is a very good word. In Shakespeare's time it *meant* madness. As the words "ecstasy" and "innocence" often did. I think all of us here are concerned with rapture in some way. And when a man devotes himself to studying the nature of rapture, he may find himself dispossessed by it. That's one of the risks we take.

• [last lines] 

  Vincent Bruce : Help me.

• Vincent Bruce : [after Stephen's suicide]  Have them cover up his hands. He didn't like people looking at his fingers.

• Lilith Arthur : [Vincent is in Lilith's room at the asylum]  Why did you come here?

  Vincent Bruce : I needed a job.

  Lilith Arthur : [Looking at him rather skeptically]  You could get a job in a butcher shop... Grocery store, gas station.

  Vincent Bruce : [Vincent nods in agreement, but remains silent] 

  Lilith Arthur : You were in the army... were you a hero?

  Vincent Bruce : [Vincent says nothing, just nods his head, yes, then shakes his head, no] 

  Lilith Arthur : I didn't think so.

  Lilith Arthur : [pauses, gives him a long, piercing look]  Did you come here for excitement?

  Vincent Bruce : Excitement?

  Lilith Arthur : Adventure?

  Vincent Bruce : I'm not an adventurer.

  Lilith Arthur : I think you are.

  Vincent Bruce : Why?

  Lilith Arthur : You're ill at ease. Adventurous people are always a little ill at ease. They're shy. They're not bold the way people think they are. They go stumbling around, breaking things, being scolded. Always looking for a place where they'll feel they belong. They have that crooked look.

  Vincent Bruce : [a bit puzzled]  "Crooked look"?

  Lilith Arthur : Of not really matching anything... I'd like to go for a walk now.