Another Woman (1988)

Gena Rowlands: Marion

Photos 

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Marion : [voiceover]  I closed the book, and felt this strange mixture of wistfulness and hope, and I wondered if a memory is something you have or something you've lost. For the first time in a long time, I felt at peace.

• Paul : Do you remember some years ago when I showed you something I'd written, do you remember what you said?

  Marion : No, I don't remember. I was probably just trying to be truthful.

  Paul : Yes, I'm sure. You said, "This is overblown, it's too emotional, it's maudlin. Your dreams may be meaningful to you, but to the objective observer, it's just so embarrassing."

  Marion : I said that?

  Paul : Exactly your words. So I tried not to embarrass you any more.

• Marion : Then I saw my mother's favorite poem, "Archaic Torso of Apollo." There were stains on the page, which, I believe were her tears. They fell across the last line, "For here there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life."

• Marion : Fifty. I didn't think anything turning thirty. Everybody said I would. Then they said I'd be crushed turning forty, but they were wrong. I didn't give it a second's thought. Then they said that I'd be traumatized when I hit fifty, and they were right. I'll tell you the truth, I don't think I've ever recovered my balance since turning fifty.

  Hope : Oh, gee, fifty's not so old.

  Marion : No, I know it isn't, but... you just suddenly look up and see where you are.

  Hope : You're in a good spot, aren't you?

  Marion : Well, I thought I was. But then there's chances gone by you can't have back again.

  Hope : Like what?

  Marion : I don't know. Maybe it would be nice to have a child.

  Hope : You really think that?

  Marion : I do. I never said it before, but I do.

• [first lines] 

  Marion : [voiceover]  If someone had asked me when I reached my fifties to assess my life, I would have said that I had achieved a decent measure of fulfillment, both personally and professionally. Beyond that, I would say I don't choose to delve.

• Marion : I wondered if a memory is something you have or something you've lost.

• Marion : But you want nothing around to even remind you of mother?

  Marion's Father : Well, there are times when even an historian shouldn't look at the past.

  Laura : Do you think at your age you can find someone and fall in love again?

  Marion's Father : One hopes at my age to build up an immunity.

• Marion : Would you ever think of making love to me on the living room floor?

  Ken : Do you want me to?

  Marion : I don't know. Would you want to?

  Ken : I don't know. Actually, I don't think I see you as the hard wood floor type.

  Marion : No?

• Marion : Don't make something romantic sound infantile...

  Ken : Hey, but it's the same level of maturity as sex on the floor.

  Marion : Well, we might as well have it on the floor, we certainly don't have it in bed anymore.

  Ken : I don't believe we're having this discussion.

  Marion : Why have you stopped sleeping with me?

  Ken : We are simply going through a less active period, that's all. Its not uncommon.

  Marion : Why? I just want to know why?

  Ken : Why don't we just go to bed.

  Marion : There was a time that we were dying to be together.

  Ken : Marion, you're still the most desirable woman that I know.

  Marion : But, we won't make love tonight, because, they'll be some excuse. I hadn't realized how much of that had slipped away, until today.

• Marion : I feel sorry for you Ken, because, in your way, you've been as lonely as I have.

  Ken : Have you been lonely?

  Marion : At least I've come to recognize it.