Daily Dialogue — May 22, 2013

Donna Rosa: Be honest with me. What did he tell you?
Beatrice: Metaphors.
Donna Rosa: Metaphors? Never heard such big words from you before. What metaphors did he do to you?
Beatrice: Did? He said them! He said my smile spreads across my face like a butterfly.
Donna Rosa: And then?
Beatrice: I laughed when he said that.
Mario: Your laugh is a rose… a spear unearthed, crashing water. Your laugh is a sudden silvery wave.
Donna Rosa: Then what did you do?
Beatrice: I kept quiet.
Donna Rosa: And he?
Beatrice: What else did he say?
Donna Rosa: No, what did he do? Your postman, as well as a mouth, has two hands!
Beatrice: He never touched me. He said he was happy to be next to a pure young woman. Like being on the shores of the white ocean.
Mario: I like it — I like it when you’re silent because it’s as though you’re absent.
Donna Rosa: And you? And he?
Beatrice: He looked at me, too, then he stopped looking at my eyes and began to look at my hair without a word, as though he were thinking.
Donna Rosa: Enough, my child! When a man starts to touch you with words he’s not far off with his hands.
Beatrice: There’s nothing wrong with words.
Donna Rosa: Words are the worst things ever. I’d prefer a drunkard at the bar touching your bum to someone who says, ”Your smile flies like a butterfly”!
Beatrice: It ”spreads” like a butterfly!
Donna Rosa: Flies, spreads, it’s the same thing!

— Il Postino (1994), screenplay by Anna Pavignano & Michael Radford & Furio Scarpelli & Giacomo Scarpelli & Massimo Troisi, story by Furio Scarpelli & Giacomo Scarpelli, novel by Antonio Skármeta.

http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=x3td

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is original composition [song/poem], sugggested by churnage. Today’s suggestion by Daniel Cossu.

Trivia: Writer/co-director/star Massimo Troisi postponed heart surgery so he could complete the film. The day after filming was complete, he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Dialogue On Dialogue: “When a man starts to touch you with words, he’s not far off with his hands.” Ah, yes. Words are the worst things ever… except when they are the best things. Like writing a poem or a song for a character to woo someone with.