Daily Dialogue — August 6, 2011
Ben: It’s so dark in here.
Sera: You’re so sick… so pale.
Ben: My love.
Sera: You’re my love.
Ben: Do you want help?
Sera: Do you want my help?
Ben: I want to see you. You’re my angel.
Sera: I’m right here.
Ben: What happened?
Sera: Something went wrong, but I’m okay.
Ben: I’m sorry I put us asunder.
Sera: It’s okay. Let me do it. There. There you go.
Ben: See how hard you make me, angel?
[she climbs atop him]
Ben: You know I love you.
Sera: I know.
— Ben (Nicholas Cage), Sera (Elisabeth Shue), Leaving Las Vegas (1995), screenplay by Mike Figgis, based on the novel by John O’Brien
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is deathbed scenes, suggested by Gabe.
Trivia: Author John O’Brien, on whose novel this movie is based, committed suicide two weeks after the movie went into production. Director Mike Figgis contemplated abandoning the project, but decided the film would make a good memorial for O’Brien.
Dialogue On Dialogue: “I’m sorry I put us asunder.” Just think on that for a moment. Yes, Ben is drunk. Yes, he is dying. And yes, he wants to express regret for… perhaps everything. But what a line. The choice of that one word: “asunder.” It literally means “into pieces” or “into separate parts.” Is Ben forecasting his death? She will be alive, he will be gone? Is he talking about how so often their doomed romance seemed to be at sixes and sevens? Such an interesting and mysterious word choice.
Comment Archive