Daily Dialogue — March 25, 2016

TOM: Where’s Verona?
BURT: I think she’s in the bathroom. Where’s Munch?
TOM: I have no fucking idea.

MUNCH comes out on stage.

BURT: Uh-oh.

TOM is mesmerized as his wife begins to dance.

TOM: She had another miscarriage.
BURT: What? When?
TOM: Thursday.
BURT: This Thursday?
TOM: Yeah. This is her fifth. I know she loves all those kids like they were her own blood, but… I wonder if we’ve been selfish, people like us, we wait until our 30s and then we’re surprised when the babies aren’t so easy to make anymore, and every day, another million 14-year-olds get pregnant without trying. It’s terrible feeling this helpless, man. You just watch these babies grow, and then…they fade. And you don’t know if you’re supposed to name them, or bury them, or… I’m sorry.

— Away We Go (2009), written by Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Pregnancy. Today’s suggestion by Melinda.

Trivia: The film is the first studio production to adopt green filmmaking initiatives aimed to reduce CO2 emission. Garbage was reduced by half, thanks to the various bins for recyclable material. Caterers used ceramic and washed dishes as opposed to throwaway products. Vehicles on the set used biodiesel fuel.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Melinda: “I find this to be such a sad scene in a really great movie, and I think it works because of what’s said and not said. Tom clearly explains the situation to Burt, but it’s also clear that so much hasn’t been said — between Tom and Munch and between the pairs of friends, about Verona’s pregnancy and Munch not being pregnant.”