Daily Dialogue — September 6, 2011
Doctor: I tell you what, kids, it’s, uh, odd thing here. Your wrist, uh, far as I can tell, is, uh, fractured in three places. Uh, and you’ve shattered, uh, two vertebrae, though I can’t be certain without an X-ray… The bone protrusion through the skin — that’s not a good sign. You’re body temperature is below 80, and your, your, your heart’s stopped beating.
Ernest Menville: What the hell does that mean?
Doctor: Exactly! What… what… I’m going to get a second opinion.
[the doctor leaves in a hurry]
Madeline Ashton: Well, it could be worse.
— Doctor (Sydney Pollack), Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis), Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep), Death Becomes Her (1992), written by Martin Donovan and David Koepp
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is delivering bad news, suggested by Saint716. Death Becomes Her suggested by DeafEars.
Trivia: The three main character’s names are a play on words. Madeline, Ernest and Helen can be shortened to Mad, Ern, Hel, or “Madder ‘n Hell.”
Dialogue On Dialogue: Another reversal of expectations as the doctor is the one who gets frantic while the patient is rather impassive about the whole thing.