Karin Quotes in Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

Lars Lindstrom: You don't care.

Karin: We don't care? We do care!

Lars Lindstrom: No you don't.

Karin: That is just not true! God! Every person in this town bends over backward to make Bianca feel at home. Why do you think she has so many places to go and so much to do? Huh? Huh? Because of you! Because - all these people - love you! We push her wheelchair. We drive her to work. We drive her home. We wash her. We dress her. We get her up, and put her to bed. We carry her. And she is not petite, Lars. Bianca is a big, big girl! None of this is easy - for any of us - but we do it... Oh! We do it for you! So don't you dare tell me how we don't care.

[walks into house and slams door]

Gus: Pretend that she's real? I'm just not gonna do it.

Dagmar: She is real.

Gus: Well...

Dagmar: She's right out there.

Gus: Right, right, I get that, but I'm just not gonna, you know...

Dagmar: You won't be able to change his mind, anyway. Bianca's in town for a reason.

Gus: But - but...

Dagmar: It's not really a choice.

Karin: Okay. Okay, all right, we'll do it, whatever it takes.

Gus: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And everyone's gonna laugh at him.

Dagmar: And you.

Dagmar: Have there been any changes in the family in the last year or so?

Gus: [while Karin simultaneously nods "Yes"] No, everything is pretty much exactly the same except Karin is pregnant and Lars is nuts.

Dagmar: You know, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. What we call mental illness isn't always just an illness. It can be a communication; it can be a way to work something out.

Gus: Fantastic. When will it be over?

Dagmar: When he doesn't need it anymore.

Karin: How can we help?

Dagmar: Go along with it.

Karin: Oh, no. No, that's... No.

Gus: Oh, my. No, no, no. No. No, I mean, pretend that she's real? I'm not gonna do that. I mean, I can't. I'm just not gonna do it.

Dagmar: She is real.

Gus: Well...

Dagmar: I mean, she's right out there.

Gus: Right, right. I get that. But I'm just not gonna... You know, I'm just not gonna... I'm not gonna do it, so...

Dagmar: You won't be able to change his mind, anyway. Bianca's in town for a reason.

Gus: Right, but, but...

Dagmar: It's not really a choice.

Karin: Okay. Okay. All right, then, we'll do it. Whatever it takes.

Gus: Oh, yeah, yeah, yep. And everyone's gonna laugh at him.

Dagmar: And you...

Gus: What are we doing? Why are we doing this for him?

Karin: Oh, come on. It's funny!

Gus: Is it?

Karin: I don't know. I don't know, maybe not.

[gets up, leaves]

Karin: It's true. I've - often thought - of taking my own life. It's... it's disgusting. It's degrading - and - it never ever changes.

Karin: [to Maria] You look so disconcerted. You thought our talk would be different, didn't you? Do you realize I hate you and how foolish I find your insipid smile and your idiotic flirtatiousness?

[exhales]

Karin: How have I managed to tolerate you so long and not say anything? I know of what you're made - with your empty caresses and your false laughter. Can you conceive how anyone can live with so much hate as has been my burden? There's no relief, no charity, no help! There is nothing. Do you understand? Nothing can escape me for I see all!

Karin: Anna. You hear that?

Anna: I hear only the wind and the ticking of the clocks.

Karin: No. It's something else.

Anna: I don't hear anything else.

Karin: I'm freezing. Good night.

Karin: It's a web of lies, all of it.

Karin: Nothing but a web of lies. Every bit of it. A web of lies.

Karin: [singing] A little power is so painful, but it lets him scale the mountains.

Karin: Make me worthy to receive the bread of Thy body and save my soul from a worldy death.

David: We draw a magic circle and shut out everything that doesn't agree with our secret games. Each time life breaks the circle, the games turn grey and ridiculous. Then we draw a new circle and build a new defense.

Karin: Poor little daddy.

David: Yes, poor little daddy, forced to live in reality.

Karin: It's so horrible to see your own confusion and understand it.

Fredrik: I'm an artist.

Karin: Artist?

Fredrik: Yes, Princess, a thoroughbred artist: a poet with no poems, a painter with no pictures, a musician with no music. I despise ready... made art, the banal result of vulgar effort. My life is my work and dedicated to my love for you.

Karin: Funny, you always say and do the very right thing... and it's always wrong.

Fredrik: Hey! Be careful now. Keep away from me. Stop hugging and kissing me. Stop sunbathing half naked. You disgust me. You know very well what I mean. Women are horrible. How they smell and move around, how they stick out their stomachs, how they comb their hair and talk. Makes me feel like a skinned rabbit!

Karin: Poor boy.

Fredrik: Thanks. I can give myself all the pity I want.

Karin: [Last lines] God... my God... help me! Give me the strength... the understanding... and the courage. God, God, God, oh my God, merciful God... God, God, God!

The Priest: Those who have gone away help those who are left behind. And I, well, I act as the middle-man.

Karin: Then try to help us, Father. I can't take a life like this. Antonio is still a boy. Yes, I love him, but he doesn't understand how a woman like me feels.

The Priest: I think he does. I know how hard he tried to get work. The fishing season has started. And the boats have full crews already. You see, there are only four boats from Stromboli. The rest come from other islands. Yet, Antonio has managed to find a place. He sacrificed his pride. He owned a boat of his own, once, you know. He has done it all for you. I know it, because I talked with him.

Karin: Yes, I suppose he's doing his best, but... can't he realize that I can't live here, and that he should take me away?

The Priest: You need money to emigrate - and a place to go.

Karin: Those who are born here, all they wanted was to leave. You can imagine how I feel here, Father, a stranger. These black rocks, this desolation, that... that 'terror.' This island drives me mad, Father. Won't you help us, please?

The Priest: You are both young. Make Antonio save his money instead of spending it. Help him. And perhaps you will be able to leave too, someday. But while you are to stay here, make a good home for yourself and for him. It will make it easier for both of you to wait. If you do this, merciful God will help you.

Karin: With me, God has *never* been merciful!

Karin: Good morning, Rosaria, would you like to come in and see the house?

Aunt Rosaria: No.

Karin: But what is the matter? Why are you all against me? I haven't hurt anyone. Why does everyone act like this?

Aunt Rosaria: Why you do things like this? You are not modest.

Karin: But I haven't done anything wrong! It's not my fault if I'm different. I look different, I act different, and I feel different. I've tried to make the house better for me and my husband. What in the world can you be - can you have against that?

Aunt Rosaria: You have no modesty.

Karin: This is a ghost island! Nobody lives here!

The Priest: San Bartolo, our patron saint, will bless you. It was San Bartolo who stopped the lava and the fire up there with his hands and saved our homes. You will be happy here, won't you? This is your home now.

Antonio: Grazie a Padre.

Karin: Good-bye, Father.

Karin: I don't care about your barley. Or, your vines! Or, your new terra! I want to leave this island and go away, far away! Like all the others who lived here and were born here and went away, far away!

Antonio: ...Listen, this is my home! You are my wife! You stay because I want to!

Karin: I am your wife. And this is your home, but, I'm not like you. You slept very well last night, huh? But, I didn't sleep. I'm different. I'm very different from you. I belong to another class. I can't live like this in this filth! This is no life for civilized people. Keep on counting your nineteen thousand liras. You need much more for a woman like me.

Karin: Money, money, money! You need much more money for a woman like me!

Karin: I am your wife. And this is your home. But, I have to live in it too and I'm not an animal.

Karin: I want to get out! I want to get out! I want to get out!

Old Man #1: Volcano is a very dangerous. Sometime blow up and a lot of stones go up and come down right in floor and make big hole and burn everything. Like in 1944.

Karin: Why did you leave America?

Old Man #1: I leave America. America's good for young fellows. I am old man and I come back to Stromboli.

Old Man #2: This fellow too old and stupid in the head. I don't want to die here. I want to go back over to my son in Brooklyn. And he saves money for my trip. I am going back in Brooklyn in about ten years.

Karin: How old are you?

Old Man #2: Seventy.

Karin: Do me a favor and take me to the woman who has a sewing machine. The one who fixed the curtains for me. I'd like her to help me with the my new dress. It will be easier to wait if I have something to do.

Old Man #1: That woman is not so good. Her reputation is a cosi-cosi.

Karin: Ha-ha. I don't care if her reputation is cosi-cosi. I'm old enough to take care of myself.

Karin: Oh, it's you. What's the matter? Are you sick?

The Man from the Lighthouse: No, just malaria.

Karin: Oh, I am so ashamed, Father. I may have done wrong. But, all I want now is a little happiness. Where I was born we had a nice home. We lost everything in the war. I met a man, an officer, in the invading army. He seemed more human than the rest. He was young and always gay. I was trapped, like all the rest. I-I have sinned, but, I've paid. You're a sensitive, experienced man.

The Priest: I am only a poor priest.

Karin: But, I can be frank with you. I couldn't with Antonio. You are the one man who can give me comfort.

The Priest: I'm no more than the parish priest of a little community of fishermen.

Karin: But, your human qualities, I can see.

The Priest: I am a priest! And I can only assist you during confession or to prayer.

Karin: You're not going to keep me here, are you? Its no use looking at me that way. It won't do you any good. Nothing can keep me here!

Karin: Oh, God. Oh, God. What mystery, what beauty.

Karin: No! I can't go back. I can't. They are horrible. It was all horrible. They don't know what they are doing. I am even worse.