Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)

John Hawkes: Richard Swersey

Photos 

Quotes 

• Christine Jesperson : [seeing his bandage]  Whoa, what happened?

  Richard Swersey : You want the short version or the long one?

  Christine Jesperson : The long one.

  Richard Swersey : I tried to save my life but it didn't work.

  Christine Jesperson : Wow. What's the short one?

  Richard Swersey : I burned it.

• Richard Swersey : You think you deserve that pain but you don't.

• Richard Swersey : I don't want to have to do this living. I just walk around. I want to be swept off my feet, you know? I want my children to have magical powers. I am prepared for amazing things to happen. I can handle it.

• Andrew : Dude, did you just give her the family discount?

  Richard Swersey : Yeah. She's my neighbor, and I'm trying to work on my karma. Do you know what karma means?

  Andrew : Yeah.

  Richard Swersey : It means that she owes me one.

• Richard Swersey : [carrying bowls of cereal]  I thought we'd have breakfast for dinner. And then maybe sometime we'll have dinner for breakfast. Just to mix things up a little.

• Richard Swersey : When me and Pam were first in love, we hated to be apart even for an hour.

  Andrew : Oh yeah, I had something like that once. A real fuck-athon.

  Richard Swersey : No, we just slept. We loved to sleep when it was time to sleep. Not sex- we had sex, but what we really loved was to sleep like babies all day long.

  Andrew : That sounds perfect.

• Richard Swersey : We will never touch your foot with our hands. Now i'll tell you what I can do, I can press on the shoe to see if it fits. I can go like this.

  [presses the toe of the shoe] 

• Sylvie's Mom : Kids are so adaptable.

  Sylvie : Am I adaptable?

  Sylvie's Mom : Yes.

  Richard Swersey : Yes, well, they have absolutely no control over their lives, so... But if things were reversed - you know, like that movie Freaky Friday - you can be sure Pam and I would be sent to our rooms for all our Friday. Yes, they would give us a time-out and tell us we could not come out until we had really thought about what we had done.

  [pause. Very soberly] 

  Richard Swersey : What have we done?

  [pause] 

  Richard Swersey : But... there are no time-outs, there's not enough time for... time-out.

• Richard Swersey : In some cultures, when you burn yourself, it's a ceremony. It's called self-immolation! My uncle used to do it all the time. It was a great trick! He'd put the stuff on it, light it, and it would just go out when he went like this.

  [moves bandaged hand back and forth] 

  Richard Swersey : After I lit it, I suddenly remembered: It's alcohol that burns, but doesn't burn up. Lighter fluid just burns... and then I thought, "It's okay. It's better this way."

• Richard Swersey : Yeah, the "Ice Land" sign is halfway. It's the halfway point.

  Christine Jesperson : Ice Land is - It's kind of like that point in a relationship, you know, where you suddenly realize it's not going to last forever. You know, you can see the end in sight. Tyrone Street.

  Richard Swersey : Yeah, but we're not even there yet. We're still at the good part. We're not even sick of each other yet.

  Christine Jesperson : I'm not sick of you at all.

• Richard Swersey : You know some kids don't even have one home and now you get to have two. Think about that.

• Christine Jesperson : I mean, they kind of rub my ankles, but all shoes does that. I have low ankles.

  Richard Swersey : You think you deserve that pain, but you don't.

  Christine Jesperson : I don't think I deserve it.

  Richard Swersey : Well, not consciously maybe.

  Christine Jesperson : My ankles are just low...

  Richard Swersey : People think that foot pain is a fact of life, but life is actually better than that.

  Michael : I'll say. You should get some. Your whole life could be better. Just starting right now.

• Richard Swersey : [after taking off the bandage from his hand]  It needs air. It needs to do some living. Let's take my hand for a walk.

• Robby : Mom says we have a chore wheel.

  Richard Swersey : What?

  Peter Swersey : Nothing.

  Robby : A chore wheel. You put chores on it and then you can spin it. There's this metal thing and it helps it to spin. It's spinning from the metal.