Betrayal (1983)
Patricia Hodge: Emma
Photos
Quotes
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Emma : Aren't you enjoying the party?
Jerry : You're beautiful.
[He goes to her]
Jerry : Listen. I've been watching you all night. I must tell you, I want to tell you, I have to tell you...
Emma : - Please
Jerry : You're incredible.
Emma : You're drunk.
Jerry : Nevertheless.
[He holds her]
Jerry : I was best man at your wedding. I saw you in white. I watched you glide by in white.
Emma : I wasn't in white.
Jerry : You know what should have happened? I should have had you, in your white, before the wedding. I should have blackened you, in your white wedding dress, blackened you in your bridal dress, before ushering you into your wedding, as your best man.
Emma : My husband's best man. Your best friend's best man.
Jerry : No. Your best man.
Emma : I must get back.
Jerry : You're lovely. I'm crazy about you. All these words I'm using, don't you see, they've never been said before. Can't you see? I'm crazy about you. It's a whirlwind. Have you ever been to the Sahara Desert? Listen to me. It's true. Listen. You overwhelm me. You're so lovely.
Emma : I'm not.
Jerry : You're so beautiful. Look at the way you look at me.
Emma : I'm not... looking at you.
Jerry : Look at the way you're looking at me. I can't wait for you, I'm bowled over, I'm totally knocked out, you dazzle me, you jewel, my jewel, I can't ever sleep again, no, listen, it's the truth, I won't walk, I'll be a cripple, I'll descend, I'll diminish, into total paralysis, my life is in your hands, that's what you're banishing me to, a state of catatonia, do you know the state of catatonia? do you? the state of... where the reigning prince is the prince of emptiness, the prince of absence, the prince of desolation. I love you.
Emma : My husband is at the other side of that door.
Jerry : I adore you. I'm madly in love with you. I can't believe that what anyone is at this moment saying has ever happened has ever happened. Nothing has ever happened. Nothing. This is the only thing that has ever happened. Your eyes kill me. I'm lost. You're wonderful.
Emma : No.
Jerry : Yes.
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Robert : Anyway, there was a letter there for you. They asked me if you were any relation. And I said, 'Yes.' So, they asked me if I wanted to take it. I mean, they gave it to me. But I said, 'No,' I would leave it. Did you get it?
Emma : Yes.
Robert : I suppose you popped in when you were out shopping yesterday evening?
Emma : That's right.
Robert : Oh, well, I'm glad you got it. To be honest, I was amazed that they suggested I take it. It could never happen in England. But these Italians, so free and easy. I mean, just because my name is Downs and your name is Downs, it doesn't mean that we're the Mr. and Mrs. Downs that they, in their laughing Mediterranean way, assume we are. We could be, and in fact are vastly more likely to be, total strangers. So, let's say, I, whom they laughingly assume to be your husband, had taken the letter, having declared myself to be your husband, but in truth being a total stranger, and opened it, and read it, out of nothing more than idle curiosity, and then thrown it in a canal, you would never have received it. And would have been deprived of your legal right to open your own mail, and all this because of Venetian je m'en foutisme. I've a good mind to write to the Doge of Venice about it. That's what stopped me taking it, by the way, and bringing it to you. The thought that I could very easily be a total stranger. What they, of course, did not know, and had no way of knowing, was that I am your husband.
Emma : Pretty inefficient bunch.
Robert : Only in a laughing Mediterranean way.
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Jerry : I had a terrible panic when you were away. I was sorting out a contract... in my office with some lawyers. And I suddenly couldn't remember what I'd done with your letter. I couldn't remember putting it in the safe. I said I had to look for something in the safe. I opened the safe. It wasn't there. I had to go on with the damn contract. I kept seeing it... lying somewhere in the house... being picked up.
Emma : Did you find it?
Jerry : It was in the pocket of a jacket in my wardrobe at home.
Emma : God. What would you have done... if Judith had found it?
Jerry : I don't know what I would've done.
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Robert : Jerry wanted us to publish it.
Emma : Oh, really?
Robert : Well, naturally. Anyway, I turned it down.
Emma : Why?
Robert : Oh. Not much more to say on that subject, really, is there?
Emma : What do you consider the subject to be?
Robert : Betrayal.
Emma : No, it isn't.
Robert : Isn't it? Well, what is it then?
Emma : I haven't finished it yet. I'll let you know.
Robert : Well, do let me know. Of course, I could be thinking of the wrong book.
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Jerry : I hear you're seeing a bit of Casey.
Emma : What?
Jerry : Casey. I just... heard you were seeing a bit of him.
Emma : Where did you hear that from?
Jerry : Oh, people talking.
Emma : Christ.
Jerry : The funny thing was, the only thing I really felt was irritation. I mean, irritation that nobody gossiped about us like that in the old days. I nearly said, 'Now, look... she may be having the occasional drink with Casey, but she and I had an affair for seven years, and none of you bastards had the faintest idea it was happening.'
Emma : I wonder. I wonder if everyone knew all the time.
Jerry : Don't be silly. We were brilliant. Nobody knew.
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Jerry : I was having tea with Casey.
Emma : Where?
Jerry : Around the corner.
Emma : I thought he lived in Hampstead or somewhere.
Robert : You're out of date.
Emma : Am I?
Jerry : He's left Susannah. He's living alone round the corner.
Emma : Oh.
Robert : Writing a novel about a man who leaves his wife and three children, and goes to live alone on the other side of London to write a novel about a man who leaves his wife and three children.
Emma : I hope it's better than the last one.
Robert : The last one? Ah, the last one. Wasn't that the one about the man who lived in a big house in Hampstead with his wife and three children, and is writing a novel... about them?
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Jerry : She has an admirer.
Emma : Really?
Jerry : Another doctor. He takes her for drinks. It's... irritating. I mean, she says that's all there is to it. He likes her, she's fond of him, et cetera, et cetera. Perhaps that's what I find irritating, but I don't know exactly what's going on.
Emma : Oh, why shouldn't she have an admirer? I have an admirer.
Jerry : Who?
Emma : Uh, you, I think.
Jerry : Ah, yes. I'm more than that.
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Emma : It's a waste. Nobody comes here. I just can't bear to think about it actually. Just... empty. All day and night. Day after day and night after night. I mean, the crockery, and the curtains, and the bedspread, and everything. And the tablecloth I brought from Venice. It's ridiculous. It's just... an empty home.
Jerry : It's not a home. I know. I know what you wanted... but it could never actually... be a home. You have a home. I have a home. With... curtains, et cetera... and children. Two children... in two homes. There are no children here, so it's not the same... kind of home.
Emma : It was never intended to be the same kind of home. Was it? You didn't ever see it as a home, in any sense, did you?
Jerry : No, I saw it as a flat, you know?
Emma : For fucking.
Jerry : No, for loving.
Emma : Well, there's not much of that left, is there?
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Emma : You know what I found out last night? He's betrayed me for years. He's had other women for years.
Jerry : No. Good Lord. But we betrayed him for years.
Emma : And he betrayed me for years.
Jerry : Well, I never knew that.
Emma : Nor did I.
Jerry : What a funny thing. We were such close friends, weren't we? Robert and me, even though I haven't seen him for a few months, but through all those years, all the drinks, all the lunches... we had together, I never even gleaned. I never suspected... there was anyone else... in his life but you. Never. For example, when you're with a fellow in a pub, or a restaurant, for example. From time to time, he pops out for a piss, you see. Who doesn't? But what I mean is, if he's making a crafty telephone call, you can sort of sense it, you see? You can sense the pip-pip-pips. Well, I never did that with Robert. He never made any pip-pip telephone calls in any pub I was with him in. The funny thing is... that it was me that made the pip-pip calls... to you... when I left him boozing at the bar.
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Robert : [asking Emma about a book she is reading] You think it's good, do you?
Emma : Yes, I do. I'm enjoying it.
Robert : Jerry thinks it's good too. You should have lunch with us one day and chat about it.
Emma : Is that absolutely necessary? It's not as good as all that.
Robert : Do you mean it's not good enough for you to have lunch with Jerry and me and chat about it?
Emma : What the hell are you talking about?
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Emma : [after Jerry and Robert have talked about playing squash together] Can I watch?
Robert : What?
Emma : Why can't I watch, and then take you both to lunch?
Robert : Well, to be brutally honest, we wouldn't actually want a woman around, would we, Jerry? I mean, a game of squash isn't simply a game of squash. It's rather more than that. You see, first, there's the game. And then there's the shower. And then there's the pint. And then there's lunch. After all, you've been at it. You've had your battle. What you want is your pint and your lunch. You really don't want a woman buying you lunch. You don't actually want a woman within a mile of the place, any of the places really. You don't want her in the squash court, you don't want her in the shower... or the pub, or the restaurant. You see, at lunch, you want to talk about squash, or cricket, or books, or even women with your friend, and be able to warm to your theme without fear of improper interruption. That's what it's all about.
