The Magician (1958)

Ingrid Thulin: Manda Vogler (alias Mr. Aman)

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health : I'll tell you a secret. I've struggled all evening with an inexplicable sympathy for you and your husband.

  Manda Vogler : That doesn't sound likely.

  Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health : I took an immediate liking to you. Your faces, your silence, your natural dignity. I only admit the deplorable fact because I'm tipsy.

  Manda Vogler : Then leave us alone.

  Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health : I can't.

  Manda Vogler : Why not?

  Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health : Because you represent what I despise most of all. The inexplicable.

• Manda Vogler : Nothing is true.

• Manda Vogler : It's meaningless.

  Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health : So I can put my mind at ease?

  Manda Vogler : Yes, put your mind at ease. We can demonstrate our incompetence as often as you like.

  Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health : You seem to regret the fact and wish it were otherwise. But there are no miracles. It's always the props and the patter that must do the work. The clergy's in the same sad boat. God is silent while men babble on.

  Manda Vogler : If just once...

  Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health : That's what they all say, "If just once..." For the nonbelievers, but especially for the believers. "If just once..."

  Manda Vogler : If just once... It's true.

• Manda Vogler : Remember in Lyon when we earned lots of money, bought a country house, and intended to stop traveling? Then we sold the property and bought the carriage and horses. That's when you started acting mute. Remember the Grand Duke in Köten who was so taken by me that he promised to recommend us to His Majesty in Sweden? You thought I'd been unfaithful, and you gave the duke a thrashing. We sat in prison for two months until he forgave us. He was very magnanimous and promised to recommend us to the Swedish court anyway. Do you think he did?

  Manda Vogler : [Vogler doesn't answer her]  No, I don't think he did either.

• Manda Vogler : An interesting book, in any case. "Deception is so prevalent that those who speak the truth are usually branded as the greatest liars."