Red Desert (1964)

Monica Vitti: Giuliana

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Quotes 

• Giuliana : There's something terrible about reality and i don't know what it is. No one will tell me.

• Giuliana : Are you a leftist or a rightist?

  Corrado Zeller : Why do you ask such a question? Are you interested in politics?

  Giuliana : Good Lord, no. I was just wondering.

  Corrado Zeller : It's like asking, "What do you believe in?" Those are big words, Giuliana, that calls for precise answers. Deep down... one doesn't really know what one believes in. One believes in humanity... in a certain sense. A little less in justice. A little more in progress. One believes in socialism... perhaps. What matters is to act as one thinks right - right for oneself and for others. In other words, with a clean conscience. Mine is at peace. Does that answer your question?

  Giuliana : That's some bunch of words you strung together.

• Giuliana : You know what I'd like? I'd like everyone who's ever cared about me... here around me now, like a wall.

• Giuliana : I feel my eyes tearing up. What should I do with my eyes? What should I watch?

  Corrado Zeller : You ask what you should watch. I ask how I should live. It's the same thing.

• Corrado Zeller : Could you eat me too?

  Giuliana : If I loved you.

• Giuliana : It's never still. Never. Never, never. I can't look at the sea for long or I lose interest in what's happening on land.

• Giuliana's son : Why is that smoke yellow?

  Giuliana : Because it's poisonous.

  Giuliana's son : You mean if a little birdie flies there, it'll die?

  Giuliana : The little birdies know by now. They don't fly there anymore.

• Giuliana : I dreamed I was in bed and the bed was moving. I looked down and it was on quicksand. It was sinking deeper and deeper.

• Giuliana : I didn't get better. I'll never get better... Never.

  Corrado Zeller : You brood on your illness. But it's just an illness like any other. We all suffer from it a bit. In one way or another, we all need to get better.

• Giuliana : [voiceover: Giuliana is recounting a fable to her son, as a depiction of the fable is shown on screen]  There was a girl who lived on an island. Grownups bored her, and frightened her too. She didn't like kids her age. They all pretended to be grownup. So she was always alone, with the cormorants, seagulls, and wild rabbits.

  Giuliana : [voiceover continues]  She'd discovered a small beach far from town, with crystal-clear water and pink sand. She loved that spot. The colors of nature were so beautiful, and there was no noise. She'd leave only when the sun did too.

  Giuliana : [voiceover continues]  One morning, a sailing ship appeared. It wasn't like the usual boats that passed by. This was a real sailing ship, the kind that had braved stormy seas all over the world - and who knows, maybe even beyond. Seen from afar, it was a splendid sight. But up close, it took on a mysterious air. There was no one aboard. It paused for a few moments, then turned, and sailed off, as silently as it had come. She was used to people's strange ways, so she wasn't surprised.

  Giuliana : [voiceover continues]  But no sooner was she back on shore, when...

• Giuliana : I may be wrong... but I really think... I want to make love.

• Max : You two would be interested in our conversation. Didn't you tell me about that ointment...

  Orlando : What ointment?

  Max : The one some Africans use... to last longer. What was it again?

  Orlando : Oh, that. It's nothing. Just some crocodile fat and pungent herbs that they smear on before they...

  Mili : Smear on what?

  Linda : Mili, don't play dumb.

  Orlando : It works for hours.

  Max : Hear that, Mili? It works for hours.

  Mili : I don't believe it.

  Corrado Zeller : It's true, it's true. You have no idea what men in other countries do. For example, in Jordan I saw men eat mutton fat and honey for breakfast.

  Max : What about the Chinese? They eat ground rhinoceros horn.

  Ugo : Dried shark fin is an energy booster too.

  Max : I confess that I've tried royal jelly and it works. Right, LInda?

  Giuliana : What's that?

  Ugo : Honey from the queen bee.

  Max : It's rejuvenating. Remember that in your old age, miss.

  Corrado Zeller : Assuming she still wants to make love then.

  Max : What do you say to that?

  Iole : I'd rather do certain things than talk about them.

• Giuliana : If I were to leave never to return, I'd take you with me too. You're part of me now. I mean, part of everything around me.

• Giuliana : Everything was singing. Everything.

• Corrado Zeller : Your son?

  Giuliana : No. No, he's fine. He doesn't need me. It's me who needs him.

• Giuliana : My hair hurts, my eyes, my throat, my mouth...

• Giuliana : I can't decide, because I'm not a single woman. Though sometimes I feel sort of... separated. No, not from my husband. No. Our bodies are all separate.

• Giuliana : If I were to go away, I'd take everything. Everything I see, all the things I use every day, even the ashtrays.

  Corrado Zeller : Then you might as well just stay put. You'd just end up missing everything: the street where you live, your city.

  Giuliana : You see in classified ads: "For sale. Owner must relocate." As if it were an excuse to abandon everything... or almost. Why? It shouldn't be like that. How can you predict what you'll need? And the things and people you leave behind - will they be there when you go back? And will they be the same?