Zardoz (1974)

Sara Kestelman: May

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Zed stands before a giant screen swarming with microscopic infusoria] 

  May : Look at it. It's you.

  [Zed looks behind him, but May does not see him do so] 

  May : Your genetic structure, your life chart. Look.

  [Obligingly, Zed does so again] 

  May : You are a mutant, second, maybe third generation - therefore genetically stable. Enlarged brain, total recall. Your potential is... Your breeding potential!

  Zed : Breeding?

  May : Frayn!

  [May spins around to confront Zed] 

  May : How did you get into the Vortex? What is your purpose?

  Zed : I'm just an Exterminator. I know nothing.

  May : You must know that you're mentally and physically vastly superior to me, or to anyone else here. You could be anything, could *do* anything. You must be destroyed.

  Zed : Why?

  May : Because you could destroy us!

  Zed : As *you* destroyed the rest of life? Can you un-know what you know now about me?

  May : For the sake of science, I will keep this knowledge from the others, for the time being. But you must follow me, obey me, be circumspect, make no disruption, quietly do whatever work is given you. I will watch over you.

• May : Friend, I cannot sanction this violence and destruction.

  Friend : It's too late, May. There's no going back.

  May : Don't destroy the Vortex! Let us renew it. A better breed could prosper here. Given time...

  Friend : Time? Wasn't eternity enough?

  Zed : [enters suddenly; May wheels to face him]  This place is against life. It must die.

  [Zed gently grasps May's pistol hand and raises it so that the weapon points right between his eyes] 

  May : I have my followers. Inseminate us all, and we'll teach you all we know, give you all we have. Perhaps you can break the Tabernacle. Or be broken.

  [Friend advances to place his hand on the others', in a triple pact] 

  Friend : An end to eternity.

  May : A higher form.

  Zed : Revenge.

• May : The outlands have to be controlled.

  Consuella : I've always voted against forced farming.

  May : You eat the bread.

• [Zed confronts May in the weaving-house; she is partially hidden beneath a diaphanous patterned sheet] 

  Zed : May? I want your help!

  May : You want to destroy us... the Tabernacle.

  Zed : I want the truth.

  May : You must give the truth, if you wish to receive it.

  Zed : I'm ready.

  [She flings the sheet up to enfold him beneath it with her] 

  May : It'll burn you!

  Zed : Then burn me.

• Consuella : We have to shut ourselves off. We have to.

  May : This is the first direct, visual contact with the outlands in years; as opposed to, data since Arthur was delegated to control them. It is *proper* that we investigate.

  Consuella : It's better not to know. These images will pollute us. Quench it. Quell it.

• May : Selective breeding, do you think? What has Arthur been doing out there all these years?

• Consuella : Kill it, May.

  May : No.

  Consuella : May, for our love.

• Zed : Zardoz gave us the gun. We were the chosen ones.

  May : What was your task?

  Zed : To kill the Brutals who multiply and are legion. We rode out. We roamed the outlands. We killed. It was enough. Man was born to hunt and kill.

• George Saden : I have studied our social, emotional substructures for 140 years. These thoughts are constructive criticisms. Pyramidical. I am innocent of psychic violence. As you examine my face and eyes, you will see that this is true.

  May : He's lying.

• May : You murdered your own God, by accident. Or was it an accident?

• May : Revenge. You wanted revenge.

  Zed : The truth. The truth! The truth! The truth! The truth! The truth!

  May : Truth or revenge?

  Zed : Revenge! Revenge.

  May : I remember feelings such as those. They stir in me.

• Zed : How much time do we have?

  May : We will not work in time. You will take our knowledge by osmosis, out of time.

• May : We will touch-teach you - and you will give us your seed.