Not Without My Daughter (1991)

Sally Field: Betty Mahmoody

Photos 

Quotes 

• Moody : I don't know how to say this to you. We're not going back. We're staying here.

  Betty Mahmoody : [pauses]  What do you mean? How long?

  Moody : I want to get a job here in a hospital.

  Betty Mahmoody : What?

  Moody : I want us... to live in Iran.

  Betty Mahmoody : [softly]  No... No...

  Moody : There's nothing for me in America.

  Betty Mahmoody : No... What? Are you crazy? We're Americans. Your daughter's an American! Moody, honey, you're upset about your job. I understand that. We're going to go back today and we're going to fix it.

  Moody : I want Mahtob to grow up here.

  Betty Mahmoody : [increasingly angry]  No!

  Moody : I think she should become a Muslim!

  Betty Mahmoody : [screams]  No! No!

  [pauses] 

  Betty Mahmoody : You lied to me. You lied to me! You held the Koran and you swore to me that nothing was going happen. You were planning this all the time. You lied to me!

• Betty Mahmoody : My father's ill. He could be dying. I have to go and see him.

  Houssein : I don't think your father would have wanted you to go back if it meant losing your daughter.

  Betty Mahmoody : Why can't I go and see him, come back, and leave later with Mahtob?

  Houssein : You can't leave Mahtob here, not with Moody's family. They're from the provinces, and this regime only encourages them. There are some people who consider a girl ready for marriage at nine years of age. Child brides are not unknown.

• Betty Mahmoody : Baba Hajji, you're a religious man. How can Moody swear on the Koran and do this to me?

  [Mammal translates, Babba Hajji gives an assertive answer and the entire family starts yelling at Betty in Farsi] 

  Mammal : Allah will forgive him!

  [yelling continues, Betty starts crying] 

  Betty Mahmoody : No, no! Ameh Bozorg! Ameh Bozorg, please help me, please!

  [Ameh Bozorg yells at Betty] 

  Betty Mahmoody : No, you can't do this! God damn you! God damn you! You can't keep me here! You had this planned all along! Damn you!

• Nicole : If you marry an Iranian man, you automatically become an Iranian citizen. The laws regarding women are very strict. You cannot travel anywhere without written permission. You have no rights to the children. They go to the man in a divorce. I'm sorry, but you *will* have to go back to your husband.

  Betty Mahmoody : But we'll never get out of Iran. We're being held hostage! It was almost impossible to come here!

  Nicole : Mrs. Mahmoody, there are many American women here in similar circumstances.

  [pauses] 

  Nicole : May I ask you why you came to Iran?

  Betty Mahmoody : [pauses]  I don't know. I don't know.

• [Moody laughs unexpectedly] 

  Betty Mahmoody : What's so funny?

  Moody : You know, they think we make love all the time.

  Betty Mahmoody : Who?

  Moody : The family.

  Betty Mahmoody : Why?

  Moody : Well... because here, you know, after they make love, they have to take a shower because, you know, they can't pray unless they do, you know. It's considered unclean. And we're taking two, three showers a day!

  [Moody continues laughing] 

  Betty Mahmoody : Oh God! What do they think? We're two rabbits or something!

  [Betty is now laughing] 

  Betty Mahmoody : I'm not taking another shower the whole time I'm here. You *knew* that the whole time!

  Moody : They didn't know you were such a swinger!

  Betty Mahmoody : You knew that all the long! They were all giggling every time we took a shower.

• Betty Mahmoody : [Betty escapes from Moody into town after a violent outburst]  Nicole, he's going to kill me!

• Betty Mahmoody : Have you become Muslim?

  Ellen : Mm-hmm.

  Betty Mahmoody : Did you convert?

  Ellen : Well, I wanted to, I guess. My husband was happy I did. It made things a lot better.

  [Ellen sees her husband waiting for her] 

  Ellen : Uh, I... I got to go.

  Betty Mahmoody : Ellen, it's been so...

  Ellen : No, really.

  [Ellen runs to her husband] 

• Betty Mahmoody : [yelling]  I WANT MY BABY!

• Betty Mahmoody : [Last line] 

  [Upon seeing the American flag waving on top of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey] 

  Betty Mahmoody : We're home, baby. We're home.

• [referring to Ellen's husband] 

  Betty Mahmoody : Was he violent?

  Ellen : No, not in the States, never. They're not supposed to, you know. It's not Islamic.