The Ten Commandments (1956)
Anne Baxter: Nefretiri
Photos
Quotes
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Rameses : No, Moses. It is I who will possess all of her.
[to Nefretiri]
Rameses : You think when you are in my arms, it will be his face that you will see, not mine?
Nefretiri : Yes. Only his face.
Rameses : [to Moses] I defeated you in life. You shall not defeat me by your death. The dead are not scorched in the desert of desire. They do not suffer from the thirst of passion or stagger blindly towards some mirage of lost love. But you, Hebrew, will suffer all these things... by living.
Nefretiri : You will let him live!
Rameses : I will not make him a martyr for you to cherish. No phantom will come between you and me in the night. Yes, my sweet, I will let him live. Dead, you alone would possess him. From where I send him there is no returning, and you will never know if he has found forgetfulness within another woman's arms. Now look upon each other for the last time.
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Nefretiri : Did you think my kiss was a promise of what you'll have. No, my pompous one. It was to let you know what you will not have. I could never love you.
Rameses : Does that matter? You will be my wife. You will come to me whenever I call you, and I will enjoy that very much. Whether you enjoy it or not is your own affair... but I think you will.
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Nefretiri : Oh, Moses, Moses, why of all men did I fall in love with a prince of fools?
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Nefretiri : Don't exhaust yourself, Great One. Dear Great One.
Sethi : [on his deathbed] Why not, kitten? You are the only thing I regret leaving. You have been my joy.
Nefretiri : And you my only love.
Sethi : Aha. Now you're cheating. There was another. I know. I loved him, too. With my last breath, I'll break my own law and speak the name of... Moses.
[3 seconds]
Sethi : Moses.
[Sethi's last words, were spoken slowly, as he said Moses' name twice]
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Nefretiri : But I have saved your son, Moses.
Moses : It is not my son who will die. It is... it is the firstborn of Egypt. It is your son, Nefretiri!
Nefretiri : No. You would not dare strike Pharaoh's son!
Moses : In the hardness of his heart, Pharaoh has mocked God and brings death to his own son!
Nefretiri : But he is my son, Moses. You would not harm my son.
Moses : By myself, I am nothing. It is the power of God which uses me to work His will.
Nefretiri : You would not let Him do this to me. I saved your son!
Moses : I cannot save yours.
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Nefretiri : Oh, Moses, Moses, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!
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Rameses : [to Nefretiri] Did you lose your head, my sweet?
Sethi : [to Rameses] I sent you to Goshen to bring me the head of the jackal who would free the slaves. Where is it?
Rameses : The slaves do not need a deliver now. They have Moses.
Nefretiri : Is that a riddle?
Rameses : [to Sethi] He gives them the priests' grain and one day in seven to rest. They call it "The Day of Moses."
[as if it is a holiday]
Jannes : This man makes himself a god.
Nefretiri : I prefer him as a man.
Rameses : You would prefer him as Pharaoh.
Nefretiri : Are you afraid of Moses?
Rameses : Yes, because now he holds Ethiopia in his left hand, Goshen in right, and you, my Pharaoh, are in-between them.
Sethi : Do you imply that he would raise the slaves against me? I've been his father.
Jannes : Ambition knows no father.
Nefretiri : Moses could no more betray you than I could, Sethi.
Sethi : He can tell me that when he arrives.
Rameses : He will not be here, my father.
Sethi : What? I sent for both of you.
Rameses : His word is that he cannot attend you, being pressed by other matters.
Sethi : [to Nefretiri] Did you hear that? Other matters?
[Sethi spoke as in an a shout of anger, or shock]
Sethi : [Sethi then gets up and clangs a gong, for an Egyptian servant, immediately a servent appears] My escort. I will ride with you, my son, to see what rears itself in Goshen... a city or treason.
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Nefretiri : [Nefretiri is sorting through various veils and scarves] This is for the temple ceremony... this is for my wedding night!
Memnet : You will never wear it.
Nefretiri : [surprised] Why not?
Memnet : I have brought you a cloth more revealing... send them away.
Nefretiri : [nodding to her servants] Go then, while I hear what this puckered old persimmon has to say.
Memnet : For thirty years, I have been silent. Now, all the kings of Egypt, cry out to me, from their tombs, "Let no Hebrew sit upon our throne."
Nefretiri : What are you saying?
Memnet : Rameses has the blood of many kings.
Nefretiri : And Moses?
Memnet : He is lower than the dust. Not one drop of royal blood flows through his veins. He is the son of Hebrew slaves.
Nefretiri : I'll have you torn into so many pieces, even the vultures wont find them. Who hatched this lie? Rameses?
Memnet : Rameses does not know,
[three seconds]
Memnet : yet.
Nefretiri : You will repeat this to Bithiah.
Memnet : Bithiah drew a slave child, from the Nile, called him son and Prince of Egypt, blinding herself to the truth and the pain of an empty womb.
Nefretiri : Were you alone, with, Bithiah?
Memnet : A little girl led me to the Hebrew woman, Yochabel, that the child might be suckled by his true mother.
Nefretiri : Take care, old frog. You croaked too much, against Moses!
Memnet : Would you mingle the blood of slaves, with your own?
Nefretiri : He will be my husband. I shall have no other.
[Memnet then shows Nefretiri the Hebrew cloth, she had been kept hidden, for thirty years. Memnet got it, when she and Bithiah, were alone]
Memnet : Then, use this, to wrap your firstborn. Torn from a Levite's robe. It was Moses' swaddling cloth.
Nefretiri : And your shroud. Do you think I care whose son he is?
Memnet : Rameses cares.
Nefretiri : You won't live to tell him.
Memnet : [Memnet's final line, as Nefretiri pushed her off the roof, in anger and killing her] Oh, oh!
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Bithiah : A conquerer, already conquered?
Moses : The first face I look for and the last I find.
[as Moses saw Bithiah, he knelt to her, to honor her]
Moses : Mother!
Bithiah : I was thanking the gods for your safe return. But I find you in grave danger here.
Moses : An intoxicating danger, mother.
Bithiah : Marry her if you can, my son, but never fall in love with her.
Nefretiri : Oh, I'll be less trouble to him than the Hebrew slaves of Goshen.
Bithiah : Goshen?
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Moses : What has this child to do with me? Tell me.
Nefretiri : A child was wrapped in it.
Moses : Who was this child?
Nefretiri : Bithiah drew him from the river. Memnet was with her.
Moses : Who was this child?
Nefretiri : Memnet is dead. No one needs know who you are. I love you. I killed for you. I'll kill anyone who comes between us.
Moses : Why did you kill for me, Nefretiri? If you love me, do not lie.
Nefretiri : Hold me in your arms. Hold me close. You were not born prince of Egypt, Moses. You are the son of Hebrew slaves.
Moses : Love can not drown truth, Nefretiri. You do believe it, or you would not have killed Memnet.
Nefretiri : I love you. That's the only truth, I know.
Moses : Did this child, of the Nile, have a mother?
Nefretiri : Memnet called her Yochabel.
Moses : I will ask Bithiah.
[Moses then left Nefretiri, to speak with Bithiah]
Bithiah : How could you doubt me? You did not doubt me, as you took your first step. It's a wicked lie, spun by Rameses.
Moses : Did Rameses spin this?
[while he was asking Bithiah, Moses shows her the Hebrew cloth, that Memnet had kept hidden, as a secret and quiet for 30 years. In reality, it was infant Moses' swaddling cloth, 30 years earlier]
Bithiah : The word of your mother, against a piece of cloth found by Memnet?
Moses : How did you know it was Memnet?
Bithiah : Who else? Memnet nursed Rameses. She will pay, for spreading his lies.
Moses : She has paid.
Bithiah : She is dead?
Moses : At the hand of Nefretiri.
Moses : Memnet spoke of a woman named Yochabel. Did you ever know her?
Bithiah : [Trying to hide the truth] No.
Moses : Yours, was the face I saw, above my cradle. The only mother, I've ever known. Wherever I am led and whatever, I must do, I will always love you.
[Moses then left Bithiah, to visit Hebrew slave woman, Yochabel, and learn the complete truth, of the cloth]
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Trojan Ambassador : Great Pharaoh, the gift of Troy is a fabulous fabric from the Land of the Five Rivers.
Rameses : Our thanks to Priam. It is fabulous, indeed.
Nefretiri : It shimmers like the Nile. What is it?
Rameses : How is it made?
Trojan Ambassador : No one knows, Great Pharaoh. It is spun on the looms of the gods. They call it silk.
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Nefretiri : [approaches Rameses as he is praying to an idol, over their dead son] How many more days and nights will you pray? Does he hear you?
Rameses : [praying] Dread Lord of Darkness, I have raised my voice to you, yet life has not come to the body of my son. Hear me!
Nefretiri : He cannot hear you. He's nothing but a piece of stone with the head of a bird.
Rameses : He will hear me. For I am Egypt.
Nefretiri : Egypt? You are nothing. You let Moses kill my son. No god can bring him back. What have you done to Moses? How did he die? Did he cry for mercy when you tortured him? Bring me to his body! I want to see it, Rameses! I want to see it!
Rameses : This is my son. He would have been Pharaoh. He would have ruled the world. Who mourns him now? Not even you. All you can think of is Moses. You will not see his body. I drove him out of Egypt. I cannot fight the power of his God.
Nefretiri : His God? The priests say that Pharaoh is a god, but you are not a god. You are even less than a man. Listen to me, Rameses. You thought I was evil when I went to Moses, and you were right. Shall I tell you what happened, Rameses? He spurned me like a strumpet in the street. I, Nefretiri, Queen of Egypt. All that you wanted from me he would not even take. Do you hear laughter, Pharaoh? Not the laughter of kings, but the laughter of slaves on the desert!
Rameses : [after hearing the word "laughter," he immediately became irate] Laughter? Laughter? My son I shall build your tomb upon their crushed bodies. If any escape me, their seed shall be scattered and accursed forever. My armor! The war crown! Laughter? I will turn the laughter of these slaves into wails of torment! They shall remember the name of Moses, only that he died under my chariot wheels!
Nefretiri : [Rameses then threw Nefretiri down and clanged the gong, Nefreteri still lying on ground] Kill him with your own hands.
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[Moses and Aaron go into Pharoah's throne and order freedom, the rod becomes a serpent. Which frightened Rameses' son]
Rameses' son : Mother! Mother! He turned his staff into a cobra!
Nefretiri : Nothing of his, will harm you my son.
Rameses : The power of your god is a cheap magicians trick. Jannes.
[then Jannes' rods become cobras, but are quickly swallowed by Moses' rod. After the cobras combat, Rameses' son kicks Moses' shin, as revenge of being scared]
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[during the plague of the death of Egypt's firstborn]
Rameses' son : My father.
[in a weak voice, this was also Rameses' son's last line]
Rameses : My son.
Nefretiri : Your own curse is on him.
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Nefretiri : If you want to help your people, come back to the palace.
Moses : And hide the truth from Sethi... that I am Hebrew and a slave?
Nefretiri : The truth would break his dear old heart and send Bithiah into exile or death. Think of us and stop hearing the cries of your people.
Moses : Their God does not hear their cry.
Nefretiri : Will Rameses hear it if he is Pharaoh? No. He would grind them into the clay they mold, double their labors. What about me? Think of me as his wife. Do you want to see me in Rameses' arms?
Moses : No!
Nefretiri : Then come back with me.
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Nefretiri : I think I see him. No... Moses.
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Nefretiri : Does the world bow to an empty throne?
Rameses : Empty?
Nefretiri : Does a Pharaoh harden his heart against his son? If you let the Hebrews go, who will build his cities? You told Moses to make bricks without straw. Now he tells you to make cities without bricks. Who is the slave and who is the Pharaoh? Do you hear laughter, Rameses? Yes, the laughter of kings... in Babylon, in Canaan, in Troy... as Egypt surrenders to the God of slaves.
