Autumn Sonata (1978)

Ingrid Bergman: Charlotte Andergast

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Quotes 

• Charlotte Andergast : Sometimes, when I lie awake at night, I wonder whether I've lived at all. Is it the same for everybody? Do some people have a greater talent for living than others or do some people never live, but just exist?

• Charlotte Andergast : I feel so shut out, I'm always homesick. But when I get home. I find it's something else I'm longing for.

• Charlotte Andergast : Chopin was emotional, but not mawkish. Feeling is very far from sentimentality, The prelude tells of pain, not reverie. It hurts, but he doesn't show it.

• Charlotte Andergast : A sense of reality is a matter of talent. Most people lack that talent and maybe it's just as well.

• Eva : Look at me, mama. Look at Helena.

  Charlotte Andergast : You can't blame me entirely.

  Eva : You expect an exception for you. You've set up a sort of discount system with life but one day you'll see that your agreement is one-sided.

• Charlotte Andergast : I'm seized by fear and see a horrible picture of myself. I have never grown up. My face and my body have aged. I acquire memories and experiences but inside all that I haven't even been born. I can't remember any faces not even my own.

• Charlotte Andergast : Only through music I did have a chance to show my feelings.

• Charlotte Andergast : It's disgraceful how lazy I've been of life.

• Charlotte Andergast : It was all done in the name of love. Everything is possible and is done in the name of love and solicitude.

• Viktor : When Erik drowned, that gray film got even grayer. For Eva, it was different.

  Charlotte Andergast : Different?

  Viktor : Her feeling lives on, uncorroded. Or so it seems anyway. If she feels that her son is alive and near her... well, perhaps that's how it is. She seldom speaks of it. I guess she's afraid it might upset me, as indeed it would. But what she says sounds true enough. I believe her.

  Charlotte Andergast : Yes, you're a minister.

  Viktor : The little faith I have lives on her terms.

  Charlotte Andergast : I'm sorry if I hurt you.

  Viktor : It doesn't matter. Unlike you and Eva, I'm confused and uncertain. It's my own fault.

• Charlotte Andergast : Eva, you do like me, don't you?

  Eva : You're my mother.

  Charlotte Andergast : That's one way of answering.

  Eva : Do you like me?

  Charlotte Andergast : I love you.

  Eva : Do you?

• Eva : I couldn't say anything. I had no words. You had taken charge of all the words in our home.

  Charlotte Andergast : You're exaggerating.

  Eva : I must finish speaking. I know I'm tipsy, but otherwise I wouldn't have said what I have. When I'm too ashamed to say any more, you can explain, and I'll listen and understand, just as I've always done.

• Eva : Look at me, Mama. Look at Helena. There are no excuses. There is only one truth and one lie. There can be no forgiveness.

  Charlotte Andergast : You can't blame me entirely.

  Eva : You expect an exception to be made for you. You've set up a sort of discount system with life... but one day you'll see that your agreement is one-sided. You'll discover you're carrying guilt, just like everyone else.

  Charlotte Andergast : What guilt?

• Charlotte Andergast : [after Eva finishes playing Chopin's Prelude 2]  Eva, my dearest.

  Eva : Is that all?

  Charlotte Andergast : I was just so moved.

  Eva : Did you like it?

  Charlotte Andergast : I liked you.

  Eva : I don't understand.

• Eva : It's gotten quiet in here.

  Charlotte Andergast : What can I say?

  Eva : Defend yourself.

  Charlotte Andergast : Is it worth the effort?

  Eva : How would I know?

• Charlotte Andergast : I broke off my career to stay at home with you and Papa.

  Eva : Your back prevented you from practicing six hours a day. Your playing got worse and so did your reviews. Have you forgotten that?

  Charlotte Andergast : No, but Eva...

  Eva : I don't know which I hated more, when you were at home or when you were on tour.

• Charlotte Andergast : Eva, darling. Won't you forgive me for all the wrong I've done? I'll try to mend my ways. You've got to teach me. We'll talk to each other. But help me. I can't go on. Your hatred is so terrible. I never realized. I've been selfish and childish. Can't you put your arms around me? Touch me, at least. Help me.

• Charlotte Andergast : Play something else.

  Eva : What was wrong with it?

  Charlotte Andergast : Nothing.

  Eva : You didn't like my interpretation.

  Charlotte Andergast : We each have our own.

  Eva : Exactly. I want to know yours.

  Charlotte Andergast : You're annoyed.

  Eva : No, I'm upset. You won't tell me your interpretation of this prelude.

• Charlotte Andergast : I think Eva is terribly unhappy. I'm appalled when I hear her rambling on. It's so neurotic.

  Viktor : Just a moment, Charlotte, and I'll try to explain how I see my wife. When I asked Eva to marry me, she said she didn't love me.

  Charlotte Andergast : What do you mean?

  Viktor : I asked if she loved someone else. She said she had never loved anyone, that she was incapable of loving. Eva and I lived here for several years. Then Erik was born. We'd given up hope of a child of our own and had talked about adopting one. With her pregnancy, Eva underwent a complete change. She became cheerful, gentle and outgoing. She got lazy. She lost interest in her parish work and her piano playing. She would sit by that window, gazing at the play of light over the mountains and fjords. We were suddenly very happy. I'm much older than Eva. I felt as if a gray film were settling over life. I felt as if I could look back and say, "Well, well, so that was my life. That's how it all turned out." But suddenly things were different.

• Charlotte Andergast : [to Eva, while Charlotte plays Chopin's Prelude 2]  Your technique wasn't bad at all, though you might have taken more interest in Cortot's fingering, but let's just talk about the conception. Chopin was emotional, but not sentimental. Feeling is very far from sentimentality. The prelude tells of pain, not reverie. You have to be calm, clear, and harsh. Take the first bars now. It hurts, but he doesn't show it. Then a short relief. But it evaporates immediately, and the pain is the same. Total restraint the whole time. Chopin was proud, passionate, tormented and very manly. He wasn't a sentimental old woman. This prelude must sound almost ugly. It is never ingratiating. It should sound wrong. You have to battle your way through it and emerge triumphant. Like this.