Cloud Atlas (2012)

Jim Broadbent: Captain Molyneux, Vyvyan Ayrs, Timothy Cavendish, Korean Musician, Prescient 2

Photos 

Quotes 

• Timothy Cavendish : I will not be subjected to criminal abuse.

• Timothy Cavendish : Two sprained ankles, one cracked rib. Official cause of accident listed on the hospital form: "Pussy".

• Timothy Cavendish : We cross and re-cross our old paths like figure-skaters.

• [from trailer] 

  Vyvyan Ayrs : That's it! The music from my dream.

  Robert Frobisher : I call it the "Cloud Atlas Sextet".

• Timothy Cavendish : Outside, fat snow flakes are falling on slate roofs and granite walls. Like Solzhenitsyn, labouring in Vermont, I shall beaver away in exile. Unlike Solzhenitsyn, I shan't be alone.

• Timothy Cavendish : [narrating]  While my extensive experience as an editor has led me to a disdain for flashbacks and flash forwards and all such tricksy gimmicks I believe that if you, dear Reader, can extend your patience for just a moment, you will find that there is a Method to this tale of Madness.

  Timothy Cavendish : [to himself]  Look. I was Dermot Hoggins' publisher. Not his shrink, not his astrologer. And the ruddy bloody truth is that I had no idea what the man was going to do that night.

• Robert Frobisher : [narrating]  Dinner of pheasant with Bordeaux rich as buttercream. How I love to listen to men of distinguished lives sing of past follies and glories. The only broken note in the entire evening was Ayrs' wife, Jocasta, excusing herself early. Sensed the buried bone. Later I asked Ayrs about it, he said Kesselring had introduced Jocasta to him. I pried, had Kesselring been in love with her. The subject was a prickly one.

  Vyvyan Ayrs : Jocasta was a Jew. Obviously the relationship was impossible.

  Robert Frobisher : Why obviously?

  Vyvyan Ayrs : Can you really be so ignorant of what is happening in Germany?

  Robert Frobisher : [continues narration]  At this point in my life all I know, Sixsmith, is that this world spins from the same unseen forces that twist our hearts.

• Timothy Cavendish : Never forget Herman Melville, writes a ripping yarn about a big white whale which is summarily dismissed, and yet today it is lugged around in the backpacks of every serious student of literature in the world.

  Dermot Hoggins : I don't give a fuck what happens when I'm dead, I want people to buy me book now!

  Timothy Cavendish : Well, as your publisher, obviously nothing would make me happier. But sadly, for whatever reason, 'Knuckle Sandwich' has yet to connect to its audience.

  Dermot Hoggins : You want a reason? I'll give you a reason

  [points] 

  Dermot Hoggins : Right there!

  Timothy Cavendish : Aaaa, you mean Mr Finch?

  Dermot Hoggins : Felix fuckin' Finch! That cunt that shat all over me book in his poncy fuckin' magazine!

  Timothy Cavendish : It wasn't that bad.

  Dermot Hoggins : No?

  [quotes] 

  Dermot Hoggins : 'Mr Hoggins should apologize to the trees failed for the making of his bloated autobio novel. Four hundred vain-glorious pages expire in an ending that is flat and inane beyond belief'.

  Timothy Cavendish : Steady now, Dermot. What is a critic but one who reads quickly, arrogantly, but never wisely.

• Timothy Cavendish : Soylent Green are people!

• Denholme Cavendish : [answering phone in the middle of the night]  Ugh, who the bloody hell is this? Have you any idea what time it is?

  Timothy Cavendish : Denny, it's me, Tim

  Denholme Cavendish : Timothy? Where are you?

  Timothy Cavendish : I think you ruddy well know where I am!

  Denholme Cavendish : But residents aren't allowed access to phones. Has someone smuggled one in?

  Timothy Cavendish : What? You know the rules?

  Denholme Cavendish : I helped *write* them, Timmy. I have been a principal investor in Aurora House for twelve years. It's incredibly lucrative. You can't believe how much people will pay to lock up their parents.

• [Frobisher is misplaying Ayrs' composition] 

  Vyvyan Ayrs : [pained]  Stop. Please. You're hurting me. You must have misheard me. I said a "melody", not a "malady".

  [Jocasta enters] 

  Jocasta Ayrs : Vyvyan?

  Vyvyan Ayrs : Jocasta! Deliver me.

  Jocasta Ayrs : What's going on here? Who is this?

  Jocasta Ayrs : I see. Should I be introduced?

  Vyvyan Ayrs : There's really no point. The boy is as useful as the clap. Fortunately, he'll be much easier to get rid of.

• Timothy Cavendish : [narrating]  In the darkness, I suddenly saw the light. Blood has always trumped water. If the Hogginses brutes wanted to turn this into a family affair, they'd find the Cavendish clan more than ready for the task at hand.

• [narrating] 

  Timothy Cavendish : When "The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish" is turned into a film, I'm thinking, for the role of the hero: One part Sir Laurence Olivier, with a dash of Michael Caine.