Lines from Crimes and Misdemeanors (W Allen, 1989)

Judah Rosenthal to Cliff
“He’s on the verge of a mental collapse. And inch away from confessing the whole
thing to the police, and then one morning, he awakens…the sun is shining and his
family is around him… and mysteriously the crisis is lifted. As the months pass, he
finds he is not punished. He prospers. His life returns to normal… back to his protected
life of wealth and privilege… In time it all fades.”

Cliff Stern:
“I’m gonna make my move there, I think. But I have this ethical dilemma, see, cause
I’m married. My heart says one thing, my head says something else. It’s very hard to get
your heart and head together in life… In my case they’re not even friendly.”

Lester:
“What makes New York such a funny place is that there’s so much tension and pain
and misery and craziness here. And that’s the first part of comedy. But you’ve got to get
some distance from it. The thing to remember about comedy is that if it bends its
funny. If it breaks, it’s not funny… so you’ve got to get back from the pain… Comedy
is tragedy plus time.”

Rabbi Ben to Judah:
“There’s a fundamental difference in the way we see the world. You see it as harsh and
empty of values and pitiless, and I couldn’t go on living if I didn’t feel with all my heart
a moral structure with real meaning and forgiveness… and some kind of higher power.
Otherwise there’s no basis to know how to live. And I know you well enough to know
there’s a spark of that notion inside of you somewhere too.”

Professor Louis Levy:
“It is a strange paradox. When we fall in love, we are seeking to refind all or some of
the people to whom we were attached as children. On the other hand, we ask our
beloved to correct all of the wrongs that these early parents or siblings inflicted on us.
It contains in it the contradiction… and attempt to return to the past… and the
attempt to undo the past. We need to remember that when we are born, we need a
good deal of love to persuade us to stay in life.
“We are the sum total of our choices. Events unfold so unpredictably, so unfairly…
human happiness does not seem to have been included in the design of creation.
It is only we, with our capacity to love that gives meaning to the indifferent universe.
And yet, most human beings seem to have the ability to keep trying, and even to find
joy from simple things like their family, their work and from the hope that future generations
might understand more.”


(o Professos Louis Levy não chega ao fim do filme...)