Who Am I This Time? (film)

1982 film by Jonathan Demme

Who Am I This Time? (1982) is a film adaptation of the 1961 short story "Who Am I This Time?" by Kurt Vonnegut, directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon.

Are you ready for me yet George?

Harry Nash edit

Helene Shaw edit

 
Who are we this time?
  • I just might show up and surprise you. And myself.
    • After being invited by George Johnson to auditions for the town play.

George Johnson edit

  • I guess as long as people come along with the machines then we got nothing to worry about. It's when the machines start delivering themselves that, uh, — that, uh, people better start worrying.
    • To Helene, after she states that she will correct his improper phone bill.
  • There isn't any other way to get to know a lot of nice people faster than being in a play.
    • To Helene, inviting her to auditions for the local production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Dialogue edit

George: That club needs you Harry. I mean, actually I need you. I don't even know if I can direct traffic, let alone a play. Would you consider playing the lead in this one Harry?
Harry [looking reluctant and uncertain, but willing to try]: Who am I this time?

Harry [after auditioning stormily with Helene]: Was that alright?
George: For a first reading, that wasn't too bad.
Harry: Is there a chance that I'll get the part?
George: I think we can safely say we're leaning powerfully in your direction, Harry.

George: Helene? The part of Stella is yours. You were just great.
Doris: I had no idea you had that much fire in you — skyrockets, pinwheels, roman candles.

George: Do we have a play, or do we have a play?
Lidia: What play? There isn't any play going on now.

Lidia: You aren't directing this play, George.
George: What are you saying? What do you mean, I'm not directing this play? Who is?
Lidia: Mother Nature at her worst. What's going to happen to that girl discovers what Harry really is? What Harry really isn't?

Helene: I feel like my life is just beginning, I've never been this happy.
George: Does Harry know you've decided to stay?
Helene: He's totally pre-occupied with learning his lines and getting into his role, and everything.
George: And if he gets any further into his role, he'll never get out of it.

Helene: I bet your Mom's a great cook, huh.
Harry: No — I don't know.
Helene: What do you mean, you don't know?
Harry: I was — found.
Helene: Found?
Harry: On the steps — [points outside and stutters] — j-ju-Unitarian church.
Helene: On the steps?
Harry: It was cold.

Helene [about Harry]: He's the most marvelous man I've ever met.
Lidia: One thing you have to get set for whenever you're in a play with Harry, is what happens after the last performance.
Helene: What are you talking about?
Lidia: Once a play is over, whatever you thought Harry was, just evaporates into thin air.
Helene: Oh, I don't believe you.

Helene: What did I do wrong? Did I insult him or something?
George: Oh, no — no, He does that after every performance. The minute that curtain comes down, he clears out — he's gone. That's what we've been trying to tell you.

Harry: Can I help you — with something?
Helene: [puzzled at his formality] Can you help me?

Helene: I'm really a very shy person, too. I mean if George hadn't asked me to audition, I would have never have met you. [Harry walks away while Helene is nervously facing away from him] You're really the person who's helped me to overcome my fear. [Turns and sees Harry gone and that he has retreated back into the store]

Harry [at Helene's insistence, reading a passage from Romeo and Juliet, which she has given to him as a gift after the final performance of A Streetcar Named Desire]: I take thee at thy word, call me but love... and I'll be new baptized. Henceforth... [to Helene]I never will be Romeo — never.
Helene [exasperated, wanting to speak to him directly, but returning to the lines of the play]: What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night so stumblest on my counsel?
Harry: By a name I know not how to tell thee who I am: My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, because it is an enemy to thee...[continues reading from Romeo and Juliet]

Bert: I've never seen such a change in anybody in my life. They sure are creating a stir around here.
Doris : This town could use some stirring.

Harry [speaking some lines of Jack Worthing from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde ]: Charming day ... Miss Fairfax.
Helene: [taking this as a cue to speak lines of Gwendolen Fairfax, from the play]: Pray don't talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain they mean something else...
Harry: I do ... mean something else.
Helene: I thought so....

Harry [improvising with Helene slightly on lines from The Importance of Being Earnest]: Miss Fairfax, ever since I met you — I've admired you more than any girl I have ever met since I met you.
Helene: Yes, I'm quite aware of that fact — and my ideal has always been to love — someone with the name Ernest. — And then there is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence.
Harry: Do you mean — you love me too — Gwendolen?
Helene: Passionately! My own Ernest.
Harry: But you don't mean to say that you couldn't love me if my name wasn't Ernest?
Helene: But your name is Ernest.
Harry: But, Yes, I know — it is — but supposing it was something else? Do you mean to say you couldn't love me then?
Helene: But — that's clearly metaphysical speculation...
Harry: I must say — I think there are lots of other much nicer names. Harry, for instance — that's a charming name.
Helene: Harry? ... No, there's very little music in the name Harry, if any at all... It doesn't thrill.
Harry: I must get christened at once — I mean we must get married at once.
Helene: Married, Mr. Worthing?
Harry: Surely. You know that I love you, and you've led me to believe — that you're not absolutely indifferent to me.
Helene: I adore you. But you haven't proposed to me yet.
Harry: May I propose to you now?
Helene: I think this is an admirable opportunity — but — in order to spare you any possible disappointment — I think it only fair to tell you quite frankly beforehand — that — I'm totally determined to accept you.
Harry: Gwendolen!
Helene: Yes, Mr. Worthing, do you have something to say to me?
Harry: Will you marry me?
Helene: Of course I will, darling. And how long you have been in getting to it! I don't think you've had much practice in how to propose.
Harry: I've never loved anyone in the [[world] but you.
Helene: I hope that after we marry, you'll always look at me just like this.

Helene: Well, George, you know this week I've been pursued by Mark Antony, and romanced by Henry Higgins, loved by Henry the Fifth, and — I was just proposed to — by Ernest Worthing. Now don't you think that I'm just about the luckiest girl in town?
George: Listen, not only do I think so, but most of the women in town think so too, wouldn't you say?

George: I don't know if you've heard or not, but I've been asked to direct the next play.
Helene: George, that's wonderful!
George: Thank you. I was just wondering if you two might be available for the cast.
Helene [after Harry whispers a response into her ear]: Who are we this time?

External links edit

 
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