Briony Tallis
If you write a story, you only have to say the word 'castle' and you can see the towers and the woods and the village below... But in a play it's... it all depends on other people.
Most-quoted character in Atonement (2007): in 13 of its 32 quotes
Most scenes with: Robbie Turner (2), Lola (2)
What do you think it would feel like to be someone else?
More lines from Briony Tallis
7 quotes
Briony Tallis
Love is all very well, but you have to be sensible.
Briony Tallis
[in a letter]
Dear Cecilia, Please don't throw this away without reading it. As you'll have seen from the notepaper, I'm here at St. Thomas's, doing my nurses' training. I decided not to take up my place at Cambridge. I decided I wanted to make myself useful, do something practical. But no matter how hard I work, no matter how long the hours, I can't escape from what I did and what it meant, the full extent of which I'm only now beginning to grasp. Cee, please write and tell me we can meet. Your sister, Briony.
Briony Tallis
I am very, very sorry for the terrible distress that I have caused you. I am very, very sorry...
Briony Tallis
[writing]
The princess was well aware of his remorseless wickedness. But that made it no easier to overcome the voluminous love she felt in her heart for Sir Romulus. The princess knew instinctively that the one with red hair was not to be trusted. As his young ward dived again and again into the depths of the lake, in search of the enchanted chalice, Sir Romulus twirled his luxuriant mustache. Sir Romulus rode with his two companions, northwards, drawing ever closer to an effulgent sea. So heroic in manner, he appeared so valiant in word... And no could ever guess at the darkness lurking in the black heart of Sir Romulus Turnbull. He was the most dangerous man in the world.
Briony Tallis
My doctor tells me I have something called vascular dementia; which is essentially a continuous series of tiny strokes. Your brain gradually closes down. You lose words, you lose your memory: which, for a writer, is pretty much the point. That's why I could finally write this book; and why, of course, it's my last novel. Strangely enough, it would be just as accurate to call it my first novel. I wrote several drafts as far back as my time at St. Thomas's Hospital during the war. I just couldn't ever find the way to do it.
Briony Tallis
[Last lines]
I never made that journey to Balham. So the scene in which I confess to them is invented, imagined. And, in fact, could never have happened... .because Robbie Turner died of septicaemia at Bray Dunes on the first of June 1940, the last day of the evacuation...and I was never able to put things right with my sister Cecilia....because she was killed on the 15th of October, 1940 by the bomb that destroyed the gas and water mains above Balham tube station. So, my sister and Robbie were never able to have the time together they both so longed for... and deserved. Which ever since I've... ever since I've always felt I prevented. But what sense of hope or satisfaction could a reader derive from an ending like that? So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I'd like to think this isn't weakness or... evasion... but a final act of kindness. I gave them their happiness.
Scenes with Briony Tallis
5 scenes
Briony
Lola, can I tell you something? Something really terrible?
Yes please.
Briony
What's the worst word you can possibly imagine?
Briony
It was Robbie, wasn't it? [Silence] Robbie.
You saw him.
Briony
Like you said, he's a sex maniac. And you don't even know what happened before dinner. I caught him attacking my sister in the library. I don't know what he'd have done, if I hadn't come in...
You actually saw him.
Briony
Of course I did. Plain as day.
He came up behind me. He pushed me to the ground and then he put his hand over my eyes. I couldn't actually, I never actually...
Briony Listen, 've known him all my life. And I saw him.
Because I couldn't say for sure.
Briony
Well, I can. And I will.
Come on, pal. You should be getting dressed.
Briony
If I fell in the river, would you save me?
Of course.
Briony
[Briony jumps into the water and Robbie dives after her; eventually, he pulls her out of the water and drops her near the bank]
Thank you, thank you, thank you...
That was an incredibly bloody stupid thing to do.
Briony
I wanted you to save me.
Don't you know how easily you could have drowned?
Briony
You saved me.
You stupid child! You could have killed us both! Is that your idea of a joke?
Briony
[she looks at him for a moment, shocked by his tone, but defiant nonetheless]
I want to thank you for saving my life. I'll be eternally grateful to you.
[he strides away angrily, into the woods, leaving Briony disconsolate amidst the cow parsley]
There isn't much time. Robbie has to report for duty at six and he's got a train to catch. So sit down. There are some things you're going to do for us.
[Briony and Cecilia sit in the kitchen. Robbie leans on the table, looming over them]
You'll go to your parents as soon as you can and tell them everything they need to know to be convinced that your evidence was false. You'll go and see a solicitor and make a statement and have it signed and witnessed and send copies to us. Is that clear?
Yes.
Then you'll write a detailed letter to me, explaining everything that led up to you saying you saw me by the lake.
Try and include whatever you can remember of what Danny Hardman was doing that night.
Briony
Hardman?
Yes!
Briony
It wasn't Danny Hardman. It was Leon's friend, Marshall.
[Cecilia and Robbie look at her, astonished] :Cecilia: I don't believe you.
Briony
He's married Lola; I've just come from their wedding.
[Silence. Finally, Robbie exhales the breath he's been holding, Cecilia looks across at him]
Lola won't be able to testify against him now. He's immune.
Briony
[Robbie straightens up and turns away, grappling with a riot of emotions; silence; finally, Briony stands up and speaks, very formal]
I'm very, very sorry for the terrible distress that I have caused. I'm very, very sorry.
Just do as I have asked of you. Write it all down. Just the truth. No rhymes, no embellishments, no adjectives. And then leave us be.
Briony
I will. I promise.
Fiona It says in the paper the army are making strategic withdrawals.
Briony
I saw that. It's a euphemism for retreat.