A scene from Changing Lanes 2002

Cynthia Delano Banek (Amanda Peet): Did you know that my father had a mistress for 20 years?
Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck): No.

Cynthia

Don't lie.

Gavin

I didn't know it was 20 years.

Cynthia

My mother knew about it.

Gavin

Why didn't she leave him?

Cynthia

Because she loved him so much. And she decided it'd be hypocritical to leave a man for cheating at home, when the expensive life she enjoyed so much was paid for by a man whose job was based on finding ways to cheat.

Gavin

Is that your opinion on the law?

Cynthia

What do you think the law is, Gav, at this level of the game, at my father's level of the game, at your level of the game? It is a big, vicious rumble, Gavin. The people who founded this law firm, and the people who sustain it, understand the way the world works. If you wanna continue to live the way we've been living...You have to steal. I could have married an honest man. I could have lived with a professor of Middle English, for example. If he was a moral man, and had tenure at Princeton. But I didn't. I married a Wall Street lawyer. Which means I married someone who lives in a world where when a man comes to the edge of things, he has to commit to staying there and living there. Can you live there, Gavin? Can you live there with me? You're not gonna do anything stupid like leaving me. You've had fantasies, I'm sure. So have I. But we're married. I knew about Michelle. I knew when it was happening. And I knew when it was finished. And I know you love me. You do love me. And I love you, too. I'm your wife, and I want to stand beside you. Just let me help you, Gavin. Let me help you with this.

Gavin

What do you want me to do?

Cynthia

Take the signature page from the living will and attach it to the newly formatted copy of the power of appointment. Bring it to the courthouse, and then meet me for dinner tonight. We're going out with Karen and Carl.

In this scene

Changing Lanes (2002) poster
Changing Lanes 2002 · 3 quotes · 1 character All Changing Lanes quotes →
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