5th most-quoted character in The Exorcist (1973): in 3 of its 43 quotes
Most scenes with: Chris MacNeil (3)
Scenes with Dr. Klein
3 scenes
Dr. Klein It's a symptom of a type of disturbance in the chemical-electrical activity of the brain. In the case of your daughter, in the temporal lobe - it's up here - in the lateral part of the brain. It's rare, but it does cause bizarre hallucinations and usually just before a convulsion...the shaking of the bed. It's doubtless due to muscular spasms.
Oh no. No, no. That was not a spasm. Look. I got on the bed. The whole bed was thumping and rising off the floor and shaking - the whole thing, with me on it!
Dr. Klein Mrs. MacNeil, the problem with your daughter is not her bed, it's her brain.
So, uhm, what causes this...?
Dr. Klein A lesion. A lesion in the temporal lobe. It's a kind of seizure disorder.
Now look Doc, I really don't understand how her whole personality could change.
Dr. Klein The temporal lobe is very common...It could last for days or even weeks. It isn't rare to find destructive, even criminal behavior.
Hey, do me a favor, will ya? Tell me somethin' good.
Dr. Klein Don't be alarmed. If it's a lesion, in a way she's fortunate. All we have to do is remove the scar.
Well give me an example, like what specifically did she say?
Dr. Klein Specifically Mrs. MacNeil she advised me to keep my fingers away from her goddamned ****.
Dr. Klein She's heavily sedated. She'll probably sleep through tomorrow.
What was going on in there? How could she fly off the bed like that?
Dr. Klein Pathological states can induce abnormal strength. Accelerated motor performance. Now, for example, say a 90 pound woman sees her child pinned under the wheel of a truck. Runs out and lifts the wheels a half a foot up off the ground - you've heard the story - same thing here. Same principle, I mean.
So what's wrong with her?
Dr. Klein We still think the temporal lobe.
Oh what are you talking about, for Christ's sakes? Did you see her or not? She's acting like she's **** out of her mind, psychotic, like a... split personality or ...
Dr. Klein There haven't been more than a hundred authentic cases of so-called split personality, Mrs. MacNeil. Now I know the temptation is to leap to psychiatry. But any reasonable psychiatrist would exhaust the somatic possibilities first.
Dr. Klein A pneumoencephalogram, I would think. Pin down that lesion. It will involve another spinal.
Dr. Klein What we missed in the EEG and the arteriograms could conceivably turn up there. At least, it would eliminate certain other possibilities.
Other characters in The Exorcist
