Vertigo (1958) · 30 quotes
2nd most-quoted character in Vertigo (1958): in 10 of its 30 quotes
Most scenes with: Detective John 'Scottie" Ferguson (10)
You'd better come over here by the fire where it's warm.
Madeleine What am I doing here? What happened?
Well, you fell into San Francisco Bay. I, uh, I tried to dry your hair as best I could. Your things are in the kitchen. They'll be dry in a few minutes. Come on over by the fire.
Madeleine It's lucky for me you were wandering about. Thank you. I've been a terrible bother to you.
No you haven't.
Madeleine ...You shouldn't have brought me here, you know.
Well, I didn't know where you lived.
Madeleine You could have looked in my car. Oh, but then you didn't know my car, did you?
No, I knew which one it was. It's right outside here now, but I didn't think you wanted to be taken home that way.
Madeleine No, you're right. I'm glad you didn't take me home. I wouldn't have known you. Thank you. But I don't know you and you don't know me. My name is Madeleine Elster.
My name's John Ferguson.
Madeleine A good strong name. Do your friends call you John or Jack?
Oh, John mostly. Old friends call me John. Acquaintances call me Scottie.
Madeleine I shall call you Mr. Ferguson.
Oh, gee whiz, I wouldn't like that. Oh, no, and after what happened this afternoon, I should think maybe you'd call me Scottie, maybe even John.
Madeleine Then I prefer John...And what do you do, John?
Oh, just wander about.
Madeleine That's a good occupation. And you live here alone? One shouldn't live alone.
Some people prefer it, you know.
Madeleine No, it's wrong. I'm married, you know.
Will you tell me something? Has this ever happened to you before?
Madeleine What?
Falling into San Francisco Bay.
Madeleine Oh, no. No it's never happened before...
Don't you think it's a waste, to wander separately?
Madeleine Only one is a wanderer. Two together are always going somewhere.
No, I don't think that's necessarily true.
Madeleine, Madeleine where are you now?
Madeleine Here with you.
Where?
Madeleine Tall trees.
Have you been here before?
Madeleine Yes.
When? When? When were you born?
Madeleine Long ago.
Where? When? Tell me. Madeleine, tell me!
Madeleine No.
Madeleine, tell me where? Where do you go? What takes you away? When you jumped into the bay, you didn't know where you were. You guessed but you didn't know.
Madeleine I didn't jump. I didn't jump I tell you. You told me I jumped.
Why did you jump? Why did you jump?
Madeleine Oh I can't tell you.
Why did you jump? What was there inside that told you to jump?
Madeleine No please. Please.
What? What?
Madeleine Please don't ask me. Please don't ask me. Get me away from here.
Shall I take you home?
Madeleine Somewhere in the light. Promise me something? Promise you won't ask me again? Please promise me that.
Madeleine Why did you run?
Well, I'm responsible for you now. You know, the Chinese say that once you've saved a person's life, you're responsible for it forever. So, I'm committed. I have to know.
Madeleine There's so little that I know.
Madeleine It's as though I-I were walking down a long corridor that once was mirrored. And fragments of that mirror still hang there. And when I come to the end of the corridor, there's nothing but darkness. And I know that when I walk into the darkness, that I'll die. I've never come to the end. I've always come back before then, except once.
Yesterday? [She nods agreement.] And you didn't know. You didn't know what happened till you found yourself in the...you didn't know where you were. But the small scenes, the fragments of the mirror, do you remember those?
Madeleine Vaguely.
What do you remember?
Madeleine There's a room and I sit there alone, always alone.
What else?
Madeleine A grave.
Where?
Madeleine I don't know. It's an open grave, and I, I stand by the gravestone looking down into it. It's my grave.
But how do you know?
Madeleine I know.
Is there a name on the gravestone?
Madeleine No. It's new and clean and waiting.
Madeleine There's a tower and a bell and a garden below. It seems to be in Spain, it's in Spain, but so often it's gone.
A portrait. Do you see a portrait?
Madeleine No.
If I could just find the key, the beginning and put it together...
Madeleine ...to explain it away? There is a way to explain it you see. If I'm mad, that would explain it, wouldn't it?
...
Madeleine Oh Scottie. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I don't want to die. There's someone within me and she says I must die. Oh Scottie, don't let me go.
I'm here. I've got you.
Madeleine I'm so afraid. [They kiss] Don't leave me. Stay with me.
All the time.
Madeleine It was so very clear for the first time, all of it...It was a village square in a green with trees and an old white-washed Spanish church with a cloister. Across the green, there was a big gray wooden house with a porch and shutters and a balcony above, a small garden, and next to it a livery stable with old carriages lined up inside...At the end of the green, there was a white-washed stone house with a lovely pepper tree at the corner...
And an old wooden hotel from the old California days? And a saloon, dark, low ceilings, with hanging oil lamps?
Madeleine Yes.
It's all there. It's no dream. You've been there before. You've seen it.
Madeleine No never!
Madeleine, where are you now?
Madeleine Here with you.
And it's all real. It's not merely as it was 100 years ago, or a year ago, or six months ago, or whenever it was you were here to see it. Now, Madeleine, think of when you were here.
I love you, Madeleine.
Madeleine I love you too. It's too late.
No, no, we're together.
Madeleine It's too late, there's something I must do.
No, there is nothing you must do. There is nothing you must do. No one possesses you. You're safe with me.
Madeleine No, it's too late.
...
Madeleine Look, it's not fair. It's too late. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. It shouldn't have happened.
But it had to happen. We're in love. That's all that counts.
Madeleine Look. Let me go. Please let me go.
Listen to me. Listen to me.
Madeleine You believe I love you?
Yes.
Madeleine And if you lose me, then you'll know I, I loved you. And I wanted to go on loving you.
I won't lose you.
Madeleine Let me go into the church - alone.
Why?
