Genre	Drama
Date Released	5 December 2008
Production	Dead Guys Cinema
Distribution	Dead Guys Cinema
Related Links	2008 Movies December 2008 Movies
	2008 Drama Movies
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Quotes

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Father Brendan Flynn: I can fight you. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: You will lose.

Father Brendan Flynn: You haven`t the slightest proof of anything! Sister Aloysius Beauvier: But I have my certainty! And armed with that, I will go to your last parish, and the one before that if necessary. I`ll find a parent.

from trailer] Sister James: I don`t think Father Flynn did anything wrong.

Father Brendan Flynn: You have no right to act on your own! You have taken vows, obedience being one! You answer to us! You have no right to step outside the church! Sister Aloysius Beauvier: I will step outside the church if that`s what needs to be done, till the door should shut behind me! I will do what needs to be done, though I`m damned to Hell! You should understand that, or you will mistake me.

Father Flynn: Where is your compassion? Sister Aloysius: Nowhere you can get at it.

[last lines] Sister Aloysius: Sister James... Sister James: What is it, Sister? Sister Aloysius: [crying] I have doubts. I have such doubts.

Mrs. Miller: Sister, I don`t know if you and me are on the same side. I`ll be standing with my son and those who are good with my son. It`d be nice to see you there.

Sister James: I don`t think Father Flynn did anything wrong. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: You just want things to be resolved so you can have simplicity back.

Sister Aloysius Beauvier: What exactly happened in the rectory? Father Brendan Flynn: Happened? Nothing happened. I had a talk with a boy. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: About what? Father Brendan Flynn: Private matter. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: He`s twelve years old, what could be "private?"

Sister Aloysius Beauvier: Then why do you look like you`ve seen the devil?

Sister Aloysius Beauvier: Look at that. You`ve blown out my light.

Sister Aloysius Beauvier: [to Father Flynn] I have no sympathy for you. I know you are invulnerable to true regret. [long pause] Sister Aloysius Beauvier: And cut your nails.

Father Brendan Flynn: Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty. When you are lost, you are not alone.

Father Brendan Flynn: A woman was gossiping with her friend about a man whom they hardly knew - I know none of you have ever done this. That night, she had a dream: a great hand appeared over her and pointed down on her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O` Rourke, and she told him the whole thing. `Is gossiping a sin?` she asked the old man. `Was that God All Mighty`s hand pointing down at me? Should I ask for your absolution? Father, have I done something wrong?` `Yes,` Father O` Rourke answered her. `Yes, you ignorant, badly-brought-up female. You have blamed false witness on your neighbor. You played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed.` So, the woman said she was sorry, and asked for forgiveness. `Not so fast,` says O` Rourke. `I want you to go home, take a pillow upon your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me.` So, the woman went home: took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to her roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed. `Did you cut the pillow with a knife?` he says. `Yes, Father.` `And what were the results?` `Feathers,` she said. `Feathers?` he repeated. `Feathers; everywhere, Father.` `Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out onto the wind,` `Well,` she said, `it can`t be done. I don`t know where they went. The wind took them all over.` `And that,` said Father O` Rourke, `is gossip!`

Sister Aloysius Beauvier: May I ask what you are writing down with that ball-point pen? Father Brendan Flynn: Oh, nothing. It`s an idea for a sermon. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: You have one right now? Father Brendan Flynn: I get them all the time. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: How fortunate. Father Brendan Flynn: I forget them so I have to write them down. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: What is the idea? Father Brendan Flynn: Intolerance.

Father Brendan Flynn: [referring to Sister Aloysius] The dragon is hungry.

Sister Aloysius Beauvier: Is Father Flynn in doubt? Is he concerned that someone else is in doubt?

Sister James: [Referring to her students] I don`t allow them ballpoint pens. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: [Picking one off the floor] And yet here one is.

Sister Aloysius Beauvier: [to Sister James] What have you seen? Sister James: It is unsettling to look at people with suspicion. I feel less close to God. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: When you take a step to address wrongdoing, you are taking a step away from God, but in his service. What have you seen?

Sister Aloysius Beauvier: [to Mrs. Miller] Years ago I used to listen to all the news reports, because my husband was in Italy, in the war. Mrs. Miller: [Taken aback] You were a married woman? Sister Aloysius Beauvier: [Offended] Yes, but then he was killed.

Sister Aloysius Beauvier: James Hurley, what are you doing out of class? Jimmy Hurley: Sister James sent me down. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: For what? Jimmy Hurley: Talking. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: Well go back up and SHUT UP!

Mrs. Miller: You can`t hold a child responsible for what God gave him to be.

Sister Aloysius Beauvier: [to Father Flynn] You will tell me what you have done.

Sister James: Did you ever prove it? Sister Aloysius Beauvier: To whom? Sister James: Anyone but yourself?

Sister James: I wish I could be like you. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: Why? Sister James: [Tearing up] Because I can`t sleep anymore. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: Maybe we`re not supposed to sleep so well.

Sister Aloysius Beauvier: [about a boy who was sent home with a bloody nose] He`s a fidgety boy. He will do anything to get out of his seat. He would set his foot on fire for half a day out of school.

Sister James: How can you be so sure that he is lying? Sister Aloysius Beauvier: Experience. Sister James: You just don`t like him! You don`t like it that he uses a ballpoint pen. You don`t like it that he takes 3 lumps of sugar in his tea. You don`t like it that he likes Frosty the Snowman and you are letting that convince you? Of something that`s terrible... Just terrible... Sister James: [Exasperated] Well I like Frosty the Snowman!

Trivia

.

The play won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

# The Broadway play ran for over a year at the Walter Kerr Theatre, with 525 performances. The original cast was: Cherry Jones (Sister Aloysius), Brian F. O`Byrne (Father Flynn), Heather Goldenhersh (Sister James) and Adriane Lenox (Mrs. Miller). All four were nominated for a Tony award. The play won four Tony awards: Best Play, Best Director (Doug Hughes), Best Actress (Jones), and Best Featured Actress (Lenox). Author John Patrick Shanley wrote both the stage play and the screenplay adaptation.

Natalie Portman declined the role of Sister James.

Sr. James was inspired by John Patrick Shanley`s kindergarten teacher, Sr. Margaret James.

In the scenes in church when Fr. Flynn is wearing green vestments, he wears the stole over his chasuble. Although this fad became popular after Vatican 2, in 1964 the priest would have definitely worn the stole under the chasuble where it belongs.

Oprah Winfrey reportedly lobbied for the role of Mrs. Miller, but John Patrick Shanley refused to even give her a reading.

Viola Davis, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as Mrs. Miller, in the film, is only in two scenes. The first is an extended dialogue with Meryl Streep`s character, Sister Aloysius. In the second, she appears only for about 10 seconds and does not speak.

In the play, Donald Miller is never seen.

SPOILER: Just as he did with the play, John Patrick Shanley only told the actor who played Father Flynn whether or not Flynn was guilty. None of the other actors knew.

See also Trivia Index (D) :: Quotes Index (D) :: Connections Index (D)

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