Woody Allen wrote and directed the 1988 American drama film Another Woman. Gena Rowlands plays a philosophy professor who inadvertently overhears a stranger’s private analysis and discovers that the stranger’s regrets and misery stir something inside of her.
A Second Female significantly references Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries, whose lead character is an elderly professor who discovers through a close cousin that his family despises him, which is one of Allen’s favorite Bergman movies. Allen also recreates elements of the dream sequences from Wild Strawberries and puts Marion in Isak Borg’s shoes by having both characters reevaluate their lives after being accused of being cold and heartless by friends and family.
1. “I closed the book, and felt this strange mixture of wistfulness and hope, and I wondered if a memory is something you have or something you’ve lost. For the first time in a long time, I felt at peace.”- Marion
The movie’s protagonist alludes to memory in this quote, meaning that she is unable to understand if memory is something you have or something you have lost, i.e., whether it is memory when a person remembers something or whether memory is recalling something that has already been lost. Marion is torn between the two as she learns that there is some sadness brewing inside of her and the other being the person like her who is a confused personality.
2. “- Marion: There’s chances gone by you can’t have back again.
– Hope: Like what?
– Marion: I don’t know. Maybe it would be nice to have a child.
– Hope: You really think that?
– Marion: I do. I never said it before, but I do.”
Marion is speaking to Hope, a depressed patient of the psychiatrist who works in the same location as Marion and whose therapy sessions Marion can overhear through the building’s ventilation system. Hope and Marion are both there for the talk. After that, Marion personally contacted Hope and began attending sessions in which she discussed being a mother, how she had lost some opportunities and wouldn’t be able to get them back, etc.
When asked by Hope, she said, “Maybe it would be nice to have a child,” regretting the decision she had made earlier to abort the child but now believing that her life would have been better. She also added that she had never said any of this in front of anyone before, but she is confessing it to Hope who is a psychiatrist and attends Marion’s sessions.
3. “- Marion: Would you ever think of making love to me on the living room floor?
– Ken: Do you want me to?
– Marion: I don’t know. Would you want to?
– Ken: I don’t know. Actually, I don’t think I see you as the hard wood floor type.”
Marion asks Ken whether he would ever contemplate having sex with her on the living room floor in this dialogue between him and Ken, who is also his current spouse and who had sought her while he was married to someone else. Ken is perplexed by her response and asks if she wants him to.
After asking about his preference and responding that she is unsure, Ken said, “I’m not sure,” to Marion. I don’t really image you as the sort who walks on hard wood floors, which also implies that he doesn’t really picture her as the kind who does and thinks she’s delicate and fragile.
4. “- Paul: Do you remember some years ago when I showed you something I’d written, do you remember what you said?
– Marion: No, I don’t remember. I was probably just trying to be truthful.
– Paul: Yes, I’m sure. You said, “This is overblown, it’s too emotional, it’s maudlin. Your dreams may be meaningful to you, but to the objective observer, it’s just so embarrassing.”
This conversation is between Marion and Paul, her brother, and it demonstrates the nature of Marion, who is constantly unkind, unfair, and judgmental as we can see here Paul is asking her if she remembers he had shown her something that he had written and she had commented on it badly.
To which she is justifying that she was being truthful and giving excuses for being rude, but Paul her brother makes her realize that she thinks that it is emotional, and her dreams are the only things that have any significance.
5. “- Marion: Why have you stopped sleeping with me?
– Ken: We are simply going through a less active period, that’s all. It’s not uncommon.
– Marion: Why? I just want to know why?
– Ken: Why don’t we just go to bed.
– Marion: There was a time that we were dying to be together.
– Ken: Marion, you’re still the most desirable woman that I know.”
This conversation is between Marion and Ken in which Marion is asking Ken that why have he stopped sleeping with her to which Ken replies that this phase comes between couples and it is very common so she must not think about it much but Marion is concerned and asks again and again that what has happened but Ken ignores and says that they should go to bed.
To which Marion remembers the time when they both wanted to be together and would do anything for that, but Ken still assures her and says that he still thinks of her as the most desirable woman and she should be assured that he still loves her and wants to be with her.
6. “- Marion: But you want nothing around to even remind you of mother?
– Marion’s Father: Well, there are times when even an historian shouldn’t look at the past.
– Laura: Do you think at your age you can find someone and fall in love again?
– Marion’s Father: One hopes at my age to build up an immunity.”
Marion asks her father if he misses her mother or if there is anything that reminds him of her. To which her father responds that sometimes it is better to not look at the past and that it is also better for a historian to not look at the past and remember some things, Marion, Marion’s father, and Laura, Marion’s stepdaughter.
Are involved in this conversation. He responds that at my age, individuals just want to build up immunity and stay strong enough to complete their own chores and nothing else when Laura, her grand-daughter, asks him whether he believes he would find someone at his age and fall in love again.
7. “If someone had asked me when I reached my fifties to assess my life, I would have said that I had achieved a decent measure of fulfillment, both personally and professionally. Beyond that, I would say I don’t choose to delve.” -Marion
Marion claims that if someone had asked me about how my life had turned out when I was in my forties, I would have said that I had acquired a reasonable degree of fulfilment, both emotionally and professionally. I would contend that I don’t choose to look any further than that.
Which also means that if someone were to inquire about her life, she would likely respond that she is content and has found a good deal of fulfilment in both her personal and professional lives. She would not consider looking any further because she is only concerned with that, and nothing else is of concern to her.
8. “I saw my mother’s favorite poem, “Archaic Torso of Apollo”. There were stains on the page, which, I believe were her tears. They fell across the last line, “For here there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life”. -Marion
In this quotation, Marion reports that she was looking at her mother’s favorite poetry, “Archaic Torso of Apollo,” when she noticed tears on the parchment. She believes her mother cried because of this. In their final speech, they broke down and said, “In this place, nobody or nothing can escape your eyes, and your life needs to change.” This also indicated that her mother was not leading a happy life and that she wanted to improve it.
9. “She can’t allow herself to feel. And the result is she’s leading this cold, cerebral life. And she’s alienating everyone around her.” -Hope
Hope in this quote is talking about Marion who she feels does not allow herself to feel anything, and that is resulting in her leading a cold life which is turning her heart cold and also alienating everyone around her and she is pushing away everyone as she has turned cold and treats everyone rudely that is leading to a bad life where she will be left all alone and will not be able to share her feelings with anyone as she would not have anyone around her if she continues.
10. “I guess you can’t keep deep feelings closed out forever, you know. So, I just don’t want to look up when I’m her age and find that my life is empty.” -Hope
Hope expresses her desire for her life to not be like Marion’s, which is empty and lonely due to the absence of anyone to share it with. In this passage, Hope discusses Marion and her nature, describing it as being very cold and that she keeps her deep emotions hidden from the world forever. Hope also expresses her desire for her own life to not be like Marion’s, which is empty and lonely due to the absence of anyone to share it with.
11. “I didn’t think anything turning thirty. Everybody said I would. Then they said I’d be crushed turning forty, but they were wrong. I didn’t give it a second’s thought. Then they said that I’d be traumatized when I hit fifty, and they were right. I’ll tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ve ever recovered my balance since turning fifty.” -Marion
Marion says that, asshe approached her 30th birthday, she had no plans. She would, everyone said. Then they claimed that turning 40 would be devastating for her, but they were incorrect. It was something she didn’t think twice about. And when she was fifty, they were right when they said that she would still be scarred. Since approaching fifty, she doesn’t believe she has ever regained her balance.
12. “- Marion: I feel sorry for you Ken, because, in your way, you’ve been as lonely as I have.
– Ken: Have you been lonely?
– Marion: At least I’ve come to recognize it.”
This is a conversation between Marion and Ken in which Marion expresses sympathy for Ken because she believes he must be as lonely as she has always been. When Ken asks Marion if she has ever felt lonely, Marion responds, “I have realized it now that I have been lonely; earlier I was not able to realize it but now I have realized that I feel alone and have been lonely for a long time without realization.”