Vargtimmen (1968)

Liv Ullmann: Alma Borg

Photos 

Quotes 

• Johan Borg : The old ones called it "the hour of the wolf". It is the hour when most people die, when most children are born. Now is when nightmares come to us. And if we are awake -...

  Alma Borg : We're afraid.

  Johan Borg : We're afraid.

• Alma Borg : There's one thing I've been puzzling over. Are you in a big hurry? I'd like to ask you something. It's this. Is it true that a woman who lives a long time with a man, eventually winds up being like that man? I mean, she loves him and tries to think like him and see like him. They say that it can change a person.

• Johan Borg : Do you hear the quiet?

  Alma Borg : Yes, it's quiet.

• [last lines] 

  Alma Borg : So many questions. Sometimes I don't know which way to turn, and I become quite - -

  [turns away and back again] 

• Johan Borg : I know!

  Alma Borg : What?

  Johan Borg : I shall draw you.

  Alma Borg : No!

  Johan Borg : Oh, let me,

  Alma Borg : No.

  Johan Borg : Come on.

  Alma Borg : No.

  Johan Borg : Go and sit over there.

  Alma Borg : No.

  Johan Borg : Up you get, fatty.

  Alma Borg : Here?

  Johan Borg : No, a little bit further back. There. Are you chilly?

  Alma Borg : No.

  Johan Borg : Now sit - the way you always do. Don't straighten up. And bare your shoulders. That's it. Hold your hair up a little so I can see your neck better. There. Just like that.

• Alma Borg : I thought I was so close to him. Sometimes he said he felt close to me. One time he told me definitely.

• Alma Borg : We were usually completely alone. He never wanted to meet anyone. He was afraid.

• Alma Borg : I said very little and he liked that. He liked me.

• Alma Borg : We never kiss each other. Can you tell me why? I can count our kisses.

• Alma Borg : That's not what it says in your diary. "My obsession with Veronica became a torment for us both. I shadowed her on the road and spied on her jealously. I think my passion stimulated her, but she was always passive and undecided. Once or twice it came to frightening scenes utterly devoid of reason. We moved from town to town in an effort to escape her relatives and lawyers. We carried out the word of the Bible, that man and woman 'shall be of one flesh.' Then her husband came and took her away."

• Alma Borg : Do you think I like to watch you running after that woman, talking to your ridiculous ghosts, having to guard myself the whole time?

• Johan Borg : Remember that day I came home and said I'd been bitten by a snake?

  Alma Borg : Yes.

  Johan Borg : It was no snake bite.

  Alma Borg : It wasn't a snake bite?

  Johan Borg : I never thought I'd tell anybody. I don't even know if...

  Alma Borg : You need to tell me.

  Johan Borg : You can never tell anybody.

  Alma Borg : No, I promise. I'll never tell anybody.

• Johan Borg : Now we've kept watch every night until dawn. This hour is the most difficult. Do you know what it's called?

  Alma Borg : No.

  Johan Borg : Old people used to call it the hour of the wolf. It's the hour when the most people die, when the most babies are born. It's the hour when nightmares come to us. And if we are awake...

  Alma Borg : We are afraid.

  Johan Borg : We are afraid.

• Corinne von Merkens : [showing Johan's painting of Veronica Vogler to Alma and Johan]  Alma, you're going to see something very beautiful your husband has made. Here's the painting, directly across from my bed. I can see it every morning and night. It's become part of my lonely life. I love her.

  Corinne von Merkens : [to Johan]  How long did you live together? Forgive me for asking something so personal.

  Alma Borg : Five years.

  Corinne von Merkens : Really? He's told you? He loved her, didn't he? I don't need to ask. It was a first-rate scandal at the time. But so romantic. Jealous?

  Alma Borg : I don't believe so.

  Corinne von Merkens : My husband is quite jealous. He's an excellent lover.

  Corinne von Merkens : [lifting her dress to expose her thigh]  Look at this mark, by the way. It's a scar from another man's, shall we say, advances. An eternal spring of renewed excitement. All of it is very trivial, of course, but for me it's stimulating. Soon I'll have to come up with something new. That scar won't remain fascinating forever. Can you help me? Alma, dear, don't get angry. I'm only kidding. It was a silly joke. Come now. Let's go join the others. I have at least bought a fairly significant piece of your husband. Don't you think?

• Johan Borg : Look here. I haven't shown these to anybody. You see, I've drawn them. This is the most common figure. He's almost harmless. I think he's homosexual. Then there's the old lady. Who's always threatening to take off her hat. You know what happens then?

  Alma Borg : No.

  Johan Borg : Her face comes off with it, you see. Here. This is the worst one. I call him the Bird Man. I don't know if it's a real beak or if it's only a mask. He's so remarkably fast. He must be related to Papageno from The Magic Flute. The others. The flesh eaters, the insects... and especially the spider men. Here. The schoolmaster with the pointing stick in his trousers. And the... chattering, hard-as-metal women. You have to stay awake a while. In an hour or so it'll be day. Then I can sleep.

• Alma Borg : You once said... that the nice thing about me was that God had made me in one piece. That I had whole feelings and whole thoughts. You said it was important that there were people like me. I thought it sounded so lovely. It made me so happy. I was wrong. I don't understand a thing. I don't understand a thing. I don't understand you. Now I'm only frightened. Do you think I want to stay here and possibly be killed? Do you think I want to see you running after that woman, talking to ghosts, while I defend myself constantly? Do you think I want that? But here I am.

• Alma Borg : Is it not true that old people, who've spent a lifetime together, start to resemble each other? Eventually they have so much in common that they not only have the same thoughts, but the same facial expressions. Why do you think that is? I hope we become so old that we share each other's thoughts... and that we get little, dry and completely identical wrinkled faces. What do you think of that?

• Alma Borg : I should tell you that I've read your diary, and I'm almost sick with fear. Wait! Let me finish talking. I want you to hear what I've been thinking these past few days. This is what I've been thinking. I can see something is going to happen, something evil. I don't know what to call it. But if you think I'm going to run away... I'm not going to run away, no matter how frightened I am. And one more thing. They want to separate us. They want you for themselves. As long as I'm with you, it'll be more difficult. Johan. I'm not going to run away, no matter what they try. I'll stay, I will. I'll stay. Johan, answer me!

• Alma Borg : Can you believe that it's pitch-black out there still? Do you hear how quiet it is? It's strange when the sea is completely calm. Scary somehow. Don't you think?

  Johan Borg : Are you crying?

  Alma Borg : No, I'm not. I'm thinking of the child... and of this great, silent darkness. It's almost as if it will never be light again.

• Alma Borg : I've been wondering one thing. Are you in a hurry? I'd like to ask something. It's like this... Isn't it true that when a woman has lived with a man for a long time... Isn't it true that she eventually becomes like the man? I mean, she loves him, tries to think like him, and see things like him. It's said that it can change a person. Is that why I began seeing those spirits? Or were they there regardless? I mean, had I loved him less, and not cared so much about the things surrounding him... would I have been able to protect him better? Or was it that I didn't love him enough... that made me jealous? Was it because of those 'man eaters,' as he called them... Was it because of them it went so horribly bad for us? I thought I was so close to him. Sometimes he also said that he was close to me. Once he said it with conviction. If only I could have followed him all the time. There are so many things to ponder. So many questions... Sometimes you don't know up from down, and you get completely...