The Sea Gull (1968)

Vanessa Redgrave: Nina, a Landowner's Daughter

Photos 

Quotes 

• Nina : I know now Kostya, that in our work, it doesn't matter whether we act or write. The main thing is not fame, nor anything spectacular in all that I dreamed of. The main thing is to know how to endure. How to carry one's cross and to have faith. I have faith now. And it doesn't hurt so much. But when I think of my vocation, then I'm not afraid of life anymore.

  Konstantin Treplev : [Quietly, somberly]  You found your way. You know where you're going. I'm still wandering in a world of dreams and images. Without knowing what it's all about, or whether I have anything to offer. I have no faith... I don't know what my vocation is.

• Nina : [Konstantin abruptly shoves a dead sea gull in Nina's face as she runs up to him]  Oh, what's this?

  Konstantin Treplev : I was vile enough to kill this sea gull today. I lay it at your feet.

  [throws the dead bird down at her feet] 

  Nina : [slightly shocked]  What's the matter with you?

  Konstantin Treplev : Very soon I shall kill myself in the same way!

  Nina : This isn't like you at all.

  Konstantin Treplev : Yes, but then you're not the same as you used to be, either. You've changed. Your eyes are cold. My presence embarrasses you.

  Nina : You've become so irritable lately. You talk in a strange kind of way - all in symbols. This sea gull too is apparently some kind of symbol. Well, forgive me if I don't understand you. I'm probably too simple to understand you.

  Konstantin Treplev : It all began that night when my play turned out to be such a stupid failure. Women *never* forgive failures. I burnt it. Every scrap of it!

• Trigorin : [sees something in the tall grass]  What's that?

  Nina : It's a sea gull. Konstantin killed it.

  [picks up the dead bird and tosses it away] 

  Trigorin : It's a beautiful bird.

  [takes out his pocket notepad and begins to jot down some notes] 

  Trigorin : Oh, I don't want to go away. Can't you persuade her to stay?

  Nina : What are you writing?

  Trigorin : [chuckles]  I'm just jotting down an idea for a subject - subject for a short story. Young woman lives all her life beside a lake. A girl like you. Like a sea gull, she loves the lake. She's free, and happy, like a sea gull. A man passes that way by chance, and, having nothing better to do, he destroys her - like that sea gull.

  Nina : No.

• Nina : It's not easy to act in your play, you know. There are no living characters in it.

  Konstantin Treplev : What would we want with living characters? Its no good showing life as it is or how we would like it to be; but, as it we see it in all those fantastic dreams, our most hideous nightmares.

  Nina : There is so little action in your play and I think a play should always have some love in it.

• Nina : [performing Triplev's play]  I shall be triumphant. And then, matter and spirit will combine together in perfect harmony and the reign of universal will - will come! But this will only happen after millions and millions of years, when gradually the moon and the shining Sirius and the earth have turned to dust. Till then, there will be nothing but horror! Horror! Horror!

• Irina Arkadina : I'm sure you have a talent for acting. I mean it! I really do. You simply must go on the stage.

  Nina : I dream about it. But, it'll never come true.

  Irina Arkadina : Who knows?

• Nina : It is a strange play, isn't it?

  Trigorin : I-I didn't understand it at all. I enjoyed watching it, though. Your acting was so - sincere. And the setting is wonderful. There must be a lot of fish in that lake.

• Trigorin : I'm very fond of fishing. There's nothing I like to do in the evening more than to sit on the bank, watching the float.

  Nina : But, I thought for someone who's experienced the joys of creativity, no other joys could exist.

• Nina : What a wonderful world. If you only knew how much I envy you. People's destinies are so different. Some just drag out their dull, colorless, little lives. One much like the next and all of them miserable. And others, like you, for instance, you're one in a million! You've been given such a rich life, with such meaning to it. You're blessed.

  Trigorin : I? You talk of fame, happiness, rich-life, so full of meaning. For me, all these fine words, forgive me, are much the same as marmalade - which I never eat. You're very young and very kind.

  Nina : But, your life is beautiful.

  Trigorin : What's so beautiful about it? I must go now and do some work. Forgive me, I have not time for myself.

• Nina : For the happiness of being an artist, like you, I could bare the hostility of everyone around me. I could put up with poverty and disappointment, I could live on rye bread in an attic, alone with the hateful knowledge of my own imperfections. But, in return, I should demand glory! Real, dazzling, *blinding* glory!

• Nina : It is a dream!

• Nina : I would like you to think of me, now and then.

  Trigorin : I shall. I shall remember you the way you were on that blissful day - do you remember? About a week ago? You were wearing a light colored dress, we were talking, there was a white sea gull dead on the ground.

  Nina : Yes. A sea gull.

• Nina : I'm a Sea Gull-and yet-no, not that. What was I saying? Yes! Turgenieff - "and may God help all homeless wanderers."

• Nina : So you're a writer now. A writer. I'm an actress. We two are caught up in the whirlpool.

• Nina : I used to live happily like a child. I used to wake up in the morning and sing. I loved you. I dreamed of fame. And, now, tomorrow, early in the morning I shall got to Eltz in a third-class carriage, with peasants, and in Eltz, fat, so-called educated merchants will sniff around me like dogs. A crude life, really.

• Nina : I'm a Sea Gull-no-not that. You remember, you shot a Sea Gull. A man comes along by chance, sees her, and having nothing better to do, destroys her. A subject for a short story. No, not that. What was I saying?

• Nina : I know now, Konstantin, that in our work, it doesn't matter whether we act or write. The main thing is not fame, nor anything spectacular and all that I dreamed of, the main thing is to know how to endure. How to carry one's cross and have faith. I have faith now and it doesn't hurt so much. And when I think of my vocation, then I'm not afraid of life anymore.

  Konstantin Treplev : You've found your way. You know where you're going. I'm still wandering in a world of dreams and images, without knowing what it's all about or whether I have anything to offer. I have no faith. I don't know what my vocation is.

• Nina : [quoting from Konstantin's play]  "And no beetles are heard among the lime trees."