Saoirse Ronan credited as playing...
Eilis
- [last lines]
- Eilis: [instructing new immigrant] You have to think like an American. You'll feel so homesick that you'll want to die, and there's nothing you can do about it apart from endure it. But you will, and it won't kill you. And one day the sun will come out - you might not even notice straight away, it'll be that faint. And then you'll catch yourself thinking about something or someone who has no connection with the past. Someone who's only yours. And you'll realize... that this is where your life is.
- Eilis: You remember that after I had dinner at your house, you told me that you loved me?
- [Tony nods, sombre and nervous]
- Eilis: Well, I didn't really know what to say. But I know what to say now. I have thought about you and I like you, and I like seeing you, and maybe I feel the same way. So the next time you tell me you love me, if there is a next time, I'll, I'll say I love you too.
- Tony: Are you serious?
- Eilis: Yes.
- Tony: Holy shit! Excuse my language, but I thought we were going to have a different kind of talk. You mean it?
- Eilis: I mean it.
- Eilis: I'd forgotten what this town is like. What were you planning to do, Miss Kelly? Keep me away from Jim? Stop me from going back to America? Perhaps you didn't even know. Perhaps it was enough for you to know that you could ruin me. My name is Eilis Fiorello.
- Eilis: I wish that I could stop feeling that I want to be an Irish girl in Ireland.
- Father Flood: All I can say is that it will pass. Homesickness is like most sicknesses. It'll make you feel wretched and it'll move on to somebody else.
- Frankie Fiorello: So, first of all, I should say that we don't like Irish people.
- [general cries of outrage around the table]
- Frankie Fiorello: What? We don't. That is a well-known fact.
- Eilis: Why, Frankie?
- Frankie Fiorello: 'Cause a big gang of Irish beat Maurizio up and he had to get stitches. And because all the cops around here are Irish, nobody did anything about it.
- Maurizio: There's probably two sides to it. I might have said something I shouldn't. You know, I... I can't remember now.
- Frankie Fiorello: No, because they beat you up.
- Maurizio: Anyway, they probably weren't all Irish.
- Frankie Fiorello: No, they just had red hair and big legs.
- Miss Fortini: Ellis, you look like a different person. How did you do it? Maybe I can pass some advice onto the next poor girl who feels that way.
- Eilis: I met somebody. An Italian fella.
- Miss Fortini: Oh, I'm not passing that on. I'd rather have them homesick than heartbroken. Does he talk about baseball all the time? Or, his mother?
- Eilis: No.
- Miss Fortini: Then keep him. There isn't another Italian man like him in New York.
- Diana: Have you told Tony yet, Ellis?
- Eilis: Of course.
- Sheila: Is he taking you out to celebrate?
- Eilis: We're going to Coney Island at the weekend.
- Patty: Oh, boy.
- Eilis: What does that mean?
- Patty: Well, do you have a bathing costume?
- Eilis: No, I was going to...
- Diana: Do you have sunglasses?
- Eilis: No.
- Sheila: You need sunglasses. I read that if you don't have them on the beach this year, people will talk about you.
- Mrs. Keogh: And what will they say, exactly, Sheila?
- Dolores: That's the thing, Mrs Keogh. You'd never know, because they'd never say it to your face.
- Mrs. Keogh: Ellis, from the look of you, you have greasy skin, is that right? What do you do about that?
- Eilis: Just... Well, I wash it, Mrs. Keogh, with soap.
- Miss McAdam: There is nothing wrong with soap. Soap was good enough for our Lord. I expect.
- Mrs. Keogh: Well, which brand did he use, Miss McAdam? Does the Bible tell you that?
- Diana: Our Lord is a man anyway. He didn't care about greasy skin.
- Mrs. Keogh: Ladies, no more talk about our Lord's complexion at dinner, please.
- [first lines]
- Eilis: Miss Kelly, might I talk to you later?
- Miss Kelly: Not if what you're going to say will cause trouble for me in some way or another.
- Eilis: [sighs]
- Mary Lacey: Eilis, what's the matter? Has something happened with Jim?
- Eilis: [crying] Mammy, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm married. I got married in Brooklyn before I came home. I should have told you. I should have told you as soon as I got back. I want to be with him. I want to be with my husband.
- Mary Lacey: Of course. Is he nice?
- Eilis: Yes.
- Mary Lacey: He'd have to be nice if you married him. So you're going back?
- Eilis: Yes. Tomorrow.
- Mary Lacey: Are you on the early train?
- [Eilis nods]
- Mary Lacey: I'm going to bed.
- Eilis: Mammy, it's not even 8:00. You don't have to.
- Mary Lacey: I'm very tired. And I'd like to say goodbye now. And only once.
- [hugging]
- Mary Lacey: Perhaps you'll write and tell me about him.
- Eilis: I will.
- Tony: [walking Eilis home from school] So, ten minutes before I'm supposed to meet you, and I'm standing ankle-deep in sewage that's pouring through this old lady's ceiling. Yeah. Even if you're thinking of inviting me in for a coffee, I'd have to say no for your sake.
- Eilis: So how did you fix it in ten minutes?
- Tony: I didn't. I spent the whole ten minutes explaining to the lady I had to be somewhere and I'd be back, and she don't wanna let me go.
- Eilis: So the sewage is still pouring through the ceiling?
- Tony: Oh... well, what's the difference between six inches of sewage and a foot?
- Eilis: [going to the beach with Jim, Nancy, and George] I'd forgotten.
- Nancy: What?
- Eilis: This.
- Jim Farrell: You have beaches in Brooklyn.
- Eilis: Yes, but they're just very crowded.
- Jim Farrell: There'll probably be quite a few walkers along here later.
- Eilis: Yes. It's still not the same.
- Jim Farrell: I'm sure it's not. We don't really know anything of the rest of the world. We must seem very backward to you now.
- Eilis: Of course not. You seem calm and civilized and charming.
- Girl on Deck: So, are you away to live in America?
- Eilis: No.
- Girl on Deck: Just visiting?
- Eilis: No, I live there already.
- Girl on Deck: Really? What's it like?
- Eilis: It's a big place.
- Girl on Deck: I'm gonna live in Brooklyn, New York. Do you know it?
- Eilis: Yes.
- Girl on Deck: People say that there are so many Irish people there, it's like home. Is that right?
- Eilis: Yes. It's just like home.