- [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.
- Diner Waiter: I hope that when I go through the pearly gates, the first sound I hear is you asking me for the bill in that lovely Irish brogue.
- 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.
- Sheila: Would I get married again? No, I want to be waiting outside the bathroom of my boarding house forever. Of course I do. That's why I go to that wretched dance every week. I want to be waiting outside my own bathroom, while some bad tempered fellow with hair growing out of his ears reads the newspaper on the toilet and I wish I was back here, talking to you.
- 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.
- Diana: It's not politics to talk about eye operations.
- Mrs. Keogh: It is if the eyes belong to a politician.
- Mrs. Keogh: I'll tell you this much: I am going to ask Father Flood to preach a sermon on the dangers of giddiness. I now see that giddiness is the eighth deadly sin. A giddy girl is every bit as evil as a slothful man, and the noise she makes is a lot worse. Now, enough.
- Mrs. Keogh: [Preparing for a weekend at the beach] Diana's right, though, Eilis. You need to think carefully about your costume. It's the most Tony will ever have seen of you. You don't want to put him off.
- 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.
- 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?
- Miss Fortini: [Fitting Ellis with a new swimming costume] You'll have to shave down there. I'll give you a razor that will do the trick. You're all right there for the moment. Most Italian men appreciate a fuller figure. But, watch yourself over the summer. The black's too dark for your pale skin. Let's see you in the green.
- [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]
- Miss McAdam: One of the things that ruins Christmas in America is the turkey. Oh, it tastes of sawdust.
- Mrs. Keogh: So that's one cheese sandwich for Miss McAdam and extra turkey for everyone else!
- 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.
- Tony: You wanna go see the Dodgers on Saturday?
- Frankie Fiorello: Sure.
- Tony: Okay. Will you do something for me?
- Frankie Fiorello: What?
- Tony: If you laugh or you say anything about this to anybody in the family, you don't get to go see the Dodgers on Saturday or any other day of the season. Also, you get a beating.
- Frankie Fiorello: Maybe it's just better if I don't get involved.
- Tony: I really need your help, Frankie. You know you're the best writer and reader in the family?
- Frankie Fiorello: Yeah.
- Tony: I'm trying to write to Eilis. And I want it to be... I don't know.
- Frankie Fiorello: You've wrote before already about five times.
- Tony: Yeah, but they're no good, Frankie, and... she's only written back once. Look, she's never read my writing before. I'm worried I'm putting her off me.
- Frankie Fiorello: Listen, I'm eight years old. I don't know anything about kissing.
- Tony: You don't need to know anything about kissing. You need to know about spelling and... and...
- Frankie Fiorello: Grammar.
- Tony: Yeah.
- [offering the letter]
- Tony: Will you look?
- 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.
- Nancy: [watching Eilis change into her bathing suit] Is that an American trick?
- Eilis: Yes. It's a good one, isn't it?
- Nancy: It's depressing, though, that we don't think of things like that, isn't it? I mean, how long have they known about it? A hundred years, probably.
- Jim Farrell: I don't think they had bathing suits like that a hundred years ago. We still don't have them now.
- Mrs. Keogh: I saw you had letters today, Diana. Any news?
- Diana: Mr. de Valera's had another operation on his eyes, she says. He's been in Holland.
- Mrs. Keogh: I don't want news I can read in a newspaper.
- Sheila: Anyway, we would describe Mr. de Valera as politics, would we not, Mrs. Keogh? And we do not like politics at the dinner table.
- Mrs. Keogh: We don't.
- Father Flood: [learning she's homesick] I'm so sorry, Eilis. This is all my fault. I was led to believe that you didn't need looking after. Franco Bartocci says you're doing great here. Ma Keogh says you're the nicest lodger she's ever had.
- [seeing her smile]
- Father Flood: What?
- Eilis: "Ma Keogh"?
- Father Flood: Don't ever call her that to her face.
- Eilis: [after a night of seasickness] I'm sorry about the smell. And the bucket.
- Georgina: Don't worry. The whole boat stinks. Even First Class. I've just been thrown out of there, by the way.
- Eilis: The bathroom door was locked all night.
- Georgina: Oh, those bastards.
- [going to the bathroom, she picks the lock and locks it from their side, then puts a suitcase on the floor]
- Georgina: There. Won't be very comfortable, but at least it's ours.
- [one of their neighbors knocks, demanding the door be opened]
- Georgina: Feck off. Do you hear me? Fuck off. If you'd been nice last night, we would have played fair. Now you've got no toilet. You bastards.
- Father Flood: I'd forgotten just how bad it feels to be away from home. I've enrolled you in a night class, for bookkeeping. In Brooklyn College. It'll be three nights a week, and I paid your tuition for the first semester.
- Eilis: Why?
- Father Flood: Why? Not "thank you"?
- Eilis: Sorry. Thank you. But why?
- Father Flood: Well, I was amazed that someone as clever as you couldn't find proper work at home. I've been here too long. I forget what it's like in Ireland. So when your sister wrote to me about you, I said that the Church would try to help. Anyway, we need Irish girls in Brooklyn.
- Eilis: I wish I'd written to Father Flood about you, Rose.
- Rose Lacey: Me? I have a job. You had a couple of hours on a Sunday working for Nettles Kelly.
- Mary Lacey: You shouldn't call her that.
- Rose Lacey: I think it's quite a kind name. Considering she's actually a terrible old witch.
- Eilis: Well, I don't want to talk about her anymore.
- Rose Lacey: Good.
- Mary Lacey: They say it's hotter there in the summer and colder in the winter. What in heaven's name will she do about clothes?
- Rose Lacey: She'll buy them, Mother.
- Mary Lacey: She doesn't want to be wasting her money on clothes.
- Rose Lacey: She won't have much choice. She'll be there for...
- [trailing off, she continues dinner in silence]
- Eilis: You look beautiful, Nancy.
- Nancy: Thank you.
- Eilis: You look so beautiful, it makes me despair of this place.
- Nancy: Why?
- Eilis: Well, you're the prettiest girl in County Wexford. You should be able to choose any man you want, and we're hoping that George Sheridan from the rugby club looks your way.
- Nancy: Do you think he might?
- Eilis: Of course he will. I know you like him, Nancy, but he's not Gary Cooper, is he? And those boys with their hair oil and their blazers.
- Nancy: He has beautiful eyes.
- Eilis: Mmm... and he's going to come into a beautiful shop in the market square.
- Nancy: Why didn't you wear your blue dress?
- Eilis: Are you asking why I didn't make more of an effort? I suppose 'cause I'm going away.
- Mrs. Keogh: I was glad to see you finally got some letters from home today, Eilis.
- Eilis: Did I? I forgot to check.
- Mrs. Keogh: [she stands up from the table] They'll still be there after dinner.
- Georgina: Oh, dear. We're gonna have to do something with you. They'll put you in quarantine or something if you try and enter the country looking like that.
- [cut to them in their cabin]
- Georgina: Nothing fancy. You mustn't look like a tart. Oh, well, looking like a tart isn't going to be a problem.
- [giving Eilis clothes from her suitcase]
- Georgina: This doesn't look too bad.
- Eilis: My sister gave me that.
- Georgina: Wear it with this and, uh... this. Don't look too innocent, though. I'll put some rouge and mascara on you. Perhaps a little eyeliner. Stand up straight. Polish your shoes. And don't cough, whatever you do. Don't be rude or pushy, but don't look too nervous. Think like an American. You have to know where you're going.
- Eilis: I'm away to America.
- Miss Kelly: Whose idea was that?
- Eilis: Father Flood in New York arranged it. Rose used to play golf with him. He sponsored me. And he found me a job and got me a visa.
- Miss Kelly: Well, we won't be needing you back here.
- Eilis: I could work every Sunday 'til I go.
- Miss Kelly: No, thank you. Your poor sister.
- Eilis: My sister?
- Miss Kelly: Well, mothers are always being left behind in this country. But Rose, that's the end for her now, isn't it? She'll be looking after your mother for the rest of her life.
- Miss Fortini: Remember, if people like it here, they'll come back, so you treat every customer as if she's a new friend.
- Eilis: I'll try.
- Miss Fortini: It's not a matter of trying. It's what you have to do. Do you try to wear panties every day?
- Eilis: N-No. I mean, I don't... I don't try. I just put them on.
- Miss Fortini: You see what I'm saying?
- Eilis: Yes.
- Miss Fortini: Good.
- Rose Lacey: [in a letter to Eilis] It's hard for me to believe that you're reading this in America, thousands of miles across the sea. The big news here is that since you left, Mammy has stopped shopping at Nettles Kelly's. As you know, her bread wasn't always fresh and she overcharged for everything. And she's awful.
- Mary Lacey: [in another letter] I haven't told her to her face. There's no need. She knows that she overcharges and her bread's not fresh.
- Rose Lacey: We talk about you every evening, of course. We want to know everything. I'm sure you're busy, but even if your letters were 200 pages, they wouldn't be long enough for your mother. Take care of yourself. Love.
- Georgina: Are you going to live in America?
- Eilis: Yes.
- Georgina: You have papers and everything?
- Eilis: Yes. And a job.
- Georgina: How'd you manage to arrange all that?
- Eilis: I didn't. Someone did it for me. A priest my sister knows.
- Georgina: And how do you feel about it?
- Eilis: How long do letters from Ireland take to arrive? My sister Rose said she'd write straightaway.
- Georgina: They take a long time at first. And then no time at all. You have family in America? Friends?
- Eilis: No.
- Georgina: You'll meet people easy enough. Where are you gonna live? Brooklyn?
- Eilis: How'd you know that?
- Georgina: Lucky guess.
- Ship Waiter: [Eilis finishes eating] It's good to see that not everybody's put off their dinner by the weather forecast. It's supposed to be a rough one tonight, so none of the other passengers are eating. A few spoonfuls of soup maybe, but not the mutton stew.
- Rose Lacey: [helping Eilis pack] Is that really everything you own? Oh, Eilis. I should have looked after you better.
- Eilis: You've bought most of the clothes in this case. That's one of the reasons I'm going, 'cause I can't buy me own.
- Rose Lacey: If it was just that, I'd spend every penny I had on you. Gladly. But I can't buy you a future. I can't buy you the kind of life you need.
- Eilis: I know. But you'll come see me there one day?
- Rose Lacey: Yes.
- Eilis: And you'll look after yourself?
- Rose Lacey: Oh, you don't have to worry about me.
- Eilis: And I'll come home to visit, won't I? 'Cause I couldn't bear it if...
- Tony: I'm not Irish.
- Eilis: You don't sound Irish.
- Tony: I need to make this clear. No part of me is Irish. I don't have Irish parents or grandparents or anything. I'm Italian. Well, my... my parents are, anyway.
- Eilis: So what were you doing at an Irish dance? Don't the Italians have dances?
- Tony: Yeah, and I wouldn't wanna take you to one. They behave like Italians all night.
- Eilis: What does that mean?
- Tony: Oh, you know.
- Eilis: No.
- Tony: Hands.
- Eilis: Too many of 'em?
- Tony: Well, I guess you could see it that way if you was a girl. Listen... I want everything out in the open. I came to the Irish dance... because I really like Irish girls.
- Eilis: And I was the only one who would dance with you?
- Tony: Oh, no, it wasn't...
- Eilis: Oh, so you danced with loads of others?
- [he realizes she's teasing him]
- Mrs Fiorello: Hey, how did you learn to eat spaghetti like that?
- Eilis: I've been taking lessons.
- Laurenzio: Lessons? Like... like in a class? You can do that? Maybe I could teach it.
- Eilis: No, no, um, Diana, who lives in the boarding house with me, cooked me some spaghetti and made me try and eat it without making a mess.
- Mr Fiorello: So, uh, what do you eat in Ireland? Just Irish stew?
- Eilis: Not just.
- Rose Lacey: Dear Eilis, thank you so much for the nylons. The Bartocci wrapping paper makes them look so glamorous. It seems everything is so exciting and new compared to here. I can't wait for you to show it all to me one day. Oh, Eilis, you know I'm by your side, even when I'm not.
- Eilis: Dear Rose, thank you for your letter. I was happy to hear about your golf tournament. You must have been really pleased. I still miss you and Mother and think about you every day, but I think I can say that for the first time since I've been in America, I'm really happy. This has a lot to do with Tony. At the weekend, he took me to see the Brooklyn Dodgers, the baseball team he loves. They lost, so he was annoyed. But I've also started to look for office work, too. I had an interview this week at a textile firm here in Brooklyn. Who'd have thought there would be two bookkeepers in the family? I'll soon be able to afford to come home and see you and Mammy.