The Counselor

Reiner:
Are you really that cold?

Malkina:
The truth has no temperature.

Malkina:
I'm famished.

Counselor:
I want her to have something that she would not be uncomfortable wearing. I don't want to give her a diamond so big she'd be afraid to wear it.

Diamond Dealer:
She is probably more courageous than you imagine.

Malkina:
I can see you're blushing. OK, we'll change the subject.

Laura:
Good.

Malkina:
We'll talk about MY sex life.

Laura:
You're teasing.

Malkina:
Just rattling your cage. What a world.

Laura:
You think the world is strange?

Malkina:
[expression becomes disdainful] I meant yours.

Malkina:
I suspect that we are ill-formed for the path we have chosen. Ill-formed and ill-prepared. We would like to draw a veil over all the blood and terror that have brought us to this place. It is our faintness of heart that would close our eyes to all of that, but in so doing it makes of it our destiny... But nothing is crueler than a coward, and the slaughter to come is probably beyond our imagining.

Diamond Dealer:
To partake of the stone's endless destiny, is that not the meaning of adornment? To enhance the beauty of the beloved is to acknowledge both her frailty and the nobility of that frailty. At our noblest, we announce to the darkness that we will not be diminished by the brevity of our lives.

Westray:
Have you ever seen a snuff film?

Counselor:
No. Have you?

Westray:
No. Would you?

Counselor:
I would not.

Westray:
...You might want to think about that the next time you do a line.

Reiner:
Men are attracted to flawed women too of course, but their illusion is that they can fix them. They just want to be entertained. The truth about women is that you can do anything to them except bore them.

Westray:
Well, I'm perfectly willing to believe you had nothing to do with this but I'm not the party you have to convince.

Counselor:
Convince of what, for Christ sake?

Westray:
That this is some sort of coincidence. Because they don't really believe in coincidences. They've heard of them. They've just never seen one.

Reiner:
I don't know what

[Malkina]

Reiner:
knows. I don't want to know.

Counselor:
You don't trust her.

Reiner:
Jesus Counselor, she's a woman.

Counselor:
Yeah, well.

Reiner:
Yeah, well, I don't mean to sound cold, I just mean that where women are concerned, they've got their own agenda. I always liked smart women, but it's been an expensive hobby.

Wireman:
Those guys aren't cops. Those guys are cartel.

Jefe:
When it comes to grief, the normal rules of exchange do not apply. Because grief transcends value. A man would give entire nations to lift grief off his heart and yet, you cannot buy anything with grief, because grief is worthless.

Westray:
Maybe I should tell you what Mickey Rourke told what's-his-face? That's my recommendation anyway, Counselor. Don't do it.

Counselor:
[cites] "This arson is a serious crime."

Westray:
Yeah. And so is this.

Counselor:
[laughs quietly] Well, I guess I'm a little taken aback at the cautionary nature of this conversation.

Westray:
Good word, 'cautionary'.

[first lines]

Laura:
Are you awake?

Counselor:
No. What time is it?

Laura:
Two o'clock. Almost two o'clock.

Counselor:
AM or PM?

Malkina:
Greed really takes you to the edge, doesn't it?

Reiner:
That's not what greed does. That's what greed is.

Counselor:
I'm not sure you understand my position.

Jefe:
But I do, Counselor. Actions create consequences which produce new worlds, and they're all different.

Counselor:
Will you help me?

Jefe:
I would urge you to see the truth of the situation you're in, Counselor. That is my advice. It is not for me to tell you what you should have done or not done. The world in which you seek to undo the mistakes that you made is different from the world where the mistakes were made. You are now at the crossing. And you want to choose, but there is no choosing there. There's only accepting. The choosing was done a long time ago... Are you there Counselor?

Counselor:
[distraught] Yes.

Jefe:
I don't mean to offend you, but reflective men often find themselves at a place removed from the realities of life. In any case, we should all prepare a place where we can accommodate all the tragedies that sooner or later will come to our lives. But this is an economy few people care to practice.

Jefe:
Machado would have traded every word, every poem, every verse he ever wrote for one more hour with his beloved. And that is because when it comes to grief, the normal rules of exchange do not apply, because grief transcends value. A man would give entire nations to lift grief off his heart. And yet, you cannot buy anything with grief, because grief is worthless.

Counselor:
Why are you telling me this?

Jefe:
Because you continue to deny the reality of the world you're in. Do you love your wife so much, so completely, that you would exchange places with her upon the wheel? And I don't mean dying, because dying is easy.

Counselor:
Yes! Yes, damn you!

Jefe:
Well, that is good to hear, Counselor.

Counselor:
What are you saying? Are you saying this is a possibility?

Jefe:
No. It's impossible.

Counselor:
You said I was that man - at that crossing.

Jefe:
Yes. At the understanding that life is not going to take you back. You are the world you have created. And when you cease to exist, this world that you have created will also cease to exist. But for those with the understanding that they're living the last days of the world, death acquires a different meaning. The extinction of all reality is a concept no resignation can encompass. And then, all the grand designs and all the grand plans will be finally exposed and revealed for what they are. And now, Counselor, I have to go, because I have to make other calls. If I have time, I think I'll take a small nap. [hangs up]

[last lines]

Malkina:
To see quarry, killed with elegance, it's just moving to me.

Banker:
Is it sexual?

Malkina:
Yes, of course. A thing like that is always sexual. The hunter has grace, beauty, and purity of heart to be found nowhere else. You can make no distinction between what they are and what they do. And what they do is kill. We, of course, are another matter. It is our faintness of heart that has driven us to the edge of ruin. Perhaps you won't agree, but nothing is crueler than a coward. And the slaughter to come is probably beyond our imagining.

Banker:
I think you've told me more than I wish to know.

Malkina:
Then I'll say no more. Shall we think about ordering? I'm famished.

Counselor:
Life is being in bed with you. Everything else is just waiting.

The man who is in a pool room talking to the counselor (at 1:
51:48): When it comes to grief, the normal rules of 'inaudible' do not apply. Because grief transcends value. A man would give entire nations to lift grief off his heart and yet, you cannot buy anything with grief, because grief is worthless.

Jefe:
When it comes to grief, the normal rules of wealth do not apply. Because grief transcends value. A man would give entire nations to lift grief off his heart and yet, you cannot buy anything with grief, because grief is worthless.