Ordinary People (1980)

Judd Hirsch: Doctor Berger

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Quotes 

• Conrad "Con" Jarrett : [Berger is pretending to be Buck, Con's older brother]  Bucky, I didn't mean it! Bucky, I didn't mean it!

  Dr. Berger : What?

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : I said put the sail down, but you said keep it starboard, and then we go over! And you say "Hang on, Hang on!", but then you let go! Why'd you let go?

  Dr. Berger : Because I was tired!

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : Oh yeah? Well, screw you, you jerk!

  Dr. Berger : [Back in reality]  It hurts to be mad at him, doesn't it?

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : God, I loved him. It's not fair. You just do one wrong thing, and...

  Dr. Berger : And what was the one wrong thing you did? You know. You know.

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : I hung on. I stayed with the boat.

  Dr. Berger : Exactly.

• Dr. Berger : Now you can live with that, can't you?

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : I'm so scared! I'm scared.

  Dr. Berger : Feelings are scary. And sometimes they're painful. And if you can't feel pain, then you're not going to feel anything else, either. You know what I'm saying?

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : I think so.

  Dr. Berger : You're here, and you're alive. And don't tell me you don't feel that.

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : It doesn't feel good.

  Dr. Berger : It is good, believe me.

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : How do you know?

  Dr. Berger : Because I'm your friend.

• Conrad "Con" Jarrett : When I let myself feel, all I feel is lousy.

  Dr. Berger : Oh well excuse me, I never promised you a rose garden.

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : Oh fuck you Berger.

  Dr. Berger : What?

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : FUCK YOU!

  Dr. Berger : Hey, that's it!

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : Geez! You're really weird huh, what do you feel huh? Do you jerk off, or jack off, or whatever you call it?

  Dr. Berger : What do you think?

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : What do I think? I think you're married to a fat lady and you go home and you fuck the living daylights out of her!

  Dr. Berger : Sounds good to me.

• Dr. Berger : A little advice about feelings kiddo; don't expect it always to tickle.

• Conrad "Con" Jarrett : [about Karen's suicide]  I feel bad about this! I feel really, really bad about this! Just let me feel bad about this!

  Dr. Berger : Okay. I feel bad about it, too.

• Dr. Berger : So what are you thinking now?

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : That I jack off a lot.

  Dr. Berger : So what else is new? Does it help?

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : For a minute.

• Conrad "Con" Jarrett : It's impossible after all the shit I've pulled.

  Dr. Berger : What shit have you pulled?

  [pause] 

  Dr. Berger : Hey, remember, I'm talking proportion here, now what shit?

  [pause] 

  Dr. Berger : C'mon, you must be able to come up with at least one example.

  [pause] 

  Dr. Berger : And don't give me, "I tried to kill myself." That's old turkey.

• Dr. Berger : So you felt great. You brought home a Christmas tree and everything was hunky dory. Okay?

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : You're the doctor.

  Dr. Berger : Listen, don't take refuge in one-liners like "you're the doctor". Okay? Because that pisses me off.

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : Okay.

• Dr. Berger : Maybe you were stronger. Did it ever occur to you that you might have been stronger?

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : [realizes the implications of what Dr. Berger just said to him] 

  Dr. Berger : How long are you going to punish yourself? When are you going to quit?

  Conrad "Con" Jarrett : Oh God, I'd like to quit...