A Girl Thing (2001 TV Movie)

Stockard Channing: Dr. Beth Noonan

Photos 

Quotes 

• Gary Tucker : I don't know why I had sex with Tipper Gore.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Gary, you dream about having sex with everyone. It's why you're here. It's one of your problems. Why should it be so strange to dream about Tipper Gore?

  Gary Tucker : Well, I'd like to think I had some standards.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Tipper Gore is a very attractive woman.

  Gary Tucker : She's not my type.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Oh. So being a sex addict does not preclude being sexually discriminating?

  Gary Tucker : No, er... yes, absolutely. I mean, when I see people on the street, I only undress those that I find attractive. Now granted, on a street of fifty we're talking maybe thirty-five, but I'm working on that. I just can't help it... I... I don't know why I love sex. I love genitalia. I especially love genitalia, and the tongue. The tongue... hoo, what can you say about that? It's miraculous. It's God's greatest contribution to mankind, if you ask me.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Gary, do you think, maybe just part of the day, you could think about other things?

  Gary Tucker : I do. Breasts. And that... that fold of skin at the top of the thigh.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : That's not what I meant.

  Gary Tucker : Well, I know, I know. I just can't help it, I jus... that's why I'm thin - I forget to eat. I jus... I would like to feel bad about it, but I can't. Sex is good. Even with myself. Do you masturbate, Dr. Noonan?

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Ab... ab... uh-uh.

  Gary Tucker : I'm sorry, I get carried away.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Gary, do you think, maybe, for just twenty-four hours you could not have sex? Could you do that?

  Gary Tucker : No.

  [session ends, he leaves] 

  Dr. Beth Noonan : [into tape recorder]  Gary Tucker... I don't know what to say.

• Dr. Beth Noonan : Helen McCormack. Helen came here as angry as anyone I've ever seen. Turns out what she needed was what everybody needs. To feel she belongs somewhere in the world. I guess there are such things as happy endings. If you just stand still long enough to let them happen. Case closed.

• Dr. Beth Noonan : Have a good life, Helen.

  Helen McCormack : Oh, I'll do my damndest.

• Dr. Beth Noonan : Nia Morgan. Nia disolved a marriage of eleven years because of infidelity, no betrayal. She took matters into her own hands and thought she would gain power in an otherwise powerless situation. Unfortunately, a hollow victory. Now the real work begins. Her heart, though bruised, will heal. Unfortunately, the greater the pain the harder the recovery.

• Dr. Beth Noonan : Today I was reminded of why I became a doctor in the first place. It's fascinating to realize how fragile we human beings really are. When you think you're about to die an interesting thing happens. You slowly scan how you have lived or not lived your life. Something we should all do without having a gun pointed to our heads. To live as if we were about to die. To die as we would want to live.

• Dr. Beth Noonan : I always tell my patients to live in the moment because it's all we have. But sometimes the moment is go goddamn irritation that it's hard to do but forge on we do. Tomorrow is another day and then there are a million after that and maybe, just maybe, we do a little bit better as we move through this thing we call life. And the consolation is we know we're not alone. All doing it together. One step forward, two steps back; one step forward, two steps back.

• Gary Tucker : I don't know why I had sex with Tipper Gore.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Gary, you dream about having sex with everyone. It's why you're here. It's one of your problems. Why should it be so strange to dream about Tipper Gore?

  Gary Tucker : Well, I'd like to think I had some standards.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Tipper Gore is a very attractive woman.

  Gary Tucker : She's not my type.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Oh. So being a sex addict does not preclude being sexually discriminating?

  Gary Tucker : No, er... yes, absolutely. I mean, when I see people on the street, I only undress those that I find attractive. Now granted, on a street of fifty we're talking maybe thirty-five, but I'm working on that. I just can't help it... I... I don't know why I love sex. I love genitalia. I especially love genitalia, and the tongue. The tongue... hoo, what can you say about that? It's miraculous. It's God's greatest contribution to mankind, if you ask me.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Gary, do you think, maybe just part of the day, you could think about other things?

  Gary Tucker : I do. Breasts. And that... that fold of skin at the top of the thigh.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : That's not what I meant.

  Gary Tucker : Well, I know, I know. I just can't help it, I jus... that's why I'm thin - I forget to eat. I jus... I would like to feel bad about it, but I can't. Sex is good. Even with myself. Do you masturbate, Dr. Noonan?

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Ab... ab... uh-uh.

  Gary Tucker : I'm sorry, I get carried away.

  Dr. Beth Noonan : Gary, do you think, maybe, for just twenty-four hours you could not have sex? Could you do that?

  Gary Tucker : No.

  [Session ends. He leaves] 

  Dr. Beth Noonan : [Into tape recorder]  Gary Tucker... I don't know what to say.

• Dr. Beth Noonan : Lauren Travis. Lauren experienced something joyous but then had it turned into something dirty with the judgement of the outside world and by her own judgement of herself. She stopped the experience out of fear and insecurity, an insecurity she felt her whole life just like the rest of us. But for one brief moment she lived and hopefully there's no going back now.