The Sopranos (TV Series)
Calling All Cars (2002)
Lorraine Bracco: Dr. Jennifer Melfi
Photos
Quotes
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Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : You know, there's this Russian woman. She told me something that's very true. She said, only here, in America, do we expect to be happy. I mean this woman, she had a terrible leg disease since she was 9. She was dirt poor. She's getting on with her life. I mean, over here, we come and we bitch to shrinks. I mean, what the fuck?
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Well, part of that may be true. But, who said that after getting out of the dirt and the poverty, do we have to stop looking for pain and truth?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Pain and truth? Come on, I'm a fat fucking crook from New Jersey.
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Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : [referring to Svetlana] I broke a woman's heart, I told her, I couldn't see her no more. It's sad but there's no getting around it
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Who is she?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : She takes care of my uncle, runs an elder care agency. She took care of my mother too
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Your former girlfriend's cousin?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : That one, yeah
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [referring to a mistress] Is she your current comare?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : No, it was a brief fling kind of thing. You know, after a while, I felt like I had to cut off her legs ..not "legs", the affair, did I say "legs"?
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Why did you cut it off?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Jesus, I am married
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : what happened?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : I bought her this diamond pin when I'm "easing out the door", I'm such a fuckin prick. You know what? This is all bullshit, it was "she" that gave me my "walking papers", you believe that?
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : what I meant was...
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : [interrupts her] You know why she doesn't wanna see me anymore? She said I was "high maintenance" and this after all the time, and all the money, and all the fuckin Prozac, and all the cock suckin mother fuckin dream interpretations and she said she didn't wanna "prop" me up and this is from a broad that walks around on crutches half the time... nice huh?
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : do you agree with her characterization of you?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : I'm a miserable prick, I said it from day one
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : And you're no longer interested in changing? In finding a "way out"?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : [after thinking it over] No, I guess not. I said this last time, you just didn't wanna hear it
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : You're paying me for my honest opinion, you should be in therapy
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : All this fuckin self-knowledge, what the fuck has it got me? Ok, maybe it got me some shit in the beginning, some leadership strategies, what we do now is that we sit around half the time "shooting the breeze" about philosophy, the Italians, my uncle Ercole
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : I try to keep the focus on the work
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : So, when it goes off, it's my fault, ok, fine I accept that. You know what she says? This broad? She's from Russia, she was dirt poor, she had some kind of Osteosarcoma disease in her leg when she was nine. She says that nowhere else in the world that people expect to be happy except here in this country and still we're not and we got everything and when we don't, what do we do? We go to shrinks, for what, six, seven bucks a minute?
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : There's some "truth" to what she says but should that be a source of shame? That when the desperate struggle for food and shelter is finally behind us? We can turn our attention to other sources of pain and truth?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Pain and truth? Come on, I'm a fat fuckin crook from New Jersey
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Now that the panic attacks and baseline depression have been dealt with, the real work can begin
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : See, I knew you'd say something like that
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Because it's true, when we're constantly not having to put out "fires", we can delve into who you are and what you're really after in your very brief time on this earth
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : [shakes his head] I'm sorry, I don't wanna do this anymore and you can say that I'm running away, but I've been here longer than I thought I'd stay, longer than anybody thought I'd stay and you know what? I get no appreciation for it
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : You've shown a lot of courage, I commend you on that
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Well, thank for you commendation. Look, no fault, no foul, I appreciate everything you've done for me
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Come to your next appointment, one more time
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Look, you saved my life in the beginning and for all the times, I came on like an asshole, I'm very sorry
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [nods] You've got my number if you change your mind and if you begin to feel any of the old feelings, you need to call me
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : [referring on how to say goodbye] So, what's "customary?" Shake hands?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : [jokingly, before kissing her on the cheek] How about a diamond pin?
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Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Last week we talked about you feeling like the "sad clown"
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : [Remains silent, takes a deep sigh]
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : What's going on now?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Well, I had a dream the other night. I was riding in a Cadillac like my father used to have. Carmella was driving. I was in the back passenger seat. Sitting next to me was Gloria. Sitting in front of me next to Carmella was a business associate of mine. His the one whose son had the accident. I don't know where we were going, no place. We didn't seem to be going anywhere, kind of like this therapy. And it was hot in the car: it was stuffy. There was no air conditioning and that's all of it. Oh and my friend had a caterpillar on his head and turned into a butterfly
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Has your friend recently changed?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Not "friend", business associate, and no
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : What'd you think the dream means?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Can't you just fuckin what the fuckin dream means? I mean you obviously know. Why do we have to go through this exercise every time?
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : I don't obviously know. I didn't have the dream. The meaning is illicit, it's re-verbalization
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : [Remains silent, waiting for her to explain his dream]
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : OK your wife,your mistress, a business associate, you, all in the same car? Your father's car
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : With my wife driving, which if my father were alive he wouldn't have stood for it for two fuckin seconds
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : I hear anger
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : No, I'm just saying the old guys were different: men in the front, wives in the back
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : You like that arrangement
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : [Jokingly] actually I think the wife should ride in a little cart behind the car like in the cartoons. Like behind Noah's ark there's a little boat with skunks
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : So, wives are skunks?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Oh Jesus fuckin Christ, it's a fuckin joke, does it have to be fuckin cancer hospital in here?
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : But Carmella is in control in the dream
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Why? Because she's driving?
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Whatever is going on with the other two, you want to square it with Carmella?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Why?
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : That's what we need to find out. Freud said dreams are wishes
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Dreams are wishes? I thought you said dreams represent "repressed urges"
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : It depends
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : You know I ought to quit this therapy. Maybe it's this, maybe it's that. What about impulse control? I've been sitting in this chair for four fuckin years and still nothing's been done about that, and it leads me to make mistakes in my work. What good did you do about that?
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Let's get back to the dream
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Oh fuck the dream, it's just a dream. Jesus Christ the money I've been dropping in here I could've bought a Ferrari. At least I would've got a blow job out of that
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : What'd you mean?
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Please huh? Don't get me started
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : I think your glossing over the significant accomplishments we've made in here
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : [sarcastically, recalling her diagnosis] "oh my mother would cum if she looked at a pot roast", oh your second in the birthing order", oh Carmella's driving the car", "oh how fuckin interesting"
Dr. Jennifer Melfi : When you first came here you were clinically depressed. You suffered from panic attacks that put your life in danger. There's been significance relief in both those areas
Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Yeah but come on, I've coming here for four years now. I've been a good sport
