Beginners (2010)

Christopher Plummer: Hal

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Hal : Well, let's say...

  Oliver : Arthur, down!

  Hal : ...let's say since you were little, and... and you... you always dreamed of... of someday getting a lion, and you wait and you wait and you wait and you wait, and the lion doesn't come. Then along comes a giraffe. You can be alone, or you can be with the giraffe.

  Oliver : I'd wait for the lion.

  Hal : That's why I worry about you.

• Hal : I don't want to be just theoretically gay. I want to do something about it.

• Oliver : Why are you telling them you're turning the corner?

  Hal : Well, uh...

  Oliver : You, you have stage four cancer.

  Hal : It's not as bad as it sounds.

  Oliver : Pop - there is no stage five.

  Hal : [chuckles]  That's not what it means.

  Oliver : Well, then what does it mean?

  Hal : It just means that it's been through three other stages.

• Oliver : You re-wrote Jesus's death?

  Hal : Ah, it was far too violent. We need new stories.

• Oliver : [voiceover]  Six months later, my father told me he was gay. He had just turned 75.

  Hal : I'm gay.

  Oliver : [voiceover]  I always remember him wearing a purple sweater when he told me this, but actually he wore a robe.

• Oliver : And what about the chair? Is it gay?

  Hal : The chair is not gay, obviously.

• Oliver : What did you do with my father? He was so polite.

  Hal : Well, I invited him but he never returns my calls.

• ICU Nurse #1 : Drinking is not allowed in the room.

  [Everybody expresses dissatisfaction] 

  Hal : Oh, it's not?

  [Someone says sorry] 

  Hal : No, no, no... no, no. She's a wonderful nurse. Here's to health care.

  [Everybody laughs loudly] 

• Oliver : [returning from Andy]  I couldn't tell him.

  Hal : That's okay.

  Oliver : No, it's not. You can't hide this from him. He loves you.

  Hal : For someone with so much relationship advice, you seem awfully alone.