Life Is Beautiful (1997)
Horst Buchholz: Dottor Lessing
Quotes
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Guido : Dr. Lessing!
Dr. Lessing : Hello!
[notices the flowers]
Dr. Lessing : What are the flowers for?
Guido : [thinks fast] Ah... for your departure!
[hands him the flowers]
Dr. Lessing : Thank you!
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Dr. Lessing : I have something important to tell you. Wait for my signal.
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Dr. Lessing : [softly reciting riddle at Nazi concentration camp officers' mess] Fat, fat, ugly, ugly, all yellow in reality. If you ask me what I am, I reply "Quark quark quark".
[looks around surreptitiously]
Dr. Lessing : Walking along, I go "Por-por". Who am I? Tell me true.
Guido : [looks at Doctor Lessing in stunned silence]
Dr. Lessing : [smiles] Hmphh... a duckling, no?
Guido : [nods silently, still flabbergasted]
Dr. Lessing : Is it not a duckling?
[angrily]
Dr. Lessing : It's not! A veterinarian friend of mine sent it to me from Vienna. I can't send him mine, until I solve this one. I thought: Duck-billed platypus. But it doesn't go "Quark quark quark quark". A duck-billed platypus goes...
[pulls at corners of mouth with fingers, making a blowing sound]
Dr. Lessing : "Ffrrr ffrrr-ffrrr ffrrr-ffrrr". Duck-billed platypus...
[steps forward and whispers into Guido's ear]
Dr. Lessing : I translated it into Italian for you last night. Well, what do you say? Everything points to a duckling!
[assumes tragic tone and expression]
Dr. Lessing : Help me, Guido. For heaven's sake, help me. I can't even sleep.
[turns to side counter, talking to self]
Dr. Lessing : Fat, fat... ugly, ugly... that's me... quark quark quark... It's the duckling!
[wails and thumps side counter in frustration]
Guido : [slowly and silently walks away, crestfallen at Doctor Lessing's callous, comic-tragic behavior]