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We may be through with the past...

Posted by GPP on September 15, 2003

In Reply to: We may be through with the past... posted by ESC on September 15, 2003

: : Help! In the movie Magnolia, there is a line that says "And the book says, 'We may be through with the past, but the past isn't through with us.'" Which book? Does anyone have any idea where this phrase might have come from? Please post or email me. Thanks!

: I checked a couple of quote books. No luck yet.

Me too. Google returns gobs of hits for the quote, but they're all from the movie, or rip-offs from it. However, one reviewer says:
"Putting posey lines like "the book says, we may be through with the past, but the past isn't through with us" repeatedly through the movie is a naked attempt to sound important and really offers nothing to the movie (though some people like it when a great movie announces that it's a great movie. Less work for them)." This reviewer leaves the impression it was simply made up by the screenwriter/director/producer Paul Thomas Anderson.

The quote itself is an obvious ripoff from William Faulkner's "The past isn't dead; it isn't even past."

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