Matilda (1996)
Embeth Davidtz: Miss Honey
Photos
Quotes
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Matilda : Why don't you run away?
Jenny : I've often thought about it, but... I can't abandon my children. And if I couldn't teach, I'd have nothing at all.
Matilda : You're very brave, Miss Honey.
Jenny : Not as brave as you.
Matilda : I thought grown-ups weren't afraid of anything.
Jenny : Quite the contrary. All grown-ups get scared, just like children.
Matilda : I wonder what Miss Trunchbull is afraid of.
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Matilda : I love it here! I love my school... it isn't fair! Miss Honey, please don't let them...
Harry Wormwood : [interrupting] Get in the car, Melinda!
Matilda : Matilda!
Harry Wormwood : Whatever.
Matilda : I want to stay with Miss Honey.
Zinnia Wormwood : Miss Honey doesn't want you. Why would she want some snotty, disobedient kid?
Jenny : Because she's a spectacularly wonderful child and I love her.
Matilda : Adopt me, Miss Honey! You can adopt me.
Harry Wormwood : Look, I don't have time for all these legalities!
Matilda : One second, Dad. I have the adoption papers.
Zinnia Wormwood : What? Where did you get those?
Matilda : From a book in the library. I've had them since I was big enough to Xerox.
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[Miss Trunchbull has accused Matilda of going into her house]
Jenny : Miss Trunchbull, I was the one who was at your house last night, and I think...
Agatha Trunchbull : [grabbing and clenching Miss Honey's wrist very tightly in her fist] I broke your arm once before; I can do it again, Jenny.
Jenny : [suddenly mad, she briskly releases her arm from Miss Trunchbull's grip with her free hand] I am *not* seven years old anymore, Aunt Trunchbull!
[the class gasps]
Agatha Trunchbull : Shut your mouths!
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Zinnia Wormwood : Look, Miss Snit, a girl does not get anywhere by acting intelligent! I mean, take a look at you and me. You chose books - I chose looks. I have a nice house, a wonderful husband... and you are slaving away teaching snot-nosed children their ABCs. You want Matilda to go to college? Ha, ha, ha, ha...
Harry Wormwood : College?
[scoffs]
Harry Wormwood : I didn't go to college. I don't know anybody who did. Bunch of hippies and cesspool salesmen, ha ha ha ha...
Jenny : [insulted] Don't sneer at educated people, Mr. Wormwood. If you became ill, heaven forbid, your doctor would be a college graduate.
Harry Wormwood : Yeah...
Jenny : Or - or say you were sued for selling a faulty car. The lawyer who defended you would have gone to college, too.
Harry Wormwood : What car? Sued by who? Who you been talking to?
Jenny : N-nobody.
[sighs]
Jenny : I can see we're not going to agree, are we?
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Miss Honey : [looking at a portrait of her father] He'd call me bumblebee.
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Agatha Trunchbull : The distance the shotput goes, depends upon the effort that you PUT INTO IT. PERSPERATION! If you can't handle the little brat, I'LL LOCK HER IN THE CHOKEY!
[she lunges the ball at the door, ultimately puncturing it immensely]
Agatha Trunchbull : Get it?
Jenny : [nods] Yes, ma'am.
Agatha Trunchbull : One day Jen, you'll see that everything I do is for your own good. And for the good of those - PUTRESCENT LITTLE CHILDREN!
[she shoves Jenny out of her office and slams the door after her]
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Miss Honey : When I left my home, Aunt Trunchbull's home, I had to leave all my treasures behind.
Matilda : Treasures?
Miss Honey : Photographs of my mother and father, and a beautiful doll my mother gave me with a china face. Lissy Doll, I called her. Would you like some milk?
Matilda : Yes, please. Why don't you run away?
Miss Honey : I've often thought about it, but I can't abandon my children. And if I couldn't teach, I'd have nothing at all.
Matilda : You're very brave, Miss Honey.
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[Matilda and Miss Honey arrive at Miss Honey's cottage]
Matilda : This is the cottage from your story.
Miss Honey : Yes.
Matilda : The young woman is you.
Miss Honey : Yes.
Matilda : But then...
[realizes the Trunchbull is Miss Honey's aunt]
Matilda : NO.
Miss Honey : Yes. Aunt Trunchbull.
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[Matilda and Miss Honey walk past the Trunchbull's house]
Miss Honey : That's where Ms. Trunchbull lives.
Matilda : Why is there a swing?
Miss Honey : A girl I know used to live in that house.
[cut to a series of flashbacks]
Miss Honey : Her life was good and happy. When she was just two years old, her mother died. Her father was a doctor, and he needed someone to look after things at home. So he invited the mother's stepsister to come and live with him. But the girl's aunt was a mean person, who treated the girl very badly.
Matilda : The Trunchbull.
Miss Honey : Yes. And worst of all, when the girl was five, her father died.
Matilda : How did her father die?
Miss Honey : The police decided he killed himself.
Matilda : Why would he do such a thing?
Miss Honey : No one knows.
[cut back to present]
Miss Honey : The end is happier. She found a small cottage. She rented it from this lovely rhubarb farmer for just $50 a month, and she covered it in honeysuckle, and she planted hundreds of wildflowers, and she moved out of her wicked aunt's house, and she finally got her freedom.
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Trunchbull : [points at her] YOU!
Matilda : It didn't move!
Trunchbull : [comes up to her and Matilda stands up] You did this!
Miss Honey : How could she possibly have done it when she was sitting way over here?
Trunchbull : [looks at Miss Honey and warning the children they were watching us] I'll be watching you, each and every one. When you turn the corner, when you go to your cubbies to get your smelly coats, when you skip merrily to lunch, I'll be watching you, all of you, and especially you.
