Louise Lasser: Mary Hartman

Quotes 

• Lt. Trask : I know that this has been a very trying time. It really must have been a nightmare for you.

  Mary Hartman : No, not really. It was more like a bad dream. You see, I've never really had an experience like this. One of the strangest things about it was that while I was in there with Davey, I kept having this sense that this was one of the high points of my life. See, I read a book once called "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder. And there's this girl in it, Emily, and she lives in a town, and it's like ours, only she dies. And then they bring her back to life for one day. And she comes back, and she sees her life, and she sees her ordinary life, and she sees how special her ordinary life is. And she says - quote - Does anybody ever really realize life while they're living it? - unquote. It was during this experience that I understood that phrase.

• Mary Hartman : What is there to say? My marriage is wrecked. I've really tried to make this a good marriage, Tom. I really have. I mean, when I think of all the magazine articles that I've read over the years on love and marriage. And when I think of all the documentaries that I've watched on television about the family. And I think of the constant searching I have done to make things better, the new cooking recipes, the floor polishes, the depilatories. All just to make ours an ideal marriage. That's what I've tried for, but I've failed. I'm a failure.

• Mary Hartman : This is no time to talk. I'm too tired. Being held hostage by a mass murderer is very hard work, you know. I mean, people get used to it, but it's the first time for me and I'm exhausted.