The Juniper Tree (1990)

Björk: Margit

Photos 

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Margit : Where did she go?

  Mother : She became ashes and left with the wind.

  Margit : And her soul?

  Mother : Her soul... was tied with the heart of a bird.

  Margit : And the thread will hold forever?

  Mother : Until the bird's heart breaks.

• [last lines] 

  Margit : Once there were two children whose mother was a bird. They flew away with her to the land of the birds, but she sent them back among people to take care of their father. But when they returned from the land of the birds, their father had found a new wife and did not know them. She closed their father's eyes to them and filled his hearing with her voice. She sent her laughter over the mountains and he followed. The children called after him, but he did not know their voices. And so they stayed behind, and they knew what the birds know.

• Margit : [to Jónas, referring to her Mother]  She remembers how everything was. She was always telling me stories. Once there was a man who lived far away in the mountains.

  Mother : ...far away in the mountains. He was lonely because his wife was dead, and they had had no children. One day when he was out with the sheep, he heard weeping from behind a rock. He went to look and found a large bird with a broken wing. "Help me," she said, "and I will stay with you until I give you a son. But then I must leave you and continue on my journey." So, he took her home and nursed her. In time, her wing healed and she bore him a tiny, feathered son. "You helped me and I gave you a son. But you can see he has feathers and is more like me than you. The birds will tell him what he needs to know." Then she flew up and away, and her young son and with her, and they disappeared forever.

  [to Margit] 

  Mother : And now it's time for you to go to sleep.

• Margit : Once there was a boy whose mother was a bird. She loved him very much, but she could not stay among people, and one day, she returned to the land of the birds. The boy's father grew used to her being gone, but her little son wept so much that finally she heard him from far away and flew back to comfort him. "I will take you with me," she said, "and teach you what I know. But you cannot stay among the birds and must return to take care of your father." And when the boy came back from the land of the birds, his father did not know him. His skin had changed and become feathers, and his fingers had turned into wings. And he knew what the birds know.

• Jónas : I come here every day so she'll remember me.

  Margit : And if you didn't come, she would forget?

  Jónas : Yes.

• Margit : I don't want to see. Even if I could.

• Margit : [to mother]  This is Jónas.

  Margit : [to Jónas]  She can't speak. When people are dead they can't speak anymore.

• Jóhann : You know about the man who couldn't find his wife?

  Margit : No.

  Jóhann : Well, one day a farmer came home and his wife was nowhere to be found. So he called on Olaf the priest, who went to all the trolls of the hills, but also couldn't find the man's wife. Finally, he remembered one rock, far in the north, where two trolls were living. He went there and called them out. They came and had to admit that they had stolen the man's wife. They brought her out to show, but she was in a glass box, asleep as if she were dead. And there was nothing Olaf could do to bring her back, although he made the trolls promise to go back into the rock and never to take anyone else again.

• Margit : [a fly is buzzing around her]  Out from here, out from there. Out to take you anywhere. Into iron, into stone, out from here away, begone.

  [the buzzing stops] 

• Margit : What's it like being married?

  Katla : Do you have someone in mind?

  Margit : No, I just wanted to know.

  Katla : Are you sure you're not thinking of someone?

  Margit : No.

  Katla : When you know, then you'll know why I won't leave Jóhann. And you will know when you will find out.

• Margit : Jónas, Jónas.

  Jónas : What's the matter?

  Margit : I've seen my mother.

  Jónas : Where?

  Margit : By the sea, and on the heath. I couldn't remember before. But now I do.

  Jónas : What does she look like?

  Margit : She's very beautiful.

  Jónas : But how can she be here?

  Margit : Sometimes people return.

  Jónas : Is she a ghost?

  Margit : No, she came to take care of me.

• Jónas : You took two.

  Margit : I only knocked it with my hand.

  Margit : You have to pick a shell first.

  Jónas : Where are you and your sister from?

  Margit : It's not there anymore.

  Jónas : It disappeared?

  Margit : No. There aren't any people there anymore. They are all gone.

  Jónas : Will you ever go back?

  Margit : Katla says we'll stay here. That we are from here now.

  Jónas : But you can't change where you are from.

  Margit : But what if where you are from isn't there anymore?

  Jónas : Then you can be from here, but your sister can't be.

  Margit : Why not?

  Jónas : Because I'm from here and I don't want her to be.

  Margit : But she's my sister and she has to be from the same place as I am.

  Jónas : But I don't want her to be.

  Margit : But she has to be.

  Jónas : No, she can't be. I don't want her to be. No she can't be. I don't want her to be. She can't be. I don't want her to be. No. She can't be. I won't let her.

• Margit : Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth as in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those that trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation; and deliver us from evil. Amen.