1883 (TV Mini Series)

The Crossing (2022)

Isabel May: Elsa Dutton

Photos 

Quotes 

• Alina : There is pants. Should fit you. Too small for him. You have skinny hips.

  Elsa Dutton : [flattered]  Oh, think so?

  Alina : I know. I looking at you. When you have baby, its head come out looking like eggplant.

  Elsa Dutton : What's eggplant?

  [Alina wryly chuckles as she turns and walks away] 

• Elsa Dutton : It seems the further we get from civilization, the more of its rules we leave behind.

• Alina : Let's talk trade.

  Elsa Dutton : What do you want?

  Alina : What do you have?

  Elsa Dutton : What do you need?

  Alina : We need everything.

  Elsa Dutton : [pulls a charm off her bracelet]  It's gold.

  Alina : What good is gold to me out here?

  Elsa Dutton : If everything is what you need, gold can buy it.

  Alina : [sarcastically]  Oh. I just walk over to store then.

  Elsa Dutton : There's stores in Abilene.

  Alina : [skeptical]  Why you have gold?

  Elsa Dutton : [defensively]  Why I have it is none of your business.

  Alina : [turns to leave]  Then you stole it and we have no trade.

  Elsa Dutton : [grabs Alina by the elbow]  Wait. My father made jewelry of his money to hide it. He hid some on me.

  Alina : Not yours to hide anymore. I get you pants.

• Ennis : [as Elsa sings to the herd, doffs his hat and kisses her]  Guess I'm the one being forward now.

  Ennis : [stutters]  I... I'm... I'm sorry, I probably should...

  Elsa Dutton : [exhilarated, smiling]  Do it again.

  [James watches the two until they stop then look in his direction, he then canters up] 

  Ennis : You gonna shoot me?

  James Dutton : [deadpan]  Thinking about it.

  James Dutton : [to Elsa]  We're moving the wagon across the river.

  Elsa Dutton : When?

  James Dutton : Now.

  Elsa Dutton : I should stay with the herd. It takes three to move it.

  James Dutton : Herd ain't going nowhere with you two swapping supper. You got a job to do. Y'all do it.

  Elsa Dutton : Yessir.

  Elsa Dutton : [James reins and rides off]  Daddy.

  Elsa Dutton : [reins, clicks tongue, rides to her father who's waiting]  You mad?

  James Dutton : You like him?

  Elsa Dutton : [hesitant]  I do.

  James Dutton : Then why would I be mad? I can't treat you like an adult when it suits me and a child when I'm worried. You're one or the other. Your mother is gonna be a different story.

  Elsa Dutton : [concerned]  You gonna tell her?

  James Dutton : [metaphorically washing his hands]  Hell, no. I ain't gonna tell her. You're gonna tell her. Y'all hold the herd till every wagon is across that river.

  Elsa Dutton : Yessir.

  [reins, clicks tongue, returns to the herd] 

  Elsa Dutton : [James sighs, click his tongue, rides away from herd] 

  Ennis : He ain't gonna shoot me?

  Elsa Dutton : [mockingly]  No, he said I could shoot you. If you act up.

  Ennis : Well, acting up is my only skill.

  Elsa Dutton : No, it ain't... do it again.

  [chuckles] 

  Ennis : [doffs both hats playfully]  Come here.

• Elsa Dutton : [internal monologue]  This place seems confused by the rules of night and day.Or perhaps it simply ignores them, refusing to cool when the sun fades. It's as if God has not yet decided what this place should become. Will it be desert? Will it be prairie?

  Elsa Dutton : [gently picks up a Texas horned lizard, holds the horned lizard in both hands and examines the lizard]  Every living thing is armed with thorns and horns and fangs as the land wages war on itself, seeking the answer... I knew that war. That war between what you should become, and what you could become. I looked at this place and saw my unfinished soul. I looked at this place and knew, for me that war was over. I know what I am now. I'm a cowboy.

  Elsa Dutton : [returning to camp]  It seems the farther we get from civilization, the more of its rules we leave behind. Its traditions. Its inhibitions... The farther west we travel, the more those rules and customs become a burden.

  [watches intently as an immigrant woman, wearing pants, rides by] 

  Elsa Dutton : [awakens, eventually rises] 

  [...] 

  Elsa Dutton : There are few things that focus one solely on the present. Terror is one. Grief another. But nothing washes the world away like the lips of another. Seems an odd custom, strangers putting their mouths together and exploring each other with their tongues. When you think about it, kissing makes no sense at all.

  Elsa Dutton : [...]  What a silly thing, kissing. What a pointless, purposeless thing. And I couldn't wait for another.

  Elsa Dutton : [...]  I had abandoned every memory of Tennessee, as though I was born on this journey. But I wasn't... we were leaving a place and seeking another. And the journey was the necessary, miserable road between the two. Somehow, I felt immune to the dangers of this place. As if the land and I had struck a deal. I could pass unharmed so long as I loved it. And I did. I loved everything about it. But crossing the Brazos taught me there was no deal. No matter how much we love it, the land will never love us back.