Original artwork, not a still
I don't drink anymore... I don't drink any less, either!
— While You Were Sleeping • 1995
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The line is Elsie's whole character in a breath: a sweet, slightly dotty grandmother who wraps a confession in a gag so lightly that nobody can object. It gets its laugh by sounding like a pledge and ending as a boast. Fans quote it at parties, whenever someone claims to have given something up and clearly has not.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for While You Were SleepingShow the scene
In While You Were Sleeping (1995), Chicago transit worker Lucy has been mistaken for the fiancée of the comatose Peter Callaghan and taken in by his noisy family. At the family's Christmas gathering, eggnog is being handed round and one relative has just warned that sodas are the safer choice. The family's grandmother Elsie, played by Glynis Johns, answers with a shrug of a joke: she no longer drinks, and she does not drink any less either. Photographs round the tree and a heap of presents follow in the same scene.
Sources (2)
- While You Were Sleeping transcript (Springfield! Springfield!)Christmas gathering at the Callaghans' houseReference checked
- Wikipedia: While You Were Sleeping (film)Plot and CastReference checked
Context reviewed
