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The Proposal · 2009 — Chapter 14 of 14 · 2'52" · B1

Andrew Proposes to Margaret, Explained: dawned on me

It looks like a man racing in to stop a woman from leaving the country. Under the joke — he loathed her three days ago, he says — there's a plain confession: "the woman I love is about to be kicked out of the country." He proposes; she tries to talk him out of it.

What happens

Margaret is packing up her office, ready to leave New York, when Andrew bursts in, out of breath from the trip back from Alaska. He tells her he has to say something, walking her through how his feelings changed, then asks her to marry him. She tells him he doesn't really want her and that she is fine on her own.

ProposalsConfessing feelingsConfessing loveSaying noCoupleB1mediumamericanClean
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Listen for

dawned on mechecked me outloathetake a sec

00:00 / 02:52
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  18. ❝ MonologueFrom loathing to the second proposal16 linesPractice page ↗
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Phrase of the scene

dawned on me

suddenly became clear to me

安德鲁在办公室里告白，说直到独自站在空荡荡的谷仓里，才突然意识到自己爱的女人即将被赶出这个国家。

It dawned on me that I had left my keys in the car.

Also in this scene

  • checked me out

    looked at someone with attraction or interest

  • loathe

    to hate intensely

  • take a sec

    to take a very short amount of time

Everything marked in this scene

24 notes across 41 lines

Phrase · A2send somethingI need for you to send the boxes in my office to to this address, please.
Phrase · A2have time to do somethingYeah, well, I don't have time to talk.
Phrase · A2go out todayMargaret, I need the boxes to go out today.
Phrase · B1make sure something is ...I want to make sure everything is...
Phrase · A2stop doing somethingMargaret. Stop talking.
Phrase · B1gotta do somethingGotta say something.
Slang · A2GottaGotta say something.
Phrase · B1take a sec

to take a very short amount of time

Andrew buys himself a moment to speak by claiming it will only take a second.

OK. This will just take a sec.
Phrase · C1loathe someoneThree days ago, I loathed you.
Phrase · B2get hit by somethingI used to dream about you getting hit by a cab. Or poisoned.
Phrase · B1things start to changeThen we had our little adventure up in Alaska, and things started to change.
Phrase · B2check someone out

looked at someone with attraction or interest

Even when you checked me out when we were naked.
Soundchecked me

elision

Even when you checked me out when we were naked.
Grammar · B2until I was standing alone

not-until

But I didn't realize any of this until I was standing alone in a barn, wifeless.
Phrase · B2dawn on someone

suddenly became clear to me

Now you can imagine my disappointment when it suddenly dawned on me...
Phrase · B2be about to be kicked outthat the woman I love is about to be kicked out of the country.
Grammar · B2the woman I love is about to be kicked out

be about to

that the woman I love is about to be kicked out of the country.
Soundabout to

flap

that the woman I love is about to be kicked out of the country.
Soundkicked out

liaison

that the woman I love is about to be kicked out of the country.
Phrase · A2would like to date someoneBecause I'd like to date you.
Phrase · B1alone all this timeSee, the thing is there is a reason why I've been alone all this time.
Phrase · B1comfortable that wayI'm comfortable that way.
Phrase · B1a lot easierAnd I think it would just be a lot easier if we forgot everything that happened and I just left.
Grammar · C1it would just be a lot easier if we forgot

unreal conditional

And I think it would just be a lot easier if we forgot everything that happened and I just left.

Andrew Proposes to Margaret, explained

What's really going on

Andrew's speech is built like a legal argument, which is the joke: he lists evidence — a kiss, a tattoo, a look in a bathroom — and only then reaches the point, that the woman he loves is being deported. The line "Because I'd like to date you" is the real tell. After a week of pretending to be engaged, the proposal is technically still about the marriage of convenience, but he has stopped pretending. Margaret's answer is the harder one. She has spent the whole film keeping people at arm's length, and she does it here with a softer weapon: "Trust me. You don't really want to be with me." She is not rejecting him so much as protecting him from herself. He agrees that leaving would be easier — which, for once, is not the end of the argument.

Theme

RomanceAfter a week of faking an engagement, the real proposal arrives and the question becomes whether either of them can admit what they actually want.
LonelinessMargaret defends her choice to stay alone and says she is comfortable that way, even as she pushes away the one person offering to stay.

What you'll learn

  • Use about to for something that is imminent.
  • Use dawn on me for a sudden realization.
  • Recognize used to dream about for past habits.
  • Use take a sec to promise a short wait.
  • Use the thing is to introduce a reason.

Listen for

  • checked me — elision
  • about to — flap
  • kicked out — liaison
Because I'd like to date you.

The proposal's punchline. Instead of grand promises, he reduces marriage to its smallest honest next step: he wants to date her. It sounds like a joke and lands as the most sincere line in the scene.

And I think it would just be a lot easier if we forgot everything that happened and I just left.

Her way of saying no without saying it. Framing the breakup as a kindness to him lets her end things while keeping her distance, which is exactly the habit the film is about.

Trust me. You don't really want to be with me.

The line that gives her away. It sounds like a warning about him, but it is really an admission about herself, and it invites him to agree rather than argue.

But I didn't realize any of this until I was standing alone in a barn, wifeless.

The turning point in his speech. Only when the fake wedding collapses and he is left alone does he understand what he has been feeling, and the word 'wifeless' makes the loss sound real.

Questions about this scene

Did Andrew mean the proposal, or was it another part of the plan?

He means it. The immigration fraud is over by this point, so marrying her only puts him in trouble. He proposes because he wants to, and admits as much with the line, "Because I'd like to date you."

Why does Margaret say he doesn't really want to be with her?

She assumes anyone who sees the real her would leave. She has spent the film alone by choice and calls herself comfortable that way, so pushing him away is less about him than about protecting the life she knows.

Does Andrew accept her answer?

"You're right," he says. "That would be easier." He agrees instead of arguing, which is why the moment still works as a romantic ending: he is not fighting her, he is waiting for her.

Why is Andrew out of breath?

He has rushed straight from Alaska to catch her before she leaves the office. The detail shows how urgently he wanted to reach her, since she was already packing her things to go.

The Proposal · 14 chapters

All chapters →
Chapter 1let someone goMargaret Fires BobChapter 2turn operations over toMargaret Announces a Fake EngagementChapter 3out of your hairMargaret Fakes a Marriage InterviewChapter 4with cherries on topAndrew Makes Margaret ProposeChapter 5a meal ticketMargaret Meets the Paxton FamilyChapter 6pulling your legAndrew Brings Margaret Home to SitkaChapter 7from the ground upAndrew Turns Down the Family BusinessChapter 8called it offMargaret Meets Andrew's ExChapter 9take this the wrong wayMargaret and Andrew Trade SecretsChapter 10a shamThe Paxtons Plan a Barn WeddingChapter 11burst into tearsAnnie Gives Margaret the Heirloom DressChapter 12off the hookThe Sham Marriage ExposedChapter 13get my head on straightMargaret Confesses at the WeddingWatching · Chapter 14dawned on meAndrew Proposes to Margaret
That's all 14 chapters of this film