One of Those People that Live in the World

Names aren't important, they're just nouns, "if's" the important word.

– Julie (Denise Maunder) fires back at Dorothy (Anne Batt) during group therapy, in part two

Mother, mother...which mother? Which mind?

– Julie (Denise Maunder) feels her mind and body splitting, in part one

Join a tennis club, go for walks. Plenty of exercise and you'll feel much better.

– Julie's doctor Jim McFarlane) offers his opinion on how to handle her "tension", in part one

Don't worry, it doesn't hurt. The only thing is it makes you forget things.

– A fellow psychiatric patient tries to cheer Julie up about having ECT (electroconvulsive therapy), in part two

I would like a job, please. I won't be very good at it, but I do want it.

– Julie (Denise Maunder) reveals her shattered self-esteem, when she applies for a library job in part one

I was married then. I believed in the image. The image became real enough. We were happy, he was my existence. I lived, I worked, I played my role well enough.

– Julie (Denise Maunder) clings onto a semblance of normality, in part one

She looks a bit catatonic to me.

– Nurse Lipsky (Janice Finn) observes a broken Julie, in part one

They shouldn't have brought me here when I was unconscious. Now who gave them the right to do that. I've studied law you see and I've been around the world five times, but I've never known a law that allows you to be put in an institution when you're unconscious.

– Dorothy (Anne Batt) remonstrates with her psychiatrist (Michael Haigh), in part two

We all sit here and if you've got a problem you say what it is and see if anyone can help you. Usually they can't.

– Pat (Janie McKechnie) sums up group therapy, in part two

The more I learn about this job the more confused I get.

– Head psychiatrist (Michael Haigh) on his job at the hospital, in part two

The National Film Unit capitalised on its 1972 success to turn out another statement on New Zealand's society. Auckland Star TV critic Barry Shaw described One of Those People Who Live In The World as "remarkable and significant" ... NFU producer/director/writer Paul Maunder ... attempted to show just what a mental breakdown is like through the eyes, mind and heart of its central female character.

– Robert Boyd-Bell in his 1985 book New Zealand Television: The First 25 Years, page 165

For me that was a period when television really worked in New Zealand: just that brief period, probably up to about 1975 when they then shifted to two channels. Because there's one channel, everyone watched everything and then they discussed it at work, you know, so it really played that role of ... citizenship you know, being a vehicle for citizenship rather than sort of just an entertainment thing.

– Writer/director Paul Maunder on making television dramas in New Zealand's 'golden' period, Radio New Zealand, 5 December 2021