“Even as the fog continues to lie in the valleys, so does ancient sin cling to the low places, the depressions in the world consciousness.”
Dr. Judd is a character from the movie and so his book is actually fictional; there is no such volume in real life. The purpose of a prefatory quote from a fictional piece of non-fictional psychology sets the stage for the film’s dualistic pitting of scientific explanations for ancient medical conditions versus traditional mythological faith.
“Let no one say, and say it your shame, that all was beauty here, until you came.”
The sign is intended to shame people into not littering; it is placed in proximity to trash cans. This shame sign is key to the connecting of the romantic couple at the movie’s center. Oliver points out the sign to Irena after she misses a toss of a crumpled bit of sketch pad paper toward the garbage. The subtext of the sign plays into the subtle xenophobic undertone of suspicion and disregard for foreign ways.
“It's not really a cat. It's meant to represent the evil ways into which my village once had fallen.”
Well, there it is. The cats of Cat People are allegorical figures of evil. The evil is the result of a pagan intrusion into a solidly Christian village and the manifestation of the cat is forwarded as an alternative explanation to psychological repression. Without this layer of spiritual belief and genuine faith by Irena that she has absolutely no choice in the matter of turning into a cat, the entire potential for ambiguity in the explanation collapses.
“You can fool everybody, but…you can't fool a cat. In some ways they seem to know who's not right.”
Foreshadowing the ultimate fate of Dr. Judd, the plain-spoken pet proprietor suggest that Irena recognizes Oliver as a good egg and Dr. Judd as a rotten one, but perhaps her perspective is a bit skewed when it comes to romantic rivals.
“..cats don't like me. They won't let me cuddle or caress them.”
This assertion is not just paranoid opinion. Objective imagery of cats responding in unpleasant ways in the presence of Irena confirms this statement and is highly suggestive that her problems are not merely one that can be reduced to manifestations of Freudian repression of sexual desires.
“I've lived in dread of this moment, Oliver. I've not wanted to love you. I kept myself away from people...I stayed alone...I never wanted this to happen.”
The moment of truth for poor Oliver. He finds out that he has married a woman with whom he can never have sex. Well, he can, but he has to trust that it will be such great sex that he won’t mind dying immediately afterward at the claws of a wild leopard.
“This is only what we call a psychological block...a thing which stands between you and what you really desire.”
If Irena is not the victim of a curse beyond her control, then she is victimized by a psychological repression that may be beyond her control. Or, perhaps not so much beyond her control. If only Dr. Judd could penetrate past her defense mechanism.
“There is, in some cases, a psychic need to loose evil upon the world. And we all of us carry within us a desire for death. You fear the panther; yet you are drawn to him again and again. Could you not turn to him as an instrument of death?”
Judd is expanding upon his psychological approach to explaining away Irena’s frigidity. Make no mistake, Judd fully believes and is fully committed to his rational scientific diagnosis. Whether correct or mistaken in his assumption, he pays the price for testing that diagnosis.
