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Love and Other Nightmares, The Screenplay, Part TwoApr 19 '03 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Copyright 2003 David Macdonald
* Scene Six: (Same day; later in the evening. Both Anna and April are home from their respective jobs. April is in her bedroom, sitting on the bed, writing in a notepad, while Anna is on the couch, watching television.) (Cut to: slow zoom to Anna on the couch. Her face is tired, her eyes are bloodshot, sleepy, difficult to focus. Her mind seems to be elsewhere other than what is on TV at the moment.) APRIL (off camera, teasingly. April has left the bedroom.) Rough day at work? You don’t look so great. ANNA (lethargically turns her head into April’s direction) Oh.... I feel really tired. All day I was feeling it. Must be coming down with something. APRIL (walks over to the other side of the sofa, sits down) (Anna is still in the foreground) That sucks. Maybe you ought to take time off. ANNA (avoiding the subject) So what did you and Fred do last night? (staring toward the TV) APRIL Oh. We went down to the City Cinema, Lovely and Amazing, that was the movie we saw. ANNA Never heard of it. APRIL Well, it was pretty good. I never even heard of any of the actors, but that really doesn’t matter. Kind of one of those slice of life sort of things, it was. ANNA (very slight sarcasm) One of those quiet, meaningful pieces. APRIL Uh, perhaps. (laughs, confused) Fred really impressed me last night. I was under the impression that this was a chick flick, but he seemed quite interested in seeing the movie with me. ANNA (well-disguised bitterness) My guy would say, who wants to listen to a bunch of hens talking for two hours? Clearly, your guy isn’t the average guy, is he? APRIL He’s good enough guy for me. Speaking of your guy, I haven’t seen you with Adam lately. You haven’t mentioned anything to me anyway.... ANNA Well, I’ve worked eight bloody days in a row. Amounts to 80 hours. I’ve got no time or energy for a second job. Christ, I don’t even have time to eat anymore. Last night I went thru the Burger King drive-thru. After ten hours, I don’t want to even pick up a fork, much less cook a meal. APRIL (gently grasps Anna’s forearm) Have you eaten yet? ANNA No. APRIL I’ll make you something, okay. I’ll even do the dishes for you, how about that? ANNA Tonight was your night to do them anyway...... APRIL (jokingly) Well, what do you know? No thanks for my offer. ANNA Well, just as long as you don’t subject me to any gastronomic terror. Then I’ll consider thanking you. APRIL What do you mean? ANNA Well, like the other night. You know, that damn fish we had. I know that you had a bit of a guilt trip, and wanted to buy something a little less obvious. But you needn’t have bothered. That fish was just so flaky all those bones. The texture. didn’t care for it. How much did that cost you? APRIL Ten -- ten dollars. ANNA Christ, that’s a lot to spend on one meal. You’re not some poor old bleeding heart who throws her money to every charity case, are you? I’ve got bills to pay, rent... I wouldn’t spend ten dollars on a good book! APRIL (morosely; feeling guilty again) You didn’t spend it. I did. ANNA Whatever. The point is that i don’t want to partake in any culinary flights of fancy. Stick to the basics. You know, processed food, greasy deep fried stuff, dubious fruit juices, stuff I can consume quickly and thoughtlessly. APRIL Okay, well, next time, we’ll have those frozen hot dogs and Kraft Dinner that you had bought. Works for me. ANNA Don’t change on my account, dear. I mean, if you want to eat your exotic dishes, and make yourself feel better, in your own times... it’s perfectly kosher with me. I just don’t want to come home from a strenuous job, and deal with yet another difficult issue of what to eat. I just want to melt into my chair, relax, and eat something simple. Something that will cool my inner desire to go absolutely, freaking, insane! APRIL (not willing to deal with Anna any longer) I understand... really, I do ANNA Actually something else that would freeze my unsettled mind.. is a drink. Did you want to go down to the Old Dublin with me later.....? APRIL (surprised) Tonight? Ah... um... no... no bother. I’m just going to relax.... feeling tired from work tonight myself. ANNA Oh, well, I’ll go myself. I know all sorts of people down there... even on a Wednesday evening....... (Cut to: Anna at the bar. Being a weekday, the bar is quiet. She sits by herself , with a full pitcher of beer. She has already drank her first glass.) (The few people that are there have no knowledge or interest in Anna.) (Close-up of her pouring the second glass, she then begins to drink it.) (Anna’s face is distressed. She is not happy to be drinking... she’s drinking for less noble reasons.) (Fade to black) * (Seven Seven) (Later on that evening, about midnight) (April is about ready to go to bed. She fills a glass with water and drinks it. She looks in the fridge, and observes the food inside. Packages of hamburger, and other meats, processed or otherwise. She looks inside the freezer. Fries.) APRIL (muttering) So that’s what I’m going to have to eat tomorrow....... (she walks forlornly to the washroom) (Cut to: April standing on the scales.) (Cut to: the reading on the scale) (Cut to: shot from the floor, April’s face, debating the reading on the scale.) (Cut to: April leaving the washroom. She walks along, the goal to go to her bedroom. She starts to hear some noises, apparently coming from Anna’s room. These noises are similar to the noises that April heard the night before, before she woke up.) (Cut to: April standing closely to the door. She debates whether to look inside.) (She opens the door, and sees Anna, in bed, sleeping, but appearing distressed, as if having a nightmare.) (Cut to: Medium shot of Anna’s distressed frame) (Cut to: April, concerned) (Fade to black) * (Scene Eight) (About a week later) (April’s bedroom. April sits on her bed, and is speaking on the phone to Fred.) APRIL Anna’s been acting pretty strangely in the past few days. FRED How so? APRIL (smile) Well, she dared to criticize my cooking. The first sign of trouble. FRED The first sign of mental deficiency, absolutely! APRIL The thing is, though, that I’m quite serious. She acted really weird about it. As if her whole way of life would crumble if I decided we should eat something other than fast food once in a while. Another thing is... I think she’s been having nightmares recently. And she has been out to the bars every single night this week! I think she’s not doing so well at all. FRED From what you’re telling me, she’s behaving like every other person on P.E.I. Well, maybe except the nightmares. You realize that I go out for a few drinks too. APRIL Well.... umm, what do I know? I don’t do a whole lot of drinking. I guess everybody else around me is just a drunk in my eyes. (forcing a bad laugh) FRED I’ll give you a piece of advice. Stop feeding her and she may stop having nightmares. APRIL (jokingly) What have I done to deserve this treatment? What do you expect to gain from this? Celibacy? FRED Oh, you’ll never shut me out. APRIL Hmmmm... you can’t be too sure. FRED Nothing I could say would p-ss you off. Besides, you would probably agree anyway, that Anna’s a a bit of an irritant, right? APRIL No.... I wouldn’t say that. She’s just... just been acting strangely lately. It’s work, you know...... FRED She always grates on me. I don’t think I told you that so clearly before. APRIL She doesn’t sleep with me so you won’t have to put up with her tonight. So how do you like your breakfast? FRED Surprise me! APRIL Well, then I forgive you all your jibes from earlier. You may come over and join me in my humble bedchambers. it’s not elegant, I’m afraid, and I may not be what you expect, but..... FRED Don’t be foolish. I’ll enjoy you better than any breakfast. APRIL Well, after tonight, you may need a large breakfast, after I sap you of all your energy this evening. FRED April, I’m impressed! Listen carefully as I drop the phone from my hands and run, like a madman, out of my apartment, and into your arms....... APRIL (in awe that someone would say this to her) Into my arms! It’s nice... to feel so wanted. FRED I told you that you were the most wonderful woman on the planet. APRIL That’s what happens when you have a long term relationship. You begin to believe in things you used to think were crazy. Like an atheist devoting every inch of his faith in God, after going to church a few times, just for laughs. FRED Well, I think you’re crazy, but that’s not the reason why I love you so much. APRIL What else is there besides me being crazy? FRED Well... there’s the rest of you. APRIL Hmmm? Sounds good, then..... well..... I haven’t heard the phone thumping against the floor yet. Losing interest, huh? FRED No, I’m just exploiting the element of surprise. (a door is heard being open; Anna has returned home) APRIL (smiling) Well, I don’t need any surprises. I only need you. I’m waiting. FRED Great. I’ll be there soon, babe. APRIL Bye....... (she hangs up the phone) (She walks away from the bedroom, into the living room, where Anna is removing her footwear. April feels apprehensive about Anna’s emotional state.) ANNA (she removes her jacket, but it just falls from her arms to the floor, she doesn’t even pay attention.) Hey, Anna, you should’ve came out with me -- why are you such a stick in the mud? (laughing) (Cut to: April) APRIL (looking at the sight of Anna dropping her coat) I ....I had things to do.... (walking over to pick it up) ANNA (warmly sarcastic) Sure, sure! Anyway, you want to know what happened. A full pitcher of house beer happened. It was trivia night, too, apparently. I got suckered into that, thanks to my (slumps on the couch) I was so stupid. So stupid! (laughing goofy) Quick! What was the Russian submarine that sunk a few years ago? APRIL (grim) The Kursk. ANNA (saddened) That’s what everyone else said too. I told them, damn it, it was the Hindenburg that sunk. I remember it just like it was yesterday. I was there, actually. I stretched out my hand -- trying to save them. Those poor souls. But it slowly descended to the ground.. on fire.... APRIL A submarine bursting into flames while submerged into the sea. Interesting. ANNA I thought so too. I remember this guy, too, and he talked like this (bad imitation of George C. Scott) APRIL Umm, Anna. I think you’re mixing up your historical movies. And you’re drunk. ANNA I’m so funny, aren’t I? Ha haha!! All sweetness and light, it’s so loverly! APRIL Is.... everything okay with you? ANNA Of course, It’s loverly!! APRIL But you’re drunk. You’ve been drunk every night..... ANNA Hey, I’m enjoying it! APRIL That doesn’t help you with your nightmares, you know? ANNA (not convincingly) Nightmares? What are you talking about? APRIL I’ve walked by your room last night. I could see you tossing and turning, and you sounded as if you were being attacked. ANNA (laughing unconvincingly) Attacked? APRIL Maybe when you’re feeling better we can talk about it. ANNA Oh, I get it. You want to make it look as if I’m the screwed-up person. You can’t get over your own little problems so you lay it all out on me. APRIL What? ANNA I’m sorry, April. That’s life. It can’t be all about me, me, me. Maybe it was whenever you lived with Mommy and Daddy. But you can’t expect everything to go the way you want it to be once you’re out on your own. There’s rent, bills, heat, phone, --- and roommates. APRIL Yes, roommates. Roommates who become your friends, and roommates who worry you. ANNA I’d worry more about myself if I were you. I mean, do you realize how you talk, April? All that sh*t about being fat all the time. You’re like, oh, nobody will think I’m beautiful because I’m not skinny like all those sluts down at Myron’s! APRIL (stammering) That’s not true. I’ve never called anyone a slut! ANNA Close enough. But you drive me crazy! Oh, I’m too fat! Oh, we have to eat healthy so I won’t gain any more weight. Oh, why do I torture myself with this fast food all of once a week! You have such ridiculous habits! You love what you do to yourself, don’t you? APRIL Please..... Anna..... I.... I don’t want to talk about that.... ANNA Hiding in your little corner again, are you? APRIL (nervous) Fred’s coming over soon.... can’t we just leave this behind us for now.... at least until tomorrow? ANNA Fred again. What are you trying to do; wear out the springs on your mattress? If he were paying some of the rent and food bills around here..... (as Anna speaks, Anna is becoming more and more upset. She feels that she has to do something. She ends up lunging at Anna, shaking her by the shoulders) APRIL Leave me alone, God*damn you, you stupid drunk! (April stops, realizing what she is doing. She has emotionally wounded herself. She reacts almost as if she had murdered Anna.) ANNA (grinning wickedly, breaking away from her drunken haze) So who’s the mental case now? (April looks away, defeated. She sits down on the sofa, unable to look at her roommate. Anna looks now as if she is about to collapse.) ANNA (she gets up from the couch) I’m leaving. If I’m going to calm down, I’m doing it in my own time, in my own space. (Anna walks toward the door, put her shoes back on, and turns around briefly to regard April before opening the door to leave.) (April continues to look away from Anna, is in the same position she was moments earlier) (Cut to: Anna outside. She stalks down the sidewalk -- upset with April, and upset with herself. She doesn’t know where to go, as she had no plans on leaving the house again. The time is close to 10 pm, on a weeknight. Nothing is open downtown. ) (Anna walks to the main street, either University or Queen Street, the main stretches of Charlottetown.) (Cut to: a panning of the entire area. All of the businesses are closed, except for the occasional bar. A few cars drive up and down, some cars are parked on the street.) (Anna stands still. She doesn’t know where to go in this barren town) * Scene Nine: (Anna has finished her weeping. She is slumped on the couch, not having moved since Anna left.) (She hears the doorbell. She walks to the door, and opens it. Fred is on the other side) (Cut to: April’s saddened face) FRED What’s wrong? It looks as if you were put through the wringer. (approaching her) APRIL Perhaps so. (embraces him) (They walk over to the sofa) APRIL Anna and I had a fight. I... don’t know what to do with her. FRED (rubbing her arms slowly, intently) Remember what I told you. Stop feeding her your cooking. APRIL Oh, Fred, it’s deeper than that. I just don’t know in what way. FRED (stern) Well, that’s too bad, April. If she can’t deal with her problems, and takes it out on you... that’s her own problem. Not yours! (kisses her neck) APRIL (her face is confused; between her feelings about Anna and this passionate moment) Maybe -- maybe you’re right, but I don’t know..... (April slowly becomes physically persuaded by Fred’s gestures, their lovemaking becomes more engaged.) FADE TO BLACK ---------------------------- Part 3: http://www.epinions.com/content_3244400772  |
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