I belonged to a book club and 1 month was sent a book called THE WEEKEND by Helen Zahavi. The novel and story of the book have stayed with me and at one point I wrote a screenplay for the book, registered it with the Writer’s Guild and even wrote to the publisher to acquire the rights for it. Much like many of my projects from my younger days, interest and follow through were not there and it all lapsed. In the time of covid, I was able to go back to this and look at it. I don’t know if I am as happy with it as I was when I originally wrote it but I want to go back and write more and maybe even write an original script.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to the book and this is an excerpt of the screenplay I wrote. Anyone interested in the novel can find it HERE
THE WEEKEND
Adapted from a novel by Helen Zahavi
BLACK SCREEN
FEMALE VOICEOVER
This is the story of Bella, who woke up
one morning and realized she’d had enough.
FADE IN:
EXT. STREET – DAY
A crowded street with PEOPLE walking in all directions. All kinds of people doing all sorts of things – shopping, site seeing, strolling, etc. Focus on a YOUNG WOMAN in her mid-to-late twenties, ordinary in appearance and dress. Her clothes are plain, much like her looks she is not a ravishing beauty and neither is she ugly. She walks more hesitantly and with less confidence than the throngs of people around her. Her hands are buried deep in her coat pockets and she’s hunched over. Her head is down and she looks up shyly, so as to not collide with anyone, but she makes it very obvious that she is not looking to make eye or human contact.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
She is no one special. England’s full of wounded people.
Quietly choking. Shrieking softly so the neighbors won’t hear.
You must have seen them. You’ve probably passed them.
You’ve certainly stepped on them.
MONTAGE
The streets are NOISY with all the sounds of urban living – TRAFFIC, RADIOS BLARING, PEOPLE YELLING, CONSTRUCTION NOISES. People are walking along, while others run and others stroll. There are cyclists and skaters on the busy streets. Everyone seems to be moving without looking at anyone else. There is a HOMELESS PERSON on the pavement, shaking a cup and begging for change through tears. A big ROACH scurries but a FOOT comes down and crushes it.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
Too many people have had enough. It’s nothing new. It’s really what you do
about it that really counts.
EXT. STREET
TWO CARS have crashed into each other. Both DRIVERS get out of their cars and begin SCREAMING at each other.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
She could have done the decent thing. She could have done what
decent people do. She could have filled her gently rounded belly
with barbiturates.
INT. BATHROOM
The woman from the beginning is staring at herself in a bathroom MIRROR before yanking it open, pulling out a BOTTLE she uncaps and then forces a bunch of PILLS down her throat.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
Or flung herself, with gay abandon, from the
top of a tower block.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP of the woman’s FACE. Her eyes are shut tightly but suddenly fly open.
EXT. BUILDING – DAY
The woman is standing tensely on the side of a building, on a ledge. She peers down.
WOMAN’S POV
She is very high up on the side of this building. A curious CROWD has formed below.
BACK TO THE WOMAN
She closes her eyes and throws herself off.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
They would have thought it sad, but not unseemly.
EXT. CEMETERY – DAY
A small group of PEOPLE in mourning clothes, have gathered and watch as they lower a COFFIN into the ground. Everyone seems sad, but not destroyed. The GRAVEYARD WORKERS begin shoveling the dirt in the hole, over the coffin. The group of people begin to break up and leave.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
Alas, poor Bella, they would have said, as they shoveled what
remained of her into the waiting earth.
The people are almost all gone as the grave workers continue to fill up the hole with dirt.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
She must have had enough, they would have said. At
least she had the decency to do the decent thing.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP of the woman’s face. Her eyes are closed but her expression conveys pain and discomfort.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
But pain and Bella made poor companions. She ran from pain and
thought it wouldn’t find her. She shut her eyes and held her breath
and hoped that the pain would pass her by. The very thought –
INT. BATHROOM
An ARM is held outstretched over a sink. Another ARM enters the frame. There is a long, cold, gleaming BLADE in hand and it cuts into the wrist of the outstretched arm.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
Of slicing into pale, translucent skin,
EXT. TRAIN TRACKS – DAY
An oncoming TRAIN is HONKING its horn as the woman slowly kneels down on the tracks.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
or laying down her nubile form on the London-Brighton line.
INT. ROOM
The woman’s body gently sways, hanging from a NOOSE tied tightly around her neck.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
Or hanging from the ceiling with a flex around her neck was
enough to make her sphincter almost lose its cunning.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP of the woman’s face – first her eyes are closed but then, they suddenly fly open.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
Pain, in short, was not her cup of tea.
INT. KITCHEN – DAY
A poorly lit kitchen, the woman sits at a TABLE, stirring a MUG full of liquid. She stirs quietly.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
There might have been another reason she could not do the
deed. Another reason why she carried on, regardless.
EXT. STREET – DAY
She walks along slowly while other PEDESTRIANS walk along more purposefully and determined than she. She walks along slowly, hugging herself.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
Perhaps it was the thought of having been, and gone, and left no mark.
A tall MAN comes towards her, bumps right into her and keeps walking. She stops and turns to look at him, an expression of indignation on her face.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
The thought that if she finished it, she would have no story. The
thought that no one even knew her name. For though she was
barely alive, she wanted them to know her name. She wanted
them, if nothing else, at least to know her name.
EXT. SCHOOL YARD – DAY
The woman walks along the FENCE surrounding a SCHOOL YARD. Inside, CHILDREN play loudly, roughly and with wild abandon; a mix of fast limb movement and merriment. She (the woman) walks along briskly, head held down and her arms wrapped tightly around herself.
INT. ART GALLERY
PEOPLE mill about purposefully as the woman walks about shyly. There is a WAIT PERSON with a TRAY that rounds a corner and the woman and the wait person crash in each other. The other people first look on in shock and surprise and this quickly morphs into mirth. Some people laugh openly while others try to hide it.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
She went crashing into taste, and tripping over
refinement –
A piece of CAVIAR, which had been on the tray, is on the floor and the woman slides on it and trips as she tries to escape. There are some people that laugh out loud, while others turn away to hide their glee.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
and knocking her head against the wall
She slams against a WALL.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
of success and everlasting happiness.
EXT. TENNIS COURT – DAY
The woman is dressed in TENNIS WHITES with a RACKET in hand, ready to hit a BALL coming her way. She misses.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
She wasn’t very good at playing the game, but she’d learnt to
be a good loser.
She stands there limply and clumsily.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
Losing seemed to suit her.
INT. BEDROOM
A very small and cramped BEDROOM. The woman lays on a small and narrow BED. She’s tossing and turning. Her eyes are open.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
It was something familiar, like an ache that’s always there, but you
know you’ll miss it if it ever goes. The wonder is it didn’t make her bitter, but it didn’t.
EXT. PARK – DAY
The woman sits alone on a patch of grass in the park. Her eyes are closed and her head angled toward the sun.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
All she wanted was to be left alone, which didn’t seem a lot to ask.
She expected so little, received less and thanked the gods for what
she did get.
EXT. STREET – DAY
She turns a corner and goes down some steps. She takes out a KEY and opens a DOOR and lets herself in.
INT. BASEMENT APARTMENT
She enters and hangs up her coat. She kicks off her shoes and plops down on a sofa.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
She’d found herself a tiny space and you wouldn’t
begrudge her that. She carved out a space, in a basement flat, in a road
that ran down to the sea. She sweltered in the summer, and shivered all
through the winter, and spent her evenings searching for damp, and it was a dull,
gray life, a mutant kind of life, an abortion of a life. But it was hers and
she accepted it.
She gets up off the sofa and exits the room.
INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT
The woman is locking a small window. She looks out.
WOMAN’S POV
The moon is full and clouds are aimlessly shifting by in the night sky.
BACK TO THE WOMAN
FEMALE VO (CONT)
She locks her windows and breathes stale air all night. This is what the
Bellas of the world do. They lock their windows and breathe stale air.
The woman walks over to her bed and gets in it. She buries herself under a thick comforter and lays down in the fetal position. She clutches the edge of the comforter and holds it tightly under her chin.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
It makes them crazy though. Just a bit. Just enough to gnaw at them.
The woman is tossing and turning under the comforter.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
A sort of trapped, animal feeling that creeps up on them at-
EXTREME CLOSE-UP of the face of a CLOCK. It reads four.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
four in the morning, when the sky-
The woman is still under the comforter, tossing about in troubled sleep. The sun must be coming up because the room is now being bathed in soft light and it appears a little brighter in the room.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
begins to lighten, and their heads begin to ache, and their limbs feel
heavy and their blood sluggish from the lack of oxygen.
The sound of an ALARM CLOCK going off brings the woman into a sitting position on the bed.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP of the woman’s face. Her eyes are wide open and she stares ahead, vacantly.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
Putrid air and bars…men have rioted over less.
INT. APARTMENT – DAY
There is a MAN, dressed head to foot in black, in his late twenties, maybe early thirties; standing at a window. He looks out intently.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
And nothing would have changed, no one would have known her name,
but for the man who watched.
MAN’S POV
He’s looking into another window, from which it seems a figure is moving about.
BACK TO MAN
He raises a pair of BINOCULARS to his eyes.
MAN’S POV
The woman is sweeping and straightening her apartment up, wearing only a bra and panties.
BACK TO MAN
The man lowers one hand to the crotch of his pants and starts rubbing himself, slowly.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
An ordinary man, who watched her from his window. A man
who watched and wanted, as he stood there at his window.
The man starts rubbing himself more furiously. He starts to BREATHE HEAVY and MOAN.
MAN’S POV
The woman continues to sweep and straighten.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
He saw her in her apartment and had to have a go. He didn’t have the
sense to let her be.
The breathing and moaning are getting louder. She sweeps and straightens.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
He thought she was an empty vessel that he alone could fill.
EXT. STREET – NIGHT
The woman walks along a street at night all alone. Suddenly, from an alley, the man appears. He grabs her by the hair and drags her into the alley. The breathing and moaning continue in the background.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
He thought he’d take her by the hair and pull her through the street.
He covers her mouth completely with one large hand as the other hand and arm snake around her waist, trapping her tightly to him. He takes her back, deep into the darkness of the alley. She struggles violently in his arms.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
He thought he’d clamp a hand across her mouth and bend her
She continues to struggle but it is clear that he is stronger. She tried desperately to get him off her and we see the rising panic in her eyes. He lets go of her waist and moves so quickly, it’s a blur – he raises his hand and strikes her. She goes limp.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
into what he wanted.
The screen goes BLACK. The breathing and moaning continue at a much more feverish pace and pitch.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
His trouble was he thought too much. A small mind with big ideas.
The breathing and moaning reach a CLIMAX and begin to slow down.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
For Bella couldn’t bend. As he found out, as she found out, Bella could only
break.
INT. APARTMENT – DAY
The woman is pacing in her apartment, dressed in a very thin short dress. She wipes away perspiration with the back of her hand. She goes over to a small WINDOW on the wall. She looks out.
WOMAN’S POV
Her horizon is cut off by BUILDINGS. At a distance, there is a figure of a MAN at his WINDOW. He’s looking right at her as he masturbates.
BACK TO THE WOMAN
She squints and then her eyes open wide in alarm. She steps back and closes the curtain. She bites her fingernail and then walks away.
INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT
The woman tosses and turns as she lays in her bed.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
Bella must have sinned in a previous incarnation. She must have done a
very bad thing and so she had to be punished.
She keeps tossing and turning and her flimsy nightgown rides up and reveals her underwear. It is a pastel color, plain and no frills type of garment – one that neither excites or calls attention to itself.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
She was born with something missing. A vital part that an angel bit off and spat
away, before she had the chance to bunch up her baby fists and grasp it.
A long SHADOW falls on her lying form. The man from before is shown crouched at the window, looking in.
EXT. STREET – NIGHT
MAN’S POV
His eyes linger on her body, starting at her feet and working their way up her legs, calves and thighs. She crosses and uncrosses her legs in disturbed slumber. He catches a brief glimpse of her underwear and a small sound escapes him.
BACK TO MAN
His lips part and he begins to breathe heavily onto the glass of her window.
INT. BEDROOM
The bedsheets, which were enveloped around her, are thrown off and discarded.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
She saw herself as she was, and she saw her life as it was, and
if she opened her mouth for a word of comfort, the truth came
tripping off her tongue.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP of the woman’s face should show that her face is a mixture of emotions. She is still asleep, but even in her sleep, she cannot escape the demons that haunt her. Her facial expressions should show inner conflict and should display a wide range of emotions, even with her closed eyelids.
FEMALE VO (CONT)
It’s not so great being Bella. No bed of roses. No lotus flower. No joy.
And now there was the man in black, and she could not tell herself it was a
coincidence, she couldn’t tell herself it didn’t matter. Because it wasn’t and it did.
INT. KITCHEN – DAY
The woman turns on the faucet and fills up a sink to start doing dirty dishes. She starts humming and smiling. She looks up and freezes.
WOMAN’S POV
The man is standing at his window with binoculars, watching her. He puts them down and stares at her.
BACK TO THE WOMAN
She stands there for a moment before closing the curtain violently. Her hands are shaking uncontrollably. She turns off the faucet and begins to rub her temple. She walks away.
INT. LIVING ROOM – DAY
The front door opens and the woman comes in carrying a large bag of groceries. She sets it down and makes her way over to the curtain in the kitchen and reaches as if to open it, but then stops. She takes off her coat instead, dumps it on the sofa and walks out of the room.
INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT
She is wearing a big bulky sweater and heating milk in a pan on the stove. The phone’s RING pierces the quiet. She lowers the flame and goes to pick it up.
BELLA
Hello?…..Hello?
There is a click and the lines goes dead. She puts the receiver back on the hook and goes back to the stove. She pours milk into a mug and goes to sit at the small kitchen table. There is a tin of cocoa from which she takes a spoonful and dumps into the mug. She stirs carefully and bends to take a tiny sip of the steaming liquid. Her expression should show pain as she scalds her mouth and tongue. The phone rings again. She gets up hurriedly and picks up the phone.
BELLA
Yes?!
At first there is no response, but then
MAN
Why do you keep the curtain drawn?
Her eyes widen and she whips her head around to the window. The curtains are drawn over the window. She turns away, back to her original stance.
MAN (CONT)
That’s right, I’m watching you.
She’s expressionless.
MAN (CONT)
It took a while to get your number.
BELLA
It’s not listed.
MAN
I know…You passed me on the street the other day.
BELLA
Did I?
INTERCUT BETWEEN BELLA AND THE MAN
MAN
Yes, you did. The other day…you might have said hello.
BELLA
I’m sorry?
MAN
I said you didn’t even say hello.
BELLA
My eyesight’s not that good.
MAN
So get a pair of glasses.
BELLA
Yes, you’re right. I will.
MAN
There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you….I don’t really
know how to put it, but I think you ought to know.
She leans against a wall for support.
MAN (CONT)
I can see you through the curtains.
BELLA
I’m afraid I don’t –
MAN (CONT)
I can watch you moving through those curtains. I don’t like cheap curtains.
Only cheap women buy cheap curtains.
She slides to the floor.
MAN (CONT)
I can see the shape of you through that material. When you have the light on,
I can see you moving about. I like the way you move. I like looking down and seeing
you move and knowing you’re in there. I can tell by the way you move that you
know I’m watching you.
Her eyes fill up with tears that silently escape and slide down her face.
MAN (CONT)
You’ve got a kind of look-at-me way of moving. It’s naughty of you,
to move like that, when you know that I’m watching you.
She wipes her tears away with the back of her hand.
BELLA
(raggedly)
I don’t know what you want from me.
MAN
Ask not what I want from you. Ask rather what it is you can get from me.
I don’t take. I give. I’m a very giving person. I’m going to give you
what you deserve.
She scrambles off the floor, to her feet.
BELLA
If you call again, I’ll report you.
MAN
Only if I call you again? You’re enjoying this. I knew you would. I knew
you’d enjoy it. I know what you’d enjoy. I want you to stand in front of the
light, facing the wall, so you’re in profile. Then I want you to touch yourself.
I want you to do that for me now, and then I want –
She storms over and slams the receiver down on its cradle. She covers her mouth with her hands and steps away, backwards. The phone RINGS again and she jumps, startled. She starts sobbing. On the fourth ring, she goes over and disconnects the phone. She shakes violently. She turns off the lights and sinks on her knees to the floor.
EXT. STREET – NIGHT
Bella hurries along the street with a bag of groceries. She nears her house and takes out her key and fumbles with the lock. When she finally gets the door open, she hurries inside.
INT. LIVING ROOM
She closes the door behind her and a look of relief washes over her features. She exhales heavily and drops the bag of food on the floor. She shrugs off her coat, throws it on the sofa and retrieves the bag and goes to the kitchen.
INT. KITCHEN
She sets the bag down on the small tabletop and begins to take things out of the bag. Once the bag is empty, she hangs on a hook on a wall. She takes a few cans from the table and starts putting them away in a cupboard. Suddenly, the phone RINGS, floods the quiet with its demands for attention. She jumps up in fright and drops a can to the floor. She stands there, frozen. She slowly makes her way to the phone and cautiously lifts up the receiver to her ear.
MAN
You shouldn’t have put down the phone like that yesterday. That was bad
manners and I don’t like bad manners. Bad manners make me angry. If
you do that again, I’ll have to punish you. Do you understand?
She’s silent, frozen.
MAN (CONT)
(angrily)
Do you? Do you understand that your actions will have consequences? Grave
consequences?
BELLA
Yes.
MAN
Say you’re sorry….Say it!
BELLA
I’m sorry.
MAN
(calmly)
That’s better…I dreamt of you last night. Did you dream of me?
She’s quiet.
MAN (CONT)
Did you dream of me?
INTERCUT BETWEEN BELLA AND THE MAN
BELLA
No.
MAN
Don’t lie. Don’t you dare lie to me. I don’t like liars. You did dream
of me, didn’t you?
BELLA
Yes.
MAN
Of course you did…What did I do to you in your dreams?
BELLA
I don’t know.
MAN
I know what I did in your dreams – the same as I did in mine. Shall I
tell you? Ask me what I did. Ask me nicely. Ask me nice what I did or
I’ll have to punish you.
BELLA
(flatly)
What did you do in your dreams?
MAN
Nicely.
BELLA
Please.
MAN
I climbed through your window one night. I came through your window and
into your bedroom. I stood by your bed and I watched you sleep. Then
you opened your eyes and sae me and you wanted to scream, so I covered
your mouth. You bit my hand though so I had to hit you. You do understand
I had to hit you?
BELLA
Yes, of course.
MAN
Yes, of course. I had to punish you for the bite…I took hold of your hair and dragged
you out of bed.
INT. BEDROOM
The man comes through the window and into Bella’s bedroom. She’s sleeping on the bed. He stands there watching her. She turns around and opens her eyes, which suddenly flood in fear and panic. She opens her mouth to scream but he pounces on her, on top of her with his hand, smashing into her face and covering her mouth. She bites him and he withdraws his hand. They stare at each other for a beat and then he raises his hand and backslaps her. He grabs her by the hair and drags her off the bed.
INT. KITCHEN
Bella stands there deathly still with the phone pressed to her ear.
MAN (CONT)
I filled up the tub and washed you clean. Then I rubbed you dry and oiled your
skin…Can you guess what came next?
INT. BATHROOM
Bella sits docilely in a filled tub while the man softly washes her with a sponge. He holds out his hand and she takes it, rising from the tub. He wraps her in a large terry towel and gently begins to dry her off. He opens a bottle of baby oil and pours some in his hands. He caresses her skin lovingly with the oil.
INT. KITCHEN
BELLA
No.
INTERCUT BETWEEN BELLA AND THE MAN
MAN
Then I fucked you on the floor. I fucked you hard on that bathroom floor. I
pushed it in until you puked and you loved it.
She stands there quietly but her knuckles are white from the tight grip on the telephone receiver.
MAN (CONT)
That’s what I did in my dreams…If you tell anyone, you’ll be sorry.
Remember that.
He hangs up. She stands still, with the phone pressed to her ear.
BLACK SCREEN
BELLA VO
After that night, the night she entered his dreams and he entered hers, she
stopped answering the phone. She kept all the windows locked, the door bolted and the
curtains drawn. She stopped answering the phone.
A phone RINGS in the background under Be;;a as she speaks the lines above. The ringing stops a few moments after she’s done.
FADE IN:
EXT. PARK – DAY
There is minimal movement around this park. There are a few PEOPLE milling about. Bella walks along, her boots softly crunching on the spots of snow and ice on the path in front of her.
BELLA VO (CONT)
Autumn turned into winter and by February, Brighton had been through hail, sleet
and snow.
She walks over to a bench and sits down.
BELLA VO (CONT)
Sometimes she use to sit in the benches in Brunswick Square. She went to sit
there one afternoon and began to feel contented, in as much as she ever felt
that way. She liked to sit in the square. She kept her curtains drawn all the time
so she liked this time, sitting in the sun, in the square.
She smiles shyly as she takes in the surroundings around her. She looks up to the grey sky and closes her eyes.
BELLA VO (CONT)
She’d look up at the sky and close her eyes and bathe in light. That’s all she
did when she sat in the square, in the sun. And nothing would have changed.
She wouldn’t have changed and Brighton wouldn’t have changed.
Into the frame we see a MAN walk over to the bench and sit down next to her. He’s dressed from head to foot in black. He sits and stares at her. She looks and he smiles. She looks forward, quickly, avoiding further contact. Her discomfort is starting to show.
BELLA VO (CONT)
Nothing would have changed, if he hadn’t seen her that afternoon and sat
down beside her in Brunswick Square.
She looks his way again and this time his smile widens. She looks at him blankly.
MAN
Here we are then.
She wraps her arms around herself and starts to shiver, as if she unconsciously already knows who this is. She remains quiet but never breaks the gaze back.
MAN (CONT)
You looked tired. You’re not taking proper care of yourself.
She breaks the stare and now sits looking straight ahead and very still.
MAN (CONT)
Nice day..a bit cold though.
He reaches over and brushes back a lock of windblown hair behind her ear. She remains as still as a statue but closes her eyes and swallows hard.
MAN (CONT)
I’ve missed talking to you. I quite enjoyed our conversations.
He moves closer to her nowand her eyes fly open, filled with revulsion but mostly fear. Her eyes show her anger and a desperate need to want to run away but she seems to not have the power to and remains in her seat. He smiles at her wickedly.
MAN (CONT)
I read this news article recently. A very peculiar something, if you follow my drift.
He shifts his position so that he too is now sitting and looking straight ahead, his hands in his pockets, but still so very close to Bella.
MAN (CONT)
This girl was walking down the road. Minding her own business, so
to speak. She was just walking down the road. I think they said it was
the middle of the day. A side road, not a main road, but there had to be
people about. She’s walking down the road, when a car pulled up and
someone drags her into the car. She wasn’t on the game or anything…
not like some.
He turns and looks at her lecherously as he says the last part. She turns and looks at him and they both stare at each other for a bit without saying a word. She again breaks the stare, looks forward and you can see her discomfort plainly in her face and demeanor.
MAN (CONT)
Someone just grabbed her and pulled her into a car in broad daylight. And
off they went. Eyewitnesses said she was yelling and yet no one there
could be bothered to intervene.
He laughs softly as if he’s told an ironic joke. She reaches up as she closes her eyes and rubs her temple.
MAN (CONT)
They, because apparently there was more than one of them, pushed her down
on the floor of the backseat and turned up the stereo. Drove to some remote
place and dragged her out. Slapped her a bit. Slapped her a bit more. Then
two of them did their stuff. You know the sort of stuff, of course you do.
He edges closer to her and her hand drops.
MAN (CONT)
But the third one, he wasn’t interested. He just waited until they’d
finished and then do you know what he did?
She’s staring straight ahead and he leans over, his mouth right by her ear. Her hands are folded on her lap.
MAN (CONT)
I said, d’you know what he did?
She shakes her head and he moves back.
MAN (CONT)
What he did was he pissed in her face.
He reaches out a hand and cups her chin forcibly and makes her turn towards him. They stare into each other’s eyes.
MAN (CONT)
Now fair’s fair. I’m no prude but that’s what I call out of order.
She yanks her face away and stares straight ahead. He takes her thin wrist in his beefy hand. She tries to pull away but his hold is tight and firm and unwavering. She struggles a bit more and then stops. When she’s finished and sitting still, he smiles and continues.
MAN (CONT)
You ought to learn self-defense.
BELLA
Leave me alone.
MAN
You shouldn’t keep the curtain drawn.
BELLA
I want you to leave me alone.
MAN
You’re not being friendly.
BELLA
(somewhere between a whine and a plead)
Please don’t do this. Please leave me alone.
MAN
I haven’t done anything. I’m just making conversation.
He looks down at her wrist in his hand. He turns the hand over and stares at her palm.
MAN (CONT)
You’ve got small hands. I didn’t realize you had such small hands.
She looks at him and he looks directly into her eyes.
MAN (CONT)
I could break your hand. Your hand looks very breakable. I could do it now.
Your hand would break for sure. You’d have a broken hand.
He lifts and presses the hand to his lips. He kisses her hand softly. He holds onto her hand.
MAN (CONT)
The funny thing, the strange and peculiar thing is that you’re not my
type. You’re not what I would call an attractive woman. You’re not the sort of woman
who attracts me. Nothing personal, but there you are.
He smiles and lets go of her hand. She snatches her hand back quickly and hugs herself.
MAN (CONT)
If you don’t mind me saying so.
He shifts again so they are both facing forward.
MAN (CONT)
I want to hurt you but I don’t know why. It’s all I can think about, dream about.
I wake up with this overwhelming urge to…Tell me why I want to hurt you.
BELLA
I don’t know why.
MAN
You must know why.
BELLA
I don’t – I really don’t know why you want to hurt me…I’m sorry.
MAN
I’ll come and see you soon and make you sorrier.
He pulls out a folded piece of PAPER from his coat pocket. He unfolds it.
MAN (CONT)
There’s a photo that’s been bothering me. This photo has been bothering me.
He holds it directly in front of her and she looks at it, vacantly.
BELLA’S POV
It’s a torn page from a magazine. It shows a WOMAN on all fours, only wearing a dog collar covered in jewels. She is smiling over her shoulder toward the camera.
BACK TO BELLA
MAN (CONT)
Do you think she looks like you?
BELLA
No.
MAN
I think she looks like you.
BELLA
No, she’s not me.
MAN
She’s a slutbitch.
BELLA
She is not me.
MAN
A manhole, only good for one thing.
BELLA
But she is not me.
MAN
You’re all the same really.
BELLA
Leave me alone.
MAN
Slags and scrubbers the whole lot of you.
BELLA
Just leave me alone.
MAN
Tarts and whores who just give it away.
BELLA
Please, just leave me alone.
MAN
You’re like Oxfam, the way you give it away. Feed the starving, the way
you give it away. You think you’re special?
BELLA
No.
MAN
You think you’re someone?
BELLA
I’m no one.
MAN
Don’t get any big ideas.
He brings the magazine cut out closer to Bella’s face and points incessantly to the woman’s private parts from the magazine cut out.
MAN (CONT)
That’s all you are.
BELLA
(teary-eyed)
Please don’t do this.
MAN
You make me do this. You’re leading me on. You’re just a prick tease leading
me on. A dirty little sow who’s leading me on.
He folds up the picture and puts it back into his inside coat pocket. He edges closer to her.
MAN (CONT)
You know what I’m going to do to you?
BELLA
What are you going to do?
MAN
I’m going to hurt you. If you tell the police, I will kill you. But if you
don’t, I’ll only hurt you.
He faces forward. An OLD WOMAN walking a small DOG comes by and turns to them and smiles, as if assuming they are a couple. He smiles back to her but Bella just stares down at the ground as if she is trying to find a piece of a missing puzzle. The old woman continues walking her dog and moves further and further away.
MAN (CONT)
It’ll happen soon. I’ll come into your home and hurt you. I want you to imagine
what I’m going to do to you. I want you to picture in your head the different
ways I can give you pain.
He gets up and looks down at her.
MAN (CONT)
Think of the worst thing I could possibly do to you and
think of me doing it.
He turns and leaves. She stares after him.
BELLA VO
He forced his way in, violating her space and set up camp. Squatter’s rights.
Possession is nine tenths the law and he already possessed her.
All she could do was couch in a corner and wait for the day he’d come through
the window. He’d said he’d be seeing her soon and she knew and understood
the bloodlust in his eyes. He meant every word he said and this was a
promise he had every intention of keeping.
She walks in a daze, along a crowded street.
BELLA VO (CONT)
And so it might have continued. An everyday story of urban blight:
the fall and fall of Bella, whose only claim to fame was her total
and consuming insignificance.
INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT
Bella’s in her night clothes, tossing and turning on the bed.
BELLA VO (CONT)
But fate can be strange. Fate can be fickle. Fate can be
wandering by one day all aloof and uninterested, kicking a tin can
along the promenade. Nothing to do because it’s all been ordained.
And Fate will suddenly stop and stare and maybe smile…
Fate found Bella one night. Fate came to her by moonlight and
whispered in her ear.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP of Bella’s face. Her eyes are closed and they suddenly fly open. She sits up very suddenly and it is MORNING, the room bathed in daylight.
BELLA VO (CONT)
And when she woke, she knew she’d had enough.
EXT. STREET – DAY
Bella is standing staring at a SIGN in a basement WINDOW.
BELLA’S POV
The sign reads:
IRANIAN CLAIRVOYANCE SERVICES
Unlock Your Hidden Powers
The Key is Within
BACK TO BELLA
INT. HALLWAY
Bella stands in front of a DOOR.
MAN
Who is it?
BELLA
My name is Bella.
MAN
Do I know you?
BELLA
Not yet.
MAN
What do you want?
BELLA
I want the key.
The sound of the door UNLOCKING is followed by it opening and revealing a very tall, slim MAN with a gaunt and pallid face standing in the doorway. His clothes are very large and he seems to be swimming in them. He smiles.
MAN
My name is Navid. Welcome to my subterranean abode.
He opens the door wide and stands aside to signal for her to enter by motioning with his head for her to enter.
INT. APARTMENT
Bella comes into a dimly lit SITTING ROOM with dark velvet furniture and candles everywhere. There are heavy drapes over the windows that block any possible sunlight into the room. There is a dark wood table in the center of the room and it has curious and foreign objects to Bella on top. She turns to him.
NAVID
Please be seated….Is it a consultation you seek?
She sits and nods. She watches quietly as he tidies a little. It is revealed here that he only has one hand. There is a stump at the end of his other arm.
BELLA
Why the heavy curtains in the daytime?
NAVID
My eyes are very sensitive. They cannot take the light. The
light is too bright. I prefer the night.
BELLA
Are you a poet?
NAVID
Versification is certainly one of my gifts and perception is obviously
one of yours….do you take tea?
BELLA
I do.
NAVID
The English like tea and the Persians like tea. Nation shall speak unto nation.
He disappears through a beaded CURTAIN and into a kitchenette. She hears water in a kettle splashing and the hiss of gas converts to a flame. He comes back into the room.
NAVID
It will be ready shortly.
He sits opposite her, watching her intently.
NAVID (CONT)
HOw can I help you Bella?
BELLA
Tell me what will happen.
NAVID
That I cannot do.
BELLA
(disappointed)
What can you do?
NAVID
I can help you change.
BELLA
Why do I have to change? Who says I want to change?
NAVID
You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t….Why are you here?
BELLA
(defeated)
I need to change.
NAVID
Into a different person?
BELLA
Yes.
NAVID
A better person?
BELLA
No.
NAVID
What then?
BELLA
Cut out my heart and put a stone in it’s place. I want
vengeance.
NAVID
Spoken like a true Persian.
The sound of a kettle beginning to whistle disturbs their conversation. He sits back in his seat.
NAVID (CONT)
I like that sound. It’s a comforting sound…Hell must sound like water
boiling – only louder.
.
He gets up and disappears through the beaded curtain. The sound of a kettle lid and cupboard doors opening filter through from behind the beaded curtain.
BELLA
How long have you been a clairvoyant?
NAVID
(off screen)
About a month.
He comes back with his arm with no hand under a tray with a kettle and 2 small cups. There is a tin full of sugar and a spoon buried within and a tiny container with white liquid. There is also a small bowl of nuts on the tray. His good hand holds the edge of the tray. She stares at his stump. She looks up and sees him watching her watch his stump and she immediately reddens and turns away. He smiles slightly.
NAVID (CONT)
I had a disobedient hand so they punished it.
BELLA
What were you before you were a clairvoyant?
He sets the tray down and resumes sitting across from her.
NAVID
Before that I cleaned tables at McDonald’s and before that I sold ice
cream with chocolate flakes in it for the summer in a very quaint coastal
town, and before that I weeded people’s gardens – I really liked that job because
everyone left me alone and I was in complete solitude – something I cherish
more and more as I get older. Before that I was in a hospital because of my
nervous predicament, and before that I was in Pentonville awaiting my hearing
and before that I was in a hostel in Harmondsworth.
He pours tea into a cup and gives it to her. She accepts the cup and then he offers her the tin of sugar and milk. She shakes her head to decline.
BELLA
No, thank you…and before all that?
NAVID
Before that I was in Tehran. I ate apricots and figs and roast lamb so tender it fell
off the bone. I wrote for an English language news outlet, hence my rather
superb command of your mother tongue.
He takes a sip of his tea but then sets his cup down.
NAVID (CONT)
For you to fully appreciate the guidance I can extend, I should first expound the
details of my own rich and varied life, the subtle nuances of my insights, the
infinitely complex intricacies of my mind.
He takes the bowl of nuts off the try and pushes it toward her.
NAVID (CONT)
I am alas aware of the fundamentally fiscal nature of our relationship,
the monetary rock against which we dash our sensibilities.
BELLA
You mean I must pay you?
NAVID
Just so, my fee is 45 pounds per hour, cash. It is a small price to pay
for the absolute clarity I can provide. I shall limit myself, unprofessional though
some might think it, especially those who indulge in the theatrics, purely to
the analysis and resolution of your own specific trauma.
BELLA
Your way with the verbals is beginning to grate.
NAVID
(smiling slyly)
It’s an acquired taste. My mother thought me a genius.
BELLA
Were you an only child?
NAVID
More or less, I had four sisters.
He sips his hot tea slowly.
NAVID (CONT)
We lived in Northern Tehran, in a villa of sublime beauty.
He finishes the eta and sets the cup down.
NAVID (CONT)
Our sewage flowed out onto the slums below.
He dabs his lips with a napkin.
NAVID (CONT)
Economists call it the trickle down effect.
He puts down the napkin and holds up his hand.
NAVID (CONT)
One hour’s consultation, though one hates to be vulgar.
Bella fishes through her purse and drops crumbled up money into his awaiting palm. He balls his hand into a fist and shoves the money deep into his pants pocket. He leans back in his chair.
NAVID (CONT)
Now, we begin.
BELLA
How does this work?
NAVID
You tell me things.
BELLA
What things?
NAVID
Hidden things, dark things.
BELLA
And then?
NAVID
Then nothing. Then I listen. I listen to what you have to say and
what you really mean.
BELLA
Sounds more like therapy than clairvoyance….
NAVID
Call it what you will. Its cheap at the price.
Bella takes a very deep breath.
BELLA
My name is Bella and I was born in 1993, Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed.
NAVID
One era ended, another began. A black day in your country’s history.
BELLA
So they say.
NAVID
And your parents?
BELLA
My parents?
NAVID
They who begat you. The begetters of Bella.
BELLA
They eat a lot of fruit and they have no imagination but they adore me. I am
their baby. The living embodiment of their passion, their guarantee at
immortality…They live in the suburbs, go to Devon twice a year,
read the Daily Mail and never use the f-word.
NAVID
You sound critical.
BELLA
Who am I to criticize? They are mine and I am theirs. What they lacked in money,
they made up for in kindness…I would have preferred the money, but that is
neither here nor there. Bella bears no grudges.
NAVID
Is that it?
BELLA
That’s it.
NAVID
Are there no siblings to travel with you through life?
BELLA
Just one. An older brother but we are not close. Never were….He would masturbate
to music from an early age. Is that significant?
NAVID
Musicality is always an asset. And this is your family?
BELLA
Yes. Banal perhaps but mine.
She picks up her cup and downs some tea.
NAVID
And yourself Bella – therein lies the problem, I take. What of yourself?
BELLA
Myself?….Myself has always been a great disappointment to me.
NAVID
Self knowledge is often painful.
BELLA
So who needs it?
NAVID
Indeed.
BELLA
Where do I begin?
NAVID
Begin where the pain began.
She sits back and licks her lips nervously.
BELLA
I went away to college when I was 18. One of the tutors wore a black
leather jacket, spouted poetry and preached free love for all. Not
to mention he was very, very handsome and clever and nasty and
I adored him. He made me feel like I was the only woman in the
room and he said all the right things to me.
NAVID
How long did it last?
BELLA
Not long. One night was all he wanted. The first night and the best night.
Once he’d drawn blood, he left….He was my first. My very first. I felt
like I had waited my whole life for him but he left right after he was
done and didn’t want to know about me afterwards. Like a stupid girl
I chased and hounded and prodded. When I asked him why, he said,
“Different men have different standards. I like to storm the ramparts
so lesser men can follow.” Then he smiled his charming smile and said
he wouldn’t want to drink from a greasy cup.
NAVID
(sigh)
Never trust an intellectual.
BELLA
I dropped out within the month. Not a wise move but squats
welcomed me, anarchists fed me and faceless men filled me. I didn’t care
about poetry and flowers and princes – I vowed that there would be no more
free love. They would all pay to put their greasy spoons in my cup.
NAVID
(eyebrows raised)
You don’t look like a whore.
BELLA
I’m not a whore.
NAVID
Of course you are not…in my country they shoot whores.
BELLA
In your country, everyone gets shot.
NAVID
Why did you do it?
BELLA
I liked it when they gave me money.
NAVID
Not very much. The profit on each deal was minimal. The cost
to me – enormous.
NAVID
You couldn’t put up your price?
BELLA
There are always others who will do it for less. Plus sometimes some of the men would
be very sweet to me and buy me little gifts and trinkets. I loved getting gifts. It made
me feel special. And I loved the adoration I would get from the others. After
having been discarded, the worshipping was welcome. It made me feel
powerful.
NAVID
What are your feelings about this time in your life now?
BELLA
Mixed. Bittersweet.
NAVID
Why did you choose such a life?
BELLA
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
NAVID
You enjoyed it?
BELLA
It had its moments.
NAVID
How many?
BELLA
Two.
NAVID
(laughs)
How did it finish?
BELLA
(shrugs)
I just woke up one morning and realized I was done with it.
NAVID
And then what?
BELLA
Then I moved around. Nowhere special, just around.
NAVID
How did you live?
BELLA
As best I could.
NAVID
You sold sex?
BELLA
No, poetically put, but no. Once I was done with the life, I was
done with it all.
NAVID
I don’t mean to offend but I must peel off the layers and find what’s
underneath.
BELLA
There’s nothing underneath.
NAVID
We shall see.
BELLA
I moved down here three years ago. I packed my bags and came
down to Brighton.
NAVID
All roads lead to Brighton. That’s why we are here, you and I. It’s the end of
the line.
BELLA
Do you like it here?
NAVID
Sometimes.
BELLA
What do you like best?
NAVID
It’s not Tehran.
BELLA
What do you like the least?
NAVID
It’s not Tehran.
BELLA
What do you think of England?
NAVID
Too many foreigners.
BELLA
Like you?
NAVID
Like you, my dear, like you.
BELLA
It must feel odd being a refugee.
NAVID
It feels odd and cold and very very lonely.
He sits back in his chair and pulls out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He takes out a cigarette and lights it. He stares off into space and smokes, lost in a different place and time. Bella regards him quietly. After a time, she speaks.
BELLA
Do you think….Am I a whore?
He looks up at her and at first seems surprised to see her. Then reality sinks in and his eyes show recognition. He flicks some ashes into his cup.
NAVID
You’re not a whore. You’re no longer a whore. You were once a whore and
are now in Brighton. I was once a journalist and am now in Brighton.
Shall we continue?
BELLA
I’ve told you my story.
NAVID
Not the whole story. What happened to you? What happened to bring you
to my door?
BELLA
A man….
NAVID
Yes?
BELLA
He’s been threatening me. He says I’m a slut.
NAVID
How does he know?
BELLA
He doesn’t. He thinks all women are sluts.
NAVID
Ah, I see…May his shameful part shrivel up. As the saying goes:
Have patience and the body of your enemy will be carried past
your door. But enough of these glorious imaginings, the candle burns
down and we must resolve your fate. Tell me what else you feel.
BELLA
Like I am in a constant black cloud with no silver lining. Like I’m the last in
the race but it’s really that I am the last in life. I feel lost and abandoned.
NAVID
The last shall be first – it is written.
BELLA
Is that your honest and unbiased opinion?
NAVID
That is the sincere evaluation of Scribbler Navid. Late fo the Tehran
Press Club. Later still of the Evin Institute for Psychological Correction.
Presently resident-in-exile here in your most hospitable country.
He stamps out his cigarette and lights another.
NAVID (CONT)
Now tell me more. Tell me what frightens you.
BELLA
Everything frightens me.
NAVID
What above all?
BELLA
Men…Men frighten me.
He looks at her in surprise.
NAVID
You’ve known many men. You know their weaknesses, their cowardice,
their true hearts and natures. What is it you fear?
BELLA
Their hunger frightens me. The way they look at me, what I read in their eyes.
NAVID
And what do you read?
BELLA
What they want they must possess. What they cannot possess they must penetrate.
What they cannot penetrate they must destroy.
NAVID
And what have you suddenly got against penetration?
He rests his chin on his hand and his elbow on the table.
BELLA
I know what I was and I cannot change that. I can’t change it
and I can’t forget it. But it is the past. It’s gone and it can’t
be brought back.
He stares at her for a while before leaning back in his chair.
NAVID
Tell me what’s in your head.
BELLA
You do not want to know that.
NAVID
I want to know everything.
BELLA
I want to put my hands around his throat and squeeze until I hear it snap.
NAVID
Is that all?
BELLA
I want to choke the air from his lungs.
NAVID
And then?
RAPID INTERCUT BETWEEN BELLA AND NAVID. Her voice rises with each exclamation she utters.
BELLA
I want to watch the light die from his eyes.
NAVID
There are people like you in the old country….
BELLA
I want to cut his head off.
NAVID
…mad dog people…
BELLA
I want to finish him!
NAVID
…suicide people…
BELLA
I want to wipe him away like a spot. I want to shut his mouth
once and for all.
NAVID
So what stops you?
BELLA
His strength stops me.
NAVID
How do you know he’s strong?
BELLA
He’s stronger than me. All men are stronger than me. Even a one-armed nut like
you is stronger than me! Every filthy bloody foreigner that’s washed up on the
beach is stronger than me!
He stares at her for a moment and she’s breathing hard from her tirade. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a slim and stubby steel bar he holds in front of him. He presses a button and a blade shoots out. Bella stares at him in wide-eyed rapture. Her expression is a mix of fear and disbelief.
BELLA (CONT)
What are you doing?
NAVID
Giving flesh to your secret fears.
BELLA
What fears?
NAVID
You know the ones I mean. Being alone with a madman…
Poor Bella, aren’t you afraid I’m going to kill you?
He leans closer and she moves back in her seat.
BELLA
You wouldn’t dare.
NAVID
Hold out your hand.
BELLA
Why?
NAVID
Do it!
She jumps a little as he yells. They lock eyes. She slowly and tentatively put out her hand, pal up. He touches the cold metal to her skin. He drops the blade into her hand and she stares, mesmerized.
NAVID (CONT)
Does it feel good?
She looks up from the knife and directly at him.
BELLA
Yes.
He leans back in his chair.
NAVID
You can keep it.
BELLA
You don’t want it?
NAVID
Your need is greater. Consider it a gift. I believe you said you like gifts.
BELLA
I’m grateful.
NAVID
So you should be.
She stares at the knife, then to him. With the knife still in hand, she leans over closer, urgently.
BELLA
Tell me what I need to do. I need an answer.
NAVID
You hold the answer in your hands.
BELLA
I don’t think I follow.
NAVID
I don’t think you do.
BELLA
Explain it.
NAVID
For most people, the world is divided into murderers, victims and
spectators. Should they be given the choice, they can choose to be
spectators and stand on the sidelines and either cheer or jeer. They
can make fine moral judgments, condemn the criminal and praise the
pious. They can keep their hands fairly clean, their thoughts fairly pure
Because they don’t risk anything and they won’t lose anything…Are
you with me so far?
BELLA
Yes, so far.
He leans closer.
NAVID
The problem, my dear, is that some people don’t have these choices.
People like you. Little people with very big ideas. You don’t have a choice
because you’re lamb and when they see a lamb, even spectators
sometimes want to be murderers. They see a lamb and they start to
salivate. Lambs remind them how hungry they are. You are a
walking temptation, Bella. You tempt them with your weakness.
BELLA
What can I do?
NAVID
You must choose what you will be.
BELLA
I want to be a spectator.
NAVID
You do not have that option.
BELLA
So I have no choice?
NAVID
You have a choice.
BELLA
What choice?!
NAVID
The only choice.
BELLA
I’m not a murderer!
NAVID
Murderer or victim – take your pick.
BELLA
What if you’re wrong?
NAVID
I’m never wrong.
BELLA
I can’t do it!
NAVID
You can.
BELLA
How do you know?
NAVID
Because I know.
She looks at the blade and he sits back in his chair.
NAVID (CONT)
Take the knife and take your revenge.
BELLA
There’s no other way?
NAVID
None.
BELLA
The murderer or the victim?
NAVID
The butcher or the lamb.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP of a CLOCK. The time is five minutes to one.