A Clockwork Orange Page #11

ALEX:

1960, Chateau, Saint Estephe, Medoc, very good brand, sir.

He doesn't get a penny's change for his remarks from Alexander and

Julian.

He holds the glass up to the light.

ALEX:

Very good colour, sir. Smells mice, too.Very good number, sir. Very

good. Here's to it.

He downs the glass.

ALEX:

Very refreshing, sir, very refreshing.

MR. ALEXANDER

(very arch)

I'm so pleased you appreciate good wine. Have another glass!

ALEX:

Thank you, sir.

MR. ALEXANDER

My wife...

Alex freezes.

MR. ALEXANDER

... used to do everything for me and leave me to my writing.

ALEX:

Your wife, sir? Has she gone away?

MR. ALEXANDER

No. She's dead!

ALEX:

I'm sorry to hear about that, sir.

His face contorted in rage.

MR. ALEXANDER

She was very badly raped, you see. We were assaulted by a gang of

vicious young hooligans in this house, in this very room you're sitting

in now. I was left a helpless cripple. The doctors said it was

Pneumonia, because it happened some months later during the 'flu

epidemic. The doctors told me it was Pneumonia, but I knew what it was.

A victim of the modern age, poor, poor girl.

Suddenly his mood changes. He wheels right up to Alex.

MR. ALEXANDER

And now you, another victim of the modern age. But you can be helped. I

phoned some friends while you were having a bath.

ALEX:

Phoned some friends, sir?

MR. ALEXANDER

Yes. They want to help.

ALEX:

Help me, sir?

MR. ALEXANDER

Help you.

ALEX:

Who are they, sir?

MR. ALEXANDER

They're very, very important people and they're interested in you.

Bell rings. Julian rises,

MR. ALEXANDER

Julian. This will be these people now.

Alex gets up.

ALEX:

Look, sir. I'm sorry to have troubled you. I think I ought to be going,

sir.

Julian bars the way.

MR. ALEXANDER

No, no my boy. No trouble at all.

Alex slowly sits.

MR. ALEXANDER

Have another glass of wine.

He pours. Alex picks up glass and takes a drink.

INT. "HOME" - NIGHT

Dolin and Rubinstein enter with Julian.

DOLIN:

(genial)

Hullo, Frank.

MR. ALEXANDER

Good evening, sir.

RUBINSTEIN:

Frank.

DOLIN:

So this is the young man?

ALEX:

How do you do, sir?

DOLIN:

Hullo.

ALEX:

Missus. Very pleased to meet you.

RUBINSTEIN:

Hullo.

DOLIN:

I hope you forgive us for coming over at this ungodly hour, but we

heard from Frank that you were in some trouble so we came over to see

if we could be of any help.

ALEX:

Very kind of you, sir. Thank you very much.

DOLIN:

I understand that you had a rather unfortunate encounter with the

Police tonight.

ALEX:

Yes, sir. I suppose you might call it that, sir.

DOLIN:

Hahaha, and how are you feeling now?

ALEX:

Much better, thank you, sir.

DOLIN:

Feel like talking to us. Answering a few questions?

ALEX:

Fine, sir, fine.

DOLIN:

Well, as I've said, we've heard about you. We are interested in your

case. We want to help you.

ALEX:

Thank you very much, sir.

DOLIN:

But first we'd like to find out a few things about you.

ALEX:

What would you like to know, sir?

DOLIN:

Well, shall we get down to it?

ALEX:

Yes, sir.

Rubinstein takes out a notebook.

RUBINSTEIN:

The newspapers mentioned that in addition to your being conditioned

against acts of sex and violence, you've inadvertently been conditioned

against music.

ALEX:

Well, er, I think that was something that they hadn't planned for, you

see, Missus, I'm very fond of music and always have been, especially

Beethoven, Ludwig van... Beethoven. B... E... E...

He leans over and looks at her writing in notebook.

RUBINSTEIN:

It's alright, thank you.

ALEX:

And it just so happened that while they were showing me a particularly

bad film, of like a concentration camp, the background music was

playing Beethoven.

RUBINSTEIN:

So now you have the same reaction to music as you do to sex and

violence?

ALEX:

Oh well, it's... it's not all music you see, Missus. It's just the 9th.

RUBINSTEIN:

You mean Beethoven's 9th Symphony?

ALEX:

That's right. Er... I can't listen to the 9th any more at all. When I

hear the 9th, I get like this funny feeling.

RUBINSTEIN:

When you say this funny feeling, you mean the state of mind brought on

by the treatment they gave you?

ALEX:

That is correct, sir. And then all I can think about is like trying to

snuff it.

RUBINSTEIN:

I beg your pardon?

ALEX:

Snuff it, sir... um... death, I mean, missus... Er... I just want to

die peacefully like with no... pain.

RUBINSTEIN:

Do you feel that way now?

ALEX:

Um... oh no, sir, not exactly, I still feel very miserable, very much

down in spirits.

RUBINSTEIN:

Do you still feel suicidal?

ALEX:

Um... well, put it this way... I feel very low in myself. I can't see

much in the future, and I feel that any second something terrible is

going to happen to me.

He pitches forward, face into the plate of spaghetti.

RUBINSTEIN:

Well done, Frank. Julian, get the car, will you please?

INT. HI-FI ROOM - DAWN

Alexander sits looking up. Rubinstein, Julian and Dolin also listening

to Beethoven played loudly on tape recorder.

INT. DOLIN'S HOUSE - PRISONER BEDROOM - DAY

The 9th Symphony booming up through the floor.

Alex slowly regains consciousness.

ALEX (V.O.)

I woke up. The pain and sickness all over me like an animal. Then I

realised what it was. The music coming up from the floor was our old

friend, Ludwig van and the dreaded 9th Symphony.

He staggers to the door. It is locked. He kicks and tugs the door.

ALEX:

Open the door... turn it off... turn it off.

CUT TO:

THE BILLIARD ROOM BELOW

Hi-Fi gear laid out on the table. Large speakers facing upwards. Mr.

Alexander trembles and twitches. He is now completely mad. The others

merely wait, coolly.

INT. DOLIN'S HOUSE - PRISONER BEDROOM - DAY

Alex on his knees. His hands cupped over his ears, banging his head on

the floor.

Then he stops and slowly straightens up, staring at the window.

ALEX (V.O.)

Suddenly I viddied what I had to do, and what I had wanted to do - and

that was to do myself in, to snuff it, to blast off forever out of this

wicked cruel world. One moment of pain perhaps and then sleep - forever

and ever and ever.

EXT. WINDOW - DAWC

Alex leaps out of the window.

INT. HOSPITAL WARD

Alex in bed. Camera slowly tracks along length of his body. Everything

is bandages and plaster splints, wire cages, blood drips.

ALEX (V.O.)

I jumped, O my brothers, and I fell hard but I did not snuff it, oh no.

if I had snuffed it, I would not be here to tell what I have told. I

came back to life, after a long, black, black gap of what might have

been a million years.

We hear Alex moan, and then another moan. Alex and the other - a few

times.

Suddenly, some curtains which have been drawn around another bed in the

ward are parted, and a nurse hurries to Alex, hastily buttoning up her

uniform. She is trailed by a young Intern fumbling with his trousers.

NURSE:

Oh, he's recovered conscienceness, Doctor.

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY

Em and Pee sitting around the bed.

PEE:

Hullo, lad.

EM:

Hullo, son, how are you?

PEE:

Are you feeling better?

ALEX:

What gives, O my Pee and Em, what makes you think you are welcome?

Em sobs. Pee comforts her.

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