A Streetcar Named Desire Page #7

...I want to create joie de vivre.

I'm lighting this candle.

That's good.

We're going to be very bohemian.

We are gonna pretend we're sitting in an

artists' cafe on the Left Bank in Paris.

- Understand French?

- No, no, I don't understand French.

Oh. Well, why don't you sit down.

Take off your coat. Loosen your collar.

- No, I better leave it on.

- No. I want you to be comfortable.

No, I'm ashamed of the way I perspire.

My shirt is sticking to me.

Perspiration is healthy. If people didn't

perspire, they would die in five minutes.

Oh, this is a nice coat.

What...?

- What material is it?

- They call this stuff alpaca.

- Oh, alpaca.

- It's very lightweight alpaca.

- Oh, lightweight alpaca.

- Yes.

I don't like to wear a watch coat even in

the summer because I sweat through it.

And it don't look neat on me.

A man with a heavy build is careful of

what he wears so he don't look clumsy.

- Why, you're not too heavy.

- You don't think I am?

You're not the delicate type.

You have a massive bone structure

and a very imposing physique.

I thank you.

At Christmas, I was given a membership

to the New Orleans Sports Club.

- Oh, good.

- It's the finest present I was ever given.

I work out there with the weights

and I swim. I keep myself fit.

When I started there I was soft

in the belly, but now my belly is hard.

It's so hard now a man can punch me

in the belly and it don't hurt me.

Punch me.

Go ahead. Go on. Punch.

Come on.

- Gracious.

- Heh, heh. See?

Blanche.

Guess how much I weigh?

- I'd say in the vicinity of 180 pounds.

- No, guess again.

- Not so much?

- No, more.

- Well?

- I weigh 207 pounds.

I'm 6'1 " and one-half inches tall

in my bare feet...

...without shoes on,

and that's what I weigh stripped.

Oh, my goodness, it's awe-inspiring.

Well, my weight's not a very

interesting subject to talk about.

What's yours?

- My weight?

- Yes.

- You guess.

- Let me lift you.

Samson. Go on, lift me.

- Why, you're light as a feather.

- You may release me now.

- Huh?

- I said unhand me, sir.

Mitch, Mitch, we're in public.

You must behave like a gentleman.

Just give me a slap

whenever I step out of bounds.

It won't be necessary. You're a natural

gentleman. One of the few left.

I don't want you to think that I'm

severe or old-maid schoolteacherish...

...or anything. It's just, well, I...

I guess I have old-fashioned ideals.

Where's Stanley and Stella tonight?

I think they were planning

to take in a midnight preview.

We all ought to go out together

some night.

That wouldn't be a good plan.

Why not?

You are an old friend of Stanley's?

We was together in the 241 st.

- I guess he talks to you pretty frankly.

- Sure.

Has he talked to you about me?

- No, not much.

- The way you say that...

...I suspect that he has.

- He hasn't said much.

Well, what he has said, what would

you say his attitude toward me was?

- What makes you ask that?

- Well...

Don't you get along with him?

What do you think?

I think he don't understand you.

That's putting it mildly. Surely he must

have told you how much he hates me.

I don't think he hates you.

He hates me,

or why would he insult me?

Of course...

...there is such a thing as

the hostility of...

Perhaps in some strange

kind of way, he...

Oh, no.

To think of it makes me...

- Blanche.

- Yes, honey?

- Blanche, can I ask you a question?

- Yes, what?

How old are you?

What do you want to know that for?

I talked to my mother about you

and she said, "How old is Blanche?"

- You talked to your mother about me?

- Yes.

Why?

Because I told her how nice

you were, and I liked you.

Were you sincere about that?

You know I was.

Why did your mother

want to know my age?

- My mother is sick, and...

- Oh, I'm sorry to hear it. Badly?

She won't live long...

...maybe just a few months,

and she worries because I'm not settled.

She wants to see me

settled down before she...

You love her very much, don't you?

You'll be lonely when she passes on,

won't you?

I know what that means.

To be Ionely?

I loved someone once.

And the person I loved, I lost.

Dead?

He was a boy.

Just a boy,

when I was a very young girl.

When I was 16, I made the discovery:

Love.

All at once, and much...

...much too completely.

It was like you suddenly turned

a blinding light...

...on something that had

always been half in shadow.

That's how it struck the world for me.

But I was unlucky.

Deluded.

There was something about the boy.

A nervousness, a tenderness...

...an uncertainty.

And I didn't understand.

I didn't understand why this boy,

who wrote poetry...

...didn't seem able to do anything else.

He lost every job.

He came to me for help.

I didn't know that.

I didn't know anything...

...except that I loved him...

...unendurably.

At night I pretended to sleep.

I heard him crying.

Crying.

Crying the way a lost child cries.

I don't understand.

No.

No, neither did I.

And that's why I...

I killed him.

You...?

One night...

...we drove out to a place

called Moon Lake Casino.

We danced the Varsouviana.

Suddenly, in the middle of the dance,

the boy I married broke away from me...

...and ran out of the casino.

A few minutes later...

...a shot.

I ran.

All did.

All ran and gathered about

the terrible thing at the edge of the lake.

He'd stuck a revolver into his mouth...

...and fired.

It was because...

...on the dance floor...

...unable to stop myself, I'd said:

"You're weak.

I've lost respect for you.

I despise you."

And then...

...the searchlight

which had been turned on the world...

...was turned off again.

And never...

...for one moment since,

has there been any light stronger than...

Than this...

...yellow lantern.

You need somebody.

And I need somebody too.

Could it be you and me, Blanche?

Oh.

Sometimes...

...there's God...

...so quickly.

- You wanna mess with me,

sonny boy, come on!

All right, turn him loose!

You're gonna kill who? You don't even

know when you're getting wised up.

You don't have to wise me up!

Come on, here. Come on,

get to work here. We gotta get going.

We got some bucks

to make around here.

Go ahead and marry her,

but hurry it up.

She's been in my house

five months and her time is up.

It's only a paper moon

Sailing over a cardboard sea

But it wouldn't be make-believe

If you believed in me

It's a Barnum and Bailey world

Just as phony as it...

Oh, hello, Stanley.

But it wouldn't be make-believe

If you believed in me

Some canary bird.

All right.

Please tell me quietly just what you think

you found out about my sister.

You know your sister Blanche

is no lily, don't you?

What have you heard,

and who from?

You should know the line

that she's been feeding to Mitch.

Our supply man at the plant's

been going through Auriol for years.

He knows all about her.

And everybody else in the town

of Auriol knows all about her.

She's as famous in Auriol as if she was

Rate this script:1.0 / 2 votes