Abel
- Why?
No binoculars at Christmas breakfast.
Put them away!
Give them here!
Come along boys, no bickering.
- I'm not bickering.
No, I'm bickering!
- Set a good example for once.
Let your son set a good
example for once.
Is he only my son all of a sudden?
- Aren't I your son?
You don't take after me, at any rate.
Victor, how can you say that?
Your eyes, your hair-lines,
your walks...
That's not what I mean.
He means that I haven't got a
single good quality; and he has.
Is that what you mean?
- Yes, that's what I mean.
With those good qualities
he became an admysterytator.
Administrator, and I'm not
an administrator.
Your fasther is sub-manager.
Oh, I thought he was an admysterytator.
- Administrator!
Are you sure about that?
Administrator!
We haven't wished each other
Merry Christmas yet.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
And let's for once try to have
Christmas breakfast...
...without any arguments.
- But there aren't any arguments.
No, I'm just wishing us a Merry
Christmas breakfast without arguments.
Then there will be an argument.
Why must you bloody-well
reverse everything?
Straight to you, imbicile!
Stop it.
Now there is an argument.
Because you accentuated it.
Is that so surprising? Every
Christmas breakfast I can remember...
...has been permeated with discord.
Because up till now you've said at the
beginning of every Christmas breakfast...
...with that Christmas-breakfast
look in your eyes:
"Let's for once try to have
a Christmas breakfast...
...without any arguments."
And every year you manage with those
nasty wolfish eyes of yours...
...to completely poison
the atmosphere.
Hey, did you hear that?
He's just asking for an argument.
You mustn't try and push things
to extremes, Victor.
I say, the salmon is delicious.
Isn't it? Shrimps the whole time.
I thought let's have salmon.
I've never been a one for shrimps.
What?
I don't even like shrimps, you're
the one who always wants shrimps.
Dove, who is it that always
wants shrimps?
Dove?
Your father is right.
So I'm lying?
So I'm lying?!
I'm not saying that.
But you did always want shrimps.
So I'm lying then!
Say I'm lying.
You're lying.
Now, that's heartenings I must say.
Your own mother calling you a liar.
You're ganging up together,
I knew it, against me.
Why do I still live here?
Because you're an imbicile
who doesn't dare to go outside.
We want to have a serious talk
with you.
Your father's got a plan.
You'll soon be thirty one.
- Thirty two.
Tomorrow we're going to the dunes.
- A quiet, secluded spot.
You mustn't think anything more of it,
we're just going out.
Fresh air's good for you.
We're going in the car,
we won't see another soul.
And what about those gin-traps?
I'll walk on ahead and beat
the ground with a stick.
Yeah, and then of course we'll
get lost.
I know exactly what will happen.
We won't get lost, Abel.
Your father's taking a compass.
Your mother's making a bag
full of food.
Nothing can happen to us.
There are hunters in the dunes,
you know.
How often hav you read that:
"Man hit by stray bullet."?
There's no hunting in the dunes,
is there?
Of course not, just a few
rabbit-snares, that's all.
Right, and who sets them?
Poachers, that's who.
They're all inbred.
They go stark raving mad if anyone
ventures onto their hunting-grounds.
D'you know what?
We'll take a guide with us.
And two bearers, and guns
and ammunition...
...and a first-aid kit,
and beads.
And a mosquito-net and a sextant.
We're not going into
the bloody jungle!
There's nothing wrong.
Just answer the psychiatrist's
questions.
Psychiatrist?
I'm not retarded, am I?
- That's for the psychiatrist to decide.
Doctor van Boven, this is Abel.
Abel, act normally.
Doctor, don't be misled.
This is just play-acting.
What's your name, lad?
For God's sake Abel,
stop that nonsense!
Doctor, you understand that he's
just putting this on?
Yes, I understand. I'm not retarded.
- No, of course not.
The question is, what is the cause?
Oh, I can tell you right away.
Please sit down.
How long is it since Abel
has been outside?
Two years.
- Ten years.
And for ten years he's been
trying to cut flies in half.
When Abel was born,
where there any complications?
Yes.
Where do you get that idea from?
- Well, it was a long, painful delivery.
Abel was blue,
he had difficulty breathing.
What are you talking about?
You were there, at the birth?
Yes, of course, yes.
Well, I was in the corridor, but
I know exactly what happened.
The first few weeks he had signs
of slight paralysis.
And around the age of fourteen
eczema in his armpits.
According to our doctor,
the result of nervousness.
Now, this is going beyond
all reason!
Please, admit that none
of this is true!
I don't want to draw any
conclusions straight away.
But I can't help feeling that
the root of the problem...
...a major part of it anyway,
lies with the father.
What?
Yes, look, you're ashamed of Abel.
Wouldn't you be ashamed of
a son like that?
That's got nothing to do with it.
The other part...
...the root of the problem,
lies with the mother.
You see, you over-protect your son.
Both your attitudes as parents
are in conflict...
...and because of this, the lad
finds himself in a vacuum.
Before we get round to Abel...
...it would be advisable for you
to come to a mutual agreement...
...within your relationship.
I'll be hearing from you.
Well, that's that.
You're rushing things, sir.
I'm not used to...
Being made love to?
- Being made love to...
So brazenly.
- So brazenly.
Again!
You're rushing things, sir.
I'm not used to being...
This is such a rotten line.
That rotten line
encapulates how Maggie is feeling.
uncomfortable...
...she expresses herself
in a likewise way.
And that's why, in this situation,
it's a good line.
And something else, when Victor
tries to kiss you...
...you've got to show much more
bewilderment.
Imagine that you've never been
kissed by a man before.
And Victor, over-play it, eh?
Make it difficult for Christine.
We can always water it down later.
Bewilderment, Christine.
Disgust, disgust!
What is it now?!
- I just don't feel this, you know.
Do we have to watch this
for much longer?
This is an importand moment.
until it's right.
And Christine, relax!
The mere thought of a kiss
repulses you.
I'm nearly thirty two, and I've still
never watched television.
We don't need Victor anyway
to buy a television.
a fixed sum of money...
...and at the end of the month
it's all gone.
I know that. Look at how we eat.
The whole time it's...
salmon, oysters, lobsters.
Four course meals.
And all those new clothes,
new shoes.
When summer's on the way
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"Abel" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/abel_2143>.
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