Awakenings Page #11

LEONARD (FILM)

I'm back.

117. INT. BOARD ROOM, LATER -NIGHT 117

The lights are on, the screen rolled up, the board members and

patrons visibly moved, almost shaken, and silent.

Eventually one of the patrons, an old woman, reaches into her

purse for her checkbook and a pen. Another patron, an elderly

man, pulls a checkbook and pen from an inside jacket pocket.

Another already has hers out in front of her ...

Sayer and Miss Costello exchange a glance. The room is

absolutely silent, except for the muted scratch of pens on

paper.

118. INT. THE PHARMACY -DAY 118.

The raw L-Dopa powder, 20,000 dollars worth, has arrived. It

sits on a pharmacy counter in large clear bags. Sayer and Ray

peer between racks of medicine at two teenage girls and two

very old men chatting in a corner of the pharmacy.

RAY:

They're volunteers from the

neighborhood. :

SAYER:

Wonderful.

v

119. OMITTED 119.

120. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM -DAY 120.

Several empty medicine paper-cups. The "garden of stone,"

reassembled. Sayer knows better than to sit and wait, that

nothing is going to immediately happen, but he sits and waits

anyway. As does Miss Costello. As does Leonard and his

mother.

121. INT. STAFF ROOM -NIGHT . 121

Sayer asleep on a couch that's too short for him. Miss

Costello asleep on another.

VOICE:

Dr. Sayer?

Sayer wakes to find a night nurse standing over him.

SAYER:

What is it?

r yy yy

(continuity only)

121. CONT. 121.

NIGHT NURSE:

It's a miracle.

121A. INT. CORRIDOR -NIGHT 121A.

i

They move along a silent corridor that seems to stretch out

forever — the doctor, the two nurses — carrying themselves

professionally, with sobriety and restraint. But as they near

the ward, as they're joined by others, other nurses, orderlies,

their steps and hearts quicken. They break into a trot.

122. INT. LEONARD'S WARD -MOMENTS LATER -NIGHT 122.

They appear at the threshold, Sayer, Miss Costello, the night

nurse, the others, and peer into the darkened room:

In the quiet, in the shadows, in the moonlight filtering in

through the windows, the post-encephalitics are emerging from

their "cocoons," rising from the "dead" like Lazarus from the

earth, reborn.

Moving slowly past the beds: A figure rediscovering the

feeling of her skin; another, the sound of his breath; another,'

the beating of her heart.

A figure still asleep . . . wakes. And for the first time in

nearly half a century sees herself in the world.

Tight on Sayer, on the look of awe on his face as he stares at

the scene going on in the darkened ward. His glance finds

Leonard who is sitting up in his bed, smiling.

123. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM -DAY 123,

Tight on Lucy's face, deep in thought, lost in thought. After

several moments of silence, she speaks

.,:
, • . :... . ,.LUCY V ..• * .-....

... Ijusthadthestrapgest

dream...

A cacophony of off-screen voices -from a radio, the

television, and the awakened post-encephalitics themselves

rises up as another woman, Miriam, moves past Lucy's face. We

follow her, as does a nurse with a blood pressure guage on

wheels. ,

11/ b/ aa) tireen Pg

123.CONT. NURSE

Miriam, please, I -(have to

check your blood pressure -)

MIRIAM:

(interrupting)

I've been sitting for 25 years,

you missed your chance.

Miriam and the nurse trailing after her pass in front of a man *

with no English (Josef) trying to explain something to a couple

of orderlies. One to the other -.

ORDERLY 1

You're Italian, he's Italian,

what's the problem?

ORDERLY 2

I was born here -X don't speak •

Italian.

Nearby, another man. This one does speak English

BERT:

I want a steak, rare. I want

mashed potatoes and gravy, string

beans, a slice of pie and a '

chocolate phosphate.

Anthony turns away with the tray he just brought in -broth,

jello and juice -and carries it away, passing the "card

playing nurse," Margaret.

ANTHONY:

I think I prefer them the other

way.

Having settled on Margaret: she smiles, glances to "her"

patient, Rose, who, staring at her reflection in a hand mirror,

tugs at her grey hair.

ROSE:

And some dye. Black.

MARGARET:

(jotting down the

request)

Black, are you sure?

ROSE:

Andsomeclothes... my. clothes.

i.1/ b/«y)Green Pg.1/ b/«y)Green Pg.

123.CONT. -123

She pulls at her faded shapeless dress with great disdain.

ROSE:

Who put me in this?

A bewildered man on stiff legs (FRANK) walks by. Following

him, we catch a glimpse of a Dutch woman in a wheelchair, with

a nurse

MAGDA:

... the gardener, he must prune

the fruit trees ... the roses . . .

I think he's forget . . .

-before settling on Miss Costello with a man who seems lost in

a world of his own, his head nodding slightly to music from an

unseen radio.

MISS COSTELLO:

Can you speak to me, Rolando?

Rolando, it's Miss Costello. Can

you understand me?

Apparently not. A figure blurs past. And a moment later,

another, the nurse with the pressure gauge, still trailing

after Miriam. The camera follows them

NURSE:

Miriam ... Miriam . . .

-before settling on a man, Desmond, doing a soft-shoe.

Leonard, and a few others, watch. Frank blurs by again, passes

a woman, Francis, sort of lost, seated With a nurse:

FRANCIS:

. . . I was aware of things, but

nothing meant anything, there was

no connection to me.

(vague recollection:)

There was a war . ..

(pailse)

... or two . . .

Miss Costello notices Frank, standing nearby, looking puzzled.

MISS COSTELLO:

Frank? Are you all right?

FRANK vaU.bL>£NKUD Pg.u/ os > vaU.bL>£NKUD Pg.6

123.CONT. 123.

Hiss Costello finds herself at a loss for a moment . . .

MISS COSTELLO:

We'll find them for you.

track them down.

We'll

Lucy again, Sayer still at her side.

LUCY:

. . . I called to my sister, but she

couldn't hear me. No one could

hear me. I was alone ...

(pause)

And then I woke up.

She smiles. Sayer tries to. He hesitates ... but finally

can't help asking her -•

SAYER:

Lucy, what year is it?

LUCY:

What year is it? You don't know?

He shakes his head 'no.' She glances around the place, thenleans close to him and whispers -

•26.

LUCY:

MIRIAM O.S.

DoctorI Doctor! .

*

Sayer turns to the urgent voice, concerned, and sees Miriam

flanked by a large group of staff from other parts of the

hospital gathered at the threshold of the room.

,

MIRIAM:

I walked all the way over there.

And back. What a perfect day.

The group at the doorway applauds, and it CARRIES OVER:

123A. OMITTED

123B. INT-CORRIDOR -SAME TIME -DAY

123A.

123B. *

The corridor, and the sound of a woman's voice, very faint,

from somewhere unseen:

. *

*

PAULA O.S.

" . . . Like crowds storming the

Bastille ...

*

*

124.-128. OMITTED 124.-124.-128. OMITTED 124.-12

129. INT.'POST-ENCEPHALITIC DAYROOM -CONTINUED -MORNING 129.

Sidney bursts into the room out of breath and scans the faces

of the awakened post-encephalitics and staff. He spots Sayer,

seated with a woman, her back to him and the door. She slowly

turns to look over her shoulder and, seeing Sidney, smiles.

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