Barry Lyndon Page #15

Four crowned heads look on at the game, and an imperial

princess, when Roderick turns up the ace of hearts, bursts

into tears.

INT. MASQUERADE BALL - NIGHT

Roderick and a girl.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Nor need I mention my successes

among the fairer portion of the

creation. One of the most

accomplished, the tallest, the most

athletic, and the handsomest

gentleman in Europe, as I was then,

a young fellow of my figure could

not fail of having advantages, which

a person of my spirit knew very well

how to us.

INT. BOUDOIR - NIGHT

Making love to a masked lady.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Charming Schuvaloff.

INT. COACH - NIGHT

RODERICK (V.O.)

Black-eyed Sczortarska.

INT. BOUDOIR - NIGHT

RODERICK (V.O.)

Dark Valdez.

RODERICK:

Do you expect me to believe that

your lover brought you here tonight?

VALDEZ:

Yes. He brought me in his carriage,

and he will call for me at midnight.

RODERICK:

And he doesn't care about me?

VALDEZ:

He is only curious to know who you

are.

RODERICK:

If his love were like mine, he would

not permit you to come here.

VALDEZ:

He loves me, as I love you.

RODERICK:

Will he wish to know the details of

this night?

VALDEZ:

He will believe that it will please

me if he asks about it, and I shall

tell him everything except some

circumstances which might humiliate

him.

EXT. GARDEN - NIGHT

RODERICK (V.O.)

Tender Hegenheim.

INT. BOUDOIR - NIGHT

RODERICK (V.O.)

Brilliant Langeac.

Roderick takes from his portfolio a little jacket of very

fine transparent skin, eight inches long and closed at one

end, and which by way of a pouch string at its open end,

has a narrow pink ribbon.

He displays it to her, she looks at it, and laughs.

LANGEAC:

I will put in on you myself.

She puts it on, out of shot.

LANGEAC:

There you are, dressed by my hand.

It is nearly the same thing; but

despite the fineness and

transparency of the skin, the little

fellow pleases me less well in

costume. It seems that this

covering degrades him, or degrades

me -- one of the other.

RODERICK:

Both, my angel. It was Love who

invented these little jackets: for

he had to ally himself with

Precaution.

INT. ROOM OFF A BALLROOM - NIGHT

Roderick making love to the Countess von Trotha. Enter

the Count, in the uniform of a Colonel.

COUNT:

I entered here, monsieur, at a bad

moment for you; it seems that you

love this lady.

RODERICK:

Certainly, monseigneur, does not

Your Excellency consider her worthy

of love?

COUNT:

Perfectly so; and what is more, I

will tell you that I love her, and

that I am not of a humor to put up

with rivals.

RODERICK:

Very well! Now that I know it, I

will no longer love her.

COUNT:

Then you yield to me.

RODERICK:

On the instant. Everyone must yield

to such a nobleman as you.

COUNT:

Very well; but a man who yields

takes to his legs.

RODERICK:

That is a trifle strong.

COUNT:

Take to your legs, low Irish dog.

Roderick smiles at him.

RODERICK:

Your Excellency has wantonly

insulted me. That being so, I

conclude that you hate me,

Monseigneur, and that hence you

would be glad to remove me from the

number of the living. In this wish,

I can and will satisfy Your

Excellency.

EXT. BEAUTIFUL GARDEN - EARLY MORNING

Roderick's sword duel with the Count.

Details to be worked out.

INT. BILLIARD ROOM - NIGHT

Roderick watches the Chevalier play with a Prussian

officer, Lieutenant Dascher.

RODERICK (V.O.)

It was my unrivaled skill with

sword and pistol, and readiness to

use them, that maintained the

reputation of the firm.

Towards the end of the game, Dascher, seeing that he is

losing, makes an unfair stroke, so obvious that the marker

tells him so to his face.

Lieutenant Dascher, for whom the stroke wins the game,

takes the money which is in the stake bag, and puts it in

his pocket, paying no attention to the marker's

adjurations, or to Roderick's.

Roderick, who is without his sword, reaches for a billiard

cue and swings it at Dascher's face.

He wards off the blow with his arm, drawing his sword and

runs at Roderick, who is unarmed.

The marker, a sturdy young man, catches Dascher around the

waist and prevents murder.

DASCHER:

I see that you are without your

sword, but I believe you are a man

of mettle. Will you give me

satisfaction?

RODERICK:

I shall be delighted; but you have

lost and you must pay me the money

before we meet, for, after all, you

cannot pay me when you are dead.

ANOTHER OFFICER:

I will undertake to pay you the 20

louis, but only tomorrow morning at

the meeting.

EXT. FIELD - DAY

On the field, there are six people waiting with Dascher,

and his seconds. Dascher takes 20 louis from his pocket

and hands them to Roderick, saying:

DASCHER:

I may have been mistaken, but I mean

to make you pay deadly for your

brutality.

Roderick takes the money and puts it in his purse with the

utmost calm, making no reply to the other's boasting.

RODERICK:

(privately)

It is distasteful to kill a

scoundrel -- that should be work for

a hangman.

CHEVALIER:

To risk one's life against such

people is an imposition.

RODERICK:

(laughs)

I risk nothing, for I am certain to

kill him.

CHEVALIER:

Certain?

RODERICK:

Perfectly certain, because I shall

make him tremble.

He takes his station between two trees, about four paces

apart, and draws a pair of dueling pistols.

RODERICK:

You have only to pace yourself at

ten paces difference, and fire

first. The space between these two

trees is the place where I choose to

walk back and forth. You may walk

too, if you wish, when it is my turn

to fire.

No one could have explained his intentions more clearly or

spoken more calmly.

DASCHER:

But we must decide who is to have

the first shot.

RODERICK:

There is no need of that. I never

fire first; and, in any case, you

have that right.

Dascher places himself at the specified distance.

Roderick walks slowly back and forth between the two trees

without looking at him.

Dascher takes aim and fires, missing.

RODERICK:

(with the greatest

composure)

You missed me, sir. I was sure you

would. Try again.

The others think he is mad, and had expected some kind of

discussion between the parties, but not a bit of it.

Dascher takes careful aim and fires a second shot, again

missing Roderick.

Without a word, but in a firm and confident manner,

Roderick fires his first shot into the air.

Dascher looks amazed. Then, aiming at Dascher with his

second pistol, he hits him in the center of the forehead

and stretches him out dead on the ground.

EXT. ROAD - DAY

Roderick and Chevalier traveling in their coach.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Thus is will be seen that our life,

for all its splendor was one of

extreme difficulty and danger,

requiring high talents and courage

for success, and sudden and

unexpected departures.

They meet a four-wheel carriage, drawn by two horses,

carrying a master and a servant.

The driver of the four-wheel carriage wants Roderick's

driver to make way for him.

Roderick's driver protests that if he does, he will upset

his master in the ditch, but the other insists.

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