Before I Go to Sleep

Who are you?

I'm your husband. Ben.

What?

We got married in 1999.

That's 14 years ago.

Uh...

Christine, you're 40.

You had an accident.

It was a bad accident.

You had head injuries.

And you have problems

remembering things.

What things? What...

Everything. You store up

information for a day

and when you wake up

in the morning, it's all gone,

you're back to your early 20s.

It'll be okay.

Just... trust me.

- I'm scared.

- I know.

I know, it's all right.

I love you.

I love you, Christine.

We've been married for 14 years.

We met during your last term at King's.

You were doing an MA in History

and we got married

a couple of years after that.

Wife have been perfectly happy

with the registry office...

...but you wanted a white wedding.

I hated every moment of it

until I saw you walking down the aisle.

Is every day like this?

Is every day the same?

That's just a list of everything

you might need.

And where you'll find it.

Aspirin, first aid,

sanitary towels, toiletries.

Couple of things you're allergic to.

And, uh...

Well, it's a list of things to do.

You like to keep busy.

"Pack bag. "

Today's our anniversary.

I'm taking you away.

- Tonight. After work.

- Where?

That's a surprise.

A nice one.

You'll understand when we get there,

I promise.

I love you, Christine.

Christine?

Yes?

It's Dr Nasch.

That'll mean nothing to you,

I know, but don't worry.

We've been doing some work

on your memory. All right?

Trying to figure out precisely

what's caused your problem

and whether there's

anything we can do to fix it.

Ben didn't say anything about this.

I'm not certain that Ben knows.

I don't understand.

Christine, I want you to do

something for me.

I want you to

open the wardrobe in your bedroom.

Your wardrobe in the bedroom.

We're looking for something.

Hidden at the bottom of the wardrobe,

at the back, in a drawer.

- What am I looking for?

- We're looking for a shoe box.

- Can you see it?

- No.

The right-hand wardrobe

nearest the bathroom.

Have you found the camera, Christine?

Yes.

On the top, right-hand side

of the camera is a power button.

I want you to switch the camera on.

Now I want you to hit the "play" button

on the back of the camera.

My name is Christine,

Christine Lucas.

I'm 40 years old and I'm an amnesiac.

Tonight, as I sleep, my mind

will erase everything,

everything that I know today.

Everything that I did today.

And I will wake up tomorrow,

like I did this morning,

thinking that I have

my whole life ahead of me.

And the truth is...

The truth is half my life is over.

Oh, sh*t. He's coming.

Admittedly,

this isn't a run-of-the-mill

doctor-patient relationship.

Picking you up at home,

driving you to my office.

Seeing you without

your husband's knowledge.

Are you all right?

I saw you in the park six months ago,

quite by chance.

You'd been referred to me

by a colleague

but I'd had absolutely no luck

getting hold of you. In fact,

I recognised you from

your photograph in the file.

I explained that

I was a neuropsychologist

and that I was preparing a paper

on atypical psychogenic amnesia,

and that I was prepared to treat you

on a pro bono basis.

You agreed to give me

the telephone numbers

you had written in your diary.

I called you a few days later.

You didn't remember meeting me,

of course,

but you did consent to see me again.

Later that day you told me

you'd mentioned the possibility

of further treatment to Ben,

who made it very clear to you

you'd received extensive attention

in the past

and it had done nothing

other than to upset you.

After you.

I want you to keep a visual diary.

I've set the time and the date,

I've put in the biggest

memory chip I can find.

It'll allow you to hold on

to the previous day's memories.

And even if the periods

before and after the attack

remain blank, at least this will

bring some continuity...

Attack?

What attack?

Ten years ago...

you were found on an industrial estate

not far from here.

According to the medical report,

your injuries were commensurate

with repeated blows to the head.

No. No, my husband said

that I had an accident.

I'm sure of it.

I have a copy of

the medical report here.

Some newspaper articles. Mostly tabloid.

There's very little information

about the actual attack.

"Left for dead"?

Someone tried to kill me?

Who? Who tried to kill me?

No one knows.

- What?

- No one but you.

I don't think Ben should know

about the camera.

It's your diary.

I think it's important you don't feel...

constrained by the thought

of Ben checking up

on your innermost thoughts and feelings.

If I don't tell Ben, how will I know

the camera even exists?

You could hide it

at the bottom of your wardrobe.

At the back.

I'll call you in the morning

to remind you.

Was that a yes or a no?

I want to get well.

You still wanna be just friends

But how can we still be friends

when seeing you...

And there ain't nothing

I can do about it

My name...

My name is Christine Lucas.

I'm 40, 40 years old

and I'm an amnesiac.

Get out my life why don't ya, babe?

Tonight, as I sleep,

my mind will erase everything I know,

everything I did today.

And I will wake up tomorrow...

And the truth is half my life is over.

And I...

Oh, sh*t. He's coming.

Christine?

We've been married for 14 years.

We met during your last term at King's.

You were doing an MA in History.

We got married

a couple of years after that.

I still teach at a school

round the corner.

I'm the head of

the chemistry department.

What do I do?

You stay at home.

What, I don't do anything? I don't...

I don't study? I don't work from home?

I just sit around all day?

You store up information for a day.

And when you wake up in the morning,

it's all gone.

You're back to your early 20s, Chris.

And tonight,

as I sleep, my mind...

My mind will erase everything

that I know,

everything that I did today.

And I will wake up tomorrow,

like I did this morning,

thinking that I have

my whole life ahead of me.

God, without this, I would believe

anything that he says. Anything.

That you had a car accident?

I wonder what else he lies about?

If we want to keep this

between ourselves,

I can't risk calling on the house phone

when Ben's home.

Why is he hiding the attack?

Perhaps it's just easier.

- God!

- Sorry.

I wish I wasn't so frightened

all of the time.

Do you really think this is a good idea?

There are plenty of

case histories of patients

going back to where

they suffered trauma.

Actually, it's very rarely effective.

So why are we doing it?

We're building trust.

Hang on a minute.

- Mr Nancarrow?

- Yeah.

I'm Dr Nasch, we spoke on the phone.

Dr Nasch, yeah.

I'll have to call you back.

Careful.

Got quite a fright when I first saw you.

Here, just down here.

That's where I found you.

Would you describe

exactly what you saw?

I don't know,

it was a long time ago.

Well, just tell us

what you remember.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes