Brooklyn Page #4

22 INT. CABIN. NIGHT 22

Georgina is pulling clothes out of Eilis’s case.

GEORGINA:

Nothing fancy. You mustn’t look

like a tart.

(CONTINUED)

23

24

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 15.

CONTINUED:
22

She carries on pulling the plain-looking clothes out of the

case.

GEORGINA (CONT’D)

Oh. Well. Looking like a tart isn’t

going to be a problem.

She finds a white dress with a red floral pattern.

GEORGINA (CONT’D)

That’s not too bad.

EILIS:

My sister gave me that.

GEORGINA:

Wear it with this...

She finds a plain cardigan.

GEORGINA (CONT’D)

And this.

She pulls out a plain scarf.

INT. IMMIGRATION CENTRE. DAY 23

Eilis is in the queue to get in to the immigration centre,

looking anxiously ahead of her. Her compatriots, men and

women and children, are all around her. She is wearing makeup,

and she looks very different - much less naive.

Over her shoulder, we see A VISTA OF THE MANHATTAN SKYLINE.

Eilis stares at it for a little while, wide-eyed.

GEORGINA (V.O.)

Don’t look too innocent. I’ll put

some rouge and mascara on you. And

perhaps some eye-liner.

INT. IMMIGRATION CENTRE. DAY 24

Eilis inside, approaching the officials. We watch with her as

a family is in the process of being turned away: a man, his

wife, a toddler and a baby. The woman (and baby) are crying,

the man distraught. They are clearly poor: the man’s boots

have holes in them.

GEORGINA (V.O.)

Polish your shoes, and don’t cough,

whatever you do. And stand up

straight.

Eilis remembers to stand tall. She’s looking at all the

people around her, and the hard-luck stories they represent.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 16.

24 CONTINUED:
24

A few minutes later. Eilis is showing her papers to the

official.

GEORGINA (V.O.)

Don’t be rude, or pushy, but don’t

look nervous.

It’s as if Eilis remembers the advice even as we’re hearing

it:
she suddenly lifts her eyes from the official’s shoulders

towards a point ahead of him - towards America.

GEORGINA (V.O.)

Think like an American. You have to

know where you’re going.

The official hands Eilis her papers back and ushers her

through. She walks towards the light on the other side, and

suddenly the sun blanches out everything; we just see a

silhouette, walking into nowhere.

25 EXT. MRS. KEHOE’S STREET. EARLY EVENING 25

Eilis is struggling with her suitcase down a dimly-lit

Brooklyn residential street.

26 INT. DINING ROOM, MRS. KEHOE’S HOUSE. EVENING 26

Round a dining table in a basement kitchen are five girls,

including Eilis, and a middle-aged lady. This is the

impeccably-dressed landlady of Eilis’s lodging-house in

Brooklyn, MRS KEHOE. The girls are standing and holding

hands, while Mrs Kehoe says grace, so we get a good look at

them.

Two of the girls - PATTY and DIANA - are young and

attractive. Patty is the only native American in the house -

the rest are Irish. Patty and Diana are a double-act, firm

friends and quick to defend each other. SHEILA is older,

glamorous in a femme fatale way, with a chequered history.

There is constant tension between Patty and Diana on one side

and Sheila on the other. MISS MCADAM is prim, plain,

bespectacled, severe-looking and from Belfast.

MRS KEHOE:

Bless us, oh Lord, and these thy

gifts which we are about to receive

from thy bounty through Christ our

Lord, Amen.

MISS MCADAM:

Amen.

Patty and Diana exchange glances and try not to laugh at Miss

McAdam’s piety. Everyone sits down to eat.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 17.

26 CONTINUED:
26

MRS KEHOE:

I saw you had a letter today,

Diana. Any news?

DIANA:

Mr de Valera has had another

operation on his eyes, she says.

He’s been in Holland.

MRS KEHOE:

(dismissively)

I don’t want news I can read in a

newspaper.

SHEILA:

(artfully)

Anyway, we would describe Mr de

Valera as “politics”, would we not,

Mrs Kehoe? And we do not like

politics at the dinner table.

Her firmness is parodic - she’s making fun of Mrs Kehoe, who

seems not to notice.

MRS KEHOE:

We don’t.

DIANA:

(aggrieved)

It’s not politics, to talk about

eye operations.

MRS KEHOE:

It is if the eyes belong to a

politician. And I don’t like to

talk about hospitals very much,

either. Patty, have you had any

luck with that cold cream?

PATTY:

No, Mrs Kehoe. It still hasn’t come

in. I asked Miss Tyler in

Cosmetics. And I showed her the

advertisement.

MRS KEHOE:

I don’t want to have to travel all

the way to Manhattan for a jar of

cold cream. Maybe you could have a

look in Bartocci’s for me, Eilis?

EILIS:

Yes, Mrs Kehoe.

SHEILA:

Oh, Bartocci’s is bound to have it.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 18.

26 CONTINUED:
26

Patty rolls her eyes.

DIANA:

She doesn’t know for sure, Mrs

Kehoe. She’s saying that Bartocci’s

is a better store than Webster’s,

just to get at Patty.

MRS KEHOE:

They’re both very good, and you

girls are lucky to be working

there. Eilis, from the look of you,

you have greasy skin, is that

right? What do you do about that?

EILIS:

(embarrassed)

Just...Well, I wash it, Mrs Kehoe.

With soap.

MISS MCADAM:

There’s nothing wrong with soap.

Soap was good enough for Our Lord.

I expect.

MRS KEHOE:

And which brand did he use, Miss

McAdam? Does the Bible tell you

that?

DIANA:

And our Lord was a man, anyway. He

didn’t care about greasy skin.

Mrs Kehoe shakes her head in disbelief.

MRS KEHOE:

(sternly)

Ladies. No more talk about Our

Lord’s complexion at dinner,

please. (Beat) Girls, you will help

Eilis find something suitable,

won’t you?

There are enthusiastic murmurings of consent. Eilis tries to

look pleased.

27 INT. BEDROOM. NIGHT 27

Eilis in the dark in her small bedroom, trying to sleep. It’s

hot, and the house is alive with noise, even late at night.

There are footsteps on the ceiling above her, and the sound

of a lavatory chain flushing through the wall. Down the

hallway, there is the sound of a whispered conversation

between two of the girls. Eilis gives up on sleep, opens her

eyes properly and stares at the ceiling.

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 19.

28 EXT. MRS KEHOE’S STREET. DAY 28

Early morning. Eilis shutting the door of Mrs Kehoe’s

brownstone behind her. She walks up the quiet street.

29 EXT. FULTON STREET. DAY 29

The camera picks Eilis out in the bustle of people. She’s

waiting to cross the road; on the other side is Bartocci’s,

the department store where she works.

30 INT. STAFF ROOM, BARTOCCI’S. DAY 30

Eilis takes her clock card from the holder in the wall, puts

it in the machine, waits for the heavy thud of the punch,

puts the card back in the holder. She walks to her locker,

puts on the blue uniform that all the female shop assistants

wear. As she changes, a colleague, DOROTHY - the same age as

Eilis, but chattier, - and cattier - starts to change at the

locker next to hers.

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