Brooklyn Page #8

admit that God gave Miss McAdam an

advantage, when I had to think

about who I could trust to live

down there. You’re a pretty girl,

Eilis, but you’re sensible. So.

You’re having the room and that’s

that. If you’re working tomorrow,

you can pack tonight, and I’ll have

your things moved in the morning.

EILIS:

Will the other girls not mind?

MRS KEHOE:

(with satisfaction)

Oh, I expect so. What don’t they

mind?

She drains her sherry.

MRS KEHOE (CONT’D)

It’s been a long day.

Eilis realises this is her cue to leave.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 34.

51 CONTINUED:
51

EILIS:

Thank you, Mrs Kehoe.

She puts her sherry down and leaves the room, leaving Mrs

Kehoe staring into the fire.

52 INT. DINING ROOM, MRS. KEHOE’S HOUSE. EVENING 52

There has been a significant change at the dinner table:

DOLORES, an Irish country girl - red hair, freckles, slow on

the uptake - has replaced Miss McAdam. There is an atmosphere

around the table that is new - the teasing and occasional

outbreaks of bitchiness have been replaced by a sullen and

resentful silence. It becomes clear that the ill-will is

directed at the newcomer.

Mrs Kehoe attempts to change the atmosphere.

MRS KEHOE:

Girls, you’ll take Dolores to the

dance with you on Saturday night,

won’t you?

DOLORES:

(delighted)

There’s a dance?

MRS KEHOE:

Down at the parish hall. Father

Flood doesn’t think there’s enough

for you girls to do at the

weekends.

DIANA:

Oh, there’s plenty for us to do. He

just doesn’t want us doing it.

Laughter around the table.

MRS KEHOE:

There’ll be no alcohol, but you can

have fun without it.

DIANA:

(with obvious insincerity)

Oh, Patty and I aren’t going this

week. We’re... going to see a movie

instead.

Eilis watches the dynamic carefully. She doesn’t want to get

involved.

MRS KEHOE:

Well, I’m sure Dolores would enjoy

a movie just as well.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 35.

52 CONTINUED:
52

DOLORES:

I would, very much. There are so

many more movies here in New York

than in Cavan.

SHEILA:

Yes, it’s surprising, isn’t it?

You’d think it would be the other

way around.

Patty sniggers. Diana gives one of her awful laughs. The

dynamic of the group has clearly changed, with the advent of

Dolores:
the relationship between Patty/Diana and Sheila is

less adversarial.

PATTY:

Of course, you’d be welcome to join

us, Dolores. So long as you don’t

mind being a gooseberry.

MRS KEHOE:

Ah, so you both miraculously found

boyfriends over the last couple of

days, did you? Well, I hope you

have more luck with these than you

did with the last few.

Sheila cannot resist a smile of satisfaction.

MRS KEHOE:

Will you be going, Eilis?

EILIS:

Yes, Mrs Kehoe.

MRS KEHOE:

Well, you can look after Dolores,

then.

EILIS:

Of course.

53 INT. BEDROOM, MRS KEHOE’S HOUSE. NIGHT 53

Eilis is writing a letter in her new bedroom. It is so much

bigger and nicer than her previous room - it has a fire, a

rocking chair, rugs on the floor, and a desk, at which she is

sitting. She has photographs of Rose and her mother up on the

mantelpiece. Suddenly there is a knock on the door. Eilis

walks over and opens it - Patty and Diana are standing there.

DIANA:

(whispering)

We need to talk to you.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 36.

53 CONTINUED:
53

EILIS:

What is it now?

She pointedly doesn’t ask them in.

PATTY:

It’s that Dolores. She’s a

scrubber.

Diana starts to laugh, and Patty claps a hand over her mouth.

PATTY:

It’s true. She cleans houses. We

can’t have her at the table with

us. We’re shopgirls and

stenographers, not scrubbers.

EILIS:

I’m trying to study.

She begins to close the door in their faces.

DIANA:

A scrubber, from Cavan, living

under...

Eilis closes the door.

DIANA (O.S.)

...our roof?

54 EXT. PARISH HALL. NIGHT 54

Dolores and Eilis are queueing to get into the dance. We’ve

seen this before, back in Ireland, with Eilis and Nancy. But

Dolores is no Nancy. She has made a huge and grotesquely

misplaced effort for the dance. She’s wearing a cheap leather

jacket, a frilly white blouse and white skirt, black

stockings and garish bright red lipstick. Eilis’s discomfort

is acute.

And the surroundings are different, too. A group of African

American men are sitting on steps nearby, playing a game with

dice; two men wearing yarmulkes walk through the queue.

55 INT. PARISH HALL. NIGHT 55

Inside, however, Ireland has been successfully recreated:

there’s the non-alcoholic bar, the nearly empty dance-floor,

the Irish musicians. Eilis is sitting next to Dolores on a

wooden bench, watching the dancing. Eilis looks bored and

unhappy.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 37.

55 CONTINUED:
55

DOLORES:

God, there’s nobody here. How are

we supposed to get a fella if

there’s nobody here?

EILIS:

I expect most people will come

after nine.

DOLORES:

People? Or fellas?

EILIS:

Some of the people will be fellas.

DOLORES:

I’d love to meet a fella.

Eilis closes her eyes despairingly.

DOLORES:

Have you had an American fella? Are

they different?

Eilis ignores her.

DOLORES:

(twittering, in a rush)

My aunt went with an American fella

once, in London, after the war. She

said he was different. I’ve always

wondered what she meant. I wish

she’d told me.

EILIS:

(dry)

I don’t suppose it was anything

terribly complicated.

Eilis shuffles down the bench a little way. Suddenly the

doors burst open and a group of people come in - mostly young

women, but a couple of young men, too. Patty and Diana,

dressed up to the nines, are among them. Immediately the

atmosphere in the hall changes. More people start to dance,

there’s more laughter and enjoyment.

DOLORES:

They came! The liars!

Eilis ignores her again. Dolores shuffles up to her on the

bench.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 38.

55 CONTINUED:
55

DOLORES:

Did you see? What a pair of

b*tches. That’s what the old woman

called them. She said they were all

b*tches, apart from you.

Eilis has had enough. She has had enough of Dolores; she has

had enough of being the kind of person who will look after

Dolores. She hesitates for a moment, then stands up and goes

to talk to Patty and Diana.

PATTY:

(recognising the symbolism

of the moment, and

amused)

Well, hello.

EILIS:

Hello. It’s good to see you.

PATTY:

I can see why. I don’t know what

you looked like, sitting there, but

you sure didn’t look like you were

having a good time.

Patty appraises her.

PATTY:

Come with me.

56 INT. BATHROOM. NIGHT 56

We see the reflection of the girls in the mirror as Patty

fiddles with Eilis’s hair.

PATTY:

I know.

She rummages around in her handbag and pulls out a couple of

hair-grips. She uses them to put Eilis’s hair up for her.

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