Calvary Page #15

---

FITZGERALD appears and approaches, unheard. Eventually

LAVELLE turns, flinching at FITZGERALD’s proximity.

FITZGERALD:

Thinking of throwing yourself in?

They say it’s the easy way out.

LAVELLE:

Nothing easy about it, I wouldn’t

have thought.

They look out at the ocean.

FITZGERALD:

I’m in a bad way, Father.

LAVELLE looks at him.

FITZGERALD:

I’m not putting you on. I’ve been

in a bad way for a long time.

LAVELLE:

Have you spoken to a psychia-

FITZGERALD:

Ah they just load you up on pills.

Ask you about your feelings for

your mother. Same auld shite since

the ‘20s.

LAVELLE:

How does this...this feeling down...

How does it manifest itself?

(CONTINUED)

88.

99 CONTINUED:
99

FITZGERALD:

Not wanting to do anything. Finding

nothing worthwhile. A sense of...

disassociation. Detachment.

LAVELLE:

You have a lot to be thankful for,

objectively.

FITZGERALD:

I had a wife and kids and they meant

nothing to me. I have money and it

means nothing to me. I have life and

it means nothing to me.

LAVELLE:

Where do you think this sense of

detachment comes from?

FITZGERALD:

From nowhere.

(pause)

From nowhere.

LAVELLE studies FITZGERALD as FITZGERALD looks out to sea.

He is obviously sincere, and in a lot of pain.

LAVELLE:

I have to meet someone now, but I’ll

call up to the house after. We’ll

talk. Get you back on track. Okay?

FITZGERALD:

Thank you, Father. Thank you.

LAVELLE puts an arm around his shoulders. FITZGERALD leans

into him, resting his head in the crook of LAVELLE’s neck.

100

EXT. HOTEL BALCONY - MORNING 100

FIONA on her cellphone. Coffee beside her. Dublin skyline.

FIONA:

Y’know, you changed the subject,

the other day when we were talking.

101

EXT. PAYPHONE - MORNING 101

LAVELLE on the payphone.

LAVELLE:

What was the subject?

102

EXT/INT. EASKEY - MORNING 102

As they speak, we see images of the locations where they

spent time together, these locations now deserted --

(CONTINUED)

89.

102 CONTINUED:
102

Train station. Lynch’s bar. Lavelle’s room. Country road.

Easkey River. Split-rock. Confessional. Church ruins.

Rectory exterior. Restaurant. Beach. Shoreline.

FIONA (V.O.)

You know what the subject was.

I think you committed a sin of

omission there, if truth be told.

LAVELLE (V.O.)

Sure there are worse sins than sins

of omission.

FIONA (V.O.)

Well now you’d be the expert in that

department, Father.

LAVELLE (V.O.)

You’ll have to defer to me, so.

FIONA (V.O.)

I suppose I will.

LAVELLE (V.O.)

I think there’s too much talk about

sins, to be honest, and not enough

talk about virtues.

FIONA (V.O.)

You might be right. What would be your

number one?

LAVELLE (V.O.)

I think forgiveness has been highly

underrated.

FIONA (V.O.)

(after a pause)

I forgive you. Do you forgive me?

LAVELLE (V.O.)

Always.

103

EXT. EASKEY - MORNING 103

SLOW-MOTION TRACKING SHOT following LAVELLE as he walks

through the town. It is still early. He sees no one.

Suddenly, GERALD RYAN appears in front of him -

RYAN:

Father.

LAVELLE:

Little early for Mass.

(CONTINUED)

90.

103 CONTINUED:
103

RYAN:

Doctor Harte was out fishing at the

crack of dawn. He begrudgingly gave

me a ride. He’s a wonderful doctor,

but a completely appalling human

being. Where are you headed?

LAVELLE:

Just down to the beach there.

RYAN:

Want some company?

LAVELLE:

Not really, no. Maybe later.

RYAN:

Fair enough. I won’t keep you.

He starts to move off, leaning on his shillelagh.

LAVELLE:

Did you finish your book?

RYAN:

I did. Not sure how good it is...

LAVELLE:

I’m sure it’ll be grand.

You’re a fine writer.

RYAN:

(moved)

Thank you, James.

LAVELLE nods and walks on.

104

EXT. BEACH - MORNING 104

LAVELLE comes down onto the beach. Looks around -

LAVELLE’s POV -- there is no one to be seen on the beach.

But far off, some SURFERS are riding the waves.

He strides out, a lone figure out for a Sunday stroll. The

surf rolling in.

105

EXT. SAND DUNES - MORNING 105

MICHE.L is painting with oils. A canvas set up on an

easel. He pauses --

MICHE.L’s POV -- LAVELLE looking out to sea. And then a

second MAN, approaching from the right.

106

EXT. BEACH - MORNING 106

LAVELLE turns and sees the MAN approaching -

(CONTINUED)

91.

106 CONTINUED:
106

LAVELLE’s POV -- the MAN gradually defines himself as JACK

BRENNAN. Wearing a plain white shirt, the cuffs turned up,

ordinary black trousers, black shoes.

As BRENNAN nears LAVELLE, he takes a gun from a trouser

pocket and holds it loosely at his side.

BRENNAN:

Take your hands out of your pockets.

Slowly.

LAVELLE:

Why?

BRENNAN:

I heard you had a gun.

LAVELLE slowly removes his hands from the pockets of his

soutane and turns them palms up.

BRENNAN:

Have to say I’m surprised. Thought

I’d have to go looking for you.

LAVELLE:

Just because I’m here, doesn’t mean

you have to go through with it.

BRENNAN:

Yes it does. It’s one of those...

self-fulfilling prophecies.

Did you really think it’d come to

this, though, hah?

LAVELLE:

I was hoping it wouldn’t. I thought

you were a friend of mine.

BRENNAN:

Ah sure, a friend is just an enemy

you haven’t made yet.

LAVELLE:

Cheap cynicism.

BRENNAN:

No, not cheap, now. That’s a cynicism

that was hard-won. That’s a cynicism

that was earned after a hell of a lot

of psychological and physical torture.

LAVELLE:

I take it back, then. But it’s

cynicism all the same. That’s the

difference between us, I suppose.

BRENNAN:

That’s not the only difference.

92.

107

OMITTED 107

*

108

EXT. BEACH - MORNING 108

BRENNAN looks out over the waves. LAVELLE appraising him.

BRENNAN:

Any regrets?

LAVELLE:

Yeah. I never got to finish Moby Dick.

BRENNAN:

The whale kills Ahab.

LAVELLE:

Is that right?

BRENNAN:

Then he destroys the rest of the

ship and the crew along with it.

All except for Ishmael. He alone

escapes to tell thee.

They look at each other for a long moment.

LAVELLE:

The burning of the church I understand.

But you didn’t have to kill

my dog.

BRENNAN:

I didn’t kill your dog.

Why would I do a thing like that?

LAVELLE:

I found him. Out in the field.

His throat had been cut.

BRENNAN:

Nothing to do with me. I am wholly

innocent of that crime.

(pause)

I did give Veronica a shove that *

one time, though. I admit that and *

I’m sorry for it. *

(pause)

Did it upset you? The dog?

LAVELLE:

Yes it did.

(CONTINUED)

93.

108 CONTINUED:

BRENNAN:

Did you cry?

LAVELLE:

Yes I did.

BRENNAN:

That’s nice. And when you read about

what your fellow priests did to all

those poor children down all those

years, did you cry then?

LAVELLE looks blankly at him.

BRENNAN:

I asked you a question. Did you cry

then?

LAVELLE:

No.

BRENNAN:

That’s right.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote