Cat People Page #10

Synopsis: Cat People is a 1982 American erotic horror film directed by Paul Schrader and starring Nastassja Kinski and Malcolm McDowell. Jerry Bruckheimer served as executive producer. Alan Ormsby wrote the screenplay, basing it loosely on the story by DeWitt Bodeen, the screenwriter for the acclaimed original 1942 Cat People. Giorgio Moroder composed the film's score, including the theme song which features lyrics and vocals by David Bowie
Director(s): Paul Schrader
Production: Universal Pictures
  Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
6.1
Metacritic:
62
Rotten Tomatoes:
64%
R
Year:
1982
118 min
930 Views


INSERT THE KEY in the panther cage lock.

BACK TO SCENE. Irena pushes aside the little gate, gets the

key, stands with it for a moment in her hands, and then runs

after the keeper. She holds it out toward him.

IRENA:

You forgot your key.

KEEPER:

(taking the key)

Ah, I'm always forgettin' it,

'Tain't no worry in It. Nobody'd

steal one of them creatures.

He moves on, muttering his monotonous song to himself. Irena

returns to the little gate. Dr. Judd is now standing where

she had formerly stood. He is smiling at her.

She lets herself out of the gate and stands beside him. He

leans on his cane with a great air of nonchalant ease.

JUDD:

You resist temptation admirably.

IRENA:

Temptation?

JUDD:

The key.

IRENA:

Why would I want it?

JUDD:

For many reasons. There is, in some

cases, a psychic need to loose evil

upon the world. And we all of us

carry within us a desire for death.

You fear the panther; yet you are

drawn to him again and again. Could

you not turn to him as an

instrument of death?

(a pause)

You didn't come back to see me

Friday. I've had to come to you.

IRENA:

(bewildered)

How did you know where to find me?

JUDD:

(smiling)

You told me many things.

Irena looks away.

Irena and Dr. Judd as SHOT from within the panther's cage.

The black panther moves from time to time in the foreground,

sometimes blotting one and then the other character from

view. Irena and Judd are seen through the bars of the cage.

JUDD (cont'd)

Why didn't you come back?

IRENA:

I don't feel that you can help me.

You are very wise. You know a great

deal. Yet when you speak of the

soul, you mean the mind...and it is

not my mind that is troubled.

JUDD:

What a clever girl! All the

psychologists, all the theologians

have tried for centuries to find

that subtle shade of difference

between mind and soul...and you

have found it!

IRENA:

(apologetically, turning

away)

It does seem presumptuous of me,

doesn't it? Good-bye, Doctor.

She starts off. The CAMERA STAYS with her, as we hear o.s.

Judd's voice.

JUDD'S VOICE

I can cut one thread of fear for

you.

Irena turns back to him questioningly, and he smiles at her,

as he joins her on the walk.

JUDD:

Your mother. Do you remember her?

IRENA:

Yes. My mother was a peasant. She

was lovely...quiet and strong...a

big woman.

The doctor takes one of her hands and holds it up before her.

JUDD:

And this aristocratic little

hand...is this a peasant hand? The

little bones of this wrist...are

they peasant bones?

(drops her hand and looks

at her)

The mystery of your father is very

simple. Perhaps a young aristocrat

from Belgrade... maybe an artist on

a sketching trip. And your

mother..fresh and attractive, as

peasant girls are when they are

young.

(making a little gesture

with his cane)

It's quite clear � a hasty marriage...a brief pastoral � and

then he disappears.

JUDD (cont'd)

No wonder your mother never spoke

of him...that the village people

drew aside from her. As for the

children who teased you...who would

explain his absence to them?

Naturally, they could only go by

old wives' tales of cat women and

violence,

(pauses, looking closely

at Irena)

I'm right, am I not?

Irena pauses thoughtfully for a moment.

IRENA:

(quietly)

But what of my mother's death?

JUDD:

Her death? You didn't tell me.

IRENA:

(still quietly)

I held her hand when she died. That

hand...even as I held it... turned

to the black paw of a panther. I

felt the coarse hair, the sharp

talons, the pads...I felt them... I

saw her lying, black... I saw that.

She pauses and looks at Judd, who is frowning at her; she

speaks, almost with a note of triumph,

IRENA (cont'd)

What little pastoral, Doctor... do

you have to explain that?

JUDD:

(confidently)

You were a child?

IRENA:

I was thirteen when my mother died.

JUDD:

Why did she die?

IRENA:

There was an epidemic in the

village.

JUDD:

And you were sick, feverish,

delirious, when your mother died?

IRENA:

No. I was called from school. I

can remember it so clearly. I came

through the fields. The meadow

larks were singing, and the sun was

shining. I carried the knapsack of

school books in my hand. I

remember I could not believe that

on such a day anyone could die. I

was not delirious.

JUDD:

There is a delirium in great

grief. There are the illusions of

bereavement.

IRENA:

The priest would not come into our

house when he saw what was on the

bed. Was his also an illusion of

grief?

Dr. Judd has no answer to make for a moment. He flicks a leaf

from the path with his cane, then smiles at her.

JUDD:

There is always an explanation for

every phenomenon. We shall find the

reasonable explanation for this

one.

Irena gives him a scornful look of disbelief, and turns away

as we

DISSOLVE:

INT. DRAFTING OFFICE - DAY

TWO SHOT of Oliver and Alice. They are at a plotting table,

Oliver is holding a slide rule in his hand, and is calling

out numbers as she moves the batten. He looks at the number

on the hairline, and calls It off to Alice.

OLIVER:

Toward the sheer line...sixty-two

degrees --

Alice moves the batten with which she is plotting the curve

of a bulkhead to the measurement Oliver has given her. It

takes a sharp, awkward bend. She looks up at Oliver and

points at the batten.

ALICE:

Hey!

Oliver looks at the batten, grins ruefully and apologizes!

OLIVER:

I'm sorry. Must have given you the

wrong figure. Let me try again.

ALICE:

(coming round the table to

him)

Wait. Let's have a cigarette

first.

They go toward the water cooler, as he fishes through his

pockets for a package of cigarettes. Alice takes a cigarette,

taps it on her nail, and smiles at him.

ALICE (cont'd)

That's the third wrong figure

you've given me this morning.

OLIVER:

Getting careless in my old ago.

ALICE:

Something's on your mind. Anything

wrong?

OLIVER:

No.

They have reached the water cooler. She lights her

cigarette, and accepts the cup of water he hands to her. He

draws another cup for himself. She grins at him, as she

waves away the first strong puff of smoke from her cigarette.

ALICE:

(lightly)

Must be marriage.

OLIVER:

In a way, it is. I'm worried about

Irena.

ALICE:

I thought she was going to Dr.

Judd.

OLIVER:

That's what I thought. But I

bumped Into Judd this morning,

and she hasn't been there since

the first visit.

ALICE:

But you told me she seemed anxious

to be cured.

OLIVER:

Apparently not.

Alice crumples up the paper cup and drops It into the waste

basket.

ALICE:

I'm sorry, Oliver. It must make you

very unhappy.

OLIVER:

(thoughtfully, simply)

You know...it's a funny thing...

I've never been unhappy before.

Things have always gone swell for

me. I had a grand time as a

kid...lots of fun at school... at

the office here with you, and the

Commodore, and Doc. That's why I

don't know what to do about all

this. I've just never been unhappy.

Alice looks at him. Suddenly she begins to cry. Oliver looks

at her in astonishment, takes a quick glance to see that the

other workers in the office have not noticed, and quickly

leads her around behind the filing cabinets.

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DeWitt Bodeen

DeWitt Bodeen (July 25, 1908, Fresno, California — March 12, 1988, Los Angeles, California) was a film screenwriter and television writer best known for writing Cat People (1942). more…

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