Cat People Page #10
- 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:
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
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"Cat People" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/cat_people_832>.
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