Dogville Page #4

because there is nothing I can do.

I have never worked a day in my life, so.

You know, if you put some aloe on

those hands of yours they'll be better by morning.

It's the wood shavings.

I really do hate them.

But I do believe I'll take your advice.

Your hands are surely the most

alabaster hands I've ever seen.

Here comes Tom, how lucky we are.

Hi, all. Grace.. how is all going?

- Not very well, I'm afraid.

- Really?

No. Nobody needs any help.

Well, I thought that might be the case.

His plan to make everybody like me

has run into a few problems

because nobody wants me to work for them.

I would really like to offer something in return.

You're all running a terrible risk

having me here.

I mean, I am willing to learn.

There must be someone who needs help.

Mr. McKay's sight is not good.

Yes, I went to Mr. McKay.

I went to Martha and to Chuck and Vera's,

and nobody seems to need any help.

They all think everyone else needs

something, and not themselves.

Funny, that's exactly what Tom said.

I supposed he's pleased.

Just to prove him wrong,

maybe you can lend a hand here.

But Ginger, there really isn't anything

we need done.

Perhaps there's something

you don't need done?

Anything we don't need done?

Something.. something that you would like

done, but that you don't think is necessay.

What on earth would that be?

Maybe... maybe the gooseberry bushes.

The gooseberries are just fine,

thank you very much.

No. Not yours. The ones that planted

themselves in the tall grass.

We don't grow anything there.

Exactly. A bit of tiding up.

Who knows, those bushes might

one day bear fruit.

Yeah. That's true! Who knows..

All right, girl.

Those alabaster hands of yours are

hereby engaged to weed the wild gooseberry bushes.

Thank you!

Around.. like this, you see.

Anything to close them...

just be careful, that's all.

[Narrator] After a few of the wild little

gooseberry bushes had given up the ghost

in the care of Grace's as yet

unpracticed alabaster hands,

things began looking up

with the weeding and the town.

In fact it turned out there were not so few things

that the other townsfold of Dogville didn't need doing either.

As Ben had no home, Grace's domestic

experiments were absolutely things he didn't need,

but he put up with them anyhow,

appearing with astonishing punctuality

when the act of domesticity had been completed,

no matter how unpredictable business

hours in the freight industry might otherwise have been.

Olivia didn't need anyone to help June

to the toilet while she was at work,

as hitherto they had coped splendidly

with Olivia's excellent diaper arrangement.

If Jack McKay had needed a partner

for conversation he would surely have gone out

and gotten one for himself in the town.

So it was not out of need that he allowed

Grace to sit with him in his dark parlor

with the dramatic drapes on one wall

for lengthy discussions regarding

the underestimated qualities of the light on the East Coast.

As Martha wouldn't dream of burdening

the parish with wear and tear of the pedals and bellows,

while waiting for the new priest to be appointed,

she practiced without a note ever leaving the organ,

and was therefore not really

in need of anyone to turn her pages.

And God knows that Mr. and Mrs. Henson's son

did not need any help with his books,

and that the family had taken Grace

for her own sake.

And although Liz's hands had improved

through Grace's good counsel,

Thomas Edison was a doctor and

of indisputable health and he did not need care,

or help with the pills from the medicine

closet with its many secrets.

Actually Chuck was the only one

"not yet hooked", as Tom put it.

Hooked? You sound so arrogant!

Arrogance is the worst thing!

He doesn't like me.

And he has every right to feel that way.

Yeah. Listen!

Luckily I have prepared a Trojan horse.

A what?

Trojan horse.

We can get in by way of Vera.

There is this.. lecture tomorrow

in Georgetown, given by some professor.

Some intellectual thing.

But not so intellectual he can't tour

the provinces with it, anyway, the point is,

Vera she would do anything to go,

but she's got no one to mind Achilles while she is gone.

She trusts the girls mastering their iambs

and pentameters, but not with the little one.

So this is where you come in.

I said that you could watch him tomorrow afternoon.

Now, I will try and stall her on her way home

and with a bit of luck, Chuck'll get back before she does

and you can use the time and

all your charm to try and win him over.

I'll happily mind Achilles if Vera will let me.

But if he doesn't like me he doesn't like me.

[Narrator] Tom really was enchanted by this

unusual, mysterious creature.

And even though she did not satisfy

his curiosity by saying

anything about her past

so as not to put anyone in danger,

she still fitted Tom's mission to educate Dogville

on the subject of acceptance like a glove.

Tom felt content.

Grace had been dangling over the edge,

and he had been the one to pull her back onto the path.

It gave him a fine sensation of mastery,

new for him in terms of the opposite sex,

and his feelings unleashed the best

in his burgeoning love.

Hello. This is Dahlia, Olympia, Diana,

Athena, Pandora, Jason, Achilles.

Your children are lovely.

They are good kids. And I love them.

Please don't say any such nice things

about the kids. I cry too easily.

Both in sorrow and in joy.

- Hey, Vera.

- Oh, hi!

- Shall we go?

- I'm ready.

Thanks for leaving the map out.

I'd a plum forgot it, I'm sure.

How did you know I was going that far?

The last time I saw the thermos,

it was on the doorstep and the map was beside it,

so I just thought, when I saw the thermos

this time and no map, but...

You are a sweet girl, Grace.

Sweet as Miss Laura.

Who's Miss Laura?

You gave yourself again, Ben.

I think Miss Laura is

what Ovid might call a Maenad.

Oh, don't be ashamed, Ben.

We all have the right to make the most of our lives.

I'm sure that those ladies in those houses

they bring a lot of joy to a lot of men.

Ain't nothing I'm proud of.

It really ain't.

I know what you are doing here.

You do?

You want people to like you,

so you don't have to go away.

You are very smart.

Yes, I like it here in Dogville.

Do you want me to read to you?

About the Cyclops?

I don't like the Cyclops.

Two eyes are pretties, like yours.

If you want my Ma to like you, and let you stay.

You'll just have to be nice to me.

Maybe you should help me clean up instead.

Ma says I don't have to work,

'cept in my head.

Oh, but what about if I ask you, please?

Ok.

What are you doing here?

Didn't I tell you we don't need

no help from you?

Ma asked her to mind me and Achilles.

Quiet! Get out! The lot of you.

The same nonsense!

They'd have done just great in Antiquity,

no doubt.

How is it going otherwise,

with the fooling act?

I wasn't trying to fool anyone?

I mean Dogville.

Has it got you fooled yet?

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