Elle Page #11

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H.L.NE

I tell Richard- he’s so negative.

He’s too young to be a curmudgeon.

Under the table, Michelle lets her knee graze Patrick’s. Hereacts with surprise, then looks away. Pretending nothinghappened. Vincent hands the baby back to Josie, goes into the

kitchen. Michelle escalates the game of “footsie”, slippingoff her shoe, running a foot up the length of his leg.

Patrick smiles uncertainly. Robert observes this, looks at

Michelle, sees her smiling to herself... Michelle’s foot isjust at Patrick’s groin as Irene stands...

IRENE:

I guess this is as good a time asany. I have an announcement. Cuethe drum-roll... Rafe and I are

engaged to be married.

Rebecca cheers. Everyone else reacts with more politeclapping. Except Michelle who bursts out laughing.

MICHELLE:

I’m sorry... excuse me but how doyou manage to be so ludicrous?

59.

Her mother’s face wrinkles up but she doesn’t answer. A pallfalls over the table - broken only by Vincent returning fromthe kitchen with pie.

VINCENT:

Hope everybody’s ok with blueberries.

Josie put a ton in this. They’re not

even in the official recipe.

Everybody murmurs compliments, making a big deal over the pieto cover up the awkwardness. Josie basks in it.

JOSIE:

It was an experiment.

73 EXT. MICHELLE’S HOUSE - LATER 73

Michelle smokes a cigarette out on the patio. In the b.g.,

the guests migrate from the dining table to the living room.

Rebecca approaches from inside to speak to Michelle-

REBECCA:

It’s almost midnight. Do you mindif I put on the mass?

MICHELLE:

By all means.

Michelle sees Richard and H.l.ne, coats in hand, getting

ready to go. She quickly puts out her cigarette...

74 INT. MICHELLE’S HOUSE -- CONTINUOUS 74

...and comes back inside to see Richard and H.l.ne off.

MICHELLE:

Taking off already?

H.L.NE

It’s my fault. I have familyobligations.

RICHARD:

This was wonderful, though,

Michelle. Really. Next time’s ourturn. You’ll come to us.

MICHELLE:

That’ll be wonderful, but there’s no

reason to rush it.

60.

H.L.NE

Let us handle it, Richard. We’ll

have lunch together first, Michelleand I. Just the two of us. Take

things one step at a time.

MICHELLE:

(sincerely impressed)

I agree.

RICHARD:

Well, great.

Michelle takes H.l.ne’s hand. To Richard-

MICHELLE:

Drive safe.

It sounds like:
“I love you.” Filled with pining and regret.

Richard kisses her and he and H.l.ne head out the door. So as

not to watch them go, Michelle heads to the kitchen.

Robert, sulking, has switched to Scotch. He follows her.

75 INT. MICHELLE’S HOUSE - KITCHEN -- CONTINUOUS 75

Robert corners Michelle out of sight of the doorway.

ROBERT:

Your idiotic flirting with thebanker - was that for my benefit?

MICHELLE:

Are you going to make a scene in myhome, Robert? Is this the kind of

thing I can expect now?

ROBERT:

(seething)

We can talk later.

He turns to return to the party. She stops him.

MICHELLE:

Hold on... Your prop.

She hands him a cup of coffee to take with him.

61.

76 INT. MICHELLE’S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT 76

Michelle returns with more coffee. Rebecca and her mother are

watching a broadcast of the Midnight Mass, live from theVatican. Chanting voices fill the room (continuously, in thebackground during the rest of the scene). The others areplaying the Trivia Madness. Patrick sips cognac alone.

Michelle sits down next to him. Looks at the mass on the TV.

MICHELLE:

Close the book, ring the bell, blow

out the candle.

PATRICK:

What’s that?

MICHELLE:

What kind of Catholic are you? You

never heard the rite of

excommunication?

PATRICK:

Have you?

MICHELLE:

From time to time.

She smiles, like a mischievous child plotting something.

MICHELLE (CONT’D)

My father always made the sign of

the cross on my forehead before I

went out the door to go to school.

Actually, he did it to all the kids

on our block. Some parents finally

asked him to stop.

PATRICK:

I guess I can see why.

MICHELLE:

My father apparently took it as a

grave sleight. That night, he made

the rounds. Door to door, every

house on our block with a shotgun,

a tenderizing mallet and a pair

kitchen knives.

PATRICK:

(uncomfortable)

I heard about that.

62.

MICHELLE:

You’ve heard about the twenty-seven

people. You may not know about the

pets. They get short shrift. Six

dogs, a couple of cats. He spared a

hamster for some obscure reason.

You can’t make this sh*t up.

Michelle chuckles. Patrick doesn’t know how to react.

MICHELLE (CONT’D)

I was doing my homework, when he

walked back in with blood all over

him. My mom was at work - she was a

nurse in those days. Can you

imagine?

PATRICK:

We don’t have to talk about this,

Michelle

MICHELLE:

I don’t mind. It’s cathartic.

(smiles wryly at that)

When my father decided he wanted to

burn everything in the house, I

helped him put things in the fire.

We were pulling down drapes,

tearing up carpeting. Throwing it

all in. It was exciting. You get

caught up in a project like that.

We were just starting to burn our

clothes when the police finally

moved in. Somebody snapped a photo

of me. I was half-naked, slimed

with ash from the fire. That photo,

more than anything, really cemented

in people’s minds that I was my

psycho father’s psycho little

helper.

Patrick seems equally appalled and fascinated by Michelle’stale. She amused by his reaction.

PATRICK:

Wow.

MICHELLE:

Yeah, huh?

Michelle, smiling, gets up and walks away, leaving him tostew in it, to the sounds of the televised mass... and runs

into Irene coming the other way, a little wobbly.

63.

IRENE:

Are you aware how brutal you were

to me at dinner?

MICHELLE:

Yes, I am. And that was just the

beginning.

IRENE:

You become so cruel when confronted

with something you find unpleasant.

I’ve apparently become one of those

unpleasant things.

MICHELLE:

Neither one of us is drunk enough

yet for this conversation.

Irene gives Michelle a dismissive snort and walks on. Twoseconds later, Michelle hears a CRASH and turns. A coffee

table’s upended, bottles on the floor. Everyone getting up,

concerned.

And her mother on the floor.

MICHELLE (CONT’D)

Jesus...?

She’s about to start yelling outrage at her mother’s lateststunt but she sees the faces around her, sees it’s for real.

77 INT. AMBULANCE -- NIGHT 77

Michelle rides in the back with her mother and a PARAMEDIC.

She can’t look at her mother like this, so she looks

everywhere else. But then she hears her mother trying to saysomething from under her oxygen mask.

MICHELLE:

You shouldn't try to talk. Just

concentrate on breathing...

Her mother insists on speaking. Michelle leans in close. Hermother’s voice is hoarse, very faint, but clear-

IRENE:

Go see him.

Michelle looks chilled by the words. As if this were somekind of curse cast upon her.

64.

78 INT. HOSPITAL -- DAY 78

Michelle stands anxiously in the waiting area with Vincent,

Robert and Anna. The DOCTOR comes out to talk to her.

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