Goltzius and the Pelican Company
- R
- Year:
- 2012
- 128 min
- 229 Views
I had a little trading company.
The Pelican Company.
Engravers, printers, a writer,
an actor or two.
All of us specialised in words.
We traded in words.
Words in books.
Words on the stage.
And the members of my company
travelled with their wives
and their mistresses.
And my nephew, Eduard.
And a young woman called Susannah,
who I once knew, carnally.
Yes.
I needed some money
for some business expansion.
I wanted to make pictures
as well as words.
Pictures in books.
Pictures on the stage.
Every new visual technology
is expensive
And every new visual technology,
sooner or later,
gets into bed with lechery.
My aim was always
to take a trip to Italy.
It was winter-time,
ten years ago.
We fetched up in Colmar
on the Rhine,
and I sought an audience
with the local military-governor.
The Margrave.
By his own account, a libertarian.
With just a little imagination
we seduced him,
and we convinced him to part
with his money.
And maybe also with his dignity.
Don't be alarmed.
I am obliged
to take a public sh*t at 6 o'clock.
Whether my digestion demands it, or not.
To satisfy my courtiers
that the ceremony
is not completely a farce,
I've trained my body
to respond as it is asked.
By long precedence,
relating back to God knows when,
I am obliged to present my human self
to the populace as an ordinary man.
Some ancestor,
eager to abase himself
as some act of penance
for some unmentionable crime -
though it's my feeling also
as a curious act
of self-indulgent exhibitionism -
decided that the palace library
was the perfect place for such things.
Maybe he was thinking
of books as excrement?
It has become a custom.
Proceed.
Your highness,
signer.
Prince,
Your Majesty...
Sire...
Sir?
I am looking to found a new
printing press in The Hague,
the Netherlands.
To spread the new learning
of classical
and biblical knowledge.
The new Humanisme from Italy
with a Protestant understanding.
So, Your Highness, signer, prince,
Your Majesty, sire, sir...
we have come to you, devout Christian
and established humanist
to help us in our endeavour.
How much do you want?
And what do I get in return?
Well, what we intend to plan, signer,
is an illustrated "Book of Ovid",
concentrating on the adventures,
the sensuous adventures, of Jupiter.
What we might tentatively call
the "infidelities of Jupiter".
Or we could say,
the "Jealousies of Juno",
his wife.
And what we then conceive of producing
is an illustrated Old Testament,
with the familiar moral stories,
but told with a singular new freedom.
In other words "dirty books"?
How much?
150,000 crowns for a printing press.
80,000 crowns for yearly maintenance.
The sale of prints will pay
for running costs.
And the Treasury receives 40%
of all profits arising from sales.
Apple.
Fruit of knowledge? Hm?
Entry of evil into the world?
I never eat apples.
I peel them for my monkeys.
Which monkeys
do you peel your apples for?
My Pelican Company.
Pelican Company?
You have taken up a dangerous task.
Pelicans.
Pelicans are a bird that feed their young
by the blood of their breast.
We aim to amuse you.
We will present dramas
of these edifying stories
to demonstrate
the range of our ambitions
and the nature of our interests.
It will be a son of advertisement
for our endeavour.
Concentrate first on the Bible,
the Old Testament,
to demonstrate our faith.
And only secondly,
tackle the classical allegories
to demonstrate our learning.
Declaration of faith before learning
will open all manner of permissibilities.
And you have ten years to manufacture
the best books of their kind in Europe.
Exclusively for me.
And...
...you entertain us for six nights,
and then,
we can sign a contract
on your leaving this estate
on Monday next.
If, that is...
...all expectations are duly met.
We are interested in six sexual taboos.
Surely, in this day and age,
criminal offences,
and surely, in any age, culpable sins.
Let me introduce -
this might surprise you -
my wet nurse.
A most estimable lady,
who has very little indeed
to learn of love.
All my servants are black.
As you can see, it is fashionable
to have black servants.
Here,
black servants disappear in the dark,
did you know?
They disappear after sunset.
They become invisible.
Invisible servants
have always been very desirable.
The black does not stop at their necks,
even their pricks,
c*nts and their bottocks are black.
Though don't mess with them,
one mustn't mess with them.
Eh, Ebola? It's forbidden.
We don't want anyone seriously fooled,
or disappointed, do we?
It is Ebola's birthday.
It has been considerable years
since my toothless mouth
sucked from her warm
and nourishing nipples.
Just for me, because I know
when you make a thing with all your heart
you essentially make it
first of all for yourself
and then for one other person.
Make your entertainments
for that one other person -
my royal wet nurse.
Make her happy
and you will therefore make me happy,
Very happy indeed -
Master Goltzius, engraver...
...print maker...
Pornographer?
Mind... the steps.
We had escarpment imported from Paris.
Please come this way.
Naughty! Naughty!
Ladies of the Court, Your Eminencies,
ladies and gentlemen,
The Pelican Company
from The Hague in the Netherlands
"The Discovery of Original Carnal Sin
"by Adam and Eva
in the Garden of Eden".
This is man.
God's property-
The first sin and possible crime
is voyeurisme.
You must of course ask yourself
what, in fact, will this Colmar audience
be doing now?
What, in fact, are you doing now?
Is the theatre the legitimate place
where we permit ourselves
to be licensed Voyeurs'?
This is woman.
God and man's property.
So, we had secured a foothold
on their credibility.
As I hope we have on yours.
The Creation was much more conceptual.
God would never have been so vulgar.
Don't you think, Rabbi,
that it was very beautiful?
No, I do not.
This was a display of abject carnality,
fit for a bordello!
- Genesis is never so explicit.
- Unfortunately not.
Otherwise we would all believe
with much greater enthusiasm.
We are going, of course,
to tell the old, old story,
in the accustomed manner
of long and venerable repute.
The slow anticipation
of the business of love
building up
to its true demonstration.
Get the nipples to itch,
the scrotums to tighten,
the pricks to rise,
Man.
I call you...
...Adam.
Adam is an ancient Aramaic word
meaning many things.
A beginning. A start.
An ego. An eye.
An empty space ready to be inked in.
As I give you a name,
you must now...
As God gives Adam a name,
he must now do likewise
to everything else
in this fresh, clean,
brave new world.
Choose wisely.
I had employed an English playwright,
Boethius.
Said he knew
all the new English playwrights.
So many choices.
So many to choose from.
Translation
Translate and read this script in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Goltzius and the Pelican Company" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/goltzius_and_the_pelican_company_9149>.
Discuss this script with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In