Hello I Am David! Page #6

They lost nearly all their family.

Um, in the '40's.

And he was, perhaps,

overprotective of David.

But he just said, "You're not going."

The father's love was a bit conditional,

not just... an open hearted love.

And this is tragic, it left

a terrible scar on David.

When I first met David, he would

talk about the pain of his father...

to me every night.

So from 1984...

to 1996...

I really had Peter Helfgott with me...

a great deal in conversation,

but then when Shine came out.

It gave David a new sense of selfhood.

In 1986,

we were doing the first Australian tour.

And evidently Scott Hicks had

read the publicity about...

this Helfgott, the child prodigy.

All these years in institutions,

coming back into the

professional world of...

concert pianists.

David at that stage, ambled out

onto the stage,

and then he sat down, and when

his fingers touched the piano,

there was this transformation,

then it was David the pianist.

And Scott Hicks was absolutely

intrigued by this.

And straight after the performance,

he came

to see us back stage and said,

"Oh Gillian, I'd love to make

a feature film of David's life."

Thankful. Gillian said you've got to...

Be grateful. Just be grateful.

Because if you're thankful, you're happy.

If you're grateful, it makes you happy

if you're thankful

for everything that's done for you.

We were just a twinkle

in Dad and Mum's eyes, weren't we?

But Gillian remembers a lot,

because she was born in 1931,

but she was in Australia.

Took him ten years from

the time he asked us.

He said it wasn't going over really well.

And then he went to Hollywood.

And he met one of the big,

Hollywood producers there.

They loved the script and said, "Yes,

you can have all the money

that you want, but...

you can't have Geoffrey Rush.

We'll have Tom Cruise

or someone like that."

He just had buckets

of money put in front of him.

And he said, "No, if you

don't have Geoffrey,

you don't have the film."

And, I don't know if you remember

the Academy Awards, when

Geoffrey got the Oscar.

And he held it up and said,

"And for those who had no faith in me..."

And then David played a slightly erratic

Flight of the Bumblebee out on the stage,

which just about brought the theater down.

Not many people have an experience

like that in their life and...

I felt amazingly grateful and...

bursting with joy,

and looking at gorgeous David out there,

smiling and on top of the world.

Are you going to come back here?

Do you want to come or not?

You want me to come there?

Yes, do you want to come here, darling?

Here, come when I play.

Trust. Have trust. If you only have trust.

-Can you be all happy all the time or not?

-No.

I don't. I definitely don't.

-No one, is that... just a film role.

-I think happiness is just for the moment.

-Just for the moment. Be in the moment.

-I think you can't keep it forever.

No, you can't keep it forever.

That's true.

I wouldn't call it happiness.

-What can you do?

-But you can maybe keep...

-For a while. Keep hold... Inner peace!

-Inner peace?

-Peace of mind, peace of mind. Yes.

-I think this is something long-lasting.

That's heaven on earth, is peace of mind.

Heaven on earth is peace of mind.

For the moment.

What can you do? It's all relative.

Everything in degree, or in perspective.

There's always something worse,

someone worse off than yourself.

So keep that in mind.

[music on TV]

[piano in the background]

[music slowly subsides]

[birds chirping]

[laughter]

[Rolf] Good to see you.

Nice to meet you.

-My good friend.

-Good to see you.

Yeah, welcome.

David is already looking for tea.

[Gillian] Oh, is he terrible?

-[Gillian] Did he say hello?

-[Rolf] Yes, yes, totally.

Oh, it sure is a nice cup. All very nice.

Darling, look at all that. All very nice.

Very important, isn't it?

Oh, don't be silly, my sensible.

[David] That's all there is,

that's all there is.

What nice, sunny weather, isn't it?

Yes, all very nice.

[Speaking in German]

Personally, as a human,

I've never been interested in viewing

David Helfgott in professional terms.

I've never had any interest

in thinking about...

which diagnosis one might make.

Once, though, when he was

visiting us in Heidelberg,

I invited fifteen psychiatrists

to my apartment

while David and Gillian were there.

We sat in a circle, and David

quite willingly talked about himself

and answered everyone's questions,

and no one tried

to formulate a psychiatric diagnosis.

The world needs...

outsiders. The world needs people

who don't tick to the same beat,

who are more original,

who think less reverently,

and who simply don't stick

to the norms and rules as much.

Oh, what's that? That's nice.

Oh, very nice.

Oh, have a look what I found.

It's a nice one.

Can I put it in my back pocket?

It's a nice one. Nice one.

-That's right...

-We are going to marry.

Oh, are you?

You mean you're not married yet!

-Not yet.

-With Dorthe.

-Yes, yes, yes...

-You have seen my former wife?

Few months ago.

-When you were here the first time.

-Yes, yes.

Yes, and where is Dorthe?

Dorthe is-- we are separated,

we are divorced.

It's all planned, it's all planned.

Arranged, arranged marriage, yes.

-And now, and now... I'm free.

-Oh, you're free! You're free!

But you're free anyway. You're free.

I love her, I love her, yeah, I love...

It's all planned. It's all planned.

She's very nice.

Yes she is.

[Rolf laughing]

[birds chirping]

[Rolf playing soft piano music]

That's what Pam Shriver says, "Get over

it. Rise above it, rise above it."

No, I don't misbehave.

Don't behave like that.

It's not fair, darling. It's not fair.

Well, we do whatever. We do what we can.

The pizza's ready.

[continues muttering]

Do no harm. As long as you're

not doing any harm...

[David] They can trick you into doing it.

There is trickery.

The world's full of trickery.

Change your attitude, trick you into doing

something different, trick you into it.

By playing games.

See if we can do something a bit...

-That was nice, did you know that?

-Oh, that was for you.

Oh, nice. For a change.

You've got to be kind.

-That was for me? Very nice.

-Right, I'll get the pizza then.

Now I go bring the pizza, all right?

-Happy, be happy. Keep smiling.

-[Rolf] Keep smiling.

[music playing]

[David] A big crescendo.

It's not... I'm not starting there.

-It's you.

-It's me, it's me.

-You have to know the orchestra a bit.

-Yeah?

-Otherwise...

-Look at the tempo of the...

-Fortissimo, fortissimo!

-Yes, it is.

I love it fast. I love it fast.

-Very precise.

-Precise, precise.

Together. The miracle is

we all ended up together.

Look, standing ovation,

-Standing ovation... Just one...

-After just one second.

And after 20 seconds, the whole...

-The whole... Yes, yes.

-concert hall stands,

-The whole hall stands...

-you know, that's very fast.

Very new, very new.

[speaking in German] Hello, gentlemen!

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