Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing Page #4

Mark...

Could I have a cigarette?

I've never seen you smoke.

I rarely do.

You still think we have no destiny together?

I have decided one thing:

That you must decide,

for you are stronger than I am.

No, I think you're the strong one.

Then you are wrong. For you are gentle,

and there is nothing stronger

in the world than gentleness.

You know what is going to happen

if we go on seeing each other.

I know we're going to

go on seeing each other.

You'd better not take me on, you know.

You'd better get away from me while you can.

There's still time.

(Suyin) One starts these things

pretending it doesn't matter.

Stop worrying, darling.

Where can we meet tomorrow?

There's a tree at the top of

the hill behind the hospital

and a path leading up from the road.

- I will meet you there at five.

- I'll be waiting.

(phone rings)

Dr Han here.

Good night.

Good night.

I'm late. When I didn't see you,

I was afraid you had gone.

You're early. We're both early.

Give me your hand.

(Suyin) Time passes so quickly.

I didn't want to be late.

(Mark) I wasn't thinking about time.

How good it is to know a man

who doesn't live his life

measuring time in bits and pieces.

I like it so much.

Hong Kong. The hoard of a jewel thief.

What incredible hands you have.

They curve like a Balinese dancer's.

I have always been afraid of hands.

Men's hands. I am not afraid of yours.

- Please do not move. Stay very still.

- Why?

A butterfly has perched on your shoulder.

It's a sign of good luck.

Oh, you shouldn't have turned!

It was a good omen.

Why, you're superstitious. And you a doctor!

But I was born to superstition.

In China, when a peasant has a son,

he dresses him in girl's clothes

and gives him a girl's name

because he's afraid that

the jealous gods may take him away.

Or if the crop in the field is bountiful,

he stands in the ditch and

shakes his head and cries aloud

"Bad rice, bad rice!"

He does this to propitiate the gods,

to deceive them.

And so it is with me.

I should like to deceive the gods.

For if they notice me, they may be jealous.

We mustn't let the angry gods notice us.

- Bad rice, bad rice!

- Be quiet!

I am very serious.

So am I.

Dr Sen, this gentleman is looking for Dr Han.

- Dr Han is on duty.

- Yes, I know,

but she left urgent word

at the office for me to call her.

- Urgent?

- Yes, so I came over. I'm Mark Elliott.

- I'm Dr Sen. Will you come with me?

- Thank you.

- Dr Han, Mr Elliott to see you.

- Thank you, Doctor.

- What are you doing here?

- I got your message at the office.

I called. They said you were in surgery,

so rather than wait, I came on over.

I didn't mean that urgent.

It's all right. Thank you.

- What's happened?

- We can't talk here. I'm just going off duty.

- Would you like to see how I live?

- Sure.

Magnificent, isn't it?

The warm-water pipes run under my floor.

The cockroaches grow enormous

and fight great duels.

They thrive on DDT, so I leave them alone.

Now I can visualise your surroundings

when I'm not with you.

You look sleepy. You've got marks

of weariness under your eyes.

I do a lot of writing at night

so I can spend...

more time with you.

Shall I make you some coffee?

Now, what upsets you? Why did you call me?

- I'm going to Chungking in the morning.

- Why?

I received an urgent cable from my uncle.

He is the head of my family

since my mother and father died.

Something has happened at home.

Something about Suchen.

- Who is Suchen?

- A younger sister.

I haven't seen her since... for several years.

Can't you handle this

without going to Chungking?

Mark, it isn't only Suchen.

I want to see China again.

To see if it is what I really want to go back to.

And also I... I think I must

get away from you for a while.

Get away from me? Now, why?

To adjust to certain truths

and not let them bother me.

That's foolish nonsense. Unless

you've changed your mind about me.

No. But I can't help asking myself

what I will get out of this

except to become

a cheap Hong Kong Eurasian.

That can never be true

and I don't want you to say it.

Well, I will say it.

Then I've been wrong about you.

I don't understand your thinking.

How could you? You're not Eurasian.

Your pride and sense of dignity

are not involved.

Of course they are! You're not

something I picked up off the street.

- You're oversensitive about being Eurasian.

- I am trying to be sensible.

You are an American.

In my heart I am Chinese.

You are married. I am a widow.

You are a journalist,

a front-row spectator not directly involved.

I am a doctor deeply involved,

with a duty toward my people.

- I don't want anything sordid to...

- Sordid?! I'm in love with you.

Don't you understand, Suyin? I love you.

Oh, Mark. We both know that even

the fat, ugly people of this world

believe that being in love makes

them beautiful and justifies everything.

I want something better than that for us.

While I stand around biting my fingers

until you decide I'm worth the risk.

Oh, Mark. Don't let

your male vanity enter this.

You don't have to go to Chungking

to rid your conscience of me.

- I'll get out now.

- Don't threaten me, Mark.

That's not a threat.

(speaks Cantonese)

- Is this seat occupied?

- Suyin, sit down.

Suzanne, are you going to Chungking?

- No, we're going to Kwajalein.

- We?

(in low voice) I'm not alone.

We thought it would be better

if we sat separately.

He's one of the directors of the hospital.

I'll get your salary raised.

Should we seem so friendly?

- He might suspect you're not English.

- Oh, he found out.

Thought I was doing it for his sake,

so he bought me this.

- Isn't that lovely?

- It's beautiful.

These are real diamonds.

La-loo.

- Third Uncle.

- Suyin.

Third Aunt.

- Cousin Lee Foo.

- May Yin, Cousin Suyin.

- Cousin Lee Chung.

- Shaw Fong, Cousin Suyin.

Cousin Lee Wong?

Yen Feng, Cousin Suyin.

We have waited for this moment.

We hope that you have

not changed within you.

I am the same,

and you are as I remembered you.

- Your face is fuller.

- It was not yesterday.

Some of the family thought

that you would be foreign to us.

You do not seem strange.

I feel like the locust that

has suddenly cast its shell.

You are at home. We shall now

have tea and speak of absurdities.

May we now speak of Suchen, Third Uncle?

Suchen has brought disgrace on us.

She has gone to live in

the house of a foreigner.

Not 50 yards from our home, she is

living under the protection of this alien.

Why?

She fears that when the Communists

take over Chungking that she will be shot.

She thinks they won't harm her

in the house of a foreigner.

Our clan has never begged of foreigners.

May I see her, Third Uncle?

It has grown dark.

I will send a boy to light the way for you.

(Suchen speaks Cantonese)

It is I - Suyin, elder sister.

I didn't think you'd come.

Of course I'd come.

Now tell me...

What is this disgrace

you've brought on our family?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes