Ordinary People Page #14

Synopsis: Tormented by guilt following the death of his older brother, Buck, in a sailing accident, alienated teenager Conrad Jarrett (Timothy Hutton) attempts suicide. Returning home following an extended stay in a psychiatric hospital, Conrad tries to deal with his mental anguish and also reconnect with his mother, Beth (Mary Tyler Moore), who has grown cold and angry, and his emotionally wounded father, Calvin (Donald Sutherland), with the help of his psychiatrist, Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch).
Genre: Drama
Production: Paramount Pictures
  Won 4 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 14 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.8
Metacritic:
87
Rotten Tomatoes:
90%
R
Year:
1980
124 min
1,199 Views


CONRAD:

I just feel... I feel so...

DR BERGER:

What?

CONRAD:

Jumpy. I don't know.

DR BERGER:

Look. Kiddo... I lied. I do

believe in dreams. Only sometimes I

want to know what's happening when

you're awake. Come on, something's

bugging you, making you nervous.

You're making me nervous.

CONRAD:

Maybe I need a tranquilizer.

DR BERGER:

Tranquilizer?

CONRAD:

Yeah.

What do you think?

DR BERGER:

I think you came in here looking

like something out of The Body

Snatchers. It's not my impression

that you need a tranquilizer.

Conrad notices a cube on the table.

CONRAD:

What is this?

DR BERGER:

Clock.

(CONTINUED)

41.

51 CONTINUED:
51

CONRAD:

Oh, I see. So you get to tell the

time, but I can't. Is that it?

DR BERGER:

Mmm, mmm.

CONRAD:

So you know when the hour's up?

DR BERGER:

Right.

CONRAD:

Fifty minutes, fifty five minutes?

What is it?

Dr Berger doesn't answer.

CONRAD (cont'd)

Maybe... Maybe I don't want to swim

anymore. You know, I mean my timing

is for sh*t. You know, he's got two

guys that swim the fifty, they're

better than me, and...

DR BERGER:

Ha, ha.

CONRAD:

They're a bunch of boring ass

jocks.

DR BERGER:

Ha, ha.

CONRAD:

And him... I can't stand him. He's

a tight ass son of a b*tch!

DR BERGER:

Ah, ah?... Have you ever thought

about quitting?

CONRAD:

Are you telling me to?

DR BERGER:

No.

CONRAD:

It wouldn't look good.

DR BERGER:

Forget about how it looks! How does

it feel?

(CONTINUED)

42.

51 CONTINUED:
51

CONRAD:

How does it feel? How does it feel?

DR BERGER:

Yes!

CONRAD:

How does it feel?!

DR BERGER:

Yes! How does it feel?

CONRAD:

It's the same thing that happened

last year... It's the same damn

thing I did last year.

DR BERGER:

Are you the same person you were

last year?

CONRAD:

I don't know!

DR BERGER:

That's why you need a tranquilizer?

CONRAD:

You tell me!

DR BERGER:

No. It's up to you!

CONRAD:

Fifty bucks an hour, can't you

decide if I should have a pill or

not? I mean, you're a doctor, I'm

supposed to feel better! Right?

DR BERGER:

Not necessarily.

Conrad reflects.

Dr BERGER (cont'd)

How is it with your friends? Is it

getting any easier?

CONRAD:

No. It's still hard.

DR BERGER:

Is anyplace easy?

CONRAD:

The hospital was.

(CONTINUED)

43.

51 CONTINUED:
51

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote

Alvin Sargent

Alvin Sargent (born April 12, 1927) is an American screenwriter. He has won two Academy Awards in 1978 and 1981 for his screenplays of Julia and Ordinary People. His most popular contribution has been being involved in the writing of most of the films in Sony's Spider-Man film series (The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the first exception to this). more…

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Submitted by acronimous on May 18, 2016

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