Philomena Page #9

SISTER CLAIRE (cont’d)

Now I was trying to find in our

records the last time you came to

see us Philomena?

PHILOMENA:

It was well before your time Sister

Claire. Mother Barbara had passed

away and I spoke to Sister

Hildegarde on the telephone - but

when I came here she wasn’t well

enough to see me.

SISTER CLAIRE:

She’s still with us, but she’s very

frail now.

She lays plates in front of PHILOMENA and MARTIN.

PHILOMENA:

Oh look Martin buttered brack. Have

some.

MARTIN helps himself to a slice; he takes a bite.

MARTIN:

Very tasty. It’s a bit like a sort

of a Pandolce, isn’t it?

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PHILOMENA - Final Shooting Script 37.

They just stare at him.

PHILOMENA:

It’s fruit bread Martin.

MARTIN:

Yes, no it’s... yes that’s lovely.

SISTER CLAIRE:

Well now - I don’t know if they

told you last time Philomena, but

most of our records were destroyed

in the big fire-

MARTIN:

Fire?

SISTER CLAIRE:

-it was before my time. So I’m

afraid we’re at a standstill.

PHILOMENA:

Oh...

SISTER CLAIRE:

I have no news. I’m so sorry we

can’t help you.

We can see how much of a blow this is to PHILOMENA, how much

she’d built herself up.

PHILOMENA:

Yes. Yes...

The room falls silent. MARTIN watches as PHILOMENA starts to

speak, quietly at first but building in emotion.

PHILOMENA (cont’d)

I still go to mass... I don’t want

to cause any fuss or point the

finger at anyone, or blame the

church in any way. I just want to

know that he’s all right - I don’t

even have to see him. Sometimes I

have visions of him and he’s

homeless and nobody loves him...

SISTER CLAIRE:

(Takes PHILOMENA’S hand)

Philomena we can’t take away your

pain, but we can walk through it

with you, hand in hand.

MARTIN:

What about some of the older nuns?

Perhaps they might remember a few

details?

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PHILOMENA - Final Shooting Script 38.

SISTER CLAIRE:

Most of them have passed on.

MARTIN:

What about the ones that haven’t?

SISTER CLAIRE:

Well I don’t think you’ll get much

sense out of them.

MARTIN:

Can I try?

He sneaks another look and sees a curtain being drawn by

someone in front of HILDEGARDE, so he can no longer see

inside the room.

SISTER CLAIRE:

I don’t think that’s going to be

possible.

MARTIN:

Why not?

SISTER CLAIRE:

I’m happy to answer any questions

that Philomena has.

MARTIN:

I’m asking a question.

SISTER CLAIRE:

You’re a journalist.

MARTIN:

I used to be, certainly.

PHILOMENA:

Martin’s a Roman Catholic.

MARTIN:

Yes... well, I used to be.

SISTER CLAIRE:

I’d feel more comfortable if I

could speak to Philomena in

private.

MARTIN has rather enjoyed - for this brief moment - being a

journalist again. But, on catching PHILOMENA’S worried

expression - she hates confrontation - he reins it back in. A

beat then, politely:

MARTIN:

Of course.

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PHILOMENA - Final Shooting Script 39.

He gets up and walks out.

CUT TO:

44 INT. GIFT SHOP AREA - DAY 44

MARTIN shuts the door behind him, quietly seething at Sister

Claire’s obfuscating. He wanders over to the gift shop stand

and idly fingers a little plastic Jesus for a few moments -

but his mind is elsewhere. Checking he’s not being observed,

he crosses to some double doors and peers through them and

sees the Old Nun (HILDEGARDE), on her sticks, silhouetted

against the light from the open door behind her. Her eyes

seem to meet his; her expression inscrutable. MARTIN smiles.

He reaches to open the door. Then, from the staircase behind

him:

YOUNG NUN (OOV)

Hello - can I help you?

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MARTIN spins round to see the YOUNG NUN.

MARTIN:

Sorry, I was just erm...

YOUNG NUN:

Are you looking for something?

He turns back, just as the door shuts; Sister HILDEGARDE is

gone, the light from the room extinguished. The momentary

opening closed.

MARTIN:

(Pointing to the door)

Is that, erm..?

YOUNG NUN:

Those are private quarters.

MARTIN:

Right.

(Beat)

I’ll wait outside...

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CUT TO:

44A EXT. ROSCREA ABBEY - THE WALL WITH CROSSES. DAY 44A

MARTIN is standing in a little graveyard with neatly tended

rows of irons crosses. As he walks along the graves he

realises from the inscriptions, (Sister Theresa, Sister

Margaret...), that nuns from the Abbey are buried here.

Curious, he walks along until he finds Mother Barbara’s

grave, and notes she died on July 20th, 1990.

CUT TO:

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PHILOMENA - Final Shooting Script 40.

45 EXT. ROSCREA ABBEY - DAY 45

The YOUNG NUN sees a pale-faced PHILOMENA to the front door.

PHILOMENA clutches a manila envelope.

PHILOMENA:

Thank you, and would you thank

Sister Claire again for me.

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YOUNG NUN:

Goodbye Philomena.

The YOUNG NUN disappears back inside, shutting the door

behind her and leaving PHILOMENA alone.

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CUT TO:

45A EXT. ROSCREA ABBEY - BRAMBLE AREA. DAY 45A

The bit between his teeth, MARTIN climbs over a low fence

into a small enclosed area adjacent to the nuns’ graveyard

which is thoroughly overgrown with weeds, bushes and

brambles. He crouches down, peers through the tangle and can

just make out a headstone. Using his feet and hands he clears

away the overgrowth around it until he can see it properly

and reads the inscription: ‘Maria Gidney’, a young woman who

died in 1962 aged 16, with underneath: ‘Mother And Child Died

In Childbirth’...

JUMP CUT TO:

He uses a stick to clear away bracken from another headstone,

he reads:
‘Aisling Devlin’, who died in 1957 aged only 14.

And again, underneath: ‘Mother And Child Died In Childbirth’.

He stands up, surveys the overgrown graveyard and the nuns’

graveyard next to it, and the thought hits him: ‘Why are the

graves of the nuns beautifully tended, and yet the graves of

the mothers and children abandoned and overgrown?’

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CUT TO:

46 EXT. ROSCREA ABBEY - DAY 46

MARTIN hurries back to his car, where PHILOMENA is waiting

for him.

MARTIN:

Sorry I was just having a look

around...

(Seeing her expression)

Are you okay?

PHILOMENA, obviously upset, doesn’t reply; she just wants to

get into the car as quickly as possible.

CUT TO:

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PHILOMENA - Final Shooting Script 41.

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