Saraband Page #2

I'm Marianne. I was your granddads|wife. I'm visiting.

- I know.|- Come on, sit down.

If you want, you can help me|clean out these mushrooms.

Here's a knife.

If you want to talk, we'll talk.|If not, we can just be together.

You must know Henrik,|my dad.

Can't say I do. I've just greeted him,|but I don't know him.

- Mom is dead.|- I know.

- She died two years ago.|- Your granddad told me.

- Dad retired and is spending his time|with music now. - The cello, right?

He's writing about|St John's Passion.

- You also play the cello?|- I hope to get into the conservatory.

- Your father is the teacher|and you are the student. -Yes.

What's wrong?

Do you know Hindemith's|cello sonata, opus 25?

I don't know anything about music.

Dad wants me to play it|for the audition.

- It's too hard!|- And doesn't he think so?

How were you in the days|before your period?

A premenstrual monster.

I would go to sleep as an angel,|and wake up as a demon.

My mind gets shattered.|And it's very hard for me to get up.

Dad is a morning person.

And I yawned.

We were working on|the fourth movement.

That damned Hindemith wrote:

"Lebhafte Viertel ohne jeden|Audsdruck und stets Pianissimo"

- You know?|- It looks difficult anyhow.

So I sat there with my|shattered mind and I tried.

I begged him to let me off|the hook, to no avail.

He made me play the same part|at least twenty times!

Finally I said. quietly:|"I don't give a damn about this".

I said that it wasn't a class,|it was animal torture.

Henrik was also angry,|but he laughed and said that I should...

try from the beginning, where it says:

"Lebhaft, sehr markiert...|mit festen Bogenstrichen."

I was so angry that I couldn't.|He said I was doing it on purpose.

I said that he didn't have the|skills to teach: I was unfair.

Dad is the most patient, sensitive and|courteous teacher there is.

He said it had nothing to|do with the teaching,

but rather with willpower|and discipline...

and that I was lazy.|That I was lazy!

Then I got up and left the|cello because I was trembling.

I said that it was enough for the day|and that I was going out for a walk.

He turned pale.|I'd never seen him like that.

And he said:
|"You're not leaving".

I put my boots on and|headed for the door.

I didn't hear him approach,|but he grabbed me by the shoulders...

You're not leaving!

You're not leaving!

I sat and cried.

And I said:
"Never again,|never again,

...never again".

And kept crying|until I felt empty.

Then I thought of coming over to see|granddad and begging him to help me...

leave that lunatic.|It was too much for me.

Now the old man can take|care of his crazy son:

send him to the farm,|go to the police...

or kill him.

Then I became aware that|from now on, I know nothing.

I know nothing about my life,|what I'll do or become.

Then I realized|that mom is dead,

and I can't ask her anything.

I was overcome with sorrow for|myself and cried again.

You must think I'm a very|nervous person, but I'm not.

- Do you think Henrik is suicidal?|- If he'd kill himself?

In an extreme situation like|the one you're describing...

could he hurt himself?

You know, to be honest,|I don't know my father very well.

I only know that deep|inside he's... good.

If not, mom never...

Mom loved him, you know?|They loved each other.

And I suppose I was|out of that love.

That's what I think when I'm feeling sorry for|myself and I get tired of my boyfriends.

Why can't I feel love|like mom did?

Were you afraid your dad would|kill himself after her death?

I never gave his|tragedy much thought.

But I tried to take care of mom,|as much as he'd let me.

Mom was never very talkative.

But on one of her last days...

She was always drowsy|from the morphine...

On one of her last days,|I was sitting beside her,

she looked at me and said clearly:

"You know I love you".

"You know I love you, Karin".

My mother never spoke that way.

Dad once said as a joke,|this was a long time ago,

"Anna never says I love you, but|her actions are always full of love".

- What if grandfather comes back?|- It's OK, I've got another bottle.

- Were you really married to grandpa?|- Is that so strange?

It's hard to imagine it.|What kind of person is he?

Good question.

- Did you love him? - I've asked myself|the same question all my life.

- Was he so difficult?|- We were married for 16 years.

Then we got divorced.|He had met another woman,

an idiot named Paula.

I got married again to|a boring glider pilot.

One day, he just flew away.

They never found him.

For some reason, Johan and I|got together several times.

Then I found out|he was servicing...

another lady,|a real whore.

I was angry and hurt|and finished with him.

I suddenly realized,

that I was the most cheated on|wife and lover in the world.

Johan was remarkably and|compulsively unfaithful.

- You mean that my grand father|-...was a real liar.

And he used to write poems. A volume got|published, but it wasn't successful.

- My grandfather used to write verses?|- Yes, even love poems for me.

- Did you keep them?|- No.

But did you love him?

I was terribly naive.

Nowadays, I suppose it's just|not possible to be so, so childish...

and so know-it-all like I was.

I think I loved him.|Utterly.

- You never suspected?|- Not for an instant.

- What made you come here|suddenly? - I don't know.

You still love him!|Don't you?

If you had to be honest,|Marianne...

I hear people say Johan|is this or that,

not very kind things usually.

But I don't know the Johan|they're talking about.

I always thought he was a good man.|Very, very good.

It was so easy to hurt him,|he could never defend himself.

I believe that Johan...

is a moving person.

He's moving.

- Are you crying?|- Yes, a little.

Are you crying for granddad?

- I'm crying for Johan|and Marianne. - I understand.

This is strange.

Dear...

- What will you do?|- Return to Henrik.

- Is that intelligent?|- It has nothing to do with that.

I'll stay here a few more days.|Let me know what happens.

I will.

THREE|About Anna

It can't happen again.

- Never again.|- Never.

We must have a serious talk.

We both know how things are.|There's nothing to sort out.

I'm glad it's so simple!

I was scared to death.

There's no other way to put it:|I was scared to death.

- Do you understand? - I'm very|tired. I'm going to sleep.

- Are you asleep?|- No.

Once I had a similar|situation with Anna.

We weren't married yet,|but we lived together.

Maybe I was a little drunk.|I said nasty things about...

the damned university,

my colleagues,|our work environment.

And then about my father,|that old bastard.

Anna didn't say a word.|And that upset me even more.

I remember thinking...

"What's on Anna's mind,|while she's sewing that skirt?"

"What's she thinking? Maybe|that Henrik is unbearable".

And then she said it.

"When you're like this,

I start thinking that you're|not the man I planned to marry".

Then she went to the living|room and started to pack.

Rate this script:4.5 / 2 votes