Still Alice Page #13

INT. STAIRCASE

Now Alice heads back up the stairs carrying the laptop as themessage plays:

ALICE ON QUICKTIME...Go to your bedroom. There’s a

dresser by the window, the onewith the blue lamp on it. Go to

the dresser and open the drawer.

In the back of the drawer are some

pills.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM

She enters and sees the drawer already open. She wanders upto it and looks down. This time she seizes immediately onthe pill bottle and holds it up. We see the attached note in

Macro close up - TAKE ALL PILLS WITH WATER.

ALICE ON QUICKTIME

It says ‘take all pills with water’on it. There are a lot of pills inthat bottle, but you need toswallow them all. Then get into bedand go to sleep. Then go to thebed, lie down and go to sleep. And

don’t tell anyone what you’redoing, okay?

INT. BATHROOM

She enters the bathroom. Going over to the basin, she emptiesout the contents of the toothbrush mug into the sink. She

fills the mug with water and empties the pill bottle into herhand. Then -- A NOISE!

ELENA (O.S.)

Hello?

Alice turns her head and, in shock, drops the pills. Theyscatter everywhere.

INT. HALLWAY

Elena enters downstairs and closes the door.

PINK PAGES 84

INT. BATHROOM

Alice stares down at the pills blankly not knowing what to donext.

INT. PINKBERRY - DAY

Alice and John are at the head of the line, looking at thearray behind the counter.

JOHN:

May I have cookies and cream and achocolate hazelnut. Alice, youknow what you want right?

ALICE:

Cookies and cream and a chocolate

hazelnut.

JOHN:

No honey. You usually have the

original with blueberries and

coconut.

ALICE:

Ok...

JOHN:

Original with blueberries and

coconut please.

MOMENTS LATER:

John and Alice are eating their frozen yoghurt.

JOHN:

Ali, you see that building overthere? Do you know what it is?

He points to a structure in the distance.

ALICE:

I don’t think I know that.

JOHN:

That’s Columbia. Where you used toteach.

ALICE:

Someone told me, I was a good

teacher.

JOHN:

Yes, you were.

PINK PAGES 85

ALICE:

I was really smart.

John looks away, fighting back emotion that threatens tooverwhelm him.

JOHN:

You were the smartest person I’veever known.

He looks at her, struggling with something.

JOHN:

Alice. Do you still want to behere?

She answers brightly.

ALICE:

I’m not done yet. Do we have to

go?

JOHN:

No. Don’t worry. Take your time.

EXT. ALICE’S HOME - DAY

Blossoms in a tree show signs of another spring. A taxi

pulls up outside.

INT. HALLWAY

Alice sleeps on the sofa in the front room. John carries a

suitcase into the hallway. Behind him is Lydia.

JOHN (O.S.)

Is this all of your stuff?

LYDIA:

I shipped some boxes as well.

JOHN:

Were you sad to leave L.A.?

LYDIA:

I’m trying to convince myself I’mmore of an east coast girl.

Where’s mom?

JOHN:

She’s sleeping.

He indicates the sleeping Alice.

PINK PAGES 86

INT. ALICE’S OFFICE

The room has been partially converted back to being a

bedroom, but some of Alice’s touches remain.

JOHN:

Yeah well - here it is. Your old

room.

They drop the bags.

JOHN:

How did it go with your manager...?

LYDIA:

It’s a west coast company, so...you

know. Not good.

JOHN:

Oh. That’s too bad. You sure you

don’t mind..?

LYDIA:

Dad, we’ve had that conversation.

JOHN:

Okay.

LYDIA:

This is New York. I’ll audition.

Do theater. I know this is where I

need to be so...

John nods, weighing his daughter’s sacrifice.

JOHN:

Well...you’re a better man than I

am.

She looks at him. Troubled, he looks quickly away.

LYDIA:

Dad...I got her, okay.

Unexpectedly, the dam bursts. He starts sobbing

uncontrollably. She pulls him into a hug.

EXT. NEW YORK CITY

We see the seasons pass -- spring, summer, fall...

PINK PAGES 87

EXT. RIVERSIDE PARK - DAY

It’s a bleak winter’s day in a small unfriendly parkoverlooking the cold Hudson river and the distant grey shoresof New Jersey.

A few PEOPLE are scattered through the park -- walking dogs

or jogging by.

A TEENAGE BOY strums a melancholy tune on his guitar and

harmonizes with his GIRLFRIEND.

On a bench nearby, Lydia is checking her phone. Next to her

sits Alice, visibly diminished. She picks repeatedly at hercoat.

LYDIA:

It’s getting pretty cold, huh. You

want to head home? Come on. Let’s

do it.

Lydia helps Alice up and they shuffle off down the path.

INT. ALICE’S HOME - LIVING ROOM

Alice and Lydia enter through the main door to be greeted bythe nurses aide, ELENA.

LYDIA:

Hey.

ELENA:

Hi. How was your walk?

ALICE:

I don’t think I know you!

ELENA:

Yes, you do.

LYDIA:

Mom, it’s Elena.

Alice responds with a vague, unfocused look. It’s not clear

she even recognizes her.

LYDIA:

I’m going to get you some juice,

okay.

ELENA:

Come on, let’s take off your coat

and go inside.

PINK PAGES 88

INT. HOWLAND HOUSE - FRONT ROOM

Alice has a cup of juice and is staring into space. Lydia

sits in front of her, book in hand, reading a speech fromAngels in America.

LYDIA (O.S.)

Night flight to San Francisco;

chase the moon across America.

God, it’s been years since I was on

a plane. When we hit 35,000 feet

we’ll have reached the tropopause,

the great belt of calm air - as

close as I’ll get to the ozone. I

dreamed we were there.

Lydia looks directly at her Mom, but Alice seems absent.

LYDIA:

The plane leapt the tropopause, the

safe air, and attained the outer

rim, the ozone, which was ragged

and torn, patches of it threadbare

as old cheesecloth, and that was

frightening. But I saw something

only I could see because of my

astonishing ability to see such

things.

Then -- a flicker of comprehension. Alice’s eyes turn to

Lydia as she reads.

LYDIA:

Souls were rising, from the earth

far below, souls of the dead, of

people who’d perished from famine,

from war, from the plague, and they

floated up like skydivers in

reverse, limbs all akimbo, wheeling

and spinning.

Lydia notices her mother’s attention and it inspires her

reading.

LYDIA:

And the souls of these departed,

joined hands, clasped ankles and

formed a web - a great net of

souls. And the souls were three-

atom oxygen molecules of the stuff

of ozone, and the outer rim

absorbed them, and was repaired.

Nothing’s lost forever.

(MORE)

PINK PAGES 89

LYDIA (cont'd)

In this world, there is a kind ofpainful progress, a longing forwhat we’ve left behind, anddreaming ahead. At least I think

that’s so.

Alice looks down. Lydia breaks from her performance.

LYDIA:

That’s it.

She comes over to Alice, sits down next to her.

LYDIA:

Hey...did you like that? What I

just read, did you like it?

Alice nods. It’s unclear she even knows what Lydia istalking about. But Lydia persists, wanting some kind ofaffirmation.

LYDIA:

What was it about?

ALICE:

Love. Love.

Tears come into Lydia’s eyes.

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