Suddenly, Last Summer

Gentlemen, I wanna welcome

you medical schoolmen...

...to our new operating theater.

Although, as you can see,

it isn't exactly what you'd call new.

Used to be a library

when this was a school...

...and maybe before that

some kind of a sugar warehouse.

But makeshift or not, the important

thing is that we got it.

The first to be devoted

to psychosurgery in this state.

And that is a great step forward.

Now you're going

to witness an operation...

...never performed before

in this state.

A lobotomy on the brain of a woman...

...suffering from acute

schizophrenic withdrawal.

Our new staff member,

Dr. John Cukrowicz from Chicago...

...will perform this operation.

Swab.

Sew up, will you?

You have just witnessed a delicate

operation on the human brain...

...performed under the most

primitive surgical conditions...

...that I hope any of you

will ever encounter.

Excuse us, please.

-Son, I know just how you feel.

-For six months...

...I have listened to you

promise me this and that.

-But I am not...

-I know, I know, I know.

You are not the state board of health.

Well, I am not a witch doctor.

I need properly trained assistants.

I need an operating room

that doesn't fall apart.

At least lights that stay lit.

I know, but this is

a state hospital...

...and there isn't

enough money for us.

I can't promise you

that there ever will be enough.

I'll go back to Chicago

or someplace where there is.

John.

Before you do that...

...read this.

Who is Violet Venable?

You reveal your ignorance

of our fair city...

...of which Mrs. Venable

is the richest lady.

At one time,

her husband owned most of it.

Now she's a widow and she owns it.

"...and was very interested

in the work of your Dr. Cukrowicz."

She must have read your write-up

in the Herald.

"And I wonder if the foundation

I am establishing...

...might be of some assistance."

Son, with one signature

on one check...

...she can solve

all the problems we got.

"Also there is a matter

of some urgency...

...I should like to discuss with him.

Would 4:
30 on Tuesday be convenient?"

That's today.

What is her urgency, do you know?

No, but I know what ours is.

Lack of money. Her money.

She is serious?

I can tell you this much.

I've been trying for years

just to see the Venable lawyers.

You've been invited by her.

That's a command performance.

That's how serious I think it is.

And this is serious too.

More than 1 200 mental cases

Lions View can't afford to handle.

Good afternoon.

-Dr. Cukrowicz.

-Yes, sir.

Take a seat, please.

Thank you.

Mrs. Venable?

I am Miss Foxhill,

Mrs. Venable's secretary.

And you are Dr. Cukrowicz?

Your appointment was for...?

Four-thirty.

You are 23 seconds early.

Sit down, please.

Thank you.

Sebastian always said,

"Mother, when you descend...

...it's like the goddess

from the machine."

-Mrs. Venable's on her way down.

-I feel just like an angel...

...coming to earth

as I float, float into view.

Sebastian...

...my son, Sebastian, was

very interested in the Byzantine.

Are you interested

in the Byzantine, Dr...?

Cukrowicz.

I don't know very much

about the Byzantine.

The emperor of Byzantium,

when he received people in audience...

...had a throne which,

during the conversation...

...would rise mysteriously

in the air...

...to the consternation

of the visitors.

But as we are living in a democracy,

I reverse the procedure.

I don't rise. I come down.

How do you do, Dr....?

Oh, I'm sorry, your name?

Cukrowicz.

It's a Polish word meaning "sugar."

Am I only wearing one earring?

Have I forgotten my lip rouge?

Excuse me, I...

I guess I had been told

you were a widow.

I am. I'm in mourning.

White was my son's favorite color.

Perhaps, Dr. Sugar...

...you expected an old widow.

With a garnet brooch, a cane

and an ear trumpet.

Well, I have all that

to look forward to.

Life is a thief. Sebastian always

said, "Life steals everything."

I want to show you his garden.

Are you sure you should go out,

Mrs. Venable?

Quite sure.

They treat me like an invalid.

You see, last spring I had a slight...

...a tiny convulsion

of a tiny blood vessel.

What did your doctor call it?

A malady of living.

After all, I've buried a husband

and a son. I'm a widow and a...

Funny, there's no word.

Lose your parents, you're an orphan.

Lose your only son and you are...

...nothing.

Foxhill.

Where are they?

I put them in the patio.

They sent them parcel post from

Pensacola. That's why they were late.

Another day and we'd have starved

to death. Come on, doctor.

In your letter,

you said an "urgent" matter.

I must say, you're handsomer

than your photograph in the paper...

...without that awful paraphernalia

you doctors wear.

Your son's favorite color, white.

Such extraordinary eyes.

So like his.

You must...

I almost said, "You must meet

my son, Sebastian." Force of habit.

Is he the son who died?

Yes, last July, in Europe.

He must have been young to die.

All poets...

...whatever age they may seem

to others, die young.

It's unexpected.

Like the dawn of Creation.

It was Sebastian's idea.

Part of his lifelong war

against the herbaceous border.

Not unlike a well-groomed jungle

and, frankly, a little terrifying.

So was Creation.

So is Creation.

Listen to them buzz, buzz.

What's in there?

This way, before our poor Lady

dies of hunger.

The Latin names to the plants

are printed on tags...

...attached to them,

but the print's fading.

Those ones there are

the oldest plants on earth.

Survivors from the age

of the giant fern forest.

And here's my poor Lady.

They never get away.

The Lady exudes

this marvelous perfume...

...which attracts them.

They plunge into her chalice.

And they never come out.

This operation

you perform is called...?

Lobotomy.

-That's an unusual...

-I hate these flies.

Foxhill!

Foxhill!

She loves feeding our wicked Lady.

Foxhill's rather a brute.

Such an extravagance, really,

from early fall to late spring...

...Lady must be kept under glass...

...we have to provide her with flies

flown in at great expense.

Foxhill, you do the honors.

-Lady's very hungry today.

-Of course, Mrs. Venable.

I've never seen an insectivorous

plant before. What is it called?

The Venus's-flytrap.

A devouring organism...

...aptly named

for the goddess of love.

What was your son's work?

I mean, aside from this garden.

As many times as I've had

to answer that question...

...it still shocks me

a little to realize...

...that Sebastian Venable the poet

was quite unknown...

...outside of a small coterie

of friends, including his mother.

Your son was a poet?

Strictly speaking,

his life was his occupation.

Yes. Yes, Sebastian was a poet.

That's what I meant when I said

his life was his work.

Because the work of a poet is

the life of a poet. And vice versa.

I mean, you can't separate them.

I mean, a poet's life is his work.

And his work is his life,

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