The Iron Lady Page #16

76 INT. DRAWING ROOM. COLLINS HOUSE. LONDON. 1858. EVENING. 76

COLLINS sunk in a chair as NELLY paces the room, clearly

distraught-

COLLINS:

He can never divorce Catherine,

Nelly, you must know that.

COLLINS grips her hands, gentle, reassuring.

COLLINS (CONT’D)

He has burnt all his letters. He

has even asked me to burn all our

correspondence.

NELLY:

There is an insanity to his

behaviour-

COLLINS:

Charles is many things but he is

not insane. He is distraught.

NELLY:

And I am not?

COLLINS:

You have a choice. You may

distance yourself from him. Find

a new life. A different life.

NELLY stops, catching on this.

NELLY:

What different life? What is there

for me?

NELLY looks up just seeing CAROLINE passing a doorway, her

eyes briefly grazing over NELLY as she leads BUTLER to bed.

COLLINS:

He is a good man trying to be a

good man. But he is a great man.

You see him, Nelly. I watch you

together. You see him and he sees

you.

(close to)

What more does one want in life?

Blue Revisions dated 11th June 2012 85.

DISTANT LAUGHTER, CAROLINE and BUTLER lost in some playful

conversation-

CAROLINE:

(calling down)

Wilkie-

WILKIE with a half smile-

COLLINS:

Coming.

(close to)

We have to break these

conventions. Smash ‘em up. We

are the pioneers.

NELLY:

Pioneers? You men - you live

your lives while it is we who

have to wait. You see a freedom

which I don’t see.

COLLINS, at a loss-

COLLINS:

(exiting)

The Butler will not sleep if I do

not read to her.

NELLY nods, alone in the quiet domesticity of COLLINS’

house. She hesitates, three pairs of shoes, COLLINS’,

CAROLINE’s and BUTLER’s just visible by the door.

The CREAK of FLOORBOARDS

NELLY looks up-

FOOTSTEPS walking over head.

SCENE 77 moved now SCENE 71A

77 OMITTED 77

78 INT. TAVISTOCK HOUSE. SQUARE. LONDON. 1858. DUSK. 78

NELLY passes her coat to JOHN, he takes it closing the door

behind him leaving NELLY. She stops on hearing the murmur

of DICKENS voice, clearly aloud to himself. She walks

finding DICKENS seated at his desk.

DICKENS:

You are here.

NELLY nods, pulling off the last of her things.

Blue Revisions dated 11th June 2012 86.

NELLY:

My name is whispered with yours

and yet I have nothing.

DICKENS takes her by the hands, leading her over towards a

waiting chair.

DICKENS:

Sit down.

DICKENS hovers, pours her a glass of water.

DICKENS (CONT’D)

Have a glass of water.

NELLY quizzical, takes the offered glass, drinks.

DICKENS (CONT’D)

I do not regret it-

NELLY:

Charles-

DICKENS:

I have broken something that needed

breaking. I have finished it.

NELLY:

Yes it is finished.

DICKENS:

No, the book..the book.

NELLY hesitates, DICKENS picks up a sheaf of inky papers, the

last chapter of Great Expectations, it’s title just visible

on the front page. He hands them to her.

NELLY:

Yes, I see.

DICKENS nods, takes a seat across from her.

DICKENS:

(tentatively offering up)

Will you read this last part?

NELLY wavers, takes it. She opens, reads. She looks up, he’s

watching her. She looks back resumes reading.

79 INT. DRAWING ROOM. TAVISTOCK HOUSE. LONDON. 1858. NIGHT. 79

Time has passed-

NELLY looks up, the pages clutched in her hands. She is

moved, yet lost for words, DICKENS watchful, with anxious

flickering gaze.

Blue Revisions dated 11th June 2012 87.

DICKENS:

You do not like it?

NELLY:

No. I like it. I like it very much.

DICKENS smiles, relieved, stands, at last able to breath.

DICKENS:

Wilkie thinks I should change the

ending.

NELLY:

No..No. You must not..To bring

Estella and Pip together at the end

but not to unite them.

DICKENS:

She is changed. That is enough.

NELLY:

Yes..It is a sad ending but

Estella finds her heart, an

understanding at last...

DICKENS:

Exactly.

NELLY:

At times, often Pip is not heroic-

DICKENS:

Yes..He is filled with the

ambitions, the vanities, the

flaws in all of us-

DICKENS and NELLY’s eyes connect, a sense of total

understanding between them, he smiles.

DICKENS (CONT’D)

I know what I have done. But to

stay.. To stay as it was. I could

not..I cannot..When in my head..My

heart-

NELLY moved, DICKENS searching back through the sheaves of

manuscript.

DICKENS (CONT’D)

Here..Here..I wrote this..an

earlier chapter.

(reading

You are part of my existence,

part of myself.

NELLY:

Yes I remember.

Blue Revisions dated 11th June 2012 88.

DICKENS nods, spurred on, continuing to read.

DICKENS:

You have been in every line I

have ever read. You have been in

every prospect I have ever seen

since- on the river, on the sails

of the ships, on the marshes, in

the clouds, in the light, in the

darkness, in the wind, in the

woods, in the sea, in the

streets. You have been the

embodiment of every graceful

fancy that my mind has ever

become acquainted with-

DICKENS stands, raw and open to NELLY

DICKENS (CONT’D)

To the last hour of my life, you

cannot choose but remain part of my

character, part of the little good

in me, part of the evil.

NELLY moved-

NELLY:

Let us go away.

80 EXT. FIELD. FRANCE. 1865. DAY. 80

EXTREME CLOSE UP ON NELLY’s bare feet, navigating over

pebbles in a stream.

SUDDENLY by her side, DICKENS’ heavy boots-

DICKENS HANDS reaching over, guiding her across the stream.

Beyond a field, on a slight incline, DICKENS leading her.

80AA INT. BEDROOM. FRANCE. 1865. DAY. 80AA

On NELLY, her face flickering with emotions. The shadow of

DICKENS, the shape of him, just out of view-

SUDDENLY his FINGERS intertwine with hers, their palms flat

together, clenched and then released as DICKENS comes-

DICKENS, just a shadow, never seen, just a sense of him

sinking down next to her, rolling onto his back. NELLY’s face

relaxes, her head turns a little, lost in the flicking

seconds of release after love making.

Blue Revisions dated 11th June 2012 88A.

80A INT. BEDROOM. FRANCE. 1865. DUSK. 80A

CLOSE on DICKENS, his reflection in a mirror, distracted, his

face mostly in shadow. One eye caught by the light. Beyond

him in the reflection, NELLY in bed, staring at him. A sense

of the aftermath of love making - not perfect, but somehow

binding them.

DICKENS:

(almost to self)

You are my magic circle of one.

81 EXT. FIELD. FRANCE. 1865. DAY. 81

The SCRATCH of DICKEN’s quill, ink blotting his fingers.

Blue Revisions dated 11th June 2012 89.

He sits under the shade of trees, writing in a notebook.

NELLY sits across from him, revealing she is now heavilypregnant. The remains of a simple picnic on a cloth close by;

a flagon of wine, the last few crumbs of bread and cheese.

DICKENS looks up from writing, sensing-

NELLY watching him, her hands on her dress, now clearlypregnant. SUDDENLY she looks down, the flicker of something,

looks up, smiles, sharing this with him.

82 EXT. FIELD. FRANCE. 1865. DAY. 82

CLOSE UP on ripe apricots, gripped in a cloth in DICKENS WIDEHANDS as he walks. He gently tips them on the picnic cloth-

NELLY looks up, with surprise, happy. She reaches for hishands, his fingers blotted with ink. She attempts to wipe theink away, to no avail.

83 EXT. FIELD. FRANCE. 1865. DAY. 83

Late afternoon-

The stooped frame of an ELDERLY MAN walking towards DICKENSand NELLY sunk in the grass-

ELDERLY MAN:

Monsieur Tringham, Madame Tringham,

.tes-vous pr.ts pour le d.part?

Aimeriez-vous avoir un peu plus detemps?

DICKENS:

Non, nous sommes pr.ts.

Beyond an ELDERLY WIFE sits in a cart smiling, waiting. TheELDERLY MAN gathers their belongings. DICKENS and NELLYfollowing him.

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84 EXT. PATIO. HOUSE. FRANCE. 1865. EVENING.

The aftermath of supper, the candle is low, a bottledrained of wine-

A MAID quietly clears around them.

NELLY:

(in french)

Thank you, Audrey.

NELLY stands, close by DICKENS as he sits reading over aletter, she slips an arm around him reading over hisshoulder.

84

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