The Kingdom of Heaven Page #13

BALIAN looks not so much embarrassed, as embarrassed at being

embarrassed.

SIBYLLA (CONT'D)

But if it were adultery, which

(she wipes his face)

it isn’t, the Commandments are not

for persons in our positions. They

are for others.

BALIAN:

(gruffly, remembering that

he ought to think about

this)

Did they give you something to eat?

SIBYLLA:

(a tucked smiles as she

kicks through the pool)

Yes. They “gave me something to

eat”.

Out of shot, with Balian staring after her. Picked up, she

wades into the green, saline, pool, under the palms, holding

up her dress. She’s no princess, just a girl kicking through

the water. She stops and looks into the desert. Rippling

wind. Beyond palms, mirages. SIBYLLA c*cks her head, waiting

to hear if Balian comes up behind her. He has not.

She looks around and sees:

BALIAN is gone. She smiles, and kicks on through the water.

62.

INT. THE HOUSE AT IBELIN. AFTERNOON

SIBYLLA watches from the roof terrace as

SIBYLLA’S POV:

Within a crowd of exultant peasants THE WATERWHEEL is lifted

(fairly easily now) on its long axle and is fitted into its

frame above the new well.

EXT. THE WELL. CONTINUOUS

BALIAN working. BALIAN, intense, turns the wheel by raw

force, and watches...buckets come up, full of water. he nods,

and lets the wheel drop. MONTAGE details of the gearing being

assembled.

INT. THE FORT AT IBELIN. CONTINUOUS

SIBYLLA, watching Balian, leaning against the stones, seems

to have come to some decision. Terrible heat.

SIBYLLA:

I think we are looking at the one

man in the world who is not like

another.

The Maidservant lays a damp cloth across her eyes.

MAIDSERVANT:

On the contrary, he is common, my

lady. Your husband Guy is a man.

SIBYLLA laughs, the cloth over her eyes. She looks like

Justice.

EXT. IBELIN. VARIOUS (AS NIGHT FALLS)

MONTAGE the completion of the waterwheel, and its operation.

Water gushes through pipes into troughs into ditches, and the

paddies begin to flood, the soil darkening.

EXT. BY THE PADDIES. TWILIGHT

Among his dancing subjects, and grinning men-at-arms (ALMARIC

even essays to slap his back), BALIAN is lost in thought

of...as he looks back at his house...Sibylla, who stands on

the roof, watching.

INT. THE GREAT ROOM AT IBELIN. EVENING

BALIAN is drawing. SIBYLLA watches him from behind a gauze

curtain.

(CONTINUED)

63.

CONTINUED:

Balian dips his pen in ink. Draws, blots, draws. SIBYLLA

comes behind Balian and looks over his shoulder. BALIAN

becomes aware of her.

SIBYLLA:

You have a guest.

BALIAN looks at her boldly.

BALIAN:

I am aware. That I have a guest.

SIBYLLA lowers her eyes and changes the subject.

SIBYLLA:

Is this the...”work”...you did in

France? What I saw today?

BALIAN:

In my work in France the only thing

that was mine was the quality.

She looks at his drawings.

SIBYLLA:

These are the walls of Jerusalem.

You have changed the David Gate.

BALIAN:

Yes. It ought to be changed. It

is...impractical.

SIBYLLA:

Eleven hundred and fifty years ago,

Jesus Christ rode through it on a

donkey.

(raises palms drolly)

In Jerusalem, as it was, it shall

be. Jerusalem is not about what is

practical. To say...the least.

BALIAN smiles. He likes this woman. Sibylla and Balian look

at each other. Neither are smiling now. At the moment of

intolerable sexual tension, a bell rings at the end of the

room. BALIAN looks and sees SIBYLLA’S SERVANTS (including the

scandalized MAIDSERVANT) laying out a meal. He moves with

Sibylla towards the low table. They sit on cushions. A fire

burns at the end of the room. Sibylla eats, with knife and

fingers, licking her fingers, drinking wine. (No silverware

doesn’t mean no manners). Sibylla looks up and sees Balian

staring at her.

(CONTINUED)

64.

CONTINUED:
(2)

SIBYLLA (CONT'D)

What?

BALIAN:

It seems years since I have seens a

woman eat.

SIBYLLA:

The Hospitaler told me what

occurred in France.

BALIAN looks up.

SIBYLLA (CONT'D)

(tearing flat bread)

Had he not told me, I would have

had him tortured.

(they both laugh, but then

seriously:
)

You loved her.

BALIAN:

Yes.

(a beat)

I did. Very much. She was

melancholy. I loved her.

Quietly, they eat. The drapes blow, the candles flare.

SIBYLLA:

I watches you today. You have been

given a patch of dust and it almost

seems you will build a new

Jerusalem here.

BALIAN:

It is my house. What would I be if

I did not make it better?

Sibylla plays with her glass. She looks carefully at Balian.

And then, as if caught staring, looks chaotically down.

INT. A GALLERY AT IBELIN. DEEP TWILIGHT

SIBYLLA and BALIAN are walking. As BALIAN looks at her, there

is a MUSLIM CALL TO PRAYER...the last of the day.

SIBYLLA:

(off the prayer)

They try to be one: one heart, one

morality. One passion. They try to

do without our infinite

complications.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

65.

CONTINUED:

SIBYLLA (CONT'D)

(a beat)

Their prophet says “submit”. Jesus

said “decide”.

On “decide” she looks directly at Balian, and is quite

clearly in love with him.

SIBYLLA (CONT'D)

(to change the subject)

Do you pray?

BALIAN:

I pray that I may be equal to what

has been asked of me. To what has

been given me.

SIBYLLA:

We all pray that at first. But who

stays content when others have

more?

BALIAN:

(smiles)

I was content, with what you would

call nothing. I may be content

again. Here.

He looks out over the praying Ibelin Muslims. All in

submission to God, bowing in unison.

BALIAN (CONT'D)

They submit...we must decide. They

have it easier.

(gently)

You did not decide on Guy.

SIBYLLA:

(unhappily, firmly)

My first husband was chosen by my

father. I cannot complain, since my

son was the result, but that is

retrospection. My first husband

died before his son was born.

BALIAN:

I have seen your son.

SIBYLLA:

He is not strong. And he will be

the king.

(she thinks sadly about

her son, then presses on)

Guy was chosen by my mother.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

66.

CONTINUED:
(2)

SIBYLLA (CONT'D)

The Kingdom needed new blood. My

mother took what was available at

the time.

(near tears and wanting to

be alone)

I have not decided very much in my

days. One learns not to want. They

submit to God. I submit to the

Kingdom of Jerusalem. Good night.

BALIAN:

Good night.

SIBYLLA goes along the gallery. BALIAN watches her go.

EXT. THE FIELDS. MORNING

BALIAN dismounts and, boots in the furrowed dry earth, walks

his horse respectfully past the praising MUSLIMS. Squinting

against the late sun. A note of paradise. MUSLIMS pray, JEWS

and CHRISTIANS work together in the fields. Ibelin is a

microcosm of the king’s Jersualem--the better world.

INT. THE GALLERY. DAY

SIBYLLA is sitting in an archway, knees up, looking out at

the water.

BALIAN come in, dusty. Brass chimes turn and tinkle in the

wind.

SIBYLLA:

I could stay here...perhaps not

forever... but a little while

longer.

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