The Pianist Page #20

Szpilman slips off his armband, stuffs it into his pocket.

The group walk into the darkness.

EXT. WISNIOWA STREET - NIGHT

Dimly lit. Empty street. Szpilman walks fast to the corner,

stops, looks round anxiously. Nothing. He takes the armband

from his pocket and drops it through the grating of a drain

in the gutter just as there's movement in a darkened

doorway. Szpilman tenses.

Then, out of the darkness of the doorway, a woman: JANINA

GODLEWSKA.

She turns and starts to walk quickly. Szpilman, putting

the collar of his coat up, follows, keeping pace. A

pedestrian walks past in the opposite direction but pays

them no attention.

Janina and Szpilman walk on.

EXT. BOGUCKI BUILDING - NIGHT

Janina comes to the front door, opens it with a key, goes

in. Szpilman, a little distance behind, catches up and

follows her inside.

INT. HALL, STAIRS AND 3RD FLOOR, BOGUCKI BUILDING - NIGHT

Janina waits as Szpilman closes the front door, then starts

up the stairs. Szpilman follows. She stops, turns to him,

smiles, kisses him on the cheek, then continues up the

stairs.

INT. BOGUCKI APARTMENT - NIGHT

ANDRZEJ BOGUCKI, a handsome man, fortyish, tries to conceal

his sense of shock at seeing Szpilman He holds out his

hand and Szpilman shakes it.

Szpilman looks around the nicely furnished, large apartment.

He looks at Bogucki and Janina. Tears well up in his eyes.

He fights it hard, not to cry. So does Janina.

BOGUCKI:

We haven't much time.

INT. SMALL BATHROOM, BOGUCKI APARTMENT - NIGHT

Szpilman lies in a steaming bath, eyes closed, as though

he's in a trance.

A gentle knock on the door and Bogucki slips in with some

clothes. He gazes at Szpilman, whose eyes remain closed.

BOGUCKI:

You must hurry.

Bogucki holds up a towel. Szpilman lifts himself out of

the bath and dries himself.

BOGUCKI:

We're going to have to keep moving

you. The Germans are hunting down

indiscriminately now. Jews, non-

Jews, anybody, everybody.

(handing him the

clothes')

See if these fit. And, Wladek,

you'd better shave. Use my razor.

In the cabinet.

INT. LIVING ROOM, BOGUCKI APARTMENT - LATER

The ceramic stove. Szpilman's ghetto clothes, torn into

strips, are being stuffed into it and burned. Janina shoves

the strips of clothes into the stove. Szpilman, now wearing

Bogucki's suit and clean-shaven, watches the clothes burn

while he spoons hot soup into his mouth.

SZPILMAN:

Thank you, I don't.

BOGUCKI:

You'll be looked after by Mr

Gebczynski. He's on the other side

of town. You'll stay there tonight.

Then we'll find you somewhere else.

Janina adds the last strip of clothing.

JANINA:

I'll bring you food.

BOGUCKI:

Let's go.

EXT. WARSAW STREETS - NIGHT

A rickshaw carrying Szpilman and Bogucki travels along the

dark streets.

EXT. GEBCZYNSKI'S STORE - NIGHT

The rickshaw comes to a halt outside a store. The moment

it stops the shutters of the store are raised and Bogucki

escorts Szpilman to the door, then quickly returns to the

rickshaw, which moves off fast.

INT. GEBCZYNSKI'S STORE - NIGHT

GEBCZNYSKI shakes hands with Szpilman, ushers him in and

then pulls down the shutter.

Gebczynski's store is for sanitary furnishings and supplies:

lavatories, basins, baths, taps etc.

GEBCZYNSKI:

I'll show you where you're going

to sleep.

He leads the way and as he goes he picks up a cushion from

a chair and a blanket. Szpilman follows.

STAIRS TO BASEMENT:

Gebczynski leads Szpilman down the stairs.

BASEMENT STORE ROOM:

Dark, shadowy. Shelves with taps, washers, pipes. Gebczynski

leads the may to a particular set of shelves. He puts aside

the cushion and blanket, then starts to push at the shelves.

Szpilman, although puzzled, helps. Slowly, the shelves

move to reveal a secret compartment.

GEBCZYNSKI:

It's not going to be very

comfortable.

SZPILMAN:

I'll be fine.

GEBCZYNSKI:

You'll have to stay here until

tomorrow afternoon.

He helps Szpilman into the compartment.

GEBCZYNSKI:

We've got a flat for you. Near the

ghetto wall. But it's safe.

He hands over the cushion and the blanket to Szpilman;

then, putting his back to the shelves and his feet against

the wall, he pushes the shelves back into place so that

Szpilman is now hidden.

INT. SECRET COMPARTMENT - NIGHT

In the cramped space, Szpilman is not quite able to stretch

full out. With difficulty, he puts the cushion behind his

head, starts to cover himself with the blanket but stops,

seeing something.

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