The Possession Page #3

HILDEBRAND:

But not frail enough.

Envy in his voice, as Cropper collects the rings. He wheels

Lord Ash's chair to the exit. Blackadder and Fergus gossip.

FERGUS:

You have to hand it to Cropper,

repackaging Ash as a New Victorian.

All moral rigor and family values.

Pure opportunism!-

BLACKADDER:

Now Newsweek picked it up, the old

goat thinks he'll get a Pulitzer for

his book. Hideous...

(beat)

But I wouldn't trust anyone, faced

with Cropper's loot...

Blackadder rushes up to Cropper.

BLACKADDER:

Congratulations, Professor Cropper.

CROPPER:

Ah, Professor... Dr. Wolf... Look at

these rings. Wonderful things...

He proudly holds up the rings before them. All look on.

CROPPER:

I remember when my father would

amuse himself by placing the

treasures of his own collection in

my sweaty paw...

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

13.

CONTINUED:

CROPPER (CONT'D)

(stroking his palm;

sensuously)

... `Here, Morty, my boy,' he would

say. `Here is history to hold in

your hand.' Priceless...

BLACKADDER:

Surely a strain even for your

budget.

Effortlessly superior, Cropper smiles condescendingly.

CROPPER:

At the Cropper Foundation, we don't

have a budget. Just a check book.

Blackadder, Fergus watch him wheel Lord Ash out.

EXT. ROLAND'S FLAT (STOKE NEWINGTON) - SPINNING BICYCLE

WHEEL - NIGHT

Roland rides up the lanes of rundown Stoke Newington.

Outside a tall Victorian house, Roland stops, brings his

bicycle up steps. Opens his doors, and enters -

INT. ROLAND'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - NIGHT

Locking his bicycle in the hall, he picks up a pile of mail.

And wearily goes down the stairs into the basement.

INT. ROLAND'S FLAT - KITCHEN - NIGHT

Portraits of Randolph Henry Ash stare down at a kitchen

table. CATS gather, MIAOWING for food, as -

VAL, his long-time girl friend, sets down before Roland a

plate of lamb and ratatouille. It's reheated, and like

their relationship, tepid, and potentially poisonous.

ROLAND:

Shall I get a bottle of wine?

VAL:

You should've thought of that

before.

Roland dutifully picks at the meat. Then -

(CONTINUED)

14.

CONTINUED:

ROLAND:

I made an amazing discovery today!-

VAL:

It'll go cold.

ROLAND:

I was in the London Library. I

found Ash's own copy of Donne poems

with all his notes in the margins.

And I'm sure no one knew it was

there -

VAL:

I expect they didn't.

ROLAND:

... If I tell Blackadder, I know

he'll think it's important -

VAL:

I expect he will.

Roland sees the bad mood. Like a storm gathering strength.

ROLAND:

I'm sorry to bore you, Val. It does

look exciting. I can write it up.

It'll make me a better job prospect

VAL:

There are no jobs. And if there

are, they go to Fergus Wolf -

Val gets up from the table. Roland dutifully prods the

lamb.

ROLAND:

If you think what I do is so

unimportant -

VAL:

(lighting a cigarette)

You do what turns you on. You have

this thing about this dead man. Who

had a thing about dead people.

That's okay, but not everyone is

very bothered about all that...

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

15.

CONTINUED:

VAL (CONT'D)

(draws on cigarette)

... I see some things, from my

menial vantage point in my lawyer's

office. Last week, when Euan and I

Roland starts to feed cats below the table.

ROLAND:

Who...?

VAL:

A lawyer. In my office... Oh, never

mind.

Val turns to him. At first slowly, calmly. Then louder...

VAL:

I suppose I envy you, piecing

together old Ash's world picture.

Only where does that leave you, old

mole? What's your world picture?

And how are you ever going to afford

to get us away from dripping catpiss

and being on top of one

another?!

Roland stares, stricken by Val's show of temper.

ROLAND:

Something's upset you, hasn't it?

VAL:

Seems a reasonable deduction.

EXT./INT. ROLAND'S FLAT (STOKE NEWINGTON) - BEDROOM -

NIGHT:

Three A.M. Outside a dilapidated Victorian house, a breeze

RUSTLES through a tree's LEAVES. MOVE IN THROUGH a WINDOW,

where Val lies in bed, alone. Outside the bedroom -

INT. ROLAND'S FLAT - BATHROOM - NIGHT

Sitting on the lowered loo seat, Roland goes over the

letters. He stares at the handwriting, hears Ash's voice.

(CONTINUED)

16.

CONTINUED:

ASH (V.O.)

`... Dear Madam, Excuse this letter

to a stranger...'

RUSTLED by WIND, with a strange, harmonic MUSIC, the letters

hover delicately in his hands. Haunted by Roland's...

DREAM - EXT. HOUSE - CRABB ROBINSON PARTY

(BLACK & WHITE) - DAY

As Ash escorts Ellen into the house, he carries on through a

party, inside a conservatory of Oriental plants which

conceal guests playing blind man's bluff. Ash sees a WOMAN,

head turned away.

ON that look -

ASH (V.O.)

`... Since our pleasant and

unexpected conversation at Crabb

Robinson's party, I have thought of

nothing else...'

Ash is drawn towards the Woman -- FREEZE ON his expression,

his features turn as if to stone, as -

END OF DREAM.

INT. UNIVERSITY OF LONDON LIBRARY - AT DESK - NEXT DAY

Crisp pages of a yellowing volume. Roland reads the journal

of Crabb Robinson. An entry under 1858.

CRABB ROBINSON (V.O.)

`... June 18, 1858. My breakfast

party went off very well indeed. I

had with me:
Mr. Bagehot, Mr. Ash,

Mrs. Jameson... Professor Spear,

Mrs. Lees, Miss La Motte and her

friend Miss Glover, the last

somewhat taciturn...'

Roland locks up, scribbles a note: "Christabel La Motte."

He dreamily sees -

FLASHBACK - EXT. CRABB ROBINSON'S HOME (RUSSELL

SQUARE) (BLACK & WHITE) - DAY (1858)

In the conservatory, Ash, as before, walking towards a

Woman, turned away from him (and us).

(CONTINUED)

17.

CONTINUED:

The host, CRABB ROBINSON, a mustachioed aesthete, observes

his guests.

CRABB ROBINSON (V.O.)

`... Ash had never met Miss La

Motte, who spoke more forcefully

than I expected. She is

surprisingly handsome when

animated...'

In BLACK AND WHITE we see as distant shadows -- Ash with a

Woman -- Christabel La Motte -- and behind her, another

Woman -- BLANCHE GLOVER, an attractive, but less confident

artist.

CRABB ROBINSON (V.O.)

`... We all discussed with Mrs. Lees

her claim to have conversed with the

spirit of Charlotte Bronte... Mr.

Ash appealed to Miss La Motte on the

question of visions and second

sight; she declined to express an

opinion, answering only with a Mona

Lisa smile.'

From Ash and Christabel's smile: Rapturous, intense...

END OF FLASHBACK.

CUT TO:

CLOSEUP:

as Roland double-underlines the name "Christabel La Motte."

He takes his slip of paper to -

INT. UNIVERSITY OF LONDON LIBRARY - INDEX - DAY

Standing in a catalogue room, trousers still coiled by

bicycle clips, Roland flicks through the cards in a

gargantuan index. Under "L," he rummages until he finds the

reference...

ON CARD:

ROLAND:

(mumbling)

La... La... La... La Motte.

(CONTINUED)

18.

CONTINUED:

"La Motte, Christabel 1825-1890. Poet, critic."

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