Vertigo Page #13

MADELEINE:

And promise you won't ask me again.

Please promise me that.

He looks down at her somberly, promising and refusing nothing.

They start walking, holding together, and the two figures

become small in the distance, moving away through the tall

trees.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. CYPRESS POINT OR POINT LOBOS - (DAY) SAME DAY.

Below the point of land, the sea pounds against the rocks.

Madeleine stands alone, silhouetted against the sky. Scottie

sits in the car, watching her. She does not move. Then slowly

she starts to walk toward the sea, and as he watches he

senses, without being sure, that her pace is increasing, and

suddenly he opens the car door and jumps out and slams the

door and begins to run. But then he sees something, and slows

down quickly and walks, for Madeleine has stopped and turned

and is waiting for him. There is a gentle, apologetic smile

in her eyes. She waits, and he comes to a stop before her.

MADELEINE:

Why did you run?

He looks down at her searchingly.

SCOTTIE:

(Finally, quietly)

I'm responsible for you now, you

know. The Chinese say that once you

have saved someone's life, you are

responsible for it forever. And so

I'm committed. And I have to know.

MADELEINE:

And you'll go on saving me? Again

and again?

He waits. She looks down.

MADELEINE:

There is so little I know. It is as

though I were walking down a long

corridor that once was mirrored, and

fragments of mirror still hang there,

dark and shadowy, reflecting a dark

image of me... and yet not me...

someone else, in other clothes, of

another time, doing things I have

never done... but still me... And I

can't stop to ask why, I must keep

on walking. At the and of the corridor

there is nothing but darkness, and I

know when I walk into the darkness,

I'll die.

(Pause; she looks up)

But I've never come to the and; I've

always come back, before then. Except

once.

SCOTTIE:

Yesterday.

She nods.

SCOTTIE:

And you didn't know. You didn't know

what happened. Until you found

yourself there with me.

She shakes her head.

SCOTTIE:

You don't know where you were.

She shakes her head.

SCOTTIE:

But the small scenes, the fragments

in the mirror:
you remember them.

MADELEINE:

Vaguely...

SCOTTIE:

What do you remember?

MADELEINE:

(Searching)

A room... there is a room, and I sit

there alone... always alone...

SCOTTIE:

Would you know the room?

MADELEINE:

No... it's in shadow.

SCOTTIE:

What else?

MADELEINE:

A grave...

SCOTTIE:

Where?

MADELEINE:

I don't know. An open grave. I stand

by the gravestone looking down into

it. And it's my grave.

SCOTTIE:

How do you know?

MADELEINE:

I know.

SCOTTIE:

There's a name on the gravestone.

MADELEINE:

No. It's new and clean, and waiting.

SCOTTIE:

(Beginning to feel

lost)

What else?

MADELEINE:

(Searching)

This part is dream, I think. There

is a tower and a bell and... a garden

below... but it seems to be in

Spain... a village in Spain. And

then it clicks off, and is gone.

SCOTTIE:

A portrait? Do you ever see a

portrait?

MADELEINE:

No.

SCOTTIE:

Of the woman in the mirror. Would

you know her if you saw her?

MADELEINE:

But I'm the woman in the mirror!

SCOTTIE:

(Desperately)

No!

She looks up at him, rebuffed, desperately lost, and her

eyes well with tears. Scottie is looking away, lost in

thought.

SCOTTIE:

(To himself)

If I could find the key... find the

beginning put it together...

MADELEINE:

(Quietly, lost)

And so explain it away? But there

is a way to explain it, you see. If

I'm mad? That would explain it,

wouldn't it?

Scottie looks at her, and her eyes are big with fright and

despair and a plea for denial, and suddenly she breaks, and

the tears flow, and she turns her head away sharply and turns

and runs toward the edge of the land.

SCOTTIE:

Madeleine!!

He races after her and catches her and holds her, and she is

against him, clinging tightly, deep in his embrace, and

sobbing fiercely.

MADELEINE:

(Muffled, against his

breast)

I'm not mad. I'm not mad. And I don't

want to die, but there's someone

inside me, there's a somebody else,

and she says I must die... Scottie,

don't let me go!

SCOTTIE:

I'm here, I've got you...

MADELEINE:

I'm so afraid...

(She looks up)

...you won't let it happen...

Her face is close to his and they are clinging tightly

together. He shakes his head, and then suddenly his mouth is

on hers, and they are deep in a kiss. Their lips part, but

remain close together.

MADELEINE:

(Whispering)

Don't leave me... stay with me...

SCOTTIE:

All the time.

They kiss again, passionately. And the wind blows and the

waves dash against the rocks, throwing up a curtain of spray.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. MIDGE'S APARTMENT - (NIGHT)

Outside the terrace darkness is falling, and the lights of

the city have come on. In Midge's apartment the lights are

on and soft music comes from the radio (possibly "progressive

jazz" of the gentle George Shearing kind). Midge is painting

at a standing easel; She has a palette; obviously she is

painting in oils. We cannot see what she is painting; the

canvas on stretchers has its back to us. Its size is about

thirty by forty inches. Whatever it is, it seems to please

her:
she pauses in her work, picks up a highball from a table

nearby, drinks and stares at the painting and giggles a little

to herself than applies a few more daubs. Now she hears the

outside gate slam. She puts down the brush and the drink,

moves the easel a bit so that the canvas cannot be seen from

the front door, picks up a water tumbler that contains a

small nosegay, and hurries out to the kitchen with it. The

door to the apartment slams.

SCOTTIE:

(Calling)

Midge?

Midge hurries out of the kitchen.

MIDGE:

Hi, Johnny! Did you get my message?

She immediately goes to the small sideboard or table on which

are bottles, glasses, and ice, and mixes him a highball.

Scottie is at ease. He drops his hat on a chair near the

door and wanders into the room.

SCOTTIE:

I did. Since when do you go about

slipping notes under men's doors?

MIDGE:

Since I stopped being able to get

them on the phone. For a man who has

nothing to do, you're certainly a

busy little bee. Where do you go,

these days?

SCOTTIE:

Just wander.

MIDGE:

Where?

SCOTTIE:

Around.

MIDGE:

Oh?

She hands him the drink. He takes a long pull at it as she

watches him.

SCOTTIE:

Mm. Better.

MIDGE:

Did you need it?

SCOTTIE:

Yeah.

MIDGE:

Oh?

She crosses the room to get her own drink, giving a flick of

a glance at the canvas as she goes. Scottie watches her,

slightly amused, knowing that her curiosity is working like

mad.

SCOTTIE:

What was this desperate urge to see

me?

MIDGE:

All I said in the note was: "Where

are you?" That doesn't sound desperate

to me.

SCOTTIE:

Well, I detected an undercurrent.

MIDGE:

I just thought if I gave you a drink

and fed you some dinner, you'd be so

grateful you'd take me to a movie.

SCOTTIE:

Fair enough. What'll we talk about

at dinner?

MIDGE:

Oh... this and that.

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