97 INT. HOSPITAL. DAY
BEA, kicks and screams as she
is carried down the corridor of the Mental Hospital by FOUR NURSES. MATRON and
DR.CARRUTHERS look on. MATRON feels very
uneasy about what is happening to BEA.
BEA (screaming) You’ve
no right...LEAVE ME ALONE.
98 INT. JOHNNO'S ROOM. NIGHT
JOHNNO sits at his desk, in
his room, at night, typing up an article.
There is a half empty bottle of wine on the desk and a cigarette burning
in the ashtray.
99 INT. MILES' HOME. MORNING
MR. MILES, puts on his
dressing gown as he moves down the hallway towards the front door; stopping for
a moment before he opens it, to straighten his hair with his hands. He opens the door. FIVE JOURNALISTS start asking questions all
at once, as TWO PHOTOGRAPHERS position themselves to take photos. Out of the jumble of questions, one is clear:
JOURNALIST What is your
response to the Smith’s Weekly allegation that you forcibly incarcerated your
daughter because...
MR.MILES is overcome by anger
and shock: his eyes blaze.
100 INT. MR. MILES' OFFICE. DAY
The front page of SMITH’S
WEEKLY carries the banner: MADHOUSE MYSTERY OF A BEAUTIFUL SYDNEY GIRL. FIVE DOCTORS DECLARE HER SANE, CONDEMNED TO A
LIFETIME IN A MADHOUSE...
MR. MILES paces up and down
his office with his hands behind his back casting occasional glances in the
direction of MR PHELPS who is reading the article, seated in a large
comfortable chair.
After a long pause, during
which MR. MILES becomes increasingly nervous and agitated.
MR. PHELPS Defamatory.
No doubt about it.
MR. MILES nods; relieved.
101 INT. COURTROOM. DAY
A crowded courtroom. Bea’s legal counsel, MR. COLLINSON, questions
a PSYCHIATRIST in the witness box. MR.
MILES, MR. PHELPS, MATRON, DR. CARRUTHERS, JOHNNO and GRANDMA ELLIE are in
court.
MR COLLINSON Insane,
doctor?
PSYCHIATRIST Abnormal,
peculiar; yes. A little excitable... flighty...what we call manic; yes. Neurotic, yes. But certainly not insane.
MR COLLINSON Eccentric?
PSYCHIATRIST (smiles) Eccentric,
certainly...I mean she...
MR COLLINSON Yes?
PSYCHIATRIST She made me
sit for her sanity test... before she let me give her mine.
MR COLLINSON (amused) How
did you do?
PSYCHIATRIST I passed,
narrowly. She was very exacting.
Laughter in court. A look of relief passes over BEA’s face. MR. MILES writes something on a pad and shows
it to MR. PHELPS.
LATER
BEA in witness box being
questioned by MR COLLINSON.
MR COLLINSON Do you see
how your behaviour could have been misinterpreted as madness?
BEA Yes. By
fools.
MR COLLINSON How do we
know that you are not mad?
MR PHELPS (leaps to his
feet) Objection. The issue at hand is
whether or not Smith’s Weekly defamed Mr. Miles. Miss Miles’ own opinions
regarding her sanity are irrelevant.
MR COLLINSON Your Honour,
in light of the fact that five doctors have told the court that Miss Miles is
not insane, I would have thought the question of whether or not Mr.Miles
'wrongfully committed' her - as Smith’s Weekly claims - is inextricably bound
up with the question of whether or not Miss Miles was 'insane' or appeared to
be 'insane' in the months prior to her committal.
JUDGE Objection
overruled. Proceed Mr. Collinson.
MR COLLINSON Miss Miles,
how do we know that you are not mad?
BEA Because I can
admit the possibility that I might be or might seem to be. And no really mad
person can do that.
MR COLLINSON You admit the
possibility?
BEA Yes.
MR COLLINSON Do you think
that wise?
BEA I don’t know
what’s wise, obviously.
MR COLLINSON You agree
that in society’s terms your behaviour appears, at times, to be eccentric.
BEA Yes.
LATER
MR. PHELPS cross-examines
BEA.
MR PHELPS You say you
have a high regard for your father; that you love your father?
BEA Yes.
MR. PHELPS Then why did
you choose to bring him so much grief?
BEA I didn’t
choose to do that. He chose to react with grief to what I did.
MR. PHELPS And why did
you behave in the way you did?
BEA For fun.
MR. PHELPS For fun?
BEA Yes. The
intelligent woman’s reason for being unconventional in public.
MR. PHELPS Even when it
brings you into conflict with the police, with your family and results in your
being declared insane and put in a mental hospital?
BEA I am
responsible for my actions. Not society’s reactions.
MR. PHELPS Society has
no reason to react in the way it does?
BEA No good
reason. Society applauds the man who dies climbing up a Himalayan mountain for
glory’s sake or freezing to death in the quest to be the first to reach the
South Pole. Society calls these deeds achievements and what I do, madness. I am
not responsible for society’s reactions.
There are murmurs in the
courtroom and some tentative applause.
JOHNNO smiles.
MR PHELPS You are
responsible only to yourself?
BEA Yes, so long
as I don’t hurt anyone. Physically.
MR PHELPS Do you
seriously contend that you have not hurt anyone?
BEA Not
physically. Other people’s mental hurt, as a rule, is not, should not and
cannot be my business.
She looks at her father. MR. MILES looks away.
LATER
MR. MILES is in the witness
box. He seems forthright and honourable;
arrogant but concerned.
MR COLLINSON You opposed
conscription in the Great War.
MR. MILES Yes.
MR COLLINSON You believe
that an individual should not be forced by society to do what he did not want
to do.
MR MILES Yes.
MR COLLINSON You believe
in the freedom of the individual?
MR. MILES Yes. (HE
SHOOTS A GLANCE AT BEA.) And along with that freedom I believe comes a measure
of responsibility.
MR COLLINSON But your daughter Bea was too free for your taste.
MR. MILES No, too
irresponsible.
MR COLLINSON Insane?
MR MILES I’m not sure the distinction matters.
Hurtful, yes. Distressing, yes. In the case of her poor mother probably fatal.
BEA, distressed, looks down.
MR COLLINSON But surely that distinction is what we are
here for?
MR. MILES (impassioned)
No. What we are here for is to decide whether I acted properly in
dealing as I did with a situation that was ignominious and painful beyond
belief. A situation that, in all possible ways, threatened the stability and
the reputation and the health and the peace of mind of the family of which I
was head. A situation that, however unjustly, was worsened by my daughter’s
illness, and her deranged behaviour thereafter.
MR. COLLINSON Deranged.
MR. MILES Yes.
MR. COLLINSON Like having an
untidy room, and staying out late?
MR MILES (emphatically)
And coming home in the charge of police for having behaved indecently in
public. And risking her life in the pursuit of a free lift she could well
afford.
MR COLLINSON Deranged?
MR. MILES Yes.
BEA looks down.
MR. COLLINSON Not just high
spirited.
MR. MILES You have not
lived with it. You could not know.
MR. COLLINSON And you had
no choice?
MR. MILES I did not
think so.
He looks away. BEA is looking
away too.
MR COLLINSON But what
brought you to it? Was it just your overseas trip? And that Beatrice might be
an inconvenience while you travelled overseas?
Some of the JURY look shocked
at this.
MR MILES (angry) And
that Beatrice might disappear while we were overseas with her, and never see
her again.
MR COLLINSON So you had her committed.
MR. MILES Not just for
that reason.
MR. COLLINSON What other
reason?
MR MILES (backing off)
It was a culmination of many reasons. Including her illness.
MR. COLLINSON And she was
deservedly put in a place where she was strangled into unconsciousness?
A look is exchanged between
MR MILES and BEA. MR MILES looks down.
MR. MILES I was not
aware of those things.
MR. COLLINSON Do you love your daughter Mr. Miles?
MR. MILES Yes I do.
Very much.
He looks down. BEA's eyes
cloud over with tears.
MR COLLINSON Then why did you do it? What did she do to
you?
MR MILES It was what she did to the family.
MR. COLLINSON Nothing she did to you personally.
MR. MILES No.
MR. COLLINSON Mr. Miles. I
want to read something to you.
He opens a manila folder and
reads from a letter.
MR. COLLINSON "When I
put Beatrice into the hands of Dr Carruthers for disciplinary and
psychoanalytic treatment, it was not because I expected any good result, but
merely to get final proof that Beatrice’s trouble was a psychosis as distinct
from a neurosis..."
There is loud murmuring in
the court. BEA looks at MR MILES in
horror. MR MILES, caught between shame
and anger, whispers urgently in MR. PHELPS' ear.
MR. COLLINSON (reading) "I
really had no doubt myself but needed to satisfy others..."
MR. PHELPS leaps into his
feet.
MR. PHELPS Objection.
MR. COLLINSON It's relevant
your honour.
Uproar in the court.
MR. PHELPS Your Honour,
this is private communication between my client and...
JUDGE Objection
overruled. Continue Mr. Collinson.
MR. COLLINSON There is
another letter, Mr. Miles, dated the 9th December.
MR. MILES is sweating profusely; absolutely terrified.
MR. COLLINSON (reading) "On
several occasions I was obliged physically to chastise Beatrice. I mean I had
to hit her. It was my belief that she was suffering from a'father fixation'.
One night...
MR. MILES leaps to his feet.
GRANDMA ELLIE lowers her
head; ashamed.
BEA's eyes are on her father.
MR. MILES I wish to
confer.
JUDGE Yes, alright.
MR. COLLINSON looks triumphantly
at BEA. She is tense and tearful. MR. MILES and Mr. Phelps confer silently,
JOHNNO is excited.
MR. PHELPS My client
would like a brief recess, your Honour.
JUDGE Oh, very
well. Adjourned for half an hour.
LATER
MR. PHELPS leans over BEA and
MR. COLLINSON, speaking softly.
MR. PHELPS Mr. Miles will withdraw his case and pay
costs, and undertake never again to attempt to have Miss Miles committed if she
and Smith’s Weekly in turn will undertake not to pursue this matter any further
legally.
BEA (not understanding)
What!
MR COLLINSON (puzzled) Pay
costs?
MR. PHELPS And
furthermore give Miss Miles an allowance of seven pounds a week. In perpetuity.
MR. COLLINSON Cripes,
that’s more than I get.
BEA Seven pounds!
MR. COLLINSON Why’s he want
to stop now?
102 INT/EXT. ENTRANCE TO COURT. DAY
BEA makes her way through the
crowded foyer of the Courthouse, brushing aside the many people who want to
congratulate her (including JOHNNO), to stand at the top of the Courthouse
steps and look down onto the street where her father confers with Mr.
PHELPS. MR. MILES, looks drained and
defeated, shakes MR. PHELPS' hand; thanking him.
BEA looks at her father; her
face filled with the complex mixture of feelings she has for him. JOHNNO observes from a distance. MR. MILES, sensing her daughter’s gaze, looks
briefly at her as he says goodbye to MR. PHELPS: his face old and grey; his
eyes sad. BEA watches him get into his
car and drive off. JOHNNO waits for a moment before walking up behind BEA,
putting his arms around her and kissing her.
JOHNNO Hello Bright Eyes.
BEA turns to face him. Her smile is restrained.
BEA Hello Johnno.
JOHNNO Congratulations.
BEA looks away and nods. She
is thinking of her father.
JOHNNO A free woman.
BEA (sad; ironic)
A free woman!
JOHNNO nods, smiles. BEA’s mood improves.
BEA Thanks
Johnno.
JOHNNO Come on,
let’s celebrate.
BEA Where?
JOHNNO (wicked grin)
My place.
BEA laughs. JOHNNO takes her arm
and they walk down the steps in the direction of his motor-bike. BEA sees a
tram moving down the street.
BEA (excited) Race
you ...
She leaps down the remaining
steps and runs out into the traffic to chase and then leap onto the tram;
looking back at JOHNNO when she is safely on the tram. JOHNNO is still standing
there watching BEA on the retreating tram; smiling.
103 EXT. CITY STREET. DAY
BEA stands on the running
board of a fast-moving tram, hanging out over the road; excited. JOHNNO pulls
alongside on his motor-bike. They look at each other and laugh.
BEA Still want to
marry me?
JOHNNO If you want
to.
BEA I’ve changed
my mind.
JOHNNO Whatever you
want.
BEA You don’t
mind?
JOHNNO (laughing) Not
at all.
BEA Johnno?
JOHNNO Yes, Bea.
BEA We can still
have a honeymoon though! Can’t we?
JOHNNO (laughs) Sure.
BEA is oblivious to the
commotion her hanging off the side of the tram has caused. Her hair whips around her face. She is smiling, happy. She either does not hear or chooses to ignore
the angry shouts of a tram conductor.
TRAM CONDUCTOR You can’t do
that, Miss...
104 INT. BEA'S BOARDING HOUSE ROOM. DAY
BEA breaks eggs into a pan on
a gas ring in a small kitchen alcove in her room. On a desk, amidst the cluttered confusion of
the room, are wildflowers that BEA has been pressing and mounting in a school
exercise book. JOHNNO, dripping wet, stands in the middle of the room drying
himself. BEA’s attention is caught between preparing scrambled eggs and a map
of Australia on the wall close to where she is standing.
BEA (looking at the map)
...No, I think we should forget Albury...go through Gundagai...follow
the Murrumbidgee to the Murray ...camp for a couple of days at the fork of the
two rivers...then on to...
JOHNNO (laughs) Slow
down, Bright Eyes!
BEA Unless you
particularly want to go to Albury...
JOHNNO Fact is, I
can’t go right now.
BEA (deflated) JOHNNO!
JOHNNO A mate’s got
himself into a spot of bother...
BEA (annoyed) And?
JOHNNO I said I’d
help him out.
BEA You said we
were going to have honeymoon, too.
JOHNNO Couple of
weeks won’t make any difference.
BEA (angry) Well,
it makes a big difference to me. I’m going anyway.
JOHNNO Separate
honeymoons.
BEA You’re a
bastard Johnno.
JOHNNO Sorry.
BEA looks down at the eggs.
BEA How do you
like your eggs?
JOHNNO Don’t care.
BEA Good.
She tips the pan of dried
burnt scrambled eggs onto his plate.
105 EXT. COUNTRY ROAD 8. DAY
JOHNNO sits astride his
motorbike at the side of the road in lush dairy country; BEA stands alongside
unstrapping her large swag and cloth dilly bag.
She is wearing a baggy white pair of shorts, a white shirt and a white
tennis shade.
JOHNNO Will you miss
me?
BEA No.
JOHNNO Nor me you.
BEA You think
you’re the ant’s pants, don’t you?
JOHNNO (grins) Bye
Bright Eyes.
They kiss and look at each
other for a moment. JOHNNO kick starts his motorbike, does a U-turn and drives
off. BEA stands there, taking in her surroundings; excited.
As the sound of Johnno’s
motor-bike trails away the sounds of insects, birds and the breeze in the trees
become audible and soon the only sound that can be heard. A beautiful silence.
Cows in a nearby paddock stare at BEA.
She stares back.
BEA (loud) Mooo...
COW Mooo...
BEA laughs. She hears the sound of a vehicle approaching.
106 EXT. NEIL'S FARM. DAY
NEIL JENKINS, bare to the
waist and sweating in the hot sun, lifts a 12ft log and holds it in position as
YORKIE, an Aboriginal helper, guides one end of it into the cleft that has been
cut into an upright post. They are midway through building an animal pen that
is attached to a near complete barn. The sound of an approaching truck causes
NEIL to look up.
Through the cracked and
mud-bespattered windscreen of an old truck, as it bumps across a rough red dirt
road, BEA sees NEIL and YORKIE working on the animal pen. Nearby is NEIL’s
roughly hewn bark slab hut, around which goats, pigs and chickens roam freely.
NEIL lives alone in this valley; most of which is still virgin bush. Only a few
acres have been cleared and planted with banana trees. A little further down
the valley, smoke can be seen rising from fires in a small Aboriginal camp. BEA
is sitting beside GEORGE - the craggy-faced driver of the truck, the back of
which is piled high with building supplies.
As the truck gets closer BEA
waves to NEIL. He does not see BEA at first but swings around suddenly when it
registers that there is someone else in the cabin. When he realizes that it is
BEA, his face lights up. He stops work and moves towards the truck, which has
almost come to a standstill.
BEA is beaming from ear to
ear as she gets out and stands a few feet away from NEIL, who is wiping his
sweaty hands on his trousers unable to contain his excitement at seeing her.
GEORGE Mornin’ Neil.
NEIL (his eyes on Bea)
G’day George.
BEA and NEIL stand smiling at
each other for a moment, unsure how to greet each other, as Yorkie and George
look on. BEA moves towards NEIL. He
takes her in his strong arms and holds her tight. BEA rests her head on his chest and holds him
tight for a moment. They part and look
at each other.
NEIL So…here
y’are.
BEA nods, smiles happily.
NEIL Yorkie, this
‘ere’s Beatrice. She’s come t’help us
with th’barn.
...to be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment