(Clattering)
(Music box plays The Ash Grove)
RADIO: The unit expects the campaign to be short and intense.
(Clicks button)
(Electronic organ instrumental)
- At the United Nations today... (Changes back to organ music)
(Woman sighs in her thoughts)
(Clicks button) ...any other coffee you've tasted.
- Get a pencil and write down... - (Organ music)
...deplored the use of force... - (Organ music)
(Old woman thinks) Wednesday. 4:15 Wednesday.
Late.
(Sighs) Late for the doctor.
(Woman thinks) I'm early.
Much too early. I'm always too early.
My stomach hurts.
Oh, I feel sick.
I must remember I've come for... information.
For facts.
For data.
- To catch a murderer... (Camera whirs)
I'm trying to tell you a story.
I'm alone with you in our room.
The roses that you bought me on Wednesday... have already wilted, my love.
(Camera clicking and birds squawking)
(Camera whirs)
I'm trying to tell you a story.
Below...
so below, it should be impossible to see into that steaming pool.
The screams of the dripping bathers are in my ears.
MAN: Why have you got all those hats?
I keep them for occasions.
MAN: You can take your hands away now.
Well, I would say, first of all, that you seem to be very highly intuitive.
And although this may be a nuisance to you in many ways,
I should think there are times when you find it quite helpful,
especially where people are concerned and especially where atmosphere...
People and atmosphere are of importance to you.
I think I'll tell you more from these.
One of the things I would ask you to be careful of is getting involved.
You have a tendency to sort of give a lot in friendship.
So, therefore, you will have to be careful of getting too involved with a friend...
who... who is slightly emotionally disturbed
and who may have attempted suicide or something like this.
I should think, emotionally, you'll always have to have a battle.
You seem to live in two worlds altogether.
(Heavy breathing)
(Telephone rings)
(Man muttering)
(Woman whispers) Let's stay upstairs. I don't think we should go just yet.
We ought to wait, really, until the preacher's gone.
- Do you think she's going to be all right? - I don't think the real shock has hit her yet.
- She seemed to take it... (Street noise)
- We ought to wait. - We've got to wait.
I'll tell you one of my experiences in the undertaking line.
Er... we had to take a coffin into a house.
Coffined the body up, laid everything in perfect order.
When we finished, the lady liked to come and view the body in the coffin.
We left the room and left her to it.
When we returned, we found the coffin had been interfered with inside.
When we looked in, we found that the lady had...
wrapped a nice, pink ribbon around the gentleman's penis in the coffin.
Course, right... we see her back into the room.
Didn't let her know we'd seen anything, as we'd straightened everything up afterwards.
And everything passed odd all right.
(Music box)
DOCTOR: And is there anything else you can remember?
WOMAN: I heard a voice. - Mm.
WOMAN: Very far away.
(Hinges squeaking) - And there was a terrible smell.
A smell of burning.
She was on fire.
(Rowdy chatter and shouting)
(Cyclists call out)
(Old woman thinks) There have been acts, of course.
(Organ music)
Quite distinct acts.
I was always distracted at the time.
I kept trying to remember his face.
It kept jumping back into that blunt, old mass.
Those crystal eyeballs.
Those stunning... indifferent fingers.
Hello.
You remember me?
No.
Albufera. Last summer.
A couple of years ago.
The July of the big storm.
Your car got stuck in a rut and it took me two hours getting it out
because every time I said, 'Put the wheel hard down to the left,'
you put it hard down the other way.
Don't you remember?
Listen, I got back to your hotel and there was somebody there.
- My husband? - Right.
- We're separated. - Congratulations.
(Shrill bird calls)
WOMAN: Why don't you go? For heaven's sake, go.
And don't bother to tell him.
You'll be late.
I was late ten minutes ago.
WOMAN: Well, I didn't ask you to stay. - Keep your voice down.
People are looking at you.
That's what you want, isn't it?
Can't you keep your voice down?
Nobody's looking at me.
That's what you want, isn't it?
I said I'd telephone...
...if I get the time.
You said you'd leave the key.
Where was it? I couldn't find it.
(Quietly) Key? Key? What key?
The key you promised to leave. I couldn't get into the house.
Key? Key, key?
- People are looking at you. - That's what you want, isn't it?
You're talking about a key. I made no promises about a key.
I am talking about the key. I couldn't get into the house.
The child didn't go to school today.
Why didn't you organise your life properly, then? It's not my business if you don't have a key.
We agreed that you would leave the key on Friday afternoon.
You know how many days I spend waiting for you to do what you say you're going to?
I can't concentrate on anything else.
If you'd just not say anything. Don't say, 'I'll telephone,' and then not.
I said I'd telephone.
If I get the time.
Let's not retrack old ground.
Do you care at all? The child did not get to school on Wednesday.
I am deeply interested and I want to know why you weren't organised enough
so that the kid could get to school. I hold you responsible.
You have held me responsible for everything since the beginning of our marriage.
Oh, my goodness me. Responsible for everything, of course.
And for what? For what?
You have held me responsible for everything since the beginning of our marriage.
Oh, my goodness me. Responsible for everything, of course.
And for what? For what?
- Did we agree that you would leave the key? - Key? Key, key?
Which key?
The one you promised to leave on Friday afternoon.
It is in my pocket, where it was intended to be.
We're separated.
Congratulations.
Whoops.
Listen, what are you doing down here, anyway?
I'm looking for someone.
With this?
(Lift bell pings)
WOMAN: I don't know... I... I didn't recognise her.
DOCTOR: Who did you think she was?
WOMAN: I don't know who she was. I'd never seen her before.
DOCTOR: Do you have panics? Sweats? Dry throats?
Palpitations?
Do you dream?
Do you remember your dream?
Do you have panics? Sweats?
Dry throats? Palpitations?
MAN: Mmm-hm.
(Clicks his tongue)
(Squawks like a duck)
Mm-hm. No.
(Squawks)
Mm-hm. (Chuckles)
(Man coughs)
Mm-hm. Not very down to earth.
She couldn't really face up to things.
(Heartbeat pounding)
Woolly-minded... or a catatonic stupor?
- She was dependent. - Introvert?
Oh, no, no, no, no, no. She was very talkative.
Very self-assertive.
She had to be the... centre of things.
Of course, I...
I don't...
Of course, I don't really think...
Of course, I don't really think I would have called her...
Of course, I don't really think I would have called her a...
likeable child.
Hm?
So she was... unlovable?
Ooh. Too much...
...affectation.
Hard voice, vulnerable eyes and caught out in the contradiction.
Mm-hm.
I attended the birth of her child.
Didn't make a sound.
Didn't say a word.
Silent on the rack, at least.
(Man chuckles) Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Pshh!
A natural.
(Door rattling) MAN: Who's there? Open this door.
Please, open this door.
(Clunking)
(Whirring)
(Quacking)
Hey, come and read my fortune.
- You have criminal tendencies. - Really?
WOMAN: See? Long, pointed fingers. You don't like the law.
Your emotional life's a mess.
And you're going on a long journey from which you may never return.
That sounds like my misfortune, not my fortune.
- You've got two lives. - Oh, nice.
Neither of which are very real.
WOMAN: Um... Your head line's rather faint and you act upon impulse.
MAN: Oh.
I'm getting a funny impulse. (Laughs)
Look at that river down there. It looks a gas.
You've got a very nice little finger.
Not very much leadership.
- Let me see the other one. - They're all a bit bent on the other hand.
Erm... Ooh, lots of leadership here. It died somewhere.
Where did your leadership die?
- Er... - Why do you wear this ring?
(Man laughs nervously) Er...
WOMAN: I mean, does it have purely decorative...
MAN: No, I once put it on and I never took it odd again.
WOMAN: And...
Ooh, you've got flat rings.
- Have you ever had your fingerprints taken? - No.
- You've never had your fingerprints taken? - Not yet.
I don't believe you.
(Jaunty tune)
Hey! Fortune teller! Let me in.
Hang on.
(Woman moaning)
(Both laugh)
Oh. Mm.
(Moans)
(Bell chimes in distance)
(Siren wails in distance)
(Siren approaches and passes)
(The Chipmunks singing on TV in background)
'Since they are endowed with many human-like qualities...
...why have chimpanzees, in the course of their evolution,
not achieved a more human way of life and a corresponding level of culture? '
What?
'... why have chimpanzees, in the course of their evolution,
not achieved a more human way of life and a corresponding level of culture? '
Mr Gordon says that the answer is that chimps are dehumanised beings
reduced to a more primitive way of life by their... forest environment.
(News theme)
(Man speaking in Russian on TV)
COMMENTATOR: His first space flight came in October, 1964.
(Rocket engines firing)
...Voskhod 1 went into orbit, it was the first...
What's your husband like?
What do you mean? I'm a modern man.
Have you heard this?
(Melodic chords)
(Hums along)
Hear about the mermaid whose vital statistics are 37, 24 and 4s 6d a pound?
(Piano music and humming)
What's your husband like?
My husband is a romantic.
My husband... is shy.
He withdraws on advances.
My husband says that men never make advances to girls that make passes.
But... my husband believes in emancipation.
Not as an ideal but as a living reality.
He believes in every woman's right to have a sports car.
And those that don't have a sports car have somehow blundered most horribly.
My husband likes...
...very cool ladies who have very large bowls of rice pudding up their leather jackets.
(Mimics rocket sound) Boom.
Frightened Miss Muffet away.
Miss Muffet's all frightened away.
- He's drowning. - Oh.
Wonder what he looks like with his head off.
- Where are his steel boots? - Whoops.
Where's his mask?
I don't know. He fell out some time.
(Laughs)
He was in it when I sent him down.
(Both laugh)
TV: heavy concentrations of armour... WOMAN: I'm going to get you for that!
I remember now.
I had a cat called Bessie.
And Bessie...
...had so many kittens...
...that her stomach hung down.
And she hated them all 'cos every year she drowned them in the pond.
She said, 'Off with their headies! '
Horrid little pussy.
Oh, I had a cat once, as well.
- Oh! - (She laughs)
- Oh. - Champagne bath.
I had a beautiful cat - really beautiful.
Then my father shot it dead...
and now it goes to school with me between two lumps of bread.
That's the most horrible story I ever heard in my whole life.
The most horrible story.
Sometimes...
I have a dream...
...a dream...
I dream of a master...
Iooking at me.
And... he's with someone else.
And I'm outside.
An object.
An object of pity?
No.
An object of ridicule.
See, a master's somebody...
...somebody knowing what you are.
Somebody knowing... what you are.
Interesting.
Lazy whore.
Immature.
Immature?
Oh, no, no, it's much worse.
It's much, much worse.
It's somebody giving you two orders at the same time and you can't obey both.
Up against the wall.
Achtung!
Achtung! Achtung!
Up against the wall!
Keep in line! When I say move... move.
Has this lady been scrubbed down today?
I thought I ordered two daily showers for every prisoner in this camp!
NURSE: Snap.
(Screams)
Death's a funny thing.
Makes you think.
30 years... he wouldn't take nothing from a spoon.
Where's his mother now?
Oh, dead and buried 30 years.
Oh. Hm.
Course, family life ain't what it used to be.
I feel a bit sick.
It must be the place you've been sitting.
Here, change over with me.
(Children shouting boisterously)
(Organ music soundtrack)
(Children laugh and chatter)
(Sobbing)
- (Baby grizzles) - No, you're hurting me.
(Baby crying)
I... I can't breathe.
- (Baby crying) - I can't get my breath.
(Piano introduction) God is a man
And that's how things began
The master plan, the heavenly seed
Was not a girlish queen
Mastered night, made the light
He put flowers in the angels' bower
Then came the Word
And deep his voice was heard
Saying, 'I'm the one with the long grey beard
Who likes to be worshipped, adored and feared'
And remember if you can
God is a man
Where did you get your hair?
(Birdsong)
In the East. In the Orient.
I went to the Orient and they shaved me.
- (Laughs) What happened? - They shaved me again and again and again.
- Then what happened? - And then two er...
- Then two Zen... Zen masters beat me. - And then what happened?
Then I sprouted.
Which shows that...
Which shows that the West is finished.
The West is finished
Which only goes to show that the West is finished
I... don't want to be a film-star
And I know that it's phallic, a gun
And you'd never adjust... To a rice field!
And we're stuck with being... a bum Bums
No social soul to go marching on
God who is dead, bless Mao Tse-tung
I'm stuck...
With being a bum
(Laughs)
(Footsteps echo)
(Lift bell pings)
(Whispers) So your mother died in the autumn?
- Did you feel abandoned? - Abandoned?
Abandoned? Does he mean 'slut'?
Does he mean 'slut'?
Does he mean 'easy virtue'?
'Easy prey'?
How could he know?
Did you cry at the funeral?
When she lay in the bed with her mouth dropped open,
I couldn't look at her.
- And you felt? - Felt?
Does he mean 'to feel'?
Or does he mean fabric? Is he going to use that word again?
Did you feel lost?
Lost? Lost? To lose...
(Air-raid siren)
(Sings to herself)
lain?
Jane! I've been looking for you.
Do you ever feel that you don't exist unless others are looking at you?
Mmm.
Let's buy something beautiful.
Oh, look.
(Singing in background)
Just a closer walk with thee...
Do you think he walks with thee?
Do you think that Jesus walks with thee?
Er... I don't... know.
(Laughs) I just don't know.
But if I ever find out, I'll tell you.
You come to me at midnight
And say 'lt's dark in here'
You know you robbed me of my sight
And light is what I fear
I tell you that I cannot see
But you persist in showing me
Those bangles that I paid for long ago
And though my face is smiling
I'm really feeling low
And though you say you're with me
I know that it's not so
The sun seeps through the window
To see if we're still dead
To try to throw some light upon
The gloom around our bed
At quarter past the doorbell rings
The water faucet drips and sings
And still my reason will not rhyme
And still you tell me it's not time
And though my face is smiling
I'm really feeling low
And though you say you're with me
I know that it's not so
(Clatter and chatter)
(Laughs)
(Overlapping conversations)
(Jane thinks) I'm early.
I'm much too early.
I'm always too early.
MAN: When I was doing the programme,
'cos it was very easy to get from Dover Street to the BBC,
and then, I used to get up at the crack of...
It's the best way to die...
MAN: Let's get the camera set up first.
And by the time we've got the camera set up...
(Overlapping conversations)
MAN: It was very good. I'm pleased.
Allora.
Hi.
Now, Jane, how are you?
I'm the same.
You're always the same, huh?
- I've been the same for too long. - Ah.
Who said that? He said it?
Did you expect her to say 'yes'?
Oh, here we are. You're having... salad with... what looks like cheese.
Very strange lumps of white things.
- It is, but I think it's cheese. - Can we have some wine?
II vino rosso, per favore.
I keep up with my Italian in restaurants, you know.
Delicious.
You look very happy. Are you?
Erm... no, I'm not very happy.
Silly question.
Tell me, what happened to that little Chinese lamp?
It's... er... It's still in the house.
It's still there. Yes, I moved it.
Where did I put it?
- It's very nice, isn't it? - I chipped it.
- Did you? - Mm-hm.
- But I stuck it together again. - Yes, that's right.
Erm... well, it's no longer in the drawing room.
I put it into the... spare room.
Very, very nice. Yes, you did like that.
Yes, I liked it very much. Do you remember when I saw it?
- I bet you can't remember when I saw it. - Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Very well.
Yes, it's in the... it's in the spare room.
You remember that erm... Oh, what's it called?
That corner cabinet with three shelves on it.
Well, it's in there. It sort of sets off the...
It's a beautiful blue but it hasn't a cord - That's right.
God bless Mummy and make her good - That's it. Well, it's there.
There's a different shade on it but the lamp is exactly the same.
I really love that lamp.
Yes. I mean, when people stay over, they always comment on it.
It's very nice in that... corner.
Yeah, it's very good.
Mmm.
Delightful.
- It's nice cheese. - Hm? Is it, eh?
Swap you a bit of cheese for a bit of calamari.
Mm?
- Not as good as Spain. - What about the cheese?
- Not as good as Norway. - (They laugh)
Mm... as it always happens.
I'm still waiting for the cheese.
- Sorry. - That's all right.
- I didn't know you liked swapping food. - Oh, well...
an old Arab custom I've gotten used to.
- You've changed. - Maybe.
A little bit.
You're looking very, very well. Very lovely.
- You keep saying that. - Well...
JANE: You always liked things very well and lovely.
HUSBAND: That's true. That's true.
JANE: Put your cigarette out. It's burning. - Mm?
- Cigarette's burning. - Sorry. Sorry, I...
An old bad habit, isn't it?
There are one or two things of mine I... I left behind.
Things I've written. They're not very important...
- The papers? - Why...
I'd like them.
Yes, I've got them. They're in the downstairs room.
They're erm... They're packed away. They're packed away in a box.
They're in the...
You know that little room off the... the hall?
It's...
They're there. They're quite safe. Quite safe. In a box. Packed away.
Things you want to use in it? Songs?
- I just like them. - You just like them?
Well...
- I'm a hoarder. - Mm.
Well, they're there. Safe.
DOCTOR: She had to be the centre of things.
I don't really think I would have called her a... likeable child.
By the way, how are you erm...
How are you managing? Things all right?
You know... Money... All right?
Er...
Yes. I've had rather a lot of ex...
You know those tax problems. Got them endlessly.
Endlessly.
You know, as a freelancer you get... You pay tax now for two years back.
And then it's...
I'm in the position now of having to earn high now
in order to pay tax on the high earnings of two years ago.
Because I'm earning high now,
in two years' time, I've got to be pretty bloody sure that I'm going to earn...
etc, etc, etc.
But, you know, one gets by.
One writes letters. You... keep them busy.
Sorry. Erm...
It's all right, is it?
Oh, yes, I'm fine. I'm the same.
Mm.
Of course, you know, if there's anything erm...
anything erm...
Oh, excuse me.
Erm... desperate, I mean, don't worry.
Please... you know what I mean.
- I don't work for the taxman. (Car horns outside)
I do, but... I don't like the idea of it.
You're happy?
Happy? Er...
Well, some...
If I don't think about it too much, I suppose I'm happy.
You know what the very funny thing is, what I've just been thinking about recently?
You live with somebody...
...for a very long time...
...and the thing I think that's very extraordinary is that...
you endowed them...
You endowed them with a lot of things they didn't have
and you took away from them a lot of things they did have.
I mean, you didn't know their strengths and...
you didn't know their weaknesses either.
You made them into something.
Something better and something worse.
Erm... I regret to admit that's true.
Thank you for the flowers.
I regret they don't smell.
- Don't regret them. They're beautiful. - Maybe, but they don't smell.
- You're a romantic. - Yeah.
(Car horn and telephone ringing)
It's not forme. (He chuckles)
JANE: Being a romantic is very painful for other people.
Well, they've paid their dues
and over the next few years, they're gonna get freer and freer and freer.
And we, what - England, France, America, anywhere you like - what have we got?
We've got freedom as a due...
and it's getting less and less and less and less.
In a few years' time the Russians will be laughing up their bloody samovars.
Why? Because they've got freedom emerging out...
- Darling... ...of the security of the state.
What have we got? Och, ayiee.
Darling, we were talking about female sexuality and you've gone off the point.
Well, it's the same subject.
(Laughter and chatter)
There's absolutely no reason why a man or woman in their 50s, 60s, 70s,
shouldn't enjoy as good a sexual relationship as they had when they were younger.
- Huh? - All right.
But is that meant... that you say to somebody...
'lf you give me a good sex life before the menopause, we've got a good relationship'?
(He laughs)
- That, obviously, I can't... Oh, no, that's unfair. - Sounds to me very much like a bargain.
- It probably is a bargain. - What, marriage is a bargain?
- Well... - Come through with the goods or you're out?
Well... Yes, but it works both ways.
- It's a bargain. - Maybe.
- Love's nothing to do with working both ways. - Yes, it is.
- Oh, come on. That's a deal. - Mm.
JANE: So she was unlovable?
DOCTOR: Too much... affectation.
JANE: Hard voice, vulnerable eyes and caught out in the contradiction.
And erm... if it's achieved,
it opens up all sorts of possibilities in what is laughingly known as the autumn of our lives,
I think, hm?
That's the funny thing about breaking a long relationship.
What's that?
Well, I suppose in marriage you imagine...
if you spend early years together that you're going to be old with somebody.
And suddenly you're old...
- Alone? ...all alone.
(Telephone rings)
These are very beautiful.
And I'm very drunk and I've got a headache
and I've forgotten all the trend of the conversation.
Oh, yes.
Tenderness.
- Ah, tenderness. - The question is...
Is tenderness an act of the imagination...
...or something we suck from the breast?
Ooh...
If it's the former, then there's nothing very worthy about it.
Well, if it's an act of the imagination, it comes to the same thing.
It's all a matter of luck.
Either... genetic luck or...
environmental luck - it's luck.
Tenderness... love...
call it what you will,
it's a time-to-time state.
When our senses are screwed up enough,
we all go to jelly and call ourselves Christians.
(Chuckles)
Well...
Then the beloved...
gets a wart on her nose...
and we all return to the security of hot dinners in the nursery.
Well, given that...
Given that tenderness is out of date,
what's the best thing a partner can be?
A partner or a man?
A partner.
Oh.
Partner...
Self-contained.
- Semi-detached. - (They laugh)
Brava.
This about wraps it up.
Mm-hm.
Wish somebody'd told me.
Er...
I really wish somebody had told me.
(She thinks) And it felt... like a robbery.
ASSISTANT: And follow, for your colour, which will highlight your face.
Take your brush so.
Blend it on, under the cheekbones.
Just a little, to highlight the face.
Then... take your lipstick,
like this, put it on the lips from the outside to the centre...
...blend it in...
Finish with lip gloss if you like.
A light eye make-up.
Just false eyelashes because they complement the eyes so beautifully.
And I think your make-up's complete.
And, if you wish, you can just put on a touch of your favourite perfume.
(Ker-ching of till)
Ooh, I might have made a mistake with the docket number. I'll clear it in a minute.
Well, let me know if you need another one.
(Spray hisses) - I will love you...
Always, sometimes, for ever.
Please choose relevant reply.
- I will buy you... - A mink, a semi-detached,
chickens, a Greek island.
- I love you because... - You are clean, slim,
voluptuous, straight-haired, motherly.
- I'll never leave you unless... - You are fat, wrinkled,
have dark roots, warts or nerves.
Please choose relevant reply.
Hey, what are you doing...
...tonight, tomorrow, in ten years' time,
at your death?
Please give relevant reply.
(Ker-ching of till)
Excuse me.
Excuse me. Excuse me.
Excuse me.
GIRL'S VOICE: I didn't take it.
(Sobs) I didn't take it. Really.
Really, Mummy, I didn't take it.
WOMAN'S VOICE: Me? I didn't take it.
I didn't take it.
I didn't take it. I didn't take it.
It's always difficult, isn't it, when you're married and getting out?
You know why you did it.
It happens... It's very strange how it happens because...
...the last time I was out with a married woman for lunch,
it was unintentional, just like ours was unintentional.
We were both invited to a party. I was there, you were there. Right, fine.
And who expected anything to happen after that?
But it happened because when I met her...
...I had to go up to Edinburgh to see a play.
And then, in her dressing room afterwards, she was very different.
Her part was tough... and she was soft, smiling as I came in.
I told her I liked her performance.
And I said I was an agent and I'd like to speak to her about representation.
I think she ought to make pictures because she had a marvellous face,
marvellous big eyes, very expressive.
So we talked, very friendly, and I said... Other people were in the room, of course.
I said to her as quickly as I could, 'Can I meet you for supper after the show? '
She hesitated and thought about it, so I waited and I asked her again and she said yes.
So we went out for a late dinner...
...and we, you know, talked about the show.
And then she said...
she really was happy with her agent.
So I said, 'What did you want to have dinner with me for, then? '
And, you know what happens sometimes, a look.
So I said, 'Look, let's forget business.'
So we forgot business. We didn't talk about business any more.
I said, 'How can I see you again? '
She said, 'Well, look, you can't. It's very difficult. I don't know if we should.'
- I said, 'Look, I'll give you my number. Call me.' (Woman singing) I am Daddy's little girl...
- So I came back to London. Weeks went by. Daddy's little... girl...
MAN: I didn't hear a thing, and suddenly my private line went...
...and she was on the phone.
WOMAN: Take 40 spoons of spinach...
...two slices of bread and butter.
MAN: The next scene is lunch like this.
You know? And that started something that went on for a long time.
Went on for two years.
And it's funny, when these things happen, you know, the...
WOMAN: Sex isn't everything. ...reaction was so different.
WOMAN: We are free to be ourselves.
You know, a touch, a look - anything you wanted, it was always right.
And I suddenly... could stay in a room all evening with her and not say a word -
it didn't matter.
And that's how it goes when the - old cliché - chemistry is right.
When you go through an experience like that, it knocks you, knocks you flat.
It's hell, it's... everything, you know.
And when it's right, nothing is better.
The sun shines through the rain every day but...
...it leaves its scars.
WOMAN: Satisfaction... - The trouble is, there's always a next time.
WOMAN: and a very pale face.
You tell yourself there's not going to be, then you go to a cocktail party...
...and you look across the room...
...and you see two eyes looking at you.
And you walk over...
you say hello...
...and then...
you're having lunch...
WOMAN: Baby should be put on potty in a calm and tranquil atmosphere.
Well, here's to more lunches.
(Slow footsteps echo)
(Approaching siren wails)
(Siren passes by)
DOCTOR: Do you dream?
Do you remember your dreams?
Do you have panics? Sweats? Dry throat?
Palpitations?
YOUNG MAN: For the four o'clock at York, I'd like to put 25 on Scottish Mary
and ten each way on Marijuana and Love for Sale.
Yeah.
The 4:30, I just want to put 20... 20 on Stranded.
Right. Fine. Speak to you later. Goodbye.
I never wanted to stay by myself at home.
I was terrified to be alone.
Or to show my loneliness to other people was an absolutely terrifying thing.
And so... sometimes... I would go home and try to be by myself,
but I just could not...
...and so I got even more lonely...
and I went to a doctor and he gave me some sleeping pills.
But the sleeping pills didn't work. Not early in the morning, when it is... daylight.
And I tried... I just asked him for some other pills to... to make the sleeping pills work,
and then the sleeping pills didn't work.
And, oh, the morning. I just couldn't bear the morning.
And just to make love with some people you really don't want,
and you have to make the groans, you know.
And it just hurts inside and you have to just pretend you like it.
And instead it just hurts inside.
And you just can't stay... who you are.
You have to be... what they want you to be.
I wish you'd pull my hair out by the roots.
I wish somebody would make me suffer.
(Women scream)
Mind your feet!
(Jaunty tune)
(Whirring)
(Children cheering, shouting and screaming)
(Children screaming)
(Klaxon)
(Woman gasps)
We need to move.
Oh, gosh...
(Phone ringing and door rattling) MAN: Will you unlock this door?
What are you doing in there?
(Door rattling) - Open this door.
(Coughs)
DOCTOR: Do you dream?
Do you remember your dreams?
Do you have panics?
Sweats?
Dry throat?
Palpitations?
(Rain falling)
Nasty afternoon.
Better than that old fog.
That's my sister.
She killed herself.
Gas.
She was such a pretty girl.
She'd got so much vitality.
That's her husband - Herbert.
He said such a funny thing to me on the way back from the funeral.
He said I ought to take up golf.
Of course, it was an open verdict. I mean, she might have fallen against the tap.
She'd been having blackouts regularly.
I'm... We're doing a survey on normal life in London.
We're compiling a dossier... for a clinic.
- Mental? - Dirt.
Oh, no, no. Children. Family life.
- How did you pick me? - Oh, I didn't pick you.
- Who did? - The computer.
Oh.
- How many children do you have? - Just one daughter.
She's a pretty little girl.
That's her with the cross above her head.
- How old are you? - 55 in February.
- Aquarius. - Do you believe in the stars?
Oh, I don't believe in them but I like to read about them.
My sister used to go to a very good woman.
She was mostly...
...mostly...
not the future, but the future ...the future... the future... the future...
My wife's just gone in to see about her eyes.
Hm, I bet they keep her waiting for hours.
After all, there ain't much they can do, can they?
After all, they're the kind that can't be removed.
I would have given myself to him unconditionally.
Hm, but for one or two minor observations.
I didn't like his desk.
There was a photograph of a woman in a silver frame.
She was holding the hand of a very neat little boy, wearing a blazer and a school cap.
Cataracts.
Of course, they don't know as much as they pretend, do they?
I expect they'll give 'em some of them drops and... one of them calm smiles,
and that'll keep her quiet for a week or two.
Also, I didn't like his pen and pencil.
They were gold and they lay together narrow and parallel, like soldiers.
I didn't like his shoes or the way he kept adjusting his cuffs.
By the time he pressed the bell on the high-shine mahogany,
what mind I had left was made up.
He could never be called as witness.
Strange what small things stop us from entering paradise.
She keeps waking up in the night.
Real curse that can be.
Getting at you in the night.
And she was born in 1932 and moved house in 1941, I think.
And what was her education?
She won a scholarship to a local high school.
According to the headmistress, she had no concentration.
The history mistress committed suicide in 1946.
- Her father? - Shopkeeper.
Background of nervous breakdowns. He died of lung cancer.
And what about her... sexual history?
Now, that's very flimsy.
Her first real boyfriend seemed to be a soldier who was killed in Korea.
That's a fine place to get killed, isn't it?
If she doesn't pitch up tomorrow, let me know and we'll rearrange the schedule.
Right.
Hello.
- Got a minute? - I'm sorry. I'm on my way up.
To the clay! To their heads.
Do you still believe that all that mucking about with paint and stuff does them any good?
It's been some months since we've seen you, hasn't it?
I presume that the impersonal 'we' is to indicate that you have not been tortured
- by the more subjective 'I'. - (He laughs)
Can I come upstairs to see my head?
To see if it's as ugly as ever?
Well, why don't you make an appointment... and keep it?
I thought I'd been excommunicated.
That's a funny word.
Be a good girl and the angel of light will smile upon you.
Are you a good angel, Doctor?
You always ask such a lot of questions.
My answers seem to be irrelevant.
'Deep in the arms of Jesus' was the phrase that came to mind
whenever I thought of you.
(Jaunty tune)
Lies, lies, lies
Love is a dirty, greasy, bad-breath mess
Are you waiting to go in there?
What, with all them nuts?
Ooh-hoo. Proper racket, that is.
Money for jam. No real work done.
Ooh, fat lot of good they can do.
A nut's a nut.
Always was... always will be.
(Jane thinks) Lonely deaths.
Turds.
Words.
Words?
- Word games. - Snap!
- Shh. - Don't worry. Tell me what happens.
You know what happens.
- There's a four minutes' silence. - Four minutes' silence.
And you die of a heart attack. Snap!
If you don't die of a heart attack?
You fall down the nearest manhole in search of the Underground.
Snap!
For someone frightened, you're winning all the time.
Snap!
- I want to go home. - You can't go home.
- Why? - It's too late.
- Too late? - Matron said you can't go home.
- Why? - Not after 11.
Snap!
(Laughs)
You're too quick.
You put the things down too quickly. I can't see them if you go as fast as that.
- You're not letting me do it off my pack. - Snap!
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
- Pick up your cards. - That's the way I play cards
and that's the way I'm going to play Snap.
- All by yourself. - All by myself.
No, not all by myself! With you.
And if you don't play Snap that way...
I'm going to kiss you when Matron comes in.
And then Matron will give you lots of nasty shocks.
(Giggles)
Give you lots of nasty shocks
to get all those dirty thoughts out of your head.
(Laughter echoes)
WOMAN: Well, they're not all sick.
ANOTHER WOMAN: Most of them are - 60 per cent.
- My husband says they should be whipped. - Mine just sleeps all the time. It's his liver.
Whoo! How disgusting!
What do they do?
What kind of things do they get into?
I don't know, darling.
Oh, they just follow the old German handbook.
(Tyres screech)
Excuse me.
Your car's blocking...
Could you move it, please?
(Laughter)
Could you please move the car?
I can't get out.
Don't laugh!
Could you move your car, please? I'm blocked in.
I can't move anything. What are you talking about?
I couldn't move pussy.
(Giggling)
Could you move the car, please. I'm...
No! I'm incapable of moving anything.
(Giggles hysterically)
WOMAN: Isn't it incredible?
Torture.
In the middle of the 20th century.
(Woman giggling)
What are you laughing at?
Stop laughing!
It's not the slightest bit funny.
Oh, do stop it, for heaven's sake.
I can't move the car because I can't move anything.
- Please move your car. I'm blocked in. - I can't move your car!
She's incapable.
(Clucks like a chicken)
(Water drums)
(Clucking continues)
(Whir of machinery)
(Clucking)
(Clucking and laughter)
WOMAN: The only meaning it had was international.
18 countries. Imagine the guilt.
- Well, let's hope it's 18. - Yeah.
You wash your hands every five minutes.
Well, every four or every five minutes.
RADIO: told correspondents that he was returning to a beleaguered country
to offer his services.
Excuse me.
Could you help me get my car out, please?
WOMAN: And once he looked straight at me and said,
'Your name. What's your name? '
He couldn't stand a lot of worry.
Nerves. But he had the best treatment - shock.
He had 13 shocks in all.
(Whirring)
RADIO: the Foreign Secretary said that he was waiting for a clarification of the facts,
that as far as the Government was concerned...
(Clunk)
(Rumbling)
(Turns volume up)
And light is what I fear
I tell you that I cannot see...
Darling! I've been dying to see you!
Darling, I'm jammed in.
I've been phoning you. I wanted to tell you.
We went to the country Saturday.
It was marvellous!
Darling, I'm jammed... I'm jammed in.
Yes, yes.
- And there was erm... - (Clucks quietly)
Ahh, ahh, ahh...
Push off!
(Woman sings)
Darling, you must help me to get my car out.
And then there was Jeanne Moreau, and really they were lovely...
All the time, she had her hair in a different bun and things like that.
And then there's Jane Thierry.
She looked very solemn, but very beautiful face.
The photographers were...
(Airport announcement)
Passengers will be coming through...
So many bits and pieces.
Why don't you eat something, darling?
(Crunching)
(Doorbell rings)
Well, that's an abortive attempt at eating.
Look at this picture.
It's lopsided.
By the way, what do...
What shall I do...
...if your lover turns up?
- What shall I do? - Mm-hm.
Doctor's on his rounds
Abounds with great good humour
We'll cut your mother from your brain
As though she is a tumour
(Both laugh)
Would you like a cigarette?
(Ball being hit)
I can't find my photographs.
I expect they're with Valuables in Personal Possessions.
Who do I ask?
Oh, don't.
Wait till they come with the tests from the labs.
(Ball being hit)
What's that noise?
You'll need transport.
Can I get you a taxi, a minicab...
mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini?
Who was that?
Aren't you keen to see the graphs? They're constantly changing.
Yes.
There'll be a new mark on the chart.
I'm sure I had another pair of stockings.
That's right, darling.
Steady.
Gently.
You're too anxious.
You've got all night.
Don't try so hard.
No, don't, please.
No, don't.
No, don't be silly.
Please.
No.
Please don't.
Please don't!
What do you want?
No, please!
It was poisoning.
Not intentionally.
We made a breakdown of the suspect.
He was tall and blue-eyed...
Silver-blue.
...with long pointed fingers.
Tapering.
He had a tendency towards self-dramatisation,
an inability to ignite with the moment.
There was a certain vagueness in his smile.
Shyness.
Shyness is an assault.
(Tearfully) Let me know what you want.
No, don't! Please!
Stop!
Oh, no.
Oh, no. Please don't!
Don't. Stop it. I...
Don't!
Please!
No, don't.
Darling, please! (Sobs)
No.
(Gunshot)
(Moans)
(Chime of church bells)
DOCTOR: I wonder if you felt that...
...well, instead of chasing, that you were being chased?
JANE: No... no.
No, I didn't feel that. Well, that's not what I said to you.
I didn't feel that he was...
Well, I didn't feel I was being chased.
DOCTOR: And I wonder what the word 'chased' means for you.
(Dog barks)
(Camera whirs)
Do you panic,
have sweats?
Dry throats?
Palpitations?
(Tape spools rapidly)
Sexual history?
Very flimsy.
First real boyfriend was a soldier killed in Korea.
That's a fine place to get killed.
Jobs?
Dental receptionist,
salesgirl,
Christmas post office work - temporary typing.
- Religion? - Methodist.
IQ?
123.
Mm.
Shoe size?
Five.
Measurements?
35...
25...
37?
Hm.
(Tape spools rapidly)
(Children shouting)
Yes... no.
Does my mummy love me?
Yes... no.
(Camera shutter whirs)
(Baby cries)
(Crying continues)
(Plane flies overhead)
Poor bear.
(Dog barking)
(Jaunty music)
(Children cheering and whistling)
JANE: Don't panic.
Don't panic.
Look at the sky...
the sky that's endless.
No, the sky that's blue.
Don't measure time.
Look at the leaves.
They're beautiful...
free.
Don't think of freedom.
Got to go home soon.
I must go home.
They're waiting.
Who's waiting?
He's waiting.
Who is he?
Are you seeing things?
Clearly? Fairly?
Distorted? Deranged?
Please choose relevant reply.
He says I'm ill.
In the hospital,
they said I was ill.
And he stood with them,
looking at me.
But I'm not ill.
I'm trapped.
I'm trapped forever in this exercise yard.
Oh, God, let me out of my body.
Please, God...
...let me out of my body.
(Sobs)
No, don't panic.
Don't panic.
Look at the trees.
Trees are beautiful.
(Sobs)
Have you been...
Deluded? Excluded?
Cheated? Misled?
Please choose relevant reply.
When I put out my hand on the bed,
there was nobody there.
(Sobbing) There was nobody there!
And then the doctor came in and he said,
'You must count your blessings.
You've got a lovely husband.
And a lovely baby.
You must count your blessings.'
But there was nobody there.
There was nobody there.
Or are you just...
Mad? Bad?
Self-pitying or split?
(Fluttering of wings)
(Birds cawing)
(Fluttering of wings)
(Bird whistles)
(Organ music)
(Fluttering of wings)
(Gunshot)
(Harpsichord plays The Ash Grove)